Inalla, Archmage RitualistInalla, Archmage Ritualist | Art by Yongjae Choi

Some things in this world are inevitable. Death, taxes, fire, and ice. In that order.

Welcome once again to Fire and Ice! This is the data-driven series where I go over cards that are becoming more or less popular for different Commander decks, and talk about why they may be gaining or losing popularity. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm super excited to jump into today's article!

EDHREC, of course, has a ton of data. We'll draw conclusions from that data about how certain commanders' decks have changed over time, give insight about new cards, and hopefully provide some tech for your favorite commander's list.

Today, we're focusing on Inalla, Archmage RitualistInalla, Archmage Ritualist, a Grixis () Wizard typal commander with eminence. She currently sits as the 137th most popular commander on EDHREC, with more than 14,000 decks to her name.

Inalla, Archmage RitualistInalla, Archmage Ritualist

What's Hot and What's Not for Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

For , Inalla is a 4/5 Human Wizard that lets us tap five untapped Wizards we control to cause a player to lose seven life. But, more importantly, she has an ability that is active whether she's in the command zone or on the battlefield: whenever a nontoken Wizard enters the battlefield, Inalla lets us pay to make a temporary, hasty copy of that Wizard.

Inalla may cost five mana, but it's rare for her to leave the command zone at all. Pilots often leverage her eminence ability to copy super powerful Wizards, and double up on ETB triggers at a nice clip. Among her most popular cards are Bloodline NecromancerBloodline Necromancer (74% inclusion), Step ThroughStep Through (66% inclusion), and Flame of AnorFlame of Anor (41% inclusion).

What's Fiery for Inalla Decks?

Wizard's StaffWizard's Staff - Fire Score of 14.32

Trigger doublers are particularly potent in this deck. If we do manage to cast Inalla (and pay the reduced equip cost to get this Staff on her), we can make two copies of any nontoken Wizards we control that enter the battlefield!

That's (obviously) a super powerful play pattern, and makes this Equipment a fantastic inclusion for Inalla pilots. But other trigger doublers are a bit more potent. Cards like PanharmoniconPanharmonicon, Harmonic ProdigyHarmonic Prodigy, and Naban, Dean of IterationNaban, Dean of Iteration let us make a second copy of a Wizard with Inalla's ability and allow each of the Wizards that enter the battlefield to trigger their abilities again. With one of these cards on the field, we can get a total of six triggers from one Wizard entering the battlefield (assuming we pay the + to make copies).

Wizard's Staff is good, but there are better options out there.

Gandalf, Goblins' BaneGandalf, Goblins' Bane - Fire Score of 8.56

This is a fantastic iteration of Gandalf. It's on-rate for a pinger with prowess, allowing us to whittle down our opponents' life totals while acting as a potent attacker in its own right.

But it's 2026! That powerful set of abilities isn't enough for Wizards of the Coast to print as a mythic rare. This card also has what amounts to Wrenn's ResolveWrenn's Resolve as a built-in spell. That's just icing on the cake.

We can't really make copies of Gandalf, because he's legendary, but this Avatar Wizard is certainly good enough to land in most Inalla lists.

Mana SculptMana Sculpt - Fire Score of 5.02

If we don't have a Wizard on the field, we're playing this deck wrong. That fact makes Mana Sculpt into a slightly worse version of Mana DrainMana Drain, allowing Inalla pilots access to a small downgrade on one of Commander's best counterspells.

Players in higher brackets may have a hard time playing a three-mana counterspell, but Mana Sculpt should be great in Bracket 4 and below.

FlashbackFlashback - Fire Score of 1.49

Everywhere I go, I see his face...

It seems that Flashback is popping up in every deck that can play it these days, and for good reason. It's a great way to buy back the best spell from our 'yard at a cheap rate. We can even give a spell in our bin flashback at instant speed!

Inalla decks often play a pretty high number of instants and sorceries, which only adds to Flashback's appeal. Flashback, and whatever spell we recast with it, can also trigger all of our synergy Wizards like Talrand, Sky SummonerTalrand, Sky Summoner and Niv-Mizzet, ParunNiv-Mizzet, Parun.

What's Icy for Inalla Decks?

Conjurer's ClosetConjurer's Closet - Ice Score of -1.27

Five mana is a lot to spend on an artifact that has no immediate impact on the game. We've got to spend a bunch of mana on this card and hope that we make it to our end step without incident if we want to get any value, and that's a bad bet to make in higher power games.

Other blink sources, like Ghostly FlickerGhostly Flicker and Essence FluxEssence Flux, provide us with some benefit as soon as we cast them. I'd be much more comfortable including those spells over this artifact.

Cloudkin SeerCloudkin Seer - Ice Score of -1.14

This three-drop is in the deck for its ETB ability, but spending to draw one card (or to draw two cards if we make a copy of this Wizard) just isn't very good. "Virtual French Vanilla" creatures like this aren't very good outside of dedicated blink decks.

I'd much rather spend my three mana on Magus of the WheelMagus of the Wheel or Serum VisionarySerum Visionary for some upgraded card draw, if that's what we're in the market for.

CounterspellCounterspell and NegateNegate - Ice Scores of -1.16 and -1.15

Each of these spells is fantastic. They're Commander classics, and they're hard to beat! But when a CancelCancel variant that can provide us with boatloads of hits the scene, it's understandable to swap one of these spells out for the shiny new toy.

Both Counterspell and Negate have likely fallen in popularity due to Mana SculptMana Sculpt's introduction. While I'd rather play a two-mana counterspell in some situations, I understand this change!

Reliquary TowerReliquary Tower - Ice Score of -1.13

Yes! Another opportunity to espouse hatred for this land. Reliquary Tower's ability doesn't do enough to justify including a land that doesn't fix our mana. Given the composition of most Inalla decks, we'll very rarely have more than seven cards in our hand when we move to the cleanup step. But, we'll have a need for specifically colored mana quite frequently!

The utility provided by this so-called "utility land" is minimal, and it's best left for low-color decks that are dedicated to drawing cards. I'd expect to see this land in a deck built around Azami, Lady of ScrollsAzami, Lady of Scrolls or Jolrael, Mwonvuli RecluseJolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse (not a deck built to make copies of Wizards).

What's in an Inalla, Archmage Ritualist Deck?

Conclusion

Inalla is a super strong commander, but she's not quite as broken as other commanders with eminence... looking at you, Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov. Inalla requires a mana investment, which makes her ability feel a lot more fair than others. Edgar gives us Vampires for free!

Inalla also enables some sweet combos, and I encourage any interested pilots to check out her Commander Spellbook page for more. But, all told, we are done with this week's Fire and Ice! I will see you all next week for more.