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Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim card art
Live Play Data

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

{W} {B} · Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Kor Cleric · Dominaria United (DMU)
8%
Live Inclusion
Buy on TCGplayer
Times Brought
573
Decks Running
307
Median Cast Turn
6.0
Drawn → Played
83%
Format
Multiplayer 1v1

83% of drawn Elas il-Kor copies are cast before the game ends, one of the higher execution rates among two-mana Orzhov commanders tracked on Playgroup Live.

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim converts every creature entering or leaving the battlefield into life-and-drain swings. Across 557 tracked multiplayer games, 83% of drawn copies reached the battlefield, a consistent signal that players who find this card want it in play as soon as possible.

The card sits in 307 of 3790 tracked decks, an 8% inclusion rate that reflects its role as a payoff piece rather than a universal staple. It earns its slot in dedicated aristocrats and token strategies, where the enter-and-die triggers compound quickly. Median first cast lands on turn 6.0, a little later than its 2-mana cost might suggest, consistent with players holding it until a board state exists to maximize the triggers.

The data is well-spread: 297 distinct players have brought Elas to a tracked game, and no single contributor exceeds a small fraction of all instances. That breadth lends the directional numbers more weight than a dataset dominated by one or two pilots would.

At a glance
  • 8% of tracked Commander decks include Elas il-Kor
  • 83% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
  • T6.0 median first-cast turn across all observations
  • 51% battlefield stickiness once cast
  • 297 distinct players have brought Elas to a tracked game
  • 33% win rate in games where Elas resolved, normalized to a 4-player baseline

First-cast turn

n=120
3%
T1
18%
T2
5%
T3
8%
T4
16%
T5
42%
T6-9
9%
T10+
Median 6.0 P25 4 · P75 8 · max 15
On curve 20% (21 / 120 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 48%

The "good card" funnel

574 brought · 297 players
Brought to game
574
Ever drawn
144
Reached battlefield
120
Still on board at game end
72
83%

Of 574 Elas copies brought to games, 144 were drawn, 120 of those were cast, reflecting the 83% draw-to-play rate that marks this as a card players move on quickly when they see it.

≥ -2.7pp

Players who cast this card win 33% of the time (n=111) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=349).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 29% (n=20) — 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 +6.6pp; 95% confidence interval -2.7pp to +15.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

173 instances
0.6%
Library
41.6%
Battlefield
30.6%
Graveyard
8.1%
Exile

Most Elas copies that never leave the library reflect 100-card singleton variance rather than any weakness in the card. Among observed copies, the battlefield and graveyard dominate final zones, consistent with a creature that trades or survives rather than lingers in hand.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The top-commander list is spread across ten different pilots, with Teysa Karlov and Caesar leading in raw deck count. No single commander overwhelmingly dominates, pointing to Elas as a flexible aristocrats piece rather than a one-archetype specialist.

Card text
Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim card

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

{W} {B}
Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Kor Cleric
Deathtouch Whenever another creature you control enters, you gain 1 life. Whenever another creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life.
2 / 2
Dominaria United (DMU) · Uncommon · Illustrated by G-host Lee

Frequently Asked

How often is Elas il-Kor drawn in a Commander game?
In 557 tracked games where Elas was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 144 copies that reached a hand, 83% were cast before the game ended. The relatively high execution rate suggests players rarely hold it without a reason to cast it soon.
What turn does Elas il-Kor usually hit the battlefield?
Median first cast is turn 6.0, with the middle 50% of casts falling between turns 3 and 8. The distribution has clusters at turn 2 (opening-hand plays) and again in the turn 5–8 window, suggesting many pilots wait for a board before deploying Elas rather than jamming it on curve into nothing.
Does casting Elas il-Kor correlate with winning?
Games where Elas resolved show a 33% win rate versus 26% in games where it stayed in the library. That is a +6.6 percentage-point lift. The sample has 111 cast observations and 349 library observations, giving enough data to read this as a directional positive signal, though not a statistically conclusive one. Both buckets comfortably exceed 15 games.
How sticky is Elas il-Kor on the battlefield?
51% of cast copies survive to end of game. That is moderate stickiness for a two-mana creature. Deathtouch dissuades many attacks, but removal and sacrifice effects still clear it with notable frequency. The graveyard is the most common non-battlefield final zone in the dataset.
Which commanders run Elas il-Kor most often?
Teysa Karlov and Caesar, Legion's Emperor top the list in raw deck counts, reflecting Elas's home in death-trigger and token strategies. Elas also appears frequently as its own commander. The spread across ten different commanders in the top list shows it is not locked into a single archetype.
Is Elas il-Kor legal in Commander?
Yes. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, Oathbreaker, and Brawl. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Penny Dreadful, or Pauper Commander. It was printed at uncommon in Dominaria United.