Live Play Data

Gilded Lotus

· Artifact · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

822

Decks Running

444

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

74%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

38% of games where Gilded Lotus resolved ended in a win for the caster, a +16.7 percentage-point lift over games where it stayed in the library, across 126 observed participations.

Gilded Lotus is a five-mana artifact that taps for three mana of any one color, making it one of the most powerful mana accelerants legal in Commander. Across 790 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live, decks that resolved it won 38% of the time versus 21% when it never left the library. That +16.7 percentage-point gap is a consistent early signal that getting this card onto the battlefield matters.

The card sits in 444 of the 12009 distinct decks in the dataset, an 4% inclusion rate that reflects its colorless identity and steep mana cost. Any commander deck can run it, but the five-mana floor means it competes with other mid-game plays. Median first cast lands on turn 6, well past the opening ramp window, so Gilded Lotus functions more as a mid-game acceleration engine than an early-game ramp piece.

Data is spread across 357 unique players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for 3% of all tracked instances. That spread lends the numbers reasonable breadth for a Playgroup Live sample, though the dataset is still growing and all win-rate signals should be read as directional rather than conclusive.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Gilded Lotus
74% of drawn copies reached the battlefield before the game ended
T6 median first-cast turn, reflecting its five-mana cost
79% battlefield stickiness once resolved
38% win rate in games where Gilded Lotus was cast
357 unique players have brought Gilded Lotus to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=131

14%

18%

50%

T6-9

T10+

Median 6 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 14

On curve 43% (23 / 131 cast on T5) Cast same turn as drawn 37%

The "good card" funnel

824 brought · 357 players

Brought to game

824

Ever drawn

177

Reached battlefield

131

Still on board at game end

104

74%

Of 824 Gilded Lotuses brought to games, 177 were drawn, 131 of those were cast, and 79% of resolved copies remained on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +8.5pp

Players who cast this card win 38% of the time (n=126) , vs 21% when it never left the library (n=560).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 30% (n=40) — 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 +16.7pp; 95% confidence interval +8.5pp to +24.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

200 instances

4.0%

Library

52.0%

Battlefield

17.0%

Graveyard

5.5%

Exile

The vast majority of Gilded Lotus copies end the game on the battlefield or still in the library, with graveyard finishes accounting for a meaningful but smaller share, reflecting the card's resilience once it resolves.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 T'Challa, the Black Panther 51 decks
2 Bello, Bard of the Brambles 37 decks
3 Szarekh, the Silent King 25 decks
4 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 16 decks
5 Ovika, Enigma Goliath 14 decks
6 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 9 decks
7 Ultron, Artificial Malevolence 8 decks
8 Braids, Conjurer Adept 6 decks
9 Imotekh the Stormlord 5 decks
10 Memnarch 5 decks

The top-commander list spans five or more distinct color identities, showing that Gilded Lotus earns a slot across a broad range of archetypes rather than concentrating in one niche strategy.

Frequently Asked

How often is Gilded Lotus drawn in a Commander game?

In 790 tracked games where Gilded Lotus was in the deck, it was drawn 21% of the time. That is consistent with what you would expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 177 drawn copies, 74% were cast before the game ended. The remainder reflects games that concluded before the player could deploy it, not necessarily a choice to hold it.

What turn does Gilded Lotus typically hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 6, with the interquartile range spanning turns 4 to 7. A handful of copies come down as early as turn 1 or 2, likely through ramp or cost-reduction effects, but the bulk of casts cluster around turns 5 through 7. That timeline puts Gilded Lotus squarely in the mid-game, where the three mana it generates can fuel large spells or activate demanding activated abilities.

Does casting Gilded Lotus actually improve your win rate?

What we see so far is directional: decks that resolved Gilded Lotus won 38% of games versus 21% when it stayed in the library, a +16.7 percentage-point gap across 126 cast observations and 560 library observations. Both sample sizes are large enough to take seriously, and the lower bound of the confidence interval sits above zero, which strengthens the signal. Still, treat it as a strong directional finding rather than a definitive proof of causation.

How sticky is Gilded Lotus once it hits the battlefield?

79% of resolved Gilded Lotuses remained on the battlefield at the end of the game. Artifact removal does answer it, but the numbers suggest most tables either lack the removal at the right moment or prioritize other targets. It is a non-zero threat to run into a Vandalblast or Dockside Extortionist trigger, but the average Lotus lives through the game once it lands.

Which commanders most often run Gilded Lotus?

T'Challa, the Black Panther leads the tracked dataset by deck count, followed by Bello, Bard of the Brambles and Szarekh, the Silent King. The list spans multiple color identities and archetypes, which makes sense: Gilded Lotus has no color identity of its own, so any commander deck can slot it in. The spread across different commanders suggests it is not a niche combo piece but a general-purpose mana engine.

Is Gilded Lotus legal in Commander?

Yes. Gilded Lotus is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Brawl, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Pauper (rare rarity restriction) or Old School. It has no Commander-specific ban or restriction, and its colorless identity means it fits in any deck regardless of color requirements.