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Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire card art
Live Play Data

Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire

Instant // Land · Zendikar Rising (ZNR)
10%
Live Inclusion
Buy on TCGplayer
Times Brought
1179
Decks Running
645
Median Cast Turn
6.0
Drawn → Played
60%
Format
Multiplayer 1v1

10% of tracked Commander decks run Malakir Rebirth, and when a copy is drawn it reaches the stack 60% of the time, with a median first-cast turn of 6.0.

Malakir Rebirth sits in 10% of Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, appearing across 645 of the 6609 distinct decks that have played a tracked game. Its double-faced design, instant-speed protection on one side and an untapped Swamp on the other, makes it one of the few cards in the format that is never a truly dead draw.

Of the 287 times it has reached a player's hand, 60% resolved as a spell. The median first-cast turn is 6.0, which is late for a one-mana instant. That gap reflects how the card is used: players tend to hold it as a reactive threat rather than deploy it at the first opportunity. The hand-to-cast data backs this up. The same-turn cast rate is 34%, meaning more than seven in ten drawn copies are held at least one full turn before the player chooses to cast or play it as a land.

With 468 unique players represented in the dataset and no single contributor exceeding 4% of tracked instances, the data is well-spread. What we see so far is a consistent early signal for a card that earns its slot through flexibility rather than raw power.

At a glance
  • 10% of tracked Commander decks include Malakir Rebirth
  • 60% of drawn copies were cast before the game ended
  • T6.0 median first-cast turn, reflecting reactive hold patterns
  • 24% draw rate, normal for a singleton in a 100-card deck
  • 468 unique players tracked, giving broad sample spread
  • 34% of drawn copies cast on the same turn they were drawn

First-cast turn

n=172
9%
T1
2%
T2
10%
T3
9%
T4
14%
T5
49%
T6-9
6%
T10+
Median 6.0 P25 4 · P75 8 · max 17
On curve 9% (16 / 172 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 34%

The "good card" funnel

1179 brought · 468 players
Brought to game
1179
Ever drawn
287
Reached battlefield
172
Still on board at game end
77
60%

Of 1179 copies brought to tracked games, 287 were drawn, 172 of those resolved as spells, and the rest were either played as lands or held through the final turn.

≥ -4.1pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=163) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=774).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 26% (n=109) — 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 +2.8pp; 95% confidence interval -4.1pp to +9.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

330 instances
4.2%
Library
23.3%
Battlefield
34.5%
Graveyard
10.6%
Exile

Most tracked copies of Malakir Rebirth end the game in the graveyard after resolving or in hand after being held as protection, with a smaller share finding a permanent home on the battlefield as a Swamp played via its land face.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander distribution is healthy and wide, with the top entry at just 9 decks. No single archetype dominates, which is consistent with a flexible black staple that slots into many shells.

Frequently Asked

How often is Malakir Rebirth drawn in a Commander game?
Across 1091 tracked games where it was in the deck, Malakir Rebirth was drawn 24% of the time. That is typical for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 287 drawn copies, 60% were cast before the game ended. The rest finished the game in hand or were played face-down as a Swamp instead.
What turn does Malakir Rebirth usually get cast?
The median first-cast turn is 6.0, with the distribution spread from turn 1 through double digits. Only 34% of drawn copies are cast on the same turn they are drawn, which is the lowest same-turn rate you would expect from a one-mana instant. Players are clearly holding it as reactive protection rather than slamming it on sight.
Does casting Malakir Rebirth actually correlate with winning?
In 163 participations where the spell resolved, the caster won 26% of the time on a normalized 4-player baseline. The difference versus games where the card sat in the library is a modest +2.9 percentage points. Crucially, the lower confidence bound dips below zero on this sample, so treat it as a directional signal rather than a firm conclusion. Larger sample sizes will sharpen the picture.
Is Malakir Rebirth legal in Commander?
Yes. Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire is legal in Commander and in most other constructed formats including Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Historic. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, or Pauper Commander. Its black color identity restricts it to decks whose commander includes black.
Which commanders most often run Malakir Rebirth?
Across tracked games, the card appears most frequently under Henzie "Toolbox" Torre (Jund), Sephiroth (mono-black), Deadpool (Rakdos), Sheoldred the Apocalypse (mono-black), and Valgavoth (Rakdos). The spread across many different commanders and color combinations reflects the card's broad appeal as a flexible one-mana protection spell in any black shell.
Why does a one-mana instant have a median cast turn of 6.0?
The design is the reason. Because Malakir Rebirth can also enter play as an untapped Swamp, players treat it as insurance rather than an early play. They keep it in hand throughout the midgame, ready to save a key creature from removal. The 34% same-turn cast rate confirms this: most copies are held for at least one full turn cycle before a decision is made. That patience pushes the median later than raw mana cost would suggest.