Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Hey guys, I am just looking for some help fine tuning my Genesis offense/Magicians defense deck which I’ve played a few games with and really quite like. It’s doing quite well on lackey, but I just want to improve it a bit, and being a new player I would be very grateful to soak up your advice.

Genesis/Magicians deck v3

Total Cards: 54

8 Lost Souls:
•   NT Only
•   Dull
•   Three Liner
•   Exchanger
•   Anti-miller
•   Punisher
•   Female-only

•   Hopper

7 Dominants:
•   Son of God (I)
•   Angel of the Lord
•   Second Coming
•   Christian Martyr
•   Burial
•   DoN
•   Falling Away (CoW)

3 Artifacts:
•   Magic Charms
•   Confusion of Mind
•   Rain Becomes Dust

10 Heroes:
•   Levi
•   Simeon (FooF)
•   Joseph (CoW)
•   Zebulun
•   Rachel
•   Asher
•   Jacob (FooF)
•   Enoch (CoW)
•   Eve (Di)
•   Dan

8 GEs:
•   Faith of Noah
•   Joseph Before Pharaoh (FooF)
•   Reuben’s Torn Clothes
•   Obedience of Noah (D)
•   Abraham’s Descendant
•   Answer to Prayer
•   Buying Grain
•   Shoes of Peace (F)


10 ECs:
•   Messenger of Satan
•   Egyptian Magicians
•   Laban (Promo)
•   Astrologers (TxP)
•   Judean Mediums
•   Balaam (Di)
•   King Manasseh
•   Wizard (PC)
•   Foreign Wives
•   Damsel w/Spirit (TxP)

8 EEs:
•   Death of Unrighteous
•   Forgotten History
•   Two Thousand Horses
•   Divination (TxP)
•   Invoking Terror
•   Magician’s Snakes
•   Mist (PC)
•   Scattered

Here is a list of changes I have made since last time:

•   I have swapped out Misuse of Talents for 2K Horses

•   I swapped out Disturbing Samuel’s Spirit for Mist (PC)

•   I have swapped out cloud Jacob/Israel for FooF Jacob, as I feel like his ability to play the first enhancement is more beneficial (as pointed out by Master Q).

•   I have also swapped out Benjamin for Asher, as although cbn genesis enhancements would be awesome, I would like to be able to retrieve some of my cards from my discard pile if I need to (also as pointed out by Master Q).

•   I have also swapped Leah for Eve, as I find that generally I don’t get to use Leah’s ability anyway, because she relies on Jacob being in play making her incredibly unreliable. And although she would often have initiative, I’ve already got Zebulun, whose ability I get to use regularly. 

•   I swapped Reverence and Awe for Shoes of Peace (F) as I have taken out Storehouse and Goshen. I took out Goshen because I don’t know how to use it and don’t know if it would even have any benefits to me, and Storehouse has generally had no use for me in this deck.

•   I swapped out Numerous as the Stars for Answer to Prayer as there is already enough speed in my deck from my heroes and Numerous hasn’t been needed. AP is also more flexible and is cbn on genesis heroes.

•   I swapped out Amalekites’ slave for Wizard so I can recur my battle winners

•   I swapped Faith of Isaac out for Faith of Noah

•   I swapped out the Forsaken ls for the Punisher ls

•   I swapped out Faith of Samuel, as I now only have 2 heroes who can use it, and then I swapped Reuben’s Torn Clothes back in

What do you guys think?

One quick note, the Hopper does not count as a Lost Soul for deck building so for a 57 card deck you actually need to add another Lost Soul (or cut a card to make your deck 56, which is probably a better option).

I nearly wrote in a disclaimer about that, I am well aware I need to add another lost soul, but I don't intend on keeping it the way it is. The maximum amount of cards I want is 56, and I have been playing it as such. I've just been tweeking it a bit and thought other people's opinions would help me improve my deck building. So I put in the evil enhancements I was thinking would best suit (as the evil enhancement selection is what I am most unsure of), which bumped it up to 57 cards. Thanks for pointing it out though, I appreciate it.

Personally I would cut Balaam's Disobedience and Words of Discouragement and add Forgotten History.

I do like that idea, because I love the remove from the game ability. Also, if I play it right, it can cause a stalemate and is CBN, so a good option for blocking a rescue successfully. I was kinda hoping to keep balaam's disobedience, but I do see the value of cutting it as only 3 out of 9 of my ECs can use it. Thanks

DoU is in there already. 

I agree with pretty much point from jmhartz especially about Abraham's Descendant and Joseph Before Pharaoh.

I don't know what I would cut, but if you could add a Mimicking Miracles and a Golgotha that opens up a lot of recursion potential with both Abraham's and DoU being able to return/shuffle the enhancement on Golgotha, and Mimicking Miracles being able to copy any EE in your discard pile. It also allows you to reset the 2/3 Liner multiple times.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help you're giving me. I've dropped the set aside lost soul for the three liner, and done pretty much everything else so far. I was thinking of using mimicking miracles at one stage, but I don't remember why I cut it. I'm saving these suggestions on Word for recall and also in a separate save file on lackey to the original deck, so I can do some more fiddling around. If there is anything else, my ears are still wide open

One other thing I just noticed...  You have Obedience of Noah, Rain Becomes Dust, and Damsel all in the same deck.  Since all 3 of these cards are in your deck for their stand-alone synergy (as opposed to being thrown in to complete a combo), I'd be seriously considering adding a multi-color GE like the new Sword of the Spirit. 

A combo like this won't be pulled off very often, but when it hits, you probably win the game.

Ok, I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Could you please explain why it would be good to add a multi GE in more layman's terms, like what interactions between these cards would benefit me? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just don't know and would like to know. Thanks

The combo goes as follows:

You have RBD active and a multi colored good enhancement in your hand. You attack and play Obedience of Noah and have them block with Damsel. The opponent looks at your hand and is forced to draw as many cards as you have good brigades in your hand. Since you have a multi colored good enhancement in your hand, the opponent has to draw 9 cards, but since RBD is active, instead they have to discard the top 9 cards of deck. In T1, this is nearly 1/5 of a deck, which is a huge setback.

Wow that is really impressive. I didn't know I could choose for my opponent to block with my own EC off of Obedience. I like it!

Which card should I kick to make it fit, though?

Sword of the Spirit is a very good option. I think an argument could also be made for the starter deck Shoes of Peace because Genesis has the hand control aspect.

Sword of the Spirit is a very good option. I think an argument could also be made for the starter deck Shoes of Peace because Genesis has the hand control aspect.

Love is also rarely a bad choice.

I'd also like to add Reverence and Awe to that list. It can grab one of your Fortresses. I also hear discard pile removal can be good if timed correctly.

Quote from: The Guardian on June 13, 2016, 11:58:28 AM

Sword of the Spirit is a very good option. I think an argument could also be made for the starter deck Shoes of Peace because Genesis has the hand control aspect.

Quote from: kram1138 on June 13, 2016, 12:06:34 PM

Love is also rarely a bad choice.

I'd also like to add Reverence and Awe to that list. It can grab one of your Fortresses. I also hear discard pile removal can be good if timed correctly.

I like all of those ideas, I'll think about which one I want to use. Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the help you're giving me

One other possible idea for the defense...  If you are going to have the "Crazy Chick" combo (the Damsel/RBD combo) in your deck, Mist is a strong EE to consider.  It could replace Disturbing Samuel's Spirit, which probably won't be the most reliable battle-winner (it's preventable, interruptable, and is stopped by Hezekiah's Signet Ring).  Mist not only hits a card in your opponent's hand, but it is Territory-Class and can recur your best EC or EE, including Damsel or RBD if needed for the combo.

Quote from: Gabe on June 13, 2016, 12:08:10 PM

I'd also like to add Reverence and Awe to that list. It can grab one of your Fortresses. I also hear discard pile removal can be good if timed correctly.

I had just chosen to add reverence and awe right before looking at this thread again, as RBD discards the cards opponent draws, and if I start a rescue with Benjamin (for initiative and CBN genesis enhancements to play obedience on), then choose damsel to block and discard the cards they draw, I will still have initiative to play reverence and awe, and remove any enhancements, dominants, neutral non-soul cards or evil characters in their draw pile from the game, and limit their choices even more (in case they could recur a card discarded by RBD). So, it looks like this is a thing that is happening.

Such as right before you play Mist   

I have traded out Disturbing SS for Mist (PC) as well.

Considering how the deck was at the beginning, I think it is heaps better and am really impressed with it so far. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, it really has been invaluable to me and I have learnt a few things too. If there is anything else you think could help, feel free to say so, but I am very pleased with it at this stage. I'll post a list of the deck at this point.

That is a very solid deck.  The only thing I would change is replace Misuse of Talents with Two Thousand Horses.  With all those other great EEs, you'll wish you had 2KH way more often.  It also draws cards and can be reused with King Manasseh, and it can get through hero protection due to interrupting the battle.  I am loving the "horses" EEs on defense these days.

That's also a pretty good idea. I like that it lets me play the next enhancement, so if i draw one of my other battle winners, i can play it if i need to.