[Deck] Columbus Confinement
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.
Re: [Deck] Columbus Confinement
So you run no basics? Sounds pretty bad too me.
Re: [Deck] Columbus Confinement
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Complete_Jank
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.
Re: [Deck] Columbus Confinement
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bane_of_the_living
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.
Re: [Deck] Columbus Confinement
Exploration + life > wasteland lock