Live Play Data

Izzet Boilerworks

Land · Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander (OTC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

874

Decks Running

389

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

65%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

8% of tracked Izzet-shell decks on Playgroup Live run Izzet Boilerworks, and 65% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, with a median first-cast turn of 4.

Izzet Boilerworks is a budget dual that trades a tempo hit on entry for two mana of any Izzet color from a single land slot. Across 854 tracked multiplayer Commander games on Playgroup Live, 8% of decks in the dataset include it, a narrow but consistent footprint reflecting its color-identity restriction.

When players draw it, 65% of copies reach the battlefield before the game ends. Median first-cast turn is 4, consistent with early sequencing: the bounce-a-land clause costs a tempo beat but the two-color payoff typically happens before the critical turns of most games. Battlefield stickiness sits at 88%, meaning most cast copies are still in play at end of game. That is high for a land that enters tapped and asks you to give back a land on arrival.

The commander distribution is well-spread across 377 distinct players, and the top commanders skew heavily toward Izzet and Izzet-adjacent pairings, which is exactly what you would expect from a card locked to blue and red mana.

At a glance

8% of tracked Commander decks include Izzet Boilerworks
27% draw rate across tracked games, typical for a singleton land
65% of drawn copies reached the battlefield
T4 median first-cast turn
88% battlefield stickiness once the land enters
377 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=155

15%

19%

14%

13%

23%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 17

Cast same turn as drawn 51%

The "good card" funnel

874 brought · 377 players

Brought to game

874

Ever drawn

239

Reached battlefield

155

Still on board at game end

137

65%

Of 874 Izzet Boilerworks copies brought to multiplayer games, 239 were drawn, 155 of those were cast, and the large majority of cast copies were still on the battlefield at end of game.

≥ -8.1pp

Players who cast this card win 22% of the time (n=149) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=542).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 41% (n=75) — 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 -1.2pp; 95% confidence interval -8.1pp to +5.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

259 instances

4.6%

Library

52.9%

Battlefield

17.0%

Graveyard

5.8%

Exile

Most Izzet Boilerworks copies never leave the library, which is the structural reality of a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of copies that did reach play, the large majority finished on the battlefield, consistent with its high stickiness reading.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list is well-spread across Izzet and Izzet-adjacent commanders, with no single pairing dominating. Ovika, Enigma Goliath and Nekusar, the Mindrazer lead by raw deck count, but the distribution reflects the card's color-identity gate more than any single archetype preference.

Card text

Izzet Boilerworks

Land

This land enters tapped. When this land enters, return a land you control to its owner's hand. {T}

: Add

Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander (OTC) · Uncommon · Illustrated by John Avon

Frequently Asked

How often is Izzet Boilerworks drawn in a Commander game?

In 854 tracked multiplayer games where Izzet Boilerworks was in the deck, it was drawn 27% of the time. That is a normal rate for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those drawn copies, 65% were cast before the game ended. The remainder largely reflects copies drawn late, after the game's outcome was already decided.

What turn does Izzet Boilerworks typically enter the battlefield?

Median first-cast turn is 4 across multiplayer games tracked on Playgroup Live. The distribution spreads from turn 1 through the late game, with a cluster of early casts driven by opening-hand keeps. The mean is slightly higher at 4.2, pulled up by occasional late draws. The bounce-a-land drawback makes very early casts a real decision point, but most players play it as soon as they draw it.

Does casting Izzet Boilerworks correlate with winning?

Win rate when cast is 22% in a 149-observation sample, compared to 24% when the card stayed in the library across 542 participations. The gap is small and the confidence interval crosses zero, so treat it as directional at best. This is consistent with what you would expect from a utility land: it smooths mana rather than winning games on its own.

Is Izzet Boilerworks legal in Commander?

Yes. Izzet Boilerworks is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pauper, Vintage, Oathbreaker, and Pauper Commander. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Historic, Alchemy, or Brawl. Its blue-red color identity restricts it to Commander decks that include both blue and red in their commander's color identity.

Which commanders most often run Izzet Boilerworks?

In Playgroup Live's multiplayer data, Ovika, Enigma Goliath and Nekusar, the Mindrazer lead the commander list with 10 and 9 decks respectively, followed by Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom with 9. The spread across 377 distinct players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for only 5% of instances, means the data is not dominated by one pilot's preference. Most top commanders share an Izzet or Izzet-adjacent identity.

How does the bounce-a-land drawback affect Izzet Boilerworks in practice?

The hand-to-cast data offers an early signal: median turns held in hand before casting is 0, meaning players cast it the same turn they draw it at a 51% same-turn rate. That rate suggests players are not agonizing over the bounce clause. Once it resolves, 88% of copies remain on the battlefield through end of game, which is strong stickiness for a land with an enters-tapped penalty.