Llanowar Wastes
Llanowar Wastes is drawn in 19% of game instances on Playgroup Live, and 80% of those drawn instances are cast before the game ends — one of the highest draw-to-play rates tracked for any land.
Llanowar Wastes sits in 7% of all tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live — a narrow slice, but one that makes sense given its strict Golgari ({B}/{G}) color identity requirement. Among the 119 decks that do run it, the card earns its slot: 80% of drawn instances hit the battlefield, and it sticks there at a 96% rate once cast.
The win-rate signal is the most striking number on the page. Participations where Llanowar Wastes was cast produced a 42% win rate, against 24% for participations where the card never left the library. That +18.7 percentage-point delta is directional, not conclusive — the "cast" bucket sits at 26 observations — but it is consistent with what you would expect from a deck that curves out cleanly because its mana base worked.
The median first-play turn is 3, and 54% of drawn copies are cast the same turn they are drawn. That fast cadence reflects what Llanowar Wastes is for: it exists to produce {B} or {G} on demand in the early game, and tracked players treat it that way.
- 7% inclusion rate across all tracked Commander decks
- 19% draw rate per deck-participation, normal for a singleton land
- 80% of drawn copies cast before the game ends
- T3 median first-play turn
- 96% battlefield stickiness once played
- +18.7pp win-rate delta when cast vs. sitting in the library (directional, n=26)
First-cast turn
n=38The "good card" funnel
245 broughtOf 162 Llanowar Wastes brought to games, 30 were drawn and 26 of those were cast — an 80% draw-to-play rate — and 25 remained on the battlefield when the final turn resolved.
Players who cast this card win 45% of the time (n=38) , vs 28% when it never left the library (n=194).
Final zone distribution
245 instances127 of 162 brought copies ended the game in the library — the structural reality of a 100-card singleton deck — but among the 35 that were observed in play, 25 finished on the battlefield, reflecting how reliably the card sticks once it lands.
Top commanders running this card
by deck count-
1
Dina, Essence Brewer
37 decks
-
2
Hearthhull, the Worldseed
16 decks
-
3
Ulalek, Fused Atrocity
13 decks
-
4
High Perfect Morcant
12 decks
-
5
Camellia, the Seedmiser
10 decks
-
6
Betor, Ancestor's Voice
9 decks
-
7
Blech, Loafing Pest
7 decks
-
8
Teval, the Balanced Scale
7 decks
-
9
Winter, Cynical Opportunist
7 decks
-
10
Witherbloom, the Balancer
7 decks
Dina, Essence Brewer accounts for 25 of the tracked decks and anchors the list; the remaining commanders each contribute 4–11 decks, showing moderate concentration around a few Golgari-heavy builds rather than even spread across the full meta.
How often is Llanowar Wastes drawn in a Commander game? ▾
Across 162 deck-participations tracked on Playgroup Live, Llanowar Wastes was drawn 30 times — an 18.5% draw rate. That is consistent with what you expect for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of those 30 drawn instances, 26 were cast before the game concluded, giving the 80% draw-to-play rate you see headlined on this page.
What does the win-rate delta actually tell us? ▾
Participations where Llanowar Wastes was cast ended in a win 42% of the time. Participations where the card never left the library ended in a win 24% of the time. The +18.7 percentage-point gap is an early signal that functional mana on curve correlates with better game outcomes, but the cast bucket has only 26 observations. Call it directional rather than definitive. Baseline win rate in a 4-player pod is roughly 25%, so even the library bucket is slightly above expectation.
What turn is Llanowar Wastes typically played? ▾
The median first-play turn across 26 cast instances is turn 3. The 25th percentile is turn 2 and the 75th is turn 7, reflecting two distinct patterns: copies drawn in the opening hand that fill an early land drop, and copies drawn late that slot in wherever a mana pip is still needed. Six of 26 casts happened on turn 1.
Is Llanowar Wastes a pain land? Does the 1 damage matter in Commander? ▾
Yes, Llanowar Wastes is one of the original ten pain lands. Tapping for {B} or {G} deals 1 damage to you; tapping for colorless {C} is free. In Commander's 40-life format the damage is rarely game-ending on its own, but it adds up in attrition-heavy games or when a deck is already paying life through other sources like Phyrexian mana or fetch lands. The 96% stickiness figure suggests players almost never sacrifice it proactively to avoid the damage.
Which commanders run Llanowar Wastes most often? ▾
Dina, Essence Brewer leads the tracked sample by a wide margin at 25 decks, followed by Hearthhull, the Worldseed at 11 and High Perfect Morcant at 8. The rest of the top ten sit between 4 and 6 decks each. Pure Golgari commanders dominate the list, as expected, but three-color and five-color commanders also appear wherever {B} and {G} are part of the identity.
Is Llanowar Wastes legal in Commander? ▾
Yes. Llanowar Wastes is legal in Commander, as well as Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its color identity of {B}/{G} restricts it to decks whose commander includes at least one of those colors, and in practice it shows up most in decks that need both.