Blasphemous Act
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Sorcery
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Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
Blasphemous Act appears in 19% of tracked Commander decks, but when drawn, players cast it only 37% of the time — a clear signal that the card is often stranded in hand waiting for the right board state.
Blasphemous Act sits in 325 of the 1,704 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, a 19% inclusion rate that reflects its strict mono-red color identity. When it does reach a player's hand, only 37% of those instances result in a cast — the lowest draw-to-play rate you would expect from a high-impact wrath, and a direct consequence of its conditional cost reduction mechanic.
The timing tells the story. Median first-cast turn is 7, and 93% of casts arrive ahead of the card's raw mana value of 9, meaning cost reduction is doing exactly what it promises. Players hold an average of 2.3 turns before casting, with a same-turn cast rate of just 38%. That patience is rational: Blasphemous Act needs creatures on the board to become affordable, and it evaporates those creatures the moment it resolves, leaving the battlefield almost empty. Stickiness is just 7% — one of the lowest rates in the dataset, which is entirely expected for a spell that deals 13 damage to every creature including the caster's own.
The win-rate delta between cast and library participations is essentially flat at +0.3 percentage points across a combined 420 observations, which is a directional signal that Blasphemous Act is included in decks that were already going to perform at roughly the same rate — consistent with it being a reactive safety valve rather than a proactive win engine.
- 19% inclusion rate across tracked Commander decks
- 37% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- T7 median first-cast turn, despite a raw cost of 9 mana
- 93% of casts land ahead of the printed mana curve, via cost reduction
- 2.3T average turns held in hand before casting
- 7% battlefield stickiness — nearly every cast wipes the board clean
First-cast turn
n=51The "good card" funnel
646 broughtOf 496 Blasphemous Acts brought to games, 108 were drawn, 43 of those were cast, and just 3 remained on the battlefield at game's end — a steep but expected funnel for a sorcery that destroys itself and the board simultaneously.
Players who cast this card win 35% of the time (n=51) , vs 37% when it never left the library (n=498).
Final zone distribution
646 instances377 of 496 Blasphemous Acts (76%) never left the library — a structural feature of singleton 100-card deckbuilding, but also evidence that the card spends most games as insurance rather than action.
Top commanders running this card
by deck count-
1
Rootha, Mastering the Moment
28 decks
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2
Me, the Immortal
19 decks
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3
Ashling, the Limitless
18 decks
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4
Hearthhull, the Worldseed
15 decks
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5
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
15 decks
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6
Ureni of the Unwritten
14 decks
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7
Sauron, the Dark Lord
13 decks
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8
Bello, Bard of the Brambles
12 decks
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9
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
11 decks
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10
Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
9 decks
Rootha, Mastering the Moment leads with 21 decks, followed by Me, the Immortal at 16 — the top slots skew toward Izzet and Temur spellslinger commanders who can copy or recur the Act, while the remaining eight commanders spread inclusion across five different color combinations.
How often is Blasphemous Act drawn in a Commander game? ▾
Across 496 deck-participations where the card was brought to a game, it was drawn in 22% of instances (108 total). That is slightly below average for a singleton in a 100-card deck, which is expected given how often games end before a nine-mana card is needed. Of those 108 drawn copies, 43 were eventually cast — a draw-to-play rate of 37%.
Why is the draw-to-play rate so low compared to other removal spells? ▾
Blasphemous Act costs {8}{R} at face value. Even with full cost reduction, players need creatures already on the battlefield before the math works. If the board clears naturally before the spell is drawn, or if the player is the one behind and cannot survive to cast it, the card sits in hand. The median hold time of 2.3 turns and a same-turn cast rate of only 38% confirm that players are deliberate, not reluctant — they are waiting for the right creature count.
What turn does Blasphemous Act usually get cast? ▾
Median first-cast turn is 7, with the 25th–75th percentile range spanning turns 6 to 8. The earliest casts in the dataset land on turn 4, and the latest on turn 12. Only 2% of casts happen at or after the card's printed mana value of 9, meaning cost reduction is active in virtually every cast we have recorded.
Does casting Blasphemous Act actually improve your win rate? ▾
In 407 tracked games the delta between win rate when cast (39.5%, n=43) and win rate when the card stayed in the library (39.3%, n=377) is just +0.3 percentage points. Both buckets exceed the 25% baseline for a 4-player pod, but the near-zero delta is an early directional signal that Blasphemous Act is a role-player in decks that are already strong, rather than a card that independently lifts your win probability. Treat this as preliminary given the small cast sample.
Why does Blasphemous Act have 7% battlefield stickiness? ▾
Stickiness measures how often the card remains on the battlefield when the game ends. Blasphemous Act is a sorcery that resolves and goes to the graveyard immediately, so a stickiness above 0% would be unusual. The 7% figure (3 of 43 casts) likely reflects a small number of games that ended mid-stack or where the spell was countered or otherwise failed to resolve and wound up in a non-graveyard zone. For practical purposes, assume it always leaves play on resolution.
Is Blasphemous Act legal in Commander? ▾
Yes. Blasphemous Act is legal in Commander and is one of the most efficient board wipes available to red decks. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, and Gladiator. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander, and carries no bans in any format where it is currently permitted.