Imagine you've finally started building up a board presence, and your opponent across the table just says, "Uh... is that a 0/5 vanilla for two mana? Why?" And you just look at them with the cool, collected stare of someone who absolutely knows what they're doing (even though, in reality, we might literally have no idea why we're doing what we're doing). Well, that's the general gist of brewing around creatures with the Defender mechanic. Yup, these creatures can'tattack, like, at all. That's it; they just kind of sit there, maybe block an attacker or two, and actively wear the "I'm not here for violence" name tag.

But in a game like MTG, where it's all about bashing your opponent's life total down to zero, you might be wondering: "Why would I ever want to bring a piece of cardboard that deliberately says it can't swing?" Ah, well, that's what we're here for in today's Mechanics Overview Segment. Trust me, at the end of all this, you, too, might just be able to convince your entire playgroup how the best defense can sometimes be the best offense.

What Is Defender?

"This creature can't attack."

That's it. That's the whole mechanic. Period. End of story...or is it?

The History of Defender

Back in the day, if you saw the creature-type Wall, that was your very fancy "Defender 1.0." Seriously, the old rule was "Walls can't attack." That was the baggage strapped onto every poor, unsuspecting chunk of bricks. Then Wizards decided that it might be just a tad awkward in a game about infinite combos and dragons to have an entire creature type define a combat restriction. And it was then the Defender mechanic debuted in Champions of Kamigawa (2004) as a new, shiny keyword that simply reads, "I can't attack."

Sometimes Defenders Can Attack?!

Let's talk about that weird phenomenon where your 0/6 Living Wall suddenly wakes up and decides it's going to punch someone in the face. Yup, this is all totally possible with Defender All-Stars like Arcades, the Strategist, Assault Formation, and High Alert, all of which basically say, "Defenders can attack now. Weird, sure, but what else is new?"

The Classic Defenders

• Carven Caryatid: Draw a card? Sure!
• Wall of Omens: Draw another card? Don't mind if I do!
• Plagon, Lord of The Beach: Is that a non-Defender?! Blasphemy! Yes, I know, I know! But just think about how many cards you can draw with this! Precious card draw!
• Crashing Drawbridge: "What's the point of giving Haste to all your Defenders that can't even attack?" We'll see about that.
• Drift of Phantasms: Did you know that Drift of Phantasms can Transmute for one of your only win conditions, a.k.a. High Alert? (Who am I even kidding? Who else but me cares enough to even look this stuff up?)
• Sylvan Caryatid: A Hexproof mana dork that can help me build more Walls? I'm in.
• Thing in the Ice: Who starts off as yet another innocent Defender only to transform into a giant tentacled Horror that sweeps the board? Thing in the Ice was an absolute menace during its time in Shadows over Innistrad (2016) that still finds its way into some Commander and even Modern decks today.
• Arcades, the Strategist: Want a legitimate reason to jam in all these Defenders? There is no doubt that Arcades is the Elder Dragon Commander of choice. I suppose The Pride of Hull Clade from Murders at Karlov Manor (2024) could be a decent replacement, but you'd lose out on the White splash, which, let's be honest here, is the color of some of your most powerful Defenders.

Looking for even more Defenders and other ideas to make them all work? Be sure to check out this Arcades, the Strategist List by krazyking23!

Arcades EDH | Commander | KrazyKing23, Moxfield

• Commander (1)
• 1 Arcades, the Strategist

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Axebane Guardian
• 1 Corrupted Shapeshifter
• 1 Crashing Drawbridge
• 1 Crystal Barricade
• 1 Drift of Phantasms
• 1 Hover Barrier
• 1 Jeskai Barricade
• 1 Overgrown Battlement
• 1 Perimeter Captain
• 1 Plagon, Lord of the Beach
• 1 Rune-Sealed Wall
• 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
• 1 Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• 1 Stalwart Shield-Bearers
• 1 Sunscape Familiar
• 1 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1 The Pride of Hull Clade
• 1 Vine Trellis
• 1 Walking Bulwark
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wall of Denial
• 1 Wall of Frost
• 1 Wall of Junk
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Wall of Runes
• 1 Wall of Stolen Identity
• 1 Wall of Tanglecord
• 1 Weathered Sentinels
• 1 Wingmantle Chaplain

• Instants (12)
• 1 Akroma's Will
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
• 1 Stroke of Midnight
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Tower Defense

• Sorceries (14)
• 1 Bala Ged Recovery
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Expel the Interlopers
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Fell the Mighty
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Last March of the Ents
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Slaughter the Strong
• 1 The Battle of Bywater
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Wave of Reckoning

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Assault Formation
• 1 Brave the Sands
• 1 High Alert
• 1 Restricted Office // Lecture Hall
• 1 Vault 75: Middle School

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Meekstone
• 1 Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (34)
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Escape Tunnel
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Forest
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hushwood Verge
• 3 Island
• 1 Overgrown Farmland
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 3 Plains
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Spara's Headquarters
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Yavimaya Coast
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

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Block, Attack...How About Both?

In all seriousness, I find Defender to be a critical piece of Magic deckbrewing philosophy in that, players should be able to build whatever they want however they want. Luckily for us, the Defender mechanic is able to fulfill that philosophy by not only being popularized as a kind of meme deck that pops up in LGSs from time to time but also allowing for truly enjoyable (and, dare I say it, "fun") moments as players get to do the thing with a surprise Arcades, the Strategist, or a High Alert.

So, with all that said, if you absolutely love the idea of turning your bulk Walls (in some instances, actual, literal Walls) randomly into an unstoppable force of nature against all your friends, then the Defender mechanic might be your next build-around.

And that's all she wrote for this one! As always, happy brewing, and welcome to the wonderful world of Defenders, where all you do is block until all of a sudden, you don't block ever again.