Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Cards in deck: 56
Lost Souls: 7
   Lost Soul (shuffler)
   Lost Soul (site doubler)
   Lost Soul (site guard)
   Lost Soul (site remove)
   Lost Soul (Speed Bump)
   Lost Soul (Wanderer)
   Lost Souls (2-line)

Lamb Dominants: 3
   Grapes of Wrath
   New Jerusalem
   Son of God

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

Fortresses: 4
   Philistine Outpost
   Temple of Dagon
   The Garden Tomb
   The Gates of Hell

Multi-Color Sites: 2
   Dragon Raid
   The Ends of the Earth

Blue Sites: 1
   Hormah

Artifacts: 2
   Darius' Decree
   Magic Charms

White Covenant Cards: 2
   Captured Ark (Crimson)
   Unknown Nation (Yellow)

White Heroes: 6
   Jairus' Daughter
   Lydia
   Maharai
   Mary
   Mary the Mother of James
   Salome

Green Heroes: 1
   Joanna

Blue Heroes: 2
   Claudia
   Mary Magdalene

Purple Heroes: 2
   Ethiopian Treasurer
   Lois

White Hero Enhancements: 3
   Blessings
   Consider the Lilies
   'He Is Risen'

Black Evil Characters: 9
   Abaddon the Destroyer
   Damsel with Spirit of Divination
   Goliath
   Lot's Wife
   Morg
   Philistine Armor Bearer
   Philistine Garrison
   Simon the Magician
   The Twelve-Fingered Giant

Black Evil Enhancements: 7
   Bringing Fear
   Denying Blame
   Devourer
   Foolish Advice
   Joseph in Prison
   Philistine Chariot and Horses
   Wrath of Satan

Offense
Get as many ladies in play as you have EC's. Rescue with Maharai, Claudia, ET, play 'He Is Risen' to set aside your guys. Assuming you'll have one in your hand I'll play Grapes of Wrath. Next turn I use Garden Tomb Band for free souls. Repeat, Repeat, Sog/NJ. Blessings + Garden Tomb Ladies Band is a nice bonus. If I do an early game use of 'He Is Risen' I can get it back with Consider the Lilies later if I need it.

Defense
I have The Gates of Hell to add Morg or Abbadon the Destroyer to battle if you kill my first defender. I have Magic Charms on Simon or Damsel, just in case. I have a guy face down on The Ends of the Earth (via Site Guard Lost Soul) to add if you kill my first guy. I have Unknown Nation to bring in an EC as well. If you do play enhancements that can be negated, I'll gladly negate them. Hopefully Darius' Decree stops you from doing too much pre-block damage. Philistine Outpost allows me to fish another guy out of my deck in case you try to ignore me with Garden Tomb.

What do you think? I haven't played it yet but I have a feeling it will be inconsistent because it relies on so many combos. I think the offense could easily be torn apart if I'm not smart about how its played.

Haha, I didn't necessarily want to but I wasn't sure what other small offense could be effective. There's so much stuff to deal with now, working around fortress protection, setting up the offense, rescuing special ability ls, etc.

1 - No AotL?!
2 - What happens if the 1 EC they keep in their hand when they block your ET+Lillies card is FBN (ie. KoT)?
3 - What happens if they keep 2 ECs in their hand?
4 - What happens if they use Z-temple and MC doesn't work?
5 - What happens if they use HG on Philly Armor Bearer and Philly Garrison to make the Outpost worthless?
6 - What is they are using Black defense too?
7 - I wouldn't count on DD stopping much, there are too many ways to stop it (DoN, CAx2, LuG)

I actually think this defense would be fun to play with.  But I am suspicious that this deck wouldn't be able to beat top decks often enough.  Of course in the hands of someone like Ben Arp, it might

1 - No AotL?!
2 - What happens if the 1 EC they keep in their hand when they block your ET+Lillies card is FBN (ie. KoT)?
3 - What happens if they keep 2 ECs in their hand?
4 - What happens if they use Z-temple and MC doesn't work?
5 - What happens if they use HG on Philly Armor Bearer and Philly Garrison to make the Outpost worthless?
6 - What is they are using Black defense too?
7 - I wouldn't count on DD stopping much, there are too many ways to stop it (DoN, CAx2, LuG)

I actually think this defense would be fun to play with.  But I am suspicious that this deck wouldn't be able to beat top decks often enough.  Of course in the hands of someone like Ben Arp, it might

1. I thought about using AOTL, but outside of battle its trumped like any other discard. In battle it works well, assuming my opponent doesn't use somebody with a smart character ability (Uzzah, Enchanter, Banding, etc).
2. Lilies can be played outside of battle to retrieve a negate 'He Is Risen.'
3. 2 EC's in hand could be trouble. However, since I'll be waiting for a while to rescue I'm counting on a "hand-clog" where they really need to put down all their ECs but keep one just in case.
4. Z-Temple could be a problem, as could Blue Tassels or Obadiah's Caves. However, Magic Charms is just one of multiple back-up block strategies that I have.
5. That is a valid concern, I thought about adding Altar of Dagon but it ultimately got cut so I could keep the deck at 56 cards. It may be switched back in depending on performance.
6. Black doesn't protect in any way against 'He Is Risen.' Therefore, I should be able to set aside all of their ECs in play. If they keep on in their hand, I can use Grapes. However, it really would require me to wait until the end of the game to rescue so that I knew for sure all their ECs would be in their hand or in play.
7. DD is in there to stop mass set-asides as much as it is to prevent ET or Hidden Treasures. If I can kill 3-4 guys when they get set aside for Pentecost then I've significantly set my opponent back.

Overall, I think the offense is too flimsy to work well. Maybe the first time people face this deck it would do alright, they wouldn't really be ready for it but if you knew what I was trying to do it would be pretty easy to set yourself up to beat it.

ProfessorAlstad, the only reason I wanted to use Morg was because he's never been in any of my decks. I haven't seen him in any deck, actually. Your concern about his being warrior class is a good one though. Strong Demon may be a good replacement. However, it would be pretty cool to say I won a battle with Morg.


There are two main things I was considering changing about this deck. #1 would be to supplement the defense a little more (Household Idols, Golden Calf, etc) and take the deck up to 63 cards. #2 would be to change the offense. However, the only late-game combo offenses that I know of take quite a bit of work to get going. I also don't think I could make this offense much more effective without making it larger.