Live Play Data

Boros Charm

· Instant · Foundations (FDN)

20%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1434

Decks Running

736

Median Cast Turn

7.0

Drawn → Played

55%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Boros Charm sits in 20% of tracked multiplayer Commander decks on Playgroup Live, resolving 182 times across 1359 games, with a median first-cast turn of 7.0.

Boros Charm is one of the most versatile two-mana instants in Naya and Mardu color identities, and the live-play data backs the reputation. It appears in 20% of tracked multiplayer Commander decks, spread across 589 distinct players, with no single player accounting for more than a small slice of the total. That breadth is an early signal of genuine format adoption rather than one pilot skewing the numbers.

The card's three modes pull it in different directions. The indestructible mode saves boards from sweepers; the 4-damage mode closes games or kills planeswalkers; the double strike mode fuels combat-oriented commanders. That versatility shows up in the cast timing: median first cast lands on turn 7.0, later than a curve two-drop would suggest, consistent with players holding it as a reactive tool and deploying it at the right moment rather than jamming it on curve.

Boros Charm is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and most other constructed formats. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander, where its uncommon rarity disqualifies it. Within Commander, it is most common in Naya, Mardu, and straight Boros shells where both red and white pips are available.

At a glance

20% of tracked multiplayer Commander decks include Boros Charm
55% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T7.0 median first-cast turn, consistent with reactive usage
589 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
23% draw rate, typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck
182 total casts recorded across all tracked games

First-cast turn

n=182

12%

60%

T6-9

23%

T10+

Median 7.0 P25 6 · P75 9 · max 28

On curve 1% (2 / 182 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 19%

The "good card" funnel

1435 brought · 589 players

Brought to game

1435

Ever drawn

330

Reached battlefield

182

Still on board at game end

55%

Of 1435 Boros Charms brought to games, 330 were drawn, and 182 of those were cast, with the gap between drawn and cast reflecting its role as a reactive spell held for the right moment.

≥ -2.0pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=173) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=990).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 23% (n=139) — 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 +4.8pp; 95% confidence interval -2.0pp to +11.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

351 instances

3.1%

Library

5.7%

Battlefield

48.1%

Graveyard

5.7%

Exile

Most Boros Charm instances end in the graveyard after resolving, a natural result for an instant, with the library bucket nearly empty because the card is almost always shuffled out or played before games end.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Gishath, Sun's Avatar 33 decks
2 Kaalia of the Vast 30 decks
3 Lightning, Army of One 25 decks
4 Baylen, the Haymaker 20 decks
5 Isshin, Two Heavens as One 20 decks
6 Edgar Markov 18 decks
7 Queen Marchesa 18 decks
8 Arabella, Abandoned Doll 17 decks
9 Aragorn, the Uniter 17 decks
10 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 17 decks

The top commanders are spread across Naya, Mardu, and straight Boros color identities, with no single commander dominating the list, which reflects the charm's broad playability wherever red and white overlap.

Frequently Asked

How often is Boros Charm drawn and cast in a Commander game?

Across 1359 tracked multiplayer games where Boros Charm was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That is in line with what you'd expect for any singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those drawn copies, 55% were cast before the game ended. The remainder largely reflects games that ended before the player had a window to use it, rather than a deliberate choice to hold.

What turn does Boros Charm typically get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 7.0, with the interquartile range spanning turns 6 through 9. For a 2-mana card, this is late, and that is the point: Boros Charm rewards patience. Players are holding it for the indestructible mode against a board wipe, or waiting for the damage mode to finish a player. The 19% same-turn cast rate confirms that only a small fraction of drawn copies are played the moment they arrive.

Does casting Boros Charm correlate with winning?

In 173 participations where Boros Charm reached the stack, the normalized win rate was 30%. In 990 participations where it stayed in the library untouched, the win rate was 25%. The delta between those two buckets is small and the confidence interval crosses zero, so treat this as directional only. The data does not establish that casting Boros Charm causes wins; it does suggest decks that cast it are competitive.

Is Boros Charm banned in any format?

Boros Charm is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander due to its uncommon rarity. It is also not legal in Premodern or Old School, which predate the card's printing. It is fully legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Vintage, and most other formats where its two colored pips are achievable.

Which commanders most commonly run Boros Charm?

Among multiplayer Commander decks in the Playgroup Live dataset, Baylen the Haymaker, Gishath Sun's Avatar, Kaalia of the Vast, and Lightning Army of One each appear in 14 decks alongside Boros Charm. Isshin Two Heavens as One follows at 12. The spread across Naya (GRW), Mardu (BRW), and pure Boros (RW) commanders reflects how broadly accessible the card's two-pip cost is in red-white shells.

How concentrated is the Boros Charm data across players?

589 distinct players have brought Boros Charm to a Playgroup Live tracked game. The single heaviest contributor accounts for roughly 23% of all instances, well below the 30% threshold that would raise concentration concerns. This spread across a large player base makes the early signals in this dataset more representative than if the card were heavily played by just one or two pilots.