Live Play Data

Cultivate

· Sorcery · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

39%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1570

Decks Running

854

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

70%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Cultivate sits in 39% of tracked Commander decks and reaches the battlefield in 70% of instances where it was drawn, with a median first-cast turn of 4.0.

Cultivate is one of green's most-played ramp spells in Commander, and Playgroup Live's tracked games confirm the reputation. 39% of the 2180 decks in the dataset run it, making it a near-default slot in any green shell.

The practical picture: Cultivate is drawn in 24% of games where it is in the deck. Of those drawn copies, 70% are cast before the game ends. Median first cast lands on turn 4.0, right on its 3-mana curve, and the distribution clusters heavily in turns 3 through 5. Because it resolves to the graveyard, there is nothing to stick on the battlefield, but the two land cards it fetches do the staying power for it.

Commander's baseline win rate in a four-player pod is 25%. Cast copies show a win rate of 26% in this dataset, a directional lift over games where Cultivate sat in the library, though the sample should be read carefully given the dataset's current size. The card's broad appeal spans green commanders of every archetype, from two-color midrange to five-color goodstuff.

At a glance

39% of tracked Commander decks include Cultivate
24% draw rate across games where it was in the deck
70% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T4.0 median first-cast turn, matching its 3-mana cost
593 distinct players have brought Cultivate to a tracked game, spread evenly across the dataset

First-cast turn

n=264

13%

26%

15%

27%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 3 · P75 6 · max 14

On curve 42% (68 / 264 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 35%

The "good card" funnel

1581 brought · 593 players

Brought to game

1581

Ever drawn

376

Reached battlefield

264

Still on board at game end

70%

Of 1581 Cultivates brought to games, 376 were drawn and 264 of those were cast, a draw-to-play rate of 70% that reflects how consistently players fire it when they find it.

≥ -2.2pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=263) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=1107).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 25% (n=110) — 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 +3.2pp; 95% confidence interval -2.2pp to +8.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

409 instances

3.4%

Library

0.7%

Battlefield

68.9%

Graveyard

8.3%

Exile

Cultivate is a sorcery, so nearly every resolved copy ends in the graveyard. The handful landing elsewhere reflects exiled cards or copies countered before resolution, not permanent battlefield presence.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Dina, Essence Brewer leads the list by a wide margin in raw deck count, but the commander spread is genuinely broad, spanning two-color midrange all the way to five-color goodstuff builds that need reliable basic land fixing.

Frequently Asked

How often is Cultivate drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1245 tracked multiplayer games where Cultivate was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That figure is expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 376 drawn copies, 70% were cast before the game concluded. The remainder largely reflects games that ended before the player found an opportunity to cast it, not a deliberate choice to hold the card.

What turn does Cultivate typically get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 4.0, which lands exactly on its 3-mana curve. The distribution shows a mode of turn 3 and a P75 of turn 7, meaning three-quarters of casts happen by turn 7. A small cluster of early casts on turns 1 and 2 reflects games with mana acceleration that let players fire it ahead of schedule. The spread is wide, with some copies landing as late as turn 14, consistent with it being drawn deep in the game.

Does casting Cultivate actually improve your win rate?

In 263 participations where Cultivate was cast, the normalized win rate was 26%, compared to 23% across 1107 participations where it stayed in the library. That is a +3.2 percentage-point difference. Both buckets have solid sample sizes, but Playgroup Live's overall dataset is still growing, so treat this as an early directional signal rather than a definitive finding.

Is Cultivate legal in Commander?

Yes. Cultivate is legal in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Pauper, and most other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Alchemy, or Old School. Pauper Commander players will note it is also legal there, consistent with its common rarity.

Which commanders most often run Cultivate in tracked games?

Dina, Essence Brewer leads the multiplayer dataset by raw deck count. The list also features five-color commanders like Ashling the Limitless and The Ur-Dragon, which depend heavily on consistent mana fixing across basic land types. The spread across 593 distinct players, with no single player accounting for more than a small fraction of tracked games, gives the data reasonable breadth.

How does Cultivate compare to similar ramp spells?

Cultivate and its functional twin Kodama's Reach are often treated as interchangeable. Both cost 3 mana in green and fetch two basics, one to the battlefield tapped and one to hand. Because Playgroup Live tracks cards individually, we can only speak to Cultivate's own numbers here. What we see: an 39% inclusion rate and a 70% draw-to-play rate, consistent with a card players commit to casting whenever they find it.