If you like to fortify yourself behind unpenetrable Walls and attack with full force at a strategic moment, then Defender Tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can become a master strategeist and turn impenetrable defence into a terrifying attack force.
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Defender is a static ability that renders a creature unable to attack. The keyword was introduced as a replacement for the baggage that the creature type Wall carried. Walls could not attack. Much later, the decision was made to keyword the “cannot attack” ability and make sure that all Walls had defender so that functionality wouldn’t change. Defender was introduced with Champions of Kamigawa and was retroactively added to all Walls. All colors can have defender. It used to be primary only in white as it is the most defensive color. Lately, blue has also become primary. For our build, the leader to unite all the Defenders is Arcades, the Strategist, a Legendary Elder Dragon that has a Bant color identity (
) and turns Defenders into a double sided axe.
Arcades, the Strategist is a commander that has a special ability: “Each creature you control with defender assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power and can attack as though it didn’t have defender.” It is an interesting ability to build upon since we can find great value in cards that were average to unplayable before. Moreover, whenever a creature we control with defender enters, we draw a card. So Arcades provides us with supreme utility and at the same time he is a draw engine for our Defender Tribal.
Walls usually have great toughness and low power so they are a natural choice for a Defender Tribal build. A natural choice is to build our deck with high toughness and low power strategies as creatures with Defender tend to follow these lines.
Synergy Diagram
I always like to make a simple synergy diagram in order to deeply comprehend the potential and the strategy areas that are supported by the commander when I choose top-down building.
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best creatures with Defender. Our priority is to add the ones with high toughness and low power.
- Add Defender Tribal support. There are few cards that support Defender Tribal so most of them are almost an auto inclusion.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that boost toughness and take advantage of low power of creatures.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Defender Tribal theme.
The deck:
Defender Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
34 Lands
12 Ramp: Rampart Architect , Arbor Adherent, Arcane Signet , Azorius Signet, Simic Signet, Vine Trellis, Overgrown Battlement, Sunscape Familiar, Sylvan Caryatid, Rampant Growth , Axebane Guardian , Krosan Verge
8 Target Removal: Wall of Stolen Identity, Jeskai Barricade (kinda), Wall of Nets, Counterspell, Jwari Disruption, Kabira Takedown, Razorgrass Ambush, Angelic Shield
6 Board Wipes:Dusk // Dawn, Fell the Mighty, Wave of Reckoning, Slaughter the Strong, Expel the Interlopers, Sculpted Sunburst
3 Graveyard Recursion: Smile at Death , Reunion of the House, Dusk // Dawn
1 Graveyard Hate: Scavenger Grounds
2 Tutors: Shield-Wall Sentinel, Drift of Phantasms
10 Protection: Jeskai Barricade, Sylvan Caryatid (self-protection), Wall of Denial (self-protection), Crystal Barricade, Shielded by Faith, Tower Defense, Swiftfoot Boots, Counterspell, Angelic Shield, Jwari Disruption
9 Card Draw: Plagon, Lord of the Beach , Arcades, the Strategist, Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield, The Pride of Hull Clade, Wall of Blossoms, Carven Caryatid, Teferi’s Ageless Insight, Wall of Omens, Assemble the Players
12 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Corrupted Shapeshifter, Weathered Sentinels, The Pride of Hull Clade, Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, True Conviction, Towering Titan, Wall of Denial, Tree of Redemption, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, Tower Defense, Sight of the Scalelords
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good. The only score below the optimal low average is on card draw category, but the numbers are misleading here, as with Arcades, the Strategist all our Defenders are drawing us cards on ETB. We see 4 categories that are above the optimal max average. We see a great spike in Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions category at 12 and that is important because our deck needs ways to finish games consistently. Protection at 10 is also a strong part of our deck and that is important since we rely heavily on our commander and our board so we need to be able to protect them.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Rampart Architect is a great Defender Tribal support card, as it ramps whenever a creature with Defender dies. In addition, whenever it enters or attacks we create a 1/3 white Wall creature token with defender, which is very strong in our build. A must-have card for Defender Tribal.
Vine Trellis is a cheap Wall with 4 toughness that also taps for . A nice inclusion for Defender Tribal.
Overgrown Battlement a top ramp source for Defender Tribal as with 
it produces for each creature we control with Defender.
Sunscape Familiar is a green and blue mana cost reducer by 
. A great Wall for Defender Tribal.
Sylvan Caryatid is a top pick for our Defender Tribal as it is a cheap Defender that taps and produces one mana of any color, while at the same time it has built in protection (Hexproof) which makes it hard to be removed.
Axebane Guardian is another top ramp source for Defender Tribal as with it produces X mana in any combination of colors, where X is the number of creatures we control with Defender.
Arbor Adherent is an amazing ramp source for decks with high toughness creatures, as it has “:Add X mana of any one color, where X is the greatest toughness among other creatures you control”. It naturally fits our Defender Tribal deck as we can easily get a ton of value out of it.
Target Removal
Wall of Stolen Identity enters as a clone of any creature (but it keeps being a Wall with Defender) while at the same time we tap the copied creature and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s untap step for as long as we control Wall of Stolen Identity. Although not a typical removal, it can shut down powerful creatures so we may count it as a target removal option.
Jeskai Barricade has Flash, so if we cast it after the declare attackers phase and we control a toughness combat damage enabler, it may be used as a blocker and potentially as a target removal option.
Wall of Nets is a powerful Wall that at end of combat, exiles all creatures blocked by Wall of Nets and when it leaves the battlefield, we return all cards exiled with Wall of Nets to the battlefield under their owners’ control. While it does not sound as an optimal target removal option, it has 7 toughness so it’s not that easy to be removed, while if we manage to give it strong protection (like Shielded by Faith), it can become a real nightmare for attackers. A great addition to our Defender Tribal.
Board Wipes
Fell the Mighty, Dusk // Dawn, Wave of Reckoning, Slaughter the Strong, Expel the Interlopers and Sculpted Sunburst are board wipes that synergize with our low creature power strategy. The have the potential to clear the board of our opponents while leaving ours intact. Greats picks for Defender Tribal.
Graveyard Recursion
Dusk // Dawn apart from being an excellent board wipe for our Defender Tribal, is also an amazing mass graveyard recursion spell for our deck as is we cast Dawn, we return all creature cards with power 2 or less from our graveyard to our hand. A top pick for our build.
Smile at Death is slow at first, but once it starts going, the value we get from it is amazing. At the beginning of our upkeep, it reapeatedly returns up to two target creature cards with power 2 or less from our graveyard to the battlefield, while it also let us put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures. A great inclusion for our Defender Tribal.
Reunion of the House as an amazing graveyard recursion card for our Defender Tribal. Due to our low power strategy, it can bring back to the battlefield many of our creatures becoming a mass grave recursion spell that can net us amazing value.
Graveyard Hate
Scavenger Grounds is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Shield-Wall Sentinel on ETB let us tutor a creature with Defender into our hand. A great tutor for Defender Tribal.
Drift of Phantasms has Transmute and can be discarded for tutoring a card with the same cost into our hand. A great tutor for Defender Tribal since in our build we run many (and powerful) cards with 3 CMC. Moreover, it is not half bad if being cast as a creature, as it has a 0/5 body and has Defender and Flying.
Protection
Jeskai Barricade has Flash and on ETB let us return another target creature we control to its owner’s hand. Can be used to protect a crucial card to our strategy like our commander.
Crystal Barricade is a top inclusion for our Defender Tribal, as it is a 0/4 Wall that gives us Hexproof and prevents all noncombat damage that would be dealt to other creatures we control. A powerful protection for a combat oriented deck.
Shielded by Faith is a poweful Enchantment-Aura that gives enchanted creature indestructible. Moreover, whenever a creature enters, we may attach it to that creature, which makes it flexible. Ideal for protecting our commander but it can also be used on other powerful creatures that are key cards for our Defender Tribal.
Angelic Shield is a great inclusion for our Defender Tribal as it is a quite flexible card. It works as a toughness anthem, giving our creatures +0/+1. In addition, by sacrificing it, we can return target creature to its owner’s hand. It can be used both on our creatures to protect them from removal and on opponent creatures to remove them.
Card Draw
Plagon, Lord of the Beach is an amazing card draw option, as on ETB we draw a card for each creature we control with toughness greater than its power and in our Defender Tribal almost all our creatures apply to that rule, so we can expect to draw many cards from it. Moreover, by paying 
it becomes a toughness combat damage enabler for target creature until end of turn, which is very important for our Defender Tribal. A must-have card for our build.
Arcades, the Strategist is our commander and a crucial card for our Defender Tribal and for our card draw. It makes all our creatures with Defender draw us a card on ETB, which is super strong and can flood us with value since most of our creatures have low CMC.
Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield works wonders in our Defender Tribal, as it is a card Draw engine that also creates Wall tokens. Whenever we cast your second spell each turn, we draw a card, then create a 0/3 white Wall creature token with Defender. In addition, at the beginning of combat on our turn, creatures we control with Defender gain exalted until end of turn, which is not bad as instances of Exalted stack, so we could buff a creature with evasion for a finishing blow. A must-have inclusion for Defender Tribal.
The Pride of Hull Clade is a great fit for our toughness strategy and can be a great card draw source in our Defender Tribal. We should be able to cast it for a reduced cost, as it costs 
less to to cast, where X is the total toughness of creatures we control. It has a huge 2/15 body and can be an amazing finisher, while at the same time, by paying 
at instant speed, until end of turn, target creature we control gets +1/+0, gains “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw cards equal to its toughness,” and can attack as though it didn’t have Defender. A top inclusion for our build.
Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Omens and Carven Caryatid are great inclusions for our Defender Tribal since they let us draw a card on ETB. With Arcades, the Strategist on the battlefield that becomes 2 cards on ETB.
Assemble the Players works wonders with our build, as most of our creatures have power 2 or less and we run a creature-heavy build, so it let us cast a creature spell with power 2 or less from the top of our library very often (with a limit of one each turn) which works like a kind of card draw. A great inclusion for our Defender Tribal.
Teferi’s Ageless Insight works wonders with our build, as with Arcades, the Strategist it practically doubles the draw we get on creature (with Defender) ETB so it is a great value engine. A great inclusion to our Defender Tribal.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Tower Defense is an instant that gives our creatures +0/+5 and reach until end of turn, which with Arcades, the Strategist can be translated as a +5/+5 so it is a very good cheap finisher for our Defender Tribal. It can also be used as a protection spell, in case we need some extra toughness.
Wall of Denial is a top inclusion for our Defender Tribal, as it is a 0/8 Wall with Flying (evasion) and Shroud (protection), so it is a potential finisher that is hard to be removed.
Corrupted Shapeshifter is flexible and can enter as a 0/12 with Defender. If we give it evasion it can become a big hitter.
Weathered Sentinels come with Defender, Vigilance, Reach and Trample. It can attack players who attacked us during their last turn as though it didn’t have Defender and whenever it creature attacks, it gets +3/+3 (becoming 5/8) and gains Indestructible until end of turn. With 8 toughness and Trample it can be a finisher with our Defender Tribal build.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive is an evasion giver that works wonders with our Defender Tribal, as most of our creatures have very low power. It practically gives unblockable to almost all our creatures, which can be a finishing move.
True Conviction gives our creatures Double Strike and Lifelink which can easily finish games in a combat oriented build such as our Defender Tribal.
Towering Titan can become huge with our Defender Tribal since it enters with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the total toughness of other creatures you control. Moreover, by sacrificing a creature with Defender at instant speed, all creatures gain trample until end of turn. A great finisher for our Defender Tribal.
Tree of Redemption is another big hitter for our Defender Tribal as it has a 0/13 body. Apart from that, with at instant speed we can exchange our life total with this creature’s toughness. A powerful ability that can be used for offence and defence. A top inclusion for our build.
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa is a great evasion giver as it has “Creatures your opponents control without flying or reach can’t block creatures with power 2 or less” which in most cases make our creatures unblockable resulting in a finishing move. A top pick for our Defender Tribal.
Sight of the Scalelords at the beginning of combat on our turn, makes creatures we control with toughness 4 or greater get buffed with +2/+2 and gain Vigilance until end of turn. That may prove a finishing move in our Defender Tribal, as most of our creatures have high toughness.
Other synergy pieces
Great creatures with Defender
Shield Sphere is a great Wall as it comes into play as a 0/6 while it costs 
. The fact that it weakens by blocking, as whenever it blocks, we put a -0/-1 counter on it, is a small price to pay for a free 0/6 Wall. A must have card for our Defender Tribal.
Perimeter Captain has Defender Tribal synergy as whenever a creature we control with Defender blocks, we may gain 2 life. Being a cheap Defender itself with a respectable 0/4 body, make it a great choice for our build.
Crashing Drawbridge is a 0/4 Wall and a mass Haste enabler, so it greatly fits our Defender Tribal.
Stalwart Shield-Bearers has great Defender Tribal synergy as it gives other creatures we control with Defender +0/+2. A top pick for our build.
Wall of Glare can block any number of creatures which is great for defence. If we give it Indestructible (with Shielded by Faith), it can hold a whole army on its own. A great pick for Defender Tribal.
Wall of Junk is a cheap Wall with high toughness (0/7 body) that when it blocks, we return it to our hand at end of combat. Although that sounds like a disadvantage, with Arcades, the Strategist we can get repeatable draw. A nice pick for Defender Tribal.
Wall of Tanglecord is another cheap Wall with high toughness (0/7 body) that by paying at instant speed, it gains Reach. Reach is somewhat rare for Walls so being able to block Flyers is a nice extra for our Defender Tribal.
Hover Barrier has Flying and a respectable 0/6 body, so it is a nice inclusion for our Defender Tribal.
Wall of Frost has high toughness (0/7 body) and can freeze opponent creatures whenever it block, making them unable to untap during their controller’s next untap step. A great pick for Defender Tribal.
Wingmantle Chaplain is a great Bird token creator for Defender Tribal, as both when it enters and whenever another creature we control with Defender enters, we create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying. Cool synergy with our build.
Toughness Combat Damage Enablers : 5 cards
Plagon, Lord of the Beach, Arcades, the Strategist, Walking Bulwark, High Alert and Assault Formation are our Toughness Combat Damage Enablers and are a core part of our deck, since cretures with Defender blend well with high toughness strategy. Our commander is always available and we have build the deck around him, but it is very important to have additional ways to follow the same strategy even if our commander is shut down.
Cards that enable creatures with Defender to attack : 5 cards
Arcades, the Strategist, The Pride of Hull Clade, Walking Bulwark, Assault Formation and High Alert are our cards that enable creatures with Defender to attack and are a core part of our deck, since if we want to win we can’t only play defence, but we should be able to attack. Our commander is always available and we have build the deck around him, but it is very important to have additional ways to follow the same strategy even if our commander is shut down.
Other
Primal Rage is a cheap enchantment that gives our creatures trample, which synergizes very well with our high combat damage through high toughness due to Arcades, the Strategist.
Brave the Sands is a cheap enchantment that gives our creatures Vigilance and the ability to be able to block two creatures each combat. It is a great tool for defence for our Defender Tribal.
Spidersilk Armor gives creatures we control +0/+1 and reach so now our Walls and creatures with Defender can even block flying creatures. A nice utility card for our Defender Tribal.
Meekstone and Marble Titan prevent creatures with power 3 or greater to untap during their controllers’ untap steps. Great asymmetrical stax pieces for our Defender Tribal since almost all our creatures have low power.
Access Tunnel, Escape Tunnel and Rogue’s Passage are great for making our big Walls unblockable so that we can hit for some serious damage. For example Corrupted Shapeshifter with evasion and Arcades, can be a huge threat that hits for 12 damage per turn! Great utility for our Defender Tribal.
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve shows an extreme spike at 2 drop position while the rest of the curve is not so far from average. That reflects the fact that there are many creatures with Defender at 2 CMC.
Card Type Distribution
The Defender Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 38 creatures. Enchantment follow at 12, while other categories have lesser presence with Sorceries at 8, Artifacts at 6 and Instants at 5. No Planeswalkers or Battles are present for the time.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with all the deck build around Arcades, the Strategist that supports both Defender Tribal and Toughness Tribal theme , the true power of the deck lies in synergy and that is not reflected in statistics.
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If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
