Talisman of Progress
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Artifact
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Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander (TDC)
Talisman of Progress appears in 5.7% of tracked Commander decks, but when it does land in a hand, 68% of those copies are cast before the game ends, with a median first-cast turn of 4.
Talisman of Progress sits in 5.7% of the 1,673 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live — a focused footprint that reflects its White-Blue color identity gate. Across 136 tracked games, 95 decks have brought it to the table.
The draw-to-play rate of 68% tells a straightforward story: players who find this card cast it. The median first-cast turn of 4 is slightly late for a two-mana rock, which aligns with what the on-curve data shows. Only 26% of casts landed exactly on turn 2, with 14 of 23 instances cast behind curve. The hand-to-cast data adds context: the same-turn cast rate is 48%, meaning about half the time players hold it a turn before deploying it, with a median wait of one turn. That delay is consistent with players waiting to have enough mana to develop their board on the same turn.
Talisman of Progress fits cleanly into any Azorius (White-Blue) or three-color deck that includes both colors, serving as a flexible source of colored mana at the cost of 1 life per colored pip. In the Playgroup Live sample, it shows up most often under commanders like Y'shtola, Éowyn, and Shorikai, covering Esper, Jeskai, and straight Azorius strategies alike.
- 5.7% inclusion rate across all tracked Commander decks
- 68% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- T4 median first-cast turn for a two-mana rock
- 48% same-turn cast rate — about half the time players hold it briefly
- 74% battlefield stickiness once cast
- 95 distinct decks have brought it to a tracked game
First-cast turn
n=30The "good card" funnel
197 brought · 111 playersOf 145 copies brought to games, 34 were drawn, 23 of those were cast, and 17 were still on the battlefield when the game ended — a 74% stickiness rate for the copies that made it that far.
Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=30) , vs 30% when it never left the library (n=149).
Final zone distribution
197 instances108 of 145 Talismans never left the library — the expected outcome for a singleton in a 100-card deck, not a reflection of the card's in-game performance when it does show up.
Top commanders running this card
by deck count-
1
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed
19 decks
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2
Éowyn, Shieldmaiden
11 decks
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3
Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima
6 decks
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4
Breya, Etherium Shaper
4 decks
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5
Satya, Aetherflux Genius
4 decks
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6
Shorikai, Genesis Engine
4 decks
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7
Inquisitor Greyfax
3 decks
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8
Kratos, Stoic Father
3 decks
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9
Queza, Augur of Agonies
3 decks
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10
Sonic the Hedgehog
3 decks
The top 10 commanders span Azorius, Esper, and Jeskai, confirming the card's role as a format-wide mana fixer for any deck that runs both White and Blue rather than a staple of any single archetype.
How often is Talisman of Progress drawn in a Commander game? ▾
In participations where Talisman of Progress was in the deck, it was drawn in 23.5% of instances — in line with what you'd expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 34 times it reached a player's hand, 23 of those copies were cast before the game ended, a 68% draw-to-play rate.
What turn does Talisman of Progress typically get cast? ▾
The median first-cast turn is 4, with the interquartile range spanning turns 2 to 6. Only 6 of 23 casts landed exactly on curve at turn 2. Three copies were cast ahead of curve, suggesting occasional ramp assistance. The majority, 14 of 23, were cast after turn 2, most often because the card was drawn later in the game rather than held deliberately — the hand-to-cast median delay is just one turn.
Does casting Talisman of Progress correlate with winning? ▾
Early signal only, given the sample sizes. When cast, the win rate was 34.8% across 23 observations. When it sat in the library all game, the win rate was 38.0% across 108 observations. The delta is -3.2 percentage points, directionally suggesting the card does not swing outcomes on its own. In a 4-player pod the baseline win rate is roughly 25%, so both cohorts are running above baseline, which likely reflects deck quality rather than anything specific to this card.
Is Talisman of Progress legal in Commander? ▾
Yes. Talisman of Progress is legal in Commander with no restrictions. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander.
Which commanders run Talisman of Progress most often in this dataset? ▾
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads with 15 decks in the sample, followed by Éowyn, Shieldmaiden and Shorikai, Genesis Engine at 13 each. The spread across Esper (Blue-White-Black), Jeskai (Blue-White-Red), and straight Azorius (Blue-White) commanders shows the card slots into any strategy that touches both White and Blue, regardless of a potential third color.
Why does Talisman of Progress deal damage to you? ▾
The life-loss rider is the original design tradeoff for the Talisman cycle, printed in Mirrodin. Tapping for colorless is free; tapping for a colored mana costs 1 life. In Commander's 40-life format that cost is essentially negligible across a normal game, which is why the Talisman cycle remains a staple of two-color and three-color Commander mana bases decades after its introduction.