Live Play Data

Basilisk Collar

· Artifact — Equipment · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1150

Decks Running

576

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

79%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

79% of drawn Basilisk Collars are cast before the game ends, and the 81% 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 1057 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 576 of 12009 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 79% 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, 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 59% same-turn cast rate confirms players rarely sit on it once it arrives.

The Collar is spread across 474 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
79% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5 median first-cast turn
81% battlefield stickiness once resolved
59% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they are drawn
474 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=207

19%

10%

13%

33%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 17

On curve 19% (39 / 207 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 59%

The "good card" funnel

1151 brought · 474 players

Brought to game

1151

Ever drawn

261

Reached battlefield

207

Still on board at game end

167

79%

Of 1151 Basilisk Collars brought to games, 261 were drawn, 207 of those were cast, and 81% of cast copies remained on the battlefield at game end.

≥ -1.2pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=200) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=786).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 18% (n=51) — 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 +5.2pp; 95% confidence interval -1.2pp to +11.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

290 instances

4.1%

Library

57.6%

Battlefield

19.7%

Graveyard

5.2%

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 44 decks
2 Dogmeat, Ever Loyal 19 decks
3 Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph 16 decks
4 Captain America, First Avenger 15 decks
5 Ragost, Deft Gastronaut 15 decks
6 Rin and Seri, Inseparable 15 decks
7 The Lord of Pain 12 decks
8 Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer 10 decks
9 Kratos, God of War 10 decks
10 The Sentry, Golden Guardian 10 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.

Frequently Asked

How often is Basilisk Collar drawn in a Commander game?

In 1057 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 261 instances that reached a player's hand, 79% 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, 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 median reflects when the card is actually drawn rather than any deliberate decision to hold it. The 59% 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 29% versus 24% in games where it stayed in the library, a delta of +5.2 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?

81% 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 576 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.