Live Play Data

Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Legendary Land · Dominaria United Commander (DMC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

852

Decks Running

445

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

81%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

81% of drawn Shizo copies reach the battlefield before the game ends, and once it resolves, 93% stickiness means it almost never leaves play.

Shizo, Death's Storehouse is a black utility land that doubles as a repeatable fear-granter for any legendary creature. Across 813 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 445 of 9766 distinct decks, an inclusion rate of 5%. That modest rate reflects its color and legendary-creature dependency rather than any weakness in the card itself.

When players do draw Shizo, they move fast: 81% of drawn copies are played before the game ends, with a median first-"cast" (play) turn of 4.0. As a land, it costs nothing to put into play the moment it arrives in hand, which explains why players rarely sit on it. Once it hits the battlefield, 93% stickiness tells us it almost never gets removed. The cast-vs-library win-rate delta sits at -1.1 percentage points on this sample, a direction that carries uncertainty, so treat it as early signal rather than a firm conclusion.

The commander list is spread across at least 367 distinct players with no single contributor dominating the dataset, which gives the numbers reasonable breadth for a niche utility land. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow and Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima lead the top-commander list, both leaning on legendaries that benefit directly from fear-based evasion.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include Shizo, Death's Storehouse
81% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4.0 median first-play turn, earlier than most utility lands
93% battlefield stickiness once played
367 distinct players have brought Shizo to a tracked game, spreading the dataset well

First-cast turn

n=180

16%

17%

14%

15%

11%

23%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 18

Cast same turn as drawn 55%

The "good card" funnel

852 brought · 367 players

Brought to game

852

Ever drawn

223

Reached battlefield

180

Still on board at game end

167

81%

Of 852 Shizo copies brought to games, 223 were drawn, 180 of those were played onto the battlefield, and 93% of played copies remained in play through end of game.

≥ -7.8pp

Players who cast this card win 24% of the time (n=175) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=545).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 36% (n=40) — 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 -1.1pp; 95% confidence interval -7.8pp to +5.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

248 instances

3.6%

Library

67.3%

Battlefield

8.1%

Graveyard

6.0%

Exile

Most Shizo copies finish the game on the battlefield rather than in the library, which reflects both how quickly players deploy it and how rarely opponents have incentive to destroy a basic-mana land.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The top-commander spread is broad, with Jin Sakai and Yuriko tied at the top and no single commander dominating, signaling that Shizo is treated as a versatile black utility land across many different strategies.

Card text

Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Legendary Land

: Add

: Target legendary creature gains fear until end of turn. (It can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures.)

Dominaria United Commander (DMC) · Rare · Illustrated by John Matson

Frequently Asked

How often is Shizo, Death's Storehouse drawn in a Commander game?

In 813 tracked games where Shizo was in the deck, it was drawn 26% of the time. That is within a normal range for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 223 instances that reached a player's hand, 81% were played before the game concluded. The median same-turn play rate is high because, as a land, Shizo costs nothing to put into play the moment it is drawn.

What turn does Shizo typically hit the battlefield?

The median first-play turn is 4.0. The distribution skews early: the mode is turn 2, and the 25th percentile sits at turn 2 as well. A cluster of copies reaches play on turn 1 when kept in opening hands. Later plays, into turns 6-7 and beyond, reflect copies drawn after the early game when mana is already established.

Is the win-rate lift from playing Shizo meaningful?

The multiplayer data shows a cast-vs-library delta of -1.1 percentage points on 175 cast observations. The standard error on that estimate is wide enough that the direction is uncertain. Treat this as an early directional signal. The duel-commander data shows a more consistent positive lean, but the sample sizes in that format are also limited. Neither bucket is large enough to draw firm conclusions.

Why is Shizo, Death's Storehouse used in Commander?

Shizo grants fear, meaning the targeted legendary creature cannot be blocked except by artifact creatures and black creatures. In a format where commanders are often the primary win condition, making them unblockable against most boards is a real advantage. The land slot cost is nearly free: Shizo taps for black mana just like a Swamp, so the only real cost is the legendary-land rule limiting you to one in play at a time.

Is Shizo legal in Commander?

Yes. Shizo, Death's Storehouse is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Duel Commander, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, Historic, Brawl, or Alchemy. Its black color identity means it can only be played in decks whose commander includes black.

Which commanders run Shizo most often in Playgroup Live data?

Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow each lead the multiplayer top-commander list with 16 decks apiece. Kaalia of the Vast follows with 12 decks. The spread across commanders of varying color identities and strategies suggests Shizo is treated as a general-purpose black utility land rather than a build-around piece. Any deck that runs a legendary creature as a primary threat is a potential home.