Hearthhull, the Worldseed Commander Deck Tech

Hearthhull, the Worldseed | Art by Daniel Ljunggren

It's simple: lands matter. Whether we're on the plane of Dominaria or suddenly finding ourselves in space near the edge of the Blind Eternities, lands matter. Lucky for us, Wizards of the Coast seems to agree with one of the new precons coming in Edge of Eternities. Not only do we have a new creature to talk about, but we also have an entirely new subtype of card that can be used as our commander.

My name's Nick, and today on Tech The Deck, we're being introduced to Hearthhull, the Worldseed. What's in store for a deck helmed by a massive Jund Spacecraft, and how do we maximize all that this card has to offer?

What Does Hearthull, the Worldseed Do?

The first thing we need to examine with this, as well as many new cards from Edge of Eternities, is the new Spacecraft subtype. As of right now, there aren't a massive number of Spacecraft in the game, but if I were a betting man, I would say this won't be the last time we see them.

All Spacecraft, and even some other cards, in the set have the Station ability, which is a simple twist on a few different abilities we've seen in the past: Crew and Saddle. For Hearthhull, the Worldseed specifically, we have two different numbers that we're trying to hit.

Hearthhull's station ability reads:

Tap another creature you control; Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It's an artifact creature at 8+.

Once we've reached this threshold, we now have a 6/7 with flying, vigilance, and haste with two separate abilities. But this card has tricks up its sleeve even before we get this far.

Once we get two charge counters on Hearthhull, it gains an ability allowing us to sacrifice a land, draw two cards, and play an additional land this turn. This is a powerful and key feature of our deck.

Once we max out the charge counters on every land we sacrifice, we lose each opponent two life. With the space-faring version of Lord Windgrace at our disposal, how does our deck work, and what tricks might we have in deep space?

Sacrificing for Value

This deck wants to do one thing above all else, and that is sacrifice lands for value. While the game designers at WOTC might regret the decision, they're still responsible for creating fetch lands and the numerous weaker follow-up versions.

We run plenty of lands in this deck that can put themselves into the graveyard and fix our mana as the game goes on. We also have lands that put themselves into the graveyard not for mana fixing, but for other kinds of value.

Graveyard hate, land hate, and a way to deal with the hate that Hearthhull will draw once the other players catch on to us being the problem - the deck might not be flush with any one of these effects, but we hope to be able to use any of our lands multiple times in a game if needed.

Lastly, while not lands themselves, the deck runs some, less-than-popular cards to sacrifice our lands. Squandered Resources is in just over 1% of decks, and is shrouded in infamy thanks to a notorious cheater from the early days of competitive magic. Nevertheless, it's wildly strong by allowing us to double up the mana produced by every land we have.

Overlaid Terrain looks at the 1% play rate above and laughs. With a whopping 0.05% this card may have been waiting for a chance to break out, and Hearthhull might be the commander to do it. It's possibly the definition of high risk, high reward, and as the flavor text on Jund 60-card staple, Dark Confidant reads, Greatness, at any cost.

Funny quips and percentages aside, most commander players are intimately familiar with what could be considered the best card in the deck.

The card costs mana, can keep us alive, and can put our entire land base into the graveyard without wasting a single resource.

Now What

So, what's the point of sacrificing all of our lands outside of our commander? Why are we worrying so much about getting cards into the graveyard? To bring them all back, that's why.

Once the lands go into the graveyard, we can use them and many other cards in our deck to bring them right back out. Whether they're coming back thanks to Hearthhull, the Worldseed, and the first station ability, or a card like Azusa, Lost but Seeking, if this deck hits the point of playing 3-5 lands a turn, we are unstoppable.

There's also a variety of cards in the deck to help us lower life totals thanks to our lands: Tannuk, Memorial Ensign or Tunneling Geopede.

The Gitrog Monster and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King keep our hand nice and full with card draw.

Titania, Protector of Argoth and Omnath, Locus of Rage find themselves here in yet another Lands Matter deck, but why fix something that isn't broken?

Retreat to Hagra and Valakut Exploration bring along additional ways for us to win the game, thanks to the damage they can do.

All at Once

While sometimes necessary, what we want to pull off is a massive sacrifice of lands after we charge up Hearthhull. Outside of Zuran Orb, the next best way to toss our lands is the classic card Scapeshift. Combine this with Spelunking, Tiller Engine, and Amulet of Vigor, and we don't even have to worry about lands coming in tapped.

While not as good as Scapeshift, Nahiri's Lithoforming can do a good impression in a pinch.

Famished Worldsire is one of my favorite new cards from Edge of Eternities, not only because it fits perfectly into this strategy, but something about the words "Devour land 3" makes me chuckle.

Finally, playing one land at a time out of the graveyard is excellent, and even doing this multiple times in a turn will keep this deck humming. But thanks to cards like Splendid Reclamation, Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, and Will of the Sultai, we can bring all those lands back to cast spells or continue to lower life totals with Iridescent Vinelasher or Geode Rager.

A Bit of Spice

Lands Matter decks tend to be pretty cookie-cutter, but that doesn't mean there's nothing special going on. Evolution Sage can allow us to get to the 2+ station ability right away and turbo us along to the 8+ ability thanks to proliferation.

Hugs, Grisly Guardian can be surprisingly dangerous with enough mana pumped into him, and is yet another way for us to play additional lands.

But nothing is spicier than Shaman's Trance, found for this deck by typing the correct sequence of words into Scryfall and thinking that it might be nice to use another player's Glacial Chasm or to stop a flashbacked Past in Flames.

Wrap Up

I am beyond excited that we seem to have a banger of a "Magic" set coming out soon, and Hearthhull, the Worldseed has made me reconsider putting a Lands Matter deck back together. This commander is both fun and frightening, given the strength of the strategy and the power of this card individually. It will draw a lot of hate, so if you're piloting it, be prepared to pick your spots and don't always run the cards out at the earliest opportunity.

Are you excited to get to your stations? Do you want to explore what the outskirts of the universe have to offer? Or maybe, like me, you're just excited that Tezzeret is back. Let me know over at nicnax96 and keep an eye out for all the other Edge of Eternities content coming down the pipe. As always, I have been Nick, and this has once again been Tech The Deck. Liftoff in 10...9...8.

Hearthull, the Worldseed Commander Deck List