Live Play Data

Swords to Plowshares

· Instant · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

57%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

2314

Decks Running

1309

Median Cast Turn

6.0

Drawn → Played

70%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Swords to Plowshares appears in 57% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and when drawn it reaches the stack 70% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 6.0.

Swords to Plowshares sits in 57% of the 2277 decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live, making it one of white's most consistent single-target removal spells across the format. It has appeared in 1309 distinct decks and been brought to a table 2329 times.

As a reactive instant, it behaves differently from permanents in the data. Players hold it in hand until the right creature appears: median first cast lands on turn 6.0, and the average time between drawing and casting is roughly 2 turns. Only 70% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends, a number that reflects both reactive timing and games that close before a target presents itself. The data is well-spread across 782 distinct players, with no single contributor responsible for more than a small fraction of observations, which strengthens confidence in the signal.

The card is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Timeless, and Duel Commander. It is banned in Historic and not legal in Modern, Pioneer, or Standard, limiting its competitive appearances to older and eternal formats where its unconditional exile text remains a defining removal benchmark.

At a glance

57% of tracked Commander decks include Swords to Plowshares
22% draw rate across games where it was in the deck
70% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T6.0 median first-cast turn, reflecting reactive hold patterns
782 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=366

18%

53%

T6-9

11%

T10+

Median 6.0 P25 5 · P75 8 · max 14

On curve 1% (2 / 366 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 27%

The "good card" funnel

2329 brought · 782 players

Brought to game

2329

Ever drawn

520

Reached battlefield

366

Still on board at game end

70%

Of 2329 copies brought to games, 520 were drawn and 366 of those were cast, a chain that reflects both the singleton draw odds and the reactive hold patterns typical of instant-speed removal.

≥ -0.5pp

Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=365) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1668).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 33% (n=151) — 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 +4.2pp; 95% confidence interval -0.5pp to +8.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

571 instances

3.3%

Library

2.5%

Battlefield

63.2%

Graveyard

9.8%

Exile

Most copies never leave the library, a structural reality of 100-card singleton; the graveyard is the dominant exit zone for copies that do resolve, confirming the instant resolves and goes to the bin as expected.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list spans aggressive, midrange, and tempo archetypes across every white color combination, showing Swords to Plowshares slots into white decks broadly rather than clustering in one strategy.

Frequently Asked

How often is Swords to Plowshares drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1589 tracked games where the card was in a deck, it was drawn 22% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 520 instances that reached a player's hand, 70% were cast before the game concluded. The remainder were held through end of game or never found a target before the pod finished.

What turn does Swords to Plowshares typically get cast?

Median first cast is turn 6.0, with the middle 50% of casts falling between turns 5 and 8. This is considerably later than its 1-mana cost would suggest. That gap is expected for reactive removal: players hold it in hand waiting for the right threat rather than casting it at the first opportunity. The hand-to-cast data backs this up, with a median hold time of 2 turns after drawing.

Does casting Swords to Plowshares correlate with winning?

In 365 participations where Swords to Plowshares was cast, the caster's win rate was 28%. In 1668 participations where it stayed in the library, the rate was 24%. The difference is +4.2 percentage points. Both sample sizes are large enough to read as a directional signal, though the delta is small and likely reflects that proactive threat decks both win more often and present fewer must-answer targets for the removal piece.

Why is the on-curve rate so low for a 1-mana spell?

Only 1% of Swords to Plowshares casts landed on turn 1, the earliest possible turn for a 1-mana spell. That is not surprising. Reactive removal spells are almost never cast the moment they are drawn. Players wait for a meaningful threat to exile, which naturally pushes casts into the mid-game. The median hold time of 2 turns after drawing confirms this is timing strategy rather than mana constraints.

Is Swords to Plowshares banned anywhere?

Yes. Swords to Plowshares is banned in Historic and not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Pauper, or Alchemy. It is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Timeless, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Premodern, and Gladiator. Its unconditional exile effect at 1 mana has made it a format-defining card in eternal formats while drawing restrictions in newer, curated card pools.

Which commanders most often run Swords to Plowshares?

The top commanders in the dataset span a broad range of archetypes and color identities, all sharing white. Quintorius, History Chaser leads among tracked game appearances, followed by Y'shtola, Night's Blessed and Ms. Bumbleflower. The spread across 782 unique players and many different commanders reflects how format-agnostic the card is within white decks rather than a concentration in any single strategy.