This is a deck I brewed with cards I already have and the commander 2017 deck Arcane Wizardry that I pre-ordered. I am starting to play with a more competitive group and need a new deck. This is what I have at this time but I am willing to put another $30 or so into it at this time and will likely be looking to tweak it out a bit over time. Any Ideas on how to make this deck better? I am a bit worried about the mana base given the need to cast blue spells requiring UUUU and red and black spells costing RR and BB as well. Do you think the mana base will be stable enough? So what do you think of the deck over all?
This deck seems pretty sweet! The colored mana costs in this deck will certainly be extreme. I suggest running the Talismans (Talisman of dominance and Talisman of indulgence) to help with that.
You could probably do without the Nevinyrall's disk and torment of hailfire. Torment in particular isn't on game-plan, and doesn't seem to do enough for the cost. (This deck won't ramp much, and when it does, it goes infinite. With infinite mana, there are better outlets.)
There are also a few wizards which seem a bit iffy and more 'cute' than actually effective.
With your average cmc of 3.5, you could also go down to 37 lands.
Well, remember: EDH is about having fun! The most I can advise you on is efficiency. If you like a card but don't mind the hit you take to efficiency by including it in your deck, play it!
The following wizards are cards I feel either don't help your game-plan, or are not efficient enough to deserve a slot:
Riptide director: This is a pretty interesting card, and has the potential for huge amounts of card advantage... but we're in colors that are chock-full of card advantage already. He's expensive, only really works when you have a full board, and isn't really all that good with Inalla's trigger (as you would be paying 9 mana for his ability at that point.)
separatist voidmage: He's simply too expensive for what he does. If you're in a creature heavy meta, then go for it. Otherwise, I'd cut him.
Shadowmage infiltrator: There are better ways to get card advantage, and better wizards than this guy. The combat damage he deals doesn't matter for the purposes of your deck.
Lich Lord of Unx: 'going wide' with wizards doesn't really net you enough, imo. Of course, you do have things to do with wizard tokens (voidmage prodigy, Azami, lady of scrolls and barrin, master wizard all use them effectively) so I could see keeping him in.
POSSIBLE ADDITIONS:
Here are some cards I'm running in my own Inalla deck that are absent in yours. You may not wish to run them for your build, but I've found them to be effective in testing.
Trophy/Trinket mage: Normally I wouldn't say that Trophy mage is a 'requirement,' but many of your combos require Ashnod's/phrexian alter, a pair that are tutor-able with trophy mage. With 1 more mana requirement, you can get both at once!
Vela the night-clad: Vela does two important things for you- she makes your wanderwine prophets difficult to block, and she provides a win condition for any of your infinite sacrifice loops in the form of direct 'damage' to the dome. That's pretty important, as you could run into situations where you have infinite wizards, but simply cannot attack! She's like a second Inalla (as a win condition) in that regard, with a little added utility.
Sneak attack: This really abuses the fact that Inalla's ability is on ETB, not cast. It's slightly awkward as it increases your red color requirements, but the ability to 'discount' your win conditions by an extreme amount (turning wanderwine prophets or bloodline necromancer into a simple casting cost of 'R' apiece is no joke) and it becomes even more ludicrous with cards like Kindred discovery in play. I've found it to be a better 'Vedalken Orrery' effect, for the most part. (the sacrifice clause doesn't really matter for most of what you want to do.)
magus of the will/wheel: these guys have been pretty interesting for this deck. They put a target on your head when cast, but that's easily gotten around with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Sneak Attack, respectively.
Beacon of Unrest: Your win conditions mostly rely on Ashnod's/phyrexian alter. It's nice to have a reanimation spell that can hit either one of those, or a creature. I believe the flexibility is worth the slightly inflated cost.
For the record, here's my current list:
Creature (31)
1x AEther Adept
1x Anathemancer
1x Apprentice Necromancer
1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1x Barrin, Master Wizard
1x Bloodline Necromancer
1x Body Double
1x Champion of Wits
1x Changeling Berserker
1x Dualcaster Mage
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Havengul Lich
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip
1x Magus of the Wheel
1x Magus of the Will
1x Patron Wizard
1x Sage of Fables
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Sea Scryer
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Stonybrook Banneret
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Trinket Mage
1x Trophy Mage
1x Vedalken AEthermage
1x Vela the Night-Clad
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Viscera Seer
1x Voidmage Prodigy
1x Wanderwine Prophets
Artifact (13)
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Dimir Signet
1x Diviner's Wand
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Herald’s Horn
1x Izzet Signet
1x Panharmonicon
1x Phyrexian Altar
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Dominance
Sorcery (6)
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Living Death
1x Rite of Replication
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Vandalblast
1x Windfall
Enchantment (5)
1x Kindred Discovery
1x Mana Echoes
1x Phyrexian Reclamation
1x Rhystic Study
1x Sneak Attack
I'm running 37 lands. The major utility lands I'm running are:
Path of Ancestry
Cabal Coffers + Urborg, tomb of Yawgmoth
Phyrexian Tower
Volrath's Stronghold
Reliquary Tower
NOTE: I did not include Demonic/Vampiric tutor as a conscious decision to keep it a bit lacking in speed. I have made certain card choices in my deck (Champion of Wits, Magus of the Wheel, etc.) in a reaction to this, putting a greater focus on burning through my deck than stalling. The list is still in flux, I'm a little iffy on some of my own choices (viscera seer,
Shadowmage Infiltrator does some real work in the deck often drawing me 5 or more card before a sweeper kills it. No one uses removal to kill it as its damage is so minor and it never "combos off" like many of my creatures. My other, on paper better, draw creatures tend to die a whole lot as every piece of removal heads their way, and there's plenty of targeted removal in my metta.
My metta is also heavy on large creatures with multiple vulton style decks running around. Separatist Voidmage has saved me many of games by after the first time using a creature like the separatist to "capsize" there one touch death machine to their hand they look elsewhere while I have mana up.
You are probably right about Riptide Director. I will think about its slot in my deck. It tends to die before I ever use it, even once, and it does cost a lot to do its thing. My deck could find better things to do with its mana. Like sack a Lich Lord of Unx created zombie wizard to Voidmage Prodigy counter something that could cause me issues.
Here is what I really like about your deck that is missing in mine, Volrath's Stronghold. I will have to find a home for it. And you are right about Trinket mage and Trophy mage. I will likely find a home for them as well. I will think a bit about what to cut.
OK new deck list up. Added several targets for Trinket mage to find. Also added a way to win minus going infinite in Docent of Perfection and when it comes out I am going to add Vanquisher's Banner as with Riptide Director out I am in need of another way to draw a few extra cards. There are a few small changes here in there as well.
Awesome work, man! Continue testing, and see what works for you. I might try shadowmage infiltrator in my own build, you're kind of selling me on it...
I am a bit worried about the mana base given the need to cast blue spells requiring UUUU and red and black spells costing RR and BB as well. Do you think the mana base will be stable enough? So what do you think of the deck over all?
I do not know how I overlooked Sunken Ruins. I even own a copy. Thanks. It will make its way into my deck. Cascade Bluffs and the non-shock, non-original duals are already in the deck.
The problem with running Flood Plain, Bad River, Rocky Tar Pit and Mountain Valley with the non-shock, non-original duals is takes two turns to get at the mana early game when it is most needed. If you aren't fetching duals I prefer Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse, as I own them. Well I do own a copies of Bad River and Rocky Tar Pit but in my opinion when I fetched a dual two turns was far to long to wait to use it most of the time, so I took them out. I am thinking about buying Blood Crypt, Steam Vents and Watery Grave. If I do I will revisit the tapped fetches.
I personally have been trying to take this deck in a slight graveyard interaction direction. Since we get access to a few ways to get instants and sorceries back from our grave with Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, and Snapcaster Mage, I have been trying to add in more cards that let me draw and fill up my graveyard like Fact or Fiction, Faithless Looting, Windfall, etc. If you are able to cast any of these cards multiple times it ends up being super strong because it lets you find your combo pieces quicker or just gives you enough matching pieces to out value your opponents.
I personally have been trying to take this deck in a slight graveyard interaction direction. Since we get access to a few ways to get instants and sorceries back from our grave with Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, and Snapcaster Mage, I have been trying to add in more cards that let me draw and fill up my graveyard like Fact or Fiction, Faithless Looting, Windfall, etc. If you are able to cast any of these cards multiple times it ends up being super strong because it lets you find your combo pieces quicker or just gives you enough matching pieces to out value your opponents.
We also have Magus of the Will to get all our stuff back, which is pretty sweet. Oh, and magus of the bazaar to continue looting. And that new guy from Hour of Devastation, champion of wits, loots in a pinch.
A great card for this style of deck, and super underrated imo, is ancient excavation.
I rarely have issues keeping cards in hand, and I seen another deck on this site that has a graveyard theme with Inalla that looks interesting, it just isn't a direction I am interested in going. There has been a surge in graveyard decks in my meta lately and the hate is coming out in response. Just not interested in joining that mess more than my deck already does. But it is deffenatly an interesting idea to look at later.
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1 Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Wizards (32)
1 Metallic Mimic
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Galecaster Colossus
1 Bloodline Necromancer
1 Changeling Berserker
1 AEther Adept
1 Anathemancer
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Archaeomancer
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Barrin, Master Wizard
1 Ertai, Wizard Adept
1 Havengul Lich
1 Information Dealer
1 Lich Lord of Unx
1 Trophy mage
1 Mercurial Chemister
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Patron Wizard
1 Trinket mage
1 Sage of Fables
1 Nin, the Pain Artist
1 Separatist Voidmage
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Thalakos Deceiver
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Wanderwine Prophets
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Docent of Perfection
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Kindred Discovery
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Mind Over Matter
1 Sundial of the Infinite
1 Herald's Horn
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Crystal Shard
1 Ghostly Flicker
Tutors (2)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
Control (8)
1 Terminate
1 Kindred Dominance
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Disallow
1 Silumgar's Command
1 Damnation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Hero's Downfall
Mana rocks/ mana sack outlets (10)
1 Astral Cornucopia
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Dimir Signet
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Izzet Signet
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Sol Ring
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
lands (37)
6 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Fetid Pools
1 Canyon Slough
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Lotus Vale
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Sunken Ruins
This is a deck I brewed with cards I already have and the commander 2017 deck Arcane Wizardry that I pre-ordered. I am starting to play with a more competitive group and need a new deck. This is what I have at this time but I am willing to put another $30 or so into it at this time and will likely be looking to tweak it out a bit over time. Any Ideas on how to make this deck better? I am a bit worried about the mana base given the need to cast blue spells requiring UUUU and red and black spells costing RR and BB as well. Do you think the mana base will be stable enough? So what do you think of the deck over all?
Wanderwine Prophets+ Inalla, Archmage Ritualist+ Rogue's Passage+ 12 mana= nearly infinite turns
Bloodline Necromancer+ Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar+ Inalla, Archmage Ritualist= Infinite wizard recursion, infinite Bloodline Necromancer hasty tokens and with Ashnod's Altar infinite colorless mana. wizards with ETB effects can be looped
Changeling Berserker+ Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar+ any ETB effect wizard= equal infinite ETB triggers, with Ashnod's Altar+ Inalla, Archmage Ritualist you also get infinite hasty tokens and colorless mana.
Laboratory Maniac+ Mind Over Matter+ Arcanis the Omnipotent or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind or Azami, Lady of Scrolls= alternate win condition.
Ghostly Flicker+ Gilded Lotus+ Archaeomancer+ Ashnod's Altar+ Inalla, Archmage Ritualist= Infinite sorcery and instant recursion and infinite Archaeomancer hasty tokens.
more minor but key combo
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist+ Sundial of the Infinite= I get to keep the tokens if the wizard came into play on my turn.
CMC
0=1
1=2
2=13
3=19
4=10
5=9
6=5
7=3
Average=3.54
Lands=38
creatures=31+commander
instants=9
sorceries=4
enchantments=3
artifacts=14
Card draw=11
ramp=9
There are also a few wizards which seem a bit iffy and more 'cute' than actually effective.
With your average cmc of 3.5, you could also go down to 37 lands.
What wizards do you find iffy?
The following wizards are cards I feel either don't help your game-plan, or are not efficient enough to deserve a slot:
Riptide director: This is a pretty interesting card, and has the potential for huge amounts of card advantage... but we're in colors that are chock-full of card advantage already. He's expensive, only really works when you have a full board, and isn't really all that good with Inalla's trigger (as you would be paying 9 mana for his ability at that point.)
separatist voidmage: He's simply too expensive for what he does. If you're in a creature heavy meta, then go for it. Otherwise, I'd cut him.
Shadowmage infiltrator: There are better ways to get card advantage, and better wizards than this guy. The combat damage he deals doesn't matter for the purposes of your deck.
Lich Lord of Unx: 'going wide' with wizards doesn't really net you enough, imo. Of course, you do have things to do with wizard tokens (voidmage prodigy, Azami, lady of scrolls and barrin, master wizard all use them effectively) so I could see keeping him in.
POSSIBLE ADDITIONS:
Here are some cards I'm running in my own Inalla deck that are absent in yours. You may not wish to run them for your build, but I've found them to be effective in testing.
Trophy/Trinket mage: Normally I wouldn't say that Trophy mage is a 'requirement,' but many of your combos require Ashnod's/phrexian alter, a pair that are tutor-able with trophy mage. With 1 more mana requirement, you can get both at once!
Vela the night-clad: Vela does two important things for you- she makes your wanderwine prophets difficult to block, and she provides a win condition for any of your infinite sacrifice loops in the form of direct 'damage' to the dome. That's pretty important, as you could run into situations where you have infinite wizards, but simply cannot attack! She's like a second Inalla (as a win condition) in that regard, with a little added utility.
Sneak attack: This really abuses the fact that Inalla's ability is on ETB, not cast. It's slightly awkward as it increases your red color requirements, but the ability to 'discount' your win conditions by an extreme amount (turning wanderwine prophets or bloodline necromancer into a simple casting cost of 'R' apiece is no joke) and it becomes even more ludicrous with cards like Kindred discovery in play. I've found it to be a better 'Vedalken Orrery' effect, for the most part. (the sacrifice clause doesn't really matter for most of what you want to do.)
magus of the will/wheel: these guys have been pretty interesting for this deck. They put a target on your head when cast, but that's easily gotten around with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Sneak Attack, respectively.
Beacon of Unrest: Your win conditions mostly rely on Ashnod's/phyrexian alter. It's nice to have a reanimation spell that can hit either one of those, or a creature. I believe the flexibility is worth the slightly inflated cost.
For the record, here's my current list:
Creature (31)
1x AEther Adept
1x Anathemancer
1x Apprentice Necromancer
1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1x Barrin, Master Wizard
1x Bloodline Necromancer
1x Body Double
1x Champion of Wits
1x Changeling Berserker
1x Dualcaster Mage
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Havengul Lich
1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip
1x Magus of the Wheel
1x Magus of the Will
1x Patron Wizard
1x Sage of Fables
1x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Sea Scryer
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Stonybrook Banneret
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Trinket Mage
1x Trophy Mage
1x Vedalken AEthermage
1x Vela the Night-Clad
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Viscera Seer
1x Voidmage Prodigy
1x Wanderwine Prophets
Artifact (13)
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Dimir Signet
1x Diviner's Wand
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Herald’s Horn
1x Izzet Signet
1x Panharmonicon
1x Phyrexian Altar
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Talisman of Dominance
Sorcery (6)
1x Beacon of Unrest
1x Living Death
1x Rite of Replication
1x Toxic Deluge
1x Vandalblast
1x Windfall
Instant (7)
1x Arcane Denial
1x Chaos Warp
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Pongify
1x Swan Song
Enchantment (5)
1x Kindred Discovery
1x Mana Echoes
1x Phyrexian Reclamation
1x Rhystic Study
1x Sneak Attack
I'm running 37 lands. The major utility lands I'm running are:
Path of Ancestry
Cabal Coffers + Urborg, tomb of Yawgmoth
Phyrexian Tower
Volrath's Stronghold
Reliquary Tower
NOTE: I did not include Demonic/Vampiric tutor as a conscious decision to keep it a bit lacking in speed. I have made certain card choices in my deck (Champion of Wits, Magus of the Wheel, etc.) in a reaction to this, putting a greater focus on burning through my deck than stalling. The list is still in flux, I'm a little iffy on some of my own choices (viscera seer,
I hope this helps!
Shadowmage Infiltrator does some real work in the deck often drawing me 5 or more card before a sweeper kills it. No one uses removal to kill it as its damage is so minor and it never "combos off" like many of my creatures. My other, on paper better, draw creatures tend to die a whole lot as every piece of removal heads their way, and there's plenty of targeted removal in my metta.
My metta is also heavy on large creatures with multiple vulton style decks running around. Separatist Voidmage has saved me many of games by after the first time using a creature like the separatist to "capsize" there one touch death machine to their hand they look elsewhere while I have mana up.
And Lich Lord of Unx with Voidmage Prodigy often forms a soft lock on my most dangerous win from nowhere opponents. Plus he works really well with Galecaster Colossus, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Nin, the Pain Artist, Patron Wizard, Riptide Director, Information Dealer, Patron Wizardand a cast Inalla, Archmage Ritualist. Can you honestly ask more out of a three mana creature?
You are probably right about Riptide Director. I will think about its slot in my deck. It tends to die before I ever use it, even once, and it does cost a lot to do its thing. My deck could find better things to do with its mana. Like sack a Lich Lord of Unx created zombie wizard to Voidmage Prodigy counter something that could cause me issues.
Here is what I really like about your deck that is missing in mine, Volrath's Stronghold. I will have to find a home for it. And you are right about Trinket mage and Trophy mage. I will likely find a home for them as well. I will think a bit about what to cut.
OK new deck list up. Added several targets for Trinket mage to find. Also added a way to win minus going infinite in Docent of Perfection and when it comes out I am going to add Vanquisher's Banner as with Riptide Director out I am in need of another way to draw a few extra cards. There are a few small changes here in there as well.
They will cost you some money, but Sunken Ruins, Cascade Bluffs and possibly Graven Cairns really help in this regard.
Also, you could run Sunken Hollow, Smoldering Marsh, Fetid Pools and Canyon Slough together with Flood Plain, Bad River, Rocky Tar Pit and Mountain Valley as a budget version of shocks + fetches.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
The problem with running Flood Plain, Bad River, Rocky Tar Pit and Mountain Valley with the non-shock, non-original duals is takes two turns to get at the mana early game when it is most needed. If you aren't fetching duals I prefer Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse, as I own them. Well I do own a copies of Bad River and Rocky Tar Pit but in my opinion when I fetched a dual two turns was far to long to wait to use it most of the time, so I took them out. I am thinking about buying Blood Crypt, Steam Vents and Watery Grave. If I do I will revisit the tapped fetches.
Again thanks for the ideas.
Also Filling up your graveyard makes your Bloodline Necromancer, Apprentice Necromancer, and Cauldron Dance have targets more consistently and exponentially increases their value.
That seems good with the likes of Living Death, too. In addition to all the normal wheels, we have two major wizards that wheel:
Jace's Archivist = Windfall
Magus of the Wheel = Wheel of Fortune
We also have Magus of the Will to get all our stuff back, which is pretty sweet. Oh, and magus of the bazaar to continue looting. And that new guy from Hour of Devastation, champion of wits, loots in a pinch.
A great card for this style of deck, and super underrated imo, is ancient excavation.