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Assassin's Trophy card art
Live Play Data

Assassin's Trophy

{B} {G} · Instant · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
34%
Live Inclusion
Buy on TCGplayer
Times Brought
603
Decks Running
337
Median Cast Turn
7.0
Drawn → Played
68%
Format
Multiplayer 1v1

Assassin's Trophy sits in 34% of tracked Commander decks and reaches the battlefield on turn 7.0 at median. When drawn, 68% of copies get cast before the game ends.

Assassin's Trophy is one of Commander's most reliable pieces of universal removal, and the live-play data backs that reputation. Found in 337 of 987 tracked decks, it posts a 34% inclusion rate across the Playgroup Live dataset of 548 multiplayer games.

The card resolves and heads straight to the graveyard, as any instant should. What matters is when players choose to pull the trigger. Median first cast lands on turn 7.0, well into the midgame, which reflects how players tend to hold reactive pieces for high-value targets rather than firing early. Of the 156 copies drawn, 68% were cast before the game concluded. The 21% same-turn cast rate signals that players rarely slam it immediately on draw. A median two-turn hold suggests deliberate timing rather than urgency.

Assassin's Trophy fits cleanly into any black-green shell, and its presence across commanders ranging from focused Golgari midrange to five-color goodstuff decks confirms it earns a slot well beyond one archetype. The trade-off, a free basic land for the opponent, is real but broadly accepted at this power level.

At a glance
  • 34% of tracked Commander decks include Assassin's Trophy
  • T7.0 median first-cast turn, well into the midgame
  • 68% of drawn copies cast before the game ends
  • 26% draw rate, consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck
  • 261 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game, showing broad adoption

First-cast turn

n=106
2%
T1
1%
T2
6%
T3
9%
T4
17%
T5
48%
T6-9
17%
T10+
Median 7.0 P25 5 · P75 9 · max 14
On curve 3% (1 / 106 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 21%

The "good card" funnel

605 brought · 261 players
Brought to game
605
Ever drawn
156
Reached battlefield
106
Still on board at game end
5
68%

Of 605 copies brought to games, 156 were drawn, 106 of those were cast, and nearly all resolved into the graveyard as intended for a one-shot removal instant.

≥ -5.6pp

Players who cast this card win 25% of the time (n=106) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=409).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 17% (n=51) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +2.9pp; 95% confidence interval -5.6pp to +11.3pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

178 instances
3.4%
Library
2.8%
Battlefield
60.7%
Graveyard
10.1%
Exile

The overwhelming majority of Assassin's Trophy instances finish in the graveyard, exactly where an instant should end up after resolving. The tiny battlefield count reflects the rare cases involving copy effects or unusual interactions.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Dina, Essence Brewer claims the top spot by a substantial margin, but the list fans out quickly across Jund, five-color, and other Golgari commanders, showing Assassin's Trophy is not locked to a single archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Assassin's Trophy drawn in a Commander game?
Across 548 tracked multiplayer games, Assassin's Trophy was drawn 26% of the time when it was in the deck. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card format. Of 156 copies that reached a player's hand, 68% were cast before the game ended. The remainder were held in hand at game's end or the game concluded before the player found a moment to cast.
What turn does Assassin's Trophy usually get cast?
Median first cast is turn 7.0, with the 25th percentile at turn 5 and the 75th percentile at turn 9. The distribution clusters around turns 5 through 9, which lines up with when high-value threats tend to hit the table in a typical Commander pod. A small number of casts appear in the early turns, likely catching a key mana rock or commander before it snowballs.
Do players hold Assassin's Trophy in hand once they draw it?
Yes, and the data shows a deliberate pattern. The median number of turns a drawn copy sits in hand before being cast is 2, and only 21% of cast copies were played on the same turn they were drawn. That low same-turn rate is consistent with players treating this as a reactive piece held for the right target rather than a card they rush out.
Does casting Assassin's Trophy improve your chances of winning?
The cast win rate is 25% across 106 observations, compared to 22% in the 409 participations where it never left the library. That is an early directional signal, but with the current sample size and a delta within one standard error, we cannot call it conclusive. Read it as consistent with the card pulling its weight rather than proof of a decisive edge.
Is Assassin's Trophy legal in Commander?
Yes. Assassin's Trophy is legal and unrestricted in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and several other formats. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander due to its rare printing. There are no bans or restrictions in Commander.
Which commanders most often run Assassin's Trophy?
Dina, Essence Brewer leads the tracked list by a clear margin, appearing in more decks with this card than any other commander in the dataset. Beyond Dina, the card spreads across Golgari, Jund, and five-color goodstuff commanders, reflecting that any deck touching black and green treats it as a strong removal option. The spread across 261 unique players and a low single-player concentration suggests the data is not skewed by one prolific deckbuilder.