Live Play Data

Hedron Archive

· Artifact · Foundations (FDN)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

668

Decks Running

381

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

73%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

73% of drawn Hedron Archives are cast before the game ends, with a median first-cast turn of 5 across 650 tracked Commander games on Playgroup Live.

Hedron Archive appears in 381 of the 12310 Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live, an inclusion rate of 3%. That figure reflects its role as a reliable colorless ramp-and-draw package: any deck that wants two mana up front and card advantage on demand can slot it in.

When a copy reaches a player's hand, it gets cast 73% of the time. Median first-cast turn lands at 5, consistent with players deploying it as mid-game acceleration rather than an early-turn ramp piece. Battlefield stickiness sits at 64%, which reflects how often the Archive is eventually sacrificed to draw two cards rather than staying in play permanently. That sacrifice mode is part of the plan, not a sign of fragility.

The commander spread is wide and colorless-heavy. Bello, Bard of the Brambles leads in raw deck count, but colorless commanders like Zhulodok, Void Gorger and Molecule Man stand out for how consistently Hedron Archive appears in their lists. As a colorless artifact, it slots into any color identity, which explains how broadly it distributes across the tracked meta.

At a glance

3% of tracked Commander decks include Hedron Archive
73% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T5 median first-cast turn
64% battlefield stickiness after casting
335 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
42% of casts land exactly on curve at 4 mana

First-cast turn

n=113

15%

21%

12%

40%

T6-9

T10+

Median 5 P25 4 · P75 8 · max 19

On curve 42% (24 / 113 cast on T4) Cast same turn as drawn 42%

The "good card" funnel

668 brought · 335 players

Brought to game

668

Ever drawn

155

Reached battlefield

113

Still on board at game end

73%

Of 668 Hedron Archives brought to games, 155 were drawn, 113 of those were cast, and 64% of cast copies remained on the battlefield at game end.

≥ -5.4pp

Players who cast this card win 28% of the time (n=108) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=461).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 23% (n=40) — 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 +2.9pp; 95% confidence interval -5.4pp to +11.2pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

171 instances

5.3%

Library

42.1%

Battlefield

27.5%

Graveyard

5.3%

Exile

Most Hedron Archives end games in the graveyard after being sacrificed for cards, with the remainder split between the battlefield and hands, reflecting a card that fulfills its draw mode more often than it gets removed.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Bello, Bard of the Brambles 33 decks
2 Zhulodok, Void Gorger 28 decks
3 Ulalek, Fused Atrocity 26 decks
4 Szarekh, the Silent King 23 decks
5 Ovika, Enigma Goliath 18 decks
6 Ultron, Artificial Malevolence 12 decks
7 Ashling, Rekindled // Ashling, Rimebound 10 decks
8 Molecule Man 10 decks
9 Isperia, Supreme Judge 9 decks
10 Imotekh the Stormlord 8 decks

The list spans mono-colorless heavyweights and five-color goodstuff piles alike, showing that Hedron Archive's colorless identity lets it spread evenly across a wide range of commanders rather than concentrating in one archetype.

Frequently Asked

How often is Hedron Archive drawn in a Commander game?

Across 650 tracked games where Hedron Archive was in the deck, it was drawn 23% of the time. That's a typical draw rate for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of 155 instances that reached a player's hand, 73% were cast before the game concluded.

What turn does Hedron Archive usually get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5, with the bulk of casts clustered between turns 4 and 8. The distribution reflects a card that often comes down after basic land drops are covered and a player is looking to accelerate into their top-end. Only a small fraction of casts happen on turn 1 or 2, typically through ramp effects that put it ahead of curve.

Does casting Hedron Archive correlate with winning?

28% of participations where Hedron Archive was cast ended in a win for the controller, versus 25% when it stayed in the library. The +2.9 percentage-point gap is a directional positive signal, but the confidence interval on this dataset crosses zero, so treat it as early signal rather than a proven effect. Sample sizes are 108 cast and 461 library participations.

Why does Hedron Archive have such low battlefield stickiness compared to other artifacts?

64% stickiness is expected and intentional. Hedron Archive's sacrifice ability (pay 2, tap, sacrifice: draw two cards) is a core part of why players run it. When the Archive has served its ramp purpose and the player needs cards, sacrificing it is the correct line. A lower stickiness number here signals the card is being used as designed, not that it's being removed by opponents.

Is Hedron Archive legal in Commander?

Yes. Hedron Archive is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Oathbreaker, and most other Constructed formats. It is not legal in Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Old School formats, and it is not legal in penny dreadful lists.

Which commanders most commonly run Hedron Archive?

Bello, Bard of the Brambles leads in raw deck count among tracked lists, followed by Ulalek, Fused Atrocity and Zhulodok, Void Gorger. The concentration data is healthy: 335 unique players have brought Hedron Archive to a tracked game, and no single player accounts for more than a small fraction of all tracked instances. The spread suggests broad, organic adoption rather than a single outlier driving the numbers.