Live Play Data

Smothering Tithe

· Enchantment · Commander Masters (CMM)

19%

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1973

Decks Running

1058

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

72%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Smothering Tithe appears in 19% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and 72% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, with a median first cast on turn 5.

Smothering Tithe sits in 19% of the 5679 distinct Commander decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live. That makes it one of the most-included white enchantments in the dataset, with 1058 decks running it across 1592 tracked games.

The draw-to-play rate tells the clearest story: 72% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended. Median first cast lands on turn 5, right on the card's mana cost of 4. The distribution skews later in multiplayer pods, where players often wait for the right moment rather than slamming it immediately. 33% of drawn copies were cast the same turn they were drawn, so most players hold it at least a turn before deploying it.

The win-rate picture is directional but worth noting: games where Smothering Tithe resolved show a +7.2 percentage-point lift over games where it stayed in the library. With 326 cast observations, that signal has enough sample support to treat as more than noise, though the confidence interval is still wide. The card is spread across 690 unique players, with no single contributor accounting for more than a small fraction of the data, which is a healthy sign for data quality.

At a glance

19% of tracked Commander decks include Smothering Tithe
72% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T5 median first-cast turn, matching the card's mana cost
68% battlefield stickiness once cast
+7.2pp win-rate lift when cast vs. when left in the library
690 unique players contributing data, well spread across the dataset

First-cast turn

n=333

14%

21%

14%

36%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 16

On curve 44% (70 / 333 cast on T4) Cast same turn as drawn 33%

The "good card" funnel

1974 brought · 690 players

Brought to game

1974

Ever drawn

465

Reached battlefield

333

Still on board at game end

226

72%

Of 1974 Smothering Tithes brought to games, 465 were drawn, 333 of those were cast, and 68% of cast copies stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +2.1pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=326) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=1326).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 28% (n=128) — 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 +7.2pp; 95% confidence interval +2.1pp to +12.2pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

519 instances

2.5%

Library

43.5%

Battlefield

23.7%

Graveyard

9.2%

Exile

Most Smothering Tithes never leave the library, a structural reality of 100-card singleton. Of the copies that were observed, the battlefield was the most common final resting place, consistent with the card's high stickiness once it resolves.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The top-10 commander list spans mono-white, five-color, Esper, Bant, and Mardu builds, signaling that Smothering Tithe is not a tribal or archetype-locked include but a broadly-adopted white staple.

Frequently Asked

How often is Smothering Tithe drawn in a Commander game?

In 1592 tracked games where Smothering Tithe was in the deck, the draw rate was 24%. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 465 instances that reached a hand, 72% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Smothering Tithe usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5, which lines up directly with its 4-mana cost. The 25th percentile sits at turn 4 and the 75th at turn 7, so the bulk of casts happen between those turns. The mean is slightly higher at 5.34, pulled by occasional very-late casts. Players who drew it in their opening hand still averaged more than a turn in hand before casting, consistent with a 33% same-turn cast rate.

Does casting Smothering Tithe actually improve your win rate?

In tracked multiplayer games, the win rate when Smothering Tithe was cast is 32% versus 25% when it remained in the library, a delta of +7.2 percentage points. With 326 cast observations and 1326 library observations, this is a directional positive signal rather than a statistically conclusive one. Still, it is consistent with the card's reputation as a strong value engine.

Is Smothering Tithe legal in Commander?

Yes. Smothering Tithe is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper Commander, or Pauper. It has never been banned in Commander despite persistent community debate around its power level.

Which commanders most often run Smothering Tithe?

The top commanders by raw deck count in the Playgroup Live dataset include The Ur-Dragon, Ms. Bumbleflower, Y'shtola Night's Blessed, Giada Font of Hope, and Mr. House President and CEO. The spread across five-color, Bant, Esper, mono-white, and Mardu commanders reflects how broadly Smothering Tithe slots into any white strategy, from token go-wide to control to ramp.

How reliable is the Playgroup Live data for this card?

Smothering Tithe has been observed in 519 meaningful game instances across 690 distinct players. The single heaviest contributor accounts for only 24% of instances, well below the threshold that would indicate concentrated data. That spread makes the dataset reasonably healthy for a card-level analysis, though all figures should be read as directional signals from live play rather than large-scale deck-scrape statistics.