Live Play Data

Command Tower

Land · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

78%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

6352

Decks Running

3778

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

83%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Command Tower is in 78% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 83% of copies reach the battlefield, and 94% of those stay there through end of game.

Command Tower sits in 78% of the 4852 distinct Commander decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live, making it the defining land of the format. Across 2329 tracked multiplayer games, it has been brought to the table 6384 times and cast 1446 times.

The draw-to-play figure tells the clearest story: 83% 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 4.0, though a large cluster resolves on turn 1 from the opening hand. Once it resolves, Command Tower almost never leaves play: 94% battlefield stickiness is a structural ceiling that only basic lands approach.

The data is well-distributed across 1458 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

78% of tracked Commander decks include Command Tower
83% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4.0 median first-cast turn across all tracked games
94% battlefield stickiness once cast
1458 unique players have brought Command Tower to a tracked game
6384 total instances brought to a multiplayer game

First-cast turn

n=1446

26%

14%

10%

27%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 1 · P75 7 · max 24

Cast same turn as drawn 67%

The "good card" funnel

6384 brought · 1458 players

Brought to game

6384

Ever drawn

1734

Reached battlefield

1446

Still on board at game end

1362

83%

Of 6384 Command Towers brought to multiplayer games, 1734 were drawn, 1446 of those were cast, and 94% of resolved copies stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +2.7pp

Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=1445) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=4267).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 28% (n=274) — 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 +5.0pp; 95% confidence interval +2.7pp to +7.4pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

1919 instances

1.7%

Library

71.0%

Battlefield

11.7%

Graveyard

3.9%

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 51 decks
2 Zimone, Infinite Analyst 46 decks
3 Killian, Decisive Mentor 45 decks
4 Dina, Essence Brewer 39 decks
5 Ms. Bumbleflower 38 decks
6 The Ur-Dragon 38 decks
7 Ashling, the Limitless 28 decks
8 Quintorius, History Chaser 28 decks
9 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 27 decks
10 Rootha, Mastering the Moment 27 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 2329 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 1734 copies that reached a player's hand, 83% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Command Tower typically hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 4.0, 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 67%, 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 28% rate across 1445 participations, compared to 23% for participations where it stayed in the library. That is a +5.0 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 1458 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.