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This card may have been designed out of sheer annoyance, because even though we've had both a Prophets set (that had Persian stuff) and a Line Set (with a major Postexilic theme), there's still no card for Cyrus the Great in Redemption. Why does that annoy me? Well, two reasons.

Firstly, as seen in Ezra 1 and  2 Chronicles 36, Cyrus is the reason the Postexilic heros were allowed to return home, and even provided supplies for both the return and rebuilding of the temple.

Secondly, Cyrus is one of the few people in the bible who's referred to as "The Lord's Anointed" (Isaiah 45:1-7). He's one of the few people called this, alongside figures like David and Solomon.

Now, is it a little weird to have a Persian king as a hero? Maybe, but honestly, if Joab's earned dual alignment, I feel like Cyrus deserves it. Ideally this would be a flip card, like the new LoC heroes (Mostly because I love epithets and this gives me an excuse for them). Also, I'd do a mockup, but I don't want to try and get a template for the new format set up in photoshop right now. Maybe later.

Cyrus the Anointed (Hero)
Purple/Gold Warrior-class hero
Persian King
Topdeck a Temple Artifact or a Postexilic hero from deck.
Reference: Ezra 1:2
Cyrus, the Conqueror (EC)
Brown Warrior-class Evil Character
Persian King
You may band to a Persian, or your set aside abilities gain 'regardless of protect abilities'
Reference: Isaiah 45:1

I played with the hero ability for a while. I wanted something that delivered on the feeling of him preparing for the return, hence the temple artifact as well as a hero (and topdeck because it seemed thematic both for Postexilics and for him being the start but not the actual people). My other idea was to have him exchange a card for a postexilic from deck, 'paying' the cost for the return from exile. I'm still not sure he should be gold, in all honesty. He's important to the theme, but is he really close enough to be gold?

The Evil side was easier. I wanted him to have an impact (He was a conqueror, and the Isaiah verse talks about God literally leveling mountains for him), but most Warrior Kings band to their armies. This felt like a nice middle ground. The other idea was to have him set people aside, but that's less interesting in my opinion (and less thematic for the verse)

Another PostE? Yes please.

One thought I had was the good side could return Heroes from set-aside and then give you a benefit for each PE Hero, like maybe "You may return all Heroes from set-aside to territories. Draw 1 for each Postexilic Hero or Hero controlled by an opponent returned this way." You kinda get a "return from exile" (set-aside) feel and it also compliments the Persian defense with set aside abilities. Sorta makes all the set-aside Feasts into "d1 for each PE Hero you control", but I think that'd be pretty balanced for a character that has to not be in play at the time of set-aside, doesn't do anything if no Heroes are set aside, and could be negated.

With the power level of cards these days, I feel like the evil side could potentially both band and make set aside abilities RoP. Maybe that gets to be too good with Xerxes, but if so it could be "generic Persian" which would make sense for a king anyway.

I like both of these suggestions, but my biggest worry is the space on the card. I actually cut the restriction of banding to a Persian warrior so that the evil ability would fit in two lines in the old card creator, and adding much more to the good side would run into the same problem. It's the weakness of making him a flip card, I guess.