Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Please understand that the following rule will be tested at TLG events only and will be tweaked next tournament season as we see fit. The ultimate goal is to present good test results to Cactus in order that they might consider implementing this rule in the future. I understand that this a new concept in the game of Redemption so please refer to www.threelionsgaming.com to know which events will be using this rule. (NOTE: I have put the Grace and Mercy portions here to explain my thought process in conjunction with many of your thoughts and valuable pieces of input about this topic in the Mulligan thread.)

grace - /grās/ - The free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings

mer·cy - /ˈmərsē/ - Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm

1. Both players draw 8 cards, place drawn Lost Souls in Land of Bondage, and redraw for any Lost Souls until they have 8 cards.

2. The first opportunity to mulligan goes to the player with the most Lost Souls in their Land of Bondage (ties are to be broken by dice roll or the like). After the first player has completed the following steps OR declined the opportunity to mulligan THEN the opportunity is given to the second player:

Grace // Player keeps any cards they choose from their opening hand and shuffles the cards being mulliganed back into their draw pile.

Mercy // Player draws cards from the top of their deck equal to the number they shuffled, places drawn Lost Souls in Land of Bondage, and redraws for any Lost Souls until the player has 8 cards in hand.

3. Once both players have had the opporutnity to mulligan once, the game begins as normal with the option to go first to the player with
the most Lost Souls in their Land of Bondage (ties are to be broken by dice roll or the like).

If it needs to be spelled out even more...the Lost Souls stay out. I believe having something to go for plus a second change to get the cards you need/want to open the game should equal lots of fun for all.

How did I know that would be the first thing mentioned?   I worked on it for a while and every time I switched it it looked wrong so...there you go! 

As I've learned it, grace and mercy are defined as follows:

Grace- getting the good that we don't deserve (God's blessings)
Mercy- not getting the bad we do deserve (the full, just punishment for our sins)

In that case I think you have the terms switched- mercy would be being given the opportunity to not keep the undesirable cards you drew, and grace would be the blessing of drawing more to get a better hand than you originally got.

I think this could be really fun! It's great that the Lost souls stay out- I just hope that people play honestly and don't shuffle their lost souls instead of putting them out.

Thanks for your work towards improving the game!!

This may be the sneakiest part of the game. How do you know when your opponent has lost souls?

Quote from: jesse on April 16, 2015, 03:05:58 PM

I just hope that people play honestly and don't shuffle their lost souls instead of putting them out.

This may be the sneakiest part of the game. How do you know when your opponent has lost souls?

I tend to trust that people who play this game want to actually play this game.

What if you added that if a players draws 0 lost souls  in their LoB they must mulligan at least 1/2 their hand? I know this isn't a thread to debate this in but it would help avoid drought.

Travis has done a good job implementing an optional mulligan rule. Thanks for that, Travis. I hope I get to play in some of your tournaments.

Some of the most boring games I've played involve one or more players not drawing any Lost Souls for the first several turns. It's not that common but it does happen. Similar to Pokemon's mandatory mulligan rule, I believe Redemption should have a mandatory mulligan for any player with no Lost Souls at the start of the game. If you don't draw any Lost Souls in your mulligan, repeat until you do.

3. Once both players have had the opporutnity to mulligan once, the game begins as normal with the option to go first to the player with
the most Lost Souls in their Land of Bondage (ties are to be broken by dice roll or the like).

I like what you've come up with here - I think this is a good start for mulligan testing. 

I have one concern I'd like to share.  If one player mulligans and the other doesn't, odds are the player that mulliganed will get the chance to choose who goes first.  I'm wondering if this privilege should be forfeited if you mulligan and your opponent does not.