beastmenwarrior That's a good suggestion and a great thought! I had considered it when it spoiled, but held off because, as you mentioned, it shuts down my counterspells too. But it is an equally good point that it stops people from interacting with our combos, which is super helpful! The number one thing combo decks need to do besides setting them up is protecting them, and Lier could be the easy button for that. Beyond that the multi-cast during a turn is just gravy. I will definitely consider that!

One thing I noticed in the mana base, I would upgrade Ancient Ziggurat with Secluded Courtyard cheaper and is better for this deck.

Hi beastmenwarrior! I had actually planned to add Secluded Courtyard when it spoiled and was ordering a copy for my Yuriko deck, but somehow only ordered the one. I had forgotten about it, so thanks for reminding me!

This looks awesome, and I really enjoyed reading the primer explaining the deck build and mechanics.

Looking at the deck list of the C17 pre-con, it looks like there's a good chunk of cards in both that list and yours. I may just have to see if I can upgrade it in the same fashion as you have.

Thanks again for the work you put into this and sharing with the community!

amarthaler Thanks for the encouragement! I definitely started with the pre-con years ago and just updated it as I've gone along, so that strategy works. If you have any questions along the way, just feel free to ask!

How do you think Mirror Box would run in this build?

Just Spoiled today but I think Irencicus's Vile Duplication (Sorcery 3U: Create a token that's a copy of target creature you control, except the token has flying and isn't legendary if that creature is legendary) replaces Rite of Replication.

Gives us another infinite and allows us to copy some of our sweet legendary wizards.

sorry Irenicus's Vile Duplication

beastmenwarrior That sounds great! Once it is available in the card database I can pop it into the maybeboard and eventually the deck! It does solve a weakness in one of our combo lines with Rite of Replication and Naru Meha, Master Wizard in a neat way. Normally we don't need to kick Rite with Dualcaster Mage to make infinite copies which we can use for various win cons, but with Naru Meha we can't do that because the legend rule makes us sac her immediately. As such the only way to exploit her is to get infinite triggers via the kicked version, and then use those triggers to target another wizard which we could use to win (Anathemancer was the easy route for this before we cut it, though in theory we could in any other way. Not only was this way inelegant and convoluted, the amount of mana required to do it was massive. This way makes Naru Meha, Master Wizard and Dualcaster Mage functional equivalents for the purpose of combos and increases our odds of winning that way. Definitely an exciting card! As a veteran Baldur's Gate player from back in the day it will add a little homecoming nostalgia for me that way as well.

Hi amarthaler! Thanks for the upvote and question/suggestion. Mirror Box is a cool card, and would definitely fit in the copy version of a commander like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. I think the challenge here is that it doesn't synergize with enough of the deck. We don't run a ton of legends here, and the ones that we do don't benefit much from being copied. The best thing it would do is make it easier to combo with Naru Meha, Master Wizard, but the forthcoming card beastmenwarrior mentioned will do that better. I think this deck needs most of its pieces to synergize with everything else and move us in the direction of a variety of combos, and I think that other than Naru Meha and maybe Barrin and Venser it doesn't do a lot for us in other situations. Still, feel free to experiment with it if you like and let us know the results!

I am looking to get it confirmed with someone more rules versed, but I believe I found another angle for a combo.

Panharmonicon Effect + Ruthless Technomancer + Mistbind Clique/Wanderwine Prophets

Because of how Ruthless Technomancer is written, it is my belief that the triggers do not need a valid target when put on the stack "You may sacrifice another creature you control". This means that it can be used on valid target that entered the battlefield after the trigger is already on the stack. So when Mistbind Clique/Wanderwine Prophets re-enters play if you use the Inalla trigger to generate a new token of them, you will be able to use that token with the Ruthless Technomancer triggers already on the stack. With a Panharmonicon effect you will produce 5 treasures and one token of Ruthless Technomancer after a full cycle, allowing you to repeat it indefinitely.

Very corner case but thought to share these as I find them.

beastmenwarrior That is an interesting case to be sure! I think it works, but Gidgetimer or Polaris would be able to confirm for sure. This is definitely where our combo-loops get into mind-bending territory!

The fact that Ruthless Technomancer doesn't target has the implications that beastmenwarrior thinks it does. However; to someone not intimately familiar with the deck the given explanation was a little vague.

The proposed line of play is:

With a Wanderwine Prophets (or Mistbind Clique) token out championing the card version you cast Ruthless Technomancer.

Panharmonicon doubles the ETB trigger.

Sacrifice the token to make 4 treasures.

Card version comes in, make a copy with Inalla. Champion the original card.

Sacrifice the token to make 4 treasures.

Card version comes in, make a copy with Inalla. Champion the original card.

Use Inalla's ability to make a token copy of Ruthless Technomancer.

Panharmonicon doubles the ETB trigger.

Sacrifice the Champion token to make 4 treasures.

Card version comes in, make a copy with Inalla. Champion the original card.

Sacrifice the Ruthless Technomancer for 2 treasures.

Reanimate Ruthless Technomancer by paying 3 and sacrificing 2 treasures.

Repeat from step 2.

This works because Ruthless Technomancer's ability does not target, and as such you are allowed to sacrifice any creature that you control as the ability resolves.

Thank you Gidgetimer for the explanation and clarification!

Guerric, do you see Wizards of Thay being useful in this deck?

I really appreciate how this build is focused not only how the deck plays, but also how it FEELS. I think this is what my Inalla deck is missing.

PS. I think Omniscience is a fair inclusion. Introduces some fun combos and a great win-con in longer games (or not so long if you have Ashdod’s altar).

Couple of nice additions Aether Channeler and Ertai Resurrected replacing Barrin, Tolarian Archmage and Merchant of Secrets

Hey Guerric what do you think of the new card Vesuvan Duplimancy for this deck?

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been AWOL for a bit. I'm a teacher who also works part-time at a college, and school has started causing my schedule to go crazy. I'll post some replies to comments soon!

Hi everyone! I do apologize for the time away from here. Things have been busy and I've been focused on developing my Giada, Font of Hope deck as this one runs pretty flawlessly. I thought I'd respond to card suggestions with some thoughts of my own. In short, I'm holding my current deck for now. It's always tempting to swap out with each shiny new set, but in most cases I'd favor the current list. Nonetheless, let me respond individually to the suggestions.

amarthaler

I like Wizards of Thay for Lore since I am a longtime DnD player, but I don't think it really goes here. We aren't running a ton of sorceries, and this isn't a deck that benefits too much from discounting that spell type. I also kind of feel like Red Wizards should be red, even though philosophically they fit with blue, but that's just a flavor point. Vesuvan Duplimancy could help us go infinite with Naru Meha, Master Wizard and Rite of Replication, and there would probably be some other shenanigans we could do with it with Venser. I don't know that it would be terrible, but I don't think it would do what we want it to do often enough to justify cutting another piece for it though. Cool card and interesting suggestion nonetheless!

nhhale

I'm glad you are enjoying the deck! It does have a cool feel and stays a tribal deck which is nonetheless incredibly powerful and combo-y, which is unique. Omniscience is always a fun card and I very much use it as a central piece of my Tuvasa the Sunlit deck. With its high cmc I think it will just get in our way much of the time here. I used to run Clone Legion which is a similar cmc and does synergize, and it did make some memorable games but it was just too far off to make a difference. If you like it play it by all means, it's an amazing card and certainly won't be bad. For me it just would contribute to variance without helping the decks key synergies, but I am picky with that.

beastmenwarrior

Aether Channeler is definitely good and absolutely the type of card that goes in here. It's the right cmc and like AEther Adept can effectively bounce itself back (via the token copy). But it has added utility in that it can draw cards and bounce other permanent types. It definitely replaces either Merchant of Secrets or Cloudkin Seer in that it is strictly better than the former and practically better than the latter. Barrin is good because of his second ability, which I've found to be relevant. And having an extra bounce option is very good without losing the card draw piece. I'm not so sure about Ertai Resurrected though. The abilities are certainly good, but the 4cmc *five to copy) is pushing it for me. I think he's a good option, I'm just not sold yet, particularly over something with a lower cmc.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions as always! I have so many decks and primers now it is easy to miss some suggestions, and as this is my original and favorite deck I do like to keep it up to snuff. Aether Channeler will probably go in soon.

How do we feel about Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip> let's say we cast a wizard, she triggers and gives us a red mana. Inalla's eminence ability triggers when the wizard we cast enters the field, we pay our floating red mana and create a token of the wizard...

DonaldFuck

Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip is a great card which is a powerhouse in my Feather, the Redeemed deck. She certainly isn't bad here because, as you say, she basically makes Inalla's ability free. My main objection to her that I can't really think of something I'd cut to put her in. She isn't a wizard and doesn't really further any of our other gameplans aside from mana discount, and I wouldn't really want to tinker with the deck's other engines, which work well, just to try to slot her in.

The only real card at the moment that I definitely would like to put in is Patron Wizard, which you suggested some time ago. I think it would be better than Voidmage Prodigy and a real pita for our opponents, I just have never gotten around to ordering him because I am busy and always forget when ordering. It might be for the best because there is that new secret lair foil that looks quite cool, and with that printing the price is the lowest ever. There's probably also some tinkering with the mana base that I could do as well, but in general I'm mostly happy with the deck given those exceptions.

Ran into another infinite combo Aether Channeler+Mana Echoes+Mana rock that can produce blue.

Step 1: Cast Aether Channeler paying for the inalla trigger. 4 colorless mana created with Mana Echoes.

Step 2: Use the ETB trigger from Aether Channeler copy to bounce the original Aether Channeler. 4 colorless floating

Step 3: Use the ETB trigger from the original Aether Channeler to bounce back the mana rock. 4 colorless floating

Step 4: Cast the mana rock and then immediately use its mana to re-cast Aether Channeler.

Step 5: Aether Channeler enters the battlefield and produces 2 colorless mana with Mana Echoes. 2 colorless floating

Step 6: use one of the produced colorless mana to pay for the Inalla trigger the copy will trigger Mana Echoes producing 4 colorless mana.

you can now repeat this process indefinitely producing infinite copies of Aether Channeler

heads up as it is getting reprinted, Urza's Incubator is at a low price at the moment if you want to splurge a little it is a very nice addition to the deck. Replaced Thought Vessel with it and it feel great.