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Marsh Flats card art
Live Play Data

Marsh Flats

Land · Modern Horizons 2 (MH2)
9%
Live Inclusion
Buy on TCGplayer
Times Brought
1288
Decks Running
703
Median Cast Turn
4.0
Drawn → Played
71%
Format
Multiplayer 1v1

Marsh Flats appears in 9% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. When drawn, 71% of copies reach activation before the game ends, with a median first-activation turn of 4.0.

Marsh Flats is a fixture in black-white and multicolor Commander lists. Across 1028 tracked games on Playgroup Live, it sits in 9% of all decks that have played a live game, appearing in 703 of the 8080 distinct tracked decks.

As a fetch land, Marsh Flats behaves differently from spells in the funnel data. Its "cast" event is the moment it sacrifices to search, so 71% of drawn copies being activated reflects how reliably players find a window to use it. The median activation lands on turn 4.0, but the distribution is front-loaded: a meaningful cluster fires on turn 1 from the opening hand. Because the land sacs itself on resolution, battlefield stickiness is structurally low and not a useful signal here.

The data is well-spread across the player base. 444 distinct players have brought Marsh Flats to a tracked game, and no single player accounts for more than a small fraction of instances, which supports treating these figures as a genuine cross-meta signal rather than one person's playstyle.

At a glance
  • 9% of tracked Commander decks include Marsh Flats
  • 24% draw rate across games where it was in the deck
  • 71% of drawn copies were activated before the game ended
  • T4.0 median turn of first activation
  • 64% of drawn copies activated the same turn they were drawn
  • 444 distinct players have brought Marsh Flats to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=220
27%
T1
14%
T2
9%
T3
10%
T4
10%
T5
25%
T6-9
5%
T10+
Median 4.0 P25 1 · P75 6 · max 16
Cast same turn as drawn 64%

The "good card" funnel

1289 brought · 444 players
Brought to game
1289
Ever drawn
309
Reached battlefield
220
Still on board at game end
20
71%

Of 1289 Marsh Flats copies brought to games, 309 were drawn, 220 of those were activated to search, and the vast majority moved to the graveyard on resolution as designed.

≥ -0.5pp

Players who cast this card win 30% of the time (n=214) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=891).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 33% (n=87) — 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 +5.6pp; 95% confidence interval -0.5pp to +11.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

355 instances
3.1%
Library
5.6%
Battlefield
59.2%
Graveyard
15.2%
Exile

Most Marsh Flats copies never leave the library in a given game, a normal outcome for any singleton in a 100-card deck. Among those that do reach a hand, the graveyard is the expected final destination once the land sacrifices to fetch.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The Ur-Dragon leads the list with the most Marsh Flats decks, followed by a spread of Mardu and Esper commanders. No single commander dominates, reflecting how broadly applicable a fetch land with black-white reach is across the meta.

Frequently Asked

How often is Marsh Flats drawn in a Commander game?
In 1028 tracked games where Marsh Flats was in the deck, it was drawn 24% of the time. That is in line with expectations for a singleton land in a 100-card deck. Of 309 instances that reached a player's hand, 71% were activated before the game concluded.
What turn does Marsh Flats typically get activated?
Median first activation is turn 4.0 in multiplayer games. The distribution skews early: a strong cluster fires on turn 1, reflecting copies kept in the opening hand and used immediately to fetch a Plains or Swamp. The same-turn activation rate of 64% confirms that when players draw it, they tend to use it quickly rather than holding it.
Is Marsh Flats legal in Commander?
Yes. Marsh Flats is legal and unrestricted in Commander, as well as in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, and several other formats. It is banned in Historic and not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Alchemy. Its colorless color identity means it fits in any Commander deck that can run Plains or Swamp-type lands in its mana base.
Which commanders most often pair with Marsh Flats?
The top commanders in the tracked dataset are led by The Ur-Dragon, which is a five-color list that naturally wants all ten Zendikar fetches. Edgar Markov, Kaalia of the Vast, and other Mardu (black-white-red) commanders appear frequently, as do Esper (black-white-blue) commanders like Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. The pattern reflects Marsh Flats' natural home: any deck touching black and white and prioritizing a consistent, shock-fetchable mana base.
Does casting Marsh Flats correlate with winning?
In 214 participations where Marsh Flats was activated, the win rate was 30%. In 891 participations where it stayed in the library, the rate was 24%. The delta is +5.6 percentage points. Both sample sizes are meaningful, but this is directional data from a single platform rather than a definitive causal claim. Fetch lands tend to appear in better-constructed decks, so deck quality is a confounding factor.
Why does Marsh Flats show low battlefield stickiness?
Marsh Flats sacrifices itself as part of its activated ability. Once it fetches a Plains or Swamp, it goes straight to the graveyard. That is working as intended, not a sign the card underperforms. The final zone distribution confirms the pattern: the overwhelming majority of activated copies end up in the graveyard, which is exactly what you want from a fetch land that thinned your deck and fixed your mana.