Cactus Game Design Message Boards

I just built a deck with this exact goal, except I'm not as concerned with discarding LSs as much as just keeping them out of my territory. So far I've only played one game, and it didn't work at all, but I think with a better draw it could do ok. I could probably speed up the defense a bit, but I used Babylonians/Magicians on defense so I could use Iron Pan (vs. Thorns) and Nebushasban (to switch and shuffle/underdeck). Since I can rescue my own LSs once they are in my opponent's territory, it is almost as good as discarding them. Headquarters at Riblah allows me to use Magic Charms without upsetting my strategy (since I can capture the Heroes then discard them). The Gates of Hell is a nice way to band in Evil Spawn when you know your top card is an LS.

I didn't think of Boasting of Riches, but that's an interesting idea. Another way is to CtB Gold Panic Demon, then make your rescue attempt fail somehow. I do use Provisions, and Provisions+Jair+Samson's Sacrifice would be an epic way to pull that off, but it might be kind of a stretch.

I used 56 cards to give myself better odds of hiding keep LSs buried, but it might be more important to get the cards I need, so I could try cutting it down. Here's a decklist, feel free to tweak it as you like.


Other notes on the deck:

I used all the 'protect' Lost Souls to try to limit my opponent's options. I thought of using the Negater LS to stop Thorns and Hopper, but I use Iron Pan for Thorns (and can use SoG/NJ on it as well if necessary) and I use Harvest Time and Gideon's Call to try to hit Hopper. Most of the deck is pretty self-explanatory. There are also a few cards I would add if I could find room:

John (P), and Fishers of Men: With John, I can see where the LSs are in my deck, and then later use Laver to ensure that the top of my deck is an LS. Fishers of Men is more Hopper tech.

Woman at the Well, and SWJ: She is gold which is nice with the Judges offense, and both of them are good Hooper techs (as well as just good in general).

Confusion: I hesitate to use this because of Nazareth's popularity (and unlike DtT, Nebby can't search for it on an early block, but nabbing an SoG (or even NJ) might help slow the game enough for me to get rid of my souls.

Cards in deck: 56
Lost Souls: 7
   Lost Soul (*/4)
   Lost Soul (Female Only)
   Lost Soul (Fool)
   Lost Soul (N.T. only)
   Lost Soul (Resurrection)
   Lost Soul (shuffler)
   Lost Soul (Wanderer)

Lamb Dominants: 4
   Angel of the Lord
   Harvest Time
   New Jerusalem
   Son of God

Grim Reaper Dominants: 3
   Burial
   Christian Martyr
   Vain Philosophy

Fortresses: 3
   Headquarters at Riblah
   Judge's Seat
   The Gates of Hell

Multi-Color Sites: 1
   Dragon Raid

Blue Sites: 1
   Hormah

Artifacts: 4
   Golden Cherubim
   Iron Pan
   Magic Charms
   The Bronze Laver

Dual-Alignment Enhancements: 2
               Drawn Sword
               Forest Fire

Curses: 1
   Captured Ark (Crimson)

Multi-Color Heroes: 2
   Ezekiel (Green/Teal)
   Samuel (Gold/Green)

Silver Heroes: 2
   Angel with the Secret Name
   The Angel Under the Oak

Gold Heroes: 5
   Gideon
   Jair
   Jephthah
   Moses
   Simeon

Gold Hero Enhancements: 5
   Deborah's Directive
   Ehud's Dagger
   Gideon's Call
   Samuel's Edict
   Sword against Sword

Green Hero Enhancements: 1
   Provisions

Crimson Evil Characters: 2
   Nebuchadnezzar
   Nebushasban

Multicolor Evil Characters: 4
               Egyptian Magicians
               Astrologers
               Foreign Wives
               Damsel with Spirit of Divination

Gold Evil Characters: 1
   Evil Spawn

Orange Evil Characters: 1
               Spirit of Temptation

Multi-Color Evil Enhancements: 3
   Invoking Terror
   Prisoner Transfer (Gray/Gold)
   Suicidal Swine Stampede (Orange)

Crimson Evil Enhancements: 2
   Belshazzar's Banquet
   Desecrate the Temple

Pale Green Evil Enhancements: 2
   Death of Unrighteous
   Divination

Zeresh can also sort the top of your deck as needed.

I have wildly campaigned against this deck. It's not actually good. The draws are inconsistent and the defense is too spread.

I agree that the draws will be inconsistent, but I don't think the defense being spread out is too hurtful. I certainly wouldn't say it's good, but it could be fun if it works.

Creating lost soul drought is one of my favorite things to attempt.  In particular, I enjoy an Assyrian/Babylonian combination which allows me to use Nebushasban to switch a lost soul, Hormah to underdeck the switched soul to give it back to my opponent, or if I can exchange more than 1 soul, I can use Death of Unrighteous to shuffle all that I can exchange back into their deck.  Using the exchanging soul is useful for this as well.  So if you exchange once with the exchanging lost soul, once with Nebushasban, shuffle with DoU, and play Burial on a soul, you've got it down to 4 unless they generate more.  If they do via captured characters, King Asnappar is useful to transfer them right back over to my opponent's land of bondage, or else using Babylonian Soldiers to remove them from the game.  Arioch is also useful to return lost souls to your opponent's draw pile.  What I love about this method is that it not only creates soul drought for them, but generates souls for you.  I attempted a deck with this type of defense at my first ever tournament at North Central Regionals and placed 4th.  My main downfall was slow play as an inexperienced player (and natural play style; trying to work on playing faster) seeing as I timed out in 4 out of my 5 games.  I felt the defense worked quite well for this purpose.  In many of the games I played, I managed to create lost soul drought.  I tend to use a fairly large defense, which allows me to make better use of Hormah and Arioch since I can afford to sacrifice some of my EC's.

Babylonian Soldiers would also be a good add. The problems I see with Assyrians and Babylonians is that the defense gets pretty big, which limits your offense. So maybe a Watchful Servant build could be a workable deck.

Quote from: asrgimli on June 24, 2013, 02:28:49 PM

Creating lost soul drought is one of my favorite things to attempt.  In particular, I enjoy an Assyrian/Babylonian combination which allows me to use Nebushasban to switch a lost soul, Hormah to underdeck the switched soul to give it back to my opponent, or if I can exchange more than 1 soul, I can use Death of Unrighteous to shuffle all that I can exchange back into their deck.  Using the exchanging soul is useful for this as well.  So if you exchange once with the exchanging lost soul, once with Nebushasban, shuffle with DoU, and play Burial on a soul, you've got it down to 4 unless they generate more.  If they do via captured characters, King Asnappar is useful to transfer them right back over to my opponent's land of bondage, or else using Babylonian Soldiers to remove them from the game.  Arioch is also useful to return lost souls to your opponent's draw pile.  What I love about this method is that it not only creates soul drought for them, but generates souls for you.  I attempted a deck with this type of defense at my first ever tournament at North Central Regionals and placed 4th.  My main downfall was slow play as an inexperienced player (and natural play style; trying to work on playing faster) seeing as I timed out in 4 out of my 5 games.  I felt the defense worked quite well for this purpose.  In many of the games I played, I managed to create lost soul drought.  I tend to use a fairly large defense, which allows me to make better use of Hormah and Arioch since I can afford to sacrifice some of my EC's.

Babylonian Soldiers would also be a good add. The problems I see with Assyrians and Babylonians is that the defense gets pretty big, which limits your offense. So maybe a Watchful Servant build could be a workable deck.

Yes, the defense can get large, which is why I paired it with a prophet/angel offense.  The ability to have 4 recurrable cards that can be used offensively or defensively in conjunction with powerhouse heroes who are easily protected/recurred kept my deck down to 56 cards.  Another thing that I took advantage of was using my defense offensively via side battles.  A favorite of mine is to create a side battle, send out a pale green/crimson character (Chaldeans or Astrologers), play Great Image, then play Drawn Sword (if they only blocked with one character) or else Deceipt of Sapphira (Women's version which does all cards in Field of battle).  If I have to use Deceipt, I make sure to rescue with Joseph to keep him protected from the discard.  This way, I've gotten rid of all their unprotected heroes in play (since none were in battle), and I've gotten rid of their blocking EC(s) in a way that makes it CBN (since cards discarded in the main battle via side battle don't get special initiative).  Drawn Sword is especially useful since Ezekiel can underdeck it for Astrologers to recur in the side battle.  I normally try to make it so that I lose the side battle so that they don't even get a chance to try to interrupt or negate it.  This deck can also be used fairly quickly with the draws from Isaiah and the available Chariots for Babs & Assyrians, as well as others.  Joseph is useful for instigating the side battles due to his low numbers and available use of Cup of Wrath and Sword of the Lord.