Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
Legendary Enchantment Creature — Shrine · {2}{R} · Red commander
First strike
At the beginning of your end step, you may pay {1}. When you do, Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars deals X damage to target player or planeswalker, where X is the number of Shrines you control.
Build a Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars deck →
What Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · end_stepAt the beginning of your end step, you may pay {1}. When you do, Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars deals X damage to target player or planeswalker, where X is the number of Shrines you control.
- Keyword · first strikefirst strike
What a Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars deck needs
Plays as shrines. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- Shrines (its end-step damage scales with them)
The Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 33× A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
- 7× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 9× Refill your hand
- 3× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 16× A permanent of the exact NON-creature type the commander counts — artifacts for an artifact commander, enchantments for an enchantress
Best cards for Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific
- Crashing Drawbridge2 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
- Oketra's Monument3 mana
- Artist's Talent2 mana
- Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei2 mana
- Roiling Vortex2 mana
- Hazoret's Monument3 mana
- Rhonas's Monument3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Crush1 mana
- Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
- Titan's Presence3 mana
- Abrade2 mana
- Untimely Malfunction2 mana
- Chaos Warp3 mana
- Kozilek's Command2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Shield-Wall Sentinel4 mana
- Skyship Weatherlight4 mana
- Moonsilver Key2 mana
- Pattern Matcher4 mana
- Gamble1 mana
- Hoarding Dragon5 mana
- Shrine Steward5 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Mizzium Mortars2 mana
- Delete2 mana
- Earthquake1 mana
- Apocalypse5 mana
Refill your hand
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty3 mana
- Adaptive Omnitool2 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana