Anguished Unmaking
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Instant
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Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
46% of the time Anguished Unmaking hits the battlefield, that player wins the game. Against a 25% baseline, that's a +12.6-point delta over games where it sat in the library all game.
Anguished Unmaking shows up in 7.5% of Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, a focused inclusion rate that reflects its strict Orzhov color identity. In 176 tracked games it appeared in 134 distinct decks, and when players actually cast it, they won 46% of those game-instances.
The win-rate delta is the most honest framing: decks where the card sat in the library all game won 33.6% of the time, while decks where it resolved won 46.2% of the time. That +12.6-point gap is a directional signal. With 26 cast observations it is not conclusive, but it is consistent with Anguished Unmaking's reputation as one of the cleanest answers in black-white. The card exiles any nonland permanent unconditionally at instant speed, and the 3-life cost rarely matters at 40 starting life. Players hold it an average of 2 turns after drawing it before pulling the trigger, a median of 2, suggesting they wait for the right target rather than deploying it at the first opportunity.
The commander distribution is notably concentrated: Killian, Decisive Mentor leads with 38 decks, far ahead of the next cluster. Beyond Orzhov commanders, it slots into any Esper or four-color shell that touches white and black, which explains the broader spread across the top-10 list.
- 7.5% inclusion rate across all tracked Commander decks
- 46.2% win rate in games where Anguished Unmaking was cast
- +12.6pt win-rate delta over games where it never left the library
- T7 median first-cast turn, typically responding to a mid-game threat
- 56.5% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- 2 turns median time held in hand before being cast
First-cast turn
n=28The "good card" funnel
208 brought191 copies were brought to games, 46 were drawn, 26 of those were cast, and battlefield stickiness is effectively zero since Anguished Unmaking is an instant that resolves and goes to the graveyard.
Players who cast this card win 46% of the time (n=28) , vs 34% when it never left the library (n=156).
Final zone distribution
208 instances143 of 191 Anguished Unmakings never left the library, the expected outcome for any singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the copies that did move, 23 ended in a graveyard after resolving their exile effect and 6 were themselves exiled.
Top commanders running this card
by deck count-
1
Killian, Decisive Mentor
38 decks
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2
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit
11 decks
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3
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed
11 decks
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4
Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima
9 decks
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5
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
8 decks
-
6
Breya, Etherium Shaper
7 decks
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7
Betor, Ancestor's Voice
6 decks
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8
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos
6 decks
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9
Amalia Benavides Aguirre
5 decks
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10
Eriette of the Charmed Apple
5 decks
Killian, Decisive Mentor dominates with 38 decks, a concentration roughly three times the size of the next cluster, which suggests a strong deck-archetype pull beyond simple color-identity access.
How often is Anguished Unmaking drawn in a Commander game? ▾
Across 191 deck-participations in 176 tracked games, Anguished Unmaking was drawn in 24% of instances. That is exactly in line with what you expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 46 instances that reached a player's hand, 26 were cast before the game ended, a draw-to-play rate of 56.5%.
Why do players hold Anguished Unmaking in hand for two turns before casting it? ▾
The median hand-to-cast delay is 2 turns, with a same-turn cast rate of only 23%. That is a strong behavioral signal: unlike ramp spells players slam on curve, removal spells get held until the right target appears. Anguished Unmaking exiles any nonland permanent, so players often save it for a high-value target like a planeswalker or an indestructible creature rather than trading it down early.
What does the win-rate delta actually tell us? ▾
The +12.6-point delta compares the win rate in games where the card was cast (46.2%, n=26) against games where it sat in the library the whole time (33.6%, n=143). The library-only bucket is large enough to be fairly stable, but the cast bucket has only 26 observations, so treat the delta as a directional early signal rather than a proven effect. The baseline win rate in a four-player pod is around 25%, and even the library-only rate beats that baseline, which reflects that Anguished Unmaking tends to live in stronger, more focused Orzhov builds.
What turn does Anguished Unmaking typically resolve? ▾
Median first-cast turn is 7, with the middle 50% of casts landing between turns 5 and 9. The earliest recorded cast was turn 3 (the card's mana value), and the latest was turn 13. That spread makes sense for reactive removal: it resolves when a threat demands it, not on a fixed curve.
Is Anguished Unmaking legal in Commander? ▾
Yes. Anguished Unmaking is legal in Commander, as well as Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its white-black color identity restricts it to commanders whose identity includes both W and B.
Which commanders most commonly run Anguished Unmaking on Playgroup Live? ▾
Killian, Decisive Mentor leads by a large margin with 38 decks, more than three times the next entries. Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed each appear in 11 decks, followed by Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit (9) and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic (8). The spread reaches into Esper, Mardu-adjacent, and Abzan shells, reflecting that any commander touching both white and black is a candidate to run the card.