BantLegendary Creature — Human WarriorShanna, Purifying Blade
Mana value3Rank#14,645
The Commander
At the beginning of your end step, you may pay 
. If you do, draw X cards. X can't be greater than the amount of life you gained this turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Build up incremental and burst lifegain throughout the turn, then on your end step pay X (up to life gained) to refill your hand. Use that card advantage to deploy threats and out-grind the table, eventually closing with go-wide or big-mana payoffs while staying out of burn range.
Strengths
Weaknesses
- Drawing requires open mana on your end step, taxing your turn
- Lifegain payoff is do-nothing on its own without a separate win condition
- Vulnerable to commander removal and graveyard hate stopping the engine cold
- Heavy lifegain can draw aggression and Lifelink/lifegain hate (Tainted Remedy, Erebos)
- Slow to actually win if you over-invest in pure lifegain
Key Cards
- Soul Warden — Pings life off every creature entering, feeding Shanna's draw on a curve you control.
- Heliod, Sun-Crowned — Boosts lifegain triggers and turns Shanna into a draw machine while building toward combos.
- Trelasarra, Moon Dancer — Doubles as another lifegain payoff and grows while you trigger Shanna.
- Aetherflux Reservoir — Stockpiles life from your gains and offers a 50-life laser to close games.
- Archangel of Thune — Buffs your whole board every time you gain life, converting Shanna's lifegain into pressure.
- Sphinx's Revelation — Mirrors Shanna's effect—gain life and draw—so a single card fuels two engines.
- Smothering Tithe — Generates the extra mana you need to pay big X values on your end step.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Smothering Tithe, mana rocks, Esper Sentinel) so you can pay large X every turn without sacrificing tempo. Install a tight infinite combo line like Heliod + Walking Ballista or Spike Feeder + Archangel of Thune to give the deck a real kill instead of relying on attrition. Round out with strong commander protection (Heroic Intervention, Lightning Greaves) and efficient lifegain that triggers on a clock, then trim purely incidental lifegain that doesn't advance the board.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Aetherflux Reservoir burst for 50 life damage after stockpiling lifegain
- ▸Heliod + Walking Ballista or Spike Feeder infinite combo for unbounded damage and draw
- ▸Go-wide alpha strike pumped by Archangel of Thune or similar anthem payoffs
- ▸Grinding the table out of resources with relentless Shanna card draw and a few large threats
Archetypes
- Lifegain Value/Midrange — Shanna rewards every point of life gained with cards, making lifegain an actual engine rather than filler.
- Combo — Heliod plus Walking Ballista or Spike Feeder enables infinite lifegain that turns into infinite draws and damage.
- Go-Wide Tokens — Soul Warden effects plus token swarms generate huge lifegain spikes and lethal boards via Archangel of Thune.
- Control — Bant counters and removal protect the engine while Shanna refuels your answers each turn.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GUW), by popularity.
