The 2018 Community Created Card: Rapha of Gath + Promo Announcement

[The Guardian]

After a tightly contested vote, the piece by Bronzino has prevailed. Because of the concerns raised regarding the lack of clothing, Gabe has adjusted the cropping so this guy isn't much different than the red brigade Elhanan for example.

Without further ado, here is Rapha of Gath:

Spoiler (hover to show)

You might notice that he is a "Seasonal Promo" and you might be wondering what that's about. We are still working out all the details, but our plan is to start doing seasonal promos instead of local and district promos. For example, we might do 4 promos and each one would be available for tournaments in a three month period. Our goal is to encourage more tournaments year-round so hopefully making some awesome promos that are only available for a couple months each year will help in that regard. Stay tuned as we finalize more details!

As for Rapha, it's now your job to start playtesting him! Let us know how he's working and if anything might need to be adjusted. Is he the leader the Philistines need to become a top-tier option??? 

[Crashfach2002]

I had hesitation about the art, and showed my wife.  She pointed out two things about the art she thought was "pushing it" (for a lack of a better word).  Both of the things she pointed out have been fixed with the updated cropping, so thank you for that!

[NathanW]

finally a card to stop choosing Goliath to block and then throw in Ahimelek ;P

[Kevinthedude]

After a tightly contested vote, the piece by Bronzino has prevailed. Because of the concerns raised regarding the lack of clothing, Gabe has adjusted the cropping so this guy isn't much different than the red brigade Elhanan for example.

Without further ado, here is Rapha of Gath:

Spoiler (hover to show)

You might notice that he is a "Seasonal Promo" and you might be wondering what that's about. We are still working out all the details, but our plan is to start doing seasonal promos instead of local and district promos. For example, we might do 4 promos and each one would be available for tournaments in a three month period. Our goal is to encourage more tournaments year-round so hopefully making some awesome promos that are only available for a couple months each year will help in that regard. Stay tuned as we finalize more details!

As for Rapha, it's now your job to start playtesting him! Let us know how he's working and if anything might need to be adjusted. Is he the leader the Philistines need to become a top-tier option??? 

My prediction (without knowing if the upcoming set has more Philistine support or not) is that he isn't good enough to be worth the Unity cost, especially when I would have to give up War (to say nothing of Fire Foxes, Foreign Wives, and The Deceiver) to use him and War arguably does his job (Getting weapons out for free card advantage) better because it's guaranteed to go straight to hand, can recur spears, and gets initiative to use the battle winners. The territory protection is nice to have but IMO not worth the opportunity cost.

For Unity characters to be successful, I don't believe they should straight value cards because then they will either be so valuable that the opportunity cost of running several otherwise suboptimal cards is worth it and thus likely be over powered (And less fun to play with and against because a large part of your deck's performance will be up to chance whether you draw the card you sacrificed your deck's average card value for early game or late game) because the value they provide would have to be immense to justify running bad cards in your deck or they simply won't be more valuable than their Unity cost and will never see competitive play.

Competitve, balanced Unity cards will be ones with unique effects that require you to build around them beyond just fulfilling the Unity cost. An example from a recent set I believe would be CoL. If CoL had Unity - Hero (Red Warrior) the deck would still function but it would be much more balanced by being forced to not run Peter, Justin, or [EDITED BY R.O.S.E.S].

I do really like the idea of seasonal promos though!

[The Guardian]

My prediction (without knowing if the upcoming set has more Philistine support or not) is that he isn't good enough to be worth the Unity cost, especially when I would have to give up War (to say nothing of Fire Foxes, Foreign Wives, and The Deceiver) to use him and War arguably does his job (Getting weapons out for free card advantage) better because it's guaranteed to go straight to hand, can recur spears, and gets initiative to use the battle winners. The territory protection is nice to have but IMO not worth the opportunity cost.

C'mon now, when was the last time you actually blocked with Fire Foxes or The Deceiver from territory? 

In a deck that's based more on battle winners, I can see War being tough to give up, but in a deck based more around negates, I think you want the bigger dude (especially one who gets Philistine Chariot and Horses). This spoiler shouldn't surprise anyone, but Foreign Wives is going to be more of a liability with the new set. Philistines have such a wide range of situationally useful ECs that you can't fit them all in the main deck, but being able to fit 2 or 3 to be grabbed by Rapha/The Deceiver is going to come in handy. (Ishbibenob, 12FG, Philistine Diviners, Garrison and Delilah all come to mind).

Potential Philistine line-up:
Goliath
Rapha
Saph
Philistine Armorbearer
King Achish
Fire Foxes
The Deceiver

Reserve: (probably pick 3 of these depending on the rest of the deck)
Delilah
Ishbibenob
Philistine Diviners
Philistine Garrison
12FG

[Kevinthedude]

My prediction (without knowing if the upcoming set has more Philistine support or not) is that he isn't good enough to be worth the Unity cost, especially when I would have to give up War (to say nothing of Fire Foxes, Foreign Wives, and The Deceiver) to use him and War arguably does his job (Getting weapons out for free card advantage) better because it's guaranteed to go straight to hand, can recur spears, and gets initiative to use the battle winners. The territory protection is nice to have but IMO not worth the opportunity cost.

C'mon now, when was the last time you actually blocked with Fire Foxes or The Deceiver from territory? 

In a deck that's based more on battle winners, I can see War being tough to give up, but in a deck based more around negates, I think you want the bigger dude (especially one who gets Philistine Chariot and Horses). This spoiler shouldn't surprise anyone, but Foreign Wives is going to be more of a liability with the new set. Philistines have such a wide range of situationally useful ECs that you can't fit them all in the main deck, but being able to fit 2 or 3 to be grabbed by Rapha/The Deceiver is going to come in handy. (Ishbibenob, 12FG, Philistine Diviners, Garrison and Delilah all come to mind).

Potential Philistine line-up:
Goliath
Rapha
Saph
Philistine Armorbearer
King Achish
Fire Foxes
The Deceiver

Reserve: (probably pick 3 of these depending on the rest of the deck)
Delilah
Ishbibenob
Philistine Diviners
Philistine Garrison
12FG

Another aspect in your favor I didn't originally consider is that Philistines have a couple ways to tutor for exactly the Philistine they want so you could include non-Philistines in a Rapha deck and just not pull him if you already drew War first. If a straight Philistine defense is good, Rapha will likely be in it. But I don't believe Rapha alone will make Philistines worth playing over current options.

[The Guardian]

I think you'll also appreciate the territory protection a bit more when you see more of the new set. 

[Gabe]

Philistines were one of the top defenses during Nats 2016. Have they really fallen so far that they aren't desirable anymore? Maybe...

[The Guardian]

Philistines were one of the top defenses during Nats 2016. Have they really fallen so far that they aren't desirable anymore? Maybe...

I think a big part of that was that they worked so well against Throne decks, which was one of the top 2 offenses. As people moved away from Throne last year, Philistines weren't as popular. I think they still match up pretty well against Martyrs as they can certainly hold their own in "negate wars."

[redemption collector 777]

In my opinion I really do not think Rapha of Gath should be a Unity Evil character with current SA.

Maybe if Rapha special ability was to be this:

Protect philistines in territory from opponents. If blocking , you may topdeck a black philistine or weapon from Reserve or discard pile(or take it if opponent has used a draw or search ability this turn.)

I think being able to look through discard pile would make the Unity identifier worth it.
 

As Kevin said  , not really sure if his special ability is really worth requiring a Unity identifier at the moment.

Rapha only protects and does one thing with reserve only that is pretty well it.


As for the seasonal promo thing , I am kinda against having  more than 1 seasonal promo each year.

It would  seem like those certain promos would be available for 3 months one year then , most people would have to wait another 9 months or so just have a chance of getting that  certain promo again....

Maybe 1 seasonal promo per year and the rest are the normal 3 tournament promos would be better.

[uthminister [BR]]

I appreciate the modified cropping.

[The Guardian]

It would  seem like those certain promos would be available for 3 months one year then , most people would have to wait another 9 months or so just have a chance of getting that  certain promo again....

1 tournament every 3 months shouldn't be too tough--remember, even Closed Local tournaments (i.e. invite only) get promos. And I'm pretty sure these will be available to buy or trade for on the secondary market (not everyone plays Philistines after all). 

[TheHobbit13]

Yeah, I don't know why Unity is put on there without it being agreed upon in voting. And then assuming "if blocking" means when this card is blocking that's a different reserve access ability than was voted upon.

[NathanW]

^^ Time to start playtesting.

[The Guardian]

Yeah, I don't know why Unity is put on there without it being agreed upon in voting. And then assuming "if blocking" means when this card is blocking that's a different reserve access ability than was voted upon.

In the final vote "Reserve access" was what was voted on, there was no specifics on how that would be implemented.

Unity was added because we want to encourage more decks dedicated to a theme as opposed to "splashing." You will find with the new set that there will be multiple ways to build with the Philistine characters--if you don't think this application of Unity will offer much, I encourage you (and everyone) to playtest with Rapha and see how often it proves useful. We could even start a feedback thread for people to share their experiences. 

^^ Time to start playtesting.

Bingo.

[Watchman]

It would  seem like those certain promos would be available for 3 months one year then , most people would have to wait another 9 months or so just have a chance of getting that  certain promo again....

1 tournament every 3 months shouldn't be too tough--remember, even Closed Local tournaments (i.e. invite only) get promos. And I'm pretty sure these will be available to buy or trade for on the secondary market (not everyone plays Philistines after all). 

Interesting new promo dispersement idea. What is truly in desperate need are new WINNER promos.

[h20tor]

 "or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

[NathanW]

"or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

Yes.

[Watchman]

"or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

I know “take it” is shorter than “add to hand” but for clarity’s sake, and because it’s only one more short word, I think “add to hand” is much clearer than “take it.” A take ability is usually associated with taking an opponent’s card, and adding to hand has been used time and again regarding a specific one of your cards you’re targeting. The fact that someone already asked for clarification means it will be asked by someone else in tournament or casual play down the road.

[Kevinthedude]

"or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

I know “take it” is shorter than “add to hand” but for clarity’s sake, and because it’s only one more short word, I think “add to hand” is much clearer than “take it.” A take ability is usually associated with taking an opponent’s card, and adding to hand has been used time and again regarding a specific one of your card’s you’re targeting. The fact that someone already asked for clarification means it will be asked by someone else in tournament or casual play down the road.

A take ability is already defined as adding to hand by default and there are other cards that use take as a keyword that aren't nearly so easily rewritten.

[JonathanW]

"or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

Yes.

"Take" is actually currently in the game and is defined in the REG:

[Watchman]

"or take it" does that mean add it to hand?

I know “take it” is shorter than “add to hand” but for clarity’s sake, and because it’s only one more short word, I think “add to hand” is much clearer than “take it.” A take ability is usually associated with taking an opponent’s card, and adding to hand has been used time and again regarding a specific one of your card’s you’re targeting. The fact that someone already asked for clarification means it will be asked by someone else in tournament or casual play down the road.

A take ability is already defined as adding to hand by default and there are other cards that use take as a keyword that aren't nearly so easily rewritten.

I’m aware that it’s a part of the definition of take; however, that’s not my point.

[The Guardian]

"Add to hand" is being phased out. There is no entry in the REG for "add to hand."

Cards can be "taken," "drawn" or "returned" to a player's hand.

Also, "it" would still be needed.


"Search Reserve for a weapon and add it to hand."

vs

"Take a weapon from Reserve."

[Watchman]

"Add to hand" is being phased out. There is no entry in the REG for "add to hand."

Cards can be "taken," "drawn" or "returned" to a player's hand.

Also, "it" would still be needed.


"Search Reserve for a weapon and add it to hand."

vs

"Take a weapon from Reserve."

Ok. I didn’t know “add it to hand” was being phased out as it was used on cards as recent as RoJ.

[TheHobbit13]

Yeah, I don't know why Unity is put on there without it being agreed upon in voting. And then assuming "if blocking" means when this card is blocking that's a different reserve access ability than was voted upon.

In the final vote "Reserve access" was what was voted on, there was no specifics on how that would be implemented.

Well before specific abilities were voted on and then combinations were selected, so to me it looked like you'd just take from that pool. I didn't realize you were disregarding the abilities from the first vote.

I guess we can playtest it with unity, but it makes more sense to playtest it without and see if the ability is too powerful to be splashed. We'd still be going off intuition in deciding whether unity waters the card down too much or not otherwise. So I will save you the time and let you know that it does... black defenses are good because you have access to Canaanites, Sadducees, Greeks, etc So are people going to cut those characters or just not use Rapha? Probably not use Rapha.

If you're set on unity then I would cut the parenthesis and let him top deck weapons or philistines every time one blocks.