Live Play Data

Storm-Kiln Artist

· Creature — Dwarf Shaman · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

Deck Inclusion

Games Tracked

159

Decks Running

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

66%

Storm-Kiln Artist lands in 5% of tracked Commander decks, but when it hits the battlefield its owners win just 25% of the time — a negative delta versus the 49% win rate seen when it stays buried in the library all game.

Storm-Kiln Artist is a niche role-player: present in only 5% of the 1,838 distinct decks tracked on Playgroup Live, it targets a specific spell-slinging archetype rather than the open Commander field. Of 146 instances brought to games, it was drawn 28 times and cast 20 times, for a draw-to-play rate of 68%.

The win-rate picture is the most striking signal in the data. Games where Storm-Kiln Artist was actually cast produced a 25% win rate — exactly the baseline expected in a four-player pod, and 24 percentage points below the 49% win rate recorded when it sat in the library all game. Both sample sizes are small (20 cast, 112 library), so treat this as a directional early signal rather than a conclusion. Still, the gap is wide enough to suggest the card may be finding its way into decks where the surrounding spell package isn't quite strong enough to make the Magecraft engine sing.

Commanders like Rootha, Mastering the Moment and Magnus the Red — both Izzet instant-and-sorcery specialists — lead the inclusion list, which is the expected home. What we see so far is that Storm-Kiln Artist rewards careful deck construction more than it rewards mere inclusion.

At a glance

5% inclusion rate across tracked Commander decks
68% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T7 median first-cast turn, well behind its 4-mana curve
45% battlefield stickiness once cast — it dies or gets removed often
–24pt win-rate delta: cast games vs. library games, an early warning signal
10 distinct commanders represented among its top-inclusion decks

First-cast turn

n=21

14%

52%

T6-9

19%

T10+

Median 7 P25 5 · P75 9 · max 14

On curve 5% (1 / 21 cast on T4)

The "good card" funnel

164 brought

Brought to game

164

Ever drawn

Reached battlefield

Still on board at game end

66%

Of 146 instances brought to games, 28 were drawn, 20 of those were cast, and just 9 remained on the battlefield at game's end — a steep drop at every stage of the chain.

-20.6pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=21) , vs 49% when it never left the library (n=126).

Final zone distribution

164 instances

76.8%

Library

6.1%

Battlefield

7.9%

Graveyard

3.7%

Exile

112 of 146 brought instances ended the game still in the library — the structural reality of a 100-card singleton, and a reminder that Storm-Kiln Artist rarely gets its moment even in the decks that pack it.

Top commanders running this card

by deck count

Rootha leads at 24 decks, with eight more commanders between 4 and 13 decks — a concentrated but not monopolized home in Izzet and Grixis spell-slinger builds.

Frequently Asked

How often is Storm-Kiln Artist drawn in a Commander game? ▾

Of 146 instances brought to tracked games, it was drawn 28 times — a draw rate of 19%. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 28 drawn copies, 20 were eventually cast, giving a draw-to-play rate of 68%. So when a player sees it, they usually play it, though not always immediately: the median hand-to-cast delay is 1 turn, and only 37% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they're drawn.

What turn does Storm-Kiln Artist usually get cast? ▾

The median first-cast turn is 7, with the 25th percentile at turn 5 and the 75th percentile at turn 9. For a 4-mana card, that's a notable lag. Only 1 of 20 tracked casts landed exactly on curve, and 17 of 20 came after the on-curve turn. The same-turn draw-to-cast rate of 37% suggests players often hold it in hand for a turn or two, likely waiting for the right spell-slinging setup.

Does casting Storm-Kiln Artist actually help you win? ▾

Early data says no, at least not cleanly. Games where it was cast show a 25% win rate across 20 observations — right at the four-player baseline. Games where it stayed in the library all game show a 49% win rate across 112 observations. The gap of 24 percentage points is a large directional signal, but both buckets are too small to draw firm conclusions. One plausible read: it tends to be cast in games where the pilot is already behind and needs the mana acceleration, rather than in dominant games where the engine is already working.

How sticky is Storm-Kiln Artist on the battlefield? ▾

Battlefield stickiness sits at 45%, meaning fewer than half of cast copies were still on the battlefield when the game ended. That's low compared to high-value creatures that tend to be protected. Storm-Kiln Artist is a threat that opponents respect and answer: it generates Treasure tokens every time a spell is cast or copied, so it draws removal quickly in spell-heavy pods.

Which commanders run Storm-Kiln Artist most? ▾

Rootha, Mastering the Moment leads with 24 decks in the tracked dataset, followed by Magnus the Red (13 decks) and Fire Lord Azula (12 decks). Nearly every commander in the top ten shares an Izzet or Grixis color identity with a focus on instants and sorceries. The single exception is Judith, Carnage Connoisseur in Rakdos, which can still leverage Treasure generation even without blue.

Is Storm-Kiln Artist legal in the formats I play? ▾

Storm-Kiln Artist is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, Gladiator, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Penny Dreadful. It has no active bans in the formats where it is legal.