Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
65% of drawn Dryad of the Ilysian Grove copies are cast before the game ends, with a median first-cast turn of 5 across 631 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live.
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove sits in 6% of the 5531 distinct Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, appearing in 344 unique lists. That modest inclusion rate reflects its color-identity constraint: the Dryad is mono-green, so it only slots into decks that can cast a 3-mana green creature.
When the card does reach a player's hand, 65% of those copies are cast before the game concludes. Players hold it a median of one turn before casting, and 33% of first casts land exactly on curve at turn 3. The rest skew later, a pattern consistent with players drawing it after the early ramp window has already closed.
The Dryad pulls double duty: an extra land drop each turn stacks directly with landfall commanders, while the basic land type grant unlocks fetchland synergies and domain strategies across any deck that can support it. That broad utility explains why it shows up across a wide spread of commander archetypes rather than concentrating in one shell.
- 6% of tracked Commander decks include Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
- 65% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- T5 median first-cast turn
- 62% battlefield stickiness once cast
- 301 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
- 33% of first casts land exactly on curve at turn 3
First-cast turn
n=125The "good card" funnel
665 brought · 301 playersOf 665 Dryads brought to games, 191 were drawn, 125 of those were cast, and 62% of cast copies remained on the battlefield through end of game.
Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=120) , vs 23% when it never left the library (n=418).
When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 34% (n=58) — 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 +4.7pp; 95% confidence interval -3.2pp to +12.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.
Final zone distribution
210 instancesMost Dryad of the Ilysian Grove copies end the game on the battlefield or in the graveyard, with very few stranded in the library, a sign that players who draw it almost always find a turn to cast it.
Commanders that played this card
in tracked games-
1
Toph, the First Metalbender
21 decks
-
2
Flubs, the Fool
18 decks
-
3
Omo, Queen of Vesuva
16 decks
-
4
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
14 decks
-
5
Go-Shintai of Life's Origin
12 decks
-
6
Anikthea, Hand of Erebos
10 decks
-
7
Hearthhull, the Worldseed
10 decks
-
8
The Wandering Minstrel
9 decks
-
9
Hei Bai, Forest Guardian
6 decks
-
10
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
6 decks
The commander list spans Naya, Temur, Simic, and five-color shells, showing the Dryad is not locked to a single archetype but spreads across any strategy that rewards extra land drops or basic land type grants.