Live Play Data

Karn's Bastion

Land · Edge of Eternities Commander (EOC)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

804

Decks Running

412

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

72%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

72% of drawn Karn's Bastion copies are cast before the game ends, and decks that resolve it win 26% of the time versus 20% when it stays buried in the library.

Karn's Bastion is a colorless proliferate land that slots into any counter-based Commander deck. Across 757 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 412 of 9388 decks, an inclusion rate of 4%. That number is narrow by design: the card rewards strategies that already generate counters, so it self-selects into a specific corner of the format.

The cast pattern tells the real story. 72% of drawn copies reach the battlefield, a high conversion rate for a tap-land with a five-mana activated ability. Median first cast lands on turn 4, consistent with players treating it as a mid-game engine piece rather than an early ramp land. Once it resolves, 92% stickiness confirms opponents rarely bother removing a land, even one that proliferates.

The win-rate delta is a directional early signal. Decks that cast Karn's Bastion finish at 26%, compared to 20% when it never leaves the library. That is a +5.3 percentage-point gap across 119 cast observations and 579 library observations. The confidence interval for that delta still crosses zero on this sample size, so treat it as consistent directional signal rather than a proven edge. The commander distribution is well-spread across 344 distinct players, with no single contributor driving more than 3% of tracked instances.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Karn's Bastion
72% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4 median first-cast turn, fitting it as a mid-game engine piece
92% battlefield stickiness once it resolves, lands rarely get removed
+5.3pp directional win-rate lift when cast versus sitting in the library
344 distinct players have brought Karn's Bastion to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=121

12%

22%

12%

27%

T6-9

11%

T10+

Median 4 P25 3 · P75 7 · max 12

Cast same turn as drawn 42%

The "good card" funnel

804 brought · 344 players

Brought to game

804

Ever drawn

167

Reached battlefield

121

Still on board at game end

111

72%

Of 804 copies brought to games, 167 were drawn, 121 of those were cast, and the vast majority stayed on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ -2.5pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=119) , vs 20% when it never left the library (n=579).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 21% (n=44) — 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 +5.3pp; 95% confidence interval -2.5pp to +13.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

191 instances

4.2%

Library

58.1%

Battlefield

19.9%

Graveyard

1.6%

Exile

Most Karn's Bastion copies finish on the battlefield or in hand, a direct consequence of it being a land. The small number in the graveyard reflects the handful of cases where it was destroyed or sacrificed.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice leads with 24 decks, but the list spreads across more than ten commanders, showing that Karn's Bastion is a format-wide counter-strategy staple rather than a single-commander pet card.

Frequently Asked

How often is Karn's Bastion drawn in a Commander game?

In 757 tracked multiplayer games, Karn's Bastion was drawn in 21% of participations. That is roughly expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 167 drawn copies, 72% were cast before the game ended. The median number of turns a player held it before casting was 1, and 42% of cast copies were played the same turn they were drawn.

What turn does Karn's Bastion usually hit the battlefield?

Median first-cast turn is 4 in multiplayer games. The distribution stretches from turn 1 (a few opening-hand keeps) through double-digit turns for late-game draws. The 25th percentile is turn 3 and the 75th is turn 7, so most casts land in the early-to-mid window when counter synergies are coming online. Players treat it as a mana land first and an engine second, which explains why early-turn casts exist at all.

Does casting Karn's Bastion actually improve your win rate?

In 119 participations where Karn's Bastion resolved, decks won 26% of the time, versus 20% across 579 participations where it stayed in the library. That is a +5.3 percentage-point directional lift. The confidence interval on this delta still crosses zero at current sample sizes, so the signal is consistent but not conclusive. More tracked games will sharpen the picture.

Which commanders most often pair with Karn's Bastion?

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice leads the list by a wide margin, appearing in 24 tracked decks that include the card. Hakbal of the Surging Soul, Kilo, Apogee Mind, and Inspirit, Flagship Vessel each appear in 17-20 decks. The common thread is proliferate synergy or aggressive counter generation. Karn's Bastion is colorless, so it fits any of these color identities without restriction.

Is Karn's Bastion legal in Commander?

Yes. Karn's Bastion is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, and Oathbreaker. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. It carries no color identity, so it can slot into any Commander deck regardless of color restrictions. That universality is a key reason it appears across such a diverse range of commanders in tracked games.

How concentrated is the Karn's Bastion data across players?

The data is well-spread. 344 distinct players have brought Karn's Bastion to at least one tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for only 3% of all tracked instances. That breadth of representation is a meaningful strength of this dataset: the numbers reflect a diverse pool of playgroups rather than one player's repeated results.