Turbo Lantern

Commander / EDH Competitive Control Partner RUG (Temur) Wheels

AbxAbx

Land (32)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dwarven Ruins
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Forest
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Havenwood Battleground
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Svyelunite Temple
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Canopy Cover
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Psychic Surgery
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Telepathy
• 1x Underworld Breach

Instant (23)

• 1x Alchemist's Retrieval
• 1x Autumn's Veil
• 1x Brain Freeze
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Decisive Denial
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Fork
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Magmaquake
• 1x Miscast
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Reclaim
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Thought Scour
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x You Come to a River

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Lantern of Insight
• 1x Library of Leng
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring

Creature (7)

• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Mindshrieker
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Trinket Mage

Commanders (2)

Sorcery (16)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Guided Passage
• 1x Jeska's Will
• 1x Molten Psyche
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x See the Truth
• 1x Slagstorm
• 1x Solve the Equation
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Winds of Change

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Sideboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Vandalblast

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Fertile Ground
• 1x Hadana's Climb  ^Flip
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild

Artifact (1)

• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Creature (3)

• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Spark Double

Instant (1)

• 1x Rapid Hybridization

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Back when Pako and Haldan were first spoiled, most people saw them as clunky at best, and straight up bad at worst, simply because it's pointless to play them on curve. While I agree that playing them on curve is a bad idea, I saw a lot of potential in them, and they've proven themselves to be extremely effective over time.

Here's my list, freshly updated and tuned up to fit a competitive meta. Enjoy.

Deck Concept

The deck's general concept is based on the Modern deck Lantern Control (or the closest workable thing in EDH). Circu, Dimir Lobotomist was the main option for years, but it was never able to handle everything it needed to in a group game because the colors didn't provide enough consistent mana. However, not only do Pako and Haldan give us access to green, but their combined abilities let us actually play our opponents' spells instead of just getting rid of them, lending a lot of power to back up the strategy (particularly if you're playing against highly interactive decks).

Strategy/Playstyle

The deck focuses on ramping to get Pako out for long enough to attack a few times, followed by a boardwipe. Due to both our colors and our general strategy, all of our boardwipes are damage-based, meaning there's even a chance for Pako to survive. Regardless, play Haldan after the wipe, and use the extra cards available to rebuild faster than your opponents can. Since he’s cheap, it’s much easier to start playing things as soon as you cast him (and much safer to do so when your opponents are focused on rebuilding instead of stopping you).

Cards like Heroic Intervention, Veil of Summer, and Maze of Ith can help protect Pako while he’s attacking for long enough to build up a decent cardpool in exile. We're also running plenty of counterspells to protect both commanders. Plus, tons of ramp (including cards to let us play multiple lands, since Haldan lets us play those, too), so rebuilding should be much easier for us.

Since we get a level of consistency from our cards in exile, we can also take advantage of Wheeling to disrupt our opponents while digging for our own combos.

Win Condition(s)

I'm aware that the most recognized cEDH list runs Seasons Past loops for their combo, but I just can't bring myself to run 12-17 mana combos as my main strategy. I'm 100% willing to sacrifice that redundancy/consistency for speed.

The main goal is to use Molten Psyche after chaining a few wheels together on one turn. If you use Narset's Reversal or Fork on the Psyche you can get in additional damage. Generally by the time you'd be ready to do this, you'd only need to do 20-30 damage.

The backup wincon is using strict Underworld Breach loops. You cast Lotus Petal a few times using Breach to up your Storm count, then cast Brain Freeze. I count this as the backup wincon because it requires you to have a significant number of cards built up in your grave, but that shouldn't be difficult if we're using our wheels and other interaction to make it to the late game.

Beyond that, commander damage is definitely a viable way to kill with Pako if he survives more than a couple of turns. While combat damage isn't generally a competitive way to win, the efficiency with which he buffs himself just by using his ability means that your opponents can't just eat the damage every turn.

Lantern Control

Overall, it’s a fairly standard Lantern Control strategy. We manipulate everyone’s top deck to make sure they don't get answers to our plays. The bonus is that it also helps us get the most out of Pako’s ability (protecting our creatures from Pako's ability, or getting value into exile). With the loss of black for discard spells, I’ve focused more on counterspells to compensate, and the deck does just fine. Between the counterspell package, the boardwipes, and the added green for ramp, it’s not been all that damaging to lose black.

Highlight cards, Pet Cards, and Flex Spots

In trying to bring such an unorthodox strategy together, I'm running several cards that might seem odd, some that have a reputation for not being "competitive enough", and a few that simply don't see much play. These can be switched out if needed.

Psychic Surgery is a card that's incredibly powerful, but not many people know about. Not only does it completely shut down our opponents' top-of-deck tutors, but it lets us punish things as simple as using a fetchland. While it's not format breaking by any means, it's a must-include for a Lantern Control deck.

Telepathy is a card with a bad reputation, but honestly I'm not sure why. If you play it politically, it's awesome. Again, it definitely synergizes with the Lantern Control strategy, so it's in.

Guided Passage is another political card. Given the deck's role as the Control element at the table, it can be used to pull out an answer to whatever threat the board is facing. On top of that, there aren't really any creatures or lands you wouldn't want to have in your hand, so it's just straight value. It's definitely a flex spot, but it's a card I'm personally happy with playing.

Top Ranked	Achieved #83 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #67 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH RUG (Temur) 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 1 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 19 - 5 Uncommons 18 - 4 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.04
Tokens	Construct 0/0 C, Treasure
Folders	Commanders, Potential decks