Live Play Data

Diabolic Intent

· Sorcery · The Brothers' War (BRO)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1241

Decks Running

622

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

57%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Diabolic Intent lands in 7% of tracked Commander decks and is cast a median turn 6, a late-game tutor that players deploy deliberately rather than speculatively.

Diabolic Intent appears in 7% of Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, sitting in 622 of the 9451 distinct decks that have played a tracked game. Its additional cost, sacrificing a creature, keeps it out of generalist shells and concentrates it in sacrifice-synergy strategies.

The draw-to-play rate sits at 57%, meaning roughly half of drawn copies resolve before the game ends. Median first cast lands on turn 6, and the interquartile range spans turns 4 through 7, consistent with a card that requires both mana and a fodder creature to be in place before firing. Players hold it an average of two turns after drawing before casting, suggesting they wait for the right moment rather than slamming it immediately.

The commander distribution tells the clearest story about where Diabolic Intent fits. Edgar Markov leads the list, followed by token and sacrifice-matters commanders like Chatterfang, Korvold, Wilhelt, and Teysa Karlov. Any strategy that generates creature tokens as a byproduct can treat this as a nearly free tutor, which is precisely why it carries a strong reputation across black-centric Commander pods.

At a glance

7% of tracked Commander decks include Diabolic Intent
22% draw rate across games where the deck participated
57% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T6 median first-cast turn
512 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game, spread well across the dataset
30% win rate in participations where Diabolic Intent resolved

First-cast turn

n=155

14%

12%

57%

T6-9

T10+

Median 6 P25 5 · P75 8 · max 14

On curve 3% (3 / 155 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 30%

The "good card" funnel

1242 brought · 512 players

Brought to game

1242

Ever drawn

274

Reached battlefield

155

Still on board at game end

57%

Of 1242 copies brought to games, 274 were drawn, 155 of those were cast, and nearly all resolved to the graveyard as a sorcery should, with stickiness a non-metric for this spell type.

≥ -2.6pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=144) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=801).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=108) — 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 +4.4pp; 95% confidence interval -2.6pp to +11.4pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

324 instances

4.0%

Library

1.9%

Battlefield

54.6%

Graveyard

11.4%

Exile

The vast majority of Diabolic Intent copies end the game in the graveyard after resolving or in hand after being drawn, with very few remaining in the library, consistent with a card that gets cast or held when drawn rather than buried unnoticed.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Edgar Markov 30 decks
2 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 20 decks
3 Sauron, the Dark Lord 18 decks
4 Chatterfang, Squirrel General 15 decks
5 Teysa Karlov 15 decks
6 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King 13 decks
7 Marneus Calgar 11 decks
8 Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh 11 decks
9 Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver 11 decks
10 Marrow-Gnawer 10 decks

Edgar Markov sits atop the list at 18 decks, but the spread across sacrifice and token commanders like Chatterfang, Korvold, Teysa, and Wilhelt shows Diabolic Intent is a format-wide tutor rather than a one-deck staple.

Card text

Diabolic Intent

Sorcery

As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.

The Brothers' War (BRO) · Rare · Illustrated by Dan Murayama Scott

Frequently Asked

How often is Diabolic Intent drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1134 tracked games where Diabolic Intent was in the deck, it was drawn 22% of the time. That reflects normal singleton variance in a 100-card deck. Of 274 instances that reached a player's hand, 57% were cast before the game ended. The remainder is largely a game-length and timing effect: the card requires a creature to sacrifice, so it can sit in hand until the right window opens or the game concludes.

What turn does Diabolic Intent typically get cast?

Median first cast is turn 6, with the middle 50% of casts landing between turns 4 and 7. The distribution trails out to turn 11 in the tracked data. Players hold it an average of roughly two turns after drawing before casting, pointing to deliberate timing around creature availability rather than immediate deployment. Only 3% of casts landed exactly on curve for a 2-mana spell, which reflects both late draws and the need to set up a sacrifice target.

Does casting Diabolic Intent actually correlate with winning?

In 144 participations where Diabolic Intent resolved, the normalized win rate was 30%, compared to 26% in 801 participations where the card never left the library. That gap is a directional signal rather than a conclusive finding at this sample size. The 95% confidence interval on the delta crosses zero, so treat it as early evidence that finding the right card matters, not a proven performance guarantee.

Which commanders most commonly run Diabolic Intent?

Edgar Markov leads the tracked dataset, followed by Sephiroth, Teysa Karlov, Chatterfang, Korvold, and Wilhelt. The common thread is creature generation: commanders that produce tokens or value creatures as a byproduct dramatically lower the opportunity cost of the sacrifice requirement. Mono-black and Golgari shells also appear consistently because they have the deepest access to expendable creatures and sacrifice payoffs.

Is Diabolic Intent legal in Commander?

Yes. Diabolic Intent is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Timeless, and most other sanctioned formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Alchemy, or Pauper Commander. It has never been on the Commander banned list despite its reputation as one of the most efficient black tutors in the format.

How concentrated is the Diabolic Intent data across players?

The dataset is well-spread. 512 distinct players have brought Diabolic Intent to a tracked game on Playgroup Live, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 22% of all instances. That breadth adds credibility to the directional patterns we observe, though the total game count means we are still in early-signal territory rather than drawing firm conclusions.