Live Play Data

Shivan Reef

Land · Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)

28%

Live Inclusion

Buy on TCGplayer

Times Brought

1554

Decks Running

793

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

71%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Shivan Reef sits in 28% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, with 71% of drawn copies reaching the battlefield and a median first-cast turn of 4.

Shivan Reef is the go-to Izzet dual land for Commander players who want untapped colored mana without a steep price tag. Across 1403 tracked multiplayer games on Playgroup Live, it appears in 793 of 2801 distinct decks, a 28% inclusion rate that reflects its role as a reliable mana-fixer in any red-blue shell.

The funnel tells a clean story. Of 1559 copies brought to games, 399 were drawn. Of those, 71% reached the battlefield, which is consistent with a land that players play the moment it enters their hand. The median first-cast turn is 4, with the distribution spread across early and mid-game turns, typical of a land that enters when a player needs the colored mana rather than on a strict curve.

The data is well-spread across 632 distinct players, with no single contributor accounting for more than a small fraction of observations. Rootha, Mastering the Moment leads the top commanders list, which is unsurprising given that deck's strict Izzet color identity. Shivan Reef is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and most other major formats.

At a glance

28% of tracked Commander decks include Shivan Reef
71% of drawn copies reached the battlefield
T4 median first-cast turn
93% battlefield stickiness once played
632 distinct players contributed data, a well-spread sample
1559 total instances brought to tracked games

First-cast turn

n=283

12%

17%

11%

17%

11%

25%

T6-9

T10+

Median 4 P25 2 · P75 6 · max 14

Cast same turn as drawn 53%

The "good card" funnel

1559 brought · 632 players

Brought to game

1559

Ever drawn

399

Reached battlefield

283

Still on board at game end

264

71%

Of 1559 Shivan Reefs brought to games, 399 were drawn and 283 of those were played, with the vast majority staying on the battlefield through the end of the game.

≥ +1.7pp

Players who cast this card win 31% of the time (n=275) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1030).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 35% (n=108) — 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 +7.2pp; 95% confidence interval +1.7pp to +12.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

443 instances

2.3%

Library

59.6%

Battlefield

16.5%

Graveyard

6.1%

Exile

Most Shivan Reefs end games on the battlefield, a pattern that reflects how quickly lands get deployed and how rarely opponents interact with them. The small graveyard share comes primarily from land destruction and sacrifice effects.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Rootha, Mastering the Moment 47 decks
2 Zinnia, Valley's Voice 36 decks
3 Ulalek, Fused Atrocity 29 decks
4 Kilo, Apogee Mind 25 decks
5 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 25 decks
6 Ureni of the Unwritten 23 decks
7 Fire Lord Azula 22 decks
8 Vivi Ornitier 22 decks
9 Inspirit, Flagship Vessel 20 decks
10 Sauron, the Dark Lord 17 decks

Rootha, Mastering the Moment leads by a wide margin with 27 decks, but the list fans out across Izzet, Temur, Jeskai, and five-color commanders, confirming that Shivan Reef's appeal spans any shell containing red and blue.

Frequently Asked

How often is Shivan Reef drawn in a Commander game?

In 1403 tracked multiplayer games where Shivan Reef was in the deck, it was drawn 26% of the time. That rate is normal for a singleton land in a 100-card deck. Of 399 instances that reached a player's hand, 71% were played before the game ended.

What turn does Shivan Reef typically get played?

Median first-cast turn is 4, with the interquartile range running from turns 2 to 6. The distribution is fairly broad, which reflects that lands get played when they're drawn rather than held for a specific moment. The mode in the multiplayer dataset is turn 4, suggesting many copies arrive in the mid-game rather than the opening hand.

Does casting Shivan Reef correlate with winning?

In 275 participations where Shivan Reef reached the battlefield, the normalized win rate was 31%. In 1030 participations where it stayed in the library, the rate was 24%. The delta is +7.2 percentage points. Both sample sizes are meaningful, but treat this as a directional signal rather than a definitive effect. A land that provides colored mana is a baseline enabler, not a standalone win condition.

Is Shivan Reef banned anywhere?

Shivan Reef is not banned in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, or most other formats where it is legal. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Alchemy, or Old School. It is a straightforward mana-fixer with no history of bans.

Why does Shivan Reef show up across so many different commanders?

Shivan Reef produces both blue and red mana, so it fits any deck whose color identity includes both U and R. That covers a wide range of commanders, from pure Izzet builds like Rootha, Mastering the Moment to five-color decks. The top commanders list on Playgroup Live spans Izzet, Temur, Jeskai, and five-color identities. Its low opportunity cost as an untapped dual land makes it a near-automatic inclusion in any deck that can run it.

How concentrated is the Shivan Reef data across players?

The multiplayer dataset spans 632 distinct players who have brought this card to a tracked game. No single player accounts for more than a small share of observations, which means the usage patterns reflect a genuine cross-section of the Playgroup Live community rather than one player's preferred list. That breadth adds confidence to directional findings in the data.