Live Play Data

Talisman of Progress

· Artifact · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

26%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1658

Decks Running

858

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

77%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Talisman of Progress appears in 26% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and 77% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 4.

Talisman of Progress is a consistent two-mana rock in White-Blue Commander, showing up in 26% of the 3287 distinct decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live. Of the 409 times it has reached a player's hand, 77% ended in a cast.

The median first-cast turn is 4, though the distribution is notably front-loaded: a cluster hits on turns 1 and 2 from opening hands, while the long tail stretches past turn 10 for copies drawn deep into the game. Battlefield stickiness sits at 80%, meaning most resolved copies stay in play long enough to generate meaningful mana across multiple turns.

The commander distribution is wide. 707 distinct players have brought the Talisman to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That spread adds credibility to the numbers: this isn't one player's pet card skewing the sample.

At a glance

26% of tracked Commander decks include Talisman of Progress
77% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4 median first-cast turn
80% battlefield stickiness once it resolves
707 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=313

11%

25%

11%

28%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 15

On curve 36% (79 / 313 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 48%

The "good card" funnel

1661 brought · 707 players

Brought to game

1661

Ever drawn

409

Reached battlefield

313

Still on board at game end

250

77%

Of 1661 Talisman of Progress copies brought to tracked games, 409 were drawn, 313 of those were cast, and the majority remained on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ -4.0pp

Players who cast this card win 27% of the time (n=297) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=1085).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 32% (n=89) — 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 +1.2pp; 95% confidence interval -4.0pp to +6.4pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

454 instances

2.4%

Library

55.1%

Battlefield

19.6%

Graveyard

7.0%

Exile

Most Talisman of Progress copies that never reach the battlefield simply stay in the library, a structural reality of 100-card singleton rather than a reflection of the card's playability.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander spread is wide, anchored by Y'shtola, Captain America, and Éowyn, with no single commander dominating, pointing to the Talisman as a format-wide role-player rather than an archetype-specific pick.

Frequently Asked

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

Across 1546 tracked games where Talisman of Progress was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 409 instances that reached a hand, 77% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Talisman of Progress usually get cast?

The median first-cast turn is 4, with the mode falling on turn 2, which is right on curve for a two-mana artifact. The 25th percentile is turn 2 and the 75th is turn 6, so roughly half of all casts land between those two bookmarks. The distribution has a meaningful tail past turn 8 for copies drawn in the mid-to-late game.

Does casting Talisman of Progress actually improve your win rate?

There is a directional positive signal: the win rate in games where it was cast is 27%, compared to 25% in games where it stayed in the library. The difference is modest and the confidence interval crosses zero on this sample size, so treat this as early directional data rather than a proven edge.

Is Talisman of Progress legal in Commander?

Yes, Talisman of Progress is legal and unrestricted in Commander. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander.

Which commanders most often run Talisman of Progress?

On Playgroup Live the most frequent pairing is Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, followed by Captain America, Team Leader and Éowyn, Shieldmaiden. All three are at least partially in White-Blue, which is the Talisman's color identity requirement. The spread across ten or more distinct commanders suggests broad utility rather than a single dominant archetype driving the numbers.

How concentrated is the Talisman data among players?

The data is well-spread. 707 distinct players have brought Talisman of Progress to a tracked game, and the single most active contributor accounts for only 2% of all instances. That low concentration means the stats reflect a genuine cross-section of the Playgroup Live community rather than one prolific player's results.