Live Play Data

Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary

Sorcery // Land · Zendikar Rising (ZNR)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1135

Decks Running

585

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

67%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Present in 8% of tracked Commander decks, Bala Ged Recovery lands a median first cast on turn 5.0, with 67% of drawn copies reaching the stack before the game ends.

Bala Ged Recovery sits in 8% of the 7796 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. That modest share reflects its niche role: a green staple whose double life as a land makes it genuinely difficult to cut, but not ubiquitous enough to show up in every green shell.

The dual-faced nature of this card shapes every number on this page. Because it can always enter as a tapped Forest, it is never truly a dead draw. 67% of drawn copies were cast as the sorcery before the game ended. The median first-cast turn lands on turn 5.0, which is consistent with a mid-game recursion spell rather than an early ramp piece. When players do resolve the spell face, they win 35% of those games, a +9.0 percentage-point lift over the baseline of games where the card never left the library. Both sample sizes are large enough to call this an early directional signal worth watching.

Across 1058 tracked multiplayer games, the card has appeared in 585 distinct decks. The commander distribution is wide, spanning creature-based green strategies from Naya Dinosaurs to mono-green goodstuff, which suggests the card earns its slot on flexibility rather than synergy with any single commander.

At a glance

8% of tracked Commander decks include Bala Ged Recovery
T5.0 median first-cast turn when played as the sorcery
67% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
35% win rate in games where the sorcery resolved
+9.0pp win-rate lift over the never-cast baseline, directional signal
451 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=196

12%

15%

40%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 16

On curve 23% (10 / 196 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 43%

The "good card" funnel

1135 brought · 451 players

Brought to game

1135

Ever drawn

294

Reached battlefield

196

Still on board at game end

67%

Of 1135 copies brought to games, 294 were drawn, 196 were cast as the sorcery, and roughly half of those castings saw the caster win the game.

≥ +1.9pp

Players who cast this card win 35% of the time (n=174) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=700).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 30% (n=88) — 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 +9.0pp; 95% confidence interval +1.9pp to +16.1pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

333 instances

3.9%

Library

28.8%

Battlefield

36.6%

Graveyard

7.5%

Exile

Most tracked instances of Bala Ged Recovery finish the game in the graveyard, reflecting resolved sorcery casts, while a meaningful share land on the battlefield as the Sanctuary land side, a split that is unique to modal double-faced cards.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Gishath, Sun's Avatar 16 decks
2 Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge 9 decks
3 Baylen, the Haymaker 8 decks
4 Betor, Ancestor's Voice 8 decks
5 Pantlaza, Sun-Favored 8 decks
6 Witherbloom, the Balancer 8 decks
7 Bello, Bard of the Brambles 7 decks
8 Beorn the Fierce 7 decks
9 Lathril, Blade of the Elves 7 decks
10 Teval, the Balanced Scale 7 decks

The commander list spans at least five distinct color pairs and multiple archetypes, a sign that Bala Ged Recovery earns its slot on raw flexibility rather than synergy with any single strategy.

Card text

Bala Ged Recovery

Sorcery

Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.

Bala Ged Sanctuary

Land

This land enters tapped. {T}

: Add

Zendikar Rising (ZNR) · Uncommon · Illustrated by Lucas Staniec

Frequently Asked

How often is Bala Ged Recovery drawn in a Commander game?

In 1058 tracked multiplayer games where it was in the deck, the draw rate was 26%. That is normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 294 drawn instances, 67% were cast as the sorcery before the game ended. The rest likely entered play as a land or remained in hand when the game concluded.

What turn does the sorcery side usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5.0, with the middle 50% of casts landing between turns 3 and 7. The distribution has a notable cluster in the early turns, which reflects copies kept in the opening hand and played as a land on turn 1 or 2 before the sorcery mode becomes relevant. The broad spread across turns 1 through 15 is consistent with a card that players hold until they have something worth recurring.

Does casting Bala Ged Recovery actually help you win?

In 174 games where the sorcery resolved, the win rate was 35%, compared to 26% across 700 games where the card never left the library. That is a +9.0 percentage-point lift. Both sample sizes exceed the 15-observation threshold for a directional read, but the dataset is still growing, so treat this as an early positive signal rather than a firm conclusion.

Is Bala Ged Recovery legal in Commander?

Yes, Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary is legal in Commander with no restrictions. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander, as it is an uncommon.

Why does this card appear in so many different commander decks?

The modal double-faced card design is the core reason. In any green deck, Bala Ged Recovery can enter as a tapped Forest when you don't need recursion, meaning it never costs you a card slot in the way a dedicated sorcery would. That floor turns a situational effect into a low-risk include. The data reflects this: the top commanders span Naya Dinosaurs, Golgari goodstuff, Gruul aggro, and mono-green strategies, with no single archetype dominating.

How concentrated is the data for this card?

The data is well spread. 451 distinct players have brought Bala Ged Recovery to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for 4% of all tracked instances. That is a low concentration figure, which strengthens confidence that the numbers reflect broad play patterns rather than the habits of one or two prolific players.