this is pretty unfair... just build a deck with cheap blue card drawing and black library/hand discards, and before you know it, you opponent cant cast ANYTHING!
John-Bender
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(7 votes)
I know! Pretty great. Right?
shadowf0x
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
A Meddling Mage on crack!!! in a blue/black deck. Great for milling and control
Osmodius
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(8 votes)
I think Wizards of the Coast just get bored sometime and make ridiculously powerfull cards like this and others such as Traumatize.
PolskiSuzeren
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
This card is amazing. It get's around shroud and wheel of sun and moon and pretty much anything else you could think of. Unless they're going to mass return cards from exile, they're pretty much done for.
Salostot
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(4 votes)
circu took care of my opponents Progenitus
hozz101
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(10 votes)
The epitome of must-answer
Laurelle
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@Schlappi that's exactly what happens to him when I play him too. He can be a great card but he has little to no defensive ability.
Schlappi
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Well, he usually draws attention and aggression to himself when he's on the battlefield so chances are high that he gets Lightning Bolted right away! :-/ (believe me, I know...)
But still, he rocks, of course! :D
@ Laurelle
Well, you've gotta give him shroud somehow. Or you can use Kira to give him - and all your other creatures! - pseudo shroud! :-) Works fine, I tried it (apart from the fact that Kira draws aggression to itself as well^^)!
Regards from Hamburg
MrPink343
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(12 votes)
SEETHING HATRED. I HAVE IT TOWARDS THIS CARD.
5/5
Donovan_Fabian
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I play a lot of singletons in my decks, but I can see how this would be extremely annoying for your typical deck.
raptorman333
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Amazing control!
Smoked_Peasant
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This guy and lobotomy are why I love blue & black. Long Live the Lobotomizer!
njimene
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Question: Does this mean blue/black spells require opponent to throw away 2 cards? one for each color. Cuz than this card is ridiculously awesome.
creedfox
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(2 votes)
let me say that when i first pu this in my deck i thought "wow. amazing. they can't play spells."
but the truth is, it's too slow. first of all, the card is useless alone. second, this belongs in a control/mill deck. and tapping yourself out at turn 4 is allowing a 4 or 5 mana card through for your oponent. and playing this any later in the game doesn't work because most players already have what they need in play. last, what if your oponent isn't playing a combo deck? this card is way over rated. it's a fun card for sure, but not enough for me. i'll stick with haunting echoes
annenoise
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lobotomy used to be one of my favorite cards. This thing seems deadly with control - just spend your time countering, and activating its ability off of every blue counterspell you play. During your turn, black control. Even a few cards off the top of a deck that get exiled... that could be crippling!
Tezz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
why not 5/5 anymore? it used to be 5/5! Circu IS 5/5!!
SereneChaos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is brutal. I'm trying to put together a U/B Permission deck with the Black "choice" series (Temporal Extortion, Dash Hopes, etc. (still need a win condition, if you can help with that), and this guy is perfect. I usually don't prefer milling, but he turns it into such a powerful control tool; cards like Extirpate simply don't stack up, since instead of removing the copies, they become dead draws.
Guest57443454
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the best mill cards ever printed...Once you get Diplomatic Immunity on this, watch your opponent squirm...It's only downside is that is has no synergy with one of the best mill cards... Haunting Echoes...
Enchantment_Removal
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The anti-tourneyfaeg tech has been right under my nose the entire time (I was a beginner around Ravnica). Let's look at a deck list:
For those who don't know or who read this much later this is a competive 'Jund' standard deck with Shards of Alara, M2010, and Zendikar. I know, Circu was out of standard like 4 years before this. I wasn't going there. I cares about my relaxing Saturday evenings with other esteemed fellows playing Magic. The deck has no flavor, it just wins; so many people can't have a preference for it. Yet so many people play it, no ideas in the deck originated from any of them. They're mindlessly going through some motions; it gets old; I might as well be going to a Catholic Mas$.
So, regarding my original point, notice how many different nonland cards there are in the decklist. Ten (10), yes. Dare you even play a Vectis Agents (the dumbest blue-black card I can think of right now) and remove two non-land cards, their deck will begin to SUCK. I know, I know, they'll remove the SOB before you can do anything. It's not hard to get the cards to protect his (behind). Run 4 of him (even though they don't see each other's removals) because they have to kill it.
I like how this dude is only good against stick-up-the-butt competitive decks and not the run-of-the-mill casual decks. Unfortunately, he is too expensive and slow against tribal-aggro decks.
gentlemanprivateer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Gotta admit, in my mill, graveyard control deck, Circu is great. Didn't realize that the effect is ongoing though. Whoops for quite a few decks. :)
Gezus82
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
there is only one word to describe this amazing creation: ridiculoustastic thats all there is to say, one of the best cards every (discounting balck lotus and it's old friends)
sadly it's also one of the worst EDH generals
Zyxxel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this card he made me win a tournament , he alone
JohnADreams
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cavern Harpy is one of the most innocuous cards with a million uses.
surewhynot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This has to be one of, if not THE, most evil cards ever printed. What's worse is he works very well with many of the other runner-ups for most evil cards printed. Traumatize, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Nemesis of Reason, Mind Funeral, Haunting Echos, etc.
Lord_Sauron
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Perfect card against most control decks.
What I'm not sure of:
Suppose if an instant if put in the 'removed zone', can you still play the same instant in reaction? If is such a thing never put on the stack?
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lobotomy on a stick. I like it. Instead of thinning their deck and removing the cards outright, it turns them into dead draws, which is even more flavorful. So much for Relentless Rats.
Fly, my cavern harpy, fly! What? You don't like staying in play....oh well. I guess I can just keep activating Circu .....over and over and over and over......
Breaker_Ki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I didn't read all the posts, but it seems most people ignore the fact that, just like Meddling Mage, if he is removed from play all the exiled cards can be played again. So I say he's a 4/5 at best.
It's sad this works so poorly (comparatively) in EDH.
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Notice how it targets the library itself and not the player, as opposed to pretty much any mill card.
That's actually useful in the (admittedly rare case) that your opponent plays something like Ivory Mask - i can't remember any card that gives your library shroud or makes it hexproof :D (Come to think of it, there actually could be such cards if all the mill spells like Glimpse the Unthinkable or Traumatize were written to directly target the libraries...)
Attract
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Useless in EDH, amazing everywhere else.
pedrodyl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
use with ____
Sanjac
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Question:
If Circu leaves play, can the opponents then play the cards that were previously removed using Circu, or does his effect go on for the entirety of the game?
LordRandomness
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
If you want to keep him safe from removal, your best bet is Memory Lapse. Think about it for a sec. (Unfortunately the Lapse itself doesn't hit the spell since the remove resolves before Memory Lapse does, but another relevant spell will do the trick)
Mike-C
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
What did you just say?? Useless in EDH?? Not even close. When you exile a card from your opp's deck, NONE of your opp's can cast it. You'd be surprised how many times I've hit my opp and heard someone else hroan
darklord2517
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Just ordered $230 worth of cards for my Circu, Dimir Lobotomist EDH deck. Then I read the card...
A big pile of hate against Relentless Rats. And everyone else, really.
Charait
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Too bad it has no EDH potential :(
Bowshewicz
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Lord_Sauron: When your opponent casts a blue or black spell, it's possible to respond to that, and it's possible to respond to Circu's triggered ability as well. However, once the triggered ability resolves and the cards are actually exiled, you can't cast them.
If you were hoping to cast a spell because one with the same name just got exiled, you're out of luck.
PastProphet
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
right... 'useless' in EDH? now I wanna try it and prove ya'll wrong! (maybe) Sure it's not Azami-good, but sometimes EDH is more about creativity and about the rest of your deck. also, 'exile top card' effects can be decent enough, Thoughtpicker Witch has been a surprisingly good little tool... and the cards simply don't come back (normally) ever. the occasional 'other players can't play Wrath of God' might be funny too; throw in some top deck manipulation or peek, and you can sort of control what gets hit too Psychic Surgery comes to mind
Cyberium
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Noxious Revival can let you target a card in a graveyard (likely milled, given the Dimir color) to put on top of opponent's library, then you can target it with Circu right after, thus deny all copies of it later. Not to mention you can get your blue/black cards back for more milling when needed.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
When this guy is through with me, I feel like Asuka in episode 22.
Comments (53)
just build a deck with cheap blue card drawing and black library/hand discards, and before you know it, you opponent cant cast ANYTHING!
But still, he rocks, of course! :D
@ Laurelle
Well, you've gotta give him shroud somehow. Or you can use Kira to give him - and all your other creatures! - pseudo shroud! :-)
Works fine, I tried it (apart from the fact that Kira draws aggression to itself as well^^)!
Regards from Hamburg
5/5
but the truth is, it's too slow. first of all, the card is useless alone. second, this belongs in a control/mill deck. and tapping yourself out at turn 4 is allowing a 4 or 5 mana card through for your oponent. and playing this any later in the game doesn't work because most players already have what they need in play. last, what if your oponent isn't playing a combo deck? this card is way over rated. it's a fun card for sure, but not enough for me. i'll stick with haunting echoes
4 Putrid Leech, 4 Sprouting Thrinax, 4 Bloodbraid Elf, 3 Broodmate Dragon, 4 Bolts, 4 Blightnings, 4 Pulses, 2 Terminates, 3 Garruk, 3 Bituminous Blasts
For those who don't know or who read this much later this is a competive 'Jund' standard deck with Shards of Alara, M2010, and Zendikar.
I know, Circu was out of standard like 4 years before this. I wasn't going there. I cares about my relaxing Saturday evenings with other esteemed fellows playing Magic. The deck has no flavor, it just wins; so many people can't have a preference for it. Yet so many people play it, no ideas in the deck originated from any of them. They're mindlessly going through some motions; it gets old; I might as well be going to a Catholic Mas$.
So, regarding my original point, notice how many different nonland cards there are in the decklist. Ten (10), yes. Dare you even play a Vectis Agents (the dumbest blue-black card I can think of right now) and remove two non-land cards, their deck will begin to SUCK. I know, I know, they'll remove the SOB before you can do anything. It's not hard to get the cards to protect his (behind). Run 4 of him (even though they don't see each other's removals) because they have to kill it.
I like how this dude is only good against stick-up-the-butt competitive decks and not the run-of-the-mill casual decks. Unfortunately, he is too expensive and slow against tribal-aggro decks.
thats all there is to say, one of the best cards every (discounting balck lotus and it's old friends)
sadly it's also one of the worst EDH generals
What I'm not sure of:
Suppose if an instant if put in the 'removed zone', can you still play the same instant in reaction? If is such a thing never put on the stack?
Deal 4 damage to target creature or player for r and I'll feel stupid.
That's actually useful in the (admittedly rare case) that your opponent plays something like Ivory Mask - i can't remember any card that gives your library shroud or makes it hexproof :D
(Come to think of it, there actually could be such cards if all the mill spells like Glimpse the Unthinkable or Traumatize were written to directly target the libraries...)
If Circu leaves play, can the opponents then play the cards that were previously removed using Circu, or does his effect go on for the entirety of the game?
If you were hoping to cast a spell because one with the same name just got exiled, you're out of luck.
now I wanna try it and prove ya'll wrong!
(maybe)
Sure it's not Azami-good, but sometimes EDH is more about creativity and about the rest of your deck.
also, 'exile top card' effects can be decent enough,
Thoughtpicker Witch has been a surprisingly good little tool...
and the cards simply don't come back (normally) ever.
the occasional 'other players can't play Wrath of God' might be funny too;
throw in some top deck manipulation or peek, and you can sort of control what gets hit too
Psychic Surgery comes to mind