Just a roaming dead God, no big deal.
Commander has plenty of different archetypes and decks to mess around with these days, and while pretty much all of them can be fun, there are only a few of those that have one major Commander option. While we did recently get a new contender from Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender, you’re almost going to want to go with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin if you’re looking to play Shrines. If you want to get a lot out of this card, then read on.
This is our Commander Bestiary series, which means that we’re going to cover the lore of the card, then go deep into everything you need to know to build your own deck and play it. We’ll even tell you about some of the gnarly infinite combos you can play alongside Go-Shinati, too.
Who is Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin In Magic: The Gathering?
Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin
Commander: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Mythic
Go-Shintai is the result of the death of multiple kami in the Jukai forest on Kamigawa, where the dust from them settled onto a Shrine and gave it a sentience of its own. The Shrine has since wandered the plane picking up the remains of other kami as it goes, growing stronger and stronger still as it does so.
Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin’s Strengths
Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin comes with the nifty ability to return an enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield, but you do need to pay one of each color to do so. Along with that, whenever it or another nontoken Shrine enters, you create a creature Shrine token as well.
The main strength of this card lies in its ability to return enchantments to the battlefield. It means you’re adding a lot more resilience to your deck, and can even go for something akin to a Reanimator strategy if you’d like. You’re also able to access every color in Magic: The Gathering, and that’s essential for a focused Shrine deck.
Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin’s Weaknesses
With that, however, Go-Shintai does have a few glaring weaknesses. The most significant one is that it doesn’t come with haste, which means you need to keep it in play for a turn before activating it or attaching a Lightning Greaves on it. The activated cost is also quite high (as much as it is mana demanding), requiring your mana base to be on point for it to work consistently. You’ve also got the fact that if there aren’t any other Shrines or enchantments in your graveyard, Go-Shintai isn’t doing a lot while also needing to protect the card from opposing spells and abilities. It feels like a lot of downsides, but you’re likely going to be using this to head up a powerful deck, not one that is independently powerful.
The Best MTG Commander Archetypes for Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin
If you’re playing Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin, then you’re going to want to play a Shrines deck. Basically, you can just put this in a deck with the rest of the Shrine cards, and you’re more or less good to go. You can also play it at the head of a more generic Enchantress strategy, or combine the two concepts into one, which often works well. You can also use Go-Shintai at the head of the 20 Ways To Win Commander Precon Deck as a fun option, but it isn’t very strong.
The Highest Synergy MTG Cards You Should Play with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin
Market Price: $11.17
If you’d like to build your own deck from scratch, but you want a couple of pointers, then use these cards:
- Sanctum of All
- Sanctum Weaver
- Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
- Sterling Grove
- Wildsear, Scouring Maw
The Best Infinite MTG Combos You Can Play With Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin
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Keep in mind that this infinite combo will shift your deck up a bracket or two, because it offers infinite mana as early as turn three. Sanctum Weaver taps for mana equal to the number of enchantments you control. Freed from the Real is an enchantment aura that allows you to pay one blue mana to untap the enchanted creature. With just these two in play and attaching Freed from the Real to the Weaver, you can gain two mana by tapping Sanctum Weaver and spend one of those to untap it as much as you wish.
How to Play Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin in Commander
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The goal here is to play a lot of Shrines, try to remember all of the triggers, and then win! Is this a sturdy game plan? No. But that’s okay, we’re here to have fun, or at least honor the dead gods that ended up becoming fused with a Shrine to become a new being. Anyway…
Moving on to some of the cards you’ll want to play in a Go-Shintai strategy, Sanctum of All allows you to put a Shrine from your graveyard or library into play during your upkeep. Then, if you’ve got six or more Shrines on the battlefield, you get to double all of your Shrine triggers. This is a must-have and might be the secret commander in any Shrine deck.
We’ve mentioned this one a bit already, but Sanctum Weaver is incredible at generating mana whenever you play Shrine cards. The Weaver will always tap for a mana (as it is an enchantment itself), but it can lead to some silly numbers once you’re creating Shrine tokens with Go-Shintai in play. Sythis, Harvest’s Hand is one of the many “Enchantress” cards in the deck, and she’ll draw you a card whenever you cast an enchantment spell. She also gains you one life whenever you do this, so this is a nice way to buffer life totals during a game.
Having ways to protect your Shrine (and your commander) is needed in a deck like this one, which makes Sterling Grove an excellent addition. The Grove grants your enchantments with shroud, but you can also sacrifice it to search for an enchantment and put the card on top of your library. This effect becomes valuable with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin in play, but do be careful with shroud, as it does mean you wouldn’t be able to attach Freed from the Real or Lightning Greaves to your enchantment creatures!
Wildsear, Scouring Maw
Commander: Bloomburrow, Mythic
All of these cards come together with the rest of the shrines and enchantment support cards you’ll be playing to make for a fun and trigger-happy deck that’ll lead to some interesting wins. So, have fun, and remember to keep an eye out for enchantment board wipes!