Live Play Data

Foundry Inspector

· Artifact Creature — Construct · Commander Masters (CMM)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

847

Decks Running

441

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

78%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

78% of drawn Foundry Inspectors are cast before the game ends, and decks that resolve it win at a 30% rate vs. 22% when it stays buried, an early signal of real impact in artifact-heavy pods.

Foundry Inspector shows up in 4% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. That modest headline number reflects its niche identity: it belongs in artifact-dense shells and rarely wanders outside them. Across 796 tracked games, it has been brought to a pod 847 times and cast 170 times.

The cast-vs-library win-rate gap is +8.2 percentage points in favor of games where the card resolved. With 168 observations on the cast side and 565 on the library side, this is a directional signal rather than a settled conclusion, but the direction is consistent: getting Foundry Inspector onto the table correlates with winning more often. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, one turn ahead of its printed mana cost, which reflects the ramp-heavy artifact decks that run it.

Colorless identity makes Foundry Inspector a clean fit for any artifact commander regardless of color. The top-commander list is anchored by artifact-tribal and artifact-synergy strategies, confirming it is doing exactly the work its oracle text promises.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Foundry Inspector
78% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5.0 median first-cast turn, one ahead of its 3-mana cost
52% battlefield stickiness once it resolves
+8.2pp win-rate lift when cast vs. when it stays in the library
360 distinct players have brought it to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=170

10%

23%

13%

11%

34%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 3 · P75 7 · max 17

On curve 33% (39 / 170 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 38%

The "good card" funnel

847 brought · 360 players

Brought to game

847

Ever drawn

217

Reached battlefield

170

Still on board at game end

78%

Of 847 Foundry Inspectors brought to games, 217 were drawn, 170 of those were cast, and 52% of resolved copies stayed on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ +1.1pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=168) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=565).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 11% (n=45) — 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 +8.2pp; 95% confidence interval +1.1pp to +15.3pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

241 instances

2.9%

Library

36.5%

Battlefield

37.8%

Graveyard

7.9%

Exile

Most Foundry Inspectors never leave the library, a natural result of singleton construction in 100-card decks, but among observed copies the battlefield is the single most common final destination.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Ultron, Artificial Malevolence 18 decks
2 Mendicant Core, Guidelight 17 decks
3 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 15 decks
4 Dr. Eggman 13 decks
5 Shorikai, Genesis Engine 11 decks
6 Urza, Lord High Artificer 11 decks
7 Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch 10 decks
8 Breya, Etherium Shaper 9 decks
9 Imotekh the Stormlord 9 decks
10 Ragost, Deft Gastronaut 9 decks

The top-commander list skews heavily artifact-tribal, with Mendicant Core and Tony Stark leading, confirming Foundry Inspector is concentrated in dedicated artifact strategies rather than spread broadly across the meta.

Frequently Asked

How often is Foundry Inspector drawn and cast in a Commander game?

In 796 tracked games where Foundry Inspector was in the deck, it was drawn 26% of the time, consistent with singleton odds in a 100-card deck. Of the 217 copies that reached a hand, 78% were cast before the game ended. Median first cast is turn 5.0.

Does casting Foundry Inspector actually improve your win rate?

Directionally, yes. Decks that resolved Foundry Inspector won at 30% (168 observations), compared to 22% in games where it never left the library (565 observations). The gap is +8.2 percentage points. Both sample sizes exceed 15, so this is a meaningful early signal, though the dataset is not large enough to call it conclusive.

What turn does Foundry Inspector usually hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 5.0, with the distribution mode at turn 3, matching its printed mana cost. The 25th percentile is turn 3 and the 75th is turn 7, so the bulk of casts cluster in the early-to-mid game. Seeing it land on turn 2 happens occasionally, likely via mana rocks or cost-reduction effects already in play.

Which commanders run Foundry Inspector most often?

The top commanders in the tracked dataset are heavily artifact-focused: Mendicant Core, Guidelight leads the list, followed by Tony Stark, Ultron, and classic artifact commanders like Urza. Colorless identity means Foundry Inspector fits any of them without restricting color choices, which is a large part of its appeal in the format.

Is Foundry Inspector legal in Commander?

Yes. Foundry Inspector is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Pauper Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Alchemy, or Penny Dreadful. Its common rarity also makes it a staple in Pauper Commander lists.

How sticky is Foundry Inspector once it resolves?

52% of cast copies remain on the battlefield at end of game. That is moderate stickiness for a 3-mana creature with no built-in protection. It ends up in the graveyard more often than a pure utility artifact would, which reflects the removal pressure it attracts in competitive artifact pods where opponents recognize the cost-reduction threat immediately.