Elvish Mystic
76% of drawn Elvish Mystics are cast before the game ends, with a median first-cast turn of 3 across 2375 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live.
Elvish Mystic sits in 15% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, appearing in 1365 of 8985 distinct decks that have played a live game. When it reaches a player's hand, 76% of copies are cast before the game concludes.
The median first-cast turn is 3, but the distribution tells a sharper story: the mode is turn 1, driven by opening-hand keeps where Elvish Mystic does exactly what a 1-mana dork is supposed to do. Players cast it on the same turn they draw it 72% of the time, which reflects how little deliberation the card demands. You see it, you play it.
Restricted to green and green-hybrid commanders, Elvish Mystic competes in a crowded field of 1-mana accelerants. Its appeal is straightforward: a 1/1 body that adds {G} the moment it lands, smoothing out curve decisions for any green deck that wants to reach 3 or 4 mana a turn ahead of schedule. The data here covers multiplayer Commander; the card is also legal and commonly played in Duel Commander, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Pauper.
- 15% of tracked Commander decks include Elvish Mystic
- 76% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- T3 median first-cast turn, with turn 1 as the most common single turn
- 72% of cast instances go down the same turn they are drawn
- 54% battlefield stickiness once resolved
- 1017 distinct players have brought Elvish Mystic to a tracked game
First-cast turn
n=527The "good card" funnel
2624 brought · 1017 playersOf 2624 Elvish Mystics brought to games, 694 were drawn, 527 of those were cast, and roughly half stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.
Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=495) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1657).
When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 36% (n=154) — 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 +3.7pp; 95% confidence interval -0.3pp to +7.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.
Final zone distribution
741 instancesMost Elvish Mystics that enter a tracked game stay in the library undrawn, which is expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those that do resolve, a meaningful share remain on the battlefield at game's end, with the graveyard as the primary exit for creatures that were removed or swept.
Commanders that played this card
in tracked games-
1
Dina, Essence Brewer
90 decks
-
2
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
49 decks
-
3
Witherbloom, the Balancer
43 decks
-
4
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
30 decks
-
5
High Perfect Morcant
29 decks
-
6
Thranduil, the Elvenking
27 decks
-
7
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
26 decks
-
8
Voja, Jaws of the Conclave
26 decks
-
9
Ghalta, Primal Hunger
23 decks
-
10
Maralen, Fae Ascendant
22 decks
Dina, Essence Brewer claims the top spot by a wide margin, but the commander list is genuinely spread across Golgari, Simic, Gruul, and mono-green shells, reflecting that Elvish Mystic is a format tool rather than a single-archetype staple.