Live Play Data

Heroic Intervention

· Instant · Commander Masters (CMM)

34%

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

6436

Decks Running

3164

Median Cast Turn

7.0

Drawn → Played

41%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Heroic Intervention sits in 34% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and when it reaches a player's hand it is cast 41% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 7.0.

Heroic Intervention appears in 34% of the 9443 Commander decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live, making it one of green's most consistent interactive includes across the tracked meta. It has been brought to 6438 game-participations across 5036 tracked games.

As an instant, the card never stays on the battlefield, so the relevant execution number is draw-to-play: 41% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends. The median first-cast turn is 7.0, which makes sense for a reactive spell held in hand until the right moment. Players hold it a median of 3 turns after drawing before deploying it, consistent with waiting for an opponent's board wipe or removal spell.

The commander distribution is broad: 1816 distinct players have brought Heroic Intervention to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 1% of all instances. That spread means the data reflects a wide range of play patterns rather than one player's personal preference, which is a meaningful data quality signal at this sample size.

At a glance

34% of tracked Commander decks include Heroic Intervention
22% draw rate per game, typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck
41% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T7.0 median first-cast turn, reflecting its use as a reactive hold
1816 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game, showing broad data spread

First-cast turn

n=580

64%

T6-9

22%

T10+

Median 7.0 P25 6 · P75 9 · max 20

On curve 1% (1 / 580 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 23%

The "good card" funnel

6438 brought · 1816 players

Brought to game

6438

Ever drawn

1410

Reached battlefield

580

Still on board at game end

41%

Of 6438 Heroic Interventions brought to games, 1410 were drawn and 580 of those were cast, reflecting its role as a reactive instant held for the right moment rather than deployed on sight.

≥ +3.5pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=543) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=4259).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 26% (n=751) — 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 +7.3pp; 95% confidence interval +3.5pp to +11.1pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

1618 instances

3.7%

Library

4.0%

Battlefield

40.1%

Graveyard

5.1%

Exile

Heroic Intervention is an instant that resolves to the graveyard, so the graveyard is the expected final zone for cast copies. The library share represents instances that were never drawn across the game, which is the normal fate for most singleton cards in a 100-card deck.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 55 decks
2 The Ur-Dragon 48 decks
3 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 43 decks
4 Gishath, Sun's Avatar 41 decks
5 Pantlaza, Sun-Favored 39 decks
6 Jodah, the Unifier 38 decks
7 Witherbloom, the Balancer 37 decks
8 Baylen, the Haymaker 35 decks
9 Rin and Seri, Inseparable 35 decks
10 Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements 33 decks

The top commander list spans mono-green, Gruul, Naya, five-color, and Golgari strategies, signaling that Heroic Intervention slots into any green shell that wants to protect a board investment rather than being tied to one archetype.

Card text

Heroic Intervention

Instant

Permanents you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

Commander Masters (CMM) · Rare · Illustrated by James Ryman

Frequently Asked

How often is Heroic Intervention drawn in a Commander game?

Across 5036 tracked games where Heroic Intervention was in the deck, it was drawn 22% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 1410 instances that reached a hand, 41% were cast before the game ended. The remainder largely reflects games that ended before the player found a moment to deploy it.

What turn does Heroic Intervention typically get cast?

The median first-cast turn is 7.0, with the middle 50% of casts landing between turns 6 and 9. That late-game cluster is expected for a reactive instant: players typically hold it after drawing rather than casting it immediately. The hand-to-cast data shows a median hold of 3 turns from draw to cast, and only 23% of casts happen on the same turn the card is drawn.

Does casting Heroic Intervention actually improve win rate?

In the multiplayer data, decks where Heroic Intervention was cast show a win rate of 32%, compared to 25% for decks where it stayed in the library. The delta is positive but small, and the confidence interval crosses zero on this sample size. Treat it as a directional early signal, not a definitive effect. The card's value is fundamentally situational: it counters a specific threat, and games where it is cast are games where the board was under pressure.

Is Heroic Intervention banned anywhere?

Heroic Intervention is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Premodern. It carries no ban or restriction in any format where it is currently legal.

Why is Heroic Intervention so widely played in Commander?

Commander games frequently feature board wipes, sacrifice effects, and mass removal, all of which bypass individual hexproof. Heroic Intervention answers all of them in a single 2-mana instant: every permanent you control gains both hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. At two mana it is easy to hold up while developing your board, and it answers threats that would otherwise reset the entire table. That combination of cost efficiency and broad protection makes it a near-universal green include.

How concentrated is the Heroic Intervention data among players?

The data is well-spread. 1816 distinct players have brought Heroic Intervention to at least one tracked game, and the single most active contributor accounts for only 1% of all instances. That is a low concentration figure, which means the stats reflect a genuinely diverse player base rather than being skewed by one or two heavy users.