Live Play Data

Ghalta, Primal Hunger

· Legendary Creature — Elder Dinosaur · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

982

Decks Running

478

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

72%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

40% of games where Ghalta, Primal Hunger resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +14.3 percentage-point lift over the 26% baseline for decks that never cast it.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger sits in 6% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. Its nominal mana cost is 12, but its cost-reduction clause means virtually every cast in the data arrived well ahead of that curve.

When drawn, Ghalta reaches the battlefield 72% of the time. Players who resolve it win at 40%, compared to 26% for participations where Ghalta stayed buried. That +14.3-point delta has a lower bound above zero in our data, making it one of the more reliable signals we see for a creature at this price point. Both sample sizes are healthy: 159 cast observations and 604 library observations.

The commander distribution is broad. Pantlaza, Sun-Favored and Gishath, Sun's Avatar lead the list, but Ghalta appears across mono-green stompy builds, Gruul aggro, and a range of creature-heavy piles that can turn the Elder Dinosaur's power-counting clause into a turn-4 or turn-5 cast. The data is well-spread: 410 distinct players have brought Ghalta to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 5% of all instances.

At a glance

6% of tracked Commander decks include Ghalta, Primal Hunger
40% win rate when Ghalta resolves, vs 26% when it stays in the library
T7 median first-cast turn, despite a printed cost of 12 mana
72% of drawn Ghaltas reach the battlefield before the game ends
58% battlefield stickiness once cast
97% of casts arrived ahead of the nominal curve via cost reduction

First-cast turn

n=175

15%

63%

T6-9

15%

T10+

Median 7 P25 6 · P75 9 · max 19

On curve 97% (3 / 175 cast on T12) Cast same turn as drawn 37%

The "good card" funnel

985 brought · 410 players

Brought to game

985

Ever drawn

242

Reached battlefield

175

Still on board at game end

149

72%

Of 985 Ghaltas brought to games, 242 were drawn, 175 of those were cast, and 58% of cast copies were still on the battlefield when the game ended.

≥ +6.7pp

Players who cast this card win 40% of the time (n=159) , vs 26% when it never left the library (n=604).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 21% (n=66) — 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 +14.3pp; 95% confidence interval +6.7pp to +21.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

335 instances

2.7%

Library

44.5%

Battlefield

23.9%

Graveyard

6.6%

Exile

Most singleton cards in a 100-card deck never leave the library, but Ghalta bucks that trend: a large share of observed copies finish on the battlefield, and a meaningful cluster end in the graveyard after being answered or sacrificed.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Pantlaza, Sun-Favored 60 decks
2 Gishath, Sun's Avatar 48 decks
3 Bello, Bard of the Brambles 42 decks
4 Ghalta, Primal Hunger 27 decks
5 Atla Palani, Nest Tender 23 decks
6 Dina, Essence Brewer 11 decks
7 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers 11 decks
8 Eddie Brock // Venom, Lethal Protector 10 decks
9 Eshki, Temur's Roar 10 decks
10 Kona, Rescue Beastie 9 decks

Dinosaur tribal commanders dominate the top slots, but Ghalta spreads across mono-green stompy, Gruul aggro, and creature-heavy piles of many colors, reflecting how broadly its cost-reduction clause applies.

Card text

Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Legendary Creature — Elder Dinosaur

This spell costs {X}

less to cast, where X is the total power of creatures you control. Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.)

12 / 12

Foundations (FDN) · Rare · Illustrated by Chase Stone

Frequently Asked

How often is Ghalta actually cast on its printed cost of 12 mana?

Almost never. In 159 cast observations, 97% of casts arrived ahead of the printed mana value, meaning Ghalta's power-counting clause is doing real work in nearly every game it resolves. The median first-cast turn is 7, which is dramatically earlier than a 12-mana card has any right to be.

How often is Ghalta drawn in a Commander game?

In 941 tracked multiplayer games where Ghalta was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 242 instances that reached a hand, 72% were cast before the game ended. The remainder reflects games that ended before the player could deploy it, not a strategic choice to hold the card.

Does casting Ghalta actually improve your win rate?

The directional signal is clear. Participations where Ghalta resolved show a 40% win rate (n=159), versus 26% for participations where it sat in the library (n=604). The +14.3-point delta has a lower bound above zero in the current dataset. As always with live-play data, treat this as a strong early signal rather than a definitive claim.

How sticky is Ghalta once it hits the battlefield?

58% of cast Ghaltas remain on the battlefield at the game's end. For a 12-power creature with trample and no built-in protection, that is a reasonable survival rate. It does get targeted, but a large share of resolved copies simply close the game before opponents can answer them.

What commanders run Ghalta most often?

Pantlaza, Sun-Favored and Gishath, Sun's Avatar lead the count, reflecting Ghalta's home in Naya Dinosaur builds. Bello, Bard of the Brambles and Atla Palani, Nest Tender also appear near the top. The spread is wide: 410 distinct players have logged Ghalta to a tracked game, and the single highest-volume player contributes only 5% of all instances, so the data is not dominated by one power user.

Is Ghalta, Primal Hunger legal in Commander?

Yes. Ghalta, Primal Hunger is legal in Commander and has no restrictions. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Vintage, and Historic. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander due to its rare printing.