Live Play Data

Talisman of Indulgence

· Artifact · Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander (DSC)

Deck Inclusion

Games Tracked

186

Decks Running

142

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

70%

Talisman of Indulgence appears in 5.6% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, but when drawn it's cast 68% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 4.

Talisman of Indulgence is a narrow-identity ramp piece: legal only in black-red and black-red-plus decks, it shows up in 5.6% of the 1,692 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. That low headline figure reflects the color restriction, not a lack of demand. Among the 94 decks that do run it, it is a consistent early accelerant.

The draw-to-play rate sits at 68%. Players who find the Talisman in hand cast it quickly: the median first-cast turn is 4, and 62% of drawn copies are slammed the same turn they are drawn. The card rarely sits in hand waiting for a better moment. Of the 22 observed casts, 5 landed ahead of curve, suggesting some ramp-into-ramp lines in the decks that run it.

The win-rate delta is worth flagging honestly. Participations where the Talisman stayed in the library finished with a 39% win rate; participations where it was cast finished at 32%. That negative delta is directional, not conclusive, given only 22 cast observations, and it likely reflects deck composition and game-state variance rather than the card actively hurting its pilots. The 1-life tax per colored mana is real but rarely game-deciding at 40 life.

At a glance

5.6% inclusion rate across all tracked Commander decks
68% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
62% same-turn cast rate: players rarely hold it once they find it
T4 median first-cast turn
73% battlefield stickiness once it resolves
94 distinct tracked decks include Talisman of Indulgence

First-cast turn

n=40

20%

18%

15%

13%

23%

T6-9

T10+

Median 3 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 12

On curve 18% (7 / 40 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 59%

The "good card" funnel

213 brought

Brought to game

213

Ever drawn

Reached battlefield

Still on board at game end

70%

Of 130 instances brought to games, 31 were drawn and 22 of those were cast, a 68% draw-to-play rate that points to a card players are eager to deploy when they find it.

-2.9pp

Players who cast this card win 35% of the time (n=40) , vs 38% when it never left the library (n=153).

Final zone distribution

213 instances

71.8%

Library

14.1%

Battlefield

6.6%

Graveyard

0.9%

Exile

98 of 130 tracked Talisman of Indulgence instances finished in the library, the expected outcome for any singleton in a 100-card deck and not a mark against the card's performance when drawn.

Top commanders running this card

by deck count

The commander list spreads across ten different pilots, with Abaddon the Despoiler leading at 10 decks and a long tail of black-red and Grixis commanders behind it, reflecting the card's broad appeal within its color identity.

Frequently Asked

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

Across 130 deck participations in tracked games, Talisman of Indulgence was drawn 31 times, giving a draw rate of roughly 24%. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 31 drawn instances, 22 were cast before the game ended, a draw-to-play rate of 68%.

What turn does Talisman of Indulgence typically hit the battlefield? ▾

The median first-cast turn is 4, with a 25th-percentile of turn 2. Five of 22 observed casts landed ahead of its 2-mana curve, likely accelerated by other early ramp pieces in the deck. The distribution stretches out to turn 10, but the bulk of casts cluster in turns 1 through 6.

Does casting Talisman of Indulgence actually improve your win rate? ▾

Early data shows a negative delta: participations where the Talisman was cast had a 32% win rate, while participations where it stayed in the library came in at 39%. The cast sample is only 22 games, so treat this as a directional early signal rather than a firm conclusion. The gap may reflect that players who never find their ramp piece are still winning on other lines, or that the decks running the Talisman skew toward more competitive pods.

Why does Talisman of Indulgence have such a low overall inclusion rate? ▾

The 5.6% inclusion rate is almost entirely a function of color identity. Talisman of Indulgence can only slot into decks containing black and/or red. Within that eligible pool, demand is much higher: it appears across a diverse range of black-red and Grixis commanders in the Playgroup Live dataset, from Abaddon the Despoiler to Kaalia of the Vast.

Is Talisman of Indulgence legal in Commander? ▾

Yes, it is fully legal in Commander and in most other Constructed formats tracked on Playgroup Live including Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Historic. It is not legal in Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper.

Does the 1-damage drawback matter in Commander? ▾

At 40 starting life, paying 1 life per colored mana rarely factors into decisions the way it might in a 20-life format. The battlefield stickiness of 73% in tracked games suggests opponents are not prioritizing removal on it, and the card's consistent cast rate indicates players are comfortable absorbing the incremental damage. It becomes more meaningful when paired with commanders or effects that punish life loss, but in most shells it functions as a painless mana rock in practice.