Live Play Data

Darksteel Mutation

· Enchantment — Aura · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

Deck Inclusion

Games Tracked

109

Decks Running

Median Cast Turn

6.0

Drawn → Played

82%

Darksteel Mutation appears in 4% of tracked Commander decks, but when players draw it, they cast it 79% of the time — holding it a median of 3 turns before pulling the trigger on a threat.

Darksteel Mutation sits in just 4% of the 1,772 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, making it a deliberate include rather than an auto-slot. Players who build around Auras or white control know exactly what they want it to do: convert an opponent's commander into an indestructible 0/1 Insect that can never be sacrificed or activated out of the problem.

The draw-to-play rate tells a story about patience. Of 28 instances drawn, 23 were cast, a 79% conversion rate. But players are not slamming it immediately. The median time from draw to cast is 3 turns, and only 23% of drawn copies are cast the same turn they arrive in hand. The median first-cast turn is 6, well past the card's 2-mana cost. That gap reflects the reactive nature of the card: players wait for the right threat to neutralize, not a convenient mana window.

Darksteel Mutation is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker, and Duel Commander. It is not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper. Its commander distribution on Playgroup Live skews heavily toward Killian, Decisive Mentor — an Orzhov Auras commander who reduces its cost to a single white mana — accounting for the majority of tracked inclusions.

At a glance

4% inclusion rate across tracked Commander decks — a deliberate build-around slot
79% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T6 median first-cast turn, despite a 2-mana cost
3 median turns spent in hand before being cast
39% battlefield stickiness — the enchantment often goes to the graveyard when its host is removed
41 Killian, Decisive Mentor decks lead all commanders in Darksteel Mutation inclusions

First-cast turn

n=24

33%

T6-9

21%

T10+

Median 6.0 P25 5 · P75 9 · max 12

On curve 0% (0 / 24 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 22%

The "good card" funnel

115 brought · 65 players

Brought to game

115

Ever drawn

Reached battlefield

Still on board at game end

82%

Of 103 copies brought to games, 28 were drawn and 23 of those were cast — a strong 79% draw-to-play conversion — but only 9 remained on the battlefield at game end, reflecting the enchantment's vulnerability to removal that targets its host.

+0.3pp

Players who cast this card win 27% of the time (n=24) , vs 27% when it never left the library (n=85).

Final zone distribution

115 instances

74.8%

Library

9.6%

Battlefield

10.4%

Graveyard

5.2%

Hand

75 of 103 brought copies never left the library, the expected baseline for a 4%-inclusion singleton — the 11 that reached the graveyard reflect how often the enchantment falls off when its host is removed through exile or bounce.

Top commanders running this card

by deck count

Killian, Decisive Mentor accounts for 41 of the tracked inclusions, nearly six times the next closest commander, making this a heavily concentrated rather than broadly distributed card.

Frequently Asked

How often is Darksteel Mutation drawn in a Commander game? ▾

Across 103 deck participations, Darksteel Mutation was drawn 28 times — a raw draw rate of 27%. That's consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. The more meaningful number is what happens next: 23 of those 28 drawn copies (79%) were cast before the game ended, a high conversion rate for a reactive spell that requires a valid target.

What turn does Darksteel Mutation usually get cast? ▾

The median first-cast turn is 6, with a mean of 6.52. The interquartile range runs from turn 5 to turn 9. Despite costing just 2 mana, players hold the card for the right moment rather than casting it at the first opportunity. Only 1 of 23 observed casts happened on turn 1, and the distribution is spread across turns 3 through 12.

Why do players hold Darksteel Mutation in hand instead of casting it immediately? ▾

Only 23% of drawn copies were cast the same turn they were drawn, compared to a median 3-turn delay. Darksteel Mutation is a reactive threat-answer: it's most valuable aimed at an opponent's commander or a dangerous activated-ability creature. Players wait for the threat that genuinely warrants a permanent answer, since the enchantment itself is hard to remove once attached to an indestructible host.

Does casting Darksteel Mutation actually help you win? ▾

The win-rate delta here is directional rather than conclusive given sample sizes. Decks that cast the card won 26% of participations (6 of 23). Decks where it stayed in the library won 40% of participations (30 of 75). The negative delta of -0.14 most likely reflects selection bias: Darksteel Mutation tends to get cast when the game state is already threatening, not when the casting player is ahead. Both buckets have fewer than 30 observations, so treat this as an early signal, not a verdict.

Which commanders most often run Darksteel Mutation? ▾

Killian, Decisive Mentor leads with 41 tracked decks — by a wide margin. Killian's ability reduces the cost of spells that target creatures, making Darksteel Mutation a 1-mana removal spell. Eriette of the Charmed Apple (7 decks) and Dragonlord Ojutai (6 decks) are the next closest. The remaining commanders in the top 10 each account for 4 or fewer decks.

Is Darksteel Mutation legal in Commander? What about other formats? ▾

Darksteel Mutation is legal and unrestricted in Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Legacy, and Vintage. It is not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Historic, Pauper, Alchemy, or Brawl. In Commander, its permanence is its main selling point: it turns an opponent's commander into a harmless Insect without sending it to the command zone, denying the opponent the chance to simply recast their general.