Yes my titles are pure inspired genius. This is why you major in English, kids.
Anyway this guy interests me. He's got a nice low cost and a fun ability on a cool tribe that hopefully doesn't get too heinously out of hand this time (cough azami winter of...2012?).
Naban, Dean of Iteration 1U
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
If a Wizard entering the battlefield under your control causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Obviously it's kind of on rails a bit since he only synergizes with a handful of pretty easily searchable cards - although of course you could always go the arcane adaptation/xenograft route, but it's not like blue is amazing at searching for enchantments so it seems unreliable. Barring that, I'd say the obvious inclusions are:
There are other wizards with really minor synergy, but those are the ones worth talking about from what I can find. I'm really curious to find other non-wizards that trigger on etbs (i.e. altar of the brood) but I don't see any others worth mentioning. Altar is actually a potentially legit wincon in this deck, though - it's tutorable via several methods including via wizard, and with all the bouncy wizards which will most likely want to bounce themselves and another creature when they etb, you should be triggering the ability pretty frequently. Bounce is likely to be pretty clutch here - there are 4 wizards that can do a capsize impression with naban on the field. venser is especially nasty with flash and spell bouncing.
Besides that and the obligatory counterspells and removal, the main thing I'm thinking is going for big mana (mana doublers, big mana rocks, etc). That's obviously best in mono-color, which we are, plus we have great mana sinks by playing wizards over and over with the bouncy shenanigans.
The main thing I'm interested in thinking about is any other things that trigger naban in a useful way, especially non-wizards (although if I somehow missed a powerful wizard lmk). I'm also interested in tribal synergies to a certain extent, but I do want this to be focused on ETBs more than wizards in general.
Also, I would probably cut it down to around 20 wizards, and probably like 32 lands. Keep the curve low. This leaves more space for counters and other instant speed interaction or more mana rocks.
One card I would really recommend is Paradox Engine, a really sweet card to use with a bunch of your cards, especially Azami.
edit: Archaeomancer + Time Warp seems like a good way to win as well, thats really on-theme with the deck. What is more iterating than just taking more turns?
I'm not interested in infinite combos, which is why I intentionally excluded all those cards. Although paradox engine might actually be safe since I cut all color-producing rocks.
Increasing interaction is probably reasonable, but I'm more interested in exploring synergies than building MUC. If I do iterate on the deck (wink) then maybe I'll fine tune that balance and probably cut silly stuff like portal mage.
Just imagine cast a wizard with Inalla, Naban and Panharmonicon on the field. You can copy the Wizard 3 times, with a total of 16 ETB effects, lol.
Well...
-I kind of hate Inalla for being a badly-designed uninteractive cancer commander
-Mono-color is more fun to build than tri-color
-Restriction breeds creativity
-I've practically sworn off building precon commanders because they get so overbuilt, and naban is (at least for now) fresh meat
-Most importantly - I don't build to make the most powerful deck I can. That's easy. The goal is to build something interesting that I want to build. Inalla is...not that.
Sticking him in with every Inalla deck is the obvious use, but a deck led by him is a lot more interesting to talk about. I really like having low-CMC commanders.
With the best ETB wizards being some form of card draw or bounce, which isn't enough to win the game, I'm imagining some sort of mono-blue spellslinger deck? Archaeomancer and Naru Meha, Master Wizard being the most important pieces. Control until you draw out your pieces, cast something crazy, then cast Naru to copy it 2-3 times (depending if you have Panharmonicon out.) If you have enough mana for a second cast of him, bounce him back with Crystal Shard or something for further copies.
Don't know what blue would want to copy so much besides extra turn spells, but could be fun. Would probably run a little lighter on wizards, maybe 10-20 of them and 30-40 insta/sorceries.
I tried out the deck a couple times tonight (won both). Overall I'd agree that it's pretty light on instants/sorceries, which really weakens the archaeomancer and snapcaster which were both mostly dead weight. Naru at least is also an anthem (also I didn't draw him). Idk that cutting wizards is the right call though, the second game I was really hurting for wizards to advance my game plan a bit.
The version so far is mostly built to win either via lockout or via tribal beats, or some combo of the two. Tribal beats being reasonable with a big anthem effect like door of destinies, and lockout being possible with cost reduction/big mana and venser type stuff, or just being about to bounce/counter everything with the wizards that do that sort of thing, or just outdraw with enough counters to stop anything relevant with azami or whatever. First game I won via vensering the last opponent out of lands, and also pumping my wizards to like +10/+10 with door. Second game I won by locking out the guy with the giant bouncy wizard and big mana.
Time warping ftw would definitely be possible but you'd have to cut archaeomancer if you want to avoid infinites. Actually venser could be problematic too, you could naru meha the spell and then bounce the original or something...although that's probably too complicated to be a problem. Mostly I just think it's a little bit boring for the other players and this deck is complicated enough to figure out without the added time sink.
Well, you don't need to make the most optimized Inalla deck, bit be grixis help a lot with options.
What about Proteus Staff? Good to bring random Wizards or remove treats.
With so much bounces and low curve, you could use some windfall effects. But this porbably would be better in black, to use graveyards. Equilibrium could be nice in that case.
You don't use Ghostly Flicker to avoid infinite combo with the new blue dualcaster?
I was thinking of a mono blue mill/control with the Jace's Erasure and Sphinx's Tutelage with card draw wizards, and ETB triggers with Altar of the Brood and Sage Row Denizen.
Still need cards, but the basic gist is to double effects so that my bounce ETB wizards keep the field a bit clearer. With any sort of flash, this lets me control the battlefield on either turn. The issue so far is how do I win? Master of Waves and clones? I have Docent of Perfection in the deck too to help out. Otherwise it becomes a typical "deck yourself with Azami" deck.
Might consider Salvaging Station/Blasting Station combos, since Trinket mage/Treasure mage/Trophy mage can fetch pieces--not sure which one though:) Also, there's Teferi / Pool.
Anyway this guy interests me. He's got a nice low cost and a fun ability on a cool tribe that hopefully doesn't get too heinously out of hand this time (cough azami winter of...2012?).
Naban, Dean of Iteration
1U
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
If a Wizard entering the battlefield under your control causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Obviously it's kind of on rails a bit since he only synergizes with a handful of pretty easily searchable cards - although of course you could always go the arcane adaptation/xenograft route, but it's not like blue is amazing at searching for enchantments so it seems unreliable. Barring that, I'd say the obvious inclusions are:
Besides that, there's the general wizard tribal stuff:
And the pick-a-tribal stuff:
There are other wizards with really minor synergy, but those are the ones worth talking about from what I can find. I'm really curious to find other non-wizards that trigger on etbs (i.e. altar of the brood) but I don't see any others worth mentioning. Altar is actually a potentially legit wincon in this deck, though - it's tutorable via several methods including via wizard, and with all the bouncy wizards which will most likely want to bounce themselves and another creature when they etb, you should be triggering the ability pretty frequently. Bounce is likely to be pretty clutch here - there are 4 wizards that can do a capsize impression with naban on the field. venser is especially nasty with flash and spell bouncing.
Besides that and the obligatory counterspells and removal, the main thing I'm thinking is going for big mana (mana doublers, big mana rocks, etc). That's obviously best in mono-color, which we are, plus we have great mana sinks by playing wizards over and over with the bouncy shenanigans.
The main thing I'm interested in thinking about is any other things that trigger naban in a useful way, especially non-wizards (although if I somehow missed a powerful wizard lmk). I'm also interested in tribal synergies to a certain extent, but I do want this to be focused on ETBs more than wizards in general.
EDIT - initial decklist:
1 Naban, Dean of Iteration
Wizards n' clones (28)
1 riverwise augur
1 separatist voidmage
1 naru mega, master wizard
1 merchant of secrets
1 voidwielder
1 portal mage
1 Simic Manipulator
1 Master of Waves
1 Aether Adept
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trinket Mage
1 Trophy Mage
1 Archaeomancer
1 Sigil Tracer
1 Galecaster Colossus
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Patron Wizard
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Surgespanner
1 Stunt Double
1 Sakashima's Student
1 Beguiler of Wills
1 Panharmonicon
1 Crystal Shard
1 Docent of Perfection
1 Kindred Discovery
1 Door of Destinies
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Cryptic Gateway
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Minion Reflector
1 Herald's Horn
Other control stuff (10)
1 Cryptic Command
1 Counterspell
1 Disallow
1 Mana Drain
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Pongify
1 Arcane Denial
1 Force of Will
1 Leyline of Anticipation
Mana Rocks (12)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Honor-Worn Shaku
1 Thought Vessel
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Stonybrook Banneret
1 Sapphire Medallion
1 Urza's Incubator
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Caged Sun
1 Copy Artifact
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Inventor's Fair
1 Wasteland
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Reliquary Tower
29 Island
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Also, I would probably cut it down to around 20 wizards, and probably like 32 lands. Keep the curve low. This leaves more space for counters and other instant speed interaction or more mana rocks.
One card I would really recommend is Paradox Engine, a really sweet card to use with a bunch of your cards, especially Azami.
edit: Archaeomancer + Time Warp seems like a good way to win as well, thats really on-theme with the deck. What is more iterating than just taking more turns?
Increasing interaction is probably reasonable, but I'm more interested in exploring synergies than building MUC. If I do iterate on the deck (wink) then maybe I'll fine tune that balance and probably cut silly stuff like portal mage.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Just imagine cast a wizard with Inalla, Naban and Panharmonicon on the field. You can copy the Wizard 3 times, with a total of 16 ETB effects, lol.
-I kind of hate Inalla for being a badly-designed uninteractive cancer commander
-Mono-color is more fun to build than tri-color
-Restriction breeds creativity
-I've practically sworn off building precon commanders because they get so overbuilt, and naban is (at least for now) fresh meat
-Most importantly - I don't build to make the most powerful deck I can. That's easy. The goal is to build something interesting that I want to build. Inalla is...not that.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
With the best ETB wizards being some form of card draw or bounce, which isn't enough to win the game, I'm imagining some sort of mono-blue spellslinger deck? Archaeomancer and Naru Meha, Master Wizard being the most important pieces. Control until you draw out your pieces, cast something crazy, then cast Naru to copy it 2-3 times (depending if you have Panharmonicon out.) If you have enough mana for a second cast of him, bounce him back with Crystal Shard or something for further copies.
Don't know what blue would want to copy so much besides extra turn spells, but could be fun. Would probably run a little lighter on wizards, maybe 10-20 of them and 30-40 insta/sorceries.
The version so far is mostly built to win either via lockout or via tribal beats, or some combo of the two. Tribal beats being reasonable with a big anthem effect like door of destinies, and lockout being possible with cost reduction/big mana and venser type stuff, or just being about to bounce/counter everything with the wizards that do that sort of thing, or just outdraw with enough counters to stop anything relevant with azami or whatever. First game I won via vensering the last opponent out of lands, and also pumping my wizards to like +10/+10 with door. Second game I won by locking out the guy with the giant bouncy wizard and big mana.
Time warping ftw would definitely be possible but you'd have to cut archaeomancer if you want to avoid infinites. Actually venser could be problematic too, you could naru meha the spell and then bounce the original or something...although that's probably too complicated to be a problem. Mostly I just think it's a little bit boring for the other players and this deck is complicated enough to figure out without the added time sink.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
What about Proteus Staff? Good to bring random Wizards or remove treats.
With so much bounces and low curve, you could use some windfall effects. But this porbably would be better in black, to use graveyards. Equilibrium could be nice in that case.
You don't use Ghostly Flicker to avoid infinite combo with the new blue dualcaster?
Still need cards, but the basic gist is to double effects so that my bounce ETB wizards keep the field a bit clearer. With any sort of flash, this lets me control the battlefield on either turn. The issue so far is how do I win? Master of Waves and clones? I have Docent of Perfection in the deck too to help out. Otherwise it becomes a typical "deck yourself with Azami" deck.
Galecaster Colossus and Aven Fogbearer can grind opponents a bit, but they don't really win the game. So far it looks like Door of Destinies is the finisher of choice. Any thoughts?
(maybe flayer husk/salvaging station/blasting station?).
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall