Comprehensive collection of Budget Decks... plz contribute.

It seems that there is a great deal of strain on budget players trying to compete in an almost degenerate environment where the fundamental turn is a mere two. So until the DCI wises up and decides to either errata the solomoxen to read legendary artifact or restricts Mishra's Workshop and Worldgorger Dragon effectively slowing down the format, I felt that this frustration could in part be relieved by posting a comprehensive listing with an explanation of all competitive budget decks I've run across on the mana drain forums. There is a budget version included of every major and viable archetype found in vintage with the sole exceptions of Nether Void and Illusionary Mask. These decks were excluded because they inherently rely on cards that are well beyond the reach of most budget players. The decks listed utilize new tools such as Chrome Mox, Spoils of the Vault, Chalice of the Void and Isochron’s Spectar that provide budget decks with the much needed boost to remain viable.

If you have a revision to a decklist I posted, or even if you have any modifications you would like to suggest to a decklist on here that's not yours, please feel free to chime in and I'll make any changes deemed necessary. In addition, if there are any viable competitive budget decks that you feel I left off, please feel free to post a decklist. And please help me keep this thread up to date with the latest tech to the posted decks based on newer releases, changes due to changes in the banned and restricted lists and any new decks and variants that may pop up. I am perfectly open to editing in any changes you request so that the original post will always remain an up to date reference.

And lastly, one disclaimer; if you're the author of a decklist that I chose to use on this thread, please be aware that I will regularly be modifying and updating the lists according to the feedback I receive. As a result, the decklist you originally posted will probably not be identical to the decklist listed on this thread. For this, I apologize. If you're not comfortable with me using one of the decklists you posted on this forum, please contact me and I'll remove it immediately.

Now onto the decklists...

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Aggro

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Mono Blue Gay Fish

Critters
4 Flying Men or Manta Riders
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Thalakos Seer or Rootwater Thief or Spiketail Hatchling
4 Voidmage Prodigy or Lord of Atlantis or Serendib Efreet

Draw
4 Curiosity
4 Standstill

Disruption
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
4 Stifle or Daze
3 Null Rod

Mana
1 Chrome Mox
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Faerie Conclave
9 Island

Sideboard
4 Energy Flux
3 Maze of Ith
3 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Hurkyl's Recall

This is a fairly standard monoblue build of one of the most viable budget decks in the format. The deck is designed to lay down some creatures with evasion while disrupting any answers your opponents may have. When metagamed properly, this is one of the few decks that can keep up with and have a chance against fully powered decks. Other sideboard possibilities include Chalice of the Void, Daze, Disrupt, Psionic Blast, Back to Basics, Annul, Chill, Hoodwink, Boomerang, Suq'Ata Firewalker and Arcane Labratory.

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Red Blue Gay Fish

Critters
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Voidmage Prodigy

Draw
4 Curiosity
4 Standstill

Disruption
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
4 Stifle or Daze
3 Null Rod

Mana
1 Chrome Mox
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
2 Island

Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Energy Flux
2 Maze of Ith
2 Fire/Ice

This is a fairly standard build of Red/Blue Gay Fish, one of the strongest decks in the current meta. The deck is similar to Mono Blue Gay Fish except that it sacrifices it's airtight mana base in order to be able to play Grim Lavamancer and use it synergetically with Voidmage Prodigy. Red also adds a great deal in terms of sideboard tools.

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Zherbus's Chalice Black

Mana
13 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring

Draw/Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence

Disruption
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach or Unmask
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Sinkhole
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine

Critters
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Mishra's Factory
3 Nantuko Shade
2 Withered Wretch

Sideboard
4 Carrion Beetles
2 Maze of Ith
2 Contagion
1 Null Rod
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Nevynrall's Disk
1 Masticore
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Powder Keg
1 Yawgmoth’s Will

This deck is the latest evolution of suicide black. It plays more disruption in order to buy time for a slower kill. There are quite a few variations on the build. Unmask is used in some builds to get rid of dead cards after an early Chalice for one. Yawgmoth's Will often proves too slow in this deck due it's dissynergy with Sphere. It's difficult to generate enough mana to recur more than one card with a Will, as Sphere makes everything more expensive and one drops are often shut out by Chalice.

My personal build includes an unorthodox choice, Wretched Anurid. I've never been a big fan of Lotus Petal or Withered Wretch anyways. This is probably because I play in a relatively light Dragon and Workshop environment. In a Workshop heavy environment, a red splash for sideboard cards like Rack and Ruin, Red Elemental Blast, Gorilla Shaman, and Blood Moon is virtually a necessity.

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Bebe's Druid Reanimator

Mana
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
2 City of Brass
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Bayou
3 Llanower Wastes
4 Fetchlands
4 Dark Ritual
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

Utility
4 Hermit Druid
4 Reanimate
2 Sutured Ghoul
2 Exhume
1 Spiritmonger
1 Krosan Cloudscraper
1 Verdant Force
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Dragon Breath

Tutor
4 Worldly Tutor
3 Buried Alive
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Entomb

Disruption
4 Duress
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Xantid Swarm

Sideboard
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Plated Slagwurm
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Pernicious Deed

This deck just sleeps. No one really plays it a lot but it has consistently performed well when brought it out of hiding. Steve designed a version with all the power that was not as consistent as this and really no faster.

The likelihood of a good opening hand that will combo out by turn three is very high. Note as well that the engine can be used succesfully with Dragon as well - Dicemanx and I fooled around with it. The deck functions well because it has the needed redundancy and disruption to make it potent even if the graveyard is removed.

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Crater Hellion's Budget Tog

Critters
3 Psychatog

Disruption
3 Duress
4 Counterspell
2 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will

Draw/Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
2 Intuition

Utility
3 Isochron Scepter
3 Cunning Wish
1 Fire/Ice

Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
8 Island

Sideboard
1 Fling
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Skeletal Scrying
3 Null Rod
2 Energy Flux
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Red Elemental Blast

This is a budget version of the Psychatog decks (both Hulk and Growatog) that ravaged type one a few months ago. Anyone who has played any format within the past year should already know how Psychatog decks operate. A Chrome Mox and Chalice of the Void probably also warrant consideration. This build utilizes a red splash but a green splash utilizing Tropical Island, Quirion Dryad, Berserk and Artifact Mutation is also certainly viable.

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Vegeta's Goblin Chains

Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
2 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Chrome Mox
2 Elvish Spirit Guide

Utility
4 Food Chain

Critters
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Goblin Vandal
4 Goblin Lackey

Sideboard
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Naturalize
3 Crash

This is perhaps one of the fastest aggro decks ever created. It uses extremely synergetic goblins and goblin abilities in order to abuse Food Chain and obtain turn three kills.

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Eric Kerzinger's Stomp

Critters
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Savannah Lions
4 River Boa
4 Rogue Elephant
3 Hidden Guerillas
3 Hidden Gibbons
3 Quirion Ranger

Utility
4 Wax/Wane
4 Rancor
3 Giant Growth
3 Swords to Plowshares

Mana
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
4 Forest
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Absolute Grace
3 Absolute Law
2 Choke
1 Circle of Protection: Black
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Null Rod
2 Serenity
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tsabo's Web

This is the European take on Stompy. The white splash helps it survive inspite of the ominpresence of Chalice and Workshop decks. It's surprisingly competitive.

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Corvel's Standard Sligh

Mana
19 Mountain
1 Strip Mine

Critters
4 Goblin Cadets
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Jackal Pup
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Mogg Flunkies

Utility
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Reckless Charge or Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Fireblast
1 Fork
1 Black Vise

Sideboard
3 Wasteland
4 Blood Moon
4 Rack and Ruin
4 Null Rod

This is a slightly tweaked (different sideboard) version of Corvel's sligh deck. It's virtually unchanged from pre-Mirrodian versions of sligh and dies to a Chalice of the Void outright. But never the less, it's about as fast as sligh gets and the new sideboard is incredible against the current metagame. Besides, more and more decks are taking out Chalice now that long is dead. Thus this deck still deserves mention.

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Crater Hellion's Dryad Sligh

Critters
4 Quirion Dryad
4 Jackal Pup
4 Goblin Cadets
4 Kird Ape
3 Gorilla Shaman

Utility
3 Isochron Scepter
2 Naturalize
4 Price of Progress
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning

Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Taiga
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
6 Mountain

Sideboard
2 Naturalize
2 Crash
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Chalice of the Void

This is classic sligh with a twist. Instead of playing a plethora of super efficient one casting cost spells, the deck instead plays with representatives from all parts of the early game’s mana curve. This in turn makes the deck far more resilient in dealing with Chalice of the Void.

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Control/Prison

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Shannon O'Meara's Slax

Mana
3 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
9 Mountain
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Wasteland

Utility
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Mind's Eye or Sharpnel Blast
1 Memory Jar
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Wheel of Fortune
3 Winter Orb
1 Black Vise

Critters
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
4 Myr Enforcer

Sideboard
3 Blood Moon
3 Duplicant
2 Pyroclasm
4 Rack and Ruin
3 Tormod's Crypt

The deck is closely related to Stacker 3, an aggro-control Workshop deck that uses soft-lock pieces to slow its opponents down, while big artifact creatures beatdown and win the game.

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Shannon O'Meara's Vineyard TnT

Mana
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Sol Ring
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 City of Traitors
4 Eladamri's Vineyard
3 Forest
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga

Utility
2 Sylvan Library
4 Survival of the Fittest
1 Memory Jar
2 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void

Critters
1 Phyrexian Colossus
1 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Squee, Goblin Nabob
2 Triskelion
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Juggernaut
4 Goblin Welder
2 Anger

Sideboard
2 Sphere of Resistance
2 Blood Moon
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Duplicant
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Naturalize

This deck plays identically to Benjamin Rott's Tools 'n Tubbies deck, with the exception of using City of Traitors and Eladamri's Vineyard to replace Mishra's Workshop and Moxes. Unfortunately, the deck suffers from the same weaknesses as normal TnT, that is, a serious lack of speed. The maindecked Chalices alleviate this problem somewhat, but it's still plagued by a weak Combo matchup.

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Ifflejink's Aggro Slax

Mana
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
3 Metalworker
2 City of Traitors
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Great Furnace
9 Mountain

Critters
4 Goblin Welder
4 Juggernaut
4 Su-chi

Utility
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Goblin Charbelcher or Metal Worker
1 Memory Jar
3 Chalice of the Void

Sideboard
1 Winter Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Bottle Gnomes
2 Blood Moon
2 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Red Elemental Blast

This is a more aggressive Workshop variant. It's only real goal is to slow you down with disruption and kill you as fast as possible.

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Crater Hellion's Welder Mud

Disruption
4 Smokestacks
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistence
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Winter Orb
1 Stripmine
4 Wasteland

Utility
4 Goblin Welder
3 Grafted Skullcap
1 Memory Jar
1 Wheel of Fortune

Critters
2 Karn, Silver Golem

Mana
3 City of Traitors
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Mountain
4 Great Furnace
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Lotus Petal
4 Metalworker
3 Ancient Tomb

Sideboard
1 Winter Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Bottle Gnomes
2 Blood Moon
2 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Red Elemental Blast

This deck is the strongest proof that even after Mishra’s Workshop is restricted, artifact prison decks will still be alive and kicking. Even without utilizing any of the Mox, Black Lotus or a single copy of Mishra’s Workshop, the raw power of the Welder Mud archetype still pulls through on a fairly consistent basis. The interaction between the cards is essentially identical to that of Slax. While the deck isn’t nearly as fast as fully powered Welder Mud or some of the decks listed above, the permanent advantage it possesses, the incredible amount of synergy that exists between the cards, and the capacity for playing a first turn Sphere of Resistance and Chalice of the Void followed up with a second turn Tangle Wire remains largely undisturbed.

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Crater Hellion's Gay Control

Utility
4 Isochron Scepter
3 Fire/Ice
1 Morphling

Draw/Tutor
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Brainstorm
1 Intuition
3 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll

Disruption
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will

Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Volcanic Island
10 Island

Sideboard
3 Blood Moon
3 Energy Flux
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Masticore
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Chalice of the Void

This deck originally started as a post Mirrodian version of Red/Blue fish. Once the critters were eliminated for more utility spells such as Isochron’s Spectar, the deck evolved into the version you see. It’s a fairly simple control deck, counter any significant spells your opponent casts and hope to survive long enough to gain control of the board.

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Crater Hellion's Cherry Parfait

Disruption
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Abeyance
2 Orim's Chant
2 Powder Keg
2 Disenchant
1 Blood Moon
1 Humility
1 Balance
1 Tormod's Crypt

Utility
4 Scroll Rack
3 Land Tax
2 Tithe
3 Isochron Scepter
1 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Raise the Alarm
1 Eternal Dragon
2 Argivian Find
1 Zuran Orb

Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor

Mana
1 Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
2 Mountain
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
14 Plains

Sideboard
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Ivory Tower
1 Disenchant
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Story Circle
2 Blood Moon
1 Orim's Chant

This deck can be viewed as the budget player’s keeper deck. While keeper has more utility spells at its disposal, this deck attempts to compensate for the drop off in utility and in power with a more consistent mana base. The play style however remains largely unchanged. One card that is notably absent from the sideboard though it undoubtedly deserves multiple slots is Rack and Ruin.

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Abeyance's Cherry Parfait

Mana
14 Plains
2 Mountain
1 Plateau
1 Wasteland
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond or Chrome Mox
1 Strip Mine

Utility
4 Land Tax
4 Scroll Rack
4 Isochron Scepter
1 Tithe
3 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Balance
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 Blood Moon
2 Zuran Orb
4 Orims Chant
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Argivian Find
2 Humility
2 Disenchant

Sideboard
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Abeyance
3 Abolish

This is a more streamlined build of parfait than what most are used it. It's more consistent but packs less utility.

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Combo

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Crater Hellion's Budget Dragon

Critters
4 Worldgorger Dragon
2 Verdant Force
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Ambassador Laquatious
1 Sliver Queen

Utility
3 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Animate Dead

Draw
4 Bazaar of Baghdad

Disruption
4 Duress
3 Unmask

Tutor
4 Buried Alive
1 Entomb
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Metagame Slots

Mana
4 Dark Ritual
1 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Swamp
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal

Sideboard
4 Metagame Choices
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Tornod's Crypt
3 Reanimate
1 Verdent Force
1 Defense Grid

The infamous Worldgorger Dragon deck, this is easily one of the most powerful decks in this article. The kill revolves around placing the Worldgorger Dragon in a graveyard and reanimating it. This starts an infinite loop that allows one to generate an infinite amount of mana and deal an infinite amount of damage! Possible considerations for the metagame slots include Demonic Consultation, Cabal Therapy, Defense Grid, Spoils of the Vault, Tainted Pact, or additional Squee, Goblin Nabob.

While this is a relatively cheap deck, the inclusion of Bazaar of Bagdad may put it out of the budget range for some. But a Bazaar of Bagdad/Squee free version of Dragon is certainly viable if it opts to play four copies of Spoils of the Vault, some Jalum Tome or possibly splashes blue for Brainstorm, Compulsion, Frantic Search, Read the Runes and the Intuition/Accumilated Knowledge combo.

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Vikram Vaka's Rector Trix

Utility
4 Academy Rector
3 Illusions of Grandeur
2 Donate
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Necropotence
1 Rushing River

Disruption
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Force of Will

Draw/Tutor
4 Brainstorm
1 Impulse
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Mana
4 Dark Ritual
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
3 Scrubland
3 Gemstone Mine

Sideboard
1 Balance
1 Mind Twist
1 Abeyance
2 Seal of Cleansing
3 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Coffin Purge or Carrion Beetles
1 Island
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Meddling Mage
1 Phyrexian Negator

This is a particularly interesting deck to play. The combo revolves around playing an Academy Rector and subsequently sacrificing it to Cabal Therapy in order to directly put Yawgmoth’s Bargain into play. Once this is achieved, it becomes a relatively simple matter to draw into Illusions of Grandeur, draw into sufficient mana sources to play it, draw into sufficient mana sources to Donate it, and then draw into sufficient mana to bounce the Illusions of Grandeur back to your hand, usually killing the player. Carrion Beetles is absolutely incredible against TnT, Dragon, and mirror matches.

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Breath Weapon's Budget Trix

Disruption
4xForce of Will
4xDuress

Draw/Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Utility
4 Illusions of Grandeur
4 Donate
2 Rushing River

Mana
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Fetchland
4 Underground Sea
5 Island
5 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Mind Twist
1 Island
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Coffin Purge
2 Withered Wretch or Carrion Beetles
2 Energy Flux
3 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Phyrexian Negator

This deck also revolves around targeting your Illusions of Grandeur with a Donate for the kill. But instead of facilitating this by using Academy Rector to put Yawgmoth’s Bargain into play, this deck simply tutors up the cards it needs with a Spoils of the Vault. This is currently one of the only viable Combo decks that doesn't use the graveyard. Avoiding Hate is an important point to make when considering why you would want to play U/B Spoils Trix over Rector versions.

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Crater Hellion's High Tide

Utility
4 High Tide
4 Palinchron
2 Brain Freeze
1 Braingeyser
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth
1 Time Spiral

Disruption
4 Force of Will
3 Counterspell

Draw/Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Meditate
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Frantic Search
3 Cunning Wish

Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Chrome Mox
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
15 Island

Sideboard
3 Energy Flux
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Stroke of Genius
3 Back to Basics
1 Snap
1 Brain Freeze
2 Maze of Ith
2 Misdirection

This is a casual deck that probably won't fare well in a highly competitive metagame. The core combo revolves around playing both High Tide and Palinchron in order to generate infinite mana and force your opponent to draw an infinite number of cards.

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Many decks are definately more viable with long now gone. But now more than ever, Workshop variants, Dragon, and to a lesser degree Mask based combo decks will make up a large part of the meta any where where people actually own power and play competitively. And these decks are so synergetic that the only way in which other decks can have a chance with them is by packing their sideboards with the appropriate hate. Thus the only decks that are even remotely viable in a competitive environment are those that pack said hate. This isn't a problem regarding Dragon and Mask as essentially every color has easy to cast cards that significantly hurt both decks. But while Mishra's Workshop unduly shuts out a lot of strategies that just don't have the brokenness to race the locks, through no fault of their own, there really isn't any way to effectively hate it out without a blue or red splash.

Until wizards decides to print artifact hate cards for all the colors or decides to restrict the permenant version of black lotus, the only viable noncombo decks are those that splash a significant amount of either blue or red. While this may not seem apparent, anyone who has played against a good workshop deck can attest to incredible amounts of mana the deck can generate in the first few turns, the raw synegetic power of the cards to be able to totally shut you out by turn two, or the futility of trying to trade with the key cards one for one.

Trading for land one for one with cards such as Wasteland or Sinkhole rarely works as there are far too many mana accelerators to be dealt with effectively, and by the time the mana denial can actually hit play, Workshop variants often had already had the key turn one or two needed to lock you out. Trading one for one with threats or by utilizing discard is often just as futile as no deck could match it's hate with the number of threats found in the deck. Current artifact based artifact hosers such as Null Rod and Chalice of the Void deal with far too few threats, and almost always deal with them too late and very poorly at that. Graveyard hard proves just as difficult as the graveyard is typically only a very minor component of the combo. The original MUD builds did very well and never once bothered to utilize their graveyards.

Even after combining all these forms of hate to make up a third of the main deck and almost all of the sideboard, the incredible challenge that decks like Chalice Black face against workshop based decks proves unconditionally just how futile the above measures are. Currently, the only cards with which workshop variants can truly be crippled and hated out are cards that can deal with multiple key artifact threats at once. These consist of Energy Flux, Artifact Mutation, and Rack and Ruin. Hurkyll's Recall and Blood Moon are also effective provided you only need to stall them temporarily. These and only these cards deal with enough threats at once to have any chance to make up for the raw synergy and power found in Workshop variants. And considering that all five cards require a red or blue splash, it becomes quite apparent why so many decks and archetypes are made unplayable by the unresticted presence of Workshop variants. And it also becomes apparent why workshop decks consistently manage to take 4 or 5 slots on almost every top 8 list even while being such a new deck, even with long around and with workshops being so rare. Four copies of a permanent black lotus is afterall no small advantage.

So if the DCI remains firm on it's refusal to restrict Mishra's Workshop, Wizards should at the very least ensure that cheap and effective artifact hate is made accessible to all the colors in the next set whether in the form of individual cards or with more effective artifact based artifact hosers. Afterall, it's not just vintage that's being deformed by artifact decks, extended suffers from the same problem and I predict standard will soon as well.