Thanks to ZeSword's effort of uploading our winning decklists on mtgtop8.com we can compile a list of the most played cards within our top performing decks.
I chose to omit lands whose sole purpose is to fix mana (no fetches, no duals etc.). Here is the list:
Rank | Card Name | Decks |
1 | Wasteland | 93.0 % |
2 | Kitchen Finks | 66.7 % |
3 | Swords to Plowshares | 64.5 % |
4 | Path to Exile | 57.0 % |
5 | Sensei's Divining Top | 56.5 % |
6 | Lightning Bolt | 53.2 % |
7 | Noble Hierarch | 51.1 % |
8 | Green Sun's Zenith | 51.1 % |
9 | Birds of Paradise | 50.0 % |
10 | Demonic Tutor | 48.9 % |
11 | Scavenging Ooze | 48.9 % |
12 | Tarmogoyf | 47.8 % |
13 | Flametongue Kavu | 47.3 % |
14 | Brainstorm | 46.8 % |
15 | Sword of Fire and Ice | 46.2 % |
16 | Jace, the Mind Sculptor | 45.7 % |
17 | Sylvan Library | 45.7 % |
18 | Mana Drain | 45.2 % |
19 | Elspeth, Knight-Errant | 44.1 % |
20 | Treetop Village | 44.1 % |
21 | Oblivion Ring | 43.5 % |
22 | Karakas | 43.5 % |
23 | Preordain | 43.0 % |
24 | Qasali Pridemage | 43.0 % |
25 | Arc Trail | 42.5 % |
26 | Force of Will | 42.5 % |
27 | Fauna Shaman | 41.4 % |
28 | Eternal Witness | 41.4 % |
29 | Mana Leak | 40.3 % |
30 | Vendilion Clique | 39.8 % |
31 | Ponder | 39.2 % |
32 | Knight of the Reliquary | 39.2 % |
33 | Garruk Wildspeaker | 38.7 % |
34 | Eladamri's Call | 38.7 % |
35 | Grim Lavamancer | 37.6 % |
36 | Snapcaster Mage | 37.6 % |
37 | Fact or Fiction | 37.1 % |
38 | Maze of Ith | 36.6 % |
39 | Chain Lightning | 36.0 % |
40 | Aven Mindcensor | 36.0 % |
41 | Lotus Cobra | 36.0 % |
42 | Llanowar Elves | 35.5 % |
43 | Venser, Shaper Savant | 35.5 % |
44 | Lightning Helix | 34.4 % |
45 | Counterspell | 33.9 % |
46 | Horizon Canopy | 33.3 % |
47 | Phyrexian Metamorph | 33.3 % |
48 | Thrun, the Last Troll | 32.8 % |
49 | Daze | 32.3 % |
50 | Tectonic Edge | 32.3 % |
The big question is: Why does "Wasteland" only have 93%, where are the missing 7%-points? Even if your manabase is greedy, the Wasteland is an autoinclude.
Could we say for the sake of it, that those people are not owning a "Wasteland"? :)
Interesting fact the places 2 to 4 are all white, followed by a bunch of green cards, which means GW is the way to go, right?
I'd be hesitant to read too much out of this data since it is aggregated from a rather lengthy timespan.
There are decks where wasteland doesn't belong imo. High tide for example. But those are few and far between.
I wouldn't underestimate those numbers. For example you get some clear infos:
Swords to Plowshares > Path to Exile
Noble Hierach > Birds of Paradise
Of course those things are easy to judge on.
Another intersting observation could be that 64% of all Decks are playing white, 53% are playing red, 48% black, 46% blue. Taking in account that those Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, Demonic Tutor and Brainstorm are auto-includes.
its data thats nice to look at (and it surely is appreciated) but its rather useless. my 3 month old chimpanzee knows that swords is superior to path etc.
@tony: I somewhat agree with you. It is kind of a who is who of our format. Like, if someone asked you what cards HL is about, you could show him that list. New insight is hardly to be gained from the data.
This is interesting, thank you. But I wonder how this list will look in the future.
For example, if you look at the Top 15 cards, most of them indicate a creature based strategy (these cards are either creatures themselves, an equipment, a tutor for creatures or creature-only removal spells). Wasteland, SDT, Demonic and Brainstorm are only up there because of their sheer power level, but are all run both in creature based and non-creature based archetypes.
Then, if you have a look at the following 15 spots, it's more about permission, disruption, flexible removal spells and harder to answer win options (Planeswalkers and Manlands).
Now, like Maqi said, this data has been collected over a longer period of time. In the recent past (old mulligan rule, 'greedy mana base'-discussion) I can imagine that, with the relatively new changes (new mulligan rule, unbanning of Mystical Tutor, the addition of the recent editions), the basic tendency of this list might change to a more diverse look within the next months.
Cool list! Thanks for the effort. I would really like to see this list for successful decks since the mulligan change.
Everyone seems interested in data since the mulligan rule change. No problem, here you go :
http://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=HIGH
I looked at two time periods and where the individual cards went. Here are the tables:
Spoils+Free-Mulligan | | | | | | Only Free-Mulligan | | | | | |
| Rank | Card Name | Deck-% | Trend | | | Rank | Card Name | Deck-% | | Trend |
| 1 | Wasteland | 93.0 % | 0 | | | 1 | Wasteland | 89.5 % | | 0 |
| 2 | Kitchen Finks | 66.7 % | 0 | | | 2 | Kitchen Finks | 60.5 % | | 0 |
| 3 | Swords to Plowshares | 64.5 % | 0 | | | 3 | Swords to Plowshares | 58.1 % | | 0 |
| 4 | Path to Exile | 57.0 % | -3 | | | 4 | Demonic Tutor | 57.0 % | | +6 |
| 5 | Sensei's Divining Top | 56.5 % | -1 | | | 5 | Lightning Bolt | 54.7 % | | +1 |
| 6 | Lightning Bolt | 53.2 % | +1 | | | 6 | Sensei's Divining Top | 53.5 % | | -1 |
| 7 | Noble Hierarch | 51.1 % | -16 | | | 7 | Path to Exile | 51.2 % | | -3 |
| 8 | Green Sun's Zenith | 51.1 % | -6 | | | 8 | Sylvan Library | 51.2 % | | +9 |
| 9 | Birds of Paradise | 50.0 % | -9 | | | 9 | Preordain | 50.0 % | | +14 |
| 10 | Demonic Tutor | 48.9 % | +6 | | | 10 | Brainstorm | 48.8 % | | +4 |
| 11 | Scavenging Ooze | 48.9 % | -2 | | | 11 | Ponder | 50.0 % | | +20 |
| 12 | Tarmogoyf | 47.8 % | -12 | | | 12 | Flametongue Kavu | 47.7 % | | +1 |
| 13 | Flametongue Kavu | 47.3 % | +1 | | | 13 | Scavenging Ooze | 47.7 % | | -2 |
| 14 | Brainstorm | 46.8 % | +4 | | | 14 | Green Sun's Zenith | 47.7 % | | -6 |
| 15 | Sword of Fire and Ice | 46.2 % | [fallen from list] | | | 15 | Deathrite Shaman | 46.5 % | | [new entry] |
| 16 | Jace, the Mind Sculptor | 45.7 % | -1 | | | 16 | Arc Trail | 46.5 % | | +9 |
| 17 | Sylvan Library | 45.7 % | +9 | | | 17 | Jace, the Mind Sculptor | 45.3 % | | -1 |
| 18 | Mana Drain | 45.2 % | -1 | | | 18 | Birds of Paradise | 45.3 % | | -9 |
| 19 | Elspeth, Knight-Errant | 44.1 % | -1 | | | 19 | Mana Drain | 43.0 % | | -1 |
| 20 | Treetop Village | 44.1 % | -1 | | | 20 | Elspeth, Knight-Errant | 43.0 % | | -1 |
| 21 | Oblivion Ring | 43.5 % | [fallen from list] | | | 21 | Treetop Village | 43.0 % | | -1 |
| 22 | Karakas | 43.5 % | [fallen from list] | | | 22 | Eternal Witness | 43.0 % | | +6 |
| 23 | Preordain | 43.0 % | +14 | | | 23 | Noble Hierarch | 43.0 % | | -16 |
| 24 | Qasali Pridemage | 43.0 % | [fallen from list] | | | 24 | Tarmogoyf | 41.9 % | | -12 |
| 25 | Arc Trail | 42.5 % | +9 | | | 25 | Mana Leak | 40.7 % | | +4 |
| 26 | Force of Will | 42.5 % | -7 | | | 26 | Restoration Angel | 40.7 % | | [new entry] |
| 27 | Fauna Shaman | 41.4 % | -1 | | | 27 | Fact or Fiction | 39.5 % | | +10 |
| 28 | Eternal Witness | 41.4 % | +6 | | | 28 | Fauna Shaman | 39.5 % | | -1 |
| 29 | Mana Leak | 40.3 % | +4 | | | 29 | Snapcaster Mage | 38.4 % | | +7 |
| 30 | Vendilion Clique | 39.8 % | -5 | | | 30 | Garruk Wildspeaker | 38.4 % | | +3 |
| 31 | Ponder | 39.2 % | +20 | | | 31 | Counterspell | 38.4 % | | +14 |
| 32 | Knight of the Reliquary | 39.2 % | [fallen from list] | | | 32 | Remand | 37.2 % | | [new entry] |
| 33 | Garruk Wildspeaker | 38.7 % | +3 | | | 33 | Force of Will | 37.2 % | | -7 |
| 34 | Eladamri's Call | 38.7 % | [fallen from list] | | | 34 | True-Name Nemesis | 37.2 % | | [new entry] |
| 35 | Grim Lavamancer | 37.6 % | -15 | | | 35 | Vendilion Clique | 36.0 % | | -5 |
| 36 | Snapcaster Mage | 37.6 % | +7 | | | 36 | Lotus Cobra | 36.0 % | | +5 |
| 37 | Fact or Fiction | 37.1 % | +10 | | | 37 | Chain Lightning | 34.9 % | | +2 |
| 38 | Maze of Ith | 36.6 % | -4 | | | 38 | Thoughtseize | 34.9 % | | [new entry] |
| 39 | Chain Lightning | 36.0 % | +2 | | | 39 | Tectonic Edge | 34.9 % | | +11 |
| 40 | Aven Mindcensor | 36.0 % | [fallen from list] | | | 40 | Thrun, the Last Troll | 34.9 % | | +8 |
| 41 | Lotus Cobra | 36.0 % | +5 | | | 41 | Abrupt Decay | 33.7 % | | [new entry] |
| 42 | Llanowar Elves | 35.5 % | [fallen from list] | | | 42 | Maze of Ith | 33.7 % | | -4 |
| 43 | Venser, Shaper Savant | 35.5 % | [fallen from list] | | | 43 | Garruk Relentless | 32.6 % | | [new entry] |
| 44 | Lightning Helix | 34.4 % | [fallen from list] | | | 44 | Spell Pierce | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 45 | Counterspell | 33.9 % | +14 | | | 45 | Miscalculation | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 46 | Horizon Canopy | 33.3 % | [fallen from list] | | | 46 | Thundermaw Hellkite | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 47 | Phyrexian Metamorph | 33.3 % | [fallen from list] | | | 47 | Inquisition of Kozilek | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 48 | Thrun, the Last Troll | 32.8 % | +8 | | | 48 | Garruk Relentless | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 49 | Daze | 32.3 % | [fallen from list] | | | 49 | Spell Snare | 31.8 % | | [new entry] |
| 50 | Tectonic Edge | 32.3 % | +11 | | | 50 | Grim Lavamancer | 31.8 % | | -15 |
EDIT: Added trending data for table 1.
Some agglomerations:
Winners | Losers | New kids on the block | Fallen from Grace |
Sylvan Library | Noble Hierarch | Deathrite Shaman | Sword of Fire and Ice |
Arc Trail | Grim Lavamancer | Restoration Angel | Oblivion Ring |
Fact or Fiction | Tarmogoyf | Remand | Karakas |
Tectonic Edge | Birds of Paradise | True-Name Nemesis | Qasali Pridemage |
Preordain | Force of Will | Thoughtseize | Knight of the Reliquary |
Counterspell | Green Sun's Zenith | Abrupt Decay | Eladamri's Call |
Ponder | Vendilion Clique | Garruk Relentless | Aven Mindcensor |
| | Spell Pierce | Llanowar Elves |
| | Miscalculation | Venser, Shaper Savant |
| | Thundermaw Hellkite | Lightning Helix |
| | Inquisition of Kozilek | Horizon Canopy |
| | Garruk Relentless | Phyrexian Metamorph |
| | Spell Snare | Daze |
| | | |
Does anyone have any new Data? the Link only shows events from 2014.
best regards
If I find time next week, I will try and update the stats. Could very well be next month since the datamining is daunting.
if u need some help for this just let me know.
greetz