Budget Landstill: The budget player's solution for control.

[Ifflejink]

// Mana Sources
4 Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Ghitu Encampment
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Flooded Strand
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Lotus Petal

// Card Drawing and Utility
4 Standstill

// Removal
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fire/Ice
4 Nevinyrral's Disk

// Permission
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection
3 Stifle
2 Teferi's Response
 
// Sideboard
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Maze of Ith

Card choices:
Counterspell/Force of Will/Standstill/Mishra's Factory/Faerie Conclave: Essentials to the deck. I'd be hard-pressed to find any better budget options.
Nevinyrral's Disk: Mass removal. Although it may be a little slow, standstills and counters hold of the game long enough to play this and control the board.
Fire/Ice: Powerful, versatile removal. Since this deck is weak against aggro, this is very important.
Misdirection/Stifle: These situational "counters" are essential in todays metagame.
Teferi's Response: Your manlands are large targets, and this stops any attempt to target them. In the process, you snatch two cards.
5 Strips: Mana denial is an importnt element in most decks today.

Any and all opinions are welcome.

[Hi-Val]

I find that without Mana Drain jumpstarts, the Disk doesn't hit fast enough. In a budget version, Powder Keg might work better.

[airwalk]

Ghitu Encampment dosn't look that hot, i guess it can be nice in combat but does the deck really need to run 10 man lands? Most of the testing i did got along quite well with 8. Also i think even with absense of Drain, Disk is still better because it clears everything. It's also nicer against Chalice.

[Ruinn]

If I were playing budget landstill I believe that powder keg is a must.  Disk is slow without the acceleration of mana drain, or even a mox.  Keg solves this problem by clearing away a few threats right before you drop can drop a disk.  Also, in the absence of ancestral recall, I think that running an impulse or two, just to help you find the card you need would be ideal.  

Three MisD also seems a little bit excessive.  I have found them to be continually less useful as time goes on, but they make a bit of a comeback now that control is packing more removal.  I would suggest at least trying one or two less main however because they can often be a dead card.

[Godot]

I think the Ghitu Encampments are unnecessary, not to mention that only 12 permanent blue sources makes me a little nervous.  I think these 2 slots could be better served as Islands.

As for Disk vs.  Powder Keg, obviously disk has the better effect, but the loss of drains and thus the ability to accelerate out a disk to deal with fast fat really hurts.  Waiting until turn 5 to finally blow a disk isnt much of a solution to a 1st turn  Su-chi or Arrogant Wurm.  Powder Keg is not a very strong solution to this problem either.  So I think given the strength of Disk in mid to late game it gets the nod over Powder Keg.  In order to run disk in a budget version I would think it necessary to run some/more bounce MD and rely on Chain of Vaport, Bolts and Factories until you can get a disk online.

Can Chrome Mox find a place in budget landstill?  Having another way to drop a first turn Standstill is huge.  Yes it is card disadvantage.  Yes it has negative synergy with Disk.  But this is a budget deck and sacrifices have to be made to make up the tempo gap between this and powered decks.  I think the bigger problem is drawing it after turn 3/4 when its significantly less useful.  I havent tested this, and Im not really advocating this, but I just watned to throw the idea out there.

[BreathWeapon]

Teferi's Response is solid filler for Ancestral/Walk and you can easily replace the acceleration with Islands or Sol Ring and a Mox Diamond. You can't replace Mana Drain in Landstill tho'. Its simply too integral to the decks over all strategy. Cough up 160$ and buy a set of them for the deck.

[Godot]

Mox Diamond is absolutely terrible in this deck.  Even though you run 26 land its too important to just throw one of them away.  This deck needs all the land and mana it can get for the mid to late game.  Throwing one away to something that so easily destroyed by your opponent or your own disks is terrible.  If you're gonna run a budget Mox, Chrome is the better choice.  However, I think the overall best option is just an Island.

[Tim the Enchanter]

Chrome mox is not worth it IMO - in and of itself it is already card disadvantage - blow the disk and its -2.

As for powder keg vs Disk - unless you're playing vs a lot of weenie stuff disk is better b/c it will be able to take out stuff with a mana cost of 3 or higher before the keg will. Against a weenie deck lightning bolts and fire/ice should stall them long enough for you to get out the disk. Propaganda is a nice way to handle fast stompy type decks too. Get that + maze of ith out and they'll have lots of problems hitting you for much.

Teferi's response is an awesome card drawer. A lot of people only think it is useful for protecting your lands, but 2 mana draw 2 isn't that bad - thus it is never really dead.

I'd use barbarian rings over the ghitu encampments, but as others have said you want some more permanent blue sources.