Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Hannah is long overdue for a new card.  She's my favorite female Bible character, and one of my daughters bears her name.  So, I thought that she deserved a great upgrade, and I feel this is definitely a viable option for a future expansion involving her.

I felt she would best be represented in white brigade, as being in line with her pure heart and spirit, and could possibly work well with Ruth characters since I Samuel immediately follows the book of Ruth in chronology.  As for her numbers (3/4), I felt the four being more than her strength shows the resolve she had in the face of persecution and mockery she suffered under Peninnah, Elkanah's (her husband) other wife.  It also is testament to her having the same toughness as Samuel, but Samuel's strength of 4 being the next level of strength for God's purpose for him.

Now, on to her ability!  With RoA Samuel being so popular getting out David and Saul, wouldn't it be great to see a card that can specifically search out Samuel?  Who better than this mother, a great woman of faith! This is the reason for the part of her ability that lets her search out Samuel from deck or Reserve.  However, if Samuel is already in play by the time you use Hannah, you can either use her to perform the second part of her ability, or if he's already been set-aside by her ability, she can draw 1.  The draw is based upon Elkanah giving her a double portion over his other wife, Peninnah (future cards of Elkanah and Peninnah to come!)

The set-aside ability is Hannah nursing and raising Samuel until he his weaned.  It is commonly accepted that in biblical times, when a child is weaned it's usually between the ages of 2 to 4.  Since 3 is a good "completion" number, and a number that's not terribly too long in Redemption, I felt setting him aside 3 turns would best represent him being raised by Hannah until the age of 3 (perhaps 2 turns would work as well); and his protection while in set-aside is his parents' protection of him while being raised, but also God's overall protection of him for a great purpose as a prophet. 

His return and the ability to gain the ability to play teal enhancements comes from when she gives Samuel over to Eli the Priest for the service to Yahweh, as she vowed to Him if He blessed her with a child.  Although Samuel is not a Levite and is not considered a priest, he obviously worked in the service of the Lord at the Tabernacle, which is why he is able to play teal enhancements (some of which can and cannot work by being played on him), but not gain teal brigade. 

Hannah's ability is CBN if Eli the Priest or the Tabernacle is in play as she was originally pouring her heart and request out to the Lord while she was praying in front of to the Tabernacle, and Eli seeing her and, after realizing what she was doing, blessing her that the Lord grants her request. 

I love how Biblically accurate this card is, but it is way underpowered.  There are already 3 angels that search for Samuel out of deck and add him to battle, and 3 turns for a set-aside is way too long to gain teal.  Maybe make it 1 turn set-aside or add that he can also band to a tabernacle priest

The set aside feels pretty long for not that great of a benefit. I'd rather set Samuel aside with Provisions for 2 turns, get a d2 and choose the blocker.

I definitely would like to see a Hannah reprint as well though--I'm thinking more along the lines of Polycarp/John.

3/4
Territory Class
You may search deck or Reserve for Samuel. Each upkeep, if you control Eli the Priest you may draw 1. Samuel may use O.T. Teal enhancements. Cannot be negated.

As a White Hero in a 1 Samuel deck, she wouldn't be used to rescue very often so she feels much more like a support TC Hero.

I like everything about that except territory class reserve search. It's a bad use of reserve abilities because the card makes a choice for you when you build your deck. Every single deck for all eternity that would have had Sam will now have this card with Sam in Reserve. These kind of cards add up fast and are extremely unhealthy for the deck building aspect of the game.

I agree in principle, but not with the assessment that any deck with Sam would also include Hannah. If you aren't running Teal enhancements or Eli the Priest then there's no advantage gained by Hannah and putting Samuel in the Reserve means you can't grab him with AutO/Secret/Winds if you draw one of those before you draw Hannah. You're far better off just not using Hannah and having Sam in the main deck.

That is a fair point about swapping Angels, I suppose having him in Reserve instead of deck would be a negative opportunity cost of including Hannah.

I was thinking that instead of using Sam for throne decks, he could be used to support priests and/or judges (particularly since Eli the Priest is a judge and a priest).  I originally was going to go with 2 turns and also the ability to band to Eli or a tabernacle priest.  So those were good suggestions from folks.  Everyone had a good suggestion about something.

What about this:

You may search deck or Reserve for Samuel.  Once per game, set-aside and protect your Samuel for 2 turns.  Upon return, Samuel gains  the ability "May use teal Enhancements" and  "May band to a Tabernacle priest."  Cannot be negated.

And perhaps Hannah can be white and green brigade, that way she's more versatile for regular use with Samuel and any other green brigade offense.  Green is representative of spiritual life and also known for prophets, but she doesn't necessarily have to be a prophet to have green brigade. 

I'm not too crazy about the TC ability, unless her ability was mostly revamped in some way as Guardian suggested.  I think her ability is more a one-time deal.  But if she's to be more along the lines of Moses' Parents then I can see her being TC.

I was thinking that instead of using Sam for throne decks, he could be used to support priests and/or judges (particularly since Eli the Priest is a judge and a priest).  I originally was going to go with 2 turns and also the ability to band to Eli or a tabernacle priest.  So those were good suggestions from folks.  Everyone had a good suggestion about something.

What about this:

You may search deck or Reserve for Samuel.  Once per game, set-aside and protect your Samuel for 2 turns.  Upon return, Samuel gains  the ability "May use teal Enhancements" and  "May band to a Tabernacle priest."  Cannot be negated.

And perhaps Hannah can be white and green brigade, that way she's more versatile for regular use with Samuel and any other green brigade offense.  Green is representative of spiritual life and also known for prophets, but she doesn't necessarily have to be a prophet to have green brigade. 

I'm not too crazy about the TC ability, unless her ability was mostly revamped in some way as Guardian suggested.  I think her ability is more a one-time deal.  But if she's to be more along the lines of Moses' Parents then I can see her being TC.

Even with the reduced number of turns and adding the band, I still couldn't see it being viable in a priests/Samuel deck. First of all I have to attack with a white Hero that wouldn't be able to use any of my Enhancements besides First Fruits and then I have to wait two turns before I can attack with a 4/4 Hero who searches for another Hero (or evil Saul) whose brigade I probably won't even being playing much of, if any at all, and then I can play teal Enhancements that I could play on any of my other teal Heroes or band to one of those other teal Heroes. You could certainly build a deck that could use it here and there, but unfortunately I still don't think it's quite good enough to be competitive.

I'm a fan of Guardian's suggestion and I think that would definitely make it more playable. Even so, with The Tabernacle it becomes less effective to attack with Samuel in a Tabernacle priests deck anyway (unless you're banding to David) so I think that helps balance the TC Reserve search.

I think TC reserve searches are the wave of the future and the way to allow combo decks to function in T1!

I agree with this for the most part. I can see why it's a little silly because it basically makes for a free card in the deck, but I think that it will be easy to balance with cards like Hannah that mean Samuel isn't in the deck for AUtO/AwtSN and the fact that once more cards are released that give Reserve access there will be a lot more strategy in Reserve optimization. As of right now, the most popular decks that use Samuel (Judges and Throne) don't have very much Reserve access but I'm sure there will be a lot more themed Reserve access in sets to come.