Live Play Data

Exsanguinate

· Sorcery · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1647

Decks Running

835

Median Cast Turn

8.0

Drawn → Played

56%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

41% of games where Exsanguinate resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +17.0 percentage-point lift over the 24% baseline when the card never left the library.

Exsanguinate is a late-game X-spell finisher that scales with the mana its controller can assemble. Across 1539 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, it resolves in 41% of the games where it hits the stack, a meaningful gap above the 24% win rate seen when it never gets involved in the game.

The card sits in 9% of tracked decks, a focused niche rather than a format staple. It is spread across 697 distinct players, with no single contributor accounting for more than a small fraction of observations. That breadth makes the signal more reliable than a heavily concentrated dataset. Median first cast lands on turn 8.0, consistent with the mana investment required to make X large enough to close a game.

Exsanguinate is legal in Commander with no restrictions. Its color identity is mono-black, which limits it to decks that can support {B}{B} in their mana base. The top commanders running it lean into life-gain synergies, mana-doubling effects, and X-spell payoffs, all themes that make a large Exsanguinate more lethal or more rewarding.

At a glance

9% of tracked Commander decks include Exsanguinate
41% win rate in games where Exsanguinate resolved
T8.0 median first-cast turn, reflecting the mana needed for a meaningful X
56% of drawn copies reached the stack before the game ended
+17.0pp win-rate lift when cast versus when it never leaves the library
697 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=216

57%

T6-9

35%

T10+

Median 8.0 P25 7 · P75 10 · max 18

Cast same turn as drawn 30%

The "good card" funnel

1648 brought · 697 players

Brought to game

1648

Ever drawn

389

Reached battlefield

216

Still on board at game end

56%

Of 1648 Exsanguinates brought to tracked games, 389 were drawn, 216 of those reached the stack, and the large majority ended the game in the graveyard after resolving rather than being countered or exiled.

≥ +10.3pp

Players who cast this card win 41% of the time (n=204) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1058).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 16% (n=158) — 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 +17.0pp; 95% confidence interval +10.3pp to +23.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

429 instances

3.5%

Library

15.2%

Battlefield

40.8%

Graveyard

6.5%

Exile

Most Exsanguinate copies that finish in the graveyard got there by resolving as intended. The library bucket is small relative to total instances brought, meaning the card sees more active use than a typical singleton that spends the whole game buried in a 100-card deck.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander distribution is spread across life-gain payoffs, X-spell synergies, and mana-doubling strategies, with Y'shtola, Night's Blessed holding the top spot by a clear margin over the rest of the list.

Card text

Exsanguinate

Sorcery

Each opponent loses X life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.

Foundations (FDN) · Uncommon · Illustrated by Marie Magny

Frequently Asked

How often is Exsanguinate drawn in a Commander game?

In 1539 tracked multiplayer games where Exsanguinate was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is roughly expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 389 total copies that reached a player's hand, 56% were cast before the game ended. The remainder were largely held late or carried into games that closed before the caster could amass enough mana.

What turn does Exsanguinate typically get cast?

Median first cast is turn 8.0, with the middle half of casts falling between turn 7 and turn 11. That spread reflects the card's design: players wait until X is large enough to be a threat. The earliest observed cast in our dataset was turn 4, most likely an aggressive low-X play in a mana-accelerated build. The distribution clusters in the 8-10 range, where X can plausibly reach lethal territory in a 4-player game.

Does casting Exsanguinate actually improve your win rate?

The data shows a +17.0 percentage-point lift: 41% win rate when it resolves versus 24% when it stays in the library. Both buckets have solid sample sizes (204 cast, 1058 library), which makes this one of the more reliable signals in the dataset. Read it as a strong directional indicator rather than a proven claim, since the overall dataset is still growing.

Is Exsanguinate banned anywhere relevant to Commander players?

Exsanguinate is legal and unrestricted in Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander, where uncommon cards are excluded. It is not in the Old School or Premodern card pool. No major competitive format has banned it.

Which commanders most commonly run Exsanguinate?

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads the tracked list with the most decks, followed by Witherbloom, the Balancer and Zaxara, the Exemplary. That spread makes sense: Y'shtola rewards life-gain triggers, Witherbloom cares about life totals, and Zaxara creates Hydra tokens whenever you cast an X-spell, giving Exsanguinate a direct payoff beyond its damage effect. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth round out a top tier dominated by black-heavy life-gain strategies.

How quickly do players cast Exsanguinate after drawing it?

Of 204 instances where Exsanguinate was both drawn and cast, the median delay between drawing and casting was about 2 turns, with an average closer to 3. Only 30% were cast on the same turn they were drawn. That low same-turn rate is expected: unlike a cheap utility piece, Exsanguinate requires the caster to wait until enough mana is available to make X impactful, so holding it for several turns is normal play.