Live Play Data

Birds of Paradise

· Creature — Bird · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

25%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1169

Decks Running

616

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

79%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

25% of tracked Commander decks run Birds of Paradise, and 79% of drawn copies reach the battlefield. Median first cast lands on turn 2.

Birds of Paradise sits in 25% of the 2463 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. That places it firmly among the format's most consistent one-mana ramp pieces, appearing in 616 distinct decks across 972 tracked games.

The draw-to-play figure tells the core story: 79% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends. That is one of the higher conversion rates among creatures in the dataset, and it reflects how rarely players sit on a mana dork once it hits their hand. The median first-cast turn of 2 confirms it: most Birds land early, on turn 1 when drawn in the opener, or picked up and deployed quickly from a mid-game draw. 79% of drawn-and-cast instances were cast on the same turn they were drawn.

Birds of Paradise is legal in Commander and carries no color-identity restriction of its own, making it a fit for any green deck that wants a flying, any-color mana source. The top commander spread on Playgroup Live runs from five-color builds like The Ur-Dragon and Kenrith all the way to tight two-color pairings, a directional signal that the card's appeal is genuinely format-wide rather than tied to a single archetype.

At a glance

25% of tracked Commander decks include Birds of Paradise
79% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T2 median first-cast turn across all tracked games
79% of drawn-and-cast copies were cast the same turn they were drawn
38% of casts landed on turn 1, exactly on curve for a 1-mana card
60% battlefield stickiness once cast

First-cast turn

n=245

38%

14%

11%

22%

T6-9

T10+

Median 2 P25 1 · P75 6 · max 13

On curve 38% (92 / 245 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 79%

The "good card" funnel

1170 brought · 432 players

Brought to game

1170

Ever drawn

311

Reached battlefield

245

Still on board at game end

148

79%

Of 1170 Birds of Paradise brought to games, 311 were drawn, 245 of those were cast, and 60% of cast copies survived to the end of the game.

≥ -3.4pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=244) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=794).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=62) — 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 +2.4pp; 95% confidence interval -3.4pp to +8.2pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

340 instances

1.8%

Library

43.5%

Battlefield

32.4%

Graveyard

7.1%

Exile

Most tracked copies of Birds of Paradise end up in the graveyard after being removed or blocked, with a meaningful share sticking on the battlefield. The library bucket is near zero, reflecting how quickly players cast this card when they see it.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list spans mono-green aggro, five-color goodstuff, and everything in between, a sign that Birds of Paradise is format-wide ramp rather than a build-around piece tied to any one strategy.

Frequently Asked

How often is Birds of Paradise drawn in a Commander game?

Across 972 tracked games where Birds of Paradise was in the deck, it was drawn 27% of the time. That's in line with what you'd expect for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 311 instances that reached a hand, 79% were cast before the game ended.

What turn does Birds of Paradise typically hit the battlefield?

The median first-cast turn is 2. The distribution is front-loaded: the single most common cast turn is turn 1, reflecting copies kept in opening hands. 79% of drawn-and-cast instances were played the same turn they were drawn, and the median hand-to-cast delay is zero turns, meaning players virtually never hold it once they draw it.

Does casting Birds of Paradise correlate with winning?

In 244 tracked participations where Birds of Paradise was cast, the win rate was 29%. In 794 participations where it sat in the library untouched, the rate was 26%. The delta is small and the confidence interval crosses zero on our current sample, so treat this as a directional signal rather than a proven effect. Both sample sizes are large enough to be worth watching as the dataset grows.

How sticky is Birds of Paradise once it resolves?

60% of cast copies were still on the battlefield at end of game. That's lower than typical for non-interactive artifacts, which reflects the reality that a 0/1 creature with no protection is a credible removal target in most pods. Opponents will often prioritize killing a mana dork early rather than letting it generate advantage all game.

Is Birds of Paradise legal in Commander?

Yes. Birds of Paradise is legal and unrestricted in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Vintage, Modern, Historic, and most other Constructed formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its color identity is Green only, so it fits in any Commander deck that includes green.

Which commanders run Birds of Paradise most often on Playgroup Live?

The top commanders by raw deck count are Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit; The Ur-Dragon; Witherbloom, the Balancer; Kenrith, the Returned King; and Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy. The spread across color identities is wide, from mono-green builds to five-color piles, consistent with Birds of Paradise being a generic ramp piece rather than a synergy pick. The data is well-distributed across 432 unique players, with no single contributor accounting for a disproportionate share of observations.