Live Play Data

Desolate Mire

Land · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

12%

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

564

Decks Running

313

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

75%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

12% of tracked Commander decks in White-Black color identities run Desolate Mire, and 75% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 3.

Desolate Mire is a {1}, {T}: Add {W}{B} dual land with a modest cost. Across 531 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 313 of 2615 distinct decks, for an inclusion rate of 12%. That figure reflects its niche as a color-fixing land for White-Black and Esper shells rather than a cross-format staple.

The clearest signal in the data is how consistently players deploy it once it enters their hand. 75% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended, with a median first-cast turn of 3. The hand-to-cast data adds context: players hold it for a median of one turn before playing it, suggesting it is not always the first land dropped but is rarely sat on for long. Once on the battlefield, it sticks 86% of the time. Land removal is uncommon enough in Commander that the card almost never leaves play once resolved.

The concentration data is a genuine strength here. 292 distinct players have brought Desolate Mire to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That spread means the numbers are not being skewed by one active player's preference.

At a glance

12% of tracked Commander decks include Desolate Mire
75% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T3 median first-cast turn
86% battlefield stickiness once cast
292 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
313 tracked decks currently running Desolate Mire

First-cast turn

n=103

15%

22%

14%

10%

19%

T6-9

12%

T10+

Median 3 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 17

Cast same turn as drawn 46%

The "good card" funnel

564 brought · 292 players

Brought to game

564

Ever drawn

138

Reached battlefield

103

Still on board at game end

75%

Of 564 Desolate Mires brought to tracked games, 138 were drawn, 103 of those were cast, and the large majority remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -4.6pp

Players who cast this card win 24% of the time (n=98) , vs 20% when it never left the library (n=377).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=32) — 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 +4.1pp; 95% confidence interval -4.6pp to +12.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

152 instances

3.9%

Library

58.6%

Battlefield

16.4%

Graveyard

3.9%

Exile

The vast majority of Desolate Mire copies end their game on the battlefield, a pattern typical of lands. Because the card costs {1} to activate, it is rarely targeted for removal, so stickiness is high once deployed.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads the distribution, but deck counts drop off steadily down the list, indicating Desolate Mire is spread across many archetypes rather than locked to a single commander strategy.

Frequently Asked

How often is Desolate Mire drawn in a Commander game?

In 531 tracked multiplayer games where Desolate Mire was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those drawn copies, 75% were cast before the game concluded, making it one of the more reliably deployed utility lands in the dataset.

What turn does Desolate Mire typically hit the battlefield?

The median first-cast turn is 3, with the distribution clustering around turns 1 through 5. The mode is turn 2, meaning players who draw it early tend to drop it as their second land. The hand-to-cast data shows a median of 1 turn spent in hand before playing it, so it is not a card players plan around. They play it when it fits their land drop.

Is Desolate Mire banned in Commander?

No. Desolate Mire is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Brawl, or Historic. Its legal status in Commander makes it a straightforward inclusion choice for any White-Black or three-color deck that touches both colors.

Does casting Desolate Mire correlate with winning?

In 98 participations where Desolate Mire reached the battlefield, the normalized win rate was 24%. When it stayed in the library, the win rate was 20%. The delta is +4.2 percentage points. Both buckets are large enough to be directional, but the confidence interval crosses zero, so treat this as an early signal rather than a firm conclusion.

Which commanders most often run Desolate Mire?

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads with the most decks in the dataset, followed by Killian, Decisive Mentor and Terra, Herald of Hope. The spread across both strict Orzhov commanders and three-color Mardu and Esper commanders reflects Desolate Mire's role as a simple White-Black fixer that slots into any deck touching both colors, regardless of the third.

Is the Desolate Mire data concentrated around a few players?

No. 292 distinct players have brought Desolate Mire to a tracked game on Playgroup Live, and the single most active contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That is well below the threshold where one player's preferences could meaningfully skew the aggregate numbers, which adds confidence to the directional trends in the dataset.