Live Play Data

Ruby Medallion

· Artifact · Modern Horizons 3 (MH3)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

850

Decks Running

472

Median Cast Turn

3.5

Drawn → Played

81%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

81% of drawn Ruby Medallions are cast before the game ends, and decks that resolve it win 33% of the time versus 25% when it stays buried in the library.

Ruby Medallion appears in 472 of the 12310 distinct decks tracked on Playgroup Live, a focused 4% inclusion rate that reflects its narrow color requirement: only red decks want it. Among the red commanders that do run it, it resolves early and sticks.

When a copy reaches a player's hand, 81% of those copies are cast before the game ends. Median first cast lands on turn 3.5, with a cluster of early casts in turns 1 and 2 representing opening-hand keeps. Battlefield stickiness sits at 85%, meaning copies that resolve almost always survive to provide ongoing cost reduction throughout the game.

The win-rate picture is directional and worth noting: games where Ruby Medallion resolved show a 33% win rate, compared to 25% for games where it never left the library. That gap of +8.0 percentage points is a consistent early signal across 179 cast observations and 557 library observations. The data is spread across 397 unique players, with no single contributor dominating the sample.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Ruby Medallion
81% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T3.5 median first-cast turn
85% battlefield stickiness once Ruby Medallion resolves
+8.0pp win-rate lift when cast versus staying in the library
397 unique players in the dataset, a well-spread sample

First-cast turn

n=184

13%

21%

16%

12%

11%

21%

T6-9

T10+

Median 3.5 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 13

On curve 34% (39 / 184 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 53%

The "good card" funnel

854 brought · 397 players

Brought to game

854

Ever drawn

226

Reached battlefield

184

Still on board at game end

157

81%

Of 854 Ruby Medallions brought to games, 226 were drawn, 184 of those were cast, and 85% of resolved copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +0.8pp

Players who cast this card win 33% of the time (n=179) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=557).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 40% (n=38) — 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 +8.0pp; 95% confidence interval +0.8pp to +15.2pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

242 instances

3.7%

Library

64.9%

Battlefield

14.5%

Graveyard

5.0%

Exile

Most Ruby Medallions never leave the library, a structural reality of 100-card singleton decks. Among observed copies, the vast majority that resolved landed on the battlefield and stayed there through the end of the game.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Krenko, Mob Boss 36 decks
2 Zada, Hedron Grinder 20 decks
3 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 19 decks
4 Clive, Ifrit's Dominant // Ifrit, Warden of Inferno 17 decks
5 Kratos, God of War 17 decks
6 Jaws, Relentless Predator 13 decks
7 Norin the Wary 13 decks
8 Tannuk, Steadfast Second 13 decks
9 Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might // Temple of Power 10 decks
10 Lorehold, the Historian 8 decks

Nearly every entry on the top-commanders list is mono-red or red-primary, confirming that Ruby Medallion's inclusion is tightly gated by color identity. Krenko, Mob Boss and Zada, Hedron Grinder lead by deck count, both rewarding high volumes of red spell casts.

Frequently Asked

How often is Ruby Medallion drawn in a Commander game?

Across 790 tracked games where Ruby Medallion was in the deck, it was drawn 26% of the time. That is a normal draw rate for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 226 copies that reached a player's hand, 81% were cast before the game ended. The remainder reflects games that concluded before a window opened to cast it, not a deliberate choice to hold it.

What turn does Ruby Medallion typically hit the battlefield?

The median first-cast turn is 3.5, but the distribution skews early. A meaningful number of casts land on turns 1 and 2 from opening-hand copies, and the interquartile range runs from turn 2 to turn 6. Players cast it quickly when they have it: 53% of drawn-and-cast instances were played on the same turn they were drawn.

Does casting Ruby Medallion actually help you win?

The data shows a directional positive signal. Games where Ruby Medallion resolved carry a 33% normalized win rate across 179 observations, versus 25% for the 557 games where it stayed in the library. That is a +8.0 percentage-point gap. Playgroup Live's dataset is not large enough to call this conclusive, but the signal has been consistent across tracked games.

Which commanders run Ruby Medallion most often?

Krenko, Mob Boss leads the list, followed by Zada, Hedron Grinder and Clive, Ifrit's Dominant. The pattern is almost entirely mono-red or red-heavy commanders: Ruby Medallion's cost reduction only applies to red spells, so it earns a slot most naturally in decks that cast a high volume of red spells each turn. Spell-slinger and go-wide token strategies benefit the most from shaving a generic mana off every card in the hand.

Is Ruby Medallion legal in Commander?

Yes. Ruby Medallion is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Brawl, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, and Timeless. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its colorless color identity means it can slot into any red-including Commander deck without restriction.

How concentrated is the Ruby Medallion data among specific players?

The data is well spread. 397 distinct players have brought Ruby Medallion to a tracked game on Playgroup Live, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 26% of all instances. That breadth means the draw rate, cast-turn distribution, and win-rate figures are not inflated by one prolific player's results.