This is only one of the millions of variations of the archetype I have seen so far, with many more to come. This version is predominantly Kamigawa Block, but there are a few cards that aren't. I'll explain this later. Deck List 10 Forest 5 Island 5 Plains
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Fyndhorn Elder 4 Orochi Leafcaller 2 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro 1 Myojin of Cleansing Fire 1 Myojin of Seeing Winds 1 Myojin of Infinite Rage 1 Myojin of Life's Web 1 Darksteel Colossus 1 Platinum Angel
4 Ghostly Prison 4 Freed from the Real
4 Kodama's Reach 4 Petals of Insight 4 Counsel of the Soratami 1 Enshrined Memories
OK. In an earlier post, I have already pointed out how the combo works. So, now I'm talking about how to win using the combo. This time round, let me explain my card choices first. I chose Fyndhorn Elder over Sachi for one very good reason: it's not legendary. This means I can play extra Fyndhorn Elder if I have any. As for Sachi, I don't see much point putting more than 2 because you can't play more than one Sachi at any time, in addition, your Sachi give all your "useless" Orochi Leafcaller and Sakura-Tribe Elder some serious mana producing capabilites.
Some people might say I'm very stupid for dipping into a third colour (white) just for Ghostly Prison. These are the people who have never played around with this type of mana fixer cards. You have 12 mana fixer cards in the deck: 4 Orochi Leafcaller, 4 Kodama's Reach and 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder. That means you have about a 20% chance of drawing a mana fixer from the first time you draw a card after shuffling. Considering the fact that you draw 7 cards to make up your opening hand, you should have at least one mana fixer to soothe you of all your worries. All you have to do is draw the card. Ghostly Prison helps you survive a long time against weenie decks, which are your biggest problems.
Next, I chose to use the Petals of Insight + Enshrined Memories method of building the deck. This isn't the most consistent of techniques, but it saves you a lot of space in the deck. To make full abuse of the card, I've put in cards very appropriate to the infinite mana theme: Myojin. Myojin are very usable in this deck for one good reason: you can play them from your hand. I chose not to use Myojin of Night's Reach because it is inherently the most useless. Cleansing Fire will erase all annoying blockers and Infinite Rage would have taken care of any lands your opponent had to play something against you. Night's Reach would have been overkill. Darksteel Colossus and Platinum Angel are naturals for this deck - they ensure that you win, and your opponent loses.
Counsel of the Soratami gives you card drawing, while Petals of Insight is actually part of your win condition, while being disposable when you need extra cards.
OK, we're done with card choices. So what is the best possible turn progression? Turn 1: Forest, Orochi Leafcaller Turn 2: Forest, Sakura-Tribe Elder Turn 3: Island, Fyndhorn Elder Turn 4: Forest, Freed from the Real, generate infinite mana, play Petals of Insight until you draw Enshrined Memories. Play Enshrined Memories for whatever is left of your library, play all the stuff in your hand, use Myojin to remove threats where appropriate (at the end of opponent's turn 4): Seeing Winds for a lot of cards (I believe it's around 23 cards, not sure, not important) Turn 5: Swing for as much damage as you can, if you can't kill your opponent yet, play any additional Freed from the Real you've drawn on your big creatures (Myojin of Life's Web, Darksteel Colossus, anything still with a divinity counter on it)
This is one of the fastest ways this deck can win.
To add more speed to the deck, put in Birds of Paradise. It will add a whole lot more power and craziness.
Now: budgeting down the deck. So... what happens if I can't afford cards like the Myojin and Enshrined Memories? This is where you are in luck: you don't have to use them. The main combo cards are all budget cards, and the win condition digger, Petals of Insight is also a budget card. If you have no Ghostly Prison, you might want to put in more Forests instead and make use of Traproot Kami. I'm taking Kodama's Reach as a budget card since it's a common, but I think it's value is about half of what Iname as One is worth.
So, what win conditions can you use in a budget deck? One of them is Consume Spirit. The most prominent win condition would likely be Hankyu. Coupled with Freed from the Real, it is a very cheap infinite mana Fireball. And yes, Fireball would work. Note: as long as you have Petals of Insight, you can play only one copy of your win condition, but be certain to have more than one card to win with!
Here's what I think would make a very good budget deck: 15 Forest 5 Island
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Fyndhorn Elder 4 Orochi Leafcaller 4 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro 4 Traproot Kami
4 Freed from the Real
1 Hankyu
4 Kodama's Reach 4 Petals of Insight 4 Counsel of the Soratami 1 Consume Spirit 1 Fireball or Blaze 1 Stream of Life (I'm stumped, OK?)