Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Themes have corrupted our playerbase to the point to where they do not understand the concepts of deckbuilding outside of Theme card+Theme card X 25=Deck.

1:Compatible themes are overlooked oftentimes... Example:
Cards in deck: 26


Artifacts: 1
   Stone Pillar at Bethel

Blue Covenant Cards: 1
   Covenant of Noah

Multi-Color Heroes: 2
   Joseph (Blue/Green)
   Samuel (Gold/Green)

Silver Heroes: 1
   The Angel Under the Oak

Red Heroes: 2
   Ahimelek the Hittite
   David

Gold Heroes: 3
   Ehud
   Gideon
   Jair

Blue Heroes: 4
   Dan
   Eve
   Jacob
   Rachel

Multi-Color Hero Enhancements: 1
   Seven Years of Plenty (Blue/Evil Gold)

Red Hero Enhancements: 2
   Battle Cry
   Bravery of David

Gold Hero Enhancements: 3
   Deborah's Directive
   Ehud's Dagger
   Samuel's Edict

Blue Hero Enhancements: 6
   Answer to Prayer
   Courage
   Forgiveness of Joseph
   Joseph Before Pharaoh
   Numerous as the Stars
   Reuben's Torn Clothes
This offense was 8-0 before it lost a game. And as you see it's not a set theme. The goal of the offense is CBN+Protection+Ahimlek abuse.

2:Themes that are said to be unable to mesh can in truth mesh but are overlooked.
Cards in deck: 56
Lost Souls: 8
   Lost Soul (Beggar)
   Lost Soul (FBTN)
   Lost Soul (Female Only)
   Lost Soul (first round)
   Lost Soul (hopper)
   Lost Soul (N.T. only)
   Lost Soul (punisher)
   Lost Soul (revealer)

Lamb Dominants: 6
   Angel of the Lord
   Grapes of Wrath
   Guardian Of Your Souls
   Harvest Time
   New Jerusalem
   Son of God

Grim Reaper Dominants: 5
   Burial
   Christian Martyr
   Destruction of Nehushtan
   Falling Away
   Mayhem

Fortresses: 2
   Storehouse
   The Garden Tomb

Artifacts: 3
   Burial Shroud
   Chariot of Fire
   Stone Pillar at Bethel

Multi-Color Heroes: 2
   Joseph (Blue/Green)
   Simon the Zealot (Red/Purple)

Blue Heroes: 6
   Dan
   Eve
   Jacob
   Levi
   Rachel
   Simeon

Purple Heroes: 8
   Bartholomew (Nathanael)
   James, Son of Alphaeus
   James, Son of Zebedee
   John
   Matthew (Levi)
   Philip
   Thaddeus
   Thomas

Multi-Color Hero Enhancements: 2
   Pentecost
   Seven Years of Plenty (Blue/Evil Gold)

Blue Hero Enhancements: 5
   Abraham's Servant to Ur
   Answer to Prayer
   Forgiveness of Joseph
   Joseph Before Pharaoh
   Reuben's Torn Clothes

Purple Hero Enhancements: 5
   A New Commandment
   Authority of Christ
   Great Faith
   My Lord and My God
   Reach of Desperation

Gold Evil Characters: 1
   King of Tyrus

Gray Evil Characters: 1
   Sabbath Breaker

Brown Evil Characters: 2
   Gomer
   Uzzah
I wouldn't trust this deck for too many games but it does indeed work and is able to win games due to it's speed alone.

3:Entire brigades are shrugged off due to not having a theme that is worth much. Teal has said to have nothing worth using by a member who I shall not name while in fact teal has the one thing that makes most offenses work... The Feasts. Which enable most of the non Genesis offenses to work.

In conclusion I hope this article teaches players to think out side of the theme more.

Themes are great. Mixing themes are better. Gardenciples was huge last year.

Mixed themes have been winning nationals for the past 3 years I might add. Teal Tomb, Prophets Priests, Red Garden Tomb.

you know, themes arent great if your opponent happens to have a deck that negates it. I play a lot PG assyrians but I throw a bunch of other PG cards in there in case someone decides they want to play some of the green heroes that negate abilities on assyrians

The scrub who got third place won 4 (of 4) games using a disciples deck.

Yet he won. That proves disciples are imba.

Yeah, i have a deck that incorporates Heretics, Babylonians, and other non themed charachters. (Leviathan, Judas Iscariot, etc)

Like others, I have founf out that mixing themes improves your chance of winning. My deck is a 133 deck, yes I know it's big but I have won 8 games in a row with it. I use disciples, centurions,and other warriors on offense and kings, persians, magicians, and demons for defense. So this help's prove the point that mixing themes is better than playing one theme.

Living in Florida doesn't help support that point. The decks are far too weird.

Just because the decks are weird does not mean that my proof is useless

I agree. However, Florida's meta is very well-known for being a bit... different. A deck faring well in Florida doesn't indicate that it will do well in other areas. The Pennsylvania/Maryland meta for instance, is built around the forums, because a very large amount of people from this area frequent the forums, including some really active members like Alex, Marti, Brad, and myself. If a deck from our area is consistently winning, odds are, it's more likely to fair well on a national level, because it's more indicative of the national meta.

No offense Red, but it honestly sounds like you're angry that nobody is respecting your deck. Mixed themes do absolutely work, and most Sam decks are nothing but mixing themes and brigades.

Quote from: Arrthoa on December 11, 2011, 10:19:40 PM

Just because the decks are weird does not mean that my proof is useless

I agree. However, Florida's meta is very well-known for being a bit... different. A deck faring well in Florida doesn't indicate that it will do well in other areas. The Pennsylvania/Maryland meta for instance, is built around the forums, because a very large amount of people from this area frequent the forums, including some really active members like Alex, Marti, Brad, and myself. If a deck from our area is consistently winning, odds are, it's more likely to fair well on a national level, because it's more indicative of the national meta.

No offense Red, but it honestly sounds like you're angry that nobody is respecting your deck. Mixed themes do absolutely work, and most Sam decks are nothing but mixing themes and brigades.

I hope you are not confusing me, Arrthoa, with Red [why risk flames]. I just saying this cause it sounded to me that you had me confused with Red.

Okay, I wasn't sure if you had us confused. My bad.

Quote from: Chronic Apathy on December 11, 2011, 10:45:28 PM

Quote from: Arrthoa on December 11, 2011, 10:19:40 PM

Just because the decks are weird does not mean that my proof is useless

I agree. However, Florida's meta is very well-known for being a bit... different. A deck faring well in Florida doesn't indicate that it will do well in other areas. The Pennsylvania/Maryland meta for instance, is built around the forums, because a very large amount of people from this area frequent the forums, including some really active members like Alex, Marti, Brad, and myself. If a deck from our area is consistently winning, odds are, it's more likely to fair well on a national level, because it's more indicative of the national meta.

No offense Red, but it honestly sounds like you're angry that nobody is respecting your deck. Mixed themes do absolutely work, and most Sam decks are nothing but mixing themes and brigades.

Well you cant really say that until youve some of the top tier players who havent had a chance to go to nationals finally get the chance to. (Which may actually happen this next Nats if its in Tenessee or Florida.)

While technically true, I would think it'd be a save investment to bet that the national meta > FL meta.

The reason why it does well is their are only four people including me in my area that play the game. From what I see on the member map the rest are either on the South-East coast or in Orlando. Also, I've never been to a tournament so I can't say it be great at one.

And just how would I become one?