I've taken my Crown Roach in a different direction after some testing. Running 8 Merchants has been great to maximize access to Twinning and Crown. They also smooth out the draws substantially. With 8 Merchants, it's more justifiable to run 8 ramp dorks and 3 Alhed, since we're likely to be able to trade them in the market if needed.
Alhed is great at amplifying our scaling to end games, and his Ultimate is very useful, especially with the ramp dorks making it easier to play and ult on the same turn. With the market giving us easy access to
Twinning Ritual, it's very possible to make 2 Alheds and bounce them back and forth for huge value. An end game plan that also comes up from time to time is duplicating a Merchant with Echo and swapping it in and out of the market for infinite value.
The 1-of
Temple Shihan and
Amaran Armadillo are there because their inspires don't stack in multiples, but they put in good work. I might ultimately want more Armadillos in place of
Teacher of Humility.
Initiate of the Sands
x4
1
Journey Guide
x4
1
Permafrost
x4
2
Amaran Armadillo
x1
2
Second Sight
x4
2
Teacher of Humility
x3
2
Twinning Ritual
x3
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
Clockroach
x4
3
Crown of Possibilities
x3
3
Jennev Merchant
x4
3
Temple Shihan
x1
4
Breeze Dancer
x4
4
Sandstorm Titan
x4
5
Alhed, Mount Breaker
x3
Primal Sigil
x3
Time Sigil
x5
Amber Waystone
x3
Cobalt Waystone
x3
Crest of Wisdom
x4
Elysian Banner
x3
Seat of Wisdom
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
My thought on Initiate was that being able to ramp into cards that are in your hand on turn 2-4, especially Crown, would be more important than stacking cost reductions on units you copy. Hands where you plan to ramp out turn 2 Crown or turn 3 Dancer are fairly common. On the other hand, starting a 0 cost Roach train with a single Avisaur is pretty cool. I'm currently trying out a 3 Guide/1 Initiate split and trying to keep track of when one would have been better as the other.
I did not think of putting a banner in the market, but it is a nice idea, especially if I plan to splash a third color.
Also, have you consider adding Meditation to protect your Echo units?
Meditation is an interesting option, but it feels a little too conditional. I feel like it's never going to be right to grab it from the market ahead of time. But it is a potential power boost, probably worth trying.
You lose a 3/3 flyer and being able to reduce the cost by 2; but you gain the ability to do it at instant speed (useful when your opponent tries to kill it) and increase it by +2/+2.