Live Play Data

Gilded Goose

· Creature — Bird · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

505

Decks Running

226

Median Cast Turn

4.5

Drawn → Played

85%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

85% of drawn Gilded Geese are cast before the game ends, and the median first cast lands on turn 4.5, making it one of the faster mana creatures in tracked Commander games.

Gilded Goose sits in 4% of the 5105 Commander decks that have played a tracked game on Playgroup Live, appearing most heavily in Food-synergy and sacrifice shells. When a copy reaches a player's hand, 85% of those instances reach the battlefield, a high conversion rate for a 1-mana creature in a 100-card singleton format.

The median first cast falls on turn 4.5, consistent with players leading with the Goose when they draw it early. 66% of cast instances were played on the same turn they were drawn, so the card is not typically held in hand waiting for a better moment. Because the Goose taps to sacrifice a Food for colored mana, its value compounds across turns rather than ending at the cast event itself.

The data is well-spread across 236 distinct players, with no single contributor accounting for more than a small share of the total observations. That breadth adds credibility to the directional signals here, even as we note the dataset is still growing.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Gilded Goose
85% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4.5 median first-cast turn
66% of casts happen the same turn the Goose is drawn
40% battlefield stickiness once cast
236 distinct players have brought Gilded Goose to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=104

20%

13%

10%

33%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4.5 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 18

On curve 20% (21 / 104 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 66%

The "good card" funnel

506 brought · 236 players

Brought to game

506

Ever drawn

122

Reached battlefield

104

Still on board at game end

85%

Of 506 Gilded Geese brought to tracked games, 122 were drawn, 104 of those were cast, and 40% of cast copies survived to end of game, though many intentional sacrifices drive that number lower than permanents without a built-in sacrifice mode.

≥ -0.3pp

Players who cast this card win 32% of the time (n=101) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=336).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 38% (n=18) — 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 +9.2pp; 95% confidence interval -0.3pp to +18.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

133 instances

0.8%

Library

31.6%

Battlefield

47.4%

Graveyard

9.0%

Exile

Most tracked copies of Gilded Goose end up in the graveyard rather than the library, a direct result of players actively sacrificing it or its Food tokens as part of their gameplan rather than leaving it untouched.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Dina, Essence Brewer 44 decks
2 Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit 29 decks
3 Chatterfang, Squirrel General 26 decks
4 Hazel of the Rootbloom 22 decks
5 Ygra, Eater of All 20 decks
6 Baylen, the Haymaker 12 decks
7 Camellia, the Seedmiser 10 decks
8 Choco, Seeker of Paradise 8 decks
9 Rocco, Street Chef 8 decks
10 Sam, Loyal Attendant 7 decks

The commander list skews heavily toward Black-Green Food and sacrifice strategies, with Dina, Essence Brewer leading by a wide margin, showing Gilded Goose finds its clearest home in value-engine shells.

Frequently Asked

How often is Gilded Goose drawn in a Commander game?

Across 485 tracked multiplayer games where Gilded Goose was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is a typical draw rate for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 122 instances that reached a hand, 85% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Gilded Goose usually get cast?

The median first-cast turn is 4.5. The distribution has a strong early cluster, with many casts on turn 1, reflecting copies kept in opening hands. The mode is turn 1. Later casts show up well into the midgame for copies drawn after the opening hand, pulling the mean higher than the median.

Does casting Gilded Goose correlate with winning?

In 101 participations where Gilded Goose resolved, the normalized win rate is 32%, compared to 22% in the 336 participations where it stayed in the library. That is a +9.2 percentage-point gap. Both buckets are reasonably sized, but the dataset is still early-stage, so treat this as a directional signal rather than a definitive finding.

Is Gilded Goose legal in Commander?

Yes. Gilded Goose is legal in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. In Commander specifically, its ability to produce colored mana from a 1-mana creature makes it a reliable early accelerant in green decks that can also generate Food tokens.

Which commanders most often pair with Gilded Goose?

Among decks tracked on Playgroup Live, Dina, Essence Brewer leads the list by raw deck count, followed by Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Chatterfang, Squirrel General. The top commanders skew toward Black-Green sacrifice and Food-matters strategies, which makes sense given the Goose's token-generation and sacrifice utility.

How sticky is Gilded Goose on the battlefield?

40% of cast Gilded Geese remain on the battlefield at the end of the game. That is lower than a typical artifact or enchantment, which reflects the Goose's role as an active sacrifice outlet. Players frequently sacrifice it or its Food tokens as part of normal gameplay, so it is not designed to be a permanent fixture.