The first deck I thought could include the combo is a Tooth and Nail Green Ramp deck, as it appreciates the speed and mondo ramp but isn't crippled if the combo never comes, and here is my current build:
Turns out that it's hard to mulligan into the combo, even with the London mulligan. Don't expect many Turn 2 infinite combos with this deck.
The core of the combo part of the deck is the full playsets of Leyline of Abundance, Freed From the Real, Noble Hierarch, and Birds of Paradise. Leyline of Abundance is quite good outside of the combo, helping enable 9 mana on Turn 3 and at least being a lame Karametra's Acolyte with Haste and a mana sink when it has to be hardcast. Freed From the Real is probably one of the worst cards in the deck outside of the combo, but remember in grindy match-ups that you can enchant an opponent's creature with it and tap that creature every turn.
Llanowar Tribe also synergizes with Leyline of Abundance, helps enable 9 mana on Turn 3, and is quite good at swinging and blocking. It's better than Overgrowth in this deck, IMO.
Earlier versions of this deck had a Llanowar Elves-Elvish Mystic split, but I switched to an Arbor Elf-Utopia Sprawl split a la older Tooth and Nail builds once I read up that Arbor Elf/Dryad Arbor, Utopia Sprawl, and Freed From the Real also make up an infinite mana combo. Utopia Sprawl not dying to creature removal helps in removal-heavy match-ups, and it's nice to have some avenues to 9 mana on Turn 3 that don't need Leyline of Abundance.
Speaking of Dryad Arbor, this has got to be one of the best decks for it. With Leyline of Abundance, a Forest-grabbing fetchland, and another land, you can hit 3 mana on Turn 2. It's part of an infinite mana combo here. You can pump it with Leyline of Abundance if all else fails.
The rest of the lands are based on other Tooth and Nail builds, including the medium-high basic Forest count. The singleton Nykthos has paid off quite well without getting in the way of casting Llanowar Tribe too often. Waterlogged Grove turns into a cantrip when you're running low on gas, although it's quite possible that 4 are too painful and I should run something like Botanical Sanctum instead. Double Breeding Pool helps enable Turn 2 combos more often. Temple Garden helps cast Heliod's Pilgrim, while you'd be surprised how often you want to hardcast Xenagos, God of Revels with the Stomping Ground. The basics are snow basics in case I want to use snow payoff cards. I tried a basic Island once, but it got in the way quite a bit more often than I ran into Blood Moon.
The rest of the deck consists of infinite mana sinks and tutor targets. The current Modern meta is so fast that 3 Tooth and Nail have actually felt better than 4. I'm currently still using the old standby Xenagod-Emrakul combo despite Xenagod being a creature awkwardly often--Emrakul is an infinite mana sink that often turns off Altar of Dementia as a mill win con, while Xenagod is tutored for with Finale of Devastation surprisingly often simply because he's a fatty.
I'm less certain about the rest of the sorcery infinite mana sinks--their split is quite possibly not optimal. Finale of Devastation searches for combo pieces quite well and can be used as pricey ramp by tutoring for mana dorks, but it feels low-impact. Genesis Wave pretty much needs to be cast for X = 4 or more, but flipping a considerable amount of permanent-based gas swings games quite hard.
Heliod's Pilgrim is mainly meant as a Finale of Devastation bullet that tutors for combo pieces. Its worst-case scenario is that it tutors for ramp (Utopia Sprawl) or a creature tapper (Freed From the Real). Notably, Finale of Devastation into the Pilgrim into Freed From the Real enables more wins involving 9 mana on Turn 3.
Walking Ballista is quite good. It eliminates opposing creatures, planeswalkers, and life totals given enough mana. Yes, Finale of Devastation can cheat it onto the battlefield and have it not die immediately as long as X is 10 or more.
Karn, the Great Creator is popping up in more and more Green Ramp decks lately, and he's awesome here. Not only is he an infinite mana sink by wishing for Walking Ballista, he also tutors for all kinds of high-impact disruption. Mycosynth Lattice locks out opposing mana bases and lets you win at your leisure, Ensnaring Bridge holds back opposing hordes, Wurmcoil Engine also holds back hordes and is a large threat otherwise, Engineered Explosives blows up hate and opposing aggro, Grafdigger's Cage and Tormod's Crypt are both good graveyard hate (you can notably tap out for Karn GC and still hate on yards that turn by casting Tormod's Crypt for free), Pithing Needle deals with planeswalkers, Defense Grid is for dealing with counterspells, Damping Sphere slows UR Phoenix and Gx Tron and hits quite a few other decks, and Spellskite is great at protecting the combos. Karn GC costing 4 mana helps, as this deck is quite capable of reaching 4 mana on Turn 2. Karn GC being a permanent also turns Genesis Wave into a true infinite mana sink win con.
However, Karn GC does enable some awkward nonbos. Grafdigger's Cage hoses my own Finale of Devastation and Genesis Wave. Tooth and Nail is no fan of an early Ensnaring Bridge, and Bridge hoses the usual Xenagod-Emrakul combo for Tooth and Nail. With Bridge out, if I want to tutor for a same-turn combo win with Tooth and Nail, I need to put Heliod's Pilgrim on the battlefield and Walking Ballista in my hand.
It's quite possible that the sideboard is constructed kinda wrong. More creature removal that isn't hosed by Collector Ouphe effects may be a good idea. Maybe I need to shift my sideboard more towards beating control.
This deck is quite capable of racing Altar of Hogaak Bridgevine and Gx Tron and dealing with Humans, don't worry. The BGx Midrange match-up is tougher, but it's still very possible to win. UR Phoenix is even tougher, and you do have to kinda pray that they kept a hand without removal.
Got any other ideas for shells where the Freed Leyline combo fits? Post away below!
The first deck I thought could include the combo is a Tooth and Nail Green Ramp deck, as it appreciates the speed and mondo ramp but isn't crippled if the combo never comes, and here is my current build:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Waterlogged Grove
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Snow-Covered Forest
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Tribe
2 Arbor Elf
1 Heliod's Pilgrim
1 Walking Ballista
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Freed from the Real
4 Leyline of Abundance
2 Utopia Sprawl
4 Karn, the Great Creator
3 Tooth and Nail
3 Finale of Devastation
1 Genesis Wave
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
1 Defense Grid
1 Damping Sphere
1 Walking Ballista
1 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Knight of Autumn
2 Force of Vigor
Turns out that it's hard to mulligan into the combo, even with the London mulligan. Don't expect many Turn 2 infinite combos with this deck.
The core of the combo part of the deck is the full playsets of Leyline of Abundance, Freed From the Real, Noble Hierarch, and Birds of Paradise. Leyline of Abundance is quite good outside of the combo, helping enable 9 mana on Turn 3 and at least being a lame Karametra's Acolyte with Haste and a mana sink when it has to be hardcast. Freed From the Real is probably one of the worst cards in the deck outside of the combo, but remember in grindy match-ups that you can enchant an opponent's creature with it and tap that creature every turn.
Llanowar Tribe also synergizes with Leyline of Abundance, helps enable 9 mana on Turn 3, and is quite good at swinging and blocking. It's better than Overgrowth in this deck, IMO.
Earlier versions of this deck had a Llanowar Elves-Elvish Mystic split, but I switched to an Arbor Elf-Utopia Sprawl split a la older Tooth and Nail builds once I read up that Arbor Elf/Dryad Arbor, Utopia Sprawl, and Freed From the Real also make up an infinite mana combo. Utopia Sprawl not dying to creature removal helps in removal-heavy match-ups, and it's nice to have some avenues to 9 mana on Turn 3 that don't need Leyline of Abundance.
Speaking of Dryad Arbor, this has got to be one of the best decks for it. With Leyline of Abundance, a Forest-grabbing fetchland, and another land, you can hit 3 mana on Turn 2. It's part of an infinite mana combo here. You can pump it with Leyline of Abundance if all else fails.
The rest of the lands are based on other Tooth and Nail builds, including the medium-high basic Forest count. The singleton Nykthos has paid off quite well without getting in the way of casting Llanowar Tribe too often. Waterlogged Grove turns into a cantrip when you're running low on gas, although it's quite possible that 4 are too painful and I should run something like Botanical Sanctum instead. Double Breeding Pool helps enable Turn 2 combos more often. Temple Garden helps cast Heliod's Pilgrim, while you'd be surprised how often you want to hardcast Xenagos, God of Revels with the Stomping Ground. The basics are snow basics in case I want to use snow payoff cards. I tried a basic Island once, but it got in the way quite a bit more often than I ran into Blood Moon.
The rest of the deck consists of infinite mana sinks and tutor targets. The current Modern meta is so fast that 3 Tooth and Nail have actually felt better than 4. I'm currently still using the old standby Xenagod-Emrakul combo despite Xenagod being a creature awkwardly often--Emrakul is an infinite mana sink that often turns off Altar of Dementia as a mill win con, while Xenagod is tutored for with Finale of Devastation surprisingly often simply because he's a fatty.
I'm less certain about the rest of the sorcery infinite mana sinks--their split is quite possibly not optimal. Finale of Devastation searches for combo pieces quite well and can be used as pricey ramp by tutoring for mana dorks, but it feels low-impact. Genesis Wave pretty much needs to be cast for X = 4 or more, but flipping a considerable amount of permanent-based gas swings games quite hard.
Heliod's Pilgrim is mainly meant as a Finale of Devastation bullet that tutors for combo pieces. Its worst-case scenario is that it tutors for ramp (Utopia Sprawl) or a creature tapper (Freed From the Real). Notably, Finale of Devastation into the Pilgrim into Freed From the Real enables more wins involving 9 mana on Turn 3.
Walking Ballista is quite good. It eliminates opposing creatures, planeswalkers, and life totals given enough mana. Yes, Finale of Devastation can cheat it onto the battlefield and have it not die immediately as long as X is 10 or more.
Karn, the Great Creator is popping up in more and more Green Ramp decks lately, and he's awesome here. Not only is he an infinite mana sink by wishing for Walking Ballista, he also tutors for all kinds of high-impact disruption. Mycosynth Lattice locks out opposing mana bases and lets you win at your leisure, Ensnaring Bridge holds back opposing hordes, Wurmcoil Engine also holds back hordes and is a large threat otherwise, Engineered Explosives blows up hate and opposing aggro, Grafdigger's Cage and Tormod's Crypt are both good graveyard hate (you can notably tap out for Karn GC and still hate on yards that turn by casting Tormod's Crypt for free), Pithing Needle deals with planeswalkers, Defense Grid is for dealing with counterspells, Damping Sphere slows UR Phoenix and Gx Tron and hits quite a few other decks, and Spellskite is great at protecting the combos. Karn GC costing 4 mana helps, as this deck is quite capable of reaching 4 mana on Turn 2. Karn GC being a permanent also turns Genesis Wave into a true infinite mana sink win con.
However, Karn GC does enable some awkward nonbos. Grafdigger's Cage hoses my own Finale of Devastation and Genesis Wave. Tooth and Nail is no fan of an early Ensnaring Bridge, and Bridge hoses the usual Xenagod-Emrakul combo for Tooth and Nail. With Bridge out, if I want to tutor for a same-turn combo win with Tooth and Nail, I need to put Heliod's Pilgrim on the battlefield and Walking Ballista in my hand.
It's quite possible that the sideboard is constructed kinda wrong. More creature removal that isn't hosed by Collector Ouphe effects may be a good idea. Maybe I need to shift my sideboard more towards beating control.
This deck is quite capable of racing Altar of Hogaak Bridgevine and Gx Tron and dealing with Humans, don't worry. The BGx Midrange match-up is tougher, but it's still very possible to win. UR Phoenix is even tougher, and you do have to kinda pray that they kept a hand without removal.
Got any other ideas for shells where the Freed Leyline combo fits? Post away below!