Live Play Data

Evolving Wilds

Land · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

22%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

4877

Decks Running

2696

Median Cast Turn

4.0

Drawn → Played

69%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Evolving Wilds appears in 22% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, and when drawn, 69% of copies reach the battlefield before the game ends, with a median first activation on turn 4.0.

Evolving Wilds is a colorless fixing staple that shows up in 22% of the 12009 distinct decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live. That rate reflects its role as a go-to basic-land tutor for multicolor decks that cannot afford a full suite of dual lands.

When a copy lands in a player's hand, it is activated and sacrificed 69% of the time before the game closes out. Median first activation sits on turn 4.0, though the distribution is bimodal: a large cluster fires on turn 1 from opening hands, and the rest spread across turns 4 through 8. Because the land sacrifices itself on resolution, battlefield stickiness is structurally near zero and is not a useful lens here. The relevant question is whether the fetched basic shows up in time to matter, and the turn-1 mode suggests it often does.

Data comes from 3472 tracked multiplayer Commander games. With 1512 unique players contributing and the single heaviest contributor accounting for only 1% of instances, the dataset is well-spread. Read the win-rate lift as an early directional signal rather than a proven effect.

At a glance

22% of tracked Commander decks include Evolving Wilds
25% draw rate across deck participations, typical for a singleton
69% of drawn copies are activated before the game ends
T4.0 median turn of first activation, with a mode of turn 1
1512 unique players contributed data, indicating a well-spread sample
+4.0 percentage-point win-rate lift when cast vs. never interacted with (directional, not conclusive)

First-cast turn

n=846

29%

10%

28%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.0 P25 1 · P75 7 · max 23

Cast same turn as drawn 62%

The "good card" funnel

4889 brought · 1512 players

Brought to game

4889

Ever drawn

1218

Reached battlefield

846

Still on board at game end

69%

Of 4889 Evolving Wilds brought to games, 1218 were drawn and 846 were activated, with nearly all activated copies ending in the graveyard as intended after fetching a basic land.

≥ +0.9pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=806) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=3193).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 27% (n=352) — 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 +4.0pp; 95% confidence interval +0.9pp to +7.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

1350 instances

3.9%

Library

4.1%

Battlefield

66.7%

Graveyard

8.0%

Exile

Most Evolving Wilds copies end the game in the graveyard after sacrificing to fetch a basic, which is exactly the intended outcome. The small slice remaining in hand reflects games that ended before the land could be activated.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list is spread across a wide range of color identities and strategies, from Esper to Naya to five-color, confirming that Evolving Wilds functions as a broad fixing tool rather than a card tied to one archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Evolving Wilds drawn in a Commander game?

Across 3472 tracked games where Evolving Wilds was in a deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is consistent with what you would expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 1218 copies that reached a player's hand, 69% were activated before the game ended.

What turn does Evolving Wilds usually get activated?

The median first activation lands on turn 4.0, but the mode is turn 1. A substantial portion of copies are held in opening hands and cracked immediately to fix mana from the very first turn. The rest of the distribution spreads through the mid-game, reflecting copies drawn off the top of the deck well after the early turns.

Does playing Evolving Wilds actually improve your win rate?

Games where Evolving Wilds was activated show a win rate of 26%, compared to 22% for games where it was never interacted with. That is a +4.0 percentage-point gap. Both sample sizes are large enough to treat this as a consistent directional signal, though the effect reflects deck quality and fixing access rather than the card in isolation.

Why does Evolving Wilds show such low battlefield stickiness?

Evolving Wilds sacrifices itself as part of its activation. Once you tap and sacrifice it to search for a basic, the land goes to the graveyard. Battlefield stickiness is therefore structurally near zero for this card and is not a meaningful performance indicator. The graveyard is the expected final zone for the vast majority of activated copies.

Which commanders run Evolving Wilds most often?

The top commanders by raw deck count are Y'shtola, Night's Blessed (Esper), Ms. Bumbleflower (Bant), Pantlaza, Sun-Favored (Naya), Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER (Naya), and Tidus, Yuna's Guardian (Bant). The spread across three-color and two-color identities confirms that Evolving Wilds serves decks that need basic-land fixing across multiple colors rather than any single strategy.

Is Evolving Wilds legal in Commander and other formats?

Evolving Wilds is legal in Commander, as well as Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Pauper, and most other sanctioned formats. It is not legal in Old School or Premodern. In Commander, its colorless identity means it fits into any deck regardless of color identity, making it a universal fixing option for budget and competitive builds alike.