Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Notes/Commentary:

*This deck had lots of synergy (some of which I didn't even realize until I started playing). David was amazing as he could play Bravery, both Coat of Mails, and King Saul's Spear

*While neither of my other two Gold enhancements (Shibboleth and Raising of Saints) were worth recurring with Battle Prayer, Not Alone was an awesome enhancement to recur 

*Multiple times I played Bravery just for the negate in order to win battles.

*Watchful Servant won the last game by getting 2 free LS right at the end. He also would have won the game in which I suffered my first loss if my defense had been able to hold just a bit longer

*King Abijam was incredibly flexible. Because I had so much other offense, he ended up being an EC most of the time and his decrease gave multiple people trouble

*Urim and Thummim (like last year) was a blessing and a curse. It definitely prevented me from initiating battles which would have wasted resources. However, in one of my two losses, I may have been better off forcing my opponent to use his resources even if it meant sacrificing a battle winner in a battle I knew I couldn't win (and possibly allowing me to win if he had not used a certain block I knew I couldn't beat)

*I decided to run the deck at 56 because I knew I could win a long, drawn out game with Watchful Servant. Statistically I would also draw my LS a bit slower than anyone running at 50, so there was potential for creating turns of drought here and there.

Game 5 vs Chris F. (Loss 5-3)

This was the first game I drew my high priest and Urim and Thummim together. Unfortunately it just told me I couldn't break through Chris's defense. He had turn one Covenant Breakers backed up by Shimei's Malicious Curse and I went many turns without attacking because I didn't want to waste the battle winner. I knew if I could draw into Not Alone (or Battle Prayer to tutor NA), I could likely beat Covenant Breakers and his SMC would be useless so I didn't waste the battle winner I did have (Valley). We had one huge battle in which I played King Saul's Spear, Provoked and Korah's Rebellion, but he still managed to get the LS through mutual destruction, which really hurt my chances at that point. When I finally had Not Alone he actually blocked a different way and though NA won me a LS, he still had CB and SMC. I never drew Battle Prayer to get a second use of Not Alone and got stalled again. I got one freebie when he used Pharaoh's Cupbearer to generate a LS and then Watchful Servant walked in for a free one on my last turn. I had nearly wiped out his offense with Pride Before Calamity (taking out 4 Heroes) in a side battle, but he had kept a few Heroes in hand and had 2 battle winners left in his last 4 cards of deck so I couldn't stall him long enough to get Watchful Servant two more turns.

Game 6 vs Jonathan W (Loss 5-3)

This was another quick game as my defense mostly stayed hidden and Jonathan drew his Hopper early to keep me from LS droughting. He drew two of his many chump blocks (Zimri and Failed Objective) and I didn't have my answers for those. I got one block against Angel at Tomb with Prince of Tyrus but then next turn he had The Strong Angel (RoJ) and Help from Heaven to grab Wheat and Tares from deck to negate my protection via immunity. I believe the game ended in 6 turns as he went first and got 2 blocks to my 1.

Game 7 vs Tyler S (Win 5-3)

This was a super close game filled with great attacks and blocks as well as some terrible decisions by both of us. In the end it came down to him having Saph (K) plus Philistine Garrison backed up by Bringing Fear (stalling me for several turns) but me having enough evil battle winners to hold him off until I finally drew Watchful Servant to get the last two rescues by ignoring his giants.

Overall 5-2 with a +8 differential. Although it was a bummer to not match (or better) my third place finish in Booster last year, I felt I played a pretty good tournament and can't really hang my head with my two losses being the first and second place finishers. I feel my deck was solid enough to win either of those games, but I would have needed a very favorable draw, which is not something one can rely on.

Personally I think I prefer the 2P format because there's more likely to be battles, but I don't mind the MP format either. I think it's important to understand that in either format there can be really dull games because of how the cards come out. The game with Aidan and I pretty much felt like MP where everyone got free souls, one guy got LS droughted for a turn and then there was one decent battle at the end.

Forgot to add this note before, but the decision to run 56 kinda worked and kinda didn't. My Lost Souls definitely tended to come out slower, which directly impacted my game with Aidan and a bit with my last game with Tyler (we both droughted each other at various points but the game still ended up going to the final round).

Looking back at the deck, the only two cards I didn't use at all were Raising of the Saints and Coat of Mail (K--used once in a stalemate). I never attacked with Hilkiah though I did have the Temple Dedication combo in case all I needed was a protected Hero with big enough stats (8/8).

I almost went with 52, but in the end decided to add Elymas and the 3 gray EE for a little extra defense. Elymas did knock out some key Heroes and got a few blocks with his negate support, but as mentioned I also had some games where I didn't get to a few of my key cards early enough.

I've considered hosting a tournament where everyone drafts/builds a T1 deck at the very beginning then we do T1 2P, T1 MP and TEAMS all with those decks. I take it you would be interested in attending such a tournament? 

We could even get a little tricky and allow people to adjust their decks in between events, but only with other cards they drafted (and for the TEAMS event, they could tweak their decks with cards their teammate drafted). 

Between rounds would get a little hectic I think, (and would be a pain for deck-checking), but being able to adjust from 2P (probably a little more balanced) to MP (probably more offense heavy) would make sense.

That is also something I've thought about doing. Now that there's tin cards in the new packs anyway, drafting with a tin set base (outside of the stronger ones) makes a lot of sense.

On a related note, I kind of want to try an incremental Sealed. Start with just one pack, but after each game open a pack and trade with that opponent (including your previously unused cards). Start with more-or-less standard starter deck and end with a lot more.