Arcades the Strategist Commander Deck Tech

Arcades the Strategist is tough to beat ... because of all that toughness. We're running walls! The value we get off of our commander is insane - card draw and impactful attackers. Does this strategy rely too heavily on the commander? Is the strategy split between defensive drawing and blocking and aggressive swings? Let's find out!
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[@aaronchoate5240]

Bruh, I've taught my uncle how to play, but hes very nonconfrontational even in a magic game... showed him this video... were on the phone now trying to figure out his tcg cart at the moment... love the vids bro keep it up

[@JumboCommander]

WHOOT! I'm so excited by this. Good on you for getting your uncle involved.

[@nerdwithglasses6322]

Bruh moment

[@jeffreymcadams4163]

That’s just awesome. Have you guys been able to play over FaceTime or something in quarantine?

[@oom-3262]

this is the commander i was looking for.

[@jensklingenmaier1745]

Stop it! my Wallet doesnt allow more Commander decks >< I NEED THIS

[@JumboCommander]

Guess what's coming out in August? Prepare your bank accounts :D

[@Jacqustic]

Selll sell sell! Magic is an economy. Keep your favourites and dismantle the rest.

[@JumboCommander]

Honestly, you might be able to get out of some cards that will rotate in the fall. Maybe some money can be made in Legacy (risky) but Deathrite has been banned and the August pro-tour will feature some legacy?!?!

[@MasterQuestMaster]

You forgot to capitalize the "Wall" in WALLet.

[@jensklingenmaier1745]

Jumbo Commander I know what's coming in august better then I'd like To admit .... :p And Yeah I sold amonkhet block cards already so I'm good :)

[@LadyTsunade777]

Bit of secret tech: Dragon Throne of Tarkir. Slap it onto Arcades himself, he can still attack due to his ability, and he can both attack and then pump your creatures due to vigilance. Also Meishin, the Mind Cage. Make everyone else's creatures tiny while yours still deal damage based on toughness instead, so the debuff doesn't matter at all to you.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Dragon throne awesome idea:P

[@catoticneutral]

AAGH THAT IS AMAZING!!! SO MUCH FLAVOR THERE!!! A DRAGON. ON A DRAGON THRONE. AND IT'S ALL GOOD BECAUSE IT CAN STILL ATTACK. THIS. IS. PERFECT!!!!

[@allenyang5697]

It's perfect until you realize that "Dragon Throne" doesn't mean a throne for a dragon, but rather a throne made *made* from a dragon

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

What could be more perfect than making a chair out of your draconic enemies?:P

[@zealous944]

a true strategist can see the benefits of the psychological implications. ;)

[@GoldStorm07]

Even tho it doesn't affect Arcades himself, one big card that this deck loves is Aluren. Most of your walls are 3CMC are less, and being able to dump out your creatures whenever you want for free (and thus drawing cards whenever you want to bring out more flashable walls) is so powerful and versatile, and it makes the deck a bit less linear. Unfortunately it's bound to be the most expensive card in an otherwise very budget deck. I've really been enjoying these Elder Dragon techs. Can't wait to see your Chromium build, I cannot decide how to build around this guy. Cycling/madnesss tribal, reanimator, and Voltron all look good but there are too many open-ended options.

[@ameenpirasteh333]

Thank god you mentioned the bit about Rolling Stones. I have been trying to get that point across to people and they don’t seem to understand that it doesn’t work the way they want it to.

[@johngutteridge4735]

I have it in my deck... I watched this video and got a little sad. But then I watched the rest and I was fine 🤗

[@pauldyson8098]

I love that you eschew things like LIving Wall and Rolling Stones (and I love your reasoning for doing so).

[@kylesavage4525]

I love this deck tech. I would definitely add a Gift of Immortality since despite the abundance of Arcades-like effects in the deck it would be better to just keep him around. A crackling doom right after we declare attackers would be kinda devastating for us especially if we go the more controlly strategy which means that we are supposed to attack only a few times throughout a game with multiple creatures. Something for people to note is that the aggro version of this deck needs much more mana ramp than the control version since u will need to play many creatures and attack right away. it's a tribal deck. You will get enough card draw from the commander's draw ability but in order for u to actually cast many spells and ''go off'' early enough u will need lots of ramp as well. On the other hand, the control version seems to me (personal & untested opinion) that is weaker to decks that don't win by attacking or when they attack they are unblockable etc since having plenty of defenders to prevent attacks against you doesn't mean much to them. So if you're facing many of this kind of decks pack some more removal and counters. These should do the trick.

[@20chanic]

Found you through Dev from SBMTG. Great content, glad I came a crossed these deck techs.

[@JumboCommander]

Did Dev give me a shoutout?!?!? I love that guy. He's part of the TCGplayer.com family and I'm sad to say I have never met him. I just want to hang out with him.

[@wavingatfat9650]

One might say this deck will... WALLop the other players. I'll see myself out

[@Arcdemon44]

Other side of the wall for you

[@lordofbears9463]

Wavingatfat no stop it

[@JumboCommander]

Quoted you on my twitter post, had to do it, it was too good

[@wavingatfat9650]

Jumbo Commander hey, you are the hero/ content creator here. I just make puns about it. Keep at it mate

[@elijahmthompson2313]

I totally agree with the redundant effects section.

[@lordofthemound3890]

Elijah M Thompson It needs High Alert too.

[@xaldrortenderofthevats8948]

BUILD THE WALL BUILD THE WALL MAKE BOLAS PAY FOR IT.

[@draxthemsklonst]

Nicol Bolas is an anagram of B Colonials. British. Just saying.

[@Doombot2point0]

I think one of the best parts about Arcades as a commander is that a wall tribal or something similar is stupid cheap to build. You can build a beast version of him for like $150-$75. It's awesome lol I opened him at prerelease so I'm going to build him ASAP since he's so cheap and I was super interested from his spoil! Thanks for the deck techs DJ!

[@xBakesale]

Forgot a great card to return everything to your (and your opponents) hand. "Thing in the Ice", could be a great card here. Also Mentor of the Meek for even more card draw. Also Kaalia of the Vast deck tech please. Your videos are the best!

[@Miztickow]

Almost everyone is ignoring Brago, but he's amazing in this deck.

[@JumboCommander]

Someone else mentioned Brago! He's solid. I went the flicker with spells route. FAR less efficient but they double as commander protection and I think we really need a lot of that.

[@catoticneutral]

perhaps.

[@ericwilliamson5548]

Great video! Definitely building Arcades, love being able to pull out some of those old walls that were excellent jank back in the day! Thanks for all you do, good sir! 🤘😁🤘

[@jakedubiel8483]

Just wanna say this so people know, on the card savage punch surreal dragoncaller the khan of temur is punching a bear , temur hunts in an area called qal-sama so it's most likely goreclaw the terror of qal-sama is the bear surrak punched

[@erchenlu5787]

Another amazing video DJ! I wasn't really into this deck before I saw your video but now I'm so hyped.

[@supers0n1cb00m]

God I love your videos. I pulled a tree of redemption a few months ago and completely forgot about it! Gonna go start building this now thank you so much!

[@walkthebassline]

Love this! Ever since I first saw this new version of Arcades I've been interested in using him as a Commander!

[@Rangersly]

Yes!!! This is the Commander I'm working on right now.

[@FalseOracle617]

I can't wait to see and hear what you have to say about the C18 precons. They all look pretty damn cool. And you kinda got me into Magic as heavily as I am now.

[@carsonbetancourt217]

I have to say, I built this deck and its super fun. Its not like one of those decks were you get a infinite combo and just ruin the game for everyone. That stuff is annoying.

[@lijahh1846]

This is very similar to how I built my Arcades deck. The big things that were missing that are in my deck are the infinite mana combos with Pimmin's Aura/Freed from the Real/Umbral Mantle and Axebane Guardian that snowball into win conditions with a Walking Ballista or Viridian Longbow. I also play the long game with Verdant Sun's Avatar/Angelic Chorus/Proper Burial for life gain equal to toughness and laser beam people to death with Aetherflux Reservoir.

[@AffinityForCommander]

I love quirky commanders like this! Great video!

[@thomasstevens7728]

Affinity For Commander u playin it tonight?

[@AffinityForCommander]

You know it!

[@thomasstevens7728]

Might bring storm but atm i dont know if im gonna go

[@TheOtherAngle]

Conclave's Blessing on Arcades + Suspicious Bookcase and plenty of your creatures out = Win.

[@jtizzle450]

This is a great list, unfortunately someone in my playgroup had a Doran and immediately put together this after pulling one at the pre-release but I'm super glad you included panharmonicon here...the value is absolutely insane...Also panharmonicon seems great for Vaevictus as well if you include creatures to abuse ETBs!

[@karolmanecki6575]

You can also add Belligerent Brontodon as your lieutenant and Brago, King Eternal to bounce your walls

[@GuiEuripedes]

Walls can't attack if you count only with brontodon

[@ArchdemonMack]

I know it's janky as hell, but i love running sprouting phyrohydra in this deck

[@robinmarks4771]

One card you didn't mention that I think is essential (and is in my Arcades deck) is Brago. Eerie Interlude is superb, but you know what's better? - bouncing all of your walls during every one of your turns.

[@Vivicakes101]

Brago, Mnemonic Wall, Time Warp. That is all. Great with Angelic Chorus as well.

[@peniasd]

Hi !! Great job with the decktechs. I've been playingtesting your nicol bolas list and it was awesome! Would it be too much to ask that you edit your previous videos with the decklists? That would make playtesting really smooth. Thanks again and congratz on a great channel and on your work at the command zone as well.

[@ensigndan]

I pulled this Commander and fell in love. I don't have the money to build this though

[@stuntfumbler]

This deck is so terrifying. Four drop 13/13, no shortage of one drop 6/6s, and if you're scrambling to get Arcades back online you still have this massive, impenetrable defensive network that makes it unlikely you'll ever have to commit to anything.

[@Juppe123]

Amazin tech, DJ! Just gonna throw it together this WE and hopefully crush some faces with my Walls :D

[@buddadragonmtg4848]

I enjoy ur videos alot. Watching this gave me some other off the wall ideas for my deck. Though I have an alt win. Self mill with lab maniac .

[@andersrolig]

Thank you for this awsome deck DJ, and many before them. After watching the Nicol-Bolas video I actually made a Vivictis Asmadi deck(or Prossh, Darigaaz... depends on my mood), But I used lot of the red and black cards from the Bolas deck, and then Green for manaramp. Turned out as a nice 75 dollar budged deck. Mostly just consisting of things I traded for. I hope you do Chromium next. :)

[@Tweedlefuzz]

DJ love the deck. I think you forgot to tag the link in the description though. Thanks!

[@wingnut2292]

I'm thinking of building a Standard Arcades deck and having my redundancy be the old Turbo Fog deck type (draw engine, the green staple Fog/negate combat damage this turn, a commitment to defense, and graveyard to library recursion so we can replay our Fogs) powered by Mentor of the Meek as our draw engine. (Arcades is vulnerable, so I'd keep him in hand until you need him. Actually, depending on your rival, I may sideboard 2 Arcades if the Turbo Fog tactics seem to be working better.) Turbo Fogs typically run Millstone to speed up the deck-out win, and Icy Manipulator for lockdown. With our graveyard recursion we could exploit some sagas again and again. Beyond that, can you offer any advice? I have a rought idea of this deck but I'm having touble nailing down specifics.

[@kennethalsdorf1476]

Personally, I built mine as more of a prison deck, with plan a being super friends, especially liking the idea of getting Tamiyo, Field Researcher to ultimate and drawing my entire deck. Plan b of course though is Tetsuko and Sidar. This commander can do all sorts of fun stuff.

[@UnionOfTechno]

Great video!!! Could you consider doing a clue deck tech? It's a under utilized concept that I think could be very interesting!

[@mattfenner7824]

I know it’s a bit late, since another set has already come out, but I’d love to see your take on Tatyova, Benthic Druid. It’s a pretty powerful effect and really free to take it in any direction you want to.

[@johngutteridge4735]

One of the things he missed (purposefully I imagine) was a couple of sweet combos. Axebane, wall of kelp, and intruder alarm is infinite draw and tokens. And cloudstone curio and Aluren is also infinite draw. It’s hard to pull off but it’s fun

[@santuli_91]

I've been brewing with this deck and been playing around with the idea of forcing opponents to attack into my walls. Especially with so many walls out there that do cool stuff when they block. In theory, they're awesome, but no one will willingly attack into them. So I'm looking into cards like Alluring Siren and Gideon Jura or even Bident of Thassa that force opposing creatures to attack you (or others). But it is kinda hard without red. Still, I've been finding some nifty, janky, out there cards for this

[@Troommate]

Sorry but Bye Doran its nothing personal XD

[@AhranMaoDante]

I went with a more pillowfort hell/aggro path; letting you swing big while minimizing attacks towards you.

[@michaeldehoyos6004]

Jesus I've been waiting for this video since he came out

[@giovanniguzman1852]

Awesome video. I'm surprised you don't have rite of replication, or intruder alarm in the list.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

OMG Shield Sphere and Wall of kelp, I got 4 walls of kelp for like 1$ back in the day and shield sphere for 10 cents, like last year. I think I will remake my Kynios and Tiros deck with Arcades in it, group hugs behind the walls, than red adds double damage effects for one fell swoop ''Shaka, When the walls fell''!

[@christianwissinger3688]

Hey I know you're probably done with battlebond decks, but I really enjoyed the commander pairs... any chance you could do one more? I liked the dragon knight pair a lot

[@ameenpirasteh333]

Also with the flicker stuff, you can add angelic chorus and verdant suns avatar to gain a crap ton of life when your creatures come into play. You also have the ability to chain a lot of creatures in one turn, so aetherflux reservoir works well here too. And if you go that route, alhammarets archive is an excellent addition for life gain and card draw.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Great ideas, Paradoxical Outcome would be great also to draw cards and replay the cheap ass walls again:P

[@ameenpirasteh333]

Mr. Mammuthus Africanavus I also considered going actual wall tribal to include cards like urzas incubator, and kindred discovery/summons. The incubator can let you play a bunch of walls for free since there are a good amount of colorless walls

[@almightyfireduck1135]

Awesome value engine, I love commander decks like these

[@theRealTyanStrategy]

I think brago and sight of the scalelords is great in this deck

[@TheWoolyninja4]

@ jumbo commander So are all walls inherently defenders or do walls without the defender text not combo with arcades? I had thought they didn't but from this video it sounds like they do.

[@penumbrallotus175]

I love this deck! I've been thinking of building it since it was spoiled. Have you ever thought of doing a Ghave deck?

[@Randomsome1]

If you want to go in a super controlling route I would suggest to try a Super Friends Subtheme. If you give your walls mass vigilance, you can play aggressive and defensive and have everyone hate you.

[@Nova-sb7vf]

I made a personal version of this commander Its so funny to play against others because they underestimate arcades but they realise he's op

[@thepineappleyempireofsuper9612]

First-strike might be a problem, as a first-strike creature effectively acts a temporary -X/-X. May I suggest the white Archetype that takes all first-strike? Edit: IGNORE THE PREVIOUS TEXT, IT IS NOT TRUE.

[@thepineappleyempireofsuper9612]

Also buffs walls as well so...

[@JumboCommander]

I'm a little confused. Damage, including first strike damage, does not reduce the toughness on creatures. It does "mark damage" on the creature but it will not act as a -X/-X.

[@thepineappleyempireofsuper9612]

Jumbo Commander assume your opponent has a 5/4 first-strike, and you have an 0/8 defender with arcades out. You attack with the defender, your opponent blocks with his 5/4 first-strike, first-strike damage happens first reducing your wall to a 0/3 for the time being, your wall now deals it's toughness as damage, currently 3, leaving the opposing creature at 5/1 until the end of the turn. In hindsight -X/-X isn't the best way to put it as it does not get around indestructible, more like, -X/-0 and deal X Damage.

[@hablasetacobell]

The Pineappley Empire Of Super Ultimate Pineapples no. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

[@thepineappleyempireofsuper9612]

How so?

[@robogent2025]

I would also add a wall of junk, it allows you to draw a card after each time you attacking with it. Also I would add perimeter captain it allows you to gain life every time you attack with a defender

[@patchestheshark]

I finished my build on this Deck but I think Brago and Psycosis Crawler are musts. Since you tend to have a full hand when playing arcades.

[@Liam_the_Wanderer_Bard]

High alert is a must-add for Redundancy!

[@undeaddueler13]

how often do you get complimented on your intro, cause it always just makes me happy when i hear it lol

[@TheBalogna7]

I see your point in the redundant effect section, but I counter with Belligerent Brontodon. Obviously Arcades is Plan A and Assault formation is Plan B, but what happens when those fail? By combining Belligerent Brontdon with Rolling Stones (or the Gargoyle) you can cobble together a Plan C as a last resort. Also, Temur Sabertooth, Sun Titan, and Teshar Ancestor's Apostle (in the right build) are very strong with Arcades since most of the creatures have low CMC.

[@JumboCommander]

I like the rebuilding plan a little better since you can get value even if you have Arcades online.

[@TheBalogna7]

That is a valid point, and the more I play test my list I find that I often prefer to just recast Arcades over using Brontodon+Rolling Stones (even if they are both in hand). Alright I am on board with the no Rolling Stones argument haha.

[@Arcdemon44]

Converted my five color Ramos wall deck into Bant just for him, so far my home brewed deck is pretty darn silly and good. I included Brago in my deck for the silly extra draw each turn with attacking walls, and Aluren for the free wall casts. Primal Rage is also a good include or sideboard, 1 and a green to give your walls trample.

[@JumboCommander]

Good calls on Brago! There are some good walls in other colors but Arcades is just such a solid commander we can't lose.

[@Arcdemon44]

If you are feeling really cheeky you could add Colossus of Akros for those insane swings.

[@florencemachine2010]

That background song makes me think of lazy eye by silversun pickups.

[@worldthroughabucket]

Eerie Interlude is a nice include. I'll give that a shot.

[@noahparsons454]

From the magic board TO THE WALL

[@asmodean7239]

I am building that commander right now and I enjoy it so much!!! And here is your video!) 10000000001 likes!!!

[@nathananderson9052]

Love it. Where's the link? I want to see what walls you used.

[@garrettking1488]

I have a question about the ruling for some "Wall" cards. Some cards say that they are walls such as Shifting Wall "Shifting Wall counts as a Wall. (Walls cannot attack.)" With Arcades can they attack? I noticed in your video Shield Sphere has a different description to the one im finding. The one im seeing says "Counts as a wall". How does this work with Arcades?

[@Sadgrind]

Garrett King Walls printed before the Defender keyword was introduced were errata’d to include Defender. So old Walls like Shifting Wall are able to attack with Arcades’ ability.

[@xBenjiSx]

Speaking of redundancy, it might not be a defender, but it was still surprising there was no mention of Belligerent Brontodon.

[@IronDuke_xX]

Do you think it is viable to have a version that has both aggro and a few combo alt wincons? Great video!!!

[@johngutteridge4735]

I LOOOOOOOVE this commander. New favorite.

[@michaelm5518]

The idea I had was to build a deck that could pivot to a defensive strategy if arcades was repetitively dealt with. Go super friends or approach of the second suns as an alternate way to win

[@urtarsmusicreviews8775]

Dawn returns to the battlefield.

[@warlordskullcrusher1641]

you could run the dino that lets you deal damage equial to touthness as another way of that working. and then run maybe one or two of the defenders that let defenders / walls attack.

[@taylorcampbell4317]

No Geist of Archives!? It goes GREAT with this! It helps control what you get a bit and it's still a nice body for a fair price.

[@BangThatGong]

If none of the commander 2018 commanders sound cool I’m definitely building this

[@gr3ndl3r]

Pillow fort, card draw, and explosive win from nowhere. This deck makes me giggle

[@maryharrell8486]

I just made a commander deck with him as my commander! He's amazing

[@maryharrell8486]

I figured out recently that if you really want to be a thorn in someone's side you can play Hornets nest with gift of immortality xD

[@VocaloidRules101]

Rolling stones is not syngergistic alone in this deck, because they can now attack as though they were not walls however they are not assigning damage as their toughness, instead they are assigning it through power (with most to all of the walls in any arcades deck being 0-1)

[@benstafford8206]

Don't forget vigilance effects are great so you can swing and still have giant blockers Also run Sword of the Paruns/Freed From the Real to get infinite mana with Axebane or Overgrown

[@f-alesaiyan4429]

Ben Stafford For vigilance you can put Heliod

[@benstafford8206]

Absolutely! Added to my deck a few weeks ago! Also it's a decent infinite mana outlet for Freed/Paruns. I added Nylea for similar reasons

[@f-alesaiyan4429]

Ben Stafford That’s what I will do with nylea, and what do you think about sun Titan

[@benstafford8206]

A great include, especially if you plan to abuse ETB triggers with blink effects and such.

[@brianpraamsma2607]

Took me longer than I would like to admit to find this but I like Sentinel in this deck even though it doesn't draw a card.

[@beastini2289]

High Alert is a good redundancy card that also has potential to allow you to go infinite mana with Axebane Guardian

[@cereal2373]

0:22 Hey! I have one of these plains in the background :D

[@luiscordoba8300]

Why is it that every Arcades build I see lacks Dragon Throne of Tarkir?

[@cablebeck4940]

Something I thought of that could be a fun late game combo: Deadeye Navigator + Reveillark

[@JumboCommander]

I think I should have added deadeye. I often leave him out because he's kinda too good sometimes but it seems to fit here. Good call.

[@cablebeck4940]

With all the benefits of entering the battlefield between Arcades and all the other creatures, he just fits the theme too well for me to not at least mention.

[@jarredtrouve4847]

any chance you can do a video on the ezuri claw of progress deck you talked about on the command zone?

[@IceroySnowpaw]

forgive me since i haven't played back then but, is wall of kelp...a defender? as it doesn't say it on the card, nor does it say that for the token...it doesn't even say wall of kelp cannot attack. Just wondering.

[@JumboCommander]

Good Question! All "Wall" creature types were errrataed with defender.

[@snakeman830]

Needs Sprouting Phytohydra. Only 2 toughness, but impossible at best to get rid of via damage (including infect/wither). Be aggressive with them in combat and Arcades will net you a ton of card draw.

[@damien4cisnerosdc]

I have this exact deck. So far it is undefeated. But there are quite a few Defenders that I didn't think of for this deck. Mm thinking. ;)

[@2Infinit2]

So, if I have an old wall, that doesn't have defender on the card, it's not applicable? That confuses me a bit.

[@Sadgrind]

Benny old Walls were errata’d to have Defender added to their oracle text, so Arcades’ effect is applicable.

[@TheWCstudios]

The kelp tokens don't trigger Arcades. Arcades allows you to draw from creatures with defender. If it's a wall without defender, it won't work. Unless I'm missing something.

[@xSnappsx]

Willz all walls have defender.

[@NinchuRevenge3]

Making one myself and calling it "Make Magic Great Again"

[@tacticalbutter4574]

Mine gets called this and Trump without me even saying anything but I don't care what they call it. It's always the great walls of *china*

[@Reggaetonaldo]

Tree of Redemption is no longer useless? What world am I living in now?

[@fabianbock5691]

Hehe yeah. That card is having the time of its life in this deck :D

[@DoomStarRequiem]

Tree of Redemption is your Emrakul in this deck.. This is my second edh deck and it's just sooo good. I never get bored with it

[@dinonicle97]

I'm very glad you removed that earraping music in the beginning of your videos. It distracted me everytime I listened to it.

[@JumboCommander]

I'll change the music every set ... so maybe I'll bring it back!?!?!?! Honestly, I just want something in the background to cover up the sound of my dog loudly gnawing on her paws.

[@DriedRoast]

Question for Jumbo Commander, or anyone else who's played this build: does this deck have enough answers for creatures with flying?

[@hulkingelf4957]

dont forget an akromas momorial so you can get haste for infinite 3 card combo with menemic wall, haxbane gaurdian and ghostly flicker

[@wolfie766]

Arcades vs Doran..which one is the better big butt commander?

[@lepromisedmonke7012]

Try clone legion in this. Imagine drawing 10 cards and getting 10 extra huge defenders or, in worst case scenario, using it to copy someone's board. Also, I would run protection like swiftfoot, avacyn's mask, and lightning greaves just because of how important he is