Live Play Data

Psychosis Crawler

· Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Horror · Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1256

Decks Running

629

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

48%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Psychosis Crawler is cast in 37% of games where it resolves on Playgroup Live, with a median first-cast turn of 7 and a +14.9 percentage-point win-rate lift over decks where it never left the library.

Psychosis Crawler sits in 3% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. That's a focused niche: the card asks for a critical mass of card draw, so it clusters tightly around commanders who provide exactly that. Across 1199 tracked games, 629 distinct decks have brought it to a pod.

The data is well-spread. 538 unique players have piloted a deck containing this card, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That breadth gives the numbers reasonable signal. Median first cast lands on turn 7, reflecting the 5-mana cost and the strategic reality that players wait until they have the draw engine running before deploying it. Of drawn copies, 48% reached the battlefield before the game ended. Once it resolves, 55% stickiness tells you it often does real work before being answered.

Colorless identity is the key. Any Commander deck can slot Psychosis Crawler in, and the top-commander list reflects that versatility: it appears across Simic, Grixis, mono-blue, mono-black, and even Gruul-adjacent strategies, wherever the gameplan involves drawing a lot of cards.

At a glance

3% of tracked Commander decks include Psychosis Crawler
T7 median first-cast turn, well after the initial ramp phase
48% of drawn copies reached the battlefield before game end
55% battlefield stickiness once cast
+14.9pp win-rate lift when cast vs. when it never left the library
538 unique players tracked, indicating a well-spread dataset

First-cast turn

n=199

13%

60%

T6-9

16%

T10+

Median 7 P25 6 · P75 9 · max 20

On curve 24% (26 / 199 cast on T5) Cast same turn as drawn 29%

The "good card" funnel

1261 brought · 538 players

Brought to game

1261

Ever drawn

412

Reached battlefield

199

Still on board at game end

110

48%

Of 1261 Crawlers brought to games, 412 were drawn and 199 of those were cast, with 55% remaining on the battlefield when the final snapshot was recorded.

≥ +8.0pp

Players who cast this card win 37% of the time (n=191) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=731).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 29% (n=197) — 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 +14.9pp; 95% confidence interval +8.0pp to +21.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

436 instances

4.1%

Library

25.2%

Battlefield

26.8%

Graveyard

5.3%

Exile

Most Psychosis Crawlers end up in the graveyard or hand rather than the library, a sign that decks built around it are actively drawing into it and putting it to work.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Ms. Bumbleflower 87 decks
2 Nekusar, the Mindrazer 41 decks
3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 26 decks
4 Xyris, the Writhing Storm 22 decks
5 Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin 20 decks
6 Vnwxt, Verbose Host 20 decks
7 Captain N'ghathrod 14 decks
8 Morska, Undersea Sleuth 12 decks
9 Eddie Brock // Venom, Lethal Protector 11 decks
10 Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis 11 decks

The commander distribution is led by Ms. Bumbleflower at 55 decks, but spreads broadly across blue-based draw engines, Grixis forced-draw commanders, and even mono-black strategies, reflecting the card's colorless flexibility.

Card text

Psychosis Crawler

Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Horror

Psychosis Crawler's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand. Whenever you draw a card, each opponent loses 1 life.

* / *

Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC) · Rare · Illustrated by Stephan Martiniere

Frequently Asked

How often is Psychosis Crawler drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1199 tracked games, Psychosis Crawler was drawn 33% of the time. That's on the higher end for a 5-mana singleton in a 100-card deck, likely because the decks running it lean heavily into draw spells that increase the chance of seeing any given card. Of 412 drawn copies, 48% were cast before the game ended. The remainder were largely games that concluded before the Crawler hit the stack.

What turn does Psychosis Crawler usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 7, with the distribution concentrated between turns 6 and 9. That late timing reflects two things: the 5-mana cost means players naturally wait past early ramp, and pilots tend to hold it until they have a card-draw engine in play to maximize its immediate impact. Only 24% of casts landed exactly on curve, and most of those lags are structural rather than strategic.

Does casting Psychosis Crawler actually improve your win rate?

Games where Psychosis Crawler resolved show a 37% normalized win rate across 191 observations. Games where it remained in the library show 22% across 731 observations. The +14.9 percentage-point delta is a directional positive signal. The library sample is large and well-grounded, so this is one of the more reliable lift figures in the dataset, though the underlying game quality of draw-engine decks may also contribute.

Is Psychosis Crawler legal in Commander?

Yes. Psychosis Crawler is legal and unrestricted in Commander. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Brawl, Duel Commander, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its colorless identity means it can slot into any Commander deck regardless of color.

Which commanders pair best with Psychosis Crawler?

The top commanders by deck count on Playgroup Live are draw-heavy strategies: Ms. Bumbleflower leads with 55 decks, followed by Nekusar, the Mindrazer (19), Vnwxt, Verbose Host and Xyris, the Writhing Storm (13 each), and Kefka and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (12 each). The common thread is mass card draw or forced draw effects that let the Crawler drain opponents passively while growing as a threat. Colorless identity is the enabling factor.

How sticky is Psychosis Crawler once it hits the battlefield?

55% of resolved Crawlers are still on the battlefield when their game's final zone snapshot is taken. That's moderate for a 5-mana artifact creature. Opponents have clear incentive to remove it, especially in draw-heavy pods where even a single turn of the engine running can drain multiple life totals. The 199 total casts give this figure solid grounding.