Arcades, the Strategist - EDH Budget Deck Tech $25 | Magic the Gathering | Commander
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- čas přidán 4. 08. 2024
- Command your budget! Here at The Commander's Quarters we brew fun and focused $25 EDH decks. On this deck tech we brew with Arcades, the Strategist as our commander. Cast a ton of cheap defenders as quickly as you can, draw a lot of cards, and crash through for a ton of damage!
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Reasonable Upgrades:
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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.
You should consider writing stories
Walls collapse and kill people all the time. Some are just more aggressive about it :P
This is perfect
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
Yep a fantastic reasonable upgrade!
@@TheCommandersQuarters There is also marble titan that is meekstone on legs!
@@echarit Absolutely!
@@echarit Don't mind me, I'm just commenting to find this amazing upgrade again later.
Ty this helped
Not including the commander in the total price is a smart move. Gives more flexibility in commander choices.
Keep up the great work
Thanks! Yeah I think it's a good addition to the show. Otherwise I would just not be to build around certain commanders at all!
On top of that many people that play "budget" decks , start to build them becose then open commander on draft ;)
Definitely a good point as well!
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.
100% agree. I think it's a good way to ensure that I can include more commanders in the deck techs!
I'm ready for a Hazezon Tamar budget deck tech, haha
Haha yeah I don't think you can justify that as a budget deck in any way
@@Jacsubi why is he worth like $160!?
@@RicketyNaga cos he old
I'm barely familiar with Magic, but this is an absolutely insane deck concept. I'm freaking out over here.
Yeah it's a really fun deck!
At 18:40 you say that sunscape familiar is a 0/4 . Literally unwatchable. Subscribed.
Ahhh, I think I was just hoping that he was bigger haha
That's what she said!
Well done haha
honestly man just wanted to say that your vids are so helpful in making decking building so fun and affordable. Lately i've been tired of paying huge prices for some of the decks i've made in the past but now i've been getting back into it since having a budget like this is fun and not to mention i work in canadian currency, so it's a bigger plus that's it's just at 25$ range. Thank you so much
Your boardwipe selection is awesome.
Gotta love weird one sided boardwipes haha
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.
That's awesome! Glad I could help! And yeah walls swinging at people is pretty awesome!
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.
Great considerations! Thanks!
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.
That's awesome!
I've been having Arcedes in my binder just waiting for him to command a deck. Thanks to you guys, that is now possible. Much love.
No problem at all! Glad I could help!
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
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!
Oh gotcha, sorry I misunderstood! Definitely a good point and I will consider it!
Glad you are enjoying it and thank you for your support!
Guy, I am loving your deck techs, they are giving my lots of ideas. Very nice work!
Thanks! And glad you are enjoying them!
I'm in love with this deck!!! Thank you so much!!
No problem at all!
I've watched every single one of your videos so far. You guys are creating some entertaining videos with a lot of value for us, budget MTG players.
Glad you are enjoying them, and glad to help! I hope you like the upcoming videos just as much and thank you for the support!
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.
Im new to magic and this is one of the first commander decks that actually makes sense to me. Definitely gonna buy and upgrade
Been enjoying your insights and different win cons Thanks for posting!
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.
Would be pretty sweet!
I got the deck listed here and it rocks especially after throwing in the reasonable upgrades (and some not so reasonable ones). I threw in an Amaranthine Wall (can be made indestructible), a Living Wall (can be regenerated), and a Colossus of Akros (can be made monstrous fairly easy with all of the manadorks, Axebane Guardian in particular). Also put a Triumph of the Hordes in, which can take out everyone when combined with Tetsuko (or Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa but Tetsuko is better). Thought about a Door of Destinies it breaks some of the synergy I just mentioned but with all the cheap walls it could get out of hand quick.
As someone just starting out their collection and learning how to build decks I really dig these budget builds. They are a great way to get an effective deck that can be tweaked with more expensive additions along the way. Thank you for all the work you put into these videos.
Glad you are enjoying them!
I play an Arcades deck and love it. You showed me some cards I never thought of. Great vid and awesome deck!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Definitely one of my favorite decks I’ve seen on your channel
I'm a big fan of defender decks and i love how this commander perfectly promotes using them
Awesome deck tech 😁👏👏
Yeah they really hit it out of the park in my opinion when they designed Arcades for defenders! Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
My friend built this deck with your specifications and man, he kicks my ass with it!
I was working on a Arcades deck too and see it can be budget and fun at the same time is amazing ç-ç nice work guys!
Thanks! Yeah he's a great commander to build around!
Mnemonic Wall combo: just use blink and flicker effects, then return that card to ur hand. keep on going until u run out of mana. boom, with arcades, that's gonna be a good amount of card draw
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!
That's awesome, thank you!
Great video! I've had a bunch of defender cards piling up and this gives me a good way to use them.
Awesome! Glad I could help!
I think this may be my favorite of all you decks. Looks really fun to play!
Glad you like it!!!
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.
Glad you are liking them so far and let me know how it plays for you! Thank you for your support!
Will do
I used your suggested list and it turned out great!
Awesome! Been thinking about making a defender deck, this looks like fun. Can't wait to see what other buget decks you post!
Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you enjoy the upcoming deck techs!
This was a great video friend... first I’ve found by this channel and I already can’t wait to check out the rest
Awesome!
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.
Glad you think so! There will be more coming soon!
Great video. I love your channel. Your Deck Techs all seem really affective for the price and I can see myself winning with them at my LGS. Keep up the good work!
Glad you are enjoying it! Let me know if you end up trying out any of them at your LGS and how they do!
Super happy I found this, I've been working on the same deck essentially lol. Already have some of the upgrade pieces too
Thanks for creating this video. I've been working on an Arcades commander deck for a little while, and this will be a ton of help. :)
No problem!
@@TheCommandersQuarters I noticed that the prices at TCG Player are more expensive now. Should I wait, or find some cheaper option? Which do you recommend?
@@barker_boy9059 I recommend just seeing which cards are overpriced and maybe hold off on buying those, finding some good replacements. And wait until their prices drop a little. It's your decision though!
Am currently making an Arcades deck, so was really helpful. Was also thinking on including more haste options, like crashing drawbridge.
Really enjoy your content
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
All good considerations for the deck!
How good are your videos, and of course the decks. You have helped me a lot. Thank you. Greetings from Mexico.
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying them!
I was not expecting this at all, so I am happy beyond belief for a fun arcades deck
Glad you are excited about it!
Always a great deck tech on this channel!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love the deck a few things I would add that are still budget is hold the gate, Brave the sands, and always watching. All three of those enchantments will give all of your creatures vigilance so you can go wide without any consequences
Gotta love no consequences! All great additions!
I have an Arcades deck and loved the budget version Mitch!!! I didn't even know about Return to the Ranks, that's definitely going in my deck. For reasonable upgrades I've found G wave to be even better than usual in the deck because of the average CMC. Love the deck techs keep it up.
Genesis Wave would be a bomb in this deck, great thought! Glad you enjoyed it!
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?
Glad I could help! Already have the next few decks scheduled, but you never know!
Some great card suggestions! I love my Arcades deck, it's powerful and super fun to play with!
Thanks! Definitely a fun deck to play!
as a long time player and someone getting back in the game, it's great that you aren't including the commander itself. Many newbies will either pull or trade for some 20 to even 50 dollar legendary, however that be their only money card. i just found this channel but i would love to see a "Sedris the Traitor King" 25 dollar deck.
Definitely going to be making more episodes that exclude the commander cost, but as of now the majority will still include it. Already have the next few deck techs scheduled, but you never know!
This deck tech earned my subscription.
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.
Awesome!
Am I the only one who thinks the golden pig looks better on mtg cards than the official holo sticker on the bottom center of the cards?
I'm not going to argue with that ;)
AGREED. We need some pig tokens with that on the bottom instead of the "boar" token that is totally a pig
I want a golden pig shirt!
@@gadamatwood haha he said he is making swag so maybe one day
Golden pig merchandise for under $25 please.
Awesome video!!
This deck looks SUPER fun!
This was posted the DAY I started playing this game. Crazy
Made this deck and loved it
amazing channel mate! devouring all your videos! hahausha greetings from brazil
Glad you are enjoying them!
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.
Yep definitely agree it's a good idea to run those if people tend to do that in your meta!
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!
I used to have an abzan assault formation deck in modern and I ran a lot of what’s in this deck as well as wall of tanglecords and a colossus of akros
There's no way this video is 3 years old... My mind is blown
When I first saw arcades I immediately thought of tree of redemption and how explosive it could be.
Definitely a great reasonable upgrade!
@@TheCommandersQuarters I just kept thinking with testsuo out you could almost swing for lethal within two turns of playing it.
Definitely could!
@@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!
Thank you so much for your support! It's a great community! Looking forward to chatting with you in there!
This deck looks so fun!
Love your videos man keep them coming please!!!!!!!!!
Thank you! Will do!
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!
Awesome build!
Thanks!
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.
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
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 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.
So happy to see wall of frost my favorite of the walls
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
Most definitely! If you are playing in a group that likes to blow up the board it’s a good idea to protect him as best as you can
Mitch please! Im running out of deck boxes and card sleeves! this is an amazing deck!
I actually recently opened arcades so i’m pretty hyped for this one
Awesome!
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.
K I'm building this I was waiting for you to do this!
Glad i could help! Let me know how it plays for you!
This definitely looks like something I'd play, can't wait for it to get here! I love the idea
Glad you like it! Let me know how it plays for you!
The Commander's Quarters for sure! Honestly I'm not really into edh this video popped up in my feed, and I figured I'd give it a shot!
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'm late to the video lol but I have an arcades deck that I LOVE to play! So much fun and a low mental load deck. A couple of fun cards to add in my opinion (apologies if I mention a couple you listed)
Builder's Blessing
Leyline of Vitality
Wall of omens
Serra's blessing
Wall of stolen identity
Flumph (I don't remember seeing it)
Stoneskin
Just a few of my favorite additions!
I'm surprised Tree of Redemption didn't get a mention. 13 toughness defender is pretty great and you can tap it to make him a 40/40 at the cost of a little life
Definitely a reasonable upgrade to consider at $1.89!
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.
Woah it’s surprising hearing your voice in an older video after watching your newest videos a bunch
Wow....I am crying right now...love u Mitch 😭😭😭
Haha well thank you!
As always a nice deck tech
Thank you!
Door of Destinies, Coat of Arms, Wall of Nets, Vent Sentinel, Caller of the Hunt, Belbe’s Portal, Doom Cannon, Distant Melody, Herald’s Horn, Kindred Boon/Discovery/Summons, Steely Resolve…
All great options! But for the tribal options, remember that all of these defenders are not necessarily the same creature type!
The Commander's Quarters Didn’t check, but isn’t it 90% Walls?
100% Defenders. Some of the defenders are not Walls and instead are Spirits, Soldiers, Birds, Homunculus, Fungus, etc.
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
Those would all be great additions! Already have a few decks scheduled, but you never know!
Absolutely loving the deck, I love the irony of being a threat really early, and I can 1v1 my friend's omnath deck which is nice
Not so harmless walls haha, and yeah that is nice!
Just built this plays awesome draws amazing. I added better mana base.
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.
Psychic Membrane and Order of the Stars might be worth considering. I know the latter is little, but it's a good solution to some threats that might otherwise take more creatures than you'd like to stave off.
Both great considerations for the deck! Order of the Stars is an underrated card
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 just made this deck and it arrived today
One card i think would go really well in this deck is amaranthine wall. Its only around $0.25, and can gain indestructible until end of turn for 2 mana.
Definitely a good consideration!
Sunscape Familiar is a great value engine in this deck. I’ve found the only real combat weaknesses are flying creatures and chump blocking. These are easy to remedy with Spidersilk Armor and Primal Rage. For cheap and nasty surprises, Dramatic Reversal and Triton Tactics are awesome.
All great recommendations!
Cool decklist! Now for Doran please! 🙏
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 :)
Glad you like it! Sun Titan is definitely a consideration! However, I don't think it will return Arcades since his converted mana cost is 4.
good point, i was thinking power not cmc my bad :)
No problem!
I play an Arcades deck of my own make, definitely appreciate the pointers in the vid, but my favorite card to draw is Meishin the Mindcage; it reduces the power of every creature on the board by the number of cards in your hand. I die laughing every time I get to play it
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
All great potential additions to the deck! As of right now there are already of few deck techs scheduled, but you never know!
Tree of Perdition works good too, have it in my Arcades Deck.
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.