The imagery that comes with this, it mortifies me. Imagine being a humble 2/1 soldier, just marching one. You're pretty strong and you know your commander is reliable, so you think all is well. You might not even have to fight anyone, really. But then you hear it. Flight of The Valkyries. It plays in the distance, slowly getting louder and louder *and then you see it.* A flying wall. _The_ flying wall, for all you know. The end is nigh, as you see dozens of walls of all shapes and sizes hurdling at you with incomprehensible speed. Your commander is nowhere to be seen, the God-Wizard in the sky is raging with immense but inexplicably whiny rage. It's all going dark, not from fading consciousness but the shadows.
In the reasonable upgrades, I reccomend Meekstone. Its a 1 mana artifact that creatures with power 3 or greater don’t untap during the untap step. Since most defenders have 0 power and arcades has vigilance, its a reall good card in the deck and its realitivly cheap at around $4
Definitely do more videos where you don’t include the commander in the cost because there are people who want to play that commander regardless of the cost of getting it. They just don’t have a big budget for the other 99 at the moment.
Great list, since this is defender tribal though. I think it's probably worth mentioning the Axebane Guardian/Freed from the Real combo, that lets you generate infinite mana with only two creatures out. Freed from the Real is only $0.25 right now, so I'm surprised it didn't make the cut. Keep it up my dude!
Totally fair! Freed from the Real, Galvanic Alchemist, Pemmin's Aura, and Sword of the Paruns (to name a few) were all considered in the deck. I think though without having this deck built with a lot of tutors (Drift of Phantasms would be a great include), it would be hard to pull the combo off. Depends on how you like to play though! If you wan't the combo then go for it!
I've been looking around at MTG stuff for about a year now, this is probably going to be the first paper deck I'll put together. I love the concept of big walls being beefy attackers.
honestly man just wanted to say that your vids are so helpful in making decking building so fun and affordable. Lately i've been tired of paying huge prices for some of the decks i've made in the past but now i've been getting back into it since having a budget like this is fun and not to mention i work in canadian currency, so it's a bigger plus that's it's just at 25$ range. Thank you so much
Also for further support I'd recommend Brave the Sands - with this enchantment we can attack and still hide behind huge walls. And maybe for more comeback ability I'd consider Dusk/Dawn - first part might destroy Arcades but when he's not around it's just pure value and Dawn part works as Return to the Ranks with set cost of 5. For protection Heroic Intervention and some counterspells might do the trick (at least in my meta do). For mana base I'd probably think about Reliquary Tower because it's reasonably cheap nowadays. And finally thanks for this great deck tech - dividing deck into 10 strategies and explaining every card is something I was really looking for.
I run 35 creatures in my deck. This gave me room for a few more spells I could use for a variety of situations. I've ended up winning several times at my LGS over the past few weeks.
Great video, as always. I was wondering if you might consider adding on to the reasonable upgrades portion and suggesting like a "first out" section detailing the cards you might consider cutting first when upgrading.
That's a great thought! When I can, i do try to mention cards that are direct upgrades, but depending on your playstyle, some cards that I might take out might not be the same ones that you take out. So I am hesitant to say that these are the cards that you should take out for the more expensive cards, if that makes sense
@@TheCommandersQuarters Totally makes sense! I was thinking less of a list of specific upgrades, but more of a "these cards are generally just weaker than the rest of the deck". Because it is budget it might be helpful in a guide like this to know which cards are less desirable from a power level perspective. Thanks for the content!
Definitely agree. I think we need more decks where the commander isn't included in the cost I have arcades pulled from a pack during league. I have a ton of commanders I pulled from random packs so to build a deck with 25$ is amazing.
I know I'm late to the show, but a great card is Brago, he isn't a beater, but due to bouncing he gives the walls pseudovigilance, and on top of that draws you 5+ cards each time he hits. Even better when you can bounce Mnemonic wall to cast Time Warp again and again.
This was my first one of your videos, and I'm not HOOKED on the channel. Been using it as an entry point to everyone I know who's interested in playing Commander!
How about Krupix as an upgrade. He allows you to hold onto extra mana for later and has the no maximum hand-size clause. Also, Reliquary Tower is great when drawing lots of cards. Hornet Nest, Slagworm armor, Wall of Shards
I actually took this deck, and made it into a wall/control deck, i put in Dovin, Architect of Law, as well as quite a few removal spells and counter spells. All in all it increased the price to about $45 but it's so much fun and is really annoying to play against.
Sounds like a fun deck as long as you have access to your commander would recommend the boots and whispersilk cloak , if it is stolen, or put under a Song of the Dryads/Darksteel Mutation/etc could be hard to win with just defender creatures.
I am about to begin playing EDH and your channel is helping me out a lot. Many of interesting ideas! I'm almost 100% sure that this deck right here will be my first (if ever) deck for Commander
A couple cards i love in this deck; 1) high alert: give you the same effect as your commander and allows you to untap a target creature which goes well with..... 2) tree of redemption: this is a 0/13 for 3 and a green that allows you to swap your life total with it’s toughness. While that is risky early in the game with your one-sided wraths and tetsuko on the board it can help you close out the 1v1 at the end of the game. 3) a few enchantments i like to run as well: serra’s blessing gives all your creatures vigilance for 1 and a white and angelic chorus allows you to gain life equal to the toughness of each of your creatures that ETB, which also works well with tree of redemption.
This was a Much better to format this type of video. Deciding to remove the commander from the price hold. One thing that I would recommend doing though is when your going through your "reasonable upgrades" bit, telling us what you'd swap out for each upgrade wouldn't be a bad idea
Definitely hear you on that! Only thing is that adjustments to the decks really do depend on your playstyle and meta. So my recommendation is to try things out as is, and then make adjustments based on what you like and dislike.
Thanks for the deck! I used to play Arcades defender on arena and it was really fun! The thought of being able to get Arcades at any time because he's your commander is crazy.
I converted my Abzan Doran defenders into Arcades once he came out and the deck is a ton of fun that surprises people constantly. Best thing I would recommend is getting protection for Arcades. It really hurts if he gets removed and you want to minimize commander tax. Lightning greaves or Swiftfoot boots are great for him or any high toughness wall you want to keep alive. Mystic Veil is also a dirt cheap enchant that gives shroud and can be instant cast as an emergancy. I've put a decent amount of money into upgrades and Arcades can give high tier decks a run for their money at times.
I like the flavor of Arcades. At first I was imagining animated walls like the original spell that allows a wall to attack. Wasn't too excited about that to be honest. Instead however, based on the picture and his name rather than just the rules text, that's changed. I now imagine Arcades using his walls/defenders in strategic ways that are provoking and forcing his opponent to come bring the battle to him, thus giving his defence the edge they get as represented in the form of damage via toughness. Cool ideas for a basic deck! I'm excited to build one out and finally give the old school Glyph spells a proper home!
This channel is great! Since I don't have much money to spend on Magic, having access to such strong decks in a non-rotating format for so little money is just what I need! Might I request Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and The Scarab God as commander-excluded decks?
Dude I just started watching your builds and I love them this one I want to build probably with a few of upgrades you mentioned. Great work dude keep it up.
@@TheCommandersQuarters I just subbed and joined the patron at the 5 dollar tier. I really like what you're doing and look forward to the future of your channel. I'm getting into the discord immediately because that sounds like a fun place to chat with like minded individuals. Cheers!
hey the deck is amazing! i was looking for something fun and cheap that still had power behind it. One thing i would add, it would be in the non budget section, would be a Sun Titan, for returning 2 creatures to play whenever it enters play or attacks, it can return Arcades if you decide to put it into the graveyard or just any 2 walls that have fallen :)
Noetic Scales is a peculiar include but I like since it lets me cast more walls and disrupts boards that get to tall, too fast. Noetic Scales Mana Cost: 4 Types: Artifact Card Text: At the beginning of each player's upkeep, return to its owner's hand each creature that player controls with power greater than the number of cards in their hand.
holy shit. a budget commander deck that actually fits my playstyle. i might go back to mtg and try out edh just build this deck and i even have some of the pieces here. oh my god
Definitely considered it! Problem is, it's only a 2/2 in this deck. And with this deck you want to be the aggressor so you want bigger walls. Also, it can die to anything outside of combat damage.
Valid point, since even though it doesn't die from blocking, it's still in Bolt and even Shock range, so even though it needs to be removed, there's VERY cheap removal that opponents definetely wouldn't mind using on it.
One could consider fog bank as an option at only 24 cents it fits the theme. It is not as big at 0/2 but it can't be destroyed by combat damage making it a wonderful blocker.
Tree of redemption would be nice, it's a 0/13 that you can tap it and exchange your life total with its defense. It costs one green and 3 of any other color. So yeah, if you have the one blue rouge that makes all your defenders unlockable, you can basically one shot anyone. But it is risky
I basically made this deck since I pulled an arcades, was surprised at how lethal it could get. My minor changes were to make enchantments matter a sub focus, and throw in 'Thasas Ire' for infinite Mana shennanagins.
Man, I just bought the cards to do the Sram deck, now you show me this... Amazing deck! Maybe the next one I will do. I think maybe some indestructible enchantments/aura/equipments to arcades maybe be good in this deck
I would add Laboratory Maniac, Freed From the Reel and Drift of Phantasms, personally. Deck looks super fun! Think you could do one of Teysa, Orzhov Scion next? :D
I think that vigilance is a fairly important keyword for defenders, especially when they can attack, because it still lets you block well against aggressive decks. Thus I think Brave the Sands from Tarkir is a good card because it doubles your blocking capabilities as well as giving vigilance.
I would include ‘Hold the Gates’ - which gives creatures you control +0/+1 for each gate you control and Vigilance. The vigilance doesn’t depend on gates so it gives you value right away. Also add Gateway plaza in order to add a fourth gate to the mix, which will then tap for any mana.
I love Arcades decks because even if he gets targeted with all the hate, you can still defend yourself with your walls while you wait to recast him, and his cost is pretty reasonable anyway. The downside is that he is pretty much the sole linchpin to make the deck work and if he does get repeatedly targeted, your cantrips and bullying walls are shut down. You do have the backup Assault Formation, but because cantrip commanders are so good, my Jhoira gets hated out so much she usually ends up costing me 12 or 14 mana by the end of the game to bring back out.
With how many cards you draw. I would think about adding a reliquary tower. Or even the new legendary sorcery that let's you draw your hand size +2 and gets rid of max hand size limits.
Great deck...I pulled arcades..two of them to be exact and ur deck list seems competitive already with the heavy amount of synergy. My only inclusion to the deck would be adding lightning greaves, sun Titan, and ascetisim for the added hexproof. Anyways would like to see a budget deck on the new commander 18 product
Another good idea for this series would be a Flip Planeswalker Commander deck, where you exclude the price of the Commander, and could actually up the budget to $30 since you have $15 deck and $25, go for a deck that costs a little bit more
First video of yours I've seen (shared from a friend) and instant subscribed because of your rules! I definitely think you should exclude commanders unless they are way over the budget
Glad you enjoyed it, and thank you friend for me for sharing it! Yeah I think it definitely helps me expand and include more commanders in the deck techs!
Love this deck tech. It reminds me of the Huatli, Sun's Heart Oathbreaker Deck. I think Primal Rage is a good addition to the deck. Your opponents will think twice before blocking your creatures. LOL And Brave the Sands too since it can help you deal with aggro decks.
i'm surprised you did not mention Thassa's Ire at all. it with axe bane gives infinite mana, locks down all oponents, and infinite untaps for cards like doorkeeper
I’ve been thinking of my third deck after I took apart my Zur deck. I was thinking Orzhov but then in hit me to build walls. At least mine won’t cost 5 billion. Lol.
I play Commander walls and I've missed Dusk // Dawn. An incredible card for the deck. I would also add: Marble titan, Fortified area, Rally the Ancestors, Brago King Eternal, feed the pack, reveillark, crashing downbridge, saruli caretaker, triton tactics, wall of runes, high alert, glacial wall, profaner of the Death, mentor of the meek and Brave the sands
It's funny to that one of the most aggressive beatdown decks I've ever seen is literally a brick wall. Where your game plan is to push the wall over on top of them like a domino.
Been watching your vids this morning. I think this is 6th I've watched and is my favorite. I have most these cards. I love treants so I like to play around with cards that take advantage of high defense.
This is got to be a first and actual wall deck that can win a battle 😂 all the old-school players that used to play with walls are like "yes we can win again"
Some of the additions that you have may not work too well with Tetsuko, for instance Sight of the Scalelords, I would consider Belbe's Armor. Something like Abzan Beastmasterwould also work extremely well since odds are high you're going to be running round with the largest toughness creatures. Crenellated Wall, is another amazing wall, as well as Tree of Redemption. Brave the Sands and Primal Rage would also make this deck stupid amazing.
Love it! Did you think about adding the Freed From the Real + Axebane Guardian combo? If you have infinite mana and Arcades you can just dump out a never ending supply of dudes lol
Definitely thought about it! And that's a direction you can go, just think you would need some more tutors to ensure you can get the combo. Also you can use Galvanic Alchemist, Sword of the Paruns, Pemmin's Aura, etc for the same combo with him too!
I'm working on a list for this deck that has a tutor suite with Drift of Phantasms haha. Let's you grab Ghostly Flicker, Slaughter the Strong, Axebane, etc. Speaking of Ghostly Flicker: 10/10 would recommend, it's flexibility cannot be understated :) especially when you can loop it with Mnemonic Wall
I actually wasn't interested in EDH either to start, and then my draft group decided to build some decks and play. Then after my first game with them I was hooked! It's definitely my favorite format that I have ever played in magic, and I hope you have a similar experience!
I think Dusk/Dawn could be mentioned in the upgrades, and I think its price is going down thanks to the upcoming standard rotation! Anyway, great deck tech, you earned a sub.
thats definitely true, but its still better than using a generic wrath effect, since you still keep board advantage with your walls, and only have to recast arcades. Its second effect is also really freaking good if your board gets wrathed by someone else, since you get to return every wall to your hand
I didn’t see a ton of focus on protection for Arcades. Is that not a major concern here? I’d imagine it would be since he’s clearly integral to the deck working. Love the video btw!
@@TheCommandersQuarters I think it would be awesome too, then us viewers can throw out some discussions in the comments about what we would use. You get more participation and one of us might give you an idea you might have missed
I'm not a fan of net decking but I might full on take this beautiful piece of work. I'll sub in some better lands that I have in my collection that are going unused.
I’m surprised kami taproot didn’t get in this list. For green you get a 0/* with defender and reach and it’s toughness is equal to the number of forests you control……… it just gets better with time.
Wakestone Gargoyle is another way to get your defenders swinging without the Commander, for 1W All your defenders can attack. At $0.31 I'm surprised that it wasn't in there to begin with.
@@TheCommandersQuarters so I finally got all the cards for this deck. It's honestly a super fun deck and kinda blew my mind. It hits hard when your commander is out and stalls really well when he's gone until you can bring him back out. Obviously there is always room to improve, a bit more removal and some more moves to react to your oponent is definitely needed, but for a $25 budget it plays really well and gets pretty scary. It's fun to find value in cards that tend to get left out as defender isn't viewed as very strong, but this deck shows the potential of them. Not to mention it feels AMAZING to not have to worry if you can cast a card or not. Just to try it, my first game I kept a hand with only one land and not once did I feel pressed for mana. It was awesome. Thank you for this build!!!
