Live Play Data

Ornithopter of Paradise

· Artifact Creature — Thopter · Commander Masters (CMM)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

1382

Decks Running

779

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

75%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

75% of drawn Ornithopter of Paradise copies are cast before the game ends, and the median first-cast turn lands on turn 4, making it one of Commander's most efficiently deployed mana rocks on wings.

Ornithopter of Paradise sits in 779 of the 19725 tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live. That 4% inclusion rate reflects a niche but consistent role: a colorless, 2-mana mana dork that doubles as a flier and fits any deck regardless of color identity.

When players draw it, they act on it. 75% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends. Median first cast lands on turn 4, with mode on turn 2, consistent with players prioritizing it early to accelerate into their gameplan. 55% of drawn-and-cast copies are played on the same turn they're drawn, a strong signal that players treat it as an immediate tempo play rather than a card to hold.

As a colorless common, Ornithopter of Paradise fits into any Commander deck needing mana fixing or a cheap artifact body. The top commanders running it span a wide range of color identities, from colorless Eldrazi strategies to artifact-heavy Izzet and WUBR builds, confirming its role as a format-agnostic utility piece.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Ornithopter of Paradise
75% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T4 median first-cast turn, with mode on turn 2
56% battlefield stickiness once cast
55% of drawn-and-cast copies played on the same turn they were drawn
615 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=255

15%

22%

10%

29%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 17

On curve 37% (57 / 255 cast on T2) Cast same turn as drawn 55%

The "good card" funnel

1391 brought · 615 players

Brought to game

1391

Ever drawn

340

Reached battlefield

255

Still on board at game end

142

75%

Of 1391 copies brought to games, 340 were drawn, 255 of those were cast, and 56% of cast copies remained on the battlefield at game's end.

≥ -0.8pp

Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=246) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=902).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 28% (n=78) — 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 +4.9pp; 95% confidence interval -0.8pp to +10.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

374 instances

2.4%

Library

38.0%

Battlefield

35.8%

Graveyard

5.3%

Exile

Most Ornithopter of Paradise copies never leave the library, a structural feature of 100-card singleton decks rather than a reflection of the card's power. Of copies that were interacted with, the battlefield is the most common final destination.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Zinnia, Valley's Voice 40 decks
2 Zhulodok, Void Gorger 30 decks
3 Rendmaw, Creaking Nest 24 decks
4 Winota, Joiner of Forces 24 decks
5 Mendicant Core, Guidelight 16 decks
6 Arabella, Abandoned Doll 15 decks
7 Satoru Umezawa 13 decks
8 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 12 decks
9 Saheeli, Radiant Creator 11 decks
10 Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos 10 decks

The top commander list spans colorless, Boros, Sultai, Izzet, and four-color builds, a spread that reflects Ornithopter of Paradise's colorless identity making it universally splashable across the Commander format.

Card text

Ornithopter of Paradise

Artifact Creature — Thopter

Flying

: Add one mana of any color.

0 / 2

Commander Masters (CMM) · Common · Illustrated by Raoul Vitale

Frequently Asked

How often is Ornithopter of Paradise drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1320 tracked multiplayer Commander games where it was in the deck, Ornithopter of Paradise was drawn 24% of the time. That's expected for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 340 drawn copies, 75% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Ornithopter of Paradise usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 4, but the distribution clusters hard at turn 2, which is its mana cost and the most common single turn for casts. A meaningful share of copies land on turn 1, likely through ramp or a kept opening hand. The tail extends to turn 17 in edge cases, reflecting late-game draws.

Does casting Ornithopter of Paradise correlate with winning?

When cast, the normalized win rate is 28% across 246 participations. When the card stayed in the library all game, the win rate was 24% across 902 participations. The delta is +4.9 percentage points. Both sample sizes are large enough to treat this as a directional signal, though the gap is modest, suggesting the Ornithopter contributes to consistency rather than being a win condition on its own.

Is Ornithopter of Paradise legal in Commander?

Yes, Ornithopter of Paradise is legal in Commander with no restrictions. It is also legal in Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, Historic, Timeless, Duel Commander, Brawl, Oathbreaker, and Pauper Commander. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, or Alchemy.

Which commanders most commonly run Ornithopter of Paradise?

Zinnia, Valley's Voice leads the tracked dataset, followed by Zhulodok, Void Gorger and Winota, Joiner of Forces. The spread across multiple color identities, including colorless, Boros, Sultai, and four-color, reflects the card's colorless identity letting it slot into virtually any strategy that values a cheap artifact creature and a mana source.

How sticky is Ornithopter of Paradise once it hits the battlefield?

56% of cast copies remain on the battlefield at the end of the game. That's lower than many non-creature artifacts because the Ornithopter is a creature and therefore vulnerable to creature removal and board wipes. The graveyard is its most common non-battlefield final destination, which is consistent with that threat profile.