Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Basically, I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are on what is the optimal size for a solid Gates deck nowadays. That kind of deck requires lots of support cards, which ones out of the following would you run?

For a smaller Gates deck (50-57 cards) how many Samaria sites would you play?

For that size, would it be worth it to have High Places, Threatened Lives, and Land Purchase?

Samaria x up to 8
Pergamum
Site access
Lampstand
Golden Cherubim
Holy Grail
A temple/tabernacle
Throne o' David
Crown o' Thorns/Cov with Adam
Cov w Death
Plagued w Diseases
High Places

My GoS deck hasn't been overly successful in the probably 8 or so games I've used (it's won 3 I think). However, when I have gotten good draws, it can be pretty nice. It is actually non-traditional, as it is actually primarily a Heretic defense with a King of Israel splash (Omri for searching sites, and he can still use Scattered; Zimri and Shallum are my only KoIs). The benefits I get are that Simon  and Creeper are nice stall blocks, and with Crimson I can also use Table of Demons as a tutor.

As for support cards, I use the following:

-5 Samarias (wish I could fit more, but there just isn't room).
-No Pergamum (I use Dragon Raid myself, as well as Shipwreck to discard an opponent's DR. But generally I have found that between Samuel with Judges, Joseph with Genesis, Barnabas in almost every NT offense, and the other prophets such as Danny and Isaiah, there are few offenses that struggle with offenses, so a site lock is going to be pretty rare).
-Dragon Raid (as mentioned above) for site access.
-Lampstand
-Golden Cherubim
-Herod's Temple (goes with Heretic defense and primarily NT offense)
-No Holy Grail (Not really useful the way my offense is constructed, but would always like to use it if I could fit it)
-No Throne of David (though since any Gates of Samaria deck, including mine, should use King Amaziah, then it would probably fit in many decks).
-No Crown of Thorns/Cov with Adam (I might consider Crown of Thorns, but I think CoA might be a bit of a stretch - it still gives your opponent options to block with)
-No Cov w/Death (I don't see this meshing with most offenses/defenses that would go with GoS, but I might be missing something - It certainly wouldn't be good in my deck).
-No Plagued with Diseases (Would probably be one of the next cards in, but does depend on the deck)
-No High Places (Wouldn't work in my deck, though would definitely fit better in a more traditional GoS deck)

Other support cards I use:
-Shrine to Artemis (reloading Samaria sites to play again later, also to use the hand/deck discarded souls over again).
-Table of Demons (As mentioned above; could still be added to a traditional GoS deck with a small demon/FW/SW splash. It can also combo with Shrine to underdeck a green Hero or a pesky Artifact)

As I've said, a more traditional GoS deck will look much different, but that is my take. Probably the biggest issue I've seen is that it is susceptible to bad draws for the reasons jmhartz stated, so a faster offense would likely help it. My offense wanted to utilize the various CtB options that work with the defense (Jude and Amaziah, as well as Provisions), but there isn't a lot of speed there.

i personally think lampstand is a must in a gates deck (especially in t1) because you do not want to lose your gates to a shipwreck.. kind of destroys the defense imo this also allows you to run book of the covenant and covenant with adam. i really like plagued with diseases in there (obviously) but crown of thorns with covenant with adam is very strong. demons splashed (table of demons is a must to get out your gates faster) if you have a fast offense i feel like 70 cards for this deck is not unrealistic at all. you definitely want pergamum because you really want to site lock asap with samaria.. similarly to John's t1 national winning deck surgically taking out site access heroes with your decrease. def. 70 cards = more doms, more def, more sites