Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Fox in the Vineyard
1/5 Crimson Evil Enhancement
"If used by a Heretic, you may search opponent's deck for Harvest Time or an N.T. Good Enhancement and Discard it. Cannot be Negated by an N.T. card."
Song of Songs 2:15

Jezebel
6/10 Crimson/Black Evil Character
-Heretic, Female, Prophet, Greek-
"You may Convert an N.T. Male Human Hero in a territory to Crimson. Character gains 'Heretic' identifier. May band with an N.T. Male Human, or Protect all N.T. Lost Souls from rescue by an N.T. Male Hero. If Thyatira is not in play, opponent may reveal hand instead."
Revelation 2:20

Nicolaitans
4/4 Crimson Evil Character
-Generic, Heretic-
"Protect your N.T. Lost Souls in Pergamum Sites from rescue. You may search deck or Discard Pile for Satan's Seat and play it on your Pergamum."
Revelation 2:15

Thyatira
Blue Site
"If you have an N.T. Female Human Evil Character in play, you may search Discard Pile for an Evil Healing card when opponent plays a Good Dominant or activates a Covenant."
Revelation 2:18

Teachings of Balaam
0/0 Crimson Evil Enhancement, TC
"If used by a Heretic and an Evil Prophet is in your Discard Pile, you may return an N.T. Lost Soul to owner's deck."
Revelation 2:14

The False Prophet
8/12 Crimson/Pale Green Evil Character
-Heretic, Prophet, Magician, X=Number of Characters Discarded by this card's Special Ability-
"May band with Beast from the Sea or an Evil Prophet. Discard an N.T. character in your territory for each N.T. Lost Soul in your Land of Bondage. Protect up to X N.T. Lost Souls from Rescue. Opponent may Discard X cards from hand instead. Cannot be Negated."

I like most of these, except for The False Prophet. If he could discard any number, then I might actually use him, but as is he seems way too risky. Maybe in T2...

I'm pretty sure the Heretic thing is for NT people who went against the church.....

So, which ones are you complaining about? Most are from Revelation, which is probably where most of the source material for future heretics will come (because the seven letters dealt a lot with heresy). False Prophet has already been ruled to be a Heretic. And the first one may be a stretch to some, but many people believe (myself included) that Song of Solomon is a foretaste of the love between Christ (the lover) and the Church (the beloved). If you read the verse that way:

15 Catch for us the foxes,
       the little foxes
       that ruin the vineyards,
       our vineyards that are in bloom.

It is words spoken by Christ to the Church. Heretics fit well with that.

As to the cards, I will try to speak from my experience as a T2 Heretic player who realizes how insanely powerful they are. Out of the three games I've played, the only one I've lost was vs. a deck with essentially the same offense and defense (Heretics). In the other two games, my opponents rescued a combined 1 Lost Soul aside from SoG/NJ.

-Fox in the Vineyard: I love it. Would be more awesome if Sapphira was a Heretic.
-Jezebel: Great, but I think it should be restricted to NT Male Hero for the conversion, because part of the definition of Heretic is that they are NT. And does the instead refer to all abilities? As is, it appears to refer to the banding/protection. The conversion should probably be insteaded as well.
-Nicolaitans: Great, because of the specificity of the protect, and the other useful ability. Generic Heretics with Marketplace in T2 are what makes them so good, but this one wouldn't be abused.
-Thyatira: This is good, but it literally has the opportunity to make Heretics invincible, because Wolves in Sheeps Clothing is a Healing card. Which may be good, but they are already fairly powerful. I would at least limit it to good dominants.
-Teachings of Balaam: I love it. No complaints.
-The False Prophet: He's also been ruled a Magician FWIW. I think making him Crimson/PG would actually be better, as then he wouldn't be so easily abused in T2, but he is still powerful.

I like it !!!!! Could use some more heretics though...