All 27 Soulshift Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 29, 2023

He Who Hungers | Illustration by Kev Walker

More than a few mechanics have been forgotten over the course of Magic’s 30-year history. It’s been a minute since the Kamigawa block, so you’re forgiven if soulshift has been deleted from your mental recycle bin.

It’s a keyword on mostly spirit creatures that allows them to return a spirit from the graveyard to your hand when they die. It’s flavorful with the theme of things that never really die, especially on Kamigawa, but that unfortunately doesn’t lead to it being particularly powerful.

What was soulshift, and how did it work? How do the cards that had it stack up? Let's jump in and find out!

What Are Soulshift Cards in MTG?

Elder Pine of Jukai (Saviors of Kamigawa) | Illustration by Alan Pollack

Soulshift is a keyword ability on creatures that allows them to return a spirit card to your hand with a mana value less than or equal to the soulshift number when it dies. It’s essentially a spirit-typal mechanic that offers built-in recursion for your spirit creatures.

The caveat is that creatures typically have a soulshift that's less than their own mana value. You can’t repeatedly bring back creatures to your hand when they die, but you can still chain them repeatedly if you have one of each cost in your graveyard.

The mechanic appeared in the Kamigawa block, but it hasn’t returned since.

#27. Kami of the Tended Garden

Kami of the Tended Garden is just terrible. A lot of soulshift creatures are just vanilla bodies with soulshift for one less than their mana value. I don’t care to pay just to have a 4/4 for four lying around, even if it has normal stats like this one.

#26. Harbinger of Spring

Harbinger of Spring isn’t much better. It’s a 5-mana 2/1 that has protection from non-spirit creatures, which isn’t really that great. It still easily dies to some non-creature-based removal, and the soulshift for four doesn’t make up for that.

#25. Venerable Kumo

Next is Venerable Kumo, a 5-mana 2/3 with reach. The stats are pretty terrible, especially considering there’s a better version for 3-mana nowadays.

Soulshift just isn’t powerful enough (especially anymore) to warrant paying  such a cost for this kind of creature. Maybe this would be good if soulshift reanimated a spirit, but I’m not sure.

#24. Vine Kami

Vine Kami is a 7-mana 4/4 with soulshift 6, and it needs to be blocked by two or more creatures. I generally like that kind of clause, but only when the creature either has trample or better stats. I want more for seven mana, and that’s going to be a reoccurring theme throughout these rankings.

#23. Crawling Filth

Crawling Filth is one of a handful of black soulshift creatures. This 2/2 spirit with fear has a whopping 6-mana casting cost, which is far too much regardless of Magic era. Fear is strong, and the idea behind that cost is that the soulshift number can then be for five instead of something lower.

I’m not excited about any of this. Either the creature’s stats need to be better or the soulshift mechanic itself has to be stronger for this sort of thing to work.

#22. Rootrunner

Rootrunner is a fun card, and it’s the first one on this list that doesn’t give you a garbage statline for a high mana value. A 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awful, and the ability to put a land on the library for and sacrificing it is… interesting.

It’s not great, but it’s neat from a design perspective considering it’s its own sacrifice outlet.

#21. Nightsoil Kami

A 6-mana 6/4, Nightsoil Kami is just a big body with soulshift. It’s more playable, especially in a Limited setting. I’m still not going over to TCGplayer to pick this one up for a spirit tribal deck anytime soon though.

#20. Thousand-Legged Kami

Thousand-Legged Kami doesn’t really hit like a creature with a thousand legs should. It’s a 6/6 with an 8-mana cost and soulshift 7.

At least we’re finally seeing some big bodies for these massive mana costs, but it’s still a lot for an essentially vanilla creature. Underwhelming at best.

#19. Hundred-Talon Kami

Hundred-Talon Kami is a 5-mana 2/3 flier, and it was somewhat strong back in the day. Players now get that for three mana, for perspective.

The addition of soulshift for four makes this playable in a spirits tribal deck, especially since most of those are white. Maybe this could have some use bringing back a cheap spirit commander, like Geist of Saint Traft or Dorothea, Vengeful Victim!

#18. Kami of the Palace Fields

Kami of the Palace Fields is about as good as the previous card. It’s close given that they have nearly equivalent statlines for their respective mana costs, but I like this card more because its higher soulshift hits spirit commanders that Hundred-Talon Kami doesn’t (specifically Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa, and Celestial Kirin).

#17. Scuttling Death

We’ve got another black card on our hands! Scuttling Death is another that’s also its own sacrifice outlet, and it can be turned into scrap to give something -1/-1 until end of turn.

I’d like do more than that and bring back a 4-drop for throwing away my 5-mana creature.

#16. Torii Watchward

Torii Watchward is one of the least-played cards with soulshift. It’s overall pretty mediocre, but it’s still better than a lot of the competition. Soulshift 4 is a critical breakpoint for bringing back spirit commanders to dodge the commander tax, and a 3/3 with vigilance is just okay.

I thought this had flying…

#15. Burr Grafter

Burr Grafter is another cheaply-statted creature for too much mana. A 4-mana 2/2 isn’t anything to get excited about, even with soulshift 3.

It works as an instant-speed pump spell if you sacrifice it, though, so maybe that decent ability is enough to warrant play in a spirits deck that plays green.

#14. Kami of Lunacy

Kami of Lunacy comes in as a 6-mana 4/1 flier. It’s not great and dies easily, but I like the aggressive card design on a creature that pays off when it dies.

I’m sort of a sucker for these cards, and this one seems like it might have a fit in a non-spirit casual EDH deck that has a spirit commander like Moira, Urborg Haunt.

#13. Deathknell Kami

Back-to-back black cards! Deathknell Kami starts as a 2-mana 0/1 with flying, and it has the ability to get pumped for . It has to be sacrificed at the end of turn, but this has some decent aggressive potential and can be a decent flying blocker.

I think it would be much stronger if it had deathtouch, but you can’t always get what you want.

#12. Kami of Empty Graves

Next up is Kami of Empty Graves, a cheaper version of Kami of Lunacy without the flying. I’m torn between them, but I think that this card has a cost advantage, flying or not.

Soulshift isn’t exactly the most powerful card, and it seems to perform best on creatures that are 4- and 5-drops, not 6+.

#11.Gibbering Kami

Gibbering Kami is another 4-mana 2/2 flier. Soulshift 3 is the borderline amount to be important for retrieving commanders from the graveyard, and that puts this ahead.

Would I like it much more as a 3/3? Yes.

#10. Kami of the Honored Dead

Kami of the Honored Dead is a 3/5 flier with reverse-lifelink for a whopping 7-mana casting cost. This is the kind of strong blocker that also works as a nice flying beater when you need it to.

Soulshift 6 grabs just about everything, so that’s nice.

#9. Body of Jukai

Body of Jukai is, finally, a creature with trample. If you’re going to pay a lot of mana for a big creature with a large soulshift ability you at least want trample or another keyword that synergizes with the body.

#8. Pus Kami

Pus Kami is neat. You’re paying a 7-mana cost for a 3/3, which isn’t great, but paying to kill a nonblack creature and bring something with a 6-mana value or less to your hand is decent.

If you cheat this out somehow it’s even better.

#7. Forked-Branch Garami

Forked-Branch Garami is just a step above anything so far. It’s a decently-rated card (a 5-mana 4/4) and even goes so far as to have soulshift 4 twice.

Good soulshift cards need good cards or great abilities, and this has both compared to the cards before it.

#6. Moonlit Strider

Moonlit Strider has some decent utility for a 4-drop. Sure, a 1/4 for that much is bad, but this is meant entirely as a protective layer for some other important creature.

#5. Promised Kannushi

Promised Kannushi is, interestingly, not a sprit creature. It’s a 1/1 for just one with soulshift for seven. We’re finally cooking with gas, and I really like this card. It doesn’t even need to be in a spirit-tribal deck.

Throw this in some mono-green deck with a spirit commander that may die early, like Kodama of the West Tree, and enjoy netting mana at minimum.

#4. Thief of Hope

Thief of Hope drains an opponent for one life whenever you cast a spirit or arcane spell. This is one of the newest cards with soulshift, hence the better statlines and actual power level behind the card.

#3. Kodama of the Center Tree

I bet you didn’t know there was also a Kodama of the Center Tree! This one has combat stats equal to the number of spirits you control, so at least 1/1, and it also has soulshift X for the same number.

This is the sort of major top-end card for spirit tribal decks, and it does it well.

#2. He Who Hungers

The runner up is He Who Hungers, a 3/2 with flying for five that can give you a Thoughtseize effect at sorcery speed if you sacrifice it and pay . This is a great mechanic when paired with the soulshift ability, and it’s one of the best soulshift cards because of it.

#1. Elder Pine of Jukai

Respect your elders! In this case, Elder Pine of Jukai.

This doesn’t have the most power behind it as a 2/1, but it has great value. Whenever you play a spirit or arcane spell you get to put a few lands into your hand at best and put some spirit cards to get back from your graveyard at worst.

Best Soulshift Payoff

The payoffs are few and far between for soulshift, but Tormod, the Desecrator is a Commander build-around and a great start for playing with cards leaving your graveyard.

Wrap Up

Kodama of the Center Tree (Betrayers of Kamigawa) | Illustration by Jim Murray

That’s it for soulshift! I didn’t even know 26 of these 27 cards before researching, and it was fun to get to look at these for the first time.

What do you think of my rankings and the mechanic overall? Would you (or do you) play any of these cards? Are you surprised that it’s mostly stayed in the past, or would you like to see it come back in red or blue cards? Is there another creature type that it would fit with? Let me know in the comments below, or come talk about it in the official Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!