Hey it's Inalla finally with CMC<3.
~~What are counterspells?~~ I finally found room for Counterspell and Arcane Denial!
How it plays
Over time this list has settled solidly into Grixis control that uses Wizard enters-the-battlefield triggers like Archaeomancer in order to generate value to support surgical interaction such as Reality Shift to slow things down and sweepers like Living Death in to get ahead. Most wins come from hard locks involving Galecaster Colossus or Living Death that buy time for simple wizard beats or a combo finish like classic Inalla lines including Bloodline Necromancer + Ashnod's Altar or Dualcaster Mage + Ghostly Flicker.
Deckbuilding Philosophy
I like drawing lots of cards and playing multiple spells per turn and never missing a land drop. I goldfish this deck all the time and if it starts consistently failing to do those things I start taking a long and hard look at underperforming cards.
I love combos but this is not a combo deck. Most wins from from board locks and swinging for a pittance over many turns but a turn 3 Dualcaster combo is also possible. (T1 Steam Vents, Sol Ring, Izzet Signet; T2 Shivan Reef; T3 Land, Ghostly Flicker, Dualcaster Mage)
Axioms that describe this deck
Wizards in this deck should out feeling used and abused because frankly Wizards suck but they have great ETB effects. Trigger them as many times as possible but after they they don't deserve any support.
Having ways to utilize the tokens is nice but not worth paying extra for. Jalira and Sundial of the Infinite are not worth it for this deck.
Wizards REALLY suck and spells are awesome! Don't tap out to cast and copy Cloudkin Seer, instead hold up 2UB for Reality Shift and Go for the Throat.
Spellseeker is fun! Opening Spellseeker in a BBD booster completely changed the direction of this deck and gave it a new sense of focus keeping its answers cheap. Anything this decks wants to do it can do with an instant or sorcery with converted mana cost 2 or less.
Notable Excluions
Wanderwine Combo
Wanderwine Prophets is a well known Inalla combo piece that I do not run for two reasons. 1) I've never gotten around to buying one. 2) It's actively bad in the environments I frequent. It requires multiple players to have open boards or for you to draw the right pieces to clear said boards while you're chaining turns.
Peregrine Drake Stuff
Peregrine Drake used to be in this list and remains on the short list of options to swap back in but as-is doesn't fit into my current paradigm for this deck which is "almost no dead cards".
ETB Enablers
Naban, Dean of Iteration was in the list for a short while but ultimately was cut due to how much I wished he was either interaction or a draw spell every time I drew him. Fewer than 25 of my cards are wizards he upgrades so he was rarely relevant.
Panharmonicon never made it into the list due to budget and now I don't think it ever will. At least 80% of the wizards whose ETBs I want to double have CMC<4 and I need to cast them on time in order to make land drops and stay on curve.
Flameshadow Conjuring is ditto Panharmonicon except it's more than twice as hard to make use of.
Combos
Traditional Combo Lines
Bloodline Necromancer + Ashnod's Altar = colorless mana, loop all wizards through graveyard, clones.
Dualcaster Mage + Ghostly Flicker = mana, ETB on another creature, clones
Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame = clones
Less Traditional Combos
Dualcaster Mage + Displace = Infinite flicker another creature
Dualcaster Mage + Living Death + sacrifice outlet = infinite reanimates
Dualcaster Mage + Wake the Dead + sacrifice outlet = infinite reanimates during opponent's combat
Tutoring
Spellseeker
So Spellseeker is absolutely killer because there are tons of options for reusing its ETB with a CMC <=2 spell, and you can fetch 2 of them because of Inalla.
Options for reusing Spellseeker: Essence Flux (combo piece), Twinflame (combo piece), Stitch Together, Wake the Dead (combo piece). If you somehow go all the way through this chain then Stitch and Wake should be enough to keep the the value going.
Beyond spells for keeping up the chain I'll usually fetch Night's Whisper in the early game in order to draw lands. If you're REALLY in a pinch you can grab Impulse or Shimmer of Possibility. For refilling your hand you have Pull from Tomorrow and Chart a Course. For removal there are lots of options like Reality Shift, Into the Roil, and Rakdos Charm.
Vedalken Aethermage
Vedalken AEthermage is the most skill-testing as it has the most options and has multiple lines. Vedalken AEthermage => Spellseeker => Stitch Together + whatever => Stitch VA to hand => Trophy Mage, etc.
If you can Stitch Aethermage a second time you can get Dualcaster Mage or Bloodline Necromancer to complete either combo.
Trinket/Tribute/Trophy Mages
Trophy Mage usually finds Chromatic Lantern and Ashnod's Altar.
Trinket Mage has just a few targets in Sol Ring and Wayfarer's Bauble and super-secret-tech Seat of the Synod.
Future
Future swap options include Spellseeker targets that let me keep using it, such as these
Update Log
