>Introduction on the deck and why to play it

This deck is a control deck, built around ETB creatures and wizard tribal synergies.
It is powerful, and has a lot of interactions with opponents' stuff, but do not usually wins rapidly: a true wizard is a master of patience.

>Deck game-plan and strategy

The main aim of the deck is to slow down the game until the point where we can take everyone else out in one turn.

To do that, we are taking advantage of the eminence ability of Inalla, Archmage Ritualist: when a wizard enters the battlefield under your control, we can pay 1 generic mana to create a token that is a copy of the wizard, with haste, and that will be exiled at the end of the turn. Since it's an eminence ability, it will trigger while Inalla is in the command zone, therefore, it's a "free trigger" and we don't even have to ever cast Inalla during the game!

Some comments about Inalla's ability:

• since the copy tokens have the same name as the card they're copying, we do not want a lot of legendary wizards in the deck (unless they are really really good, such as Azami, Lady of Scrolls)
• we do not have to make the copy token each time, but the game-plan really revolves around that ability, therefore it is almost as if all your wizards cost 1 mana more than their CMC, that is why we want wizards with mana costs as low as possible (or ways to reduce the normal casting costs of wizards, such as Nightscape Familiar or Stonybrook Banneret)
• the wizard does not have to be casted, any non-token wizards entering the battlefield under our control will trigger Inalla's ability, therefore we can play a reanimator subtheme in the deck (with cards like Apprentice Necromancer or Havengul Lich)
• creating copy tokens that are exiled at the end of the turn might seem harmless, but it generates a lot of value (+ you always have a free attacker with haste). For example: Aether Adept will bounce two creatures, Watcher for Tomorrow will draw two cards, Spellseeker will search for two instants or sorceries, Bloodline Necromancer will return two creatures from our graveyard, etc.

Apart from wizards with ETB, we are relying on the standard "grixis control package" of powerful instants and sorceries to keep our opponents in check (detroy their creatures, bounce their permanents, counter their spells). And since we are playing the long grindy game, we also need a lot of card draw to keep the engine going (don't worry, wizards and blue in general are really good at that).

>How the deck wins

The main win conditions are the following (I recommend you to not play those card in the early game, but rather keep them as finishers when life totals of your opponents are getting are low enough):

• Anathemancer: unless you are playing against mono-coloured deck, Anathmancer + one copy token is usally enough to kill any opponent in the late game.
• Rite of Replication kicked: if you target a good creature (such as the aforementioned Anathemancer), five copy is very good.
• Dire Fleet Ravager: with the token copy, it's taking half the life of every players (+ having a 4/4 menace with haste ready to rumble).
• Docent of Perfection // Final Iteration: it's really slow, but if you manage to flip Docent of Perfection and have a bunch of wizards hanging around, you are usually in a good spot to win.

There is also one infinite combo in the deck:
Twinflame + Dualcaster Mage
You cast Twinflame targeting any creature you control, before it resolves you cast Dualcaster Mage, you copy Twinflame, targeting the Dualcaster Mage, which creates an infinite loop (that you can stop whenever you want because you don't have to target something with the last Twinflame that is casted). Then you have a infinite amount of Dualcaster mages with haste who can crush the opponents life total.
(Note that "Spellseeker" can search for "Twinflame" and that "Vedalken Aethermage" can be recycled to find "Dualcaster Mage")

>Single card discussion

>Some cards are especially good in the deck:

• Aether Adept is a really effective and renewable removal spell knowing a little trick: casting Aether Adept + making a copy allows you to bounce one opponent's creature (with the first trigger), then bounce your Aether Adept back to your hand (with the second trigger), and be ready to do it again.
• Venser, Shaper Savant can do the same trick as Aether Adept (given that you choose to sacrifice the token due to the legendary rule), becoming a Remand with buyback.
• Vedalken Aethermage lets you search for any wizards at instant speed, with it's wizardcycling abitliy.
• Naban, Dean of Iteration doubles all your wizards ETB (wich means 4 ETB for one wizard + one copy token)
• Dack's Duplicate will enters the battlefield as a copy of any wizard already on the battlefield (with haste), but is not a token, so it will still trigger Inalla's ability.
• Thalakos Deceiver will directly steal one opponent's creature with the copy token (and you can keep the original Thalakos Deceiver to steal another creature next turn if he survives).
• Magus of the Jar: the copy token has haste so it allows you to refill your hand immediately (+ it messes with what your opponents might have in hand).
• Galecaster Colossus, Patron Wizard and Azami, Lady of Scrolls are just crazy value (since there's usually a bunch of wizards on your board).
• Mana Echoes produces at least 1 generic mana when any wizard enters the battlefield uner your control, then you can use the mana to pay for the copy token, that will directly generates at least 2 generic mana thanks to Mana Echoes.
• Sundial of the Infinite allows you to keep all the copy tokens by ending the turn before they get exiled.
• Leyline of Anticipation and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir allow you to become a real "draw go" player by giving all your spells flash.
• Riptide Laboratory: allows you to bounce a wizard in your hand, for more ETB shenanigans.

>Some other cards are just good grixis control cards:

• Cyclonic Rift is probably the best one-sided removal in commander (and can be fetched by Spellseeker).
• Cryptic Command and Mystic Confluence are two very good staples (rather easy to play here since the deck has blue as a dominant colour).
• Rakdos Charm and Crosis Charm are versatile cards (which is always good).
• Chaos Warp and Capsize can deal with any permanent at instant speed.
• Nevinyrral's Disk can dissuade your opponents to commit to much the board (which is exactly what you want with this deck).
• Fatal Push, Go for the Throat, Terminate, Reality Shift to deal with creatures at low cost and instant speed.
• Memory Plunder: always a lot of fun when you play a powerful sorcery from an opponent's graveyard at instant speed!

>One card is actually not that great (but I really like it, so I play it anyway):

• Voidmage Husher is too expensive, and too situational. I would rather recommand to play Fatespinner instead, that is a really great tempo card (one thing to note: if your opponent choose to skeep their main phase, they cannot play a land this turn).

>A few cards that I used to play but finally removed from the deck:

• Cephalid Constable: if it comes in play early, it can be a nightmare (since it can bounce lands in opponent's hands), but otherwise it is just too slow.
• Siren Stormtamer, Cursecatcher, Martyr of Frost: they are good 1 drop, but they usually lose interest in the very long game.
• Shadowmage Infiltrator: having to attack to draw is not very good compared to all the wizards that draw simply by entering the battlefield.
• Arcanis the Omnipotent: it's legendary + it never lives long enough to be activated anyway.
• Kindred Dominance: 7 mana is really expensive, and you usually don't really care if your wizards die anyway.

>A few options that might be good in the deck (if you want to change some cards or adapt to your local meta):

• Living death: if you have a bunch of wizards with ETB in your graveyard and some extra mana to clone them, it becomes a really great removal.
• Panharmonicon: doubles all your ETB.
• Sage of Fables: a bit slow but a lot of potential draws.

>Budget options

Only a few wizards are very expensive, and they are not really necessary to the game-plan:

• Spellseeker
• Vindictive Lich
• Patron Wizard

A list of alternatives wizards are proposed in the sideboard (reasonable options are for example: Disciple of Bolas, Stern Proctor, Jace's Archivist, etc.)

A few good control spells are expensive, and you can find cheaper alternatives if you want to:

• Cyclonic Rift can be replaced by Devastation Tide or Evacuation
• Cryptic Command can be replaced by Archmage's Charm, Dismiss or Sage's Dousing
• Rhystic Study can be replaced by Mystic Remora (or just removed from the deck, you don't make friends by playing this card anyway ^^)

The mana base can also be built on a budget:

• Remove the fetchlands and shocklands
• Add filter lands or tapped dual lands instead

>FAQ

Q: When should I cast Inalla?
A: Almost never (unless you're in a very very bad position and have nothing better to do).

Q: Why don't you play sol ring in your deck?
A: This card is broken and I think that a good deck doesn't need it to win (but you can play it if you want).

Q: Why don't you play the combo with Wanderwine Prophets?
A: A one card combo is not a combo (but you can play it if you want).