Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Your assessment seems pretty spot on to me. Well done!

There are a few things I didn't see mentioned which I think are worth bringing up.

NT White has also gained The Twenty-Four Elders, an extremely strong finisher in the right deck.

Disciples are notably absent from your list. They've gained a few new tools this year. Despite their lack of play in high level tournaments the past two years they were already a very strong offense.

I'll be surprised if some form of a Job deck isn't a thing. Initially it will use Job (Pi) but obviously switch to the promo version at Nationals.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

But seriously, liner abuse has taken a few hits this year. That's for the best. It's not dead, but you actually have to work now to make it happen. Hopefully that means it's played a lot less.

I feel like the best type 1 decks this year are the ones that splash angels and demons most efficiently. Personally when I have played judges in the past I only used captain, auto, and secret name, but now Michael to old tsa is so good and to have two cbn bands in a fast offense is great. But regardless I think if you are playing an offense without Michael or a defense without red dragon, you are doing something wrong. I will say though, in my experience last year, that the new set release schedule makes the meta weird, it pretty much makes the top decks more effective then they should be and the other ones are just more random and unrefined than usual.

and older tools ranging from Chenaniah and Garden Tomb support

I think Chenaniah would take great umbridge knowing that you called him an old tool.

Clay Variants.. Still finding all kinds of ludicrous combos with clay because it's on so many things!!
Clay seems to benefit from this set in every way similarly to Cloud and I have only seen one person playing Faith of Gideon in Disciples (Shout out to Wyatt!!)

Angels - I've been outdrawing throne with angels xD

Throne is legit as.. Get's a ton in this set just from the aforementioned, that there is a
cure to Moses so Melchizedek can shine. ASP/Not Alone - Frog Demons. The biggest counter factor though is Outsiders/Woes/Image which can definitely slow it down. I do like Brian's Nationals build utilizing Samuel more for CBN enh. Watchman for Isaiah is a huge factor here though, with the Reserve allowing for Ezekiel to enter the picture. Isaiah's CBN protect combined with Temple Dedication AND a recurring play first Not Alone off of ET is ludicrously good

Demons are very powerful but the extend the battle aspect of demons is most formidable. Combining Gates with Site Guard and Madness and potentially Charms/Unknown Nation/ etc
Now they have stronger characters to toss in along with previous bosses such as KoT not to mention d9s for days off of Messenger and Damsel

Brown- Frog Demons with Job's Wife/Friends plus Ahaziah is not slow. Combine this with
some of the best battle winners in the game and some crimson and it's legit as

Crimson - I see crimson as more of a splash simply for Hypocrisy/Mayhem
It's such a devastating combo and will continue to be. I think Hypocrisy should be in any deck playing Mayhem

Liner Abuse will shift to Hormah use rather than soul removal IF people adopt GoYs. I predict there may be a Liner/Hormah in the Nats winner deck this year, judging from the nats winners for several years passed

The ones you didn't mention:

Priests! - Priests are incredible!! Every Tribe/Melchizedek being just one part of this, but Ram's Horn?? With Three Woes being able to negate Ram's Horn you can give multiple Priests CBI battle winners for the entire game, combine this with Feasts or Throne and they have plenty of speed with Gifts and Offerings which can be recurred, and becomes a play first-able CBI regardless of protection battle winner!! Wow!!

Disciples - Are lit.. They have access to all of the faith cards, John the Apocalyptist with My Lord and My God is amazing, Thaddeus is more powerful than ever, plenty of drawing.

Disciples/Revelation Angels - are very powerful as well with John the Apocalyptist, Michael/TSA, and Angel of Might especially. Multiple ways through chump blocks, multiple ways to negate Coliseum if need be, plus the ol Reach Aocp and Herod's Temple!

Green with Major/Minor Prophets - I have seen no one even trying The Watchman, but have conceptualized some phenomenal decks with them. They have power house enhancements and access to heroes now who can slaughter some of the best defenses in the game, along with speed from Broken Cov/Faith of Samuel/Hur+Gifts

Other thoughts:

You Will Remain should be in every deck..

Covenant of Prayer should be in every deck.. Phenomenal work on this card

Ends of the Earth and or Imitate Soul are doing work against soul drought + Melchizedek/Barnabas and other great soul gen options from before

I totally see the 5/4 games and big battles.. Super fun!! Even in the games where there are few battles to starts they all seem to culminate

Woes/Image/Censer - At least one of these should be in just about every deck.. I find that there is usually only 1 or 2 "problem" cards on the table at any given time, and these offer great solutions to those along with being able to be searched out, two from the Reserve

The Reserve?? I am so excited to see how people implement this. It's amazing to build a deck with 10 in the Reserve, and only 47-48 cards in the deck.. and try to have to figure out what else to add XD instead of building a deck with 56 cards and trying to figure out what to cut! Haha

What a great time for Redemption!!! Blessings!

One defense that hasn't been mentioned yet is Philistines with a Gray splash.  Philistines have fantastic stand-alone characters and overwhelming negates; their problem has always been speed.

Insert RoJ, and now they have the Black/Gold Outsiders, instantly one of the best ECs in the game.  Couple that with two new powerful Black/Gray EEs that are not conditional to Pharisees/Sadducees (they just make them better), and now Vitellius can find his way into the deck without being a guaranteed sacrificial lamb. 

And let's not forget the new Ananias, who has a stand-alone ability that easily rivals the big Phillies.

Keeping in mind that the Philistines' toy from CoW was Achish with a potential D2, and that he's CBN if David is in play.  Throne/Philistines with a Vitellius splash seems like a legit deck to me.