Live Play Data

Faithless Looting

· Sorcery · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

13%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

2334

Decks Running

1313

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

72%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Faithless Looting sits in 13% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 72% of copies reach the cast step, with a median first-cast turn of 5.

Faithless Looting appears in 1313 of the 10042 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, an 13% inclusion rate that reflects its role as a core red looting tool in graveyard, spellslinger, and self-mill strategies.

The card is a 1-mana sorcery that draws two and discards two, then offers a second activation from the graveyard via flashback for {2}{R}. That combination means a single copy can generate two discrete card-filtering events per game. In tracked games, 72% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended. The median first cast lands on turn 5, though the distribution runs from turn 1 through turn 17, which reflects how often players draw it late off the top.

Because Faithless Looting resolves entirely to the graveyard, its final zone is almost always exile (consumed by flashback) or the graveyard (cast once without flashing back). That behavior is baked into the card's design. The commander spread is wide: the top commander by deck count reaches only 44 decks, and the data comes from 987 distinct players, with no single player accounting for more than 25% of instances. That breadth makes the trends here a reliable cross-archetype signal rather than a one-deck artifact.

At a glance

13% of tracked Commander decks include Faithless Looting
72% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T5 median first-cast turn across all observed games
25% draw rate, consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck
987 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=427

15%

12%

13%

14%

29%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5 P25 3 · P75 7 · max 17

On curve 15% (63 / 427 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 53%

The "good card" funnel

2338 brought · 987 players

Brought to game

2338

Ever drawn

590

Reached battlefield

427

Still on board at game end

72%

Of 2338 copies brought to games, 590 were drawn, 427 of those were cast, and the vast majority resolved cleanly to the graveyard, with exile accounting for copies consumed via flashback.

≥ -0.1pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=397) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=1466).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 32% (n=142) — 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 -0.1pp to +8.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

673 instances

4.0%

Library

1.6%

Battlefield

60.9%

Graveyard

21.8%

Exile

Graveyard and exile dominate Faithless Looting's final zone chart, which is exactly what you expect from a sorcery designed to be cast once and flashed back once. Library finishes are rare because the decks running it actively want to find and use it.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Quintorius, History Chaser 69 decks
2 Krenko, Mob Boss 49 decks
3 Sauron, Lord of the Rings 48 decks
4 Sauron, the Dark Lord 34 decks
5 Terra, Herald of Hope 33 decks
6 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 32 decks
7 Vivi Ornitier 27 decks
8 Admiral Brass, Unsinkable 25 decks
9 Doctor Doom, King of Latveria 25 decks
10 Zada, Hedron Grinder 24 decks

The commander list spans mono-red aggro, Grixis control, Mardu midrange, and spellslinger builds, with no single archetype claiming more than 44 decks. That breadth across color identities and strategies makes Faithless Looting one of red's most format-generic card-selection tools.

Card text

Faithless Looting

Sorcery

Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Flashback {2}

(You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC) · Common · Illustrated by Gabor Szikszai

Frequently Asked

How often is Faithless Looting drawn in a Commander game?

In 2147 tracked multiplayer games where Faithless Looting was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 590 instances that reached a player's hand, 72% were cast before the game concluded. The remainder reflects games that ended before the player had a chance to cast it, not deliberate holding.

What turn does Faithless Looting usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5, but the distribution is spread wide. The 25th percentile sits at turn 2 and the 75th at turn 6, which reflects two distinct patterns: players who draw it in their opening hand and slam it early, and players who draw it off the top in a mid-to-late game context. Because it costs only 1 mana, players almost never hold it once they draw it.

Does casting Faithless Looting actually improve win rate?

The cast-vs-library win rate delta is a directional early signal, not a conclusive finding. Games where Faithless Looting was cast show a win rate of 29% versus 25% in games where it stayed in the library. The gap is small and the confidence interval crosses zero, so this should be read as consistent with the card pulling its weight rather than proof of a causal lift.

Where does Faithless Looting end up at the end of the game?

As a sorcery that goes to the graveyard on resolution, Faithless Looting almost never finishes the game on the battlefield. The most common final zones are the graveyard (cast once and left there) and exile (consumed via flashback). A small share ends in hand, meaning the game ended before the player could cast it. Very few copies stay in the library, because the card is actively sought by the archetypes that run it.

Is Faithless Looting banned anywhere?

Faithless Looting was banned in Modern from 2019 to 2024, where it enabled broken graveyard strategies including Hogaak and Dredge. It was unbanned in Modern in late 2024. It remains legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and several other formats. It is not legal in Pioneer or Standard.

Which commanders run Faithless Looting most often in this dataset?

The top commander by deck count is Quintorius, History Chaser (Red-White), followed by Sauron, Lord of the Rings and Krenko, Mob Boss. The spread is wide: the top entry reaches only 44 decks, and the card appears across mono-red, Grixis, Jund, and Jeskai strategies. That breadth confirms Faithless Looting is a format-wide utility piece rather than a card tied to a single archetype.