Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Quote from: RED on July 03, 2010, 12:02:49 PM

What do you think of the new direction Redemption is going in the new ways to obtain cards?

I'm glad that Cactus has found a way to continue to provide us with a new set each even though our economy has not been good.  It's a lot of fun to open a pack that contains multiple ultra rares, especially when they're cards like GOYS, DON, ANB, UW, Nero, etc.  I wasn't around when Warriors was released so it's been fun to see some of the Warriors cards in packs too. 

Personally I'm not very excited about opening most of the cards from Apostles and Patriarchs but it's good to see cards like Hur, Promised Land, Transfiguration, NT LS, etc. are easily available to new players.

Quote from: RED on July 03, 2010, 12:37:13 PM

So, do you think the meta will be changed up after Nationals?

The metagame changes every year for a few reasons.  One of the primary reasons is the release of a new set.  With lots of new powerful cards available people are going to change their decks to try them out.  For example, prior to this tournament season I didn't see anyone playing Philistines.  TeP changed that.  From what we know about Disciples from the first preview article I imagine we'll see a lot of Disciples decks next year, but those have been rare in the past.  I also expect that we'll see less Haman's Plots ripped this next tournament season.

Another reason the metagame changes is that the Redemption community as a whole tends to copy the top decks from Nationals.  Some players use a card for card version of the top decks.  Other people build their own, similar version.  Expect to see a lot of people playing some variant of the decks that place at Nationals this year.

Quote from: RED on July 03, 2010, 08:41:46 PM

What does it take to place at high-level tournaments?

There's not really an easy answer to that question.  You have to know the game well, have a good deck, be able to anticipate what your opponent will do, use your cards for maximum effectiveness and play mistake free.  When two good players sit down across from one another the game will often be decided by who makes the most, or biggest, mistake(s).  So those are all important but they aren't enough on their own.

I don't believe in luck but I do believe that God cares enough to determine the outcome of our games at times.  He can use our victories and our defeats to teach us important, eternal lessons.

Before Nationals 2009 I was really looking forward to taking a trip to California with friends.  The opportunity to meet people, play games and have fun was pretty exciting.  But if that's all it was about it was hard for me to justify the cost of the trip.  I got together with some other men and we prayed together that God would use me in California to make an impact for his kingdom, especially on some of the young people.  I didn't ask to win any games, only that he would use me to bring glory to Himself.

It turns out that the way He chose to do that was to let me win some trophies.  Then during the award ceremony I had an opportunity to speak to the entire crowd at Nationals and share with them that although Redemption is awesome, it pales in comparison to Jesus.  I was able to share briefly what Christ has done for me.  I had a chance to challenge everyone in the room to let Jesus make a difference in their life too if they weren't currently doing so.

Quote from: RED on July 05, 2010, 08:13:47 AM

Finally, a word of advice to new players?

This word of advice is really for everyone, not just new players.  Old and young, Christian and non-Christian. 

Read the Bible, especially the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and learn who Jesus is.  Then put your hope and trust in him and follow him with all your heart.  There's nothing you can do in life that's more important than this.