Live Play Data

Command Tower

Land · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

77%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

12206

Decks Running

6705

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

84%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Command Tower is in 77% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 84% of copies reach the battlefield, and 93% of those stay there through end of game.

Command Tower sits in 77% of the 8720 distinct Commander decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live, making it the defining land of the format. Across 4538 tracked multiplayer games, it has been brought to the table 12239 times and cast 2755 times.

The draw-to-play figure tells the clearest story: 84% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended. That is among the highest rates we record for any card in the format. Median first cast lands on turn 4, though a large cluster resolves on turn 1 from the opening hand. Once it resolves, Command Tower almost never leaves play: 93% battlefield stickiness is a structural ceiling that only basic lands approach.

The data is well-distributed across 2343 unique players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for under 1% of all tracked instances. That breadth makes these numbers a reliable cross-section of the Commander-playing population on Playgroup Live rather than a reflection of any one player's habits.

At a glance

77% of tracked Commander decks include Command Tower
84% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4 median first-cast turn across all tracked games
93% battlefield stickiness once cast
2343 unique players have brought Command Tower to a tracked game
12239 total instances brought to a multiplayer game

First-cast turn

n=2755

26%

13%

10%

26%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 1 · P75 7 · max 24

Cast same turn as drawn 68%

The "good card" funnel

12239 brought · 2343 players

Brought to game

12239

Ever drawn

3286

Reached battlefield

2755

Still on board at game end

2565

84%

Of 12239 Command Towers brought to multiplayer games, 3286 were drawn, 2755 of those were cast, and 93% of resolved copies stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +3.9pp

Players who cast this card win 29% of the time (n=2687) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=8043).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 29% (n=500) — 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 +5.7pp; 95% confidence interval +3.9pp to +7.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

3631 instances

2.1%

Library

70.6%

Battlefield

12.1%

Graveyard

4.0%

Exile

The vast majority of Command Towers that never leave the library reflect how rarely the card is drawn in any single game, not hesitation to play it. Once seen, it almost always resolves and stays.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 93 decks
2 The Ur-Dragon 63 decks
3 Killian, Decisive Mentor 62 decks
4 Ms. Bumbleflower 61 decks
5 Dina, Essence Brewer 60 decks
6 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 58 decks
7 Doctor Doom, King of Latveria 58 decks
8 Zimone, Infinite Analyst 55 decks
9 Pantlaza, Sun-Favored 54 decks
10 Ashling, the Limitless 45 decks

The top-commander list spans mono-color through five-color identities, confirming that Command Tower is an auto-include across the full spectrum of the format rather than a staple concentrated in any one archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Command Tower drawn in a Commander game?

Across 4538 tracked multiplayer games where Command Tower was in the deck, it was drawn 27% of the time. That draw rate is consistent with what you'd expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 3286 copies that reached a player's hand, 84% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Command Tower typically hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 4, but the distribution has a strong early spike: a large cluster resolves on turn 1, drawn in the opening hand and played immediately. The same-turn cast rate is 68%, meaning players almost always drop it the turn they draw it. The mean is pulled higher by late-game copies drawn well after mana is already established.

Does casting Command Tower actually correlate with winning?

Decks that resolved a Command Tower won at a 29% rate across 2687 participations, compared to 23% for participations where it stayed in the library. That is a +5.7 percentage-point directional lift. The sample is large enough to treat this as a consistent signal rather than noise, though it reflects deck quality and color identity as much as the land itself.

Is Command Tower legal in formats other than Commander?

Command Tower is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Pauper Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Pauper, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, and Alchemy. It is not legal in Standard. Its oracle text ties its effect directly to a commander's color identity, which means it produces no mana in formats without commanders, making it effectively unplayable outside Commander-adjacent formats despite broad technical legality.

Why is Command Tower so universally included?

Command Tower taps for any color in your commander's color identity at no mana cost and with no downside. Unlike Shocks, Fetches, or Duals, it enters untapped unconditionally and costs nothing to acquire at common rarity. For any deck with two or more colors, it is strictly better than a basic land in almost every scenario, which is why its inclusion rate approaches the theoretical ceiling for a singleton card.

How concentrated is the Command Tower data across players?

The multiplayer dataset spans 2343 unique players, and the single highest-volume contributor accounts for well under 2% of all tracked instances. That spread is one of the strongest concentration profiles in the Playgroup Live dataset, meaning the numbers reflect a broad population of Commander players rather than a handful of power users.