Live Play Data

Black Market Connections

· Enchantment · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

14%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1148

Decks Running

638

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

62%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Black Market Connections sits in 14% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, resolves 62% of the time it's drawn, and sticks to the battlefield at a 71% rate once cast.

Black Market Connections appears in 638 of the 4643 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, a 14% 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 62% 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 4.0, which is right on curve for a 3-mana enchantment. Once it resolves, 71% 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

14% of tracked Commander decks include Black Market Connections
62% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4.0 median first-cast turn, landing on curve for a 3-mana card
71% battlefield stickiness once resolved
485 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
32% win rate across games where this card was cast

First-cast turn

n=174

11%

28%

11%

14%

29%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 3 · P75 6 · max 15

On curve 40% (48 / 174 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 32%

The "good card" funnel

1148 brought · 485 players

Brought to game

1148

Ever drawn

280

Reached battlefield

174

Still on board at game end

123

62%

Of 1148 copies brought to games, 280 were drawn, 174 of those were cast, and the majority of resolved copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +1.3pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=169) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=758).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=103) — 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 +8.4pp; 95% confidence interval +1.3pp to +15.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

320 instances

3.1%

Library

38.4%

Battlefield

25.9%

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 58 decks
2 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 15 decks
3 Betor, Ancestor's Voice 14 decks
4 Edward Kenway 13 decks
5 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 13 decks
6 Admiral Brass, Unsinkable 12 decks
7 Mr. House, President and CEO 10 decks
8 Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 10 decks
9 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 10 decks
10 Edgar Markov 9 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 1040 tracked Commander games where Black Market Connections was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 280 instances that reached a player's hand, 62% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Black Market Connections usually hit the battlefield?

Median first-cast turn is 4.0, 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 40% 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 32% win rate, compared to 24% for decks where it stayed in the library. That is a +8.4 percentage-point gap. Both sample sizes are meaningful (169 and 758 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?

71% 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 638 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 485 distinct players and no single contributor exceeding 24% of instances suggests the data is not skewed by one player's preferred deck.