Why not just say that Angels cannot be captured, period? Converted, yes, since there were angels who sinned and joined Satan in his rebellion. But capturing an angel? What is the scripture we use to justify this?
Now I know what you will say. "Capture" does not just mean a physical apprehending of someone, and it can be spiritual ("being taken captive by him to do his will"), but having an "angels cannot be captured" ruling would accomplish many things. 1) It would be more biblically accurate, which I believe is what we are going for. Even if I grant that an angel was "spiritually ensnared", then they become a lost soul for the heroes, with the assistance of the blood of the Lamb, to redeem? Hebrews 2:16 says "For assuredly He DOES NOT give aid to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham." This verse seems to imply that an angel, as a powerful being created to serve God and minister to men, has no hope of redemption after they sin, perhaps because unlike us they have seen the Glory of the Lord face to face and STILL rebelled. Anyway, it seems to me that Angels are not "redeemed" by Christ's sacrifice as we are. 2) It makes more sense PHYSICALLY for those capture cards that are clearly referring to someone literally being grabbed and held against their will. "Go Into Captivity", "Wickedness of Delilah", "Slave Trade", "False Witnesses", "Apprehended", "Enslaved by Egypt", "Night Raid" (and more) capturing Michael? Yeah, right. To the designers' credit they are making fewer capture cards that can target angels, but if this is because they realize this now too, just make the "angels cannot be captured" ruling. 3) From a gameplay standpoint, it will make Angel decks more competitive. Right now almost any single color offense can beat silver. Now I have heard that some of this might be intentional, in that they don't want people winning without using any humans in their decks. If that is true then I question making silver a brigade in the first place, if they only intended it to supplement other offenses rather than stand alone. They certainly didn't feel that way about exclusively demon defenses, because now a solid orange/demon defense is one of the strongest around.
I bring this up now because of the EXCELLENT ruling that demons can no longer be redeemed. And many have responded to this by saying, accurately so in my opinion, that captured angels shouldn't be able to be redeemed either. I say take it one step further, and just say that Angels cannot be captured at all, period. Problem solved. And I feel it to be a sound decision primarily for the three reasons stated above. I know that not everyone will agree on this, but thanks for listening.
(P.S. You can make it so COTH can still be captured if you want
He is the most abused and overused card up here in VA right now:) )
