Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin will quickly become the most popular commander for Shrine decks – it’s the most glaringly obvious choice – but its activated ability and five-color identity make it a great commander for enchantment decks more generally. Jon has gone extremely hard in the paint in building an enchantment deck with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin in charge – it’s so full of enchantments that it can even play Umori, the Collector as a companion!
This deck does feature the full range of Shrines, but it has a lot of other tricks up its sleeve. From a surprisingly effective ramp suite to powerful enchantment synergies both in and out of combat, this deck has more than a few surprises. It might not be the most powerful EDH deck at the table, but there’s nothing wrong with that – and it’s bound to be one of the sweetest, in any event!
Go-Shintai Shrines by Jon
Commander
Companion
Creature (14)
Enchantment (50)
Land (35)
First and foremost – the deck is definitely a Shrine deck, that’s for sure, playing every single Shrine ever printed. The original five, the six that came along in M21, and the new creature/Shrine hybrids in Neon Dynasty – they’re all there. In conjunction with the commander, you’d have to think that getting even a couple of Shrines out is going to provide a huge advantage very quickly.
Further synergizing with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin, however, is a long list of Sagas! Sagas are an absolutely perfect pick for this deck, because Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin’s activated ability can return them to the battlefield after their third chapter has sent them to the graveyard. There are Sagas ranging from small utility cards like Elspeth’s Nightmare all the way up to powerhouses like Kiora Bests the Sea God – a wide range of power!
A small contingent of enchantment creatures has been included, as well – new cards Weaver of Harmony and Jukai Naturalist work to juice up the team or reduce their cost. There’s card draw in the form of Eidolon of Blossoms, Sythis, Harvest’s Hand and Enchantress’s Presence as well.
What I really like, however, is that this deck doesn’t really cut corners on the all-important ramp cards – there’s no shortage of ways to ramp even when restricted to just enchantments. Finally, there’s a suite of classic Enchantress win conditions, with the usual suspects like Starfield of Nyx and Sigil of the Empty Throne to close out games. There’s also Steal Enchantment, in case your opponent has something particularly sweet you want to nab!
I don’t think this is the most optimal or powerful Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin deck, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be – it’s one of the sweetest EDH lists I’ve ever seen however, and I always love getting across lists with a “thing” like this one. If you’ve got a similarly sweet list you want to show off to the world, I’d love to see it – send it my way via a DM on Twitter!
I love this list! Kudos to Jon for this brilliant deck-building stipulation. It really gives the list a character beyond “let’s go all in with shrines”. It’s cool to see a heavy green deck that’s not running the normal suite of green staples, or any deck not running Sol Ring. The companion even feels earned.
My playgroup is still on COVID Spelltable, so for webcam playability I had to cut Mind Flayer, the Shadow. In its place I put in Alseid of Life’s Bounty. It’s a beast in this deck, and a solid recursion target. I think I’ll stick with it.