RedLegendary Creature — Demon SpiritShimatsu the Bloodcloaked
Mana value4Rank#25,608
The Commander
As Shimatsu enters, sacrifice any number of permanents. Shimatsu enters with that many +1/+1 counters on it.
Guide
Gameplan
Cast Shimatsu, sacrifice a pile of permanents (tokens are ideal) so it enters as a huge body, then turn that into damage fast through trample, double strike, and extra combats before it gets answered. The deck plays as a sacrifice-fueled voltron beatdown that wants to flood the board cheaply and convert that width into a one-shot commander.
Strengths
- Can become an enormous creature for very little real card investment if you sacrifice tokens
- Mono-red consistency and easy access to ramp, haste, and burn finishers
- Counters can be saved across recasts via proliferate and counter-doubling effects
- Sacrifice-on-ETB synergizes with aristocrats payoffs and recursion
Weaknesses
- Without protection Shimatsu is a glass cannon vulnerable to a single removal spell or chump blocker
- Sacrificing real permanents for size can be a two-for-one card disadvantage
- Mono-red lacks card draw, recursion of nonland permanents, and instant-speed protection
- Falls behind quickly if you over-commit board to counters and get swept
Key Cards
- Krenko, Mob Boss — Pumps out goblin tokens that become free +1/+1 counters when Shimatsu enters.
- Impact Tremors — Turns your token-flooding plan into incidental damage and rewards a wide board before you sacrifice it.
- Fanatic of Mogis — Devotion-fueled burn that punishes you for building a wide board, providing reach off the sacrifice plan.
- Goblin Bombardment — Free sacrifice outlet lets you ping with permanents and convert a doomed Shimatsu into damage.
- Doubling Season — Doubles the counters Shimatsu enters with, making absurd sizes off the same sacrifices.
- Embercleave — Cheap after a wide board and grants double strike plus trample to make Shimatsu a one-shot threat.
Upgrade Path
Lean into either disposable token generators (Krenko, Hordeling Outburst, treasure makers) so your sacrifices are nearly free, or into protection and evasion (Loxodon Warhammer, Whispersilk Cloak, Berserkers' Onslaught) so a single big Shimatsu reliably connects. Add proliferate and counter doublers like Doubling Season and Branching Evolution to amplify size, and include haste enablers plus extra-combat spells such as Aggravated Assault to turn one swing into a kill.
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
- ▸Suit up Shimatsu with trample/double strike and extra combats for commander damage kills
- ▸Burn the table out with Impact Tremors / Fanatic of Mogis effects fueled by wide boards
- ▸Sacrifice loops with outlets like Goblin Bombardment to ping everyone to death
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Shimatsu rewards sacrificing permanents, pairing perfectly with sac outlets and death-trigger payoffs.
- Voltron — It naturally becomes a single huge creature you suit up with trample and double strike to kill players.
- Tokens — Going wide gives free fodder to sacrifice into counters and trigger ETB/death payoffs.
- Combo — Free sac outlets plus token engines enable burn-loop and damage-based combo finishes.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
