To the Window to the Wall!
Art: Arcades, the Strategist
by Even Amundsen
Table of Contents
Welcome to another installment of Brewed EDH:
Todays Featured Commander is:
Arcades the strategist is an awesome wall’s commander through him and many other support cards we are able to change our cheap defenders into real creatures. Our combination of low mana cost and high efficient spells and creatures, Arcades is a unique and interesting way to approach commander.
The Deck:
Arcade's Wall
Why Arcades, The Strategist?
There are many different walls / defenders commanders such as Doran, the Siege Tower
but I thin Arcades edges them out, the additon of blue combined with Arcade’s abilitys give him the edge. Arcades allows us to not only play destruction spells like Path to Exile
but counterspells as well. Arcades is one of the strongest walls commanders!
Deck Overview:
Arcades is an early game machine, while we may not be the rampiest deck our combination of low costed creatures and spells allows us to gain a strong board presence early. Arcades only casting four allows us to get him out early as well and start drawing cards and attacking with our walls. We can make our attacks very large with cards like Tower Defense
and Solidarity
. Even though Arcades is one of the main pieces that make our deck work we have alternatives in the event he is being heavily targeted. Our main alternatives are Assault Formation
and High Alert
while these may not be as powerful as Arcades they are still great early game ways to get our cheap walls to start swinging. In terms of being attacked we have multiple cards that allow our walls to block multiple creatures such as Valor Made Real
. Our creatures are cheap and plentiful so losing a few is no big deal, we also have a great way to recur them in Ascend from Avernus
, while this card may be high costed with how low our walls are it is a great way to recur them and get more Arcade’s Triggers! In terms of board wipes we have Fell the Mighty
and Wave of Reckoning
these wipes hit opponents creatures but almost always avoid us. We are playing a midrange shell with some control elements but overall we can be as aggressive as casting Arcades. Besides attacking our alternative win condition is Approach of the Second Sun
which is very easy to recur once cast due to Arcades.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Early board presence
- Strong package of interaction,draw and counters
- Cheap creatures allow us to play a low land count
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak against spellslingers/combo
- Tough to win without arcades
- outpaced in late game
Deck Stats:
Sample hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Our main win conditions are straight up attacking our opponents with our backup win condition as Approach of the Second Sun
Conclusion:
In conclusion I think that Arcades is a fun way to utilize cards that see almost no play in commander, there is nothing better than smacking your opponent in the face with a wall! I think this deck has a lot of options within it to control the game and eliminate opponents threats and swing for the fences!
Thanks for reading to the end!