Hey Frank. Sorry I haven't been active lately. Lot of work going on.

1. Stealing generals is a good idea. Most of the time my opponents' generals aren't integral to their strategy unless they're about to win on the turn they cast them, sit in the command zone the entire game, or warrant spot removal upon play. So for me, it wouldn't be as good in that regard either. If you're getting a good usage out of it though, I'm sure it's worth a slot.

2. This is fair. Depends on the amount of spot removal in your meta though, and the resources you have in your hand when you play the card.

3. Having one of the altars isn't necessary for the lock, though it does help us protect it. Even if we can lock an opponent down for just one turn, I think the tempo loss is good in our favor.

4. That seems like a good assessment of the card. Perhaps I am giving it too much credit.

5. I am most likely going to play Tormod's Crypt over another weaker card soon.

1. Am I wrong to think that we need Mistbind Clique + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar to have mana that replenishes to keep the lock going through all our opponent's?

Frigid, I had to hurry that last response. I hope I was clear.

I understand with 3U for Mistbind Clique + (1) for Inalla's trigger we can tap an opponent's lands down after their upkeep. Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar allows us to tap all our opponent's lands after their upkeep by providing the mana needed for Inalla's trigger on the end step to keep a Mistbind Clique token to the next player's turn.

I hope I have that right.

Hey Frank. As I understand it, as long as we have 1 mana on each opponent's upkeep, we can keep an opponent locked down. This would require keeping an extra mana up for each opponent (so 3U + 1 on our turn and 1 on each opponent's upkeep to lock the next person). The problem here is not the mana we need, but the timing of when we do it. I completely missed the fact that the Inalla clone triggers leave at the end step, so tapping opponent B's lands on opponent A's end step doesn't do anything. You are thus correct in the idea that we need a sac outlet to achieve what we want to do with Mistbind Clique.

We can either use Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar and pay a 3U + 1 cost up front to lock our opponents down, or use Viscera Seer / Goblin Bombardment and pay 3U + 1 up front and an extra 1 for each opponent whose upkeep we want to re-champion Mistbind on.

1. I could have explained the Mistbind Clique's land lock combo better. I had to google and read the explanation several times. I still have trouble explaining how on the end step we sacrifice the token, play for the Inalla's trigger, champion Mistbind Clique and still get to keep the token until the next end step. Do we get to keep the token because we sacrificed it in response to the exile trigger going on the stack on the end step and thus once the new token is created the end step triggers have already passed? I know it works. I just want to be able to give the most correct explanation.

2. I cut Gamble for Grim Tutor. I may end up putting Gamble back into the deck. It needs to be played early or after we have drawn cards. I like to hold on to those tutors just in case things go poorly and I need either a boardwipe, counterspell or some other form of interaction to keep us in the game. It is good to get a draw engine early Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Necropotence or the second half to one of our combos.

1. Yes, this is how the triggers work. This is similarly how we can keep Wanderwine Prophets through each of our end steps.

2. That's fair. Gamble is a much more budgeted card and is why I'm playing it, so if you have a more expensive / efficient tutor I'd recommend playing it.

Awesome deck +1 from me!

The only obvious thing I could think to include would be Riptide Laboratory with so many etb wizards at your disposal.

Polupus thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

The exclusion of Riptide Laboratory for me is a budget issue at the moment. I'd rather buy shocks or something like Diabolic Intent, as I can play them in more decks. Riptide Laboratory is pretty niche and I fell into the same trap when I bought Intruder Alarm, though when I have more money I'll definitely pick up a copy.

Crystal Shard is more budget friendly and accomplishes the same thing

Love the deck, +1, thinking about building. Any further budget options? how well do the more expensive cards in the deck perform?

Hey Pygmyrhino990! Glad you like the deck. I can go over each of the cards that are over $5 and explain why I think they're replaceable or not.

• Chromatic Lantern is one of the best mana rocks in the game. The ability to get all of our colors online whenever we want is really great, especially since some of our strongest cards like Arcanis the Omnipotent, Dualcaster Mage, and Necropotence are all color intensive. I would likely just replace this with another mana rock if it were to be taken out.

• Cyclonic Rift is an incredible one-sided board wipe. I would say that this card is a blue staple and that nothing can compare to it; if you want to run something like Devastation Tide, it could work, but it would be far less effective for a number of reasons.

• Drowned Catacomb is just a pretty good land. You can replace this with a basic or enters-tapped dimir dual (such as Jwar Isle Refuge) depending on how fast your version of the deck is if you build it.

• Gamble is a decent tutor that can pick up anything. For a much slower but more reliable tutor, there's always Diabolic Tutor.

• Kess, Dissident Mage is a powerhouse. She can recur our cantrips and, on our turn, protect us if we're trying to combo and have a counterspell in the yard. If you don't own her, there really isn't a great replacement that does the same thing. Izzet Chronarch isn't too bad if you want more recursion, but Kess is just too good to give up in my opinion.

• Kindred Discovery is a decent draw engine that can really help us get online if we make a lot of copies. A replacement for this could come in the form of a straight up draw spell such as Opportunity or a political enchantment such as Curse of Verbosity. The slot is really up to you though, as the card isn't necessary for the deck to be good an can likely be swapped out for whatever you would like.

• Mystical Tutor is another blue staple that I don't think has any great replacements. Just a solid card overall.

• Necropotence is the single best draw engine in the game. I almost always find a win very soon after it resolves. The best replacement for this is probably Phyrexian Arena; it's slow but consistent draw.

• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a decent land that can probably be replaced with another land of your choice.

• Paradox Engine is one of the main cards in this deck and one of the main ways we can accidentally or intentionally land a win. I can't think of anything that would replace this.

• Patron Wizard is a really annoying card that does a LOT of work. It's incredibly expensive, though. There isn't really another card that has a similar effect, but you could try to run another counterspell or maybe play around with Ixalan's new Siren Stormtamer.

• Reliquary Tower is another EDH staple that is probably fine to replace with any land of your choice.

• Rhystic Study is a solid tax effect / draw engine that will be very annoying for your opponents. It's one of the better consistent draws in blue. This can be replaced with an upkeep extra draw effect such as Monastery Siege or another straight up draw spell if that's more up your alley. Merchant of Secrets is slow but not atrocious.

• Sensei's Divining Top is just great fixing. I would try to pick one up when you can, as it has done wonders in most of my decks. If you don't want to spend the money, Sage of Epityr might be worth checking out as a one-time Top that filters garbage if we have some of our scry effects up.

• Sigil Tracer is recurrable copy effect that can also hit our opponents' spells. It is a bit mana intensive, though. I don't love this card and you could play something like Wild Ricochet or Reverberate instead if you like the copy effect. If not, you can replace this with pretty much anything.

• Sulfurous Springs is another good dual land that can be replaced with another land.

• Thran Dynamo is just a big mana rock that can be replaced with another artifact that taps for multiple mana, such as Worn Powerstone.

• Toxic Deluge is a solid board wipe that is cheap and gets around indestructible. You could try playing Languish or a destroy wipe such as Necromantic Selection or Kindred Dominance instead.

• Wanderwine Prophets is an insanely annoying one card infinite turn combo if you can land it. It isn't integral to winning the game, however, and if you want another way to get infinite turns you could always replace it with Final Fortune (imprint Final Fortune on Isochron Scepter, at the end of the next turn use Sundial of the Infinite to avoid the lose the game trigger, repeat). If not, it can just be replaced with another high value wizard such as Havengul Lich or Vindictive Lich.

I don't think Trinket Mage needs to be run here. You have six targets and half of those are lands. Sol Ring is good but not when you have to pay 4 mana for it. Sensei's is nice but again, not when you're spending four mana on it. If trinket tutored for combo pieces that would be one thing but here it just feels like it's taking up a slot.

Hi great deck techWhat do you think about the following cards getting fiddled in here somewhere? Some or none? what would get swapped out? think theres some potential with flickering ravager and swinging to win? Disallow Dire Fleet Ravager Remand Voidmage Husher OptVoid Shatter

Hey Xmasspecial. I'll go through each one:

• Disallow is fine but a bit mana intensive. We may have trouble keeping mana up for it if we're trying to tempo out with our wizards. It's good for stopping others from winning, though, and definitely has its merits. Void Shatter is in a similar boat.

• Remand is decent for stopping our opponents' own counters / removal when we're trying to combo out or when our opponents play huge spells that cost all of their mana. You can probably replace Counterspell for it if you feel like it would work well.

• Voidmage Husher is an interesting meta-dependent tech, I think. You can probably pitch any non-combo wizard or a cantrip in favor of it.

• Opt is a cute cantrip, but I'm not sure if it's better than any of the ones that we currently run.

• Dire Fleet Ravager is really interesting and I was thinking about putting it in at one point. I don't think it's great but if you're trying to do a more combat-oriented route it could be good.

I was thinking of remand replacing arcane denial is there a reason you might prefer denial?I was also wondering if you had any thoughts on the value of Azami, Lady of Scrolls outside of the combo you described, she seems kind of expensive for late game card draw.I also replaced Goblin Bombardment with Impact Tremors since you can get 2x more ping value or 4x from panharmonicon and save sac for other outlets. What instant do you like to run on scepter?

• Arcane Denial is fine to replace, I just like it for the draw to be honest. Remand is a nice replacement.

• Azami, Lady of Scrolls has always been really valuable imo. I've never been upset to draw her and I think she is one of the better draw outlets in the deck.

• Swapping Goblin Bombardment with Impact Tremors is a good idea. I may do that as well.

• Scepter is fine to imprint pretty much anything on. A counterspell presents a huge deterrent for our opponents, cantrips are always nice, etc. I might put Final Fortune in the deck for a really easy infinite turn combo.

Just did some play testing and it was a lot of fun. I am still missing some core stuff for acceleration/control so it was a bit slow (paradox engine chromatic lantern, sensei's divining top, toxic deluge, thran dynamo). Got a couple more cards for your consideration though.

• Sedraxis Alchemist is a essentially another aether adept (a bit stronger actually) and I really liked etb bounce mechanics in this deck so far.
• Thoughtpicker Witch seems like a good inclusion for controlling opponent draw and gives a strong outlet for sacking the tokens, which is something I feel like this deck needs more of since it encourages people to trade against the token or else face extra value from sac. Also I think she's ok to put out for or and token sac.

anyway wanted to get your thoughts on those.

I'm glad you enjoy the deck! There are a lot of ways to play it and I think it takes a decent amount of thought to play.

• Sedraxis Alchemist seems like a good pick. I'll try it over AEther Adept for sure.

• Thoughtpicker Witch is cute, especially if we have a bounce loop. It's another way to combo out and gives us a way to actually use the mana we get from something like a Venser, Shaper Savant loop. I'm not sure what I would slot out, but it could definitely have a home in the deck.

The new ixalan set has a fantastic wizard for this deck that provides another infinite (or reliable but finite) turn generator... better than wanderwine I think.

Also had a couple more things I was thinking about slotting in...- Koskun Falls- Unearth I think koskun has a lot of value as pillow fort since we don't need our creatures to swing but we also don't want to sac them just to block. Unearth would let us rescue/reuse some of our strong value and utility wizards who attract hate (patron wizard specifically) it also offers some limited protection from mill decks. Might look for some more return from graveyard spells... I would like something that can rescue artifacts since they are key for some of the infinite combos and people don't usually have enough artifact hate to remove them twice.

Thoughts on the new card Timestream Navigator? Auto-include or no? It seems kinda expensive 1U+1 for creature+inalla token. Then 2UU for the immediate extra turn for a total of 4UUU

Great deck, I love it!

Hey all. Just recently got back from a trip to Japan so I haven't had time to check TappedOut in a while. With that being said:

Xmasspecial, I think those cards could be interesting in our iteration of this deck. Koskun Falls seems outclassed by Propaganda, though there is merit in playing a World-class enchantment in case our opponents are playing something like Concordant Crossroads. Most of the time, however, I think Propaganda just works better generally. Another pillowfort card that works wonders is Dissipation Field. I used to play a Zedruu the Greathearted list with that card and it was invaluable for keeping myself safe. I agree that we need more ways to reanimate creatures aside from Apprentice Necromancer and Bloodline Necromancer, as we only play the latter when we are about to win. As of right now, I'm not sure what cuts to make for reanimator spells or creatures, but it is a definite possibility in the future. I have a few things in the maybeboard that deal with those lines of play.

Elywood, Timestream Navigator could be an interesting fit. Maybe it goes in over Wanderwine Prophets? That combo is more than the extra turns with Timestream that you just mentioned. I'll pick up a copy and see how it does soon.

MTG_Bard, Thank you very much! This deck is my child and I never thought it would get this much attention. I appreciate the feedback and hope you have fun with the deck!

Really like the look of this. I built Kess storm when she came out but I've been thinking of switching to Inalla for possibly a more interesting combo deck. This is exactly what I had in mind.

How do you think a doomsday package would fit in this? It's one of my favourite win conditions and given that laboratory maniac is on theme I would definitely look to put it in if I were building this.

Have you considered Mana Echoes in this at all? I picked one up to go along with the precon when I bought it, seems like an easy way to save yourself a fair bit of mana for Inalla's eminence.

Can I ask why Vedalken Plotter is in here? I don't really see how he might be abusable and his ability just seems... mediocre.

Overall the deck looks great and I'm super excited to experiment based off this list!

thatguycrow, Im glad you like the deck! I appreciate the feedback.

I have always thought of running a Doomsday package as another alternate win condition; Laboratory Maniac used to be in the deck but I couldnt get much use out of him because I had no way to easily abuse the effect.

If I were to put a Doomsday package in here, I could probably cut a few of the slower Wizards in the deck such that this list would become almost purely combo oriented. My main question is: what am I looking to put in? Just a few more cantrips and Doomsday?

Vedalken Plotter is really just a test right now. My friends play a lot of the Ixalan block transform lands, so its always good to steal those. Additionally, getting Urborg and Cabal Coffers for free with one cast nets me a pretty decent gain. It isnt always amazing and its pretty meta dependent, though.

Ive considered Mana Echoes but never tried it. If you have any particularly positive things to say about it, I could probably try to pick one up and see how it performs!

(Apologies in advance if my post screws up btw. I am on mobile and the preview is not showing any apostrophes, so I may seem illiterate.)