Live Play Data

Caves of Koilos

Land · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

31%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

913

Decks Running

525

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

78%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Caves of Koilos lands in 31% of tracked Orzhov-adjacent Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and when it reaches a player's hand, 78% of copies are played before the game ends.

Caves of Koilos is a consistent fixture in black-white Commander decks, appearing in 525 of the 1714 distinct tracked decks. Its 31% inclusion rate reflects its role as a reliable dual land that costs 1 life per colored mana instead of entering the battlefield tapped.

The draw-to-play rate of 78% tells the core story: players who find this land almost always put it into play. Median first-cast turn sits at 4, typical for a land played as part of the natural curve rather than held for any strategic reason. Battlefield stickiness reaches 93%, which makes sense: lands are rarely removed once in play.

The data spans 425 unique players, with no single player accounting for more than 4% of all tracked instances. That spread lends confidence to the directional picture, even as the dataset grows. Caves of Koilos fits neatly into the pain-land cycle of budget-friendly dual lands, offering colored mana access at a small life cost in a format that starts players at 40 life.

At a glance

31% of tracked decks in the dataset include Caves of Koilos
78% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4 median turn Caves of Koilos first enters play
93% battlefield stickiness, consistent with lands rarely being removed
425 unique players contribute to the dataset, a well-spread sample
30% win rate in games where Caves of Koilos was played, vs 23% when it stayed in the library

First-cast turn

n=173

19%

12%

14%

32%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 15

Cast same turn as drawn 42%

The "good card" funnel

920 brought · 425 players

Brought to game

920

Ever drawn

222

Reached battlefield

173

Still on board at game end

161

78%

Of 920 copies brought to tracked games, 222 were drawn, 173 of those were played, and the vast majority remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -0.3pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=171) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=632).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 19% (n=49) — 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 +6.7pp; 95% confidence interval -0.3pp to +13.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

244 instances

0.4%

Library

66.0%

Battlefield

10.2%

Graveyard

7.4%

Exile

Most Caves of Koilos copies never leave the library in any given game, which is expected for a singleton land in a 100-card deck. The copies that do surface almost always stay on the battlefield.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Killian, Decisive Mentor leads the commander distribution by a wide margin, reflecting a concentration of Orzhov builds in the tracked dataset. The rest of the list spreads across white-black and Mardu commanders.

Frequently Asked

How often is Caves of Koilos drawn in a Commander game?

Across 824 tracked games where the card was in a deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton land in a 100-card deck. Of 222 copies that reached a player's hand, 78% were played before the game ended.

What turn does Caves of Koilos usually enter the battlefield?

The median first-cast turn is 4, with the 25th percentile at turn 2 and the 75th at turn 6. The distribution is fairly spread, which reflects that land play timing depends heavily on opening hand composition and game pace rather than any strategic hold decision.

Does playing Caves of Koilos correlate with winning?

Win rate when Caves of Koilos was played is 30% across 171 participations, compared to 23% across 632 participations when it stayed in the library. That gap is directional and worth noting, but sample sizes are still growing. Read it as an early signal rather than a firm conclusion.

Is Caves of Koilos legal in Commander?

Yes. Caves of Koilos is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its white-black color identity restricts it to decks whose commander includes both white and black, or any superset of those colors.

Why do players include Caves of Koilos instead of a basic land?

In a singleton format with 40 life, the 1-damage pain cost is a small trade for guaranteed access to either white or black mana on demand. Pain lands like Caves of Koilos enter untapped, do not require any condition to produce colored mana, and cost nothing in terms of card slots beyond the land drop itself. For two-color and three-color decks on a budget, they are among the most practical dual-land options available.

How concentrated is the Caves of Koilos data among players?

The dataset draws from 425 unique players, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 4% of all instances. That is a well-spread sample for a card of this inclusion rate, meaning the numbers are unlikely to be skewed by one prolific player's results.