Arcades, the Strategist

Arcades, the Strategist card image

Arcades, the Strategist: Legendary Creature - Elder Dragon, Time Spiral Remastered. Printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{1}{G}{W}{U}
Mana value
4
Type
Legendary Creature - Elder Dragon
Colour identity
White, blue and green (WUG)
Power / toughness
3/5
Rarity
Special
Set
Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)
Released
2021-03-19
Collector number
371
Artist
Even Amundsen
Commander rank
5,808 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Flying, Vigilance
Commander
Can be your commander

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About Arcades, the Strategist

Arcades, the Strategist is a Magic: The Gathering card, a white, blue and green legendary creature from Time Spiral Remastered (TSR), a Masters set released in March 2021. It is collector number 371 in that set, with art by Even Amundsen. It costs {1}{G}{W}{U} (one generic, one white, one blue and one green mana) to cast, for a mana value of 4. It is a 3/5 creature. Its colour identity is white, blue and green. It is legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 4 sets, from Core Set 2019 (2018) to Time Spiral Remastered (2021). It can be your commander. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $3.42 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-01).

Card text

Flying, vigilance

Whenever a creature you control with defender enters, draw a card.

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.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $3.42 (as of 2026-11-01).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Arcades, the Strategist by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

PioneerLegal
ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
BrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
TimelessLegal
GladiatorLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Arcades, the Strategist

Arcades, the Strategist has been printed in 4 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
The List (PLST) #M19-212Mythic2021
Core Set 2019 (M19) #212Mythic2018
Core Set 2019 Promos (PM19) #212sMythic2018

Official rulings

Two official rulings apply to Arcades, the Strategist, newest first.

  • Arcades's last ability doesn't actually change any creature's power. It changes only the amount of combat damage it assigns. All other rules and effects that check power or toughness use the real values. For example, Rabid Bite won't cause a creature with defender to deal damage equal to its toughness.
  • If Arcades leaves the battlefield after a creature with defender has attacked, that creature remains an attacking creature, although it will assign damage equal to its power.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a white, blue and green colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

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