Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty
Legendary Enchantment Creature — Shrine
Deathtouch
At the beginning of your end step, you may pay 
. When you do, destroy target creature with toughness X or less, where X is the number of Shrines you control.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #5359
Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty drains each opponent for 1 life whenever a Shrine enters the battlefield under your control — in a deck running ten-plus Shrines, that adds up to a legitimate life total clock without spending a card. The cost is that it does nothing outside a dedicated Shrine shell, making it a staple only if Go-Shintai of Life's Origin is your commander.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Go-Shintai of Life's Origin
Go-Shintai of Life's Origin recurs Shrines directly from the graveyard to the battlefield, meaning every recursion trigger also fires Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty's drain ability — turning a single activation into a multi-opponent life swing and making Hidden Cruelty one of the highest-value Shrines in the 99.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only format where Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty is genuinely playable — it needs a critical mass of Shrine synergies that only a dedicated 99-card Shrine tribal deck can sustain. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern, Pioneer, and Legacy, Shrines have never cohered into a viable archetype, and a three-mana 1/1 with no immediate impact is simply too slow to matter. The card is technically legal across most Constructed formats but sees no meaningful play outside Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty is bulk, and that price reflects its narrow playability outside a single archetype. It's a reliable pickup for Shrine builds — the price is unlikely to move unless Shrine tribal suddenly becomes a competitive Commander archetype, which makes it a low-risk, low-cost inclusion.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.