Last year Flood had three top 5 finishes at Nats in T1-2P. This year the Isaiah Throne deck had the top three finishes at Nats in T1-2P and first place T2-2P. Clearly these two deck types are strong. They strike me as being very similar overall in that they both get set up quickly and rely on banding chains for rescues for the most part.
Which do you think is better and why? Flood gained boosts in LoC but the major Flood players were not at Nats this year. Isaiah Throne dominated at Nats this year. It would be cool to see some games between the two decks with top players piloting both. I have put my thoughts below. I posted this on the discord but thought it would be a good idea to start a message boards discussion about this.
I have played about 5 games I think against LoC Flood and 2 against Isaiah Throne this year all against top notch competition (some of the flood games were against guys who finished in top 5 at nats last year and both Isaiah Throne games were against former Nats champs). The interesting thing about them is they are rather similar strategically. LoC Flood centers around setting up super fast and then rescuing with Noah protected by Shem (LoC). The flood band contains protection of Lost Souls (from DoU, Belsh Banquet and such) and killer speed with Japheth. This band is hard to interact with but does have weaknesses since Shem can be negated and EC bands get around him. Shem’s Wife is basically floods Ahimelek which is handy but can be negated unlike Ahimelek with David in play. I do feel LoC Flood is a tad faster than Isaiah throne but I could be wrong.
Isaiah Throne is very similar to flood: it sets up fast and then focuses on rescuing with big bands starting with either Captain (who bands to Joshua for draw 2 and to get rid of annoyances and then Josh exchanges with someone like Ishamaiah who could go to Asahel who could go to Saul and get Abigail and the whole chain I describe next) or King Saul followed by stuff like Abigail to David, Outcasts refuge to Ishmaiah (some even run Mighty Men) for big draws (draw 7 with Abigail, Ishmaiah, and Saul. Draw 5 at a minimum with Cap, Josh, and Ishmaiah followed by others in the band. Mighty men can be a huge draw) (not to mention protection of souls by Abigail stopping DoU and Belsh banquet and such) and then Ishmaiah to Jehoshaphat or Zadok to band to Isaiah to protect purple kings CBN. This band is more powerful in my mind than the LoC Flood band. Also Isaiah Throne has the advantage over LoC Flood of being able to utilize stuff like Ahimelek the Hittite (via a royal character such as King Jehu or David, Outcasts Refuge (he can band to Ahimelek after being added by FoD), via faith of David), Jeremiah, Hope Bringer, The Strong Angel (RoJ) (Jehoshaphat can band to TSA) and Elijah (he runs best in versions with Zadok or Mighty Men since they can band to him) to make matters even worse. The offense is very diverse with Isaiah Throne and Isaiah can turn out to be just one of many solid rescues.
So all in all due to the superior offensive firepower and comparable speed I believe Isaiah Throne gets the edge over LoC Flood. The play first aspect of Throne can’t be discounted in all this either. It is close though. Just my 2 cents after watching many of the games at Nats that jbeers285 and the third place finisher played with their Throne decks on the livestream and after having faced jbeers285 throne deck last week and TheJaylors throne deck. I had a good game against TheJaylors Isaiah throne deck with my Genesis CwD deck that is actually on his YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjO2Q5JR-fc. He beat me but I was ahead at the beginning sitting on three souls all gained from successful rescues and just needing my SoG and TSC to show up. He played better than me though and pulled out the W.
Now all this being said one thing Flood does have going for it in my mind is Noah’s Ark. The recursion of ark is fantastic. And with pitch and gopher wood on it there is no doubt in my mind that flood would set up faster after ANB than Isaiah Throne since Pitch and Gopher Wood protects Ark and its contents (hopefully many flood survivors when ANB is played) from the shuffle of ANB. Also a smart ANB player will have a full 11 card hand after an opening draw when they play it giving them a resource edge there too. Due to this flood if played by someone really good like Bobbert might pull out a win or two in my mind against Isaiah Throne. So in conclusion slight edge to Isaiah Throne over LoC flood but if a flood player gets a well placed ANB that could lead to victory for a LoC flood deck against an Isaiah Throne deck. Of course this all comes from a casual observer and learning player such as myself. I enjoy analysis though so this was fun to think through. What are your thoughts?
