It's All About The Games

There's an interesting set of tools that Inalla is providing me with and I'm finding that games go a little better for me if I focus on them, and not as much on the 'tap/untap' function of Inalla herself that I was hoping to use.

That doesn't mean I'm cutting it: Turnabout is a great card and Jace, Ingenious Mind Mage unanswered has been creating problems as well as being underrated by opponents. I generally don't charge up my decks with enough power, so having anything that creates problems is good.

What I've also been learning is to play a bit more deliberately. Really planning out a line of play before I get to my turn and then having to stop to double check that line. Wizards are generally fragile creatures so I can't bully my way through a game.

On the upside, I think I've gotten Inalla in a good spot. The combo kill is available but it isn't oppressive. Kess has been cut for, of all things, Stonybrook Banneret.

Kess is a great card but it doesn't fit in this deck: there aren't enough instants or sorceries to make the ability worthwhile. With Archaeomancer and Izzet Chronarch in the deck and the ability to duplicate their triggers with Inalla, removing a spell from my graveyard isn't pushing the value meter.

You know what will go really well with Kess? The new cards from Guilds of Ravnica that count instants or sorceries in your graveyard or exile. Cackling Drake, Ral, Izzet Viceroy, and Beacon Bolt....hey wait...

But I don't want to get distracted. I've spent weeks on Inalla and I believe this deck has a solid gameplan and ways to get to the later game, where it wants to be. The fat has been trimmed and while I don't think I inherently have to do anything broken, I have a little power in my back pocket to utilize if I need to.

Across multiple games in both 1v1 and multiplayer situations, I've been able to leverage my position into the mid and late games, and I'm having a lot of fun doing it. Which means I think I can set this one down. It's a good deck with not a lot of improvements to make and that's about where I want my Commander decks to be.

Let's do a final decklist!

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

Instant1 Comet Storm 1 Polymorphist's Jest 1 Chaos Warp 1 Memory Plunder 1 Silumgar's Command 1 Into the Roil 1 Reality Shift 1 Go for the Throat 1 Crosis's Charm 1 Rakdos Charm 1 Terminate 1 Turnabout	Artifacts 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Darksteel Ingot 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Sol Ring 1 Unstable Obelisk 1 Worn Powerstone 1 Dimir Cluestone 1 Izzet Cluestone 1 Rakdos Cluestone
Enchantment1 Curse of Verbosity 1 Curse of Disturbance 1 Curse of Opulence Planeswalker 1 Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage	Sorcery 1 Kindred Dominance 1 Clone Legion 1 Spelltwine 1 Necromantic Selection 1 Mutilate
Lands 1 Exotic Orchard 10 Island 6 Swamp 4 Mountain 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Command Tower 1 Crumbling Necropolis 1 Dimir Aqueduct 1 Dismal Backwater 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Grixis Panorama 1 Izzet Boilerworks 1 Jwar Isle Refuge 1 Rakdos Carnarium 1 Swiftwater Cliffs 1 Temple of the False God 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Vivid Crag 1 Vivid Creek 1 Vivid Marsh	Creatures 1 Galecaster Colossus 1 Portal Mage 1 Vindictive Lich 1 Havengul Lich 1 Vela the Night-Clad 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls 1 Body Double 1 Harbinger of the Tides 1 Serendib Sorcerer 1 Apprentice Necromancer 1 Puppeteer Clique 1 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer 1 Mercurial Chemister 1 Nin, the Pain Artist 1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator 1 Bloodline Necromancer 1 Archaeomancer 1 Merchant of Secrets 1 Sea Gate Oracle 1 Corpse Augur 1 Izzet Chronarch 1 Nivix Guildmage 1 Wanderwine Prophets 1 Notion Thief 1 Vedalken Aethermage 1 Dragon Mage 1 Deadeye Navigator 1 Psychosis Crawler 1 Stonybrook Banneret

Yer A Wizard

I did some research on Inalla, drawing from this list I found via the EDH subreddit, and the Professor's video (in conjunction with the Laboratory Maniacs) on the subject.

With that in mind, here's the first round of changes:

Out

Mystifying Maze

Cauldron Dance

Marchesa, the Black Rose

Mairsil, the Pretender

Magus of the Abyss

Taigam, Sidisi's Hand

Mirror of the Forebears

Shifting Shadow

In

Deadeye Navigator

Vedalken Aethermage

Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage

Izzet, Rakdos, and Dimir Cluestones

Turnabout

Notion Thief

Dragon Mage
Wanderwine Prophets

Here's the plan: use Deadeye Navigator to help abuse Inalla's ability. Cluestones for mana ramp and when the ramp is done, trade them for new cards. Turnabout to let me abuse the untap ability or turn the tide in a way opponents won't expect. Dragon Mage and Notion Thief are a pretty broken combo but even if I don't get them together, they have solid uses individually. If you watched the video, you'll see that Wanderwine Prophets can be a win condition by itself. Veldaken Aethermage is the autoinclude tutor.

And if you're noting that I have put in ten cards and only taken out eight, good eye! But I can't remember what the two cards I removed are. I promise, I only have 99 cards in the main.

The cuts come from my belief that those cards just don't mesh with the mechanical theme I'm trying to explore: Cauldron Dance, for example, is card that cares about combat tricks with creatures but that is not this deck. That, and Mystifying Maze does what it does in such an inept manner that it's probably a candidate for the Trump administration.

So that's the setup, and the mana, according to the Deckstats calculator, seems to be in a good place. Onward!

Commander- Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

This should be fun.

Instant 1 Comet Storm 1 Polymorphist's Jest 1 Chaos Warp 1 Memory Plunder 1 Silumgar's Command 1 Into the Roil 1 Opportunity 1 Reality Shift 1 Go for the Throat 1 Cauldron Dance 1 Crosis's Charm 1 Rakdos Charm 1 Terminate	Artifacts 1 Nevinyrral's Disk 1 Mirror of the Forebears 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Darksteel Ingot 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Sol Ring 1 Unstable Obelisk 1 Worn Powerstone
Enchantment 1 Shifting Shadow 1 Curse of Verbosity  1 Curse of Disturbance 1 Curse of Opulence	Sorcery 1 Kindred Dominance 1 Clone Legion 1 Spelltwine 1 Decree of Pain 1 Necromantic Selection
Lands 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Mystifying Maze 10 Island 6 Swamp 4 Mountain 1 Path of Ancestry 1 Command Tower 1 Crumbling Necropolis 1 Dimir Aqueduct 1 Dismal Backwater 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Grixis Panorama 1 Izzet Boilerworks 1 Jwar Isle Refuge 1 Rakdos Carnarium 1 Swiftwater Cliffs 1 Temple of the False God 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Vivid Crag 1 Vivid Creek 1 Vivid Marsh	Creatures 1 Kess, Dissident Mage 1 Mairsil, the Pretender 1 Galecaster Colossus 1 Magus of the Mind 1 Portal Mage 1 Vindictive Lich 1 Izzet Chemister 1 Taigam, Sidisi's Hand 1 Havengul Lich 1 Marchesa, the Black Rose 1 Vela the Night-Clad 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls 1 Body Double 1 Harbinger of the Tides 1 Serendib Sorcerer 1 Apprentice Necromancer 1 Magus of the Abyss 1 Puppeteer Clique 1 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer 1 Mercurial Chemister 1 Nin, the Pain Artist 1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator 1 Bloodline Necromancer 1 Archaeomancer 1 Merchant of Secrets 1 Sea Gate Oracle 1 Corpse Augur 1 Izzet Chronarch 1 Nivix Guildmage

Or maybe not. I haven't messed with this Inalla list since I bought the deck last year which means I'm overdue with mucking around with this deck. There's a lot going on here which means that it could go in many different directions, swapping out the Commander (Kess, Mairsil, and Marchesa all present very different builds) but nothing is really cohesive.

What I think I'd like to do here is make an untapping deck with some Wizard synergy. Inalla's ability to generate extra creatures means that I could (and probably should) get some use out of 'enter the battlefield' triggers, and if I could somehow double up on Inalla's ability that can take a pretty nasty chunk out of someone's life total. Taking someone down 7 or 14 at a time is probably best as a backup plan but I would still like to work it in.

I'm not sure if there's any meat on that idea skeleton or if it's just me being too clever. I'm going to do some research but I think I'll need to tap the hivemind for this one.