Live Play Data

Kami of Whispered Hopes

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

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

728

Decks Running

378

Median Cast Turn

5.0

Drawn → Played

71%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

43% of games where Kami of Whispered Hopes resolved ended in a win for its controller, a +18.1 percentage-point lift over games where it stayed in the library, making it one of the clearer performance signals in the +1/+1 counter space tracked on Playgroup Live.

Kami of Whispered Hopes sits in 7% of the 5105 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. When it resolves, decks win at 43%, compared to 25% in games where it never left the library. That +18.1 percentage-point delta is the largest directional signal we see across the counter-doubling archetype.

The card's engine is self-reinforcing: its mana ability produces X mana of any color where X is its power, and its counter-doubling clause means every +1/+1 counter placed on it inflates future mana output. That loop explains why so many of its top commander homes are Simic or Simic-adjacent shells that can feed it counters quickly. Median first cast lands on turn 5.0, a touch later than its 3-mana cost suggests, reflecting how often players hold it until a counter engine is in place.

Data is drawn from 695 tracked multiplayer games. Both win-rate buckets exceed 15 observations, so the delta clears our threshold for calling it more than directional, though we still label it an early signal rather than a settled conclusion. The player pool is healthy: 335 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for just 23% of instances.

At a glance

7% of tracked Commander decks include Kami of Whispered Hopes
43% win rate in games where Kami resolved, vs 25% when it stayed in the library
71% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
T5.0 median first-cast turn across 122 tracked casts
56% battlefield stickiness once cast
335 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game, indicating a well-spread dataset

First-cast turn

n=122

15%

19%

16%

39%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5.0 P25 4 · P75 7 · max 13

On curve 20% (18 / 122 cast on T3) Cast same turn as drawn 36%

The "good card" funnel

728 brought · 335 players

Brought to game

728

Ever drawn

171

Reached battlefield

122

Still on board at game end

71%

Of 728 copies brought to tracked games, 171 were drawn, 122 of those were cast, and 56% of cast copies were still on the battlefield when the game ended.

≥ +9.3pp

Players who cast this card win 43% of the time (n=118) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=503).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 30% (n=46) — 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 +18.1pp; 95% confidence interval +9.3pp to +26.9pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

186 instances

2.2%

Library

36.6%

Battlefield

29.6%

Graveyard

7.5%

Exile

Most tracked Kami of Whispered Hopes instances end in the graveyard or on the battlefield, a sign that when it enters play it draws removal rather than sitting ignored like a typical utility creature.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Zimone, Infinite Analyst leads by a wide margin, reflecting how naturally Kami of Whispered Hopes slots into Simic counter-doubling shells, with the remaining commanders spread across green-inclusive strategies that generate +1/+1 counters at scale.

Frequently Asked

How often is Kami of Whispered Hopes drawn in a Commander game?

Across 695 tracked multiplayer games where Kami of Whispered Hopes was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That is consistent with what you'd expect from a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 171 copies that reached a player's hand, 71% were cast before the game ended.

What turn does Kami of Whispered Hopes usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5.0, with the 25th-percentile landing on turn 4 and the 75th on turn 7. Despite being a 3-mana card, relatively few casts happen on curve. The hand-to-cast data shows a median delay of 1 turn between drawing and casting, and a same-turn cast rate of 36%. Players frequently wait until a counter source is ready before deploying it.

Does casting Kami of Whispered Hopes actually help you win?

The data is directional and encouraging. Games where Kami resolved ended in a win for its controller at a rate of 43%, versus 25% in games where it never moved from the library. That is a +18.1 percentage-point lift. Both sample sizes clear the threshold we use to call a delta more than noise, but with 695 total games tracked, treat it as a strong early signal rather than a definitive conclusion.

Is Kami of Whispered Hopes banned anywhere?

Kami of Whispered Hopes is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Premodern. No ban has been issued in any format where it is currently played.

Which commanders most commonly run Kami of Whispered Hopes?

Zimone, Infinite Analyst dominates the top-commanders list with 378 total tracked decks and the highest raw count of Kami inclusions. Ms. Bumbleflower, The Wise Mothman, and Tidus, Yuna's Guardian follow. The common thread is Simic or broadly green-blue-white shells that generate +1/+1 counters at scale, letting Kami's mana ability grow quickly. Bristly Bill, Spine Sower represents the mono-green counter builds that also leverage the doubling clause.

How sticky is Kami of Whispered Hopes on the battlefield?

56% of cast copies of Kami of Whispered Hopes were still on the battlefield at game end. That is below the average for non-threatening artifacts and enchantments but reasonable for a creature that becomes an obvious removal target once players see how much mana it can produce. The final-zone distribution also shows a meaningful graveyard share, consistent with opponents prioritizing it for removal.