[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

SIDEBOARD:
4 Arcane Laboratory
1 Compulsion
1 Disenchant
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Intuition
2 Masticore
1 Quash
1 Solitary Confinement
2 Stifle
1 Unsummon

Berkowitz's Confinement.

Description of deck by Mike Flores (quoted):
The Extended version of the deck takes advantage of some simply awesome interactions. The most important are Intuition and Squee, Goblin Nabob. The deck has a "turn three win" against a good many decks, just by playing Solitary Confinement with Squee in hand. A huge number of Extended decks have no way to beat that draw in game one, including some of the most popular choices, and most of the standouts from the Columbus Top 8.

Moreover, Intuition + Squee is next to unbeatable for a control deck when Compulsion is in play. The Solitary Confinement player will just draw four cards per turn, every turn, until it is so far ahead that the opposing control player has no chance; With Sapphire Medallion in play, Forbid + Squee is a non-combination synergy that turns three cards into a fist full of Counterspells, not to mention a lock that would put a smile on Jon Finkel's face.

For the Worlds 2003 version, Jordan played Spirit Cairn -- an Odyssey Block card he missed for his PTQ version -- at, I believe, the behest of former Swimming with Sharks auteur Brian David-Marshall. Spirit Cairn gives the deck a nice combination with Squee, Compulsion, and Solitary Confinement itself. Though Solitary Confinement implies a win -- much like the Life combination -- Spirit Cairn helps to actually take the game faster. Unlike a card like Morphling, which is only unbeatable (rather than just fantastic) once Solitary Confinement and a large mana advantage is already in play, Spirit Cairn operates with just Compulsionout, and maximizes the strength of the deck's existing card advantage outlets.

The Solitary Confinement deck has a lot of nice tricks with Cunning Wish; the best of them is probably going for Enlightened Tutor, but stopping an all-in Wild Mongrel or Arcbound Ravager (or just any old Akroma, Angel of Wrath) with Unsummon has to be up there. Masticore is nice out of the board, realizing the potential we originally saw with Squee, Goblin Nabob, back when Mercadian Masques was first unveiled to the public.

Though Solitary Confinement has been largely forgotten -- and might even qualify as a "never was" in the Extended category -- Brian David-Marshall recently tried it in the Neutral Ground Time Walk tournament, and, because of its potential turn three auto-win, it might merit a closer look for the upcoming PTQ season.

Have a deck you want to submit to the database?  Go here.  Do you see an error on this page?  Email it to this address.   

by Jordan Berkowitz (World 2003 Extended), found on www.magicthegathering.com

LOCKDOWN: Solitary Confinement - Squee, Goblin Nabob