Live Play Data

Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness

Legendary Creature — Elder Dinosaur // Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Elder Dinosaur · March of the Machine (MOM)

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

474

Decks Running

239

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

84%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

50% of games where Etali, Primal Conqueror resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +24.1 percentage-point lift over decks where it stayed in the library, on 104 observations.

Etali, Primal Conqueror resolves and wins. Across 461 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, 50% of games where Etali reached the battlefield ended in victory for the player who cast it, compared to 26% for games where it never left the library. That +24.1 percentage-point gap is one of the larger win-rate lifts tracked on the platform, and with 104 cast observations backing it, the signal is meaningful rather than incidental.

The card costs 9 mana, yet the median first cast lands on turn 7. That reflects how heavily Etali is played in ramp-heavy strategies: 62% of casts are on the card's mana-value turn exactly, while the majority arrive ahead of curve thanks to cost-reduction effects and dedicated ramp packages. Once it hits the stack and resolves, 65% of copies remain on the battlefield at game's end. Removal does find it, but less often than you might expect for a 9-mana threat.

Etali sits in 239 of the 2995 distinct tracked decks, an 8% inclusion rate driven almost entirely by Dinosaur tribal, big-creature-cheat, and Temur stompy strategies. The commander distribution chart below tells that story plainly: Gishath, Pantlaza, and Atla Palani dominate the top slots.

At a glance

50% win rate in games where Etali was cast, on 104 observations
+24.1pp win-rate lift over games where Etali never left the library
T7 median first-cast turn despite a 9-mana cost
84% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
65% battlefield stickiness once it resolves
8% inclusion rate across 2995 tracked decks

First-cast turn

n=111

13%

17%

64%

T6-9

T10+

Median 7 P25 5 · P75 8 · max 18

On curve 62% (17 / 111 cast on T7) Cast same turn as drawn 35%

The "good card" funnel

475 brought · 218 players

Brought to game

475

Ever drawn

132

Reached battlefield

111

Still on board at game end

84%

Of 475 Etalis brought to games, 132 were drawn, 111 of those were cast, and 65% of resolved copies survived to the game's final zone.

≥ +14.3pp

Players who cast this card win 50% of the time (n=104) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=282).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 20% (n=19) — 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 +24.1pp; 95% confidence interval +14.3pp to +33.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

163 instances

2.5%

Library

52.8%

Battlefield

17.2%

Graveyard

12.9%

Exile

The majority of observed Etali copies finish on the battlefield or in the command zone, a sharply different profile from typical high-cost singletons where most copies never leave the library.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Gishath, Sun's Avatar 35 decks
2 Pantlaza, Sun-Favored 33 decks
3 Atla Palani, Nest Tender 17 decks
4 Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness 17 decks
5 Henzie "Toolbox" Torre 17 decks
6 Maelstrom Wanderer 10 decks
7 Eshki, Temur's Roar 7 decks
8 Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer 7 decks
9 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers 7 decks
10 Rocco, Street Chef 5 decks

Gishath, Pantlaza, and Atla Palani each lead large deck clusters, confirming Etali is above all a Dinosaur-tribal staple, with Gruul and Temur cheat-into-play strategies filling the next tier.

Frequently Asked

How often is Etali, Primal Conqueror drawn in a Commander game?

Across 461 tracked multiplayer games where Etali was in the deck, it was drawn 28% of the time. That is typical for a high-cost singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 132 drawn copies, 84% were cast before the game concluded. The remainder were largely held in hand while the game ended around them or were never cast due to timing constraints.

What turn does Etali usually get cast?

Median first cast lands on turn 7, with a p25 of turn 5 and a p75 of turn 8. For a 9-mana card, that is genuinely early, and it reflects the ramp-heavy and cost-reduction strategies that run Etali. Only 62% of casts land exactly on the mana-value turn, meaning the majority arrive ahead of curve through effects like Selvala's Stampede, Sneak Attack, or general green ramp.

Does casting Etali actually improve your win rate?

The data says yes, with the caveat that both buckets matter. Games where Etali was cast show a 50% win rate across 104 observations. Games where it stayed in the library show 26% across 282 observations. The +24.1 percentage-point delta is a directional signal that resolving this card meaningfully improves your odds, though some of that gap is also explained by the quality of the decks running it.

How sticky is Etali on the battlefield?

65% of Etali copies that reach the battlefield are still there at game's end. Removal does answer it, and a non-trivial share ends up in the graveyard or exile, but the majority of resolutions stick around long enough to generate serious value through repeated attack triggers. For an 11/11 trample body, that durability is consistent with what experienced players expect.

Which commanders run Etali most often?

In the multiplayer data, Gishath, Sun's Avatar leads with the most decks, followed closely by Pantlaza, Sun-Favored and Atla Palani, Nest Tender. All three are Naya Dinosaur commanders who can cheat Etali into play off tribal triggers or egg tokens. Etali itself also appears as a commander, and Henzie and Maelstrom Wanderer round out the top group as non-tribal cheat-into-play strategies.

Is Etali, Primal Conqueror legal in Commander?

Yes. Etali, Primal Conqueror is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, and Oathbreaker as of the March of the Machine printing. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. There are no current bans or restrictions in Commander. Note that the March of the Machine version is a transforming double-faced card with a Phyrexian face, Etali, Primal Sickness, though the front face is the one typically used in Commander.