Cactus Game Design Message Boards

For the Lord takes delight in His people; he crowns the humble with victory.

                  -Psalm 149:4

Hello I am sepjazzwarrior, most commonly called Zac Cornell.  This is the “Verse of the Day” that was on the Bible Gateway app on my phone the day of the tournament.  I give credit 100% to God for how I did at nationals.  I am by far not the best player out there and there is no secrete trick or strategy to this deck that makes it overly amazing, it is all God that made me successful.  For the first time in my life, I came to a tournament with the mindset that I was just there to have fun.  I would have been happy just to place in the top half of the tournament, but God had bigger plans.  It was even a miracle I could come and play, because my work usually has me work every Friday and for the first time ever, without me even asking, they gave me this Friday off.  It goes to show that when we let go of what we want and take hold of what God wants for our lives, He will bless us far more than we would ever have dreamed.  I feel extremely blessed to have done so well in this tournament and thank God for this amazing game.   



Disciples/Pharisees
5-2 in regular play
3-0 in top cut
Cards in Deck: 56

Lost Souls: 8
Hopper
N.T. Only
Female Only
Wanderer
Revealer
Resurrection
3-Liner
Site Sharer

Dominates: 7
Son of God
New Jerusalem
Angel of the Lord
Grapes of Wrath
Christian Martyr
Mayhem
Vain Philosophy

Sites: 2
Nazareth
Hormah

Artifacts/Covenants/Curses: 6
Holy Grail
Crown of Thorns
Four-Drachma Coin
Unholy Writ
Covenant of Palestine
Captured Ark

Fortresses: 2
Fishing Boat
The Garden Tomb

Heroes: 11
James
John
Andrew
Peter
James, Son of Alphaeus
Thaddeus
Philip
Bartholomew
Thomas
Mathew
Simon the Zealot

Good Enhancements: 7
Authority of Christ (Promo)
My Lord and My God
Reach of Desperation
Miraculous Catch
Fishers of Men
Passover Hymn
Pentecost

Evil Characters: 8
The Entrapping Pharisees
Proud Pharisee
Pharisees
Pharisees
Sabbath Breaker
The Amalekites’ Slave
Uzzah
Foreign Wives

Evil Enhancements: 5
Balaam’s Disobedience
Pretension
Tenants Kill the Son
Just a Hireling
Scattered


This is a pretty cookie-cutter Disciples/Pharisees deck in my opinion.  I built it when the new starter decks came out and I’ve only changed a handful of cards in it since I built it.  Basically, its massive drawing, then Garden Tomb for rescues, with Crown, Grail, AoCP, and AotL to take out their territory, and Thaddeus to rescue when that doesn’t work.  The defense is an attempt at LS control with chump blocks and a few battle winners and drawing.  My mentality going into this is to sacrifice the defense whenever possible to win.  T would often AoCP my whole defense so Garden Tomb would work, even one game AotL my own Foreign Wives so GT would do it’s job.  Nazareth was invaluable because this deck has next to zero searching and I faces Genesis and The Deck a lot.  I chose Captured Ark over DoN for hand and dominate space, and Vain Philosophy over Sorrow of Mary so I could not have to have a EC to use it since I ended taking out my own defense a lot.  I didn't use Herod's Temple and Lampstand because I didn't have room and I'm not to fond of discarding the top card(s) of my deck without knowing what they are.  I would maybe take out Miraculous Catch for something, but I don't really know what else I would want to put it.

Game 8: Mark Underwood: 5-4
This game was a nail-biter the whole way through.  Mark was using a version of The Deck that seemed to focus more on Isaiah than most.  First turn he got out Isaiah+Call and AutO, and I drew nothing real useful.  I walked through with GT a lot until he played Siegeworks on it, then I had to use Thad with only 4 other Disciples out in play, and my defense was barely able to stall him out long enough to draw SoG for the final soul.  Most the games I played lasted about 20 minutes, but this one lasted the whole 45. 

Game 9: Chris Ericson: 5-0
I still feel bad about how this game turned out.  Chris got his Nazareth up early, and I played Mayhem against him.  Before we realized that he was protected, he shuffled his hand into his deck.  At that point the had no LS’s for me to rescue, but because of the Mayhem I drew a hopper for me to rescue.  I played Mayhem for his to draw LS’s and if I had remembered about his Nazareth I may not have played it (although I had nothing in my hand worth keeping, so I may have played Mayhem anyway).  I would have loved to see how this game would have played out without this mistake.  After this I swept through with Thad for a fast win.

Game 10: Nathan Voigt: 5-4
Nathan was using a grey defense with a judges offense.  I ended up converting his Emperor Tiberius holding Gold Shield so I could use GT, which he then converted to a gold hero he could use with Gold Shield.  I ended up having my hand looked at and a dominate placed under deck about every other turn for over half the game, but GT was up and working so I still kept a lead.  By the end of the game we were both just walking through for LS’s on each other because I had to take out most of my own defense as well to make GT work against his grey defense.  I won by a turn.

Thank you to everyone I played for making this a unforgettable nations (even though many of the details are fuzzy  ).  Thank you to Joey, Aaron, Ben, Will, and Stephen for playing with me over the years and helping me grow as a player and in God.  If you are ever in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, IA area, We have a playgroup that meets on Monday night at 6 at Trinity Bible Church, please stop by!  Thanks and God bless!!!

Congratulations, Zac, first on knowing where your strength comes from and second on winning Nationals! Thanks for bringing the title back to Iowa. 

God is good

Nice deck, Congrats!