Live Play Data

Black Market Connections

· Enchantment · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

13%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

631

Decks Running

390

Median Cast Turn

4.5

Drawn → Played

63%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Black Market Connections sits in 13% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, resolves 63% of the time it's drawn, and sticks to the battlefield at a 70% rate once cast.

Black Market Connections appears in 390 of the 3032 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, a 13% inclusion rate that reflects its reputation as black's premier engine for trading life for resources at scale.

When a copy reaches a player's hand, it converts to a cast 63% of the time. That figure accounts for games that end before a player can fire it off, not for players choosing to sit on it. Median first cast lands on turn 4.5, which is right on curve for a 3-mana enchantment. Once it resolves, 70% of copies survive through the end of the game, a strong number for a non-creature permanent in a removal-heavy format.

The card appears across a wide spread of commanders and color identities. Its flexibility, offering mana, cards, or a body every turn at a life cost, makes it broadly useful in any black shell that can afford the incremental life loss.

At a glance

13% of tracked Commander decks include Black Market Connections
63% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4.5 median first-cast turn, landing on curve for a 3-mana card
70% battlefield stickiness once resolved
307 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
30% win rate across games where this card was cast

First-cast turn

n=102

29%

11%

18%

27%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.5 P25 3 · P75 6 · max 14

On curve 39% (30 / 102 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 33%

The "good card" funnel

631 brought · 307 players

Brought to game

631

Ever drawn

162

Reached battlefield

102

Still on board at game end

63%

Of 631 copies brought to games, 162 were drawn, 102 of those were cast, and the majority of resolved copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -1.2pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=102) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=426).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 19% (n=61) — 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 +7.9pp; 95% confidence interval -1.2pp to +17.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

186 instances

2.7%

Library

38.2%

Battlefield

25.3%

Graveyard

8.1%

Exile

Most of Black Market Connections' tracked instances end the game on the battlefield or in hand, a pattern driven by how few copies are drawn relative to the total brought. The majority of copies never leave the library, which is the baseline expectation for any singleton in a 100-card deck.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Doctor Doom, King of Latveria 29 decks
2 Edward Kenway 9 decks
3 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 9 decks
4 Admiral Brass, Unsinkable 8 decks
5 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 7 decks
6 Be'lakor, the Dark Master 6 decks
7 Betor, Ancestor's Voice 6 decks
8 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 6 decks
9 Sauron, the Dark Lord 6 decks
10 Edgar Markov 5 decks

Doctor Doom, King of Latveria dominates the top-commander list by raw deck count, but the long tail of commanders across multiple color identities shows Black Market Connections earns its slot in nearly any black shell.

Frequently Asked

How often is Black Market Connections drawn in a Commander game?

Across 580 tracked Commander games where Black Market Connections was in the deck, it was drawn 26% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 162 instances that reached a player's hand, 63% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Black Market Connections usually hit the battlefield?

Median first-cast turn is 4.5, which puts it squarely on its mana curve as a 3-cost card. The distribution shows a cluster at turn 3 for players who draw it early, and a long tail through turns 6-8 for copies drawn mid-game. The on-curve rate of 39% reflects how often players drew it early enough to cast it on exactly turn 3.

Does casting Black Market Connections actually improve your odds of winning?

Decks where it was cast show a 30% win rate, compared to 22% for decks where it stayed in the library. That is a +7.9 percentage-point gap. Both sample sizes are meaningful (102 and 426 observations respectively), but the lower bound on the confidence interval dips below zero, so treat the lift as a directional early signal rather than a settled conclusion.

How sticky is Black Market Connections once it resolves?

70% of resolved copies are still on the battlefield at the end of the game. For a non-creature permanent in Commander, that is a strong retention figure. It reflects both the card's resilience to targeted removal and the fact that opponents often prioritize other threats while the enchantment generates incremental value turn after turn.

Is Black Market Connections legal in Commander?

Yes. Black Market Connections is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. It is not banned in any tracked format.

Which commanders most commonly run Black Market Connections?

Doctor Doom, King of Latveria leads the list by a wide margin at 390 total decks tracked. Beyond Doom, the card spreads across a range of commanders in black-inclusive color identities: Grixis, Esper, mono-black, and multicolor piles. The spread across 307 distinct players and no single contributor exceeding 26% of instances suggests the data is not skewed by one player's preferred deck.