Welcome to part two of my complete set review of the recently released "The Early Church" Redemption expansion. Today, I'm going to cover anything you could possibly play on your hero in battle (and the fortress).
Fortress
Widow's Tables - This card is really good.... if you omit the phrase "during battle". Oops. It's still not terrible (mostly because Nicanor isn't terrible - assuming they fix Nicanor's poor wording of course), but it's not what I would consider good (at least not yet).
5/10
Dual-Alignment Enhancement
Gamaliel's Speech - Love this card. It sucks that it's in Clay, but since it's in Gray too, I doubt anyone will even notice. If anything, this card is a little too good. It's so versatile that there's really no reason not to play it.
9/10
Covenants
Scroll of Isaiah - This is interesting. At first glance, it seems really good (and it is), but it also gives your opponent an out to negating your convert indirectly. Jury is out on playability, as it's pretty meta dependent (heavy balanced deck meta makes this card bad, heavy offense leaning meta makes it good).
6/10
Good Enhancements
Coming of the Spirit - Ehh. Gaining the brigade is nice, but the Holy Spirit is basically not going to be played in a deck with enough purple to make this card worth it. I don't like it.
4/10
Deception Exposed - Standard CBP discard battle winner with a chance to double up with Peter (who will never get initiative to play it). Nothing special, but isn't bad.
6/10
Gentleness - Some nice widespread protection from discard is never bad. Negating play abilities is cool. But I'm not sure what space your deck will have for this card since it doesn't really help you win the battle.
5/10
Goodness - The usefulness of this ability capped because of the deck building restrictions of T1. In T2, this is really good, but this is a T1 review, so this card is bad.
2/10
Joy - I like Joy. There's a hero out there to abuse this card. I'm not sure which on, but there's something. It's kind of a bit card that I'm not sure will get played much, but I like it.
5/10
Kindness - I love this card. Let's bomb the world, Greece, here comes the Thunder! The immunity isn't bad either - instant grain belt and bombing on the same turn seems good to me.
7/10
Miracle at the Gate - Just another vanilla battle winner. Negate the EC, try to win the battle, hope they don't negate. Nothing special, nothing terrible.
5/10
Narrow Escape - Hmm. There's some tricks you can use with this card, but it seems super situational. I don't think this has enough playability, but there's definitely a combo here.
4/10
Peace - This is a super, super good card. Forcing toss onto a defense is super good because no defense really ever wants to toss anything. If you can find a good hero for this to go with, you have a good deck to start messing with.
8/10
Peter's Sermon - "Regardless of Protection". Sign me up for this one!
10/10
Patience - Surprisingly, I like this ability at face value. If there was a consistent way to get it out into your field, it'd definitely be good. This is probably more of a T2 card, but it's still got potential.
6/10
Peter's Vision - Just gives you site access and negate an annoying soul. I don't see it getting much press.
3/10
Preaching at Pentecost - "If this mid-tier dominant you don't really want to play is in play, do cool stuff". I'll pass.
4/10
Speak with Power - Withdraw isn't the best ability, but at least it's hard to protect from.
6/10
Hopefully Sunday I will be able to finish up with evil Characters, evil enhancements, and sites. I'm pretty excited for that one!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Card by Card Review of TEC - Phase 1 (Heroes and Dominants)
Welcome back all! After a year off from Redemption for a variety of reasons, I am back and ready to write about cards. Let's get right to my card by card review of Redemption's newest set. I'm going to piece this one out a bit. Be on the lookout for Part 2 (Good Enhancements, Sites, Covenants, DAE, and Fortresses) hopefully Friday, with a Part 3 finale tentatively planned sometime Sunday!
Dominants
The Blinding Light - The most important thing to remember with Dominants is the dominant cap in T1. To be honest, I don't see this card seeing much play due to that cap. It's a cute card, but look for it more as a combo centric card as opposed to receiving actual competitive play.
3/10
The Holy Spirit - Another situational dominant, The Holy Spirit is significantly stronger than The Blinding Light, mostly because Coming of the Spirit can play it from deck or discard, and it is the prerequisite for one of Clay's battle winners. The new fruit of the spirit cards are also fairly strong. I see the Holy Spirit being played marginally, and is an lock to be played with the dominant clay offense that someone will popularize. I don't think it's actually that strong though.
5/10
Heroes
Ananias of Damascus - I think it's pretty indisputable that Paul is one of the best heroes in the game. Ananias brings Paul from the depths of unplayability to at least fringe usage. That's enough. Negating sites is almost just a bonus. Very playable card that will struggle to find usage until someone finds the right deck balance.
6/10
Angel of Deliverance - Combos with various cards that can create captured heroes, but mostly a filler card. I don't see this getting much play as it's a very reactive card to capture, so if you want to counter capture you are better off with something like Blue Tassels.
3/10
Angelic Visitor - This is a very good card, probably one of the best in the set. Peter is a key cog for Disciples, and most every centurion is at least moderately playable. Searching for those key heroes AND protecting them from discard and capture will never be bad. We've seen this for almost 3 years now with various Bulletproof Judges.
9/10
Barnabas - Barnabas is a great example of having too many abilities. Each of his abilities is individually playable, but not too great. Because there's three of them on one card (with CBP) to boot, Barnabas is a very good hero instead of a playable. I wish Redemption would stop putting so many abilities on each hero. Barnabas can only get better when Phase 2 releases a playable Mark as well, so be on the look out for him in the future.
7/10
Cornelius - This card is good in a deck you aren't thinking about - The Garden Tomb! Easy site access with his banding to Peter, and he negates a lot of stuff to boot. Fringe Hero in most decks, but definitely playable. Still suffers from too many abilities syndrome though.
6/10
Ethiopian Treasurer - I guess the ability is good. It's the sort of card you are going to play in your deck because you sort of have to, but that you won't ever actually use because he's going to force to you rescue with him instead of a good hero in order to activate the abililty.
4/10
Faithful Priest - I forsee this card being vastly underrated. I don't think if many people will be playing it in various lists, but if you play Teal, Clay, or a Jerusalem Hero, I don't see why you wouldn't. It's the type of card you always cut from lists until you play it, and then it's really good.
7/10
Liberating Angel - This card is about silly combos. It's not good.
1/10
Mary, Mother of Mark - This is a really interesting card, if only because adding identifiers is cool. I'm not sure how actually playable it is though. I can't see many scenarios where I want to rescue with her. I like the concept though and support it existing.
5/10
Mattias - CBN access to Authority of Christ and Reach of Desparation (which are both in the most common deck Matthias should get played in) can't possibly be bad.
7/10
Messangers of Joppa - The ability is good enough, but it has 51/50 written all over it. It's only good, it's never great, so expect it to get added to a lot of lists at first, then cut out because it's not as good as everything else and you can only play so many cards.
4/10
Nicanor - I'm really glad this has a qualifier, because this ability is REALLY good. I wouldn't be surprised to this guy, another deacon, and a clay TC enhancement or two splashed in decks this year. This ability is off the wall good.
9/10
Nicolas of Antioch - Nic has gone from being a valuable card people seek for its rarity to a card that will be pretty easy to attain. Neither printing is very competitive.
4/10
Paul's Disciples - Will only be played by Josh Kopp. Welcome to Paul combos.
3/10
Peter - Another hero that lends itself to comboing, I see Peter being widely played. In fact, I'd probably bet money that this is the best printing of Peter currently. Look out of this juggernaut. There's just too many decks and too many ways to make things Clay for this to not be incredible. Easily the best hero in the set.
10/10
Phillip the Evangelist - An excellent bit hero. His playable depends on how scared you are of Magicians and artifacts, or how playable Phillip's Daughters is. A good weapon for Clay to have even though it probably won't see a ton of play.
5/10
Prochurus - I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I'm not super high on Widow's Tables (yet). If Tables gets better, so does Prochurus. Negating sites has been a common theme this set, but it's certainly not a bad ability to have.
4/10
Reassuring Angels - It's Angel with a Secret Name! But for Disciples! With Clay! Yeah, this card is really good. There's just too much you can do with it. Thaddeus just got even more ridiculous, to be quite honest.
9/10
Rhoda - A fun bit hero that stops some key battle winners, Rhoda will be played in any clay offense you build unless I'm missing something obvious. There's just no reason not to.
8/10
Simon the Tanner - I LOVE this ability. However, it's completely and utterly unplayable except for some stupid combos. This is a defensive card, not an offensive one. It won't get played much, nor should it.
2/10
Stephen - Get read for some serious Rhoda into Stephen action. That combo has great synergy, plus CBN enhancements. 7/7 helps to balance it out, but Stephen is still probably the best RA option for Clay most of the time.
8/10
Tabitha - I initially thought this card was really good, but upon thinking about how far away the game has shifted from repeated playing the same super good, target all enhancement, Tabitha is really just another card. There's probably some way to make a strong use out of it though, so I wouldn't sleep on her.
5/10
Timon - And Pumba. The ability is ok. Another card that seems like it gets defaulted into your clay deck, but what does that really say about Clay?
6/10
Widows of Joppa - Oh boy, a completely splashable Mayhem and Vain Philosophy counter! I bet no one plays this at all and it doesn't even matter!
2/10
That about wraps us up for tonight folks! Sorry, I don't have to endurance to just plow through these cards like I used to! Westy and I have also talked about maybe tossing a video up sometime in the upcoming week so you can get some combined thoughts as well if you like video formats, so be on the lookup.
-Olijar
Dominants
The Blinding Light - The most important thing to remember with Dominants is the dominant cap in T1. To be honest, I don't see this card seeing much play due to that cap. It's a cute card, but look for it more as a combo centric card as opposed to receiving actual competitive play.
3/10
The Holy Spirit - Another situational dominant, The Holy Spirit is significantly stronger than The Blinding Light, mostly because Coming of the Spirit can play it from deck or discard, and it is the prerequisite for one of Clay's battle winners. The new fruit of the spirit cards are also fairly strong. I see the Holy Spirit being played marginally, and is an lock to be played with the dominant clay offense that someone will popularize. I don't think it's actually that strong though.
5/10
Heroes
Ananias of Damascus - I think it's pretty indisputable that Paul is one of the best heroes in the game. Ananias brings Paul from the depths of unplayability to at least fringe usage. That's enough. Negating sites is almost just a bonus. Very playable card that will struggle to find usage until someone finds the right deck balance.
6/10
Angel of Deliverance - Combos with various cards that can create captured heroes, but mostly a filler card. I don't see this getting much play as it's a very reactive card to capture, so if you want to counter capture you are better off with something like Blue Tassels.
3/10
Angelic Visitor - This is a very good card, probably one of the best in the set. Peter is a key cog for Disciples, and most every centurion is at least moderately playable. Searching for those key heroes AND protecting them from discard and capture will never be bad. We've seen this for almost 3 years now with various Bulletproof Judges.
9/10
Barnabas - Barnabas is a great example of having too many abilities. Each of his abilities is individually playable, but not too great. Because there's three of them on one card (with CBP) to boot, Barnabas is a very good hero instead of a playable. I wish Redemption would stop putting so many abilities on each hero. Barnabas can only get better when Phase 2 releases a playable Mark as well, so be on the look out for him in the future.
7/10
Cornelius - This card is good in a deck you aren't thinking about - The Garden Tomb! Easy site access with his banding to Peter, and he negates a lot of stuff to boot. Fringe Hero in most decks, but definitely playable. Still suffers from too many abilities syndrome though.
6/10
Ethiopian Treasurer - I guess the ability is good. It's the sort of card you are going to play in your deck because you sort of have to, but that you won't ever actually use because he's going to force to you rescue with him instead of a good hero in order to activate the abililty.
4/10
Faithful Priest - I forsee this card being vastly underrated. I don't think if many people will be playing it in various lists, but if you play Teal, Clay, or a Jerusalem Hero, I don't see why you wouldn't. It's the type of card you always cut from lists until you play it, and then it's really good.
7/10
Liberating Angel - This card is about silly combos. It's not good.
1/10
Mary, Mother of Mark - This is a really interesting card, if only because adding identifiers is cool. I'm not sure how actually playable it is though. I can't see many scenarios where I want to rescue with her. I like the concept though and support it existing.
5/10
Mattias - CBN access to Authority of Christ and Reach of Desparation (which are both in the most common deck Matthias should get played in) can't possibly be bad.
7/10
Messangers of Joppa - The ability is good enough, but it has 51/50 written all over it. It's only good, it's never great, so expect it to get added to a lot of lists at first, then cut out because it's not as good as everything else and you can only play so many cards.
4/10
Nicanor - I'm really glad this has a qualifier, because this ability is REALLY good. I wouldn't be surprised to this guy, another deacon, and a clay TC enhancement or two splashed in decks this year. This ability is off the wall good.
9/10
Nicolas of Antioch - Nic has gone from being a valuable card people seek for its rarity to a card that will be pretty easy to attain. Neither printing is very competitive.
4/10
Paul's Disciples - Will only be played by Josh Kopp. Welcome to Paul combos.
3/10
Peter - Another hero that lends itself to comboing, I see Peter being widely played. In fact, I'd probably bet money that this is the best printing of Peter currently. Look out of this juggernaut. There's just too many decks and too many ways to make things Clay for this to not be incredible. Easily the best hero in the set.
10/10
Phillip the Evangelist - An excellent bit hero. His playable depends on how scared you are of Magicians and artifacts, or how playable Phillip's Daughters is. A good weapon for Clay to have even though it probably won't see a ton of play.
5/10
Prochurus - I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. I'm not super high on Widow's Tables (yet). If Tables gets better, so does Prochurus. Negating sites has been a common theme this set, but it's certainly not a bad ability to have.
4/10
Reassuring Angels - It's Angel with a Secret Name! But for Disciples! With Clay! Yeah, this card is really good. There's just too much you can do with it. Thaddeus just got even more ridiculous, to be quite honest.
9/10
Rhoda - A fun bit hero that stops some key battle winners, Rhoda will be played in any clay offense you build unless I'm missing something obvious. There's just no reason not to.
8/10
Simon the Tanner - I LOVE this ability. However, it's completely and utterly unplayable except for some stupid combos. This is a defensive card, not an offensive one. It won't get played much, nor should it.
2/10
Stephen - Get read for some serious Rhoda into Stephen action. That combo has great synergy, plus CBN enhancements. 7/7 helps to balance it out, but Stephen is still probably the best RA option for Clay most of the time.
8/10
Tabitha - I initially thought this card was really good, but upon thinking about how far away the game has shifted from repeated playing the same super good, target all enhancement, Tabitha is really just another card. There's probably some way to make a strong use out of it though, so I wouldn't sleep on her.
5/10
Timon - And Pumba. The ability is ok. Another card that seems like it gets defaulted into your clay deck, but what does that really say about Clay?
6/10
Widows of Joppa - Oh boy, a completely splashable Mayhem and Vain Philosophy counter! I bet no one plays this at all and it doesn't even matter!
2/10
That about wraps us up for tonight folks! Sorry, I don't have to endurance to just plow through these cards like I used to! Westy and I have also talked about maybe tossing a video up sometime in the upcoming week so you can get some combined thoughts as well if you like video formats, so be on the lookup.
-Olijar
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Why Smaller Decks are Better
My good friend Chris, who is currently staying with me, recently wrote an excellent article detailing why 57 card decks might be viable. It can be found here. 57 card decks is one of many topics Chris and I have been discussing while he’s been here, and while I agree with his points, I’d like to give the disadvantages for 57 card decks as well.
Larger decks require more lost souls. While this can technically be an advantage as well, as some lost souls have fantastic abilities, I would argue that it’s largely a disadvantage. The point of the game is to rescue five lost souls, and using souls like the N.T. and Female Only is a great way to stall out your opponent. More lost souls means there’s more of a chance at drawing the souls you don’t want. This is particularly noticeable at the end of the game, when all of your souls are on the table. Having one less lost soul can make the difference between your opponent winning the game and losing it. Perhaps you played Confusion to discard your opponent’s Son of God, and with Burial or the Exchanger, you can manipulate your souls to only have N.T. and Female Only. This can force your opponent to rescue with un-ideal heroes, or perhaps not be able to rescue at all.
Larger decks mean there’s less of a chance at drawing cards you want. This is generally the largest reason given for smaller decks. In a 50 card deck, Son of God occupies 2% of your deck. In a 57 card deck, that number shrinks to 1.7%. In other words, there’s a greater chance of drawing Son of God earlier in a smaller deck. While Olijar is much more adept at giving specific statistics, this is general common sense.
More cards just aren’t necessary. Two out of three of the arguments for larger decks Chris used are so you can include more speed, more defense, more dominants, and/or more soul generation. In other words, more options is better. However, smaller decks have proven time and time again that they are just as capable of winning with less cards in the deck. Sure, larger decks can do well, but it isn’t necessary. Let’s look at a history of nationals winning deck counts. The rule changes that occurred in 2012 was the large reason behind the meta shift we currently see today, and the reason behind the magic number 57—which allows for 8 dominants while still keeping a relatively small deck.
1st 2nd 3rd
2013 50 50 Unk
2012 52 51 57
2011 51 51 50/70
The 2013 third place person, Justin Sangillo, was playing a Disciples/Gray deck, and was likely at 50-52 cards, although is unknown because he never posted his deck. It’s clear that historically, larger decks have not done as well.
Part of the reason behind the lack of success is that not a lot of good players play decks larger than 52 cards. This is because top tier players recognize the advantages and disadvantages, and will only play a larger deck if they’re confident it’s the right play. This was the case for me in 2011, where I employed both the use of a 50 and a 70 card deck. However, when I build a deck the night before a tournament, I always go with 50-52. While this isn’t exactly a reason to play a smaller deck, this is a pattern among top players, and is important to recognize.
So to answer Chris’ question: are 57 card decks viable? Yes. Larger decks have always been viable. However, are 57 card decks the best play? I’m going to say no, but ultimately, it’s your initiative. What will you play?
-Westy
Larger decks require more lost souls. While this can technically be an advantage as well, as some lost souls have fantastic abilities, I would argue that it’s largely a disadvantage. The point of the game is to rescue five lost souls, and using souls like the N.T. and Female Only is a great way to stall out your opponent. More lost souls means there’s more of a chance at drawing the souls you don’t want. This is particularly noticeable at the end of the game, when all of your souls are on the table. Having one less lost soul can make the difference between your opponent winning the game and losing it. Perhaps you played Confusion to discard your opponent’s Son of God, and with Burial or the Exchanger, you can manipulate your souls to only have N.T. and Female Only. This can force your opponent to rescue with un-ideal heroes, or perhaps not be able to rescue at all.
Larger decks mean there’s less of a chance at drawing cards you want. This is generally the largest reason given for smaller decks. In a 50 card deck, Son of God occupies 2% of your deck. In a 57 card deck, that number shrinks to 1.7%. In other words, there’s a greater chance of drawing Son of God earlier in a smaller deck. While Olijar is much more adept at giving specific statistics, this is general common sense.
More cards just aren’t necessary. Two out of three of the arguments for larger decks Chris used are so you can include more speed, more defense, more dominants, and/or more soul generation. In other words, more options is better. However, smaller decks have proven time and time again that they are just as capable of winning with less cards in the deck. Sure, larger decks can do well, but it isn’t necessary. Let’s look at a history of nationals winning deck counts. The rule changes that occurred in 2012 was the large reason behind the meta shift we currently see today, and the reason behind the magic number 57—which allows for 8 dominants while still keeping a relatively small deck.
1st 2nd 3rd
2013 50 50 Unk
2012 52 51 57
2011 51 51 50/70
The 2013 third place person, Justin Sangillo, was playing a Disciples/Gray deck, and was likely at 50-52 cards, although is unknown because he never posted his deck. It’s clear that historically, larger decks have not done as well.
Part of the reason behind the lack of success is that not a lot of good players play decks larger than 52 cards. This is because top tier players recognize the advantages and disadvantages, and will only play a larger deck if they’re confident it’s the right play. This was the case for me in 2011, where I employed both the use of a 50 and a 70 card deck. However, when I build a deck the night before a tournament, I always go with 50-52. While this isn’t exactly a reason to play a smaller deck, this is a pattern among top players, and is important to recognize.
So to answer Chris’ question: are 57 card decks viable? Yes. Larger decks have always been viable. However, are 57 card decks the best play? I’m going to say no, but ultimately, it’s your initiative. What will you play?
-Westy
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