Live Play Data

Basilisk Collar

· Artifact — Equipment · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1718

Decks Running

829

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

83%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

83% of drawn Basilisk Collars are cast before the game ends, and the 79% battlefield stickiness tells you players rarely let it go once it hits an equipped creature.

Basilisk Collar converts any creature into a life-gaining threat deterrent for just 1 mana to cast and 2 to equip. Across 1590 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 829 of 16624 tracked decks, for an inclusion rate of 5%. That number reflects a card played in focused strategies rather than as a format-wide auto-include.

The draw-to-play rate of 83% is one of the stronger signals here. When a player finds the Collar in hand, it nearly always reaches the battlefield. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, which is late relative to the 1-mana cost. That gap is largely structural: most copies stay in the library until drawn, and a 1-drop drawn on turn 5 simply gets cast on turn 5. The 61% same-turn cast rate confirms players rarely sit on it once it arrives.

The Collar is spread across 666 distinct players in the dataset, with the heaviest single contributor accounting for just 3% of all instances. That breadth gives the numbers reasonable diversity and reduces single-player skew. Colorless equipment fits anywhere in Commander, and the top commander pairings reflect that: aggressive and damage-based strategies reach for it most often.

At a glance

5% of tracked Commander decks include Basilisk Collar
83% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn
79% battlefield stickiness once resolved
61% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they are drawn
666 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=326

21%

10%

12%

32%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 17

On curve 21% (68 / 326 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 61%

The "good card" funnel

1719 brought · 666 players

Brought to game

1719

Ever drawn

392

Reached battlefield

326

Still on board at game end

257

83%

Of 1719 Basilisk Collars brought to games, 392 were drawn, 326 of those were cast, and 79% of cast copies remained on the battlefield at game end.

≥ -1.4pp

Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=304) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1104).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 17% (n=59) — 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 +3.8pp; 95% confidence interval -1.4pp to +9.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

432 instances

3.2%

Library

59.5%

Battlefield

20.8%

Graveyard

5.1%

Exile

Most Basilisk Collars never leave the library, a natural outcome of singleton construction in 100-card decks. Of the copies that were observed, the majority finished on the battlefield, consistent with a card that sticks once equipped.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls 64 decks
2 Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph 30 decks
3 Rin and Seri, Inseparable 24 decks
4 Ragost, Deft Gastronaut 23 decks
5 Dogmeat, Ever Loyal 22 decks
6 Captain America, First Avenger 17 decks
7 Kratos, God of War 15 decks
8 The Lord of Pain 15 decks
9 Wolverine, Best There Is 15 decks
10 Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer 13 decks

The top commander pairings span Rakdos, Naya, Jeskai, and mono-color strategies, reflecting the colorless identity of the Collar and its broad appeal across aggressive and damage-synergy builds.

Card text

Basilisk Collar

Artifact — Equipment

Equipped creature has deathtouch and lifelink. (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it. Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.) Equip {2}

(

: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)

Foundations (FDN) · Rare · Illustrated by Craig J Spearing

Frequently Asked

How often is Basilisk Collar drawn in a Commander game?

In 1590 tracked games where Basilisk Collar was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 392 instances that reached a player's hand, 83% were cast before the game ended. The high draw-to-play rate suggests players treat it as a priority when they find it.

What turn does Basilisk Collar typically get cast?

Median first cast is turn 5.0, with the cast distribution spread fairly evenly from turn 1 through turn 8. The mode is turn 1, driven by opening-hand keeps. The gap between the 1-mana cost and the turn-5.0 median reflects when the card is actually drawn rather than any deliberate decision to hold it. The 61% same-turn cast rate confirms most players deploy it immediately on draw.

Does casting Basilisk Collar correlate with winning?

Games where Basilisk Collar was cast show a win rate of 28% versus 24% in games where it stayed in the library, a delta of +3.8 percentage points. Both sample sizes are substantial, but the confidence interval on this delta still crosses zero in our data, so treat it as a directional early signal rather than a proven edge. The card likely rewards decks that can leverage deathtouch and lifelink synergies rather than boosting win rate in isolation.

How sticky is Basilisk Collar once it hits the battlefield?

79% of cast Basilisk Collars remain on the battlefield at game end. Equipment is naturally resilient to removal because opponents must use targeted artifact removal rather than creature removal to dislodge it. A high stickiness number here means the Collar tends to stay on a creature and generate value for the rest of the game once it lands.

Is Basilisk Collar legal in Commander?

Yes. Basilisk Collar is legal in Commander with no restrictions. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and most other formats. It is not legal in Pauper, as it is a rare. Its colorless identity means it fits into any Commander deck regardless of the commander's color identity.

Which commanders most commonly pair with Basilisk Collar?

The top pairings in the Playgroup Live dataset skew toward commanders that deal incremental damage or care about combat. Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls leads with 829 total tracked decks running the Collar. Damage-doublers like Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph make deathtouch especially punishing, since even 1-damage pings become creature removal. Lifelink synergy commanders round out the list. The spread across very different archetypes underlines how broadly applicable colorless equipment can be.