Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Summary:

Background-

I have a premise that every deck builder should have a turbo deck and a counter deck in their arsenal that they develop and pour a lot of time into. The reason is depending on the meta one or the other might be better and studying/playing both of these very different types of deck builds really helps someone develop as a deck builder and player since they are so different.

Back in the 2020-2021 T1-2P meta (now called T1-2P Classic) I developed a very strong counter deck build that sought to lock down the board by establishing a Turn 1 Moses and Hezekiah’s Signet Ring. It was backed by a strong rescue package featuring choose the blocker rescues with Ehud and Elijah who both fit quite well with Moses since The Angel Under the Oak and Angel with The Secret Name can get both Moses and Ehud. The deck fared well and is what I would have run at Nationals in 2021 had I not run my Creation LAFS deck which was my turbo deck. I had been running a Creation of the World in T1-2P for a while and it was my favorite deck and when Joe Schaefer clued me in on the LAFS combo it pushed Creation decks into a tier they had never been before.

That being said Creation of the World became a moot point when rotation hit so I had to find a new turbo deck build. My Once Upon a Time in Zion deck became my new turbo build and I realized my Moses+HSR deck while no longer being viable in Rotation as built in Classic (due to HSR not being rotation legal) the shell of the deck and the premise would be strong in Rotation. So I proceeded to craft a counter deck centered on locking down the board state by establishing a turn 1 Moses along with a turn 1 Confusion of Mind. Sadly when I built the deck their did not exist enough consistency tools to guarantee a turn 1 Confusion of Mind so I also included Babel which through Egypt I had plenty of ways to get to. So basically turn 1 I was getting Moses (who I had more than enough ways to get) and Confusion of Mind or Babel up. I supplemented this with Sheol as an additional counter. This deck build proved to be quite strong and when I ran it in the first Lackey Grand Prix one round I was very happy with the results. I knew at that point it was one of my best two decks along with Once Upon a Time in Zion.

But then GoC phase 1 came out and that open a whole new world of possibilities. Now I could almost guarantee a Turn 1 additional counter alongside a Turn 1 Moses as I was able to do with Moses and Hezekiah’s Signet Ring before due to things like Crowd’s Choice and from I/J+ giving us New Covenant. Also GoC phase 1 introduced a new premium counter which is better than Confusion of Mind in my mind for dealing with the current meta: The Cross. The Cross shuts down The First Combo with Harvest Time, Awesome Things/Impartial Judgment play, Crowd’s Choice (very important since an early Crowd’s Choice is an auto rescue or block pretty much in the right hands), etc. The Cross also is fantastic support to the Moses offense stopping things like Christian Martyr, Falling Away (CoW), and CBN enhancements all of which this offense is vulnerable too. Moses and The Cross together form a very difficult board state to navigate and so I knew I had to shift from Moses and Confusion Mind to trying to get Moses and The Cross up together on turn 1. Moses and The Cross together stop so much and is stronger than Golden Cross in some regards (Golden Calf and The Cross together) since Moses negates Lost Souls too. There are some strong Lost Souls out there so that is a valuable ability to have.

Moses and The Cross together make life difficult for many of the most powerful decks in the meta. Getting them set up together on turn 1 is a strong approach against most other decks in the game currently

And so understanding that concept led to the crafting of this specific deck.

Premise-

As was mentioned in the background the premise behind these decks is to get Moses and The Cross up together on my first turn. My deck is built to be able to function well within the difficult board state of having both Moses and The Cross active. A pilot must realize Moses and The Cross hit both the pilot of the deck and the opponent. Due to this the pilot’s offense and defense must be crafted to be able to win in the midst of their own board being locked down as well. In order to help you understand how this deck does this I will explain the offense and defense in detail in a bit.

This deck I believe is the optimal build currently for establishing a board lock down of Moses/The Cross. It is remarkably consistent at getting the two out on turn 1 and both the offense and defense function well in the environment of having The Cross and Moses active at the same time.

This leads to a discussion on consistency.

Offense-

The offense I have here is built to function well in an environment with both Moses and The Cross active. A key discovery I made in this offense is Zadok+Book of the Covenant. Book of the Covenant is underrated now due to the reserve rule and the fact that it cannot do much for you if you don’t have a tabernacle priest till turn 2. It is not the broken tool it once was for consistency but it is still very strong. Zadok is seeing a lot of love in this meta due to the Jehoshaphat to Zadok to Noah band allowing for resetting and banding to Noah turn after turn. Also Zadok bands to peeps like Jeremiah and Elijah as well. Well people often just focus on the band ability on Zadok forgetting he can also activate a Tabernacle artifact from artifact pile or reserve. In my deck once I get The Cross up on Golgotha then I am looking to use Zadok to get to Book to get Oath of Purity to reset Noah or bounce Moses so I can play TC enhancements, and Cov w Philistia to get card draw and Fire Foxes for a block. I also can grab Covenant with Moses for card draw in my discard phase with the book play from Zadok. I almost always want Zadok banded to Moses, Noah, Jeremiah, or Elijah with The Cross active and if I have Golgotha up or if my opponent has gotten rid of The Cross this creates a very strong value engine through Zadok. Zadok banded to Moses, Noah, Jeremiah, or Elijah backed by something like Faith of Samuel or Royal Parade is very strong with The Cross up.

I want to point out I feel Zadok to Book to Oath to bounce Noah and then band to him is better than Jehoshaphat to Zadok to Noah. It requires having less cards and you do not necessarily need to bounce Noah turn 1 often but are often looking to do that turn 2. Also in this build Jehoshaphat does not fit well since I will often be banding to Moses and he negates Jehoshaphat. Moses does not negate Zadok.

The other thing this offense looks to do is exploit choose the blocker tactics with The Cross active. Elijah is still fantastic and most of my GE’s work with him including the two in the main deck.

I have found the opponent tends to get rid of The Cross by my third rescue so at that point I like to cruise in with Moses or Noah and Amazing Faith solo for a final rescue and grabbing SoG or TSC if I am missing one of them. I also love Royal Parade with Noah. So good and it works great with The Cross up.

Jeremiah paired with an interrupt like Faith of Samuel or Oath of purity is excellent and it is important to not Oath of Purity can be used to band Moses in since it is CBI. Also Jeremiah with Royal Parade is (in my opinion) pretty much one of the best rescues in the game. Since Jeremiah is tossing the next EE if they have initiative they are likely burning one key enhancement and then playing another which I will interrupt with Royal parade and the opponent is unlikely to have a negate or interrupt left. If I get initiative and play Royal parade that is game over for the opponent with The Cross up since Jeremiah will toss their interrupt or negate in SI.

Moses Parent’s is underrated protection for all of my cloud guys such as Moses, Noah, Elijah, and Jeremiah.

A big principle of this offense is each of the heroes have strong individual card value and tend to work with just a band or one battle winner backing them up in the midst of the difficult board state Moses and The Cross create.

Chronicles of the Kings is good backup if The Cross gets dealt with.

For GE support Faith of Samuel, Word of their Testimony, Plague of Frogs (if Pharaoh’s Daughter is out before Moses), Amazing Faith, Royal Parade, and Oath of Purity all provide good battle winner options depending on the hero. All of them work with Moses other than Oath of Purity which you play on someone else and band Moses in off it. I ran a very similar enhancement package (other than the GoC enhancements) in my classic deck with Moses+HSR. The offense operates quite similarly. The one hard part is in the other deck with Moses/Confusion of Mind. I ran Falling Away (CoW) here in the slot where I have CotK.

Considering-

I would love to be able to run All the Curses in this deck since it is an additional way to stop opponents from bouncing Moses and can be a good alternate counter to put up situationally in place of The Cross alongside Moses. I just am not sure what I would cut for it.

I do like the idea of King Jehu as another way to exchange Joshua with my heroes but space is again the issue.

As far as Dominant slots go I would like to have Angel of the Lord to bolster the offense if the opponent takes out The Cross but I am not sure what to cut. I feel Mayhem is important for speed and it helps me on turn 1 before dominants are shut down. I also would like to have Shipwreck in here as another way to deal with Sheol which is a pain but space is tight on the Dominants.

Plague of Darkness and Word of Christ are alternate GE’s I would consider. I find Plague of Darkness a bit too unreliable due to initiative issues even though it works with every character in the deck aside from Noah. Word of Christ would be good with Noah and Moses but I lack enough clay guys to make it worth it. Plague of Frogs would be the first to go for one of these but I feel it is more versatile.

I like Shields on Zadok banded to any of my prophets as a rescue tactic with The Cross up. I might cut one of the battle winners for that but feel if I don’t have Zadok I would want one of the battle winners.

Seventh Seal and You Will Remain are great especially with the Zadok and Book of the Covenant tactic. I would ideally have one of those in reserve but again not sure what to cut. At this point I prefer GE’s since they work with the Cross up in my artifact slot if I do not have Golgotha out to activate The Cross on. Seventh Seal and YWR being CBN on Book is great though.

Treacherous Land would be great for additional card draw. Not sure what to cut though.

Silly Women is an alternate evil character in place of The Chief Priests since early on she is usually low numbers for Unsuccessful or Distort the Truth. Both Wages of Sin and Surreptitious Scheme can be played on Silly Women and Silly Women is an additional character Delivered can be played on. However, I fell The Chief Priests serve a similar function by getting to Supercilious Scribes or The Sanhedrin who can have Unsuccessful or Distort the Truth played on them. Additionally The Chief Priests can get to Dubious Doubters for a block. If I start struggling with The Chief Priests being stopped by FBTN rescues/feel 6 characters to play Delivered on is not enough I might shift to Silly Women but not at this point.

I have also considered The Brood of Vipers as an evil character since it does deal with annoying good cards in my opponents territory. Due to space though and needing to focus on blocking primarily with the defense I have gone with other routes.

I also debate having Storehouse over House of Prayer. Storehouse is good for dealing with Matthew the Publican but Storehouse and Noah's Ark together is bad against Goliath and Fallen Star who are auto blocks with both of those fortresses active. House of Prayer also can reliably get GE's from my deck due to me often having Zadok out early so I am sticking with it for now.

The other thing I struggle with is if I should have Unsuccessful main deck vs. Just a Hireling. I have ways to get Just a Hireling out from reserve other than Supercilious Scribes due to Wages and Surreptitious Scheme but Just a Hireling can be played on more of my ECs main deck. It is a tough choice.

Conclusion-

So there you have it. This is what I feel is my best deck build this tournament season and now it is available for all to see. Please give me feedback on your thoughts on this deck and I am certainly open to any recommendations and advice anyone has.

It has been quite a journey from my Moses/Hezekiah’s Signet Ring deck aiming to establish those two turn one in the former Classic meta to this deck. This has been a far more challenging deck to build since the challenging board state of Moses/The Cross hits me as well as my opponent. I have poured many, many, many hours into refining this deck and in fact I have three different versions of Moses/The Cross decks fully built now. This one I feel is the best one currently and I would like to make it even better.

Thank you for the kind words Gabe.

Public service announcement: my little strategy with Zadok+Book of the Covenant does not work quite as I desired. Zadok can activate book from reserve and book can grab Cov of Prayer or Oath of Purity but I cannot actually activate them in battle on book like I was doing... Book can hold two covenants but I can’t put them on book in battle... Thank you to Kevinthedude for pointing this out and I am sorry for leading folks astray on this! I think Zadok definitely still belongs in the deck since him banding to Moses, Noah, and Jeremiah is very good I just need to retool the reserve a bit in light of this.