Live Play Data

Shineshadow Snarl

Land · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

Deck Inclusion

Games Tracked

150

Decks Running

113

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

82%

Shineshadow Snarl appears in 5.5% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live — nearly all of them Orzhov or White-Black-leaning builds — and 80% of drawn copies are played before the game ends.

Shineshadow Snarl is a narrow land: 5.5% inclusion across 1,790 tracked Commander decks reflects its hard color-identity constraint. It fits only {W}/{B} and adjacent three-color builds, and even within that slice it competes with fetch lands, shock lands, and allied check lands for a slot.

When it does show up, players deploy it quickly. Of the 35 instances drawn in tracked games, 28 were played — an 80% draw-to-play rate. The median first-cast turn is 5, consistent with drawing it naturally rather than holding it in the opening hand. The same-turn-rate of 57% means players cast it on the turn they draw it slightly more often than not, which tracks with lands: you rarely hold a tapped dual.

Shineshadow Snarl is strongly represented under Killian, Decisive Mentor (41 decks), the dominant Orzhov commander in the tracked dataset. The snarl cycle lands are generally considered budget-friendly alternatives to shock lands, and this one fills the Orzhov slot cleanly in any deck that can reliably reveal Plains or Swamp to enter untapped.

At a glance

5.5% inclusion rate — tightly gated to {W}/{B} color identities
80% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5 median first-cast turn
93% battlefield stickiness once played — lands rarely leave
98 distinct tracked decks include Shineshadow Snarl
57% of drawn-and-cast copies hit the table the same turn they were drawn

First-cast turn

n=37

16%

24%

14%

27%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 16

Cast same turn as drawn 50%

The "good card" funnel

162 brought

Brought to game

162

Ever drawn

Reached battlefield

Still on board at game end

82%

Of 131 Shineshadow Snarls brought to games, 35 were drawn, 28 of those were cast, and 26 were still on the battlefield when the game ended — a 93% stickiness rate typical of lands.

-14.8pp

Players who cast this card win 24% of the time (n=37) , vs 39% when it never left the library (n=115).

Final zone distribution

162 instances

71.0%

Library

21.0%

Battlefield

2.5%

Graveyard

1.9%

Exile

95 of 131 Shineshadow Snarls never left the library — the structural reality of a singleton land in a 100-card deck, not a sign of weakness.

Top commanders running this card

by deck count

Killian, Decisive Mentor alone accounts for 41 of 98 tracked decks, so the distribution is heavily concentrated rather than spread across the Orzhov meta.

Frequently Asked

How often is Shineshadow Snarl drawn in a Commander game? ▾

Across 131 deck-participations tracked on Playgroup Live, Shineshadow Snarl was drawn in 35 instances, a 26.7% draw rate. That is slightly above average for a singleton in a 100-card deck, likely because many of these decks run lower land counts and actively prize their dual lands when found.

What turn does Shineshadow Snarl typically enter the battlefield? ▾

The median first-cast turn is 5, with a 25th-percentile of turn 2 and a 75th-percentile of turn 6. The early cases — 4 copies cast on turn 1 and 7 on turn 2 — reflect opening-hand keeps where the land came down immediately. The wide spread is normal for a land drawn at any point in the game.

Does playing Shineshadow Snarl correlate with winning? ▾

The early signal here is counterintuitive and worth stating carefully. In 28 participations where the card was cast, the win rate was 14.3%. In 95 participations where it stayed in the library, the win rate was 35.8%, a delta of -21.5 points. Both sample sizes are below the threshold for confident conclusions. The most plausible explanation is selection bias: decks that draw and play their lands early may be playing from behind, or the winning decks in this sample tend not to need the land. Do not read this as evidence the card hurts you.

Does Shineshadow Snarl enter the battlefield untapped? ▾

Playgroup Live does not currently track whether the enter-tapped condition was triggered, so we cannot give you a precise untapped rate. By design, the land enters untapped only if you reveal a Plains or Swamp from your hand on entry. In dedicated Orzhov builds with heavy Plains and Swamp counts, that condition is met frequently in the early turns. In three-color splash builds the condition is less reliable.

Is Shineshadow Snarl legal in Commander? ▾

Yes. Shineshadow Snarl is legal in Commander, as well as Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Brawl, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander.

Which commanders most often run Shineshadow Snarl? ▾

Killian, Decisive Mentor leads by a wide margin with 41 tracked decks, reflecting the card's Orzhov home. Y'shtola, Night's Blessed (12 decks) is the top three-color user, showing the land fits {W}/{U}/{B} builds as well. Eriette of the Charmed Apple and Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit each appear in 7 decks, rounding out the most common homes.