Inalla grixis control - wizard tribal ETB

[Luitoine]

Hi everybody,

I don't really know if this can be a primer or not, but it is currently my most popular deck on deckstat, so I tried to write a complete guide to it:

https://deckstats.net/decks/85903/818130-inalla-s-clone-factory#show_description

Hope you like it,
Luitoine.

[Rinzler]

I like it! I would call this a fairly comprehensive primer.  I don't have very many questions since I typically play a much more aggressive style of deck, so don't know that many cards to suggest, but this looks great!  If it doesn't get very much attention, just ask morg to look it over, and if you do a good enough job, you'll get promoted to full primer status. 

Good luck and great job!

[Morganator 2.0]

Besides the word "detroy" in the game-plan section I can't find any spelling mistakes, so that's nice. I do have some questions about this deck's strategy, as well as some questions about includes and excludes.

• There is a little bit of repeatable draw (Rhystic Study, Azami, Lady of Scrolls) but not a lot and no wheel effects like Windfall or Wheel of Misfortune. Does this deck go into top-deck mode in the late game, or are there ways to avoid this?
• Besides Anathemancer, are there any other notable targets for Rite of Replication?
• There are a lot of creatures like Dack's Duplicate (Evil Twin, Mirror Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Spark Double, Stunt Double). What made you choose Dack's Duplicate over all of these?
• I noticed that you didn't give any mention to the Wanderwine Prophets combo or Timestream Navigator combo with Inalla. Have you intentionally left these out?
• Is there any reason to copy Daring Apprentice if it's just going away at the end of your turn? Wouldn't a regular counterspell work better?
• Would Naru Meha, Master Wizard be a good include (copy an instant/sorcery twice) or is her mana cost too high?
• If Sundial of the Infinite works well in Inalla, would Obeka, Brute Chronologist work better?
• Would Barrin, Tolarian Archmage work as an upgrade to Aether Adept? You would just bounce the original and sacrifice the copy.
• There are some new cards from Kaldheim that you might not have noticed. Cyclone Summoner looks like a good one-sided boardwipe. Molten Echoes will make you a free copy of all your wizards. The same is true with Reflections of Littjara.

There's also a number of other cards that seem like obvious upgrades. Does this deck have a budget restriction? If not, would you be able to explain why you're not using these cards?

• Arcane Signet
• Cavern of Souls
• Herald's Horn
• Sol Ring

[Luitoine]

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback and questions about the deck

Here are my answers:

• There is a little bit of repeatable draw (Rhystic Study, Azami, Lady of Scrolls) but not a lot and no wheel effects like Windfall or Wheel of Misfortune. Does this deck go into top-deck mode in the late game, or are there ways to avoid this?

--> I think that the deck has enough of card draw and card selection with wizarsd ETB (Champion of Wits, Cloudkin Seer, Sea Gate Oracle, Spellseeker, Tribute Mage, Watcher for Tomorrow), plus Rhystic Study / Azami, Lady of Scrolls are very effective drawing engines, that's why the only wheel effect that I have included is Magus of the Jar. But of course you can run more draw spells if you want to (Jace's archivist is a good wizard option for example, and you can also replace Nightmare Unmaking by Decree of Pain to refill your hand).

• Besides Anathemancer, are there any other notable targets for Rite of Replication?

--> It depends on the situation, Dire Fleet Ravager and Vindictive Lich can be other "game winning" candidates, but the nice thing with Rite of Replication is that you can also target creatures you don't control, so there might also be a good creature to clone on your opponents' boards!

• There are a lot of creatures like Dack's Duplicate (Evil Twin, Mirror Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Spark Double, Stunt Double). What made you choose Dack's Duplicate over all of these?

--> The fact that Dack's Duplicate can target opponen'ts creatures and has haste made the cut for me. You could also go for Stunt double (because it has flash), but I would rather advise against the other 4 mana options.

• I noticed that you didn't give any mention to the Wanderwine Prophets combo or Timestream Navigator combo with Inalla. Have you intentionally left these out?

--> Actually I did, in the "FAQ" section (because I thought that would be a frequently asked question ). I don't really like the idea of a 1 card combo (and I think that people are rather expecting it if you play Inalla, so there's no a lot of surprise left), but you can play it if you want to!

• Is there any reason to copy Daring Apprentice if it's just going away at the end of your turn? Wouldn't a regular counterspell work better?

--> It's a little "fringe", but it can happen that you want to be ready to counter something the turn you play Daring Apprentice (if you're planing to win this turn for example). Otherwise, Daring Apprentice is rather there to slow the game down (it has a dissuasive effect just as Nevinyrral's Disk).

• Would Naru Meha, Master Wizard be a good include (copy an instant/sorcery twice) or is her mana cost too high?

--> I tried it but didn't like it in the end. It's legendary, cost too much mana, and is more effective in a instant/sorcery heavy deck (which is not really the plan in my "wizard ETB build").

• If Sundial of the Infinite works well in Inalla, would Obeka, Brute Chronologist work better?

--> I prefer sundial of the infinite because: it's an artifact that is more likely to stick to the board, it's only 2 mana and can be fetched by Tribute Mage. But if you really like the idea of keeping your wizards tokens, you could play both of them!

• Would Barrin, Tolarian Archmage work as an upgrade to Aether Adept? You would just bounce the original and sacrifice the copy.

--> You are absolutely right and I missed that! (Actually, I would recommend to play both of them, as it is a really effective repeteable removal spell)

• There are some new cards from Kaldheim that you might not have noticed. Cyclone Summoner looks like a good one-sided boardwipe. Molten Echoes will make you a free copy of all your wizards. The same is true with Reflections of Littjara.

--> The Cyclone Summoner can be a nice budget option to replace Cyclonic Rift. I'm more skeptical about Molten Echoes and Reflections of Littjara: they sure go well in the deck (and I will at least add them to the sideboard options!), but I removed Panharmonicon because it was a "4 mana do nothing artifact" (+ Nabaan did the same thing for only 2 mana), and I'm a bit afraid that these two enchantment might feel the same... At least, I wouldn't recommend to play them if you keep Mana Echoes and Leyline of Anticipation (you don't want too many 4+ mana "do nothing enchantments" in your deck).

• There's also a number of other cards that seem like obvious upgrades. Does this deck have a budget restriction? If not, would you be able to explain why you're not using these cards? (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Cavern of Souls, Herald's Horn).

--> For Cavern of Souls and Herald's Horn it is just because I don't (currently) own the cards, but they sure are great inclusions! For sol ring, I explained in the FAQ that I don't play it in most of my decks (because it's OP), but of course it's a really good card. And for Arcane Signet it's only because I liked the symmetry of having the three guild signets (but it is strictly better to play Arcane Signet over any guild signet).

I'll update the deck and description thanks to your suggestions!