Live Play Data

Snuff Out

· Instant · Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana (GVL)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1034

Decks Running

527

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

71%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

5% of tracked Commander decks run Snuff Out, and when drawn it reaches the stack 71% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 7.

Snuff Out earns its slot in black decks by doubling as free interaction. In 1001 tracked multiplayer Commander games, 5% of decks in the dataset include it, and drawn copies are cast 71% of the time before the game ends.

The free-cast mode is the card's defining feature: if you control a Swamp, you can pay 4 life instead of {3}{B}. That makes it live on turn 1 in most black decks and explains the median cast turn of 7, which skews later than the mana cost alone would suggest. Players hold it for the right threat rather than casting it on curve. Only 15% of casts landed exactly on turn 4, while most arrived well after that window.

Snuff Out is legal in Commander, Pauper Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Duel Commander, and several other formats. In Commander it serves as a budget alternative to premium removal like Dismember or Force of Will-style free spells. The data spreads across 461 distinct players, which means no single pilot is distorting these early signals.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include Snuff Out
71% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T7 median first-cast turn across observed games
15% on-curve rate: most casts arrive well after turn 4
461 distinct players in the dataset, a well-spread sample
28% draw rate, in line with a singleton in a 100-card deck

First-cast turn

n=207

10%

14%

55%

T6-9

16%

T10+

Median 7 P25 5 · P75 9 · max 17

On curve 15% (21 / 207 cast on T4) Cast same turn as drawn 32%

The "good card" funnel

1035 brought · 461 players

Brought to game

1035

Ever drawn

293

Reached battlefield

207

Still on board at game end

71%

Of 1035 Snuff Outs brought to tracked games, 293 were drawn, and 207 of those were cast, with the vast majority resolving directly to the graveyard as expected for an instant.

≥ +1.3pp

Players who cast this card win 34% of the time (n=185) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=616).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 32% (n=73) — 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 +8.4pp; 95% confidence interval +1.3pp to +15.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

319 instances

2.2%

Library

4.1%

Battlefield

58.6%

Graveyard

10.3%

Exile

Snuff Out is an instant that resolves to the graveyard, so the large graveyard share in the final-zone chart is expected. The handful of battlefield finishes reflect copies that were somehow stranded, not a permanent in play.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 199 decks
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 22 decks
3 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow 20 decks
4 Davros, Dalek Creator 17 decks
5 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth 13 decks
6 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 13 decks
7 Tinybones, Bauble Burglar 8 decks
8 Chatterfang, Squirrel General 5 decks
9 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER // Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel 5 decks
10 Zenos yae Galvus // Shinryu, Transcendent Rival 5 decks

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads by a wide margin in deck count, reflecting a popular build rather than a broad consensus. Below that, the list spreads across mono-black and multicolor commanders, showing Snuff Out slots into a range of black strategies.

Card text

Snuff Out

Instant

If you control a Swamp, you may pay 4 life rather than pay this spell's mana cost. Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated.

Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana (GVL) · Common · Illustrated by Steve Argyle

Frequently Asked

How often is Snuff Out drawn in a Commander game?

In 1001 tracked games where Snuff Out was in the deck, it was drawn 28% of the time. That is consistent with base rates for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those drawn copies, 71% were cast before the game ended. The rest sat in hand or were never seen.

What turn does Snuff Out typically get cast?

Median first cast lands on turn 7. That is notably later than the card's 4-mana cost would predict. Only 15% of casts were on-curve. The hand-to-cast data shows a median of 1 turn held before casting, so players are not hoarding it for long stretches. The later median reflects when the card is drawn rather than deliberate sequencing choices.

Does casting Snuff Out correlate with winning?

34% of participations where Snuff Out resolved ended in a win for the caster, against 26% where it was never interacted with. The gap is directional but the sample is small and both confidence intervals overlap, so treat this as an early signal rather than a firm conclusion. The 4-player normalized baseline for win rate is 25%.

Is the free-cast mode the reason players include Snuff Out?

Almost certainly. The card costs {3}{B} at face value, a rate that would be unremarkable in Commander. The Swamp clause lets any black deck pay 4 life instead, making it functionally free interaction on any turn. That flexibility is why it sees play in decks ranging from Yuriko to Sheoldred to Pauper Commander builds.

Is Snuff Out legal in Commander and other formats?

Snuff Out is legal in Commander, Pauper Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Brawl, Gladiator, and Premodern. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, or Alchemy. In Commander specifically it is unrestricted.

How concentrated is the Snuff Out data across players?

The dataset draws from 461 distinct players, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for a small share of total instances. That spread is a genuine strength of the data: the numbers are not dominated by one pilot's playstyle. Even so, with 1001 tracked games, all win-rate figures here are early, directional signals rather than statistically settled conclusions.