Live Play Data

Phyrexian Altar

· Artifact · Double Masters 2022 (2X2)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

912

Decks Running

511

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

61%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

36% of games where Phyrexian Altar resolved ended in a win for the caster. That's +8.9 percentage points above the win rate in games where the Altar never left the library, an early directional signal that resolving this card matters.

Phyrexian Altar shows up in 511 of the 15089 tracked multiplayer Commander decks on Playgroup Live, an 3% inclusion rate that reflects its specific but powerful role in sacrifice and token strategies. When it resolves, decks win at a notably higher clip than when it sits undrawn all game.

The draw-to-play rate of 61% means that when players find the Altar, they cast it in roughly six out of ten appearances. Median first cast lands on turn 6, later than its 3-mana cost might suggest. That gap traces directly to the on-curve data: most copies are drawn mid-to-late game rather than in the opening hand, so players are casting when they find it rather than holding it. Once it resolves, 79% of copies survive to the end of the game, a sign that opponents rarely prioritize removing it over more immediate threats.

The commander spread is notably wide. No single archetype monopolizes the Altar. Token-token-sacrifice engines with commanders like Krenko, Edgar Markov, and Wilhelt appear near the top of the list, but the card threads through Black, Green, Red, and White sacrifice strategies across many pod configurations. Its colorless mana cost means it slots into any deck that can generate creatures to spend.

At a glance

3% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live include Phyrexian Altar
61% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T6 median first-cast turn across observed games
36% win rate in participations where the Altar resolved
79% battlefield stickiness once cast, opponents rarely answer it
428 distinct players have brought Phyrexian Altar to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=117

15%

17%

43%

T6-9

T10+

Median 6 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 13

On curve 16% (9 / 117 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 23%

The "good card" funnel

913 brought · 428 players

Brought to game

913

Ever drawn

191

Reached battlefield

117

Still on board at game end

61%

Of 913 Altars brought to multiplayer games, 191 were drawn, 117 were cast, and the large majority survived on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ +0.1pp

Players who cast this card win 36% of the time (n=109) , vs 27% when it never left the library (n=609).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=69) — 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 +8.9pp; 95% confidence interval +0.1pp to +17.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

221 instances

1.8%

Library

42.1%

Battlefield

19.9%

Graveyard

6.3%

Exile

Most Phyrexian Altars end a game on the battlefield, consistent with its high stickiness. The library bucket is small because the card sees meaningful play action in most of its tracked appearances.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 24 decks
2 Edgar Markov 22 decks
3 Krenko, Mob Boss 22 decks
4 Teysa Karlov 18 decks
5 The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 15 decks
6 Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver 15 decks
7 Teval, the Balanced Scale 13 decks
8 Atla Palani, Nest Tender 12 decks
9 Chatterfang, Squirrel General 10 decks
10 Silverquill, the Disputant 10 decks

The commander distribution is broad across sacrifice archetypes. No single commander accounts for more than 22 decks, a sign that Phyrexian Altar earns its slot across the whole sacrifice spectrum rather than being narrowly metagame-specific.

Frequently Asked

How often is Phyrexian Altar drawn in a Commander game?

Across 857 tracked multiplayer games where a deck included Phyrexian Altar, the draw rate is 21%. That is consistent with what you would expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 191 instances that reached a player's hand, 61% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Phyrexian Altar typically hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 6, with the interquartile range running from turn 4 to turn 7. Only a small fraction of casts land on-curve at turn 3. Most copies are drawn in the mid-game rather than kept in opening hands, so the later median reflects draw timing more than player preference to hold the card.

Does casting Phyrexian Altar actually help you win?

The data is directional. Win rate when the Altar resolved is 36%, versus 27% in games where it never left the library. That is a +8.9 percentage-point gap. However, the cast bucket has 109 observations, and the lower bound of the confidence interval just touches zero, so treat this as an early positive signal rather than a settled conclusion. Decks that run the Altar and draw it do appear to win more often so far.

Is Phyrexian Altar legal in Commander?

Yes. Phyrexian Altar is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Oathbreaker, and Premodern. It is not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Brawl, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. It has never been banned in Commander, which is why it remains a staple of sacrifice strategies at all power levels.

Which commanders most commonly run Phyrexian Altar?

In the tracked dataset, Phyrexian Altar appears most frequently alongside Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER; Krenko, Mob Boss; Edgar Markov; Teysa Karlov; and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver. The spread across mono-Black, mono-Red, and multi-color strategies underlines the Altar's role as a colorless engine that any creature-heavy deck can slot in.

How concentrated is the Phyrexian Altar data across players?

The dataset is well-spread. 428 distinct players have brought Phyrexian Altar to a tracked game, and the single most frequent contributor accounts for only 21% of total instances. No individual player is distorting the numbers, which strengthens the directional reading of the win-rate and cast-turn data.