Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist Commander Deck Guide

Hashaton, Scarab's Fist | Illustration by Wisnu Tan

Aetherdrift introduced a wide variety of new legendary creatures for Commander, and today, I'll dive into one of the strongest options that aims to compete at the top of multiplayer tables. I'm talking about Hashaton, Scarab's Fist, a discard commander that focuses on cheating expensive creatures into play to steal games in one fell swoop. This is a sample deck that I think is both powerful and fun to play.

Curious about the card selection? Let’s dive in!

The Deck

Grand Abolisher | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

The Commander: Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist

Cycling is one of the main mechanics in this set that isn't related to vehicles, and Hashaton, Scarab's Fist is the commander designed to take full advantage of it. The strategy is simple yet effective: You’ll discard a big creature and cheat it into play for just 3 mana using Hashaton’s triggered ability.

The Enablers

Hashaton’s main ability is incredibly strong, and our fellow content creator Saffron Olive has already highlighted just how powerful this card can be from the other side of the table. To maximize this ability, you need to include two types of cards:

• Enablers – Cards that let you loot efficiently and at a low cost
• Payoffs – Big creatures that you can cheat into play ahead of schedule

When it comes to enablers, you need as many efficient discard outlets as possible—little to no cost is ideal.

The best option for this is The Underworld Cookbook, as you can activate its ability immediately after you play it. This artifact requires no additional resources beyond tapping and paying its initial mana cost, and it provides consistent value throughout the game.

Other solid enablers include Kitsa, Otterball Elite, Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator, and Rona, Herald of Invasion, and Rona is the strongest of the three. Rona’s ability allows you to discard multiple times per turn as long as you can cast legendary spells, making it a powerful and repeatable looting engine. These creatures need to survive a turn to be effective, so it's crucial to include multiple versions of this effect to ensure the deck functions smoothly.

The best creature for consistently discarding cards is Psychic Frog (followed by Ghostly Pilferer), as its ability doesn’t require tapping, allowing you to loot immediately and repeatedly. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel is another excellent choice, as it can enter at the end of an opponent’s turn and loot freely after connecting with a player in combat. Raffine, Scheming Seer enables connive when attacking with a creature, while Ledger Shredder triggers its looting whenever an opponent casts their second spell, making both strong additions to the deck.

New creatures like Rhet-Tomb Mystic and Temmet, Naktamun's Will double down on the discard strategy. The former gives cycling for just 2 mana to creatures in your hand, while the latter serves as a pseudo-Raffine to loot cards and pump your zombies.

By running a mix of these enablers, you maximize your ability to cycle through your deck and set up Hashaton’s game-winning plays as consistently as possible.

The Payoffs

I like to run a mix of five to six powerful, high-cost creatures with game-breaking abilities that immediately put pressure on opponents as soon as they enter the battlefield.

Griselbrand is unfortunately banned in Commander, so you need the next best option available in an Esper color identity: Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. Jin-Gitaxias not only refills your hand, but it also acts as a disruptive piece. It forces opponents to discard their entire hand at the end of their turn and severely limits their options.

Beyond Jin-Gitaxias, there are several other strong reanimation targets:

• Nezahal, Primal Tide provides additional card advantage and is difficult to remove.
• Hullbreaker Horror offers board control by bouncing spells and permanents, making it a nightmare for opponents.
• Valgavoth, Terror Eater and Archfiend of Ifnir are excellent demon options that bring both power and disruption to the board.

My favorite inclusion is Hoarding Broodlord, which tutors any card upon entering the battlefield. This usually fetches Reanimate, allowing you to bring back another key creature you discarded earlier—even if your commander isn’t on the field yet.

The Removal

Esper decks arguably have some of the best removal options in Commander. Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile can exile creatures for just 1 mana with little drawback in this format. Cyclonic Rift is a must-have for any blue-based deck, while Supreme Verdict, Toxic Deluge, and Living Death can act as board wipes when needed. Virtue of Persistence functions as both removal and a recurring reanimation card that can be deployed in the late game. 

Other Cards

These cards are powerful and have unique effects that are hard to find in other cards or colors. Tortured Existence, for example, is a personal favorite due to its minimal investment required to recur creatures from your graveyard by exchanging them with creatures from your hand. It's a strong tool for hand filtering in this deck, while others like The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters, and Shorikai, Genesis Engine are staples in any deck that can run them.

Naturally, all this looting supports a pseudo reanimation theme with cards like Metamorphosis Fanatic, Reanimate, and Unburial Rites. They’re especially useful when your commander is unavailable, or you run the risk to lose it right away if you play it, especially if you can’t protect it.

As expected in these colors, I’ve included strong countermagic like Swan Song and Mana Drain, hate cards like Grand Abolisher, Rhystic Study, and Smothering Tithe, and Dark Ritual for fast mana generation, potentially enabling a turn-1 The One Ring with some luck.

The Mana Base

Mana rocks and the lands of the mana base go hand in hand, but let's start with mana rocks. This list features a mix of Signets and Talismans available to Esper commanders, along with the always useful Sol Ring and Mana Vault. These will often allow you to deploy powerful cards like Rhystic Study or Smothering Tithe ahead of schedule, which can be critical in the early game.

From there, this decks run a decent mix of lands, which I'll group by type:

• Fetch lands: Arid Mesa and Polluted Delta
• Shock lands: Watery Grave and Hallowed Fountain
• Pain lands: Underground River
• Verges: Bleachbone Verge
• Surveil lands: Shadowy Backstreet and Undercity Sewers
• Check lands: Isolated Chapel

I've tried to select lands that are between the most and least expensive options. From there, you can mix and match depending on whether you have OG duals like Underground Sea or need to rely on budget options like Temple of Deceit.

The Strategy

In the early game, you'll play similarly to most other Commander decks: You should prioritize playing lands and mana rocks over other cards in your hand. If your playgroup allows free mulligans, I highly recommend trying to get a hand with at least one mana rock.

From there, you have a few options, but generally, you'll want to establish a board state where your looter, like Rona, Herald of Invasion, is available and you have enough mana to cast your commander and activate its ability, totaling 5 mana. Counterspells and the mana to cast them are optional and may not be necessary, as you can always loot in response to removal targeting your commander. Of course, once Hashaton has resolved, your opponents might target your looter first, so keep that in mind. Having multiple looters in play is always a good idea.

Even if this plan fails, remember that you have a pseudo-reanimation package that can also be used to bring back key enablers and your commander when needed.

Combos and Interactions

This deck is straightforward to play. However, there are some plays that can come in handy, which you should be aware of.

Teferi, Time Raveler is extremely useful and serves two important roles: protecting your commander on your turn and returning permanents to hand. This second ability is handy for resetting the burden counters on The One Ring, bouncing Mana Vault to generate more mana, or simply bouncing Witch Enchanter and replaying it for its land side if that’s all you need to make your next play.

Dark Ritual is insanely powerful in the early game, especially if you have something like Troll of Khazad-dûm plus Reanimate or Exhume in your opening hand. This combo can give you a turn-1 6/5 creature that's difficult to block.

Speaking of Troll of Khazad-dûm, it’s an excellent creature to pair with Tortured Existence. You can return it to your hand and then landcycle again for another swamp.

Remember that you can loot away your Unburial Rites and a payoff card to cast the reanimation spell for 1 mana cheaper, or you can use it when you're still missing black mana in the early parts of the game.

This deck includes a single infinite combo that involves a 1-mana permanent like Mana Vault or The Underworld Cookbook, along with Sol Ring and Hullbreaker Horror. To execute the combo, tap Sol Ring for 1 colorless mana, then cast the 1-mana permanent. This triggers Hullbreaker Horror, returning Sol Ring to your hand. Recast Sol Ring, which triggers Hullbreaker Horror again, bouncing the 1-mana permanent back to your hand. Repeating this process generates an infinite storm count. If you include Mox Amber in the loop, you can also generate infinite mana, making it a strategy worth keeping in mind.

Budget Options

Like many decks, you might be looking for some budget-friendly options, especially since some staples can be pricey or hard to find.

Let’s start with the mana base, as that’s usually the first place I look to make cuts.

Some affordable dual lands to consider are Prairie Stream and Sunken Hollow, both of which typically cost less than a dollar.

Arcane Sanctum is a budget-friendly alternative to a triome, while Exotic Orchard often functions as a second copy of Command Tower in most multiplayer games.

You can also use the Temple land cycle from Theros, like Temple of Deceit.

Next, I’d look at looters as another way to cut costs. Putrid Imp and Likeness Looter are solid budget-friendly options, both costing less than a dollar, compared to Psychic Frog, which is around $10.

If you're looking for cheaper finishers, Ashen Rider is always a reliable choice. Sun Titan and Tivit, Seller of Secrets are also great options that can be strong threats when cheated into play.

Refute is a solid budget replacement for countermagic that fits well with your deck’s game plan. For removal, Void Rend, Bone Shards, and Despark are all great options that won’t break the bank. Similarly, Victimize and Dread Return are affordable reanimation spells worth considering.

There are some strong utility cards like Zombie Infestation, Cephalid Coliseum, and Geier Reach Sanitarium, which can support your overall strategy and serve as budget-friendly replacements for more expensive cards.

Other Builds

While the discard theme is pretty straightforward, there are a few different ways you can approach running this deck.

For example, if you include creatures with cycling, like Flourishing Fox, Basri, Tomorrow's Champion, and Cloud of Faeries, you can bypass the need for looters since your creatures can naturally discard themselves.

Additionally, cards like Songs of the Damned reward you for having a large number of creatures in the graveyard, and you can always bring them back by chaining spells with Reaping the Graves or stacking them with the likes of Gravepurge. Of course, the cheaper the cycling cost on your creatures, the better.

Another approach is to go full combo and invest your budget into the Thassa's Oracle/Demonic Consultation combo, along with all the tutors available to pull it off. Don’t forget to include cheap fast mana like Lotus Petal and Chrome Mox for those explosive starts.

While this won’t be cEDH material, it’ll come close, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up there.

Victory Lap

An Offer You Can't Refuse | Illustration by Dallas Williams

I'm happy with how this deck turned out as it strikes a nice balance between fair and powerful, without any oppressive combos lurking underneath. What do you think? Did you like the overall shell, or would you make any changes or add hidden gems I might have missed? Let me know in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord!

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Take care, and I'll see you next time!