Live Play Data

Kardur, Doomscourge

· Legendary Creature — Demon Berserker · Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander (DSC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

589

Decks Running

317

Median Cast Turn

6.0

Drawn → Played

71%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

71% of drawn Kardur copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 6.0 across 566 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live.

Kardur, Doomscourge sits in 8% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, appearing in 317 of the 3798 distinct decks that have played a tracked game. When a copy lands in a player's hand, 71% of those copies are cast before the game ends.

The median first-cast turn is 6.0, well past the card's 4-mana cost. Only 17% of casts landed exactly on curve, with the large majority arriving later in the game. That reflects how Kardur is used: players tend to hold it until the moment its forced-attack trigger generates the most chaos or life-swing, rather than slamming it as soon as 4 mana is available.

Battlefield stickiness is 37%, lower than most non-legendary creatures. That is partly structural: Kardur is a Legendary Demon Berserker whose enter-the-battlefield effect is the main draw, so opponents have strong incentive to answer it quickly. The graveyard is the most common non-library final zone across observed instances, consistent with a high-threat body that draws immediate removal.

At a glance

8% of tracked Commander decks include Kardur
71% of drawn Kardur copies are cast before the game ends
T6.0 median first-cast turn, well above the 4-mana floor
17% on-curve cast rate, most copies arrive later in the game
37% battlefield stickiness once cast, reflecting its high-threat profile
289 distinct players have brought Kardur to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=104

13%

62%

T6-9

T10+

Median 6.0 P25 5 · P75 8 · max 13

On curve 17% (13 / 104 cast on T4) Cast same turn as drawn 24%

The "good card" funnel

590 brought · 289 players

Brought to game

590

Ever drawn

147

Reached battlefield

104

Still on board at game end

71%

Of 590 Kardur copies brought to games, 147 were drawn, 104 of those were cast, and 37% of cast copies survived to the end of the game on the battlefield.

≥ -10.3pp

Players who cast this card win 21% of the time (n=99) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=357).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 27% (n=39) — 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 -1.9pp; 95% confidence interval -10.3pp to +6.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

199 instances

2.5%

Library

26.6%

Battlefield

35.2%

Graveyard

8.0%

Exile

Most Kardur copies never leave the library, a baseline expectation for any singleton in a 100-card deck. Among observed copies, the graveyard edges out the battlefield as the most common resting place, a sign that opponents prioritize removing it.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls leads by raw deck count, but Kardur appears across a wide spread of black-red and Rakdos-adjacent commanders, reflecting its broad appeal in combat-focused and life-drain strategies.

Frequently Asked

How often is Kardur drawn in a Commander game?

In 566 tracked multiplayer games where Kardur was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That figure is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 147 copies that reached a hand, 71% were cast before the game ended. The remainder stayed uncast, most likely because the game concluded before the player found the right moment.

What turn does Kardur typically get cast?

The median first-cast turn is 6.0, with a mean of 6.56. The 25th percentile is turn 5 and the 75th is turn 8, so the bulk of casts happen in the mid-to-late game. Only 17% of casts landed on turn 4, which is Kardur's mana cost. Most players appear to hold it strategically rather than cast it at the earliest opportunity. The hand-to-cast data supports this: the median wait after drawing is 2 turns, and just 24% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they are drawn.

Does casting Kardur actually improve your win rate?

Directionally, the data does not show a clear win-rate lift from casting Kardur. The normalized win rate when cast is 21% across 99 observations, compared to 23% when the card stayed in the library across 357 observations. The difference is small and within the margin of uncertainty given the sample size. Read these numbers as early signal rather than a settled conclusion.

Why does Kardur have low battlefield stickiness?

At 37%, Kardur stays on the battlefield less often than many Commander staples. Two factors drive this. First, its enter-the-battlefield trigger is its primary value, which means opponents have a strong reason to answer it with removal before it can trigger again. Second, Kardur is a legendary creature in a format where players often have access to targeted removal, exile effects, and sacrifice outlets. The graveyard is the most common observed final zone for cast copies, consistent with prompt removal.

Which commanders run Kardur most often?

Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls leads the list by raw deck count, followed by Kardur himself as a commander and Deadpool, Trading Card. The spread across 289 unique players, with the heaviest single contributor accounting for just 25% of instances, suggests the data is not skewed by one or two prolific players. Kardur appears most often in Rakdos (black-red) builds that want to weaponize combat or generate life-drain value.

Is Kardur, Doomscourge legal in Commander?

Yes. Kardur, Doomscourge is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Brawl, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Premodern. It carries a black-red color identity, restricting it to decks whose commander shares those colors.