[Deck] Columbus Confinement

[Bane of the Living]

Updated 6/16/07

Ive been testing Loam decks since the card was printed almost two years ago. I played Eric Darlands Diddle Dal, I designed Übermadness, and I've been tinkering with 40+ land decks. This version of Loam seems strongest as far as board control loam goes. Some of you may be familiar with Rifter and Anusiens Loam innovations on the deck. While Loam is great with Lightining Rift its simply better with Assault.

In the right metagames the deck can be a force to be reckoned with. It hold an obvious weakness to combo but for what it lacks in that department it completely showboats against aggro and control strategy. The most current decklist..

mana 32
3 Tranquil Thicket
2 Forgotten Cave
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
3 Taiga
4 Savannah
1 Maze of Ith
1 Tabernacle at Pendrel Vale
1 Nomad Coloseum
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Nantuko Monastary
1 Barbarian Ring
3 Wasteland
3 Mishras Factory
4 Mox Diamond

spells 27
3 Crop Rotation
4 Exploration
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Life from the Loam
4 Burning Wish
2 Seismic Assault
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Humility

SB 15
1 Life from the Loam
1 Wrath of God
1 Replenish
1 Devestating Dreams
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 Hullbreach
1 Decree of Justice
1 Shattering Spree
1 Pyroclasm
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Pithing Needle

The fundamental game can go quite some time, as expected when playing any confinement deck; this one can win underneath the lock much quicker however. Your first priority should always be getting Life from the Loam. If you dont have it or Burning Wish, mulligan. After getting lftl you want to start producing mass amount of lands in play with Exploration while neutralizing the opponents efforts via Humility, Wasteland, or Confinement. Humility is sometimes enough all on its own. Combined with a Mishras Factory or two your opponents attacks slow to a standstill and stop once Confinement shows its face.

The deck packs more Lackey answers than meet the eye. Crop Rotation is effectively Maze of Ith on the play, a great option with Exploration. Which also gives you an out with Mishras Factory. The deck plays Swords to Plowshares obviously but Lackey can once and awhile be a problem. Its easy to Burning Wish into clasm early on thanks to Mox Diamond and Exploration. Ive played Humility turn two many games.

Crop Rotation is your first method of toolbox, its best used to fetch for the one of lands such as Tabernacle or Chasm. It usually always baits opponents into using their Wastelands game one turns 1-?. I find it an amazing option for saving a Factory targeted by StP, something Wasteland is also great at late game. Enlightened Tutor is the 4th copy of Confinement and Humility but can also find Assault, a card I didnt want to be more than a 2 of thanks to its shit ass cc. Id like more of these in the deck maybe dropping one more Humility but I need to test it out first. Cycle lands completely negate the wait for your card. The last tutor method is Burning Wish. With three colors our options are large. I included a few sweeper cards, an amazing kill condition in Decree, and of course a copy of loam. Burning Wish will help fight the loam crusher that is Exirpate.

The deck has alot of mini combos I want to go into in small detail.

Humility + Man Lands. The rules let you bypass Humilties crushing blow to power and toughness. Your factories and monastary are the biggest creatures out with this card.

Humilty + Seismic Assault. All your enemies are fried on command. Comparable to Rifters old plan but better since you dont need to pay mana like with rift.

Glacial Chasm + Loam. Dont pay the upkeep cost, return it, replay it. You are highlander. Only optimal with Exploration out, but another game winner nontheless.

Factory + Wasteland. This is key vs decks with StP. Its probably not worth activating your men and losing them to that stupid spell. Wait till you get good control with lands and to be able and waste your own factories when becoming a target.

Chasm + Manlands. Remember to attack before replaying chasm.

Burning Wish + Exploration. This isn't slow at all. This allows quick outs to aggro and sets up big wins with Decree.

The matchups leave you with a noticable weakness to fast combo. The best way to fight off combo is casting Confinement. Some combo decks want to win via damage like Belcher or Empty the Warrens. In those matchups you can rely on Glacial Chasm. The deck probably needs more help in this area but like those who played Rifter, your making a sacrifice for a great aggro matchup. Unlike some control decks this one is very powerfull against others. You have the inevitable card draw engine of lftl and cycle lands, you also have uncounterable win conditions in man lands and barbarian ring.

So after playing Loam decks since the card was released so long ago, Ive come to enjoy this version the most. Its very robust and plays super powerfull cards (humilty, confinement, burning wish) while taking advantage of the turbo land theme. Playing Burning Wish will just be manditory once Exirpate is legal altho Ive been fighting janky Cranial Extraction at my store for a while now. I know we've all seen a ton of janky loam decks now but I promise this ones for real. Go try it out.

MATCHUPS

Goblins-
This is a great matchup for you which Im sure your glad to hear. Any dedicated board control deck should always have a good goblin matchup or go back to the drawing board. In the early game always find Loam just like normal. You have plenty of answers to Lackey and Burning Wish into Clasm should he actually connect.

Vial can be bad for you but you can take it out with Burning Wish and care less when Humility is down. Humility is sometimes enough to win the game for you backed by a couple factories. If they're playing white watch out not to get your Factory hit by StP should it stunt your mana development. Confinement is usually game over and Assault + Loam usually are too. After sbing you get Pithing Needles to help.

Thresh-
This deck has a weakness to all forms of LftL which is why I originally fell in love with it. This matchup simply walks you through finding loam, wastelock, mishras factory chump blocking, then finally resolving a bomb. Any will usually do. You can bury them in card advantage so even if the early game gets discouraging know that you come out on top in the late game. Just keep dredging and cycling. Meddling Mage can be an issue but you can Swords him or play Devestating Dreams. Burning Wish also has some mage kill.

Counterbalance can be a bit more a problem if they have top as well. They can effectively always counter loam this way which is really their only way to stop you. Try to get Confinement to stick and work on manlands beats should this happen. Remember to Wasteland your own Manlands should they Swords them.

3c FISH-
Fish has Confidant which if your not carefull can actually out draw you. You have many ways to kill him but Confidant + Mage = troublesome. The card you really dont want to see is Jitte. Your only way to stop it is Burning Wish. Humility has nothing on equipment. This game might go long. If you reach a massive amount of lands try for Burning Wish (which always resolves) for Decree of Justice. If they dont have Stifle they usually fold.

Solidarity-
This is obviously a horrendous matchup but lucky for us the deck is under played at the moment.

Gamekeeper-
Confinement and Humilty are near auto wins for you. Their discard rarely effects you thanks to cycling lands/lftl. Wastelock is usually good against them. Glasm Chasm also keeps them from winning. Preboard you have Needles and Chalice for 0.

TES/IGG/Belcher
These matchups are truely problems. They're fast, your slow as balls. Humility has nothing on a ton of 1/1's. However Tabernacle and Glasm Chasm do. Hope that they get greedy and go for the easy EtW win game one. If they do drop either land or Confinement. Belcher has to Burning Wish for Confinement hate which can be difficult for them when you can sometimes drop a second one for backup. Bring in Chalice of the Void and Needles against Belcher.

Black Aggro
This matchup is easy or difficult depending on that one stupid black card. Extirpate. You can get around it with Burning Wish but you dont always find it. Sometimes it gets Duressed away. Sometimes Jotun Grunt will maul you, other than that you should take the game. None of these decks have a way to deal with Confinement once its out. Burn is terrible against you. Land destruction is terrible against you. Hippy will usually only take lands if he hit you. The only thing I worry about in this matchup aside from Exi is getting my Assault Duressed or Hymned. Your recurring lands/kill conditions/card draw are just what the doctor ordered.

Affinity
This is rough for you. Although they're an aggro deck they have flyers you cant block and come out a bit faster than goblins. Its harder to shut them down with Humilty since they have Modular counters and Plating. Pithing Needle comes in to help out.

Landstill/Truffle Shuffle
This is easy as long as they dont have Haunting Echoes. The games can go on for quite some time. Decree isnt so good against you thanks to Tabernacle but their man lands also get around Humilty. Standstill can keep them in the game just like your LftL does and if they get their own Crucible out they become unscathed by your Wastelock and Devestating Dreams. This matchup is about 50/50 but always depends who draws what. Exploration is more than meets the eye against them. Be carefull of Deed. Your silver bullet against them is Burning Wish for Decree of Justice.

Stompy Varients
This matchup depends whether or not they have equipment based aggro strategies. Some versions only run a couple SoFI. Some versions run up to 8 equip. The fast creatures + equip can ruin the Humility plan. Chalice of the Void can rape you if dropped at two. Your best chance is to resolve Confinement while keeping them off the mana for CotV@2. Sometimes Wastelock is all you need against these guys. If you resolve a Crop Rotation go for Maze of Ith.

In summary..

Favorable- Goblins, Thresh, Black Aggro, Gamekeeper

Even- Fish, Landstill

Unfavorable- Stompy, Affinity, Ritual Combo, Solidarity


I hope thats a good amount of test data for you. I havent added the matchups Im unfamiliar with but I'll add them as I come across them.

[Tacosnape]

That's an awful name for a deck. Ew.

Looks really good. Similar to an old Loam-Rift version I used to run, only without the Rifts. Burning Wish is a must include now to deal with Extirpate.

[ForceofWill]

I think I would cut a loam and something else for 2 crucible.
What do you do against solidarity? Scoop?

[scrumdogg]

Interesting, but your plan vs combo is to A) hope you don't play them & B) hope they were too stupid to include a bounce spell anywhere? What's your plan for getting Crypted at a vital moment? Just curious.....

[Aggro_zombies]

Interesting, but your plan vs combo is to A) hope you don't play them & B) hope they were too stupid to include a bounce spell anywhere? What's your plan for getting Crypted at a vital moment? Just curious.....
Hope he has a Solitary Confinement in play?

Abeyance, or Chant, or Angel's Graze, or Rule of Law, or something needs to be in your board to swap with Humility for the combo matchup. Gilded Lights maindeck might not be a half-bad idea either.

[Bane of the Living]

Interesting, but your plan vs combo is to A) hope you don't play them & B) hope they were too stupid to include a bounce spell anywhere? What's your plan for getting Crypted at a vital moment? Just curious.....

I have won a couple games against Iggy and Belcher, its not impossible but just like Rabid Wombat or Rifter or any lands.dec this deck suffers that matchup. These are things that can be taken with a grain of salt since in some metas this doesnt matter one bit. I originally built the deck to break my metas back. No combo decks will nearly assure you a top 4 spot, and that call won me the tournament. I would hope anyone that picks this deck up realizes the general weakness and plays it regardless.

If someone keeps a crypt on the table Ill generally reduce my dredging to a minimum amount to keep important targets out of the graveyard. Since the deck doesnt filter crazy things into the yard aside from lands, most opponents will wait till crypt can take 3+ lands or lftl. In this case I'll wish for shattering spree or keep a mana open to cycle and dredge loam back to my hand. In some occassions Ill be holding two lftl and Ill bait one into the yard, my opponent will let me get the targets so they can eat the lftl. I simply play the second. It probably wouldve been a good idea to explain that this deck eats crypt for breakfast. There are copies of Needle in the board to fight crypt and vial so its never much of a problem. Jotun Grunt is a bit more a threat but thats something StP and Humility can resolve.

[diffy]

I think the real question is why to play this deck over any other LftL based control deck... or just over any other control deck. Rifter (proably not), Confinement Slide (Anusiens), Land Ho!, 43Land, Terrageddon, (tons of decks I forgott)... all resemble to this deck. Could someone point out the advantages this deck has over the mentioned ones? Why should one play this deck over any other control deck (Rock, GWB, Gbx Survival, Landstill [BHWC], Stax etc) to beginn with (well except for the LftL engine)?

Regarding the combo matchup, I liked to play some 3RedBlasts, 2Pyroblasts, 4Orim's Chants and 3Boil in my Rifter Sideboard to fight solidarity. Gilded Light could help against it too but doesn't do anything against IggyPoP... this is why one could include Crypt, maybe?
Thanks in advance for comments

[Eldariel]

I think the real question is why to play this deck over any other LftL based control deck... or just over any other control deck. Rifter (proably not), Confinement Slide (Anusiens), Land Ho!, 43Land, Terrageddon, (tons of decks I forgott)... all resemble to this deck. Could someone point out the advantages this deck has over the mentioned ones? Why should one play this deck over any other control deck (Rock, GWB, Gbx Survival, Landstill [BHWC], Stax etc) to beginn with (well except for the LftL engine)?

Regarding the combo matchup, I liked to play some 3RedBlasts, 2Pyroblasts, 4Orim's Chants and 3Boil in my Rifter Sideboard to fight solidarity. Gilded Light could help against it too but doesn't do anything against IggyPoP... this is why one could include Crypt, maybe?
Thanks in advance for comments

Gilded Light is actually stronger against Iggy than Solidarity; Solidarity is fully capable of killing you all over again in response to Light OR just countering it, Iggy has no such outs. Light in response to Tendrils and there's nothing they can do.

[diffy]

Gilded Light is actually stronger against Iggy than Solidarity[...] Iggy has no such outs. Light in response to Tendrils and there's nothing they can do.

Uhm, I don't know which build you're reffering too, but I normally play against the builds that either turn a Xantid Swarm sideways before combo or that wreck your hand (also your hate) with an Ill Gotten Gains + Leyline or that have plugged down a defense grid... before boarding !!

@Deck

I really think that you shouldn't dedicate such huge parts of your SB to the wish... 1 Decree (<Manlandbeatz), 1 Slice'nDice (enough creaturehate), 2 Shattering Sprees(expecting affinity??) and 1 WoG (<Dev Dreams) could make space for some combo hate...

I think that this deck bets way too much on metagame... are you going to bet your GP standings on wether you don't face combo (which has risen in popularity alot lately) more than once??

[adrieng]

I used to play this kind of deck, and the real problem i think is the combo match up.In my opinion , solitary confinement decks and others deck like this one have no future because they have no clock and even if you side eight cards or more you will lose , cause opponent will wait until they have the god hand and just kill you. You can t win the Iggy pop match up ,
a turn one leyline of the void wrecks this deck.I really think the best decks using life from the loam should be aggrocontrol like terraguedon...
And lots of decks are playing main deck or Sb graveyard hate like jotun grunt or withered wretch. You have humility but these decks wont let you resolve it because they play either disruption (daze + fow) or discard.

[diffy]

I used to play this kind of deck, and the real problem i think is the combo match up.In my opinion , solitary confinement decks and others deck like this one have no future because they have no clock and even if you side eight cards or more you will lose , cause opponent will wait until they have the god hand and just kill you. You can t win the Iggy pop match up ,
a turn one leyline of the void wrecks this deck.I really think the best decks using life from the loam should be aggrocontrol like terraguedon...
And lots of decks are playing main deck or Sb graveyard hate like jotun grunt or withered wretch. You have humility but these decks wont let you resolve it because they play either disruption (daze + fow) or discard.

Sad, but true... if I wanted to play any sort of control it would be GWB I think... one really needs some early beatz (and be it just witness+sakuraelder+hierarch) in addition to strong hate (duress, cabal, extirpate) for the combo matchup... allthough the Solidarity Matchup can be hated by playing multiple Rblasts, Chants and other mustcounters to boil their board away. Another solution would be to needle their fetches... but I disgress: is control in this form any more viable with all the splash hate it recieves from ***** (grunts, fishesque decks etc)??
If not, how has the control "of the future (tm)" to look like (off topic I know)?? Stax elements (blue stax)? Engines (RecSur)? Truffle Shuffle?

[Watcher487]

I see some bigger problems that your deck is currently toting.

Early developments of 5c Eternal Gardens looked very close to your build.
http://mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3668

Your combo match-up is alot worse than you think, especially since both IGGy and Solidarity play bounce accessible to them Game 1.

Burning Wish while a great way to get Life from the Loam and other lovely spells, are often a win-more idea especially since none of them actually help vs Combo.

While Aggro will highlight most of GP Columbus (in various ways including Goblins). Your still going to face combo in one form or another. Just praying to not face combo a la how Chang avoided Goblins is definatly the wrong move.

[scrumdogg]

Hope he has a Solitary Confinement in play?

Abeyance, or Chant, or Angel's Graze, or Rule of Law, or something needs to be in your board to swap with Humility for the combo matchup. Gilded Lights maindeck might not be a half-bad idea either.

And when they bounce your Solitary Confinement (which is NOT untargetable...) and go off? That was my point & your answer only partly addresses the problem. Combo is extremely quick in Legacy & does not allow you time to get your 6-8 answers (total), several of which have to work together.... You need almost as much redundancy in answering them as they have in being able to combo. Decks like TES simply compound this problem as they are even quicker.

@Nate: Had you presented this a simply a deck for an aggressive metagame, I would not take issue. However, you present this as a contender for Columbus & you are foolish if you don't believe that combo will make a good showing. As the tables progress through Day 1, it is going to increasingly be Goblins (which can still God draw you...), Thresh, which mainly needs to stop Humility & Confinement (although that should be a good matchups for you...), combo ala Solidarity, Iggy Pop, TES, stuff we haven't seen yet (which ALWAYS seems to happen at a big event & one of the reasons more big events should be supported), and some diminishing number of rogue (not rouge, idiots) decks that can handle the Big 3 or have gotten extremely lucky. You are deluding yourself that you can go X-2 with this deck to make Day 2 as it is built & even more delusional to think Day 2 (were it to happen) would be any better. I admit, you are probably going to be a wrecking ball in the first five rounds (unless you play combo...which CAN happen, I faced 2 out 3 Belcher decks in Philly...out of 500 decks.....in the first 4 rounds.....and combo should be both deadlier & more prevalent this time around). So whatcha gonna do?

[Aggro_zombies]

And when they bounce your Solitary Confinement (which is NOT untargetable...) and go off? That was my point & your answer only partly addresses the problem. Combo is extremely quick in Legacy & does not allow you time to get your 6-8 answers (total), several of which have to work together.... You need almost as much redundancy in answering them as they have in being able to combo. Decks like TES simply compound this problem as they are even quicker.
I know that. However, in my experience with the card, it can buy you a few turns unless your opponent opens with bounce or quickly draws into it. They will have to dig for a bounce spell to go off, which gives you the time you need to potentially win. Granted, when I played the card I played it in an Astral Slide deck with real clocks (Loxodon Hierarch and Eternal Dragon, among others), and I'm not sure this deck can dispatch an opponent quickly enough in the one or two turns the Confinement buys you. Also, graveyard hate MD in Iggy will severely restrict your ability to maintain the Confinement and still be in a position to win. And fast combo will just wreck you, of course, since they'll go off before you can drop or maintain a Confinement. Combo is the biggest problem facing LftL/Confinement decks of any stripe in the format, followed by non-targeted gravyard hate (Leyline of the Void, Planar Void, and then stuff like Wretch and Ground Seal too), and the deck currently lacks the tools to deal with it without investing heavily in black and thus discard. I don't think this deck could support four colors and as it is the maindeck is already too crowded to support the minimum amount of discard (Duress and Therapy and either Hymn or Gerrard's Verdict).

EDIT: it's a pity most of your deck costs 2 or less, as Pyrostatic Pillar might be a good general answer to combo in your colors, and it's mostly irrelevant to you once you get going as you can just use your Nomad land to regain lost life.

[Eldariel]

Uhm, I don't know which build you're reffering too, but I normally play against the builds that either turn a Xantid Swarm sideways before combo or that wreck your hand (also your hate) with an Ill Gotten Gains + Leyline or that have plugged down a defense grid... before boarding !!

If we're talking about the pre-board sitiuation, I wonder what your StPs and Seismic Assaults are doing if not killing Xantid Swarms. And yea, Defense Grid requires you to blow it up or pay 5. Still, Light is going to stall it at least by one turn. But if they don't expect Gilded Light and just go off, they have no outs is what I'm saying. They can't go 'in response, Brain Freeze you again' or 'counter Light'.

[Bane of the Living]

@Nate: Had you presented this a simply a deck for an aggressive metagame, I would not take issue. However, you present this as a contender for Columbus & you are foolish if you don't believe that combo will make a good showing. As the tables progress through Day 1, it is going to increasingly be Goblins (which can still God draw you...), Thresh, which mainly needs to stop Humility & Confinement (although that should be a good matchups for you...), combo ala Solidarity, Iggy Pop, TES, stuff we haven't seen yet (which ALWAYS seems to happen at a big event & one of the reasons more big events should be supported), and some diminishing number of rogue (not rouge, idiots) decks that can handle the Big 3 or have gotten extremely lucky. You are deluding yourself that you can go X-2 with this deck to make Day 2 as it is built & even more delusional to think Day 2 (were it to happen) would be any better. I admit, you are probably going to be a wrecking ball in the first five rounds (unless you play combo...which CAN happen, I faced 2 out 3 Belcher decks in Philly...out of 500 decks.....in the first 4 rounds.....and combo should be both deadlier & more prevalent this time around). So whatcha gonna do?

I do present the deck for an aggressive metagame. GP's are well known as an aggro setting. Even the more adept combo players will most likely be playing something besides combo in the course of a 8-9 round day. Many people that play Iggy will agree the deck's inconsistancies and bad matchups against both thresh and solidarity are a hamper on it's playability. I'll come right out am claim a positive win ratio against Goblins and Threshold. The deck has problems against Solidarity. Even tier one decks usually go 2/3 out of the big three. If you can show me a deck that ravages all three Ill take that to GP instead.

The goblins matchup is great. Humilty is simply a bomb and the deck can lock them completely out of the game with Chasm or Confinement. Even when they possibly bring in cards to blow away Confinement I dont have problems maintaining a healthy life total and keeping control of the board until another comes up.

Threshold has mostly 4 cards to worry about. Force of Will. Daze against a land deck playing Exploration and Mox Diamond? Ridiculous. Any deck that can establish Wastelock against thresh already has a good matchup. Throw in the uncounterable draw engine and multiple bombs to counter and things start looking pretty bad for mongoose. Meddling Mage naming Loam can obviously be their power play but you have multiple answers. The first is good old swords. The second is Burning Wish -> answer. The third is Crop Rotation -> Barbarian Ring. The fourth is Humility. So things look pretty good for you there.

There are a few real good reasons to pick this deck when looking towards control. This is obiously skewed by your meta, Columbus Confinement is the control deck to play vs aggro as opposed to combo. The first reason is the amazing toolbox capabilities. Currently you have 4 ways to tutor answers.

a- dredge lands into the yard via loam
b- search for lands via crop rotation
c- tutor for sorceries via burning wish
d- tutor for enchantments via enlightened tutor

The other reasons to play the deck are the WMD's played that pressure major scoopage. Humilty and Confinement are supported better in this deck imo than any other. We're not playing counterspells to back up Confinement but the deck still has lock capabilities secondary in Chasm. Both enchantments aren't easily dealt with and are nearly impossible to play through.

The deck exploits the loam engine extremely well. I developed a manabase with the perfect number of lands to maximize effects of dredging and simple powerfull effects via one of lands. The Exploration.land.dec method is established well but not single minded.

Instead of hackling the decks non strategy against combo try to focus on helping it. My biggest question is whether Chalice of the Void should squeeze a place into the deck. We'd need to remove Enlightened Tutor, Crop Rotation, Swords, and Explorations. We'd still have Mox Diamond for acceleration and we could probably fit additional combo hate into the other slots. With no E Tutors I might change the enchantment counts, and without Crop Rotation Id change the land toolbox. Tabernacle tutoring would take a hit, which is an extremely powerfull asset. The benefit of this tactic is immunity to Exirpate, Tormods Crypt, and obviously hosing all other 0-1 cc cards.

Do I bite the bullet and weaken the deck by removing Exploration?

[Complete_Jank]

So you run no basics? Sounds pretty bad too me.

[Bane of the Living]

So you run no basics? Sounds pretty bad too me.

Who cares? If you could tell me how thats a problem Ill gladly change it. So far I havent faced a since Back to Basics in Legacy ever, and Price of Progress is pretty much just as rare. Loam, Mox, Exploration and 28 lands see that I never have a problem vs enemy Wastelands or Ports.

I forgot to mention the Shattering Spree's in the board. They take out Vial, Pithing Needle, and Tormods Crypt. Thats pretty much the reason. They're nice against random shit too.

[Complete_Jank]

Who cares? If you could tell me how thats a problem Ill gladly change it. So far I havent faced a since Back to Basics in Legacy ever, and Price of Progress is pretty much just as rare. Loam, Mox, Exploration and 28 lands see that I never have a problem vs enemy Wastelands or Ports.

I forgot to mention the Shattering Spree's in the board. They take out Vial, Pithing Needle, and Tormods Crypt. Thats pretty much the reason. They're nice against random shit too.

Well, just mentioning it. San Diego has quiet a few control decks, including the 4c Landstill that are designed to win with Crucible or Loam Wasteland lock. Just mentioning it, because I see it happen in our meta every Friday Night, and I think it is a missed concept on the east coast.

True it doesn't work against Solidarity and some decks, but in your deck running nothing but non basics is giving one additional win condition to your opponent.

[ForceofWill]

Exploration + life > wasteland lock

[Complete_Jank]

Exploration + life > wasteland lock

Well in that case, I see no reason why to change the deck.

How could I have ever thought otherwise.

I think I am going to play this in Ohio.:confused:

[Bane of the Living]

Well, just mentioning it. San Diego has quiet a few control decks, including the 4c Landstill that are designed to win with Crucible or Loam Wasteland lock. Just mentioning it, because I see it happen in our meta every Friday Night, and I think it is a missed concept on the east coast.

True it doesn't work against Solidarity and some decks, but in your deck running nothing but non basics is giving one additional win condition to your opponent.

Huh? My opponent is gonna wastelock me?? With Exploration and Loam? I dont see that. If they're wasting that resource each turn Im sure to get ahead regardless of even playing my own wastelands. Even if my 4c Landstill opponent has Crucible out I can get back Wasteland and waste 2 lands a turn to his one. As long as we arent seeing decks sporting Exploration and Ghost Quarter against me I think we're good.

[Complete_Jank]

As long as we arent seeing decks sporting Exploration and Ghost Quarter against me I think we're good.

Dude Ghost Quarter and Wasteland are the same thing vs. this deck. Also if you are playing against a Control Deck, don't you think they could possibly prevent you from getting a Exploration on table, or in keeping it there?

[Bane of the Living]

Ok that last part didnt make sense. I have never had mana problems with this deck. If theres a position where my opponent counters Exploration then they have less counterspells for more matchup relevant cards. Not only that but even without Exporation I can simply dredge lftl and replay the land. At some point I can deal with my enemies Crucible with Burning Wish, something most people always let resolve, with plans to counter the card tutored for. Shattering Spree takes things from there. The chances of someone seriously stifling my manabase are quite slim. I've never had a problem with mana, period.

I presented a solid Confinement deck. I know I dont have Force of Will to protect it but in the coming age of Krosan Grip, that doesnt really matter anyways. Take 5 minutes to put the deck on MWS, see that works great.

[Radley]

Deck name sucks.

I like to make a deck like this. In fact I'm already making one. All foil cards :laugh: I love the burning wish foil.

[Radley]

And now, I have got myself a personal hater who pops out everytime I post something negative. :laugh:

Deck name still sucks. I didn't said the reason for the deck name sucks, I said the deck name sucks. I know you just want to flame me so I'll jus leave it at that.

[Alex_Van_R]

Radley, if you don't have anything to say that's constructive, shut up. Like I already said: you just made a redley out of yourself. It's better if you don't responds in this thread unless you have something to say.

Ontopic: I once ran a build with Sterling Grove, to protect your enchantments. The deck worked quite well.

Maindeck:
3x Solitary Confinement
3x Humility
4x Seismic Assault
4x Exploration
3x Sterling Grove
4x Mox Diamond
4x Burning Wish
3x Life from the Loam
3x Devastating Dreams
3x Pyroclasm

3x Tranquil Thicket
3x Forgotten Cave
4x Savannah
4x Taiga
1x Plateau
3x Wasteland
1x Barbarian Ring
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Windswept Heath
1x Forest
1x Mountain

side:
1x life from the loam
1x Decree of Justice
1x Regrowth
1x Devastating Dreams
1x Decree of Justice
1x Pulverize
3x Hull Breach
1x Shattering Spree
4x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pithing Needle

Note the Decree of Justice in the sideboard. Against control, you will have a lot of land most of the time, so you can wish for DoJ en cycle it. Even against other decks it worked well. You should give it a try.

[Radley]

Radley, if you don't have anything to say that's constructive, shut up. Like I already said: you just made a redley out of yourself. It's better if you don't responds in this thread unless you have something to say.

Ontopic: I once ran a build with Sterling Grove, to protect your enchantments. The deck worked quite well.

Maindeck:
3x Solitary Confinement
3x Humility
4x Seismic Assault
4x Exploration
3x Sterling Grove
4x Mox Diamond
4x Burning Wish
3x Life from the Loam
3x Devastating Dreams
3x Pyroclasm

3x Tranquil Thicket
3x Forgotten Cave
4x Savannah
4x Taiga
1x Plateau
3x Wasteland
1x Barbarian Ring
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Windswept Heath
1x Forest
1x Mountain

side:
1x life from the loam
1x Decree of Justice
1x Regrowth
1x Devastating Dreams
1x Decree of Justice
1x Pulverize
3x Hull Breach
1x Shattering Spree
4x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pithing Needle

Note the Decree of Justice in the sideboard. Against control, you will have a lot of land most of the time, so you can wish for DoJ en cycle it. Even against other decks it worked well. You should give it a try.

Alex, More flames please.

I'm trying to be constructive but flaming me leads to another flaming so I'll just stop now and will not call you stupid.

Your version of the deck is not good in my opinion. crop rotation is such a nice card(in response to wasteland and such), pair it with 1 glacial chasm in maindeck then 1 in sb. Put living wish in MD to get glacial chasm when needed or tabernacle of pendrell vale or any good creature in sb just in case?. I'd suggest to remove pyroclasm or put 1 in sb.

I'd also remove 3 of the seismic assault and put 3 enlightened tutor in. I guess 2 humility will do.

[Cavius The Great]

Radley, if you don't have anything to say that's constructive, shut up. Like I already said: you just made a redley out of yourself. It's better if you don't responds in this thread unless you have something to say.

Ontopic: I once ran a build with Sterling Grove, to protect your enchantments. The deck worked quite well.

Maindeck:
3x Solitary Confinement
3x Humility
4x Seismic Assault
4x Exploration
3x Sterling Grove
4x Mox Diamond
4x Burning Wish
3x Life from the Loam
3x Devastating Dreams
3x Pyroclasm

3x Tranquil Thicket
3x Forgotten Cave
4x Savannah
4x Taiga
1x Plateau
3x Wasteland
1x Barbarian Ring
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Windswept Heath
1x Forest
1x Mountain

side:
1x life from the loam
1x Decree of Justice
1x Regrowth
1x Devastating Dreams
1x Decree of Justice
1x Pulverize
3x Hull Breach
1x Shattering Spree
4x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pithing Needle

Note the Decree of Justice in the sideboard. Against control, you will have a lot of land most of the time, so you can wish for DoJ en cycle it. Even against other decks it worked well. You should give it a try.

Alex, have you considered Recoup? It might be nice to get something crucial back from the yard after dredging with Loam.

[Radley]

Ye, I forgot to include recoup, I run 2 in my MD, would be cool to flashback the wishes in the graveyard or a devastating dreams.

[frogboy]

1. No trolling, no flaming. My goal is to be as lazy as possible. When people break the rules, I have to fix it. This irritates me. Don't do it.

2. Where did the idea that GPs are always aggro-oriented metagames come from?

[Radley]

1. No trolling, no flaming. My goal is to be as lazy as possible. When people break the rules, I have to fix it. This irritates me. Don't do it.

2. Where did the idea that GPs are always aggro-oriented metagames come from?

Did someone said that GPs are always aggro-oriented metagames? Only heard it from you.

[frogboy]

GP's are always heavy aggro metas.


GP's are well known as an aggro setting.


While Aggro will highlight most of GP Columbus...

[Radley]

Ok, I'm not a pro but I think they probably assumed it would be aggro because there's alot of goblin decks out there, thresh are creature based, zoo is a creature deck, Various type of stompy are creature based and there's only a few good combo decks and control decks available.

[Cait_Sith]

Ok, I'm not a pro but I think they probably assumed it would be aggro because there's alot of goblin decks out there, thresh are creature based, zoo is a creature deck, Various type of stompy are creature based and there's only a few good combo decks and control decks available.

Just for reference, (at least semi) good non-aggro decks: Truffle Shuffle, Trainwreck, TES, IggyPop, Spring Tide, Solidarity, This deck, (would Landstill count here?), Rabid Wombat, Eternal Garden, almost every Stax build, Salvager Games, Jack Black, Enchantress, and you could, in theory, even include Burn. And I am willing to bet at least half the decks on that list will show at the GP in Columbus.

[Bane of the Living]

Just for reference, (at least semi) good non-aggro decks: Truffle Shuffle, Trainwreck, TES, IggyPop, Spring Tide, Solidarity, This deck, (would Landstill count here?), Rabid Wombat, Eternal Garden, almost every Stax build, Salvager Games, Jack Black, Enchantress, and you could, in theory, even include Burn. And I am willing to bet at least half the decks on that list will show at the GP in Columbus.

If that were true then 50% of the field is still aggro oriented. Humility still crushes all those decks aside from the combo ones. Salvagers is also ruined by Humility.

Recoup is ok but it cant get back the most important dredged cards which are the enchantments. Sterling Grove is really nice and depending how you feel about the Crop Rotation slot. Its preference. I suppose if you expect a whole ton of gobbos you could maindeck clasms.

[Alex_Van_R]

If I would go to Colombus, I'd certainly put the clasms maindeck. They're good with humility against big creatures as well.

[Radley]

If I would go to Colombus, I'd certainly put the clasms maindeck. They're good with humility against big creatures as well.

Seismic assault + humility = no need of clasm. Because seismic assault stays longer while pyroclasm are one time use only. I think crop rotation is great, especially to get glacial chasm at instant speed(can be in response to a fireblast or forked fireblast?). Chasm also kills creature based decks.

[vigilante]

Glacial Chasm doesn't seem necessary, as doesn't Crop Rotation. Against aggro (which bane is expecting a lot of) Humility, Seismic Assault and Pyroclasm buy time to find Solitary Confinement which performs the same function as Chasm, but better (you can't be targetted). Running a Crop Rotation toolbox fits squarely into the category of "The Danger of Cool Things" -- it's un-needed, and it'd end up diluting the already-solid strategy.

[Radley]

I don't know how crop rotation became one of the "danger of cool things" but I'd rather have those engine to survive enough until I get solitary confinement. I don't want to be attacked by a bunch of 1/1 goblins while establishing control. I'd rather have no damage at all(Every upkeep, just sacrifice it and don't pay 2 life then use life from the loam). Humility helps alot though, but I'd rather have more than 1 source of protection.

[Nightmare]

I don't know how crop rotation became one of the "danger of cool things" but I'd rather have those engine to survive enough until I get solitary confinement. I don't want to be attacked by a bunch of 1/1 goblins while establishing control. I'd rather have no damage at all(Every upkeep, just sacrifice it and don't pay 2 life then use life from the loam). Humility helps alot though, but I'd rather have more than 1 source of protection.
If you plan to use Crop Rotation as an answer to Empty the Warrens, I reccommend you search up Tabernacle, rather than Glacial Chasm.

[Radley]

If you plan to use Crop Rotation as an answer to Empty the Warrens, I reccommend you search up Tabernacle, rather than Glacial Chasm.

Got 1 tabernacle at pendrell vale in sb so i can use living wish to get it. I guess I need 1 in maindeck.

[Alex_Van_R]

This deck doens't need Living Wish. You'll dredge your lands into the grave to take them back with Life from the Loam. You need Burning Wish to make use of your sideboard toolbox, and you can wish for lftl if you don't have one yet.
I'm not a big fan of lands that don't produce mana. Every copy of it requires you to count it as a spell, and you'll have to play more lands than necessary. Don't forget that a lot of decks still play wasteland. What do you do when your gobbo-opponent has wasteland out and you want to search for Chasm/Tabernacle? You'll need at least 2 of those lands, which means you won't have enough slots left for other, better spells. Pyroclasm is in my opinion a better way to control the board, eventually with Humility.

[Radley]

If they wasteladn, you have a life from the loam to get it back. It's not like removing them from the game isn't it?

[Alex_Van_R]

If they wasteladn, you have a life from the loam to get it back. It's not like removing them from the game isn't it?

What I was talking about: what happens if they have enough creatures to do lethal damage with one attack (for example, with enough piledrivers)? You have Chasm out, but they have wasteland...

It's just too vunerable to be used. I definitely wouldn't use it, not even at a casual legacy tournament. If you want to succeed at a big tournament like a GP, you need to go for consistency. Not for funcards.

[Radley]

What I was talking about: what happens if they have enough creatures to do lethal damage with one attack (for example, with enough piledrivers)? You have Chasm out, but they have wasteland...

It's just too vunerable to be used. I definitely wouldn't use it, not even at a casual legacy tournament. If you want to succeed at a big tournament like a GP, you need to go for consistency. Not for funcards.

Consistency? If I have 2 crop rotation and 3 living wish, I get a tabernacle at pendrell vale/glacial chasm out consistently. My opponent only has 4 wasteland max and they don't have anything to search for it. I don't really know if goblins can still win because having 3 solitary confinement and 2 ways of searching for it(sterling grove/enlightened tutor) let's you get the lock really fast, You might not even use tabernacle or glacial chasm but they are in the deck for back up. This deck also has devastating dreams for those pesky goblins(not an instant though.)

This deck should also use at least 1 wasteland to abuse LFTL.

[Bane of the Living]

This deck should also use at least 1 wasteland to abuse LFTL.

It plays three.

[scrumdogg]

It plays three.

Nah, radley improved your deck. Now it only has 1 Wasteland but you have leventy-gazillion Wishes (over 4 colors & he's considering Ring of Maruf as well, since as an artifact you can always use it...) to 'smooth' out all those pesky problems the deck had before. You can rest easy now....

[Radley]

It plays three.


I said at least 1.. :rolleyes:

[Radley]

Nah, radley improved your deck. Now it only has 1 Wasteland but you have leventy-gazillion Wishes (over 4 colors & he's considering Ring of Maruf as well, since as an artifact you can always use it...) to 'smooth' out all those pesky problems the deck had before. You can rest easy now....

scrumdogg, I hope you're not serious with ring of ma'ruf because it sucks. I'm suggesting to use only usable wishes. The wishes are available so that instead of using 4 ofs, you use 3 ofs and it makes it like an up to 7 ofs of a card that can be wish'ed. The wishes gives you alot of option, so why not abuse it?

[Alex_Van_R]

scrumdogg, I hope you're not serious with ring of ma'ruf because it sucks. I'm suggesting to use only usable wishes. The wishes are available so that instead of using 4 ofs, you use 3 ofs and it makes it like an up to 7 ofs of a card that can be wish'ed. The wishes gives you alot of option, so why not abuse it?

Read a few posts back. I told you why you need to play Burning Wish in this deck and not Living Wish. Getting your Life from the Loam when you don't have it in your hand is very important if you want to get your loam-engine going. You don't need creatures in this deck, since you play humility anyway. You don't want to wish for lands, because you'll dredge them soon into the grave.

[Radley]

What's better? Soon or sooner? I use living wish so I can get tabernacle at pendrell or any other land cards that will be perfectly used at the right time. Well, if you don't want to use it then don't :laugh: just sharing my deck's build.

[Alex_Van_R]

What's better? Soon or sooner? I use living wish so I can get tabernacle at pendrell or any other land cards that will be perfectly used at the right time. Well, if you don't want to use it then don't :laugh: just sharing my deck's build.

So which lands do you want to wish for anyway?

* Boseiju, Who Shelters All you don't play very much sorceries (if they even need colorless mana)
* The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
* Glacial Chasm
* Wasteland
* Dust Bowl
* Fetch, Dual, cycleland, ...

In my opinion, the only usefull wishtargets are tabernacle and wasteland/dust bowl.

Name me more lands so you can abuse Living Wish. Don't tell me you're going to play 4 living wishes with only 2 or 3 lands on sideboard.

[vigilante]

Admittedly, Nantuko Monastery is a pretty hot Living Wish target. However, it's certainly not enough to justify 4 Living Wish in a deck that doesn't really need it.

[Radley]

2 livingwish is in my maindeck. 3 is too much and 4 is, well, insanely stupid. 2 crop rotation is enough.


What do you guys think about the addition of epicenter? 4r casting cost, target plaer sacrifices a land. threshold-all players sacrifices all lands. Does it cuck? Well, going to try it anyway.

[Alex_Van_R]

2 livingwish is in my maindeck. 3 is too much and 4 is, well, insanely stupid. 2 crop rotation is enough.


What do you guys think about the addition of epicenter? 4r casting cost, target plaer sacrifices a land. threshold-all players sacrifices all lands. Does it cuck? Well, going to try it anyway.

You already have Devastating Dreams to do that, which is way better. (CC, damage)

[Radley]

You already have Devastating Dreams to do that, which is way better. (CC, damage)

:laugh: I forgot about that ^_^ Devastating dreams should be enough plus it kills creatures without prot red. It's like a low casting wildfire. So with devastating dreams, i think this gives you a better chance of winning against combo?

[Cait_Sith]

A turn 2 Devastating Dreams for 2 can shut down every combo deck but Solidarity for quite some time. So yes, it is good against combo.

[emidln]

A turn 2 Devastating Dreams for 2 can shut down every combo deck but Solidarity for quite some time. So yes, it is good against combo.

Umm, a turn 2 Dreams for 2 doesn't always matter to TES, never matters to SI or Belcher, may or may not matter to Iggy Pop, and is duressed/therapied out by Salvagers. In short, it's not good against combo in this format.

[Radley]

Umm, a turn 2 Dreams for 2 doesn't always matter to TES, never matters to SI or Belcher, may or may not matter to Iggy Pop, and is duressed/therapied out by Salvagers. In short, it's not good against combo in this format.

Doesn't always matter but matters some time? May or may not matter to iggy pop? This means it still matters :rolleyes: Therapy/duressed out by salvagers - If in good time.

[noobslayer]

So I was cycling between this, turboland, and the 5c eternal garden threads. After seeing a ton of lists, I felt that red was the absolute most powerful color, but it had to go. By keeping red you end up stretching the deck thin, and you lose a bit of consistency. I made my list straight GWu, and I haven't gotten around to test it a whole lot, but it does seem good at what it does.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
3 [ON] Tranquil Thicket
3 [B] Tropical Island
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
4 [B] Savannah
2 [B] Tundra
2 [IA] Glacial Chasm
2 [TE] Wasteland
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 [CHK] Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 [JU] Riftstone Portal
1 [JU] Nantuko Monastery
1 [OD] Nomad Stadium
1 [OD] Cephalid Coliseum

// Creatures
2 [SC] Eternal Dragon
1 [MM] Squee, Goblin Nabob

// Spells
3 [JU] Solitary Confinement
2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
4 [US] Exploration
2 [LG] Moat
3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
3 [UL] Crop Rotation
4 [TE] Intuition
1 [RAV] Life from the Loam
1 [TO] Nostalgic Dreams
4 [B] Swords to Plowshares
4 [SH] Mox Diamond

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [JU] Solitary Confinement
SB: 3 [MR] Rule of Law
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [B] Tsunami
SB: 3 [RAV] Vinelasher Kudzu
SB: 3 [PS] Meddling Mage

Boseiju may end up coming out, as it's not as overwhelmingly good here as it is in the 4 and 5 color builds.

The deck has a strong bout of inevitability versus other control decks. Also, it has over a dozen main decked answers for aggro based decks, and a strong engine to support solitary confinement versus the combo decks that are becoming more and more relevant.

I'm not sold on the board yet, but it's packed with a lot of combo hate; this decks worst match-up.

[Alex_Van_R]

If you're running blue, how about Fathom Seer? It lets you return islands to discard for life from the loam, and you can dredge instead of the drawing. Normally spoken, you should have enough islands to return anyway. The fact that it comes in play on turn 3 doesn't matter that much, since it isn't your wincondition, but more a dredge/draw engine. You can still use it to block an opposing creature.


A question to the moderators.

PLEASE DISABLE THOSE SMILIES FOR CHRIST SAKE! RADLEY IS ABUSING THEM!

1) That's not a question.
2) No.
-TOOL

[noobslayer]

When I first saw fathom seer, I thought it was busted, but then I kept looking at it and it got less than spectacular. I like the build because it doesn't try to do too many things. I simply accelerates into some form of a lock and sits back until it draws into a win condition. Similarly to 5c garden though, the deck can be tricky to pilot. Hopefully going to three colors will help to slightly alleviate this problem.

The only other creature I'd consider for this deck would be eternal witness.

[Bane of the Living]

So I was cycling between this, turboland, and the 5c eternal garden threads. After seeing a ton of lists, I felt that red was the absolute most powerful color, but it had to go. By keeping red you end up stretching the deck thin, and you lose a bit of consistency. I made my list straight GWu, and I haven't gotten around to test it a whole lot, but it does seem good at what it does.

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
3 [ON] Tranquil Thicket
3 [B] Tropical Island
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
4 [B] Savannah
2 [B] Tundra
2 [IA] Glacial Chasm
2 [TE] Wasteland
1 [LG] The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 [CHK] Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 [JU] Riftstone Portal
1 [JU] Nantuko Monastery
1 [OD] Nomad Stadium
1 [OD] Cephalid Coliseum

// Creatures
2 [SC] Eternal Dragon
1 [MM] Squee, Goblin Nabob

// Spells
3 [JU] Solitary Confinement
2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
4 [US] Exploration
2 [LG] Moat
3 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
3 [UL] Crop Rotation
4 [TE] Intuition
1 [RAV] Life from the Loam
1 [TO] Nostalgic Dreams
4 [B] Swords to Plowshares
4 [SH] Mox Diamond

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [JU] Solitary Confinement
SB: 3 [MR] Rule of Law
SB: 3 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [B] Tsunami
SB: 3 [RAV] Vinelasher Kudzu
SB: 3 [PS] Meddling Mage

Boseiju may end up coming out, as it's not as overwhelmingly good here as it is in the 4 and 5 color builds.

The deck has a strong bout of inevitability versus other control decks. Also, it has over a dozen main decked answers for aggro based decks, and a strong engine to support solitary confinement versus the combo decks that are becoming more and more relevant.

I'm not sold on the board yet, but it's packed with a lot of combo hate; this decks worst match-up.


That list looks like the worst against combo though. Which seems to be the problem all the Land.dec's have in common. Im not claiming mine is any better. But at least red gives you Devestating Dreams to geddon the combo players out, which is also good against every mid range tier anything deck.. Siesmic Assault is absolutely needed to win the game in short time. Without Burning Wish you get no outs to Extirpate. In short, you cant cut red, and you kinda said that yourself. Intuition is great, but its slow and gets countered often. You cant count on just dropping Confinement on a combo player and hope for them to scoop or die to Eternal Dragon.. You need Assault. How do you think Columbus killed all those punks and took over Ohio? If your planning on taking the deck to Columbus play with Assault.

[Cait_Sith]

PLEASE DISABLE THOSE SMILIES FOR CHRIST SAKE! RADLEY IS ABUSING THEM!

Bane is right about how most Land style decks lose to Combo:tongue:. TES you have an advantage at since they are not quite as adept as IggyPop at winning with Igg, so using Zuran Orb gives you at least some chance and you have various cards to shut off Empty the Warrens:cool:. Of course you have nothing really against Solidarity except for Rule of Law:eek:. Wait, Tsunami destroys islands right? But why is it in there? Solidarity can just go off in response and you really don't have what you need to accelerate your mana to a turn 2/3 Tsunami:rolleyes:. Another problem is Extirpate will probably makes you go :cry: for its ability to remove your actual wincons from the game (you KNOW people will bring it to Columbus :mad:).

[Radley]

Hmm.. I don't really know how I'm abusing smilies if I use it 1 at a time :eek:

Crucible of worlds is a bit better than LFTL in some ways but you can never get to cycle your cycling lands, thing that LFTL does.:tongue:

If you're going to add crucibles and lessen LFTL, you might want to consider adding enlightened tutor. Without burning wish, only 1 LFTL, 3 crucibles without enlightened tutor, you're pretty much not going to get the lock. Intuition is the worst search engine if you don't have a good recursion, which you have but not enough. I think 1 nostalgic dreams without any search engine other than intuition(which won't give you your nostalgic dreams if your opponent is smart enough.)

Extirpate? I already bought 4 copies in Ebay :smile: Who doesn't want to abuse a card like that?:wink: An uncounterable 1 cc that kicks combo decks in the arse.

[noobslayer]

Intuition -> 3x Crucible is a reliable way to get a copy.And if one if already fried in the yard x2 Crucible + 1x Nostalgic Dreams.

The deck has a few smaller engines that aren't as cumbersome as you'd expect. Each engine can maintain Solitary Confinement, which is the main goal of the deck.

Engine #1: Life From the Loam, Cycling Lands, and Cephalid Coliseum. This engine not only serves as a reliable way to maintain Confinement, but also a very strong and recurring Draw Engine. The inclusion of Crucible means being able to Loam my cycling lands, and naturally recur my Coliseum.

Engine #2: Intuition and Nostalgic Dreams. This one shouldn't be hard to explain, as it's the glue the binds all the other engines together, as well as serving as a ridiculously powerful tutor. Sometimes when tutoring a two of and a dreams, its better the receive the 2-of, as by getting Dreams means you can recur huge amounts of hate.

Engine #3: Squee and Eternal Dragon. Mostly a win condition and confinement stability.

The deck is stable once it gets going, which is a trend of all Loam decks.

@Bane. I understand your sentiments. I'm just trying to explore options that don't involve raping yourself with your mana base.

[Radley]

Adding blue for intuition is tempting but burning wish is better in my opinion because extirpate will kill you if you don't have burning wish. Or you can just add living wish if you don't want burning so you could wish for squee or any useful lands.

[Bane of the Living]

A team mate has made top 4 with this deck for the past month or so. Its giving the best Loam based results that I see right now although theyre local. Ben took Shattering Spree out of the board for Chalice of the Void and I believe made room for Rule of Law as well. If he ever posts his updates we can see.

[Bane of the Living]

OK this deck is playable now that Flash is out of the format. And by playable I stress quite playable. Forceofwill wins every tournament he plays this deck in. It just got an awsome upgrade too.. Replenish..

I dont see the need to apply the Pandaburst combo since it sucks balls and gets hit by Pithing Needle in the end. Humility also fucks it up.

Replenish is just amazing as a one of for a Burning Wish target. You get all your dredged enchantments back into play probably for this insta win anyways. Thats the updated list.

[Banelich]

I stubbled across a combo with confinement the other day while playing on MWS completely on accident, which I doubt would fit this deck per say, but it still seems worth mentioning to anyone else who might be reading this post looking for confinement ideas.

It was game 2, I was playing a semi decent Auratog / Phantatog deck with standstills, replenish and some other crap, and I sided in 3 propoganda & 3 solitary confinement. (at about a 65% win rate, not bad for a stupid fun deck)

My opponent was playing a mono black deck with a little hand disruption, a little lando, braids, and a combo that used blood clock with sarcomancy.

This is was one of them most interesting games I've played in a long long time.

My opening hand was 2x Props, 1x confinement, 3x basic lands, 1x fetchland, I went first, land, pass. His openning turn he drops a sarcomancy, pass, I go land, pass, he goes, dark ritual, blood clock, I laugh my ass off.

on my turn 3 & 4 I drop props and take damage from the clock turn five and there after I play confinement, bounce it during my upkeep and draw into enough lands to play other stuff in addition to replaying confinement each turn.

I say this was one of the most interesting games I've played in a long time not because of this stupidness.....but because the game turned into the longest stand off imaginable. He couldn't touch me because of the confinement, I couldn't get past his army of zombies and 2 maze of ith. Somewhere around turn 40 something I finally killed him by saving up enough counter magic, then recurring 3 and then eventually 4 standstills and breaking them myself forcing him to deck himself... stupidest win-con ever!