collections_bookmark Part of March of the Machine
Faerie Mastermind card art
Live Play Data

Faerie Mastermind

{1} {U} · Creature — Faerie Rogue · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
7%
Live Inclusion
Times Brought
746
Decks Running
397
Median Cast Turn
5.0
Drawn → Played
70%
Format

39% of games where Faerie Mastermind resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +13.7 percentage-point lift over the 26% baseline when the card stayed in the library.

Faerie Mastermind sits in 7% of tracked multiplayer Commander decks on Playgroup Live, appearing across 397 of the 5623 distinct decks that have played a recorded game. That places it firmly in the niche-but-consistent tier: not a universal staple, but a focused piece that shows up in decks built to exploit group draw.

The win-rate signal is the headline. Games in which Faerie Mastermind reached the battlefield showed a 39% normalized win rate across 150 observations, compared to 26% in games where it never left the library. That +13.7 percentage-point gap clears its own standard error, making it one of the more durable early signals in the dataset. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, later than its 2-mana cost might suggest, consistent with players holding it until opponent draw engines come online.

The flash body shapes how it plays differently from most 2-mana blue creatures. Players cast it at a median of 5.0 turns after drawing it, and only 34% of drawn copies were cast on the same turn they arrived in hand. That patience makes sense: Faerie Mastermind rewards timing, not speed.

At a glance
  • 7% of tracked multiplayer Commander decks include Faerie Mastermind
  • 39% win rate in games where Faerie Mastermind resolved
  • +13.7pp win-rate lift over the library baseline, directionally robust at this sample size
  • T5.0 median first-cast turn, reflecting deliberate timing over speed
  • 70% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
  • 42% battlefield stickiness once cast, moderate for a 2-toughness creature

First-cast turn

n=154
5%
T1
12%
T2
10%
T3
8%
T4
16%
T5
38%
T6-9
11%
T10+
Median 5.0 P25 3 · P75 8 · max 19
On curve 17% (19 / 154 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 34%

The "good card" funnel

746 brought · 341 players
Brought to game
746
Ever drawn
221
Reached battlefield
154
Still on board at game end
65
70%

Of 746 Faerie Masterminds brought to multiplayer games, 221 were drawn, 154 of those were cast, and 42% of cast copies survived to end of game on the battlefield.

≥ +5.5pp

Players who cast this card win 39% of the time (n=150) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=457).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 47% (n=62) — 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 +13.7pp; 95% confidence interval +5.5pp to +21.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

243 instances
5.8%
Library
26.7%
Battlefield
34.2%
Graveyard
12.8%
Exile

Most singleton cards never leave the library in a given game, so the proportion of Faerie Mastermind copies finishing on the battlefield or in the graveyard represents the active share of games where it genuinely shaped play.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list spans Izzet spell-copy, Simic creature synergy, and group-draw strategies, reflecting that Faerie Mastermind slots into any blue shell that expects opponents to draw multiple cards per turn.

Frequently Asked

How often is Faerie Mastermind drawn in a Commander game?
Across 707 tracked multiplayer games where Faerie Mastermind was in the deck, it was drawn 30% of the time. That is above the rough baseline for a singleton in a 100-card deck, reflecting that many of these decks build around draw synergies that accelerate digging. Of 221 drawn copies, 70% were cast before the game ended.
What turn does Faerie Mastermind usually get cast?
Median first cast is turn 5.0, with the middle 50% of casts falling between turns 3 and 8. That spread is wide, which aligns with the card's flash ability. Players can hold it and react to an opponent's draw trigger rather than deploying it proactively on curve. Only 17% of casts landed on-curve (turn 2), consistent with deliberate late deployment rather than a lack of opportunity.
Does casting Faerie Mastermind actually help you win?
The data shows a +13.7 percentage-point win-rate lift when comparing games where the card was cast (39%, n=150) to games where it stayed in the library (26%, n=457). The lower bound of that confidence interval is positive at this sample size, which is a stronger-than-usual early signal in the Playgroup Live dataset. Read it as directional rather than definitive, but the direction is consistent.
Is Faerie Mastermind legal in Commander?
Yes. Faerie Mastermind is legal and unrestricted in Commander as well as in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, and Brawl formats. It is not legal in Standard or Pauper Commander. Its color identity is mono-blue, so it fits into any Commander deck running a blue commander.
Which commanders most often run Faerie Mastermind?
Rootha, Mastering the Moment leads the tracked dataset, followed by Ms. Bumbleflower and Sonic the Hedgehog. The spread across commanders is broad: 341 distinct players have brought the card to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 30% of instances, indicating the data is not dominated by one pilot's results. Blue-heavy draw-matters and spell-copy strategies appear most consistently.
How sticky is Faerie Mastermind once it hits the battlefield?
42% of cast copies were still on the battlefield at the end of the game. That is moderate for a 2-toughness flying creature in Commander, where removal pressure is high and combat is frequent. A meaningful share ended in the graveyard, consistent with the card trading with attackers or drawing targeted removal once its draw trigger becomes relevant.