Live Play Data

Rakdos Signet

· Artifact · Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander (DSC)

22%

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

2313

Decks Running

1168

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

78%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

22% of tracked Rakdos-identity Commander decks on Playgroup Live run Rakdos Signet. When drawn, it reaches the battlefield 78% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 4.0.

Rakdos Signet is a consistent fixture in black-red Commander decks. Across 2132 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live, 22% of participating decks ran it, spread across 943 distinct players. The single heaviest contributor accounts for just over 1% of all instances, a sign the data reflects broad community behavior rather than one pilot's habits.

The cast chain is efficient. Of 566 drawn copies, 78% were cast before the game ended. Median first cast lands on turn 4.0, with a strong cluster on turns 1 and 2 from opening-hand ramp sequences. Once it resolves, 82% of cast copies remain on the battlefield at game's end, reflecting how rarely opponents prioritize removing a mana rock.

Rakdos Signet is legal and unrestricted in Commander, the format it is most designed for. Its color restriction to black and red limits it to Rakdos, Mardu, Grixis, and other multicolor identities that include both colors, but within that constraint it functions as a near-automatic inclusion alongside other two-mana signets.

At a glance

22% of tracked Commander decks include Rakdos Signet
78% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4.0 median first-cast turn
82% battlefield stickiness once cast
943 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game
36% of first casts landed exactly on curve (turn 2)

First-cast turn

n=442

12%

24%

13%

10%

26%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 17

On curve 36% (107 / 442 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 47%

The "good card" funnel

2315 brought · 943 players

Brought to game

2315

Ever drawn

566

Reached battlefield

442

Still on board at game end

363

78%

Of 2315 Rakdos Signets brought to tracked games, 566 were drawn, 442 of those were cast, and the large majority remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -0.1pp

Players who cast this card win 27% of the time (n=402) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=1450).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 27% (n=104) — 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 +4.4pp; 95% confidence interval -0.1pp to +8.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

619 instances

3.2%

Library

58.6%

Battlefield

18.3%

Graveyard

4.4%

Exile

Most Rakdos Signets never leave the library across a full game session, a structural reality of 100-card singleton decks, but the copies that do resolve finish on the battlefield at a notably high rate.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls 103 decks
2 Kaalia of the Vast 70 decks
3 Sauron, the Dark Lord 39 decks
4 Edgar Markov 38 decks
5 Smaug the Impenetrable 31 decks
6 Kardur, Doomscourge 30 decks
7 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 30 decks
8 Nekusar, the Mindrazer 30 decks
9 Deadpool, Trading Card 29 decks
10 Admiral Brass, Unsinkable 24 decks

The top-commanders chart spans Rakdos, Grixis, and Mardu identities, showing Rakdos Signet earns its slot across every color combination that includes black and red rather than clustering around a single archetype.

Card text

Rakdos Signet

Artifact

: Add

Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander (DSC) · Uncommon · Illustrated by Martina Pilcerova

Frequently Asked

How often is Rakdos Signet drawn in a Commander game?

In 2132 tracked multiplayer games where Rakdos Signet was in a deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 566 instances that entered a player's hand, 78% were cast before the game concluded. The remainder are largely a game-length effect: copies drawn late in a game may not find a window before the game ends.

What turn does Rakdos Signet typically hit the battlefield?

Median first-cast turn is 4.0 across all tracked multiplayer games. The distribution has a pronounced early cluster: many copies land on turns 1 and 2, driven by opening-hand ramp lines. A long tail extends to turn 17 in the dataset, reflecting late draws. The interquartile range runs from turn 2 to turn 6, so the bulk of casts happen in the early game.

Does casting Rakdos Signet correlate with winning?

In 402 participations where Rakdos Signet reached the battlefield, the normalized win rate is 27%. In participations where it stayed in the library, the rate is 22%. The gap is +4.4 percentage points. With this sample size the delta is a directional early signal rather than a statistically conclusive finding, but the consistent positive direction is notable.

Is Rakdos Signet a staple, or situational?

Rakdos Signet is widely considered a format staple for any deck whose color identity includes both black and red. Its 2-mana cost, immediate mana acceleration, and artifact synergy potential make it a reliable early play. The Playgroup Live data supports that reputation: 22% inclusion across 1168 decks in the tracked dataset, with 82% of cast copies surviving through the end of the game.

Which commanders most commonly run Rakdos Signet?

Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls leads the tracked dataset, followed by Kaalia of the Vast, Sauron the Dark Lord, and Edgar Markov. The list spans Rakdos, Mardu, and Grixis color identities. Any commander whose identity includes both black and red can legally run it, and the spread across the top-commanders chart reflects how broadly it slots into that slice of the format.

Is Rakdos Signet legal in formats other than Commander?

Yes. Rakdos Signet is legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, and Pauper Commander, among others. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Alchemy, or Premodern. Its home format is Commander, where the singleton rule and 100-card deck size make consistent mana fixing through signets especially valuable.