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8 Different Infinite Combos: An Inalla Primer

Commander / EDH Combo Infinite Combo Tribal UBR (Grixis) Wizards

TezzeretofCarmot21


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Artifact (1)


Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is the commander of my current favorite preconstructed EDH deck. The first thing I noticed about her was her tap ability. I thought, Sweet! You can drain someone out with Rite of Replication and other stuff!

However, I read a ton of primers on her (thanks, MTGGoldfish and ChannelFireball), and I quickly realized this, the cardinal rule for all of you Inalla players:

You should never, in ordinary play, hardcast Inalla, Archmage Ritualist.

Maybe if your last opponent’s at 7 life and you have 5 mana and 4 Wizards left. Maybe then. But hardcasting Inalla is ill-advised and usually makes her a big target. And if you are in that previous situation, but you hardcasted Inalla early-game only for her to fall to a Wrath of God, all the more reason.

Now that that’s out of the way, a quick pro-con list for Inalla, and then we’ll get to the combos!

You might like playing Inalla, Archmage Ritualist if…

You like janky combos.

You like control and combo decks.

You like tribal synergy.

You like decks with more than one way to take home a win.

You like going infinite.

You might NOT like playing Inalla, Archmage Ritualist if…

You like super-fast aggro decks and decimating the table ASAP.

You hate tribal.

You think combos are stupid.

You think combo decks should have only one main combo.

This deck is a Wizard deck as well as a combo deck, and along with going infinite seven different ways, it can also hold its own (a little bit) in combat. So, let's get down to it! Naru Meha, Master Wizard - A neat little Wizard lord, Naru Meha also doubles as a second (blue) copy of Dualcaster Mage. (More to come here!)
All right, combo time! This deck has seven infinite combos, plus a useful extra one.

1) Wanderwine Prophets + 12 mana sources + Inalla, Archmage Ritualist + maybe Rogue's Passage = infinite turns. Technically, this is a one-card combo, since it works even when Inalla’s in the command zone. Passage isn’t necessary, but it helps. So, you basically need to cast Prophets (7 mana left). When it enters the battlefield, put its champion trigger on the stack, then pay Inalla’s cost (6 mana left) to create another token, championing the original. Attack with the token (it has haste due to Inalla), and pay Passage’s cost to make Prophets unblockable (2 mana left). Attack whomever you like, then sacrifice the token to take an extra turn, then do the token-championing thing again (1 mana). At the beginning of your end step, the token is exiled and Prophets re-enters the battlefield. Pay the remaining mana (0 mana) to make another copy. Since it’s during your end step, it stays. Rinse and repeat for infinite turns! This is the most well-known Inalla combo and the one I like the most. Probably also the one you’ll use most too, as it basically is a one-card combo (all right, two counting Passage). To win with this, just kill all your opponents through unblockable damage with Passage.

2) Dualcaster Mage or Naru Meha, Master Wizard + Ghostly Flicker + Inalla = infinite flickers. I still have trouble grokking this, but here’s my understanding of this complex combo: Cast Flicker targeting two random things. Cast Dualcaster targeting Flicker. Copy Dualcaster when it enters the battlefield targeting Flicker again. Cast the first Flicker targeting a Dualcaster and a land. Repeat for infinite flickers, infinite ETB triggers… My preferred method of winning is, with your infinite number of Ghostly Flicker copies (the original’s buried in the stack somewhere) flickering Prodigal Pyromancer or Prodigal Sorcerer, tapping it, then flickering it again to machine gun everyone at the table, but hey, you do you. Inalla decks are very self expressive.

3) Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal in hand + Gilded Lotus + Prodigal Pyromancer or Prodigal Sorcerer = infinite mana and damage. Imprint Dramatic Reversal on Isochron Scepter. Tap Gilded Lotus for three mana, and pay two mana to pay Isochron Scepter’s cost, which untaps Scepter and Lotus. Repeat this for infinite mana, and if you have a Prodigal Pyromancer or Prodigal Sorcerer, you can untap it infinitely for infinite damage.

4) Laboratory Maniac + Mind Over Matter + Azami, Lady of Scrolls / Arcanis the Omnipotent / Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind = infinite cards and an alternate win condition! How this works: Have Lab Maniac and MOM on the battlefield, as well as any of the three legendaries. Tap Azami/Arcanis/Niv-Mizzet to draw one/three cards. With Niv-Mizzet out you can deal damage too, and with Azami out you can tap any Wizard, and with Arcanis out you get two cards in card advantage to protect your combo. Mmm, variety! Discard a card to MOM to untap your legend of choice. Infinitely tap and untap your chosen creature. Deck yourself and win with Lab Maniac. This is my second-favorite way to combo off, behind Wanderwine.

5) Changeling Berserker + Ashnod's Altar + any ETB effect Wizard + Inalla = infinite ETB triggers, infinite hasty tokens and infinite colorless mana. Basically play the Berserker with champion targeting your ETB Wizard of choice, copy the Berserker with Inalla, champion the original with the token, sacrifice the token, pay the Inalla cost, rinse and repeat.

6) Ghostly Flicker + Gilded Lotus + Archaeomancer + Ashnod's Altar + Inalla = infinite recursion and infinite Archaeomancers. It’s basically: cast Archaeomancer, tap Lotus to cast Flicker targeting ‘mancer and Lotus, make a token, recur Flicker and one other spell, sacrifice the token to Altar, tap Lotus again to cast Flicker to flicker Lotus and ‘mancer… repeat except this time don’t sacrifice the token. Then repeat, alternating between sacrificing the token and not. Infinite Archaeomancers and infinite recursion… kill everyone with your army of ‘mancers!

7) Bloodline Necromancer + Ashnod's Altar / Phyrexian Altar + Inalla = infinite hasty Wizard recursion, infinite colorless mana with Ashnod’s Altar, and infinite tokens. Play Necromancer, recur a creature, put Inalla’s ETB trigger on the stack, sac the original Necromancer to either Altar. With the token, recur the original Necromancer. Recur another creature, copy it again with your Altar mana, sacrifice it again, recur it again.

(NOTE: Unless your opponents have an instant-speed trick (Settle the Wreckage, Echoing Truth, Fog) your infinite tokens should win the game once you go to combat. The value doesn’t hurt, though. Just a disclaimer.)

8)Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind + Curiosity + Laboratory Maniac = infinite damage, insta-win. How it works: Enchant Niv with Curiosity, tap to draw a card, deal damage, draw, etc.

Extra special non-infinite combo: Sundial of the Infinite + Inalla: Not an infinite combo, but lets you keep all your tokens, whoopee! One of my old friends, a Feldon of the Third Path player, showed this to me. Do this trick on your end step, stacking this over the token triggers, and since the game puts the trigger on the stack and doesn’t care what happens after that, you get to keep your tokens. It’s sort of tough to explain, but hey, you can keep your infinite army of Archaeomancers after a Fog!

Here are some cards I'm considering adding!

Lich Lord of Unx because it produces tokens to sacrifice to Voidmage Prodigy and it can help with your board state. However it’s just not super good, it’s slow, and its ability doesn’t synergize with Wizards, as it needs an army of hungry Zombies to do its work.

Snapcaster Mage. It needs no explanation, but I didn’t feel like it would really be needed here, plus I can’t really afford it…

Cavern of Souls. Same as Snappy.

Transmute cards. I like these cards a lot, but with all of these combos, a) I’m not sure which Transmuters to run, and b) chances are you’ll stumble upon a random combo as you play out the game.

So what do you think? Do you like this deck? Is there some other combo you can find (looking at you, Riptide Laboratory)? Any criticisms? Comments are greatly appreciated!

Bye, and thanks for reading!

  • Tezz

Suggestions

Updates Add

I just came back to this deck, and I realized it needs an update ASAP. So I thought of a few things this deck needs and cut a few expensive, relatively unnecessary cards.

-1 Kindred Dominance +1 Snapcaster Mage

-1 Vanquisher's Banner +1 Swan Song

-1 Arcanis the Omnipotent +1 Beguiler of Wills

-1 Grixis Panorama +1 Cavern of Souls

-1 Dire Fleet Ravager +1 Lich Lord of Unx

I trimmed down the mana curve a little, and now this deck’s more tuned. Hope you like!

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Date added 5 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

7 - 0 Mythic Rares

42 - 0 Rares

21 - 0 Uncommons

20 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.31
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Human Wizard 1/1 U, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB
Folders I - Interesting Decks, 6. Third Party Decks, Wizards Reference, Decks to try, , Inalla, Interesting Decks, Wizards, inalla samples
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