Five-Color Shrine Hei Bai, Forest Guardian Commander Brew!

Posted on November 18, 2025

Hello and happiest of days to each of you! Ever since the first Shrines debuted in one of my favorite sets of all time Champions of Kamigawa - the first of the flavor-first sets, I tried them out. At the time, I was playing the default casual format of the day in Five Color and Honden of Seeing Winds made it to my Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy on its own. And then I also have a real life Five Color Commander them in my deck with them and then Planeswalkers too.

Today we'll look at my next brew right here today with another slate of the good stuff just printed with a different ETB concept rather than triggers over time!

Here's our leader! This four-drop leader with an on-curve 4/4 size and then just in Green. When this Panda Bear arrives, you can dig until you show a Shrine and then drop it! Free Shrines! Then you can tap this cutie for one of each mana to make one 1/1 Spirit dork that cannot be blocked or block save Spirits for each of our legendary enchantments! That's all Shrines and then other stuff too.

Mana Stuff

Let's begin with this awesome Shrine matters mana duo! The first one above costs four for a ramp of a basic tapped when this arrives! That's for each Shrine we have! Then when others arrive you just ramp one. Then that three-cost one will make mana in our precombat equal to our Shrine count this time - great to skate!

The two-cost sorcery Aang's Journey with kicker will bring a basic to our hand! Then if you kicked it, you can grab a Shrine too! Leyline of the Guildpact can be free! Then all of our lands are every land type as well as our dorks all colors too!

And now let's turn to some enchantment style ramping here too. That three-drop 2/4 enchantment creature Dryad of the Ilysian Grove will let us play another land each turn! Then you can also just like Leyline above end all mana color needs with the same ability! Then that two-cost 0/2 Dryad Sanctum Weaver will tap for mana equal to our enchantment count in just one color though. Embrace it!

And now we are turning to good legendary-matters mana rocks! The five-drop one arrives tapped and then taps for one of each mana - totally worth the tempo loss! Then that seven-drop one taps for five, this time for colorless and then you can also use any mana for all colors and then tap it with five to draw equal to our color count!

And now? Lands! Alchemist's Refuge taps with Simic mana to give our stuff flash. That's great with most of our things being sorceries or things so we can cast them in response to stuff. Then we can tap that colorless tapping Hall of Heliod's Generosity with two to reload a dead enchantment right on top for more of that sweet drawing later!

Let's finish with this two-set. The uncommon land taps for colorless, washes one into more, or all colors for Lessons and Shrines. Then that two-drop 1/3 Green dork will turn our enchantments arriving into a free land too! Then if we have six enchantments, we can drop dorks too. Pretty good, right? I concur!

Synergies and Win-Cons

And now we'll turn to synergies and win-cons here! That one-drop Black on arrival Shrine will have our foes lose life equal to our Shrine Count and we gain it back on the far end too. But just once, and then as they arrive, do it again! Then the one with first strike will in our end-step pay one to shoot one foe for our count here. Then that two-drop uncommon will in our precombat main drain them all like the first too, love it tons here!

Wanna go wide for wins instead? Got cha! The Red uncommon four-drop Crescent Island Temple arrives and then makes one per Shrine of the 1/1 and Monk with prowess persuasions! Then you'll make one as the others arrive too. Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose has vigilance and will in our end step turn a mana into a colorless 1/1 Spirit this time! In Green the five-drop Honden of Life's Web will make them during our upkeep.

And these two all-color Shrines are next! The Green four-drop mythic 3/4 legendary dork will tap with one of each color to Zombify an enchantment to our battlefield! Then when this or another non-token Shrine of ours ETBs we can make a 1/1 token copy! Nasty! Then that five-drop all colors one will in our upkeep drop a free Shrine to the battlefield from our graveyard or library too. Then you can copy all Shrine abilities as long as we have six or more! I adore this duo here? Very much!

And now? Like the All one above, Tutors! The three-drop Sisay, Weatherlight Captain will spend five mana, one of each color, to drop a legendary permanent from...anywhere...onto the battlefield! It just needs to be cheaper than her power, which grows as we get more stuff out there too of different colors. Then the five-drop colorless 3/2 dork Shrine Steward Tutors it or an Aura to our hand too! Then that Selesnya two-drop Sterling Grove will protect our enchantments with Shroud! Then sac it for a Tutor to our library's top.

And now these two amazing two-drop Green synergies! The former one has Bear size, pumps your enchantment dorks as an anthem and then taps with one Green to copy an enchantment ability! The latter uncommon has a bigger size with 2/3, then your dorks and enchantments cannot be countered! Amazing with the shroud above. Then mana sink four here over and over again to make our land into a trample and hasted beater at our enchantment count.

And now? Recursion! The five-drop White enchantment Starfield of Nyx will in our upkeep return one for free! Then when we have five all non-Auras get to be beaters equal to their cost. Then that nasty good sorcery for seven Brilliant Restoration will bring them all back as well as artifacts too! I adore the four-drop legendary Heliod, the Radiant Dawn here, which will also trigger our leader's token making to. When it arrives, you Raise Dead one to your hand! Then we can flip him for no more than four for a 4/6 flash engine for anything! It also has a nice cost reduction too in some cases!

And next up is this Blue uncommon duo! The two-drop flyer with 0/4 size will in our EOT spend a mana to mill someone equal to our Shrine count. Nice blocker size for the cost too. That can be foes or you too. Then that four-drop Simic 2/4 arrives with a dig of our top five and then draw a Shrine, Lesson or Saga too. Then when you cast one another grows in size with a counter.

And now let's grow stuff with counters. The trampler Go-Shintai of Boundless Vigor will again spend a mana to grow a Shrine equal to your count! This is great to begin with. Then the four-drop Southern Air Temple arrives and then tosses counters on each of our dorks equal to our count! Nasty! Then do it again as they arrive too.

And now let's finish this section with these two classic Hondens for four mana: Honden of Night's Reach and Honden of Cleansing Fire! The Black one in our upkeep will force someone to discard equal to our Shrine count - which is just nasty here as a Mind Twist! Once you drop it, everyone should start dropping their hands as fast as possible! Then that White one is a Congregate each upkeep for your Shrine count too! Get it and embrace it too.

Answers

And now we'll turn to answers, and where possible they are in enchantment or legendary enchantments if possible. I added the flash counter three-drop Nightmare first. They'll get a free manifest - they won't mind much! Then that four-drop Jund legendary one will shoot a dork or planeswalker for 5 when it arrives! Then copy all legendary creature things you do too! Then the six-drop legendary Aura that can be tutored for above will steal one thing like Confiscate! And then it's legendary too for our stuff!

Next up are three Rakdos Shrines that remove things: Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty and Honden of Infinite Rage and Sanctum of Shattered Heights. The Black one 2/2 with deathtouch for four is first. Then we can in our EOT spend a mana to destroy a smaller toughness thing than our Shrine count. Then that three-drop red one in the first cycle can in our upkeep shoot a dork or player equal to that Shrine count, so it's both removal or a win-con too! Then the last one as an activated ability for one repeatably to discard a land or Shrine to shoot a permanent equal to the count there too!

And now? Mass removal! Extinguish All Hope will destroy everything that's not an enchantment dork! Then the classic X double Black legendary enchantment The Meathook Massacre dominated Standard. When it arrives you -X/-X the X, so you can sculpt it to keep our stuff and then also cannot be stopped with hexproof or indestructible. Then we drop opponent's life totals by 1 for each of our dorks that bites it. Then when a dork a foe has dies, we gain that life too. Nasty.

Card Draw

And now we'll start with card draw! There are three Blue Shrines that draw equal to our Shrine count and all are here. The best and first one is the five-drop in our upkeep. Then a four-drop triggers in our precombat too, but we'll discard one back. Then that three-drop one above draws when it arrives! Then also when other Shrines arrive too.

Ever since the first set with Verduran Enchantress, there have been tons of cards that draw when you cast or drop an enchantment to the battlefield! We have Sythis, Harvest's Hand and Eidolon of Blossoms here. I love here the two-drop Selesnya legendary dork and enchantment here with a cast trigger also for life too and triggers our leader too. I also enjoy the Spirit there too on an enchantment and dork too.

Next up are these two great legendary enchantments to trigger our Bear Commander too or generally too. The four-drop Bant on-curve 4/4 is first! She also has bestow too. Whenever an enchanted or enchantment dork get their swing on, draw! Note there's no "or other" there at all too. Also note that's not combat damage there but merely attacking! Then that four-cost Blue one will double our cards drawn save for the first each turn. Embrace that!

Here's my brew!