Live Play Data

Demonic Tutor

· Sorcery · Commander Masters (CMM)

18%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

3543

Decks Running

1748

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

77%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Demonic Tutor appears in 18% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and 77% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends, with a median first-cast turn of 5.0.

Demonic Tutor is one of the most iconic tutors in Commander, and the live-play data from Playgroup Live backs up its reputation. Across 2746 tracked multiplayer games, it sits in 18% of decks and has been brought to the table 3547 times.

The draw-to-play rate is the sharpest signal: 77% of drawn copies reach resolution. That is a high figure for a 2-mana sorcery, and it reflects how consistently players prioritize casting it. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, with a broad spread from early ramp-assisted lines all the way into the mid-to-late game. The win-rate data adds directional support: games where Demonic Tutor resolved show a +8.7 percentage-point lift over games where it stayed in the library, though both sample sizes warrant treating this as an early signal rather than a settled conclusion.

Black-inclusive five-color commanders dominate the top-commander list, from Kaalia of the Vast to The Ur-Dragon, reflecting Demonic Tutor's role as a colorless-tutor-equivalent that fits any strategy willing to pay the color-identity cost. Its color identity restricts it to black decks, but within that slice of the format it is a near-universal include.

At a glance

18% of tracked Commander decks include Demonic Tutor
77% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn across all tracked games
23% draw rate, consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck
+8.7pp win-rate lift when cast vs. when it stays in the library (directional)

First-cast turn

n=618

13%

15%

11%

14%

32%

T6-9

10%

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 3 · P75 7 · max 19

On curve 19% (83 / 618 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 40%

The "good card" funnel

3547 brought · 1067 players

Brought to game

3547

Ever drawn

807

Reached battlefield

618

Still on board at game end

77%

Of 3547 Demonic Tutors brought to tracked games, 807 were drawn, and 618 of those were cast, a draw-to-cast conversion of 77%.

≥ +4.9pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=553) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=2228).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 27% (n=164) — 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 +8.7pp; 95% confidence interval +4.9pp to +12.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

930 instances

3.8%

Library

1.7%

Battlefield

66.1%

Graveyard

12.0%

Exile

Demonic Tutor is a sorcery that resolves to the graveyard, so the vast majority of tracked copies end there. The small fraction finishing in hand or exile reflects games that ended before resolution or unusual removal effects.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 The Ur-Dragon 47 decks
2 Kaalia of the Vast 43 decks
3 Edgar Markov 35 decks
4 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 23 decks
5 Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge 21 decks
6 Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 21 decks
7 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice 19 decks
8 Marrow-Gnawer 19 decks
9 Kenrith, the Returned King 18 decks
10 Sauron, the Dark Lord 18 decks

The commander list spans a wide range of archetypes, from aggressive vampire tribal to five-color goodstuff, consistent with Demonic Tutor's role as a format-agnostic black staple rather than a build-around.

Card text

Demonic Tutor

Sorcery

Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.

Commander Masters (CMM) · Mythic · Illustrated by Zack Stella

Frequently Asked

How often is Demonic Tutor drawn in a Commander game?

Across 2746 tracked multiplayer games where Demonic Tutor was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 807 copies that reached a player's hand, 77% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Demonic Tutor usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5.0, with the interquartile range running from turn 3 to turn 7. The cast distribution is relatively flat across turns 2-6, meaning Demonic Tutor gets cast across a wide window depending on when it was drawn and what the board state demands. A cluster of early casts reflects opening-hand draws into ramp-heavy starts.

Does casting Demonic Tutor actually improve your win odds?

Games where Demonic Tutor resolved show a +8.7 percentage-point win-rate lift over games where it never left the library. The sample sizes on both sides are substantial enough to treat this as a directional positive signal, but the Playgroup Live dataset is still growing, so treat it as an early indicator rather than a definitive verdict.

Is Demonic Tutor banned anywhere?

Demonic Tutor is banned in Legacy, Historic, Brawl, and Timeless Ring (tlr). It is restricted to one copy in Vintage and Timeless. It is legal and unrestricted in Commander, which is the primary format where its stats are tracked here. It is also legal in Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Gladiator, and preDH.

Which commanders most often run Demonic Tutor?

The top of the list on Playgroup Live is led by Kaalia of the Vast and The Ur-Dragon, each heading 3547 participations worth of tutor lines across their respective archetypes. The spread is wide: the single heaviest contributing player accounts for just 2% of all tracked instances, which means the data reflects a genuinely broad cross-section of the player base.

How concentrated is the Demonic Tutor data among players?

Demonic Tutor's data comes from 1067 distinct tracked players, and no single player accounts for an outsized share. That breadth is a meaningful strength of the dataset: the stats are not driven by one prolific player's results, and the play patterns visible in the numbers reflect a wide range of play styles and archetypes.