Live Play Data

Smothering Tithe

· Enchantment · Commander Masters (CMM)

18%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

662

Decks Running

410

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

72%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Smothering Tithe appears in 18% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 72% of copies reach the battlefield, with a median first cast on turn 5.

Smothering Tithe sits in 18% of the 2322 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, appearing across 410 distinct lists. That penetration is strong for a 4-mana White-only enchantment competing against format staples of every color.

The draw-to-play number tells the clearest story: 72% of drawn copies reach the battlefield. Median first cast lands on turn 5, one turn behind the card's mana value, which reflects how often players are assembling ramp before committing to the enchantment. Once it resolves, 69% of cast copies survive through end of game, a durable presence for a non-creature permanent.

The commander spread is wide. The top commander slot holds just 15 decks, and 291 distinct players have brought Smothering Tithe to a tracked game. No single pilot skews the sample: the heaviest contributor accounts for only 3% of all instances. That breadth means the numbers reflect real cross-table play rather than one group's habit.

At a glance

18% of tracked Commander decks include Smothering Tithe
72% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T5 median first-cast turn, one step behind its 4-mana cost
69% battlefield stickiness once cast
291 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game, spreading the sample widely

First-cast turn

n=107

14%

21%

15%

34%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5 P25 3 · P75 6 · max 12

On curve 47% (23 / 107 cast on T4) Cast same turn as drawn 31%

The "good card" funnel

663 brought · 291 players

Brought to game

663

Ever drawn

149

Reached battlefield

107

Still on board at game end

72%

Of 663 Smothering Tithes brought to games, 149 were drawn, 107 of those were cast, and the majority stayed on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ -4.9pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=107) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=479).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 29% (n=41) — 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 +3.8pp; 95% confidence interval -4.9pp to +12.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

171 instances

0.6%

Library

43.3%

Battlefield

25.1%

Graveyard

8.8%

Exile

The vast majority of Smothering Tithes never leave the library in any given game, a structural reality of 100-card singleton. The copies that do surface show strong battlefield retention, with a meaningful share ending in the graveyard from board wipes.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The top commander slot holds just 15 decks, and the list spans five-color goodstuff, mono-White angels, and Boros artifacts. That breadth confirms Smothering Tithe is an archetype-agnostic inclusion rather than a build-around piece.

Frequently Asked

How often is Smothering Tithe drawn in a Commander game?

Across 548 tracked games where Smothering Tithe was in the deck, it was drawn 22% of the time. That is consistent with what you'd expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 149 copies that reached a player's hand, 72% were cast before the game ended.

What turn does Smothering Tithe usually hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 5, with the distribution clustering between turns 3 and 7 (p25 turn 4, p75 turn 7). The mode is turn 4, exactly on-curve for a 4-mana card. About 47% of casts land precisely on-curve, with a meaningful share accelerated in ahead of schedule through ramp. The average hand-to-cast delay is roughly 1.6 turns for drawn copies, and only 31% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they're drawn, suggesting players often prefer to wait for a safer window.

How sticky is Smothering Tithe once it resolves?

69% of cast copies are still on the battlefield when the game ends. Enchantments in Commander face fewer unconditional answers than artifacts, and Smothering Tithe's stickiness reflects that. The final zone data shows a notable share ending in the graveyard, mostly from board wipes that hit non-creature permanents.

Does casting Smothering Tithe actually improve win rate?

In 107 participations where Smothering Tithe was cast, the normalized win rate is 30%, compared to 26% in 479 participations where it stayed in the library. The delta is +3.8 percentage points. Both sample sizes are large enough to treat this as a directional signal, but the gap is narrow and the confidence interval crosses zero, so we call it early signal rather than a proven lift.

Which commanders run Smothering Tithe most?

Among tracked decks, The Ur-Dragon leads with 15 copies, followed by Y'shtola Night's Blessed and Giada, Font of Hope at 14 and 13 respectively. The spread across commanders is broad: 291 distinct players have brought the card to a tracked game, and the top contributor accounts for only 3% of all instances. That distribution signals genuine cross-archetype adoption rather than a single pod's preference.

Is Smothering Tithe banned anywhere?

Smothering Tithe is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, and Gladiator. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Premodern. It has never been banned in Commander, though its power level draws frequent ban discussion in high-power tables. Always check your playgroup's house rules before bringing it.