Live Play Data

Path of Ancestry

Land · Marvel Super Heroes Commander (MSC)

30%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

2456

Decks Running

1469

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

73%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Path of Ancestry appears in 30% of tracked Commander decks. When drawn, 73% of copies are played before the game ends, with a median first-play turn of 4.

Path of Ancestry is a tribal staple that earns its slot in roughly 30% of the 4852 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. It appears in 1469 distinct decklists, making it one of the more widely adopted utility lands in the format.

The card's value proposition is twofold: flexible mana that matches any color in your commander's identity, plus incremental scry 1 triggers each time you cast a tribal creature. The stats reflect that utility. 73% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends, and once in play, 93% survive through end of game. Lands are rarely answered, and Path rewards you every time it does its job.

The commander distribution is notably broad. 834 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That spread is a sign of genuine cross-archetype adoption rather than a niche spike. Tribal commanders from two-color aggro builds up to five-color goodstuff decks all show up in the top-commander list.

At a glance

30% of tracked Commander decks run Path of Ancestry
73% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T4 median turn the land first enters play
93% of played copies survive through end of game
834 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
70% of drawn copies played on the same turn they were drawn

First-cast turn

n=441

33%

27%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 1 · P75 7 · max 19

Cast same turn as drawn 70%

The "good card" funnel

2466 brought · 834 players

Brought to game

2466

Ever drawn

607

Reached battlefield

441

Still on board at game end

408

73%

Of 2466 copies brought to games, 607 were drawn, 441 of those were played, and the large majority remained on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ -0.5pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=440) , vs 22% when it never left the library (n=1743).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 27% (n=162) — 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 +3.5pp; 95% confidence interval -0.5pp to +7.5pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

651 instances

2.8%

Library

62.7%

Battlefield

14.7%

Graveyard

4.5%

Exile

Most copies of Path of Ancestry never leave the library, which is expected for any singleton in a 100-card deck. The cards that do get played show high stickiness, reflecting how rarely lands are targeted for removal.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

The commander list spans two-color tribal builds to five-color piles, a sign that Path of Ancestry's scry trigger is valued broadly rather than in one narrow archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Path of Ancestry drawn in a Commander game?

Across 1567 tracked games where Path of Ancestry was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 607 drawn copies, 73% were played before the game concluded.

What turn does Path of Ancestry typically enter play?

Median first-play turn is 4, with a mean close to the same. The distribution shows a strong cluster on turn 1, reflecting copies kept in opening hands, and a long tail through the mid-game. The card enters tapped, so early plays do cost you a mana step that turn.

Does casting Path of Ancestry correlate with winning?

Win rate when the card is played sits at 26%, versus 22% when it stays unplayed in the library. The delta is +3.5 percentage points. With sample sizes of 440 cast instances and 1743 library instances, this difference is too small to read as meaningful. It is a directional signal at best, not evidence the card swings outcomes on its own.

Which commanders most often run Path of Ancestry?

The top commanders by deck count include Killian, Decisive Mentor; Dina, Essence Brewer; Zimone, Infinite Analyst; and Ashling, the Limitless. The list spans two-color tribal builds all the way to five-color goodstuff, which reflects how broadly the card scales. Any commander with a supported creature type benefits from the repeated scry trigger.

Is Path of Ancestry legal in Commander?

Yes. Path of Ancestry is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Pauper Commander, Oathbreaker, and several other formats. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Historic, or Brawl. Its rarity is common, which makes it accessible and explains part of its high adoption rate across tracked decks.

How concentrated is the Path of Ancestry data among a few players?

The data is well spread. 834 unique players have brought Path of Ancestry to at least one tracked game, and the single heaviest contributor accounts for just 2% of all instances. That low concentration is a meaningful signal: the inclusion and play patterns here reflect a large, diverse player base rather than a handful of prolific contributors skewing the numbers.