It is possible to win a type 1.5 tournament with a deck that costs under a hundred dollars (and the deck will not"rotate out"). This should be enough to draw in the masses, and yet you have to rummage around the deepest corners of the internet to find a decent discussion for Vintage Restricted. Well this is my contribution to those hidden corners!

Two of the most important factors that affect the price of a Constructed format are:

Rotation: When do sets cycle in and out? This boils down to changes in the card pool.

Investment: How much does it cost to get started in a particular format?

Standard and Extended primarily fall victim to the first issue. Whenever there is a change in the card pool, decks either change or can no longer compete. This is amplified when sets rotate out, expelling large collections of cards that can no longer be played at all. The issue with Vintage is the initial investment. The Power 9 are worth hundreds. The average Magic player does not have hundreds to shell out. Even if that is all you pay, it is still large enough to call the format expensive.

Type 1.5 circumvents both extremes.

There is no rotation of cards. This means that you only need to adjust to new sets and changes in the banned/restricted list. Except for a few exceptions, card prices are similar enough to those of Type Two and Extended. In fact, the inflated card prices of Type Two often exceed 1.5. The exceptions to this (Mana Drain, Mishra's Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad) are not absolutely necessary. There are many tier 1 decks that run none of these (Goblin Sligh, Food Chain Goblins, Chalice Black). This is not to say that they are not some of the most powerful cards in the format, they just don't not spell"I win" like the power 9 in Vintage.

The lack of popularity helps decrease expense. There are fewer tournaments. This means that less people have experienced or even know about the format. This decreases demand, a cyclical process. Until proponents of the format organize some recognizable support, the cycle will continue. However, the budget aspect will not end if the format becomes popular; the advantages in rotation and initial expense will still remain to a degree.

There are many decks that can compete. The current lack of recognition and the large card pool both contribute to this variety. The format has not been stripped down to its elements. This makes for interesting tournaments. The metagame shifts with respect to a grand selection of cards. A deck that was popular years ago can often become competitive again. The same applies to individual cards. A good example of this is Stasis. Though the deck has evolved, it has been competitive in many different metagame cycles.

The current version, though not currently tier 1, is sufficient for explaining the lock.

Stasis
4 Stasis
4 Root Maze
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Daze
4 Intuition
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Standstill
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Chronatog
4 Tropical Island
4 Forsaken City
4 Polluted Delta
10 Island

Stasis is used in conjunction with Root Maze and either Chronatog or Forsaken City to maintain a hard lock with the win condition of decking.

There are certainly net-decks in Type 1.5, such as Dragon, FCG, and Hulk Smash. The power of these decks, however, can be overcome by hate (Tormod's Crypt, Chill, Cabal Therapy). Such hate is what allows rogue decks to compete, and even have favorable matchups. I'll divulge some of my own rogue ideas in just a bit. Note that most of these are drawn from nearby formats, as commonly happens. I'll only comment shortly on each deck.

Draco Explosion
4 Force of Will
4 Draco
4 Brainstorm
4 Erratic Explosion
4 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Mana Drain
4 Fire / Ice
4 Daze
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Scroll Rack
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Badlands
4 Polluted Delta
1 Faerie Conclave
6 Island

First use either Lim-Dul's Vault, Brainstorm, or Scroll Rack to put Draco on top of your library. Then cast Erratic Explosion to deal sixteen points of damage. At that point, either Fire/Ice or Faerie Conclave (or another Erratic Explosion) can finish off the opponent. Lim-Dul's Vault was made for this deck. It sets up the turns perfectly for a win.

Clamp of Kher Keep
4 Skullclamp
4 Dark Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Spoils of the Vault
4 Carnival of Souls
4 Duress
3 Reaping the Graves
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Crimson Kobolds
4 Crookshank Kobolds
4 Kobolds of Kher Keep
4 Myr Moonvessel
2 Ornithopter
13 Swamp

With Carnival of Souls and Skullclamp in play, the Kobolds and Myr Moonvessel cost zero mana to sacrifice for two cards. This cycles through the deck, aided by Reaping the Graves and Ornithopter with Culling the Weak, to raise the storm count and cast Tendrils of Agony. 1st turn kills are possible, though the typical goldfish is turn 3. Many versions of this deck have been proposed, but without disruption. Too little disruption makes the deck vulnerable to countermagic, while too much slows down the deck. The right balance between speed and disruption must be obtained, generally decisions involving Elvish Spirit Guide, Duress, and Cabal Therapy.

High Tide
4 High Tide
4 Palinchron
4 Brain Freeze
4 Force of Will
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Intuition
4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Mana Drain
4 Exploration
2 Chain of Vapor
4 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
10 Island

For those not familiar with the combo, it involves Palinchron, High Tide, and 6 Islands (Tropical Islands work too) in play:

Tap one Island (1 mana in pool).

Cast High Tide (0 mana in pool).

Tap 5 islands (10 mana in pool).

Cast Palinchron (3 mana in pool).

Your lands will untap.

Tap 6 islands (15 mana in pool).

Return Palinchron to hand (11 mana in pool).

Cast Palinchron (4 mana in pool). Your lands will untap.

Tap 6 islands (16 mana in pool).

Continue this until you have a sufficiently large storm count and however much mana would be helpful for countermagic and Brain Freeze. Exploration is not such a common decision for the deck. It helps speed up the deck in a format with such a low fundamental turn.

You'll find that, as in any format, the acceleration methods are important for non-control decks. Some of the most important in type 1.5 include:

Elvish Spirit Guide
Dark Ritual
Birds of Paradise
Goblin Lackey
Mishra's Workshop
Mana Drain
Ancient Tomb
City of Traitors
Jeweled Amulet (some versions of Dragon)
Seething Song (Seething Gobvantage)
Wall of Roots
Tinder Wall (Easter Eggs)
Elves (Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Priest of Titania, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary)

If a deck does not run acceleration, it must either be a control deck or be able to win the control matchup. For example, take the budget version of Dragon (sans Bazaar of Baghdad).

B/g Budget Dragon
4 Animate Dead
4 Dance of the Dead
4 Buried Alive
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Spoils of the Vault
3 Survival of the Fittest
1 Ambassador Laquatus
4 Bayou
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
8 Swamp

The deck is lightning fast, with an average goldfish between turn 2 and 3. Because it is so fast and runs the anti-control elements of Xantid Swarm and Duress, the matchup is favorable before sideboarding. What it gains in speed and anti-control, it loses in reliability and robustness. Such balances exist in every format; Type 1.5 is no different in this respect. What matters is that the deck is popular (not such a common thing in the format), and therefore is under a constant barrage of hate.

In the End...
What matters most is taking into account the variability of the format as well as the card pool. If you play a popular deck, you must be able to handle the hate. If you play a rogue deck, it must be fast enough or have significant control elements to compete. This is why so many deck concepts work: type 1.5 is a wide open format based on the balance involving variety and hate.

Sincerely,
Michael Jermyn (Mikendher@yahoo.com)