Live Play Data

Talisman of Indulgence

· Artifact · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

30%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1806

Decks Running

1023

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

76%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

30% of tracked Rakdos-adjacent Commander decks on Playgroup Live run Talisman of Indulgence, and 76% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 4.0.

Talisman of Indulgence is the go-to two-mana rock for black-red Commander decks. Across 1634 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live, it appears in 1023 of 3391 distinct decks, an inclusion rate of 30% among those in its color identity.

The draw-to-play rate of 76% is the headline: when a copy lands in a player's hand, it almost always converts to a cast. Median first cast lands on turn 4.0, consistent with players curving into it naturally on turn 2 or 3 but also drawing it later in longer games. Battlefield stickiness sits at 84%, meaning the majority of resolved copies survive to keep producing mana.

The data is well-spread across 780 unique players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for just 2% of tracked instances. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria leads the commander distribution by raw deck count, reflecting the surge of Grixis and Rakdos commanders in the tracked meta.

At a glance

30% of tracked Commander decks in black-red include Talisman of Indulgence
76% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4.0 median first-cast turn
84% battlefield stickiness once it resolves
780 unique players contributed data, a well-spread sample
40% of casts land exactly on curve for a 2-mana spell

First-cast turn

n=370

12%

28%

11%

24%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 16

On curve 40% (102 / 370 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 47%

The "good card" funnel

1813 brought · 780 players

Brought to game

1813

Ever drawn

487

Reached battlefield

370

Still on board at game end

311

76%

Of 1813 copies brought to tracked games, 487 were drawn, 370 of those were cast, and the large majority stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -4.1pp

Players who cast this card win 24% of the time (n=349) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=1122).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 33% (n=103) — 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 +0.6pp; 95% confidence interval -4.1pp to +5.3pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

535 instances

2.6%

Library

58.1%

Battlefield

18.3%

Graveyard

6.0%

Exile

Most resolved Talismans end on the battlefield, consistent with its 84% stickiness. The graveyard slice covers destroyed copies, while only a handful were exiled or remained in hand at game end.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Doctor Doom, King of Latveria 103 decks
2 Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls 64 decks
3 Terra, Herald of Hope 41 decks
4 Kaalia of the Vast 29 decks
5 Sauron, the Dark Lord 29 decks
6 Kefka, Court Mage // Kefka, Ruler of Ruin 28 decks
7 Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied 28 decks
8 Abaddon the Despoiler 27 decks
9 Fire Lord Azula 26 decks
10 Caesar, Legion's Emperor 25 decks

Doctor Doom, King of Latveria leads by raw deck count, but the spread across ten-plus commanders confirms Talisman of Indulgence is a format-wide staple rather than a pet card of one archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Talisman of Indulgence drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1634 tracked multiplayer games, Talisman of Indulgence was drawn 27% of the time when it was in the deck. That rate is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 487 drawn copies, 76% were cast before the game ended. The remainder is largely a game-length effect: copies drawn very late have less time to reach the stack.

What turn does Talisman of Indulgence usually get cast?

Median first cast is turn 4.0. The distribution skews early: a cluster of casts on turns 1 and 2 reflects copies kept in opening hands, while the long tail extends to turn 16. The interquartile range runs from turn 2 to turn 6, so most of the action is in the first half of the game.

Does casting Talisman of Indulgence actually help you win?

The cast-vs-library win-rate delta in this dataset is small and sits within normal variance given sample sizes. The cast bucket (349 observations) and library bucket (1122 observations) show rates close to the 25% normalized baseline. Treat this as a directional early signal, not a definitive conclusion. The talisman's value is in enabling other cards, not generating wins directly.

Which commanders most often run Talisman of Indulgence?

Doctor Doom, King of Latveria leads by raw deck count in the tracked dataset, followed by Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls and Terra, Herald of Hope. All three sit in black-red or black-red-plus color identities, which is expected since Talisman of Indulgence can only slot into decks that include both black and red. The spread across 780 unique players suggests no single commander is artificially inflating the numbers.

Is Talisman of Indulgence banned anywhere?

No. Talisman of Indulgence is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Oathbreaker, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. No ban or restriction applies in any of the formats where it is legal.

How quickly do players cast it after drawing it?

Of the 370 casts tracked in multiplayer, 47% were cast on the same turn the card was drawn. The median delay between drawing and casting is 1 turn, with an average of 0.84 turns. This pattern suggests players treat it as a high-priority play but will occasionally hold one turn when mana or sequencing demands it.