Live Play Data

Urza's Saga

Enchantment Land — Urza's Saga · Modern Horizons 2 (MH2)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

2789

Decks Running

1373

Median Cast Turn

3.0

Drawn → Played

80%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

80% of drawn Urza's Sagas are played, and games where it resolves show a +7.5 percentage-point win-rate lift over games where it stays buried, across 507 observed casts.

Urza's Saga sits in 7% of tracked Commander decks on Playgroup Live, a focused presence that reflects its zero-mana-cost nature and narrow but powerful fit in artifact-heavy strategies. Across 2308 tracked multiplayer games, it was brought to the table 2790 times, drawn 680 times, and cast 544 times.

When a copy lands in a player's hand, it reaches the battlefield 80% of the time, one of the higher draw-to-play rates we track for any card. Median first cast falls on turn 3.0, with a strong cluster on turn 1, reflecting how often it appears in opening hands and gets played immediately as a land. The 66% same-turn cast rate reinforces that: players rarely sit on it once they have it.

The card's colorless identity gives it access to any Commander deck that can support it strategically, not just blue artifact builds. The top commanders in the data reflect that range, spanning Zhulodok, Urza, Tony Stark, and Toph across multiple color pairings. Urza's Saga is a mana-neutral land that generates a token, tutors for zero- or one-mana artifacts, and self-sacrifices on chapter III. That combination of functions in a single land slot explains why it appears across such a diverse slice of the Commander meta.

At a glance

7% of tracked Commander decks include Urza's Saga
80% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T3.0 median first-cast turn, with turn 1 as the most common single turn
66% of drawn-and-cast copies played on the same turn they were drawn
35% win rate in games where Urza's Saga resolved, vs. 28% when it stayed in the library
821 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=544

28%

13%

11%

10%

24%

T6-9

T10+

Median 3.0 P25 1 · P75 6 · max 16

Cast same turn as drawn 66%

The "good card" funnel

2790 brought · 821 players

Brought to game

2790

Ever drawn

680

Reached battlefield

544

Still on board at game end

144

80%

Of 2790 copies brought to games, 680 were drawn, 544 of those were played, and the majority ended the game in the graveyard after completing all three chapters.

≥ +3.3pp

Players who cast this card win 35% of the time (n=507) , vs 28% when it never left the library (n=1754).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 39% (n=122) — 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 +7.5pp; 95% confidence interval +3.3pp to +11.8pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

768 instances

3.0%

Library

18.8%

Battlefield

55.9%

Graveyard

9.5%

Exile

The graveyard is the most common final zone for Urza's Saga, which is expected: the card sacrifices itself after chapter III resolves, so ending there is a sign it did its job rather than a sign it was disrupted.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Zhulodok, Void Gorger 31 decks
2 Ultron, Artificial Malevolence 21 decks
3 Toph, the First Metalbender 19 decks
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer 18 decks
5 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 17 decks
6 Molecule Man 15 decks
7 Lumra, Bellow of the Woods 14 decks
8 Sauron, the Dark Lord 14 decks
9 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary 13 decks
10 Hearthhull, the Worldseed 13 decks

The commander list spans colorless, mono-blue, mono-black, and multicolor builds, a spread that reflects Urza's Saga's colorless identity allowing it to slot into virtually any artifact-synergy deck regardless of color.

Card text

Urza's Saga

Enchantment Land — Urza's Saga

(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.) I — This Saga gains " {T}

: Add

." II — This Saga gains " {2}

: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'" III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0}

, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.

Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) · Rare · Illustrated by Titus Lunter

Frequently Asked

How often is Urza's Saga drawn in a Commander game?

In 2308 tracked multiplayer games where it was in the deck, Urza's Saga was drawn 24% of the time. That is consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 680 instances that reached a hand, 80% were played before the game ended. The same-turn cast rate is 66%, meaning most players deploy it immediately rather than holding it.

What turn does Urza's Saga typically hit the battlefield?

Median first cast is turn 3.0. The distribution is skewed early: turn 1 is the single most common cast turn, reflecting opening-hand keeps. The 25th percentile sits at turn 1 and the 75th at turn 6, so a meaningful portion of casts still happen well into the mid-game. As a land, it requires no mana investment, which explains the strong early clustering.

Does casting Urza's Saga actually correlate with winning?

In 507 participations where Urza's Saga resolved, the win rate is 35%. In 1754 participations where it never left the library, the win rate is 28%. The +7.5 percentage-point gap is a directional signal that getting Urza's Saga into play is associated with better outcomes. The sample sizes here are large enough to treat the direction as consistent, though other deck-quality factors also contribute.

Is Urza's Saga legal in Commander?

Yes. Urza's Saga is legal and unrestricted in Commander and Oathbreaker. It is also legal in Legacy and Modern, and restricted in Vintage. It is not legal in Standard, Pioneer, Pauper, or Brawl. In Commander its colorless identity means it can slot into any deck, regardless of color.

Why does Urza's Saga show low battlefield stickiness?

Urza's Saga has a built-in sacrifice clause: it goes to the graveyard after the third lore counter resolves. That is by design, not removal. The card's power is front-loaded across its three chapters. A low stickiness figure here means the card is doing its job, not that it is being answered frequently. The final zone distribution confirms that the graveyard is its most common resting place after games.

Which commanders run Urza's Saga most often?

In the current dataset, Zhulodok, Void Gorger leads with the most decks including it, followed by Ultron, Artificial Malevolence and Urza, Lord High Artificer. The spread covers colorless, blue, red-blue, red-white, and multicolor builds, which reflects the card's colorless identity allowing inclusion across the full commander spectrum. Artifact-themed commanders dominate the list, as you would expect given Urza's Saga's chapter abilities.