Live Play Data

Thought Vessel

· Artifact · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

18%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1613

Decks Running

989

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

75%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Thought Vessel appears in 18% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 75% of copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 5.0.

Thought Vessel earns its slot in 18% of Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. That figure covers 989 of the 5494 distinct decks that have played a tracked game, with 638 unique players contributing data and no single player accounting for more than 28% of the sample. The dataset is well-spread.

The card does two jobs for 2 mana: it taps for colorless mana like a Manalith, and it permanently removes your maximum hand size. That second ability is the differentiator. Commanders that draw deeply, discard-matters strategies, and high-card-count value engines all want the no-hand-size clause. The broad spread across commanders in the tracked data reflects exactly that range of use cases.

75% of drawn Thought Vessels are cast before the game ends. A median cast turn of 5.0 puts it squarely in the mid-game ramp window, though the distribution runs from turn 1 through turn 19, reflecting how differently players sequence their mana rocks depending on what else they draw.

At a glance

18% of tracked Commander decks include Thought Vessel
75% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn across all tracked games
79% battlefield stickiness once cast
638 unique players contributing to the dataset, a well-spread sample
27% of casts land exactly on curve at 2 mana

First-cast turn

n=338

18%

11%

36%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 19

On curve 27% (60 / 338 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 53%

The "good card" funnel

1621 brought · 638 players

Brought to game

1621

Ever drawn

450

Reached battlefield

338

Still on board at game end

266

75%

Of 1621 Thought Vessels brought to games, 450 were drawn, 338 of those were cast, and the majority stayed on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ -0.8pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=337) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=1069).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 31% (n=110) — 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 -0.8pp to +9.2pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

497 instances

2.4%

Library

53.5%

Battlefield

20.3%

Graveyard

5.4%

Exile

Most Thought Vessels that are brought to a game never leave the library, a structural reality of 100-card singleton rather than a statement about the card's power. Of the copies that were observed, the large majority finished on the battlefield.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander distribution is broad with no single commander dominating. Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads the list, reflecting demand for the no-maximum-hand-size clause in deep-draw strategies.

Frequently Asked

How often is Thought Vessel drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1282 tracked games where Thought Vessel was in the deck, it was drawn 28% of the time. That is in the normal range for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 450 instances that reached a player's hand, 75% were cast before the game ended.

What turn does Thought Vessel usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5.0, with the mode at turn 2. The distribution is wide: a cluster hits turns 1-2 from opening-hand keeps, and casts continue trickling in through the mid-game. The p25-p75 range runs from turn 2 to turn 7, so expect high variance based on draw order.

Does casting Thought Vessel actually improve your win rate?

In 337 participations where Thought Vessel was cast, the normalized win rate was 29%. In 1069 participations where it stayed in the library, the rate was 25%. The raw delta is +4.2 percentage points. Both buckets are large enough to treat this as a directional signal, though the confidence interval for the multiplayer format crosses zero, so treat it as early evidence rather than a definitive effect.

Why does Thought Vessel see play across so many different commanders?

Thought Vessel fits any deck regardless of color identity because it produces colorless mana and has no color pip in its cost. The no-maximum-hand-size ability adds value in any strategy that draws more than seven cards in a turn, including wheel effects, card-draw engines, and high-draw commanders. That combination makes it a broadly playable two-drop across the entire format.

Is Thought Vessel legal in Commander?

Yes. Thought Vessel is legal in Commander, Oathbreaker, Duel Commander, Pauper Commander, and Legacy. It is not legal in Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Brawl, or Historic.

How sticky is Thought Vessel once it resolves?

79% of cast Thought Vessels remain on the battlefield through end of game. As a low-threat artifact that produces only colorless mana, it rarely draws targeted removal. The primary ways it leaves play are board wipes and sacrifice effects rather than direct answers.