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Circu, Fateseal Lobotomist

Introduction

New Circu

Lanturn Fateseal Control

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist

The Guild Champion of Ravnica's secrect organization. A commander sometimes seen as underwhelming at the helm of an EDH deck; and sometimes seen as a formidable opponent if built for combo. What some may not realize is that Circu shines when built around a concept in which House Dimir has always specialized in game as well as in lore: Gathering Information. This method of intelligence trafficing is based off of a fairly new theme called "Lantern Control".

A shadowy guild that few of the common people of Ravnica are sure still exists. The other nine guilds know it does, and that it traffics in secrets, employing a network of spies and assasins to discover them and enforce their use in blackmail. It is lead by the eldritch psionic vampire Szadek and the mysterious champion of the guild Circu, Dimir Lobotomist.

"Lantern Control" is generally seen as a type of manipulation of an opponent's top deck. This allows the player to selectively choose what cards their opposition may draw. In order to optimally manage an enemy's top deck, the player usually has a way of revealing the top cards of player's libraries as well as a way to instantly remove the top card[s] of a player[s] library. This theme came into popularity after Zac Elsik piloted a Modern constructed deck of the same archtype in 2015.

The general idea of Circu, Fateseal Lobotomist is to establish a rather non threatening board state while being able to impose your will on the decks of your enemies. This will leave them with nothing more than dead cards, or with things that you don't care about. To do this, the player will have to play the key cards needed to establish control.

This deck can be played several ways using its Lantern Control theme. Either aggressively or passively.

  • Aggressive play will allow the player to take full control of the opponents options. If your opponent is starved on lands early game, manipulate the top card so they cannot draw another land. This will force them to submit to your will until they have another low CMC spell that may or may not affect your control. While in a multiplayer format, this is rather difficult. All decisions much be thoroughly considered to get the highest value of your top deck control abilities. However, this seems to generate an abnormal amount of threat. When controlling the collective, usually one opponent feels they are getting targeted. While this may be true, and while you are getting brownie points for removing possible threats before they happen, the one opponent will more than likely take offense.

  • Passive play will allow you to glide under the radar. It is highly recommended to play politically. To only rid of top deck threats that hinder yourself more than any other player. Let some other threats get past, make opponents face off with other opponents. This keeps the threat off of yourself while still making an impact on the game.

General Two Card Synergies

  • Bloodchief Ascension + Zur's Weirding

    • With Bloodchief Ascension on the board with Zur's Weirding, anytime someone pays the two life to stop a player from drawing a card from Zur's Weirding, it activates the counter increase on Bloodcheif Ascension. Once Bloodcheif Ascension is active, anytime a player chooses to pay the 2 life to top their opponent, the opponent will also lose 2 life due to the trigger of Bloodchief Ascension (provided that the "opponent" isnt yourself).
  • Bloodchief Ascension + Sphinx's Tutelage

    • With Bloodcheif Ascension active, anytime that Sphinx's Tutelage causes an opponent to place a card into the graveyard it will trigger Bloodcheif Ascension causing loss of two life for the opponent and two life gain for the player.
  • Isochron Scepter + Dimir Charm

    • Isochron Scepter and Dimir Charm are an oppressive way to control a single player without the use of the other key cards for revealing a library or removing top of the library as seen above. Once exiled under Isochron Scepter, the player can control what a single opponent draws by using the third Dimir Charm ability. The ability, which states " look at the top three cards of target player's library, then put one back and the rest into that player's graveyard." This will allow the player to choose what the opponent draws every turn, allowing them to ideally draw nothing but dead cards or at least ones that do not further the opponent's board state.
  • Voltaic Key with any artifact from the "Control the Top Deck Card" list

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Revision 15 See all

(5 years ago)

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #14 position overall 8 years ago
Date added 8 years
Last updated 5 years
Exclude colors WRG
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

44 - 0 Rares

31 - 0 Uncommons

12 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.05
Tokens Emblem Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Emblem Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Faerie Rogue 1/1 UB, Manifest 2/2 C
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