Live Play Data

Ancient Den

Artifact Land · Edge of Eternities Commander (EOC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

853

Decks Running

390

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

78%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

5% of tracked Commander decks in the Playgroup Live dataset run Ancient Den, with 78% of drawn copies reaching the battlefield and a median first-cast turn of 4.0.

Ancient Den is a niche include, found in 5% of the 7614 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. That narrow footprint reflects its real constraint: it only fits in white-identity decks that have a specific reason to count artifacts, since a basic Plains produces the same mana without the artifact type.

When it does show up, it behaves like a land should. 78% of drawn copies are played before the game ends, and once it resolves it sticks around 83% of the time. The median first-cast turn of 4.0 is consistent with early land drops, though the distribution extends well into the mid-game for copies drawn later. The data here spans 826 tracked multiplayer games, so treat all figures as directional signals rather than settled conclusions.

The commander spread tells the clearest story about who wants this card. Artifact-matters commanders dominate the top slots. Kilo, Apogee Mind and Inspirit, Flagship Vessel lead the list, followed by Mendicant Core, Mr. House, and Urza, Chief Artificer. Ancient Den is not a general land-fixing card. It is an artifact-land for strategies that care about the artifact subtype on their lands.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include Ancient Den
78% of drawn copies are played before the game ends
T4.0 median first-cast turn across observed games
83% battlefield stickiness once Ancient Den resolves
330 distinct players have brought Ancient Den to a tracked game, indicating broad spread

First-cast turn

n=162

23%

14%

10%

30%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 13

Cast same turn as drawn 62%

The "good card" funnel

853 brought · 330 players

Brought to game

853

Ever drawn

208

Reached battlefield

162

Still on board at game end

136

78%

Of 853 copies brought to games, 208 were drawn, 162 of those were played, and most stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -1.2pp

Players who cast this card win 31% of the time (n=154) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=572).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 33% (n=41) — 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 +6.2pp; 95% confidence interval -1.2pp to +13.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

224 instances

3.1%

Library

60.7%

Battlefield

18.8%

Graveyard

5.8%

Exile

The vast majority of Ancient Den copies never leave the library, which is expected for a singleton land in a 100-card deck. Of those that do resolve, nearly all finish the game on the battlefield.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Artifact-matters commanders cluster at the top of the list. Kilo, Apogee Mind and Inspirit, Flagship Vessel lead, confirming Ancient Den is a card for artifact strategies rather than a general white staple.

Frequently Asked

How often is Ancient Den drawn in a Commander game?

Across 826 tracked multiplayer games, Ancient Den was drawn 24% of the time when it was in the deck. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 208 instances that reached a player's hand, 78% were played before the game concluded.

What turn does Ancient Den typically hit play?

The median first-cast turn is 4.0, with the 25th percentile landing on turn 2 and the 75th on turn 6. The mode is turn 1, driven by opening-hand keeps. Most copies drawn later in the game still get played, since Ancient Den taps for mana on the same turn it enters and there is rarely a reason to hold it.

Is Ancient Den banned anywhere?

Ancient Den is banned in Modern, where the combination of Affinity-for-artifacts and fetchable artifact lands proved too powerful. It is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, Historic, and several other formats. In Commander it is unrestricted and sees play in artifact-themed decks.

Why would a Commander deck run Ancient Den over a basic Plains?

The only reason is the artifact subtype. Commanders and synergy pieces that care about the number of artifacts you control or in your graveyard count Ancient Den alongside your Mox Opals and Darksteels. Strategies built around Karn, the Great Creator, Urza, Chief Artificer, or similar payoffs get additional value from a land that doubles as an artifact. Decks without those synergies have little incentive to include it over a basic.

How concentrated is the Ancient Den data across players?

The data is well distributed. 330 distinct players have brought Ancient Den to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 4% of all tracked instances. That spread means the numbers are not dominated by one player's results, which adds confidence to the directional trends we observe.

Does casting Ancient Den correlate with winning?

In Playgroup Live's tracked games, the win rate in participations where Ancient Den was cast is 31%, compared to 24% in participations where it stayed in the library. The raw delta is +6.2 percentage points, but the sample has meaningful uncertainty, so treat this as a directional early signal rather than a proven effect. Ancient Den is a mana-fixing piece, not a win condition on its own.