commander · Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Arcane Wizardry (C17).
A Grixis wizard tribal deck from Commander 2017, led by Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, copy your best wizards the moment they enter and exploit Inalla's eminence ability for repeated value.
The Commander
Arcane Wizardry is Commander 2017's wizard tribal deck, and it runs one of the most complex engines in precon history. Inalla has eminence, so she works from the command zone without ever being cast, and every nontoken wizard that enters immediately triggers her copy ability. Pay one mana and get a hasty token copy until end of turn. That's free value from turn one.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist runs the deck from the command zone but rewards you even more when she's in play. Her second ability taps five wizards to steal creatures permanently. Between copying enter-the-battlefield triggers and eventually stealing opponents' threats, Inalla rewards you for going deep on wizards rather than generically powerful spells.
Key Cards
Mairsil, the Pretender
The deck's splashiest new card. Mairsil enters and exiles a creature or artifact from your hand or graveyard, then gains all of its activated abilities. Every time Mairsil leaves and returns, he cages another card. Pile enough abilities on him and he becomes an unkillable threat, since you just keep bouncing him and re-exiling. In Inalla's deck, the hasty token copy of Mairsil gets to cage a second card before it disappears.
Galecaster Colossus
A giant wizard that taps your other untapped wizards to bounce any nonland permanent, no mana required. With a board full of Inalla's wizard tokens, one Galecaster can bounce several permanents on an opponent's end step. Inalla's copy enters as a second wizard and hands you another free bounce before the token vanishes.
Vindictive Lich
When Vindictive Lich dies, each opponent targeted loses five life, discards two cards, and sacrifices a creature. With Inalla creating a hasty copy on entry, you fire the ETB across two different opponents before the token expires. In a four-player pod this one card punishes two opponents simultaneously while the original sits on board threatening to die again later.
Taigam, Ojutai Master
Taigam makes your instant, sorcery, and wizard spells uncounterable. When he connects unblocked, those spells gain rebound, so your best removal and card draw each resolve twice in the same turn cycle. In a wizard deck he switches off opponents' counterspells and doubles everything you cast. Opponents answer Taigam right away or watch the deck double up on all of it.
Izzet Chemister
When Izzet Chemister attacks, it exiles instant and sorcery cards from target opponent's graveyard. Sacrifice it and cast all those exiled cards for free. Inalla's copy comes in with haste before it dies at end of turn, so attack with both, exile from two graveyards, then sac the original at the right moment for a free spell chain that ends the game.
How to Play
Spend the early turns on cheap wizards and let Inalla's eminence pay for itself. By turn four you want Inalla out alongside two or three wizards so the copy engine runs full speed. Copy the strongest ETB wizards first, Vindictive Lich for pressure and Galecaster for bounce control, every turn. Mid-game, build Mairsil into a stack of exiled abilities that opponents can't profitably attack. Close through Vindictive Lich damage, Galecaster keeping opponents' boards empty, and Inalla's second ability stealing whatever threats they held onto.
