Rhystic Study
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Enchantment
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Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
44.8% of games where Rhystic Study hit the battlefield ended in a win for its controller — 12 percentage points above the win rate in games where it sat uncast in the library.
Rhystic Study is one of Commander's most-discussed draw engines, and the early Playgroup Live data backs the reputation. In 29 tracked casts across 142 games, its controller won 44.8% of those games, compared to 32.9% in the 140 participations where the card never left the library. That +12.0 percentage-point delta is a consistent directional signal, even if the cast-bucket sample is still growing.
The funnel tells a cautious story: Rhystic Study was brought to 187 games, drawn in 44 of them (23.5% draw rate, normal for a 100-card singleton), and cast 29 times. Draw-to-play sits at 65.9%, slightly below the all-format median for staples — a hint that players sometimes find themselves unable to hold up three mana at the right moment, or that late draws simply don't convert. Median first-cast turn is 5, and the distribution runs wide (p25 = turn 3, p75 = turn 8), reflecting how often this card is dug for rather than opened in hand.
Rhystic Study's blue color restriction limits it to a subset of Commander builds, and its 7.4% inclusion rate in Playgroup Live's broader deck pool reflects that ceiling. Among the decks that can run it, the card appears in a wide spread of commander strategies, with Oloro, Ageless Ascetic headlining the list at 12 decks.
- 7.4% inclusion rate across all tracked decks — constrained by blue-only color identity
- 44.8% win rate when cast, versus 32.9% when it stays in the library
- +12.0pp cast-vs-library win-rate delta, the clearest signal of its impact
- 65.9% of drawn Rhystic Studies are cast before the game ends
- T5 median first-cast turn, with a wide spread from turn 3 to turn 8
- 51.7% battlefield stickiness — this enchantment gets answered more than most
First-cast turn
n=40The "good card" funnel
280 broughtOf 187 copies brought to games, 44 were drawn, 29 of those were cast, and just 15 remained on the battlefield at game's end — each step reflects both the odds of a singleton and the pressure opponents apply to remove it.
Players who cast this card win 45% of the time (n=40) , vs 33% when it never left the library (n=212).
Final zone distribution
280 instances140 of 187 Rhystic Studies never left the library — the structural reality of 100-card singleton — but among the 15 copies that reached the battlefield, more than half were still there when the game ended.
Top commanders running this card
by deck count-
1
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
12 decks
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2
Krang, the All-Powerful
10 decks
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3
The Ur-Dragon
9 decks
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4
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed
9 decks
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5
Phenax, God of Deception
8 decks
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6
Vivi Ornitier
8 decks
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7
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
7 decks
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8
Ms. Bumbleflower
7 decks
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9
Magnus the Red
6 decks
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10
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
6 decks
Oloro leads at 12 decks, but the list spreads across ten different commanders covering blue-heavy Esper, Izzet, and mono-blue builds, showing no single archetype owns this card.
How much does casting Rhystic Study actually improve your win rate? ▾
In our tracked data, controllers won 44.8% of the 29 games where Rhystic Study was cast, versus 32.9% of the 140 games where it sat in the library the whole time. That's a +12.0 percentage-point difference. The cast bucket has fewer than 30 observations, so treat this as a directional signal rather than a precise estimate — but the gap is consistent with what Commander players experience at the table.
How often is Rhystic Study drawn in a Commander game? ▾
Rhystic Study was drawn in 44 of the 187 deck-participations tracked on Playgroup Live, a 23.5% draw rate. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 44 drawn instances, 29 were cast — a 65.9% draw-to-play rate. The remaining instances were mostly stranded in hand when the game ended or drawn too late to resolve.
What turn does Rhystic Study usually get cast? ▾
Median first-cast turn is 5, with the middle 50% of casts falling between turns 3 and 8. The distribution is notably spread: 6 of 29 casts landed on turns 1-2 (likely opened in hand alongside ramp), while 9 casts occurred on turns 8 or later. That wide range reflects how often the card is drawn mid-game rather than set up in the opening hand.
How sticky is Rhystic Study once it resolves? ▾
Battlefield stickiness sits at 51.7% in our tracked games — meaning roughly half the resolved copies were still on the battlefield when the game ended. That is noticeably lower than many Commander staples. Rhystic Study is a high-priority removal target, and its steady drip of card advantage makes opponents willing to spend interaction on it early.
Is Rhystic Study banned anywhere? ▾
Rhystic Study is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Pauper, and several other formats. It is banned in Pauper Commander (paupercommander), where its converted mana cost and raw card-advantage engine would dominate that format's lower-power environment. It is not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Alchemy.
Which commanders most commonly run Rhystic Study? ▾
On Playgroup Live, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic leads with 12 decks, followed by Krang, the All-Powerful at 10 and Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph at 7. The spread across Esper, mono-blue, Izzet, and Simic commanders reflects how broadly Rhystic Study fits into any shell that can pay three blue-splashable mana on turn 3 or later. No single commander dominates its inclusion, which is consistent with its reputation as a generic blue staple.