Upgrading the World Shaper Commander Precon

Posted on August 20, 2025

Edge of Eternities is here at last and despite a couple weeks of taking on some non-space topics for a bit, there's a ton of cool things going on with the set. Naturally, the talk is focused heavily on two elements: it being the last in-universe set of the year and also the set featuring a sci-fi setting. However, one of the less talked about aspects is the new big change to the Commander format.

This rule change now allows legendary vehicles and legendary spacecrafts to be used as your commander. Humorous implications like Shorikai, Genesis Engine's now redundant text aside, this provides some fun new texture to how you can play games of Commander going forward. Most of the existing legendary vehicles prior to this set were either mono-color or Colorless, making for pretty underwhelming commanders.

Edge of Eternities, however, leaned into this heavily with the set's Commander precons. Today, I'm going to take a look at the first of these decks and explore some cool ways to upgrade it.

This one is the World Shaper precon, helmed by the mighty Hearthhull, the Worldseed. Admittedly, I haven't had much time to experience what spacecrafts have to offer in terms of raw gameplay, but I do know that the abilities this one provides are excellent. They lend really well to not only a fun lands-matter strategy like Commander precons of the past, but also lean into doing something many players wouldn't expect: sacrificing them!

With lots of complex and interesting gameplay to be had, let's check out the decklist. From there, we can then get to talking about what it makes it cool and great ways for you to upgrade it.

World Shaper Precon | Commander

Commander (1)
1 Hearthhull, the Worldseed

Enchantments (1)
1 Binding the Old Gods

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What I really enjoy about this deck is the way it encourages you to sacrifice lands. That's not an easy task for a lot of decks that don't have access to, say, a fetch land heavy deck. But you're not moneybags here, you're playing with a preconstructed $45 Commander deck. You've gotta work with what you have!

By offering you the opportunity to sacrifice your lands for value, though, it opens you up to making better use of one-time effects. For example, Bojuka Bog usually just feels like a mediocre card once you've gotten the graveyard exile effect out of it. However, now you can sacrifice it afterwards, generate some additional value, and then possibly bring it back later!

That leads me into the biggest thing that I think this deck lacks, though: meaningful ways to bring back lands from your graveyard. Now make no mistake, there are a modest number of them - including on the alternate commander Szarel, Genesis Shepherd. The problem is, though, most of them are generally one-shot effects like Aftermath Analyst, Splendid Reclamation, and Worldsoul's Rage.

All of these cards rock, but where's something like a good old fashioned Crucible of Worlds here? Obviously, it clashes with Szarel, but another option or two would've been excellent. Now, naturally, Crucible of Worlds itself probably isn't an ideal choice given that it's a hotly in demand chase rare. However, there are many other options that are quite easy inclusions.

For example: Ramunap Excavator is an all-time classic. Not just of Commander either but Commander precons more specifically, having shown up in decks for Modern Horizons 3, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and Commander Legends. It's far from the only option, though, with something like Conduit of Worlds being in the very recent Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Ancient Greenwarden, the new Icetill Explorer, and even the budget friendly Perennial Behemoth work great in this space too! Getting something like these or perhaps even Life from the Loam in here to act as a recursive backup option goes a long way.

The second thing that I think is worth mentioning are the lands themselves. Normally when it comes to my precon upgrade articles, I tend to avoid talking about mana bases. There's only so many ways you can say "just pick up some better dual lands" before it gets dull, after all. Here, though, the lands are the deck's core element so it absolutely becomes something that needs to be addressed.

There are a lot of ways you can improve on these. Remember how I noted that Bojuka Bog makes for an excellent sacrifice option? Did you notice it was the only one I mentioned? There was a reason for that. It's one of the only real lands that has this kind of renewed utility that isn't something like Dakmor Salvage (which auto-recurs) or the brand new Eumidian Hatchery.

As I was going through the list, I just sort of assumed that there had to be at least one or two other lands that did a one-shot ETB effect. Think a card like Mortuary Mire or Witch's Cottage that get you creatures back or a Dwarven Mine to make a one-off critter. There is tons of value to be had from making use of cards like these, especially over the many Evolving Wilds-style effects that plague this deck.

Seriously, if you go through the precon decklist I see:

Cabaretti Courtyard

Escape Tunnel

Evolving Wilds

Fabled Passage

Maestros Theater

Mountain Valley

Myriad Landscape

Riveteers Overlook

Rocky Tar Pit

Terramorphic Expanse

Most of these can't find dual lands (Mountain Valley and Rocky Tar Pit are the exception) which means you're just relying on basic lands. Yes there's good value to be had in using these lands to help trigger Hearthhull's 8+ Station ability, but you will definitely run out of lands to pull with them very fast. With a whopping ten of these lands, you'd probably be better off simply swapping some out for basics themselves or sucking it up and buy into some shock lands and surveil lands. Maybe real fetches if you've got the cash.

In addition to the one-shot use lands I mentioned earlier, you can also get some great use out of lands the sacrifice as part of their usage. Strip Mine and Wasteland are obvious candidates here, but if you want cheaper and less oppressive options then try something like Demolition Field and Ghost Quarter. If you lean into cards like Crucible of Worlds and Conduit of Worlds, a singleton Buried Ruin could go a long way to ensuring you don't lose access to these powerful cards.

There are also numerous lands that allow you to sacrifice them for short bursts of mana. Crystal Vein, Dwarven Ruins, Ebon Stronghold, and Havenwood Battleground are probably among the most recognizable of these. However, you can also find one that sacrifices for multiples in Geothermal Crevice courtesy of Invasion. Mercadian Masques also has some potent lands in the depletion lands. These include Hickory Woodlot, Peat Bog, and Sandstone Needle and can really accelerate any gameplan.

Each of these provides a great way to generate some sacrificial value towards Hearthull's damage dealing ability. They also happen to be great with recursion from the graveyard, naturally. So too are other lands that just happen to hit the graveyard a modest amount like Shifting Woodland, Urza's Saga, and creature lands like Raging Ravine. All of these represent excellent upgrade options for your core land base.

The last aspect I'd like to cover is the non-land cards that don't just revolve on pulling lands out of the graveyard. Yeah you need the good lands and meaningful ways to recur them, but without cards that synergize well, these can be somewhat meaningless.

Thankfully, looking through the list I'd say that WotC did the best job here. There is no shortage of awesome cards that work great with landfall (Rampaging Baloths and Omnath, Locus of Rage being classics) or sacrificing (Mayhem Devil, The Gitrog Monster). If you just touched up the land base and added in some more of the recursion, you'd have a fine deck in its own right, but it wouldn't be an upgrade article without a few suggestions.

One thing I can't help but shake are the lack of good token makers. Sure Rampaging Baloths and Omnath do a good job here, but they only go so far. Adding in cards like Scute Swarm and Springheart Nantuko will really make for some nutty board states. You can also just jam Avenger of Zendikar and watch your plant tokens get huge fast with all the lands you're playing. Heck, put the Springheart Nantuko on the Avenger and watch things really get silly.

In a similar vein, there's plenty of great ways to utilize landfall to crush your opponents. Mossborn Hydra grows really big, really fast, as do other popular options in Standard Landfall decks like Tifa Lockhart and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. I personally love making good use of Iridescent Vinelasher and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. Both really whittle away life totals with all your land drops, but do so at a modest pace that compliments your commander and something like Mayhem Devil. Additionally, creatures like Orcish Lumberjack and Sylvan Safekeeper can provide powerful sacrifice outlets to fuel Hearthhull and the Devil as well.

I also like using some cards that can make it easier to utilize your lands. Cards like Exploration and Burgeoning are obvious call-outs - particularly if you happened to open a Special Guest Burgeoning - but these are very much if you have the money options. I like Spelunking, though, as a means to get your lands into play untapped and even make an extra land drop. You can really go to town with your extra land drops off of something like Case of the Locked Hothouse, though, and even dig for other powerful spells to play.

All in all, this seems like an extremely fun precon to pick up and play with. Even without the upgrades, there's a ton of fun and engaging synergistic gameplay to be had. It might be a little complex for a newer player, but that just means it's a cool way for players to discover the depth Magic has to offer. Take it for a spin at your next Commander night and durdle with land-based nonsense over and over again!

Oh, and one small note: take Planetary Annihilation out of your deck. Your playgroup will thank you.

Paige Smith

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