Pili-Pala+Grand Architect
This is an old combo for generating infinite mana as early as turn 3. Usually Walking Ballista is given as a win condition. I also suspect that a "best" version of this deck might use Mox Opal.
However, my Mox Opals are already spoken for in Affinity (And I'm definitely not buying 4 more), and Walking Ballista is a bit pricey as well. What else can this deck do with infinite mana of any color? I'm thinking the goal is to draw as many cards as necessary to get to Banefire, which the deck only needs a single copy of. The rest of the deck should be card draw (and a lot of it, I'm actually wondering if this might be the Modern deck that can use Enter the Infinite, although it might just be better to use Pull from Tomorrow and Mind Spring, or use all of them), and counter magic.
Blue Sun's Zenith is often the go-to option as it can both draw you cards and act as a mill win-con to deck the opponent.
Another option can be Oona, Queen of the Fae as either a decking option or just win with lots of Faerie Rogue tokens. Bloodrite Invoker can also be a mana-sink win-con.
I suggest you have a look at my list. I don't know, if it's budget enough for you. But this list plays very well in my experience.
I'm currently on a 50% win rate, in a competitive modern environment. My only concern is my sideboard, which isn't perfect yet.
I really like the mana curve of this list. Combined with the consistency the combo goes off.
The protection cards also really pay off. Especially Lightning Greaves on a Pili-Pala is extremely powerfull to get around summoning sickness.
This is an old combo for generating infinite mana as early as turn 3. Usually Walking Ballista is given as a win condition. I also suspect that a "best" version of this deck might use Mox Opal.
However, my Mox Opals are already spoken for in Affinity (And I'm definitely not buying 4 more), and Walking Ballista is a bit pricey as well. What else can this deck do with infinite mana of any color? I'm thinking the goal is to draw as many cards as necessary to get to Banefire, which the deck only needs a single copy of. The rest of the deck should be card draw (and a lot of it, I'm actually wondering if this might be the Modern deck that can use Enter the Infinite, although it might just be better to use Pull from Tomorrow and Mind Spring, or use all of them), and counter magic.
Another option can be Oona, Queen of the Fae as either a decking option or just win with lots of Faerie Rogue tokens.
Bloodrite Invoker can also be a mana-sink win-con.
I'm currently on a 50% win rate, in a competitive modern environment. My only concern is my sideboard, which isn't perfect yet.
I really like the mana curve of this list. Combined with the consistency the combo goes off.
The protection cards also really pay off. Especially Lightning Greaves on a Pili-Pala is extremely powerfull to get around summoning sickness.
1 Academy Ruins
3 Halimar Depths
18 Island
Combo:
1 Banefire
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Grand Architect
4 Pili-Pala
Protection:
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Pact of Negation
4 Remand
4 Spellskite
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Drift of Phantasms
1 Azure Mage
3 Muddle the Mixture
2 Blink of an Eye
2 Dispel
2 Engulf the Shore
2 Postmortem Lunge
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Vapor Snag
I like it very much. I hope it will help you!
RBWMardu Nahiri, GBElves, UW Emeria, RSkred Red,
GBelcher, BDevotion, GWRNaya landfall, UWBEsper Miracles