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Mortify card art
Live Play Data

Mortify

{1} {W} {B} · Instant · Foundations (FDN)
11%
Live Inclusion
Buy on TCGplayer
Times Brought
773
Decks Running
415
Median Cast Turn
7
Drawn → Played
67%
Format
Multiplayer 1v1

Mortify sits in 11% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, resolving on a median turn of 7 and reaching a hand 23% of the time across 750 tracked games.

Mortify is a Orzhov staple that earns its slot by covering two threat types at once: creatures and enchantments. Across 750 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, 415 of 3682 distinct decks have brought it to the table, putting its inclusion rate at 11%.

When Mortify reaches a hand, it gets cast 67% of the time before the game ends. That figure is not purely a measure of player enthusiasm. Games end at unpredictable speeds, and removal spells held for the right moment may simply run out of game. Median first cast lands on turn 7, with the interquartile range spanning turns 5 through 9. Players are not slamming it at the first opportunity. They are holding it as reactive insurance and firing when the right target appears.

The commander spread is notably wide. 384 distinct players have brought Mortify to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 23% of all instances. That is well-distributed data for a two-color card, reflecting how broadly Orzhov commanders appear in the tracked meta.

At a glance
  • 11% of tracked Commander decks include Mortify
  • 23% draw rate per game, typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck
  • 67% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
  • T7 median first-cast turn, pointing to deliberate, reactive use
  • 384 distinct players have brought Mortify to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=119
0%
T1
1%
T2
6%
T3
5%
T4
15%
T5
55%
T6-9
18%
T10+
Median 7 P25 5 · P75 9 · max 17
On curve 7% (7 / 119 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 25%

The "good card" funnel

776 brought · 384 players
Brought to game
776
Ever drawn
178
Reached battlefield
119
Still on board at game end
5
67%

Of 776 Mortify copies brought to games, 178 were drawn, 119 of those were cast, confirming a reliable cast rate once the card reaches a hand.

≥ +0.4pp

Players who cast this card win 34% of the time (n=108) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=476).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 24% (n=46) — 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 +9.2pp; 95% confidence interval +0.4pp to +18.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

203 instances
2.5%
Library
2.5%
Battlefield
60.6%
Graveyard
11.3%
Exile

The overwhelming majority of Mortify copies finish in the graveyard, exactly as expected for an instant that resolves and goes to the bin. The small share remaining in hand reflects games that ended before the spell found a target.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list spans Orzhov, Mardu, and five-color builds, showing Mortify is not tied to any single archetype but earns its slot across the full White-Black slice of the meta.

Card text
Mortify card

Mortify

{1} {W} {B}
Instant
Destroy target creature or enchantment.
Foundations (FDN) · Uncommon · Illustrated by Nils Hamm

Frequently Asked

How often is Mortify drawn in a Commander game?
In 750 tracked games where Mortify was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That is a normal range for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 178 instances that reached a player's hand, 67% were cast before the game ended. The rest were most often held at end of game or the game concluded before they found a target.
What turn does Mortify typically get cast?
Median first cast is turn 7, with the middle 50% of casts falling between turns 5 and 9. The distribution is spread across the mid-game rather than spiking early, which aligns with Mortify's role as reactive removal. Players wait for a meaningful creature or enchantment threat before pulling the trigger, rather than casting it at the first legal opportunity.
Does casting Mortify actually improve your win rate?
Games where Mortify resolved show a win rate of 34%, compared to 24% in games where it stayed in the library. That is a +9.2 percentage-point gap, which is directionally positive. However, the confidence interval overlaps zero on this sample size, so treat it as an early signal rather than a settled conclusion. Decks that cast Mortify may simply be better-built decks in general.
Is Mortify legal in Commander and other formats?
Mortify is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Historic, Vintage, and several other formats. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander, as it is an uncommon rather than a common. No format tracked by Playgroup Live has banned it. Its flexibility as an instant-speed answer to both creatures and enchantments keeps it relevant across competitive and casual environments alike.
Which commanders most often run Mortify?
Terra, Herald of Hope leads the tracked dataset followed by Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit, Kaalia of the Vast, and Edgar Markov. The spread across Mardu (BRW), Orzhov (BW), and even five-color commanders reflects that any deck touching both Black and White can slot Mortify in. The commander list is well-distributed with no single archetype dominating.
How concentrated is the Mortify data across players?
384 distinct players have brought Mortify to a tracked game on Playgroup Live. The single highest-volume contributor accounts for just 23% of all instances, which is a very low concentration. That breadth is a genuine strength of this dataset. The data reflects how a wide community of players actually deploys the card, not the habits of a small handful of frequent contributors.