Cactus Game Design Message Boards

1st of all congrats to Nic Marshall. I’m happy for him to win a title.  It’s crazy that we got paired in the first round and we tied.  After that we had identical points and soul differentials after the 6 rounds.  He won his final game 5-2 and I won mine 5-3 and that was the difference between 1st and 2nd.

Lost Souls - 7
Remnant
Hunter
Humble
Prosperity
Exiles
Lawless
Darkness

Dominants - 7
Son of God
The Second Coming
Angel of the Lord
Three Woes
Chronicles of the Kings
Christian Martyr
Falling Away (Womens)

Heroes - 13
David, Outcasts Refuge
Jehoshaphat, the Seeker
King Jehu
Solomon, the Wise
King Saul
Abigail
Joshua, the Conqueror
Ahimelek the Hittite
Asahel
Isaiah (FooF)
Elijah
Captain of the Hosts
The Strong Angel (RoJ)

Good Enhancements - 5
A Soldiers Prayer
Faith
Council of Abigail
Royal Parade
David’s Proclamation

Forts / Sites / Cities - 5
Treacherous Land
Majestic Heavens
Storehouse (Promo)
Wall of Protection (LoC)
The Throne of David (Old one)

Enhancement Characters - 4
Leviathan
Behemoth
Fourth Seal / Death
Withered Plant / The Worm

Evil Characters - 3
The Serpent
The Deceiver
Nebuchadnezzar (TxP)

Evil Enhancements - 6
Seized by Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride
Dream
The Wages of Sin
Scattered
Suicidal Swine Stampede

Reserve - 10
Root of Jesse
Gathered Together
Hopper Lost Soul
Death of Unrighteous
Fire from Heaven
Foreign Wives
The Angel of the Winds
Ishmaiah the Gibeonite
Covenant with David
Faith of David

Round 1 - Nic Marshall (Champion) (4-4) Tie
Nic was also running a Throne Variant.  I believe his deck had less battle winners on offense and defense.  He was more reliant on chump blocks.  I got blocked by Uzzah when I didn't have an interrupt in hand to play off TToD.  I also believe if we had more time that neither of us could block the other on the next rescue.  I was using Solomon, the Wise to hand spy and choose the right option If he had come up with a way to block me he most likely gets by on his rescue.  I had spent my ways of dealing with the big band chain he was running.  I think my only chance would've been DoU but he had Guardian up so I would've needed him to forget to instead that.  That said with the limited number enhancements he was running he may not have had one left to instead with.

Round 2 Ryan Deller (5-0)
Ryan was running red FbtnB with Benaniah.  I got on an early role and it just kind of ran away.

Round 3 Brandon Frank (5-0)
Brandon was running a really cool alternate win condition deck with Eternal Inheritance and Lamb's Righteousness.  He didn't have a good draw and I ended up with some solid turn 1 options.  This game just got out of control with the rush of TToD bands.

Round 4 Joseph Roberts (5-2)
Joe is really great guy from the CT play area.  He was running Philistines with FbtnB and Benaniah but his build was really tight.  The Philistines gave me enough trouble early on because I couldn't dig into Isaiah soon enough.  I played Falling Away this game, I believe I also got Falling Away played on me (if I remember correctly).   This gave Joe enough time to get to the Big Two avoid the 5-0.

Round 5 Luke Marshall (3rd placer) (5-3)
Luke was running a Throne Variant that was loaded with counters and if I remember correctly only 1 enhancement Council of Abigail. He got to go first and established a massive advantage and several counters.  I was able to weasel out a Soul by pushing my only hero on turn 1, Isaiah.  I felt safe pushing him because Luke had already established an Isaiah so I knew I could band to his if I needed it.  In this game more then any I realized the value of Wall of Protection.  Luke didnt have it so I was able to use my own Saul and Asahel to use his offense and recover. The play that turned the game was when Luke was going for his 2nd soul.  He used several multi colored heroes in battle triggering Treacherous Land a Bunch of times.  He then played SoG, TSC and SoG again to trigger T-Land 3 more times.  I then drew to hand limit blocking and was able to play DoU.  After the DoU was played I had 15 cards in hand. On my next turn I had approximately 12-15 cards in deck (including 4 souls).  I drew the 1 card I could and it was not a soul.  I was able to get a drought block due to all the extra T-Land draws.  This gave me enough time to make a rescue, decline a BC, make a rescue and drop the SoG TSC for the win.

Round 6 Austin Frank (5-2)
Austin had very cool and unique build.  He was running a lot of LoC genesis heroes and search abilities.  He also got a soul against me Joseph (FooF) playing Joseph Before Pharaoh.  I was nervous early on but was able to establish a couple blocks and hand spy with Solomon to know when to use Elijah, Isaiah or TSA as the win condition.

Round 7 Jeremy Chambers (5-3)
Jeremy had a really solid opening with a 3 or character band plus some draws and searches.  I had "The Deceiver" and was able to hit Nebuchadnezzar for scattered.  This set him way back and he wasn't ever able to fully recover.  I think I was able to get the win in four turns but drew into SoG, TSC and Falling Away.  That was enough to lower my differential in this last game for Nic to pass me on differential. 

All in all it was a good tournament and I am happy for Nic and the Marshall family.  The Marshall's are a great family and involved in serving the Lord.  I am glad that they and Nic in particular made such a great showing.

I have been studying your deck and thinking through the mechanics of it. It is very well crafted, thank you for sharing. I experienced defeat at the hands of this deck before Nationals and the proof is in the pudding as to why: it almost won it all.

One question I have based on your "comments on the deck": you mentioned that TSA was a tech to stop the Wicked LS if you did not have SoG or Woes to get it off the board. The TSA strategy seems very solid stopping things like Scattered/Scattered Sheep/Reap the Whirlwind/Abandonment should Wicked be in play. Also it seems to me slightly stronger than Jeremiah, Hope Bringer (who was run in the champions deck) because if opponent happens to have more than one EE in hand or an interrupt than Jeremiah is countered. Now that people will be more prepared for these Throne decks TSA seems to be the superior option to Jeremiah, Hope Bringer IMO. Jeremiah can potentially stop chump blocks though (Stuff like DoU and SSS, If abby is negated) and stuff like Unsuccessful so there is that. But that is not my question, sorry for the rabbit trail.

Here is the question: your comment about Woes being able to get Wicked LS off the board raised a question in my mind: isn't the ability on Wicked by nature CBN since it is a modifier? So with this in mind wouldn't Woes be unable to stop Wicked LS? If this is the case it doesn't change too much but it does limit ways of dealing with Wicked to just TSA and SoG.

"Regardless of Protect" abilities are negatable, they are not modifiers. Modifiers are abilities that grant CBN, CBI, CBP status. At least that is what I have come to understand.

"Regardless of protect abilities" is a modifier, so Wicked can't be negated by Woes.

In addition to CBX and RoP, Limit and Instead are also modifiers. While you cannot negate a modifier, you can negate an ability that has been modified (unless it's appropriately CBX).