Arcades, the Strategist: Wall-Ball Combo

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

[mention]ChocoDude[/mention]
The issue with the deck at this point that by adding in defenders you're actively making the deck less consistent for the trade-off of possibly having a better draw late game or some better aggro early/mid game. This is highly dependant on your current meta at the moment with the people you play with:
Are they more slow and calculated?
Is there a combo player that needs to go off early and you could stop?
Is there a major aggro player at the table that's often getting through because you have a lack of walls to defend?
These things could come into the decision to add more or less walls, either for defence or cantrips to be able to defend.

For defenders at this stage I'd look for strictly-betters, think Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Omens over something such as Carven Caryatid. However it is also highly possibly that you will take out something that could really buff the deck for a single wall, that may give you value later on, but far less than the card you already removed.

Something I will say though, if you're running Concordant Crossroads replace it for the new Eldraine Crashing Drawbridge. It's a little slower in what it does due to the effect not being instantly active, but it's also not group huggy, so your opponents cant use it either. I'm thinking a good turn 2/3 play, possibly even turn 4, cantrip, and then throwing down a turn 5 mana dork, (Faeburrow Elder, Axebane Guardian etc.) for that sweet, sweet, hasty value.

ChocoDude wrote: ↑
4 years ago
I see you went with Faeburrow Elder over Shaman of Forgotten Ways and kept Ulvenwald Captive.

Oh and for this? I don't actually have a Shaman of Forgotten Ways, but as soon as I do? Ulvenwald is getting his 1/2 wolfy legs cut to size.

- Moth

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

Yes. My card draw is actually pretty decent already. Unfortunately for me, right now, my meta is one co-worker that usually plays my other Commander decks and sometimes Anje Falkenrath. So, I'm ONLY playing 1 v 1 currently. One time I got to play against two coworkers that also used both of my decks. Arcades won over OG Teysa and Nekusar.

I have limited experience playing Commander as I was away from MTG the last 10 years until last November. I had a bunch of older great cards and Commander seemed awesome for all my bought-a-box-superstar-singletons and it generally seems more diverse. I always had a problem with Standard rotating cards out ($$$$$$).

Anyway, I got Arcades in an M19 box and was HOOKED. I always wanted to make a functional Wall deck and he was it. So, my first of five, and counting, Commander decks. Here's a link to my deck: https://archidekt.com/decks/88701#Arcad ... Ball_Clone It's a clone mostly of Ben's deck idea...value-based creatures and less control like Pufflex's, although I sometimes think about adding in more counters.

I've spent a fair bit of time reading and relearning the game and have discovered that I'm most likely a Vorthos Spike. I guess that's why I like to ask the X vs Y card questions from folks. I'd love to be a Vorthos Johnny and have tapped into my creative side in the past to make some pretty cool decks, including a very effective Boros multiplayer deck back in 1998 - 2003 before EDH really came onto the scene. I had a playgroup of 6 guys that enjoyed playing multiplayer 60-card decks. Great times back then!!! I have kids now, so much less time to play.

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

Oh yeah, I like your addition of Consecrated Sphinx. I was thinking if I had card draw issues it might be a great swap for Duplicant.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

Well we all have our humble beginnings and our time sinks. Personally I was introduced to the game in 2013, while I was still in school. Talked to my father about it and it turned out he used to play it too, before going into the attic and pulling out his set of Mirage cards, I'm talking the original Mirage tutors, Phyrexian Dreadnought, all the crazy Timmy stuff that made my mind go wild.

I ended up buying a Promo Emrakul, the good one, to cap off my Timmy dream, (quite a lot of money to spend on a single card when I was only around 15.)
I'm not too into slapping people with big creatures and not having anything else anymore, but I keep that Emrakul in the sideboard of my Modern Elves deck as a memory.

As for your Wall deck, [mention]ChocoDude[/mention], there's no doubt that it's far superior to mine, you've got all the pieces I wish I had, but I still think that it can be pushed further and be made more competitive. A good start is with that Consecrated Sphinx, but I've learned to use it as spell bait over actually casting it. People do not like when it hits the board and will be trampling over themselves trying to remove it. Play it while you're on the upper hand, prepare to be disappointed when you play it on the lower hand.

I'm gonna be writing up a list of all the combos I've found personally while playtesting so I know exactly what to look and tutor for at all times, just tell me if you'd like it once it's done, I'm sure it might help you all too.

- Moth

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

I'd definitely welcome a combo write-up! That would be much appreciated! I do sometimes freeze when I have a tutor in hand wondering which card to grab. It's definitely NOT an instantaneous thought for me...yet?

I'm probably your dad's age then and that's why I have several decent cards (mostly sitting in the closet the last ten years) including a few of the Mirage tutors. My friends and I bought several of them from our LGS from their $1 rares box back when we were in university. Lucky us!

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

By the way, I really enjoy selling/"trading" cards on Cardsphere. That's how I've managed to flesh out my five Commander decks so far without spending a lot of money. One man's trash...

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

Combo Type: Infinite Various.

Control an Intruder Alarm, Cloudstone Curio and various mana dorks as well as any two creatures that can be easily and cheaply returned to the battlefield, one in hand.

1: Tap your dorks for mana.
2: Play your cheap creature.
3: Return your other cheap creature to hand.
4: As per Intruder Alarm's effect, untap all your creatures.
5: Repeat.

Moth's Insight

- Simple and powerful. Make sure you definitely can add up all that mana, as getting infinite ETB triggers does feel far better when your pool is also filling up as well.

If anything else comes to mind, or anyone has anything to add, I will gladly update this list.

TUTOR PLAY

Highly dependant on what you have at any specific time, so I'll be writing that down thusly.

Wargate

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The most versatile of all the tutors you have in the deck, alas I don't really have much to say about it other than that!

If you have a Cloudstone Curio out, grab an Aluren. Make sure you have a creature to play or a creature in potentia, such as through Wall of Kelp.
And vice versa, if you have an Aluren out, grab a Curio.

This card is a godsend for any part of the game, refer to the combo list above to see what you need to grab, then go get it.

Eladamri's Call

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Grabbing any creature you like to your hand is very powerful indeed, doing that on someone's end step is even more so!

You want to be using this to grab an Axebane Guardian or some other creature based combo piece in your pile, such as Wall of Kelp, Temur Sabertooth and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician. Don't be scared to find something less powerful either, such as a Shield Sphere, sometimes it's all you need to make up the infinite mana and combo off.

Transmute Tutors

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This is detailing the two cards Muddle the Mixture and Drift of Phantasms.

Muddle should be used to grab either Eladamri's Call, Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal given your state of the game. But it can also be used to grab Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive for a devastating swing, if need be.
You can also use Muddle to grab a Pull from Tomorrow if you find yourself with infinite mana and wish to draw your deck in one swoop.

Drift can be used to grab various combo pieces, such as Axebane Guardian, Cloudstone Curio and Intruder Alarm. Importantly, you can also use Drift to find a Wargate, a tutor-chain which can then grab whatever you want.

Shared Summons

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Similar to Eladamri's Call, but slightly more advanced.

Use this to grab multiple combo pieces at a time. My personal favourite pair is Temur Sabertooth and Shield Sphere, a dastardly duo given you have the mana to maintain the bounce effects.

I've tried my best to compile all the information in a pleasant way, and I hope this is a great help to everyone who needs it!

- Moth

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

That's great!! Super helpful Moth. Thank you! I especially appreciate the tutoring ideas.

pufflex · Post by **pufflex** » 4 years ago

Those are some nice combos moth. Sorry for the late reply moth, I found that finale of devastation was mana drain fodder and caused me to tap down my a decent amount of lands in my deck. As you can tell my deck is more control heavy so I value the Instant speed chord over the finale.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

pufflex wrote: ↑
4 years ago
Those are some nice combos moth. Sorry for the late reply moth, I found that finale of devastation was mana drain fodder and caused me to tap down my a decent amount of lands in my deck. As you can tell my deck is more control heavy so I value the Instant speed chord over the finale.

I don't actually use either, but I'm looking for a Chord due to the Axebane/Faeburrow/Drawbridge potential.
Being more control heavy might be a plausible end goal for the deck, as my build is much more combo focused.
Also I'm thinking of writing a sort of 'Payoffs' thing to cap off my combo list, just so people know exactly what to do with all their extra mana and card draw. Does that sound like something that would be wanted?

- Moth

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

[mention]Moth[/mention] I think adding a Payoffs sections would benefit many of the current and future Arcades players on this site as well as strengthen your combo section.

[mention]pufflex[/mention] Yeah, I've debated between the two re: instant speed and convoke versus the added graveyard recursion. I've often thought that Chord is cheaper (with convoke) and faster. I flip-flop a lot on that one. I had both in there and took out Chord mostly because I wanted to test out the "new and shiny" Finale, but I'm leaning back towards the Chord of late. I just haven't pulled the trigger.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

PAYOFFS

So you think you're cool do ya? You think that infinite mana is gonna help you win? You better know where to put it!
I'll be sorting this section by the various infinite types you can go off with.

Infinite Lifegain

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When it comes to Magic, lifegain is particularly weak, but the deck has a way to gain as much as it as you like, so you might as well go wild.

The single way I can think of doing this in the current deck is having an operational mana and flicker engine, say something such as Axebane Guardian, Cloudstone Curio, Intruder Alarm and a veritable amount of little guys to flicker over and over.
Then find the card Knight of Autumn, and flicker that instead, activating the second mode over and over to clear the board of opposing artifacts and enchantments, before then activating the third mode over and over to gain infinite life.

Infinite Draw

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When it comes to Magic, drawing cards is particularly weak.
Did I say weak?
I meant it's the literal number one strongest thing you can do. We can do it in many ways!

One of the ways is with an operational mana and flicker engine, say something such as Axebane Guardian, Cloudstone Curio, Intruder Alarm and a variable amount of little guys to flicker over and over.
Our General can help us here, Arcades, the Strategist. Notice that I didn't talk about him at all in my combo list, that is because most of the combos in the deck can be performed without our General even being on the battlefield at all, which seems pretty important to me in a format where Swords to Plowshares is legal.

As long as the card you're repeatedly flickering is a defender, every time you cycle it for more mana and ETB effects, you'll draw a card through Arcades.
This effect can be doubled up by using cards that actively draw you more cards, like Wall of Omens and Wall of Blossoms.
This effect can be tripled up by running out a Mentor of the Meek and using your infinite mana to activate its ability each time you flick a wall.
Every other effect such as on Beck // Call or Guardian Project can amp up your card draw even further, leading you to the win.

You don't even need the flickering as long as you're running a mainboard Pull from Tomorrow, easily grabbed out of the deck by Muddle the Mixture, and slamming all your mana into it with a mighty fervour for a massive draw.
(By the way, a good card to discard is Dusk // Dawn, and then immediately flashing/aftermathing it back to recur everything back to your hand from your GY and cast it all with your infinite mana.)

WARNING: Arcades is NOT a 'may' ability. You WILL draw a card if you play another defender.
If this leads you to milling yourself out, I cannot be held personally accountable. (I signed the papers!)
Be careful, hold up a removal spell if need be, and make sure you don't overdraw.

Infinite Mill

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Finally, a way to win.

Use a mana and flicker engine, such as Axebane Guardian, Cloudstone Curio, Intruder Alarm and an amount of cheap slave labour.
Then find a Wall of Lost Thoughts to flicker and make each of your opponents mill out without being able to stop you. They will all subsequently die on their respective draw steps.
Very cool!

Infinite Recursion

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Again, you're gonna need a mana and flicker engine already set up, may I suggest something such as Axebane Guardian, Cloudstone Curio, Intruder Alarm and seeing as nobody is reading this, Chimney Imp > Storm Crow.

Use this engine to flicker a card such as Mnemonic Wall or Eternal Witness, this way you can use your infinite mana to cast your spell, immediately flicker it back to your hand, and cast it again.
A personal favorite of mine I call The Washout.
Infinitely recur a Beast Within to turn all your opponents permanents into 3/3 beasts, then roll a Tsunami-sized Overloaded Cyclonic Rift their way, exiling all their beasts and leaving them with nothing on board!

Infinite Damage

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Just play Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive or something, I don't know.

Don't forget to flicker with your Alarm''s Intruder, Baneesway Gauardsian and Cloutstne Carier.

- Moth

pufflex · Post by **pufflex** » 4 years ago

If you guys want I can roll those into the Primer as contributed by the arcades community.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

[mention]pufflex[/mention]
Slam 'em in, I don't mind. Some of them are already in there though, and also I'd like to ask for personal credit for my own additions.

- Moth

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

New Combo - KelpScepter Bane

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KelpScepter Bane

Combo Type: Infinite Mana and Defender Tokens.

Control an Axebane Guardian, Wall of Kelp and Isochron Scepter, imprinted on the Scepter should be a Dramatic Reversal, and at least 2 other defenders.

1: Tap Axebane Guardian and add 2 Blue mana and 2 mana of any other colour.
2: Tap Wall of Kelp and make a 0/1 Kelp defender token.
3: Tap Isochron Scepter and untap all your nonland permanents.
4: Repeat, netting exponential mana each time.

Moth's Insight

- Functionally identical to the KelpBane Alarm combo, just another way to pull it off and fill your board with defenders.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

[mention]pufflex[/mention]
[mention]ChocoDude[/mention]

This is very controversial, but with all these mana dorks in the library and all the mana that can be made, would it be beneficial to run a single, unassuming Armageddon in the list?

- Moth

pufflex · Post by **pufflex** » 4 years ago

You could but it would be super greedy IMO. Granted people wouldn't see it coming at all. I added your combos and explainations in my second "community input" post. Thanks again for being a contributing part of the arcades community

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

Agreed. Might really anger the table, but since it's not your theme they probably wouldn't complain much if you could finish the game quickly after that. Aluren on the board would help out as well. I think you try it out!. I'd love to hear how your opponents respond to it.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

I'm very tempted to cut Mentor of the Meek, it just never performs well enough in my games to have any decent showing in the deck, and could be swapped out for something cooler and possibly even cheaper CMC wise.
Which brings me to the point, have you two seen decent play from the card?
Should I be cutting it? Or have I just gotten unlucky with all my games when I see the thing?
[mention]ChocoDude[/mention] [mention]pufflex[/mention]

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

I haven't actually had the opportunity to use it much. I was considering cutting it awhile back for Beast Whisperer, but "Ben" convinced me otherwise, at the time, as it fit better with the theme. But, perhaps it would be a good candidate for upgrade. I haven't given it much thought as I'm responding to your post just after reading it. I can't recall your decklist at the moment. Are you running Rhystic Study? I've also been really happy with Sevinne's Reclamation in decks that I run it in.

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

Sevinne's Reclamation seems like the perfect trade-out for Mentor of the Meek! I'll give it a go in some playtesting and see what comes of it.

Also yes I run Rhystic Study as well as Mystic Remora.

ALSO also, I found a cool card that might trigger some Intruder Alarm magic, Shrieking Drake. Not a wall, but you can target itself with its own effect and then you can recast it, meaning all you need is 1+U to go infinite with Alarm. This can also combo pretty well with Aluren, as well as with Jeskai Barricade for those tasty triggers.
[mention]ChocoDude[/mention] See what you think!

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

Yeah, since I still have Mentor of the Meek as well as Sevinne's Reclamation perhaps I'll swap Mentor out for the Shrieking Drake or maybe another defender to up my defender count as it's a bit light. Thanks for the tip!!

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

So I did some Brainstorming and put together a version of the deck that reaches, quite possibly, the furthest 'walls' of speed, consistency and strength that Arcades Combo can go.

This build utilises the tutoring ability of Birthing Pod with the power of Shrieking Drake and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician to try and go off as fast as possible for the win.
I also slid in a copy of Flash and Protean Hulk for some disgusting tutoring for creatures that help early-game explosions.

Obviously I had to cut defenders for the deck to work, but there are still far than more enough (17 in total) to fully utilise what we need the deck to do if our General is out.

Take a look through this pile of cardboard more expensive than gold and see what you think! If there are some strictly better improvements you can make, it would be nice for me to know!
If you also think I've desecrated the entire idea of this deck by pushing the power level through the roof and out of the window, also let me know so I can print out this decklist and set it on fire for being so pretentious!
[mention]pufflex[/mention] [mention]ChocoDude[/mention]

Overpowered Deck - MinMaxed

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Decklist

Approximate Total Cost:

My Current List

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Decklist

The Wall-Master (1)

1x Arcades, the Strategist

Creature (39)

1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Axebane Guardian
1x Bane of Progress
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Carven Caryatid
1x Consecrated Sphinx
1x Crashing Drawbridge
1x Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
1x Drift of Phantasms
1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1x Eternal Witness
1x Faeburrow Elder
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Jeskai Barricade
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Mulldrifter
1x Orator of Ojutai
1x Overgrown Battlement
1x Portcullis Vine
1x Profaner of the Dead
1x Reflector Mage
1x Reveillark
1x Seedborn Muse
1x Shield Sphere
1x Shrieking Drake
1x Spellseeker
1x Sun Titan
1x Sunscape Familiar
1x Sylvan Caryatid
1x Temur Sabertooth
1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
1x Ulvenwald Captive
1x Vine Trellis
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Wall of Kelp
1x Wall of Lost Thoughts
1x Wall of Mulch
1x Wall of Roots

Land (32)

1x Adarkar Wastes
1x Breeding Pool
1x Brushland
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Flooded Grove
3x Forest
1x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
1x Mana Confluence
1x Mystic Gate
3x Plains
3x Snow-Covered Forest
3x Snow-Covered Island
3x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Strip Mine
1x Temple Garden
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Bastion
1x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (7)

1x Aluren
1x Aura Shards
1x High Alert
1x Intruder Alarm
1x Mystic Remora
1x Rhystic Study
1x Smothering Tithe

Instant (13)

1x Beast Within
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Dovin's Veto
1x Dramatic Reversal
1x Eladamri's Call
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Ghostway
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Pull from Tomorrow
1x Shared Summons
1x Swords to Plowshares

Artifact (5)

1x Birthing Pod
1x Cloudstone Curio
1x Isochron Scepter
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Sol Ring

Sorcery (3)

1x Armageddon
1x Dusk
1x Wargate

Approximate Total Cost:

- Moth

Moth · Post by **Moth** » 4 years ago

Combo - KelpBane Alert

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KelpBane Alert

Combo Type: Infinite Mana, Defender Tokens and Untap Triggers.

Control an Axebane Guardian, Wall of Kelp, High Alert and at least 3 other defenders.

Part 1:
1: Tap Axebane Guardian and add 4 Blue mana and 1 White mana.
2: Activate the ability of High Alert, untapping Axebane Guardian.
3: Repeat - netting 1 Blue mana each cycle.
4: Do the same as (1:), except making 4 White mana and 1 Blue mana.
5: Repeat - netting 1 White mana each cycle.

Part 2:
1: After accumulating a large amount of both White and Blue mana, tap Wall of Kelp, creating a 0/1 Kelp defender token.
2: Activate the ability of High Alert, untapping Wall of Kelp.
3: Tap Wall of Kelp, creating a 0/1 Kelp defender token.
4: Repeat (2:) and (3:).

Moth's Insight

- Functionally identical to the KelpBane Alarm combo AND the KelpScepter Bane combo, just another way to pull off the same effect and win.

ChocoDude · Post by **ChocoDude** » 4 years ago

Hey Moth,
I just started digesting your pile this morning. It'll take me some time, but I can say this. It seems much higher powered now. Have you played any games with it yet? Also, I'm wondering if you were allowed to break into your dad's collection for those upgrades, especially the dual lands? He he!

Your lands are a blatant upgrade! I like that you added in the Aura Shards and Rhystic Study (it will be targeted quickly), but if it stays...it's NICE!! The bulk of your changes (besides the lands) appear to be with the creatures and spells. That's what I need to digest more.

Cheers!

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