Cactus Game Design Message Boards

It's not secret that a Ruth offense is really good. Its strength comes in the form of how fast it can set up. And musicians are powerful, but currently lack the depth of most top themes in rotation. Lets see what happens when you combine them both!

Currently at 51 cards (need to cut 1)

DOMS 7
Son of God
The Second Coming
Angel of the Lord
Chronicles of the King
Three Woes
Christian Martyr
Shipwreck

LOST SOULS 7
"Distressed"
"Covet"
"Prosperity"
"Orphans"
"Humble"
"Darkness"
"Wanderer"

SUPPORT 7
Storehouse
Threshing Floor
Land of Moab
Covenant with David
Boaz' Sandal
David's Harp
Denarius

HEROES 10
Amminadab
Boaz (LoC)
Ruth (LoC)
Kinsman Redeemer
Jesse
Obed
David, Heart After God
Music Leader
Hannah
The Twenty-Four Elders

GES 6
Your God Will Be My God
Boaz' Offspring
The Lord Goes Before You
Royal Parade
Hate Wickedness
Love Righteousness

EVIL CHARACTERS 9
The Terrifying Beast
The Lying Prophet
Profane Daughters
Emperor Claudius
Emperor Nero
King Rezin
Captain of the Chariots
Syrian Mercenaries
Sabbath Breaker

EES 5
Lurking
Scattered Sheep
Scattered
False Prophecy
Balaam's Disobedience

RESERVE 10
Marriage Covenant
You Will Remain
Faith Unbowed
"Today"
Oropah Departs
Unsuccessful
Foreign Wives
Coliseum Lions
Gold Shield
Damascus

The hybrid of Ruth and Musicians sacrifices a little bit of the speed a Ruth offense has to offer to increase the overall power of the offense. Being able to use new tools like David's Harp and Denarius in combination with Covenant with David, Love Righteousness and Moab all keep the deck extremely consistent. Hannah makes up for the speed loss of Elimelech and makes for an excellent Hero to use The Lord Goes Before You (extremely underrated).

While the deck is entirely pre-GoC, it's ready for a GoC phase 1 meta with cards like "Orphans" Lost Soul (vs Pharisee/Sadducee defenses) and Emperor Claudius (I hear people are going to play N.T. Heroes).

The defense takes advantage or gray's speed and chump blocks while using a strong Roman package and the best that Syrians have to offer.

I strongly considered including a Justin Martyr package in this too, but it felt like that would have weakened the overall themes by spreading them too thin.

You can view the deck in picture form on Discord.

While the deck is pretty solid there is still room for improvement. Comments and feedback are always welcome!

This is a really tough choice on what to cut to get to 50.  I was thinking Kinsman Redeemer maybe or 1 of the cards from reserve to push a main deck card in there.  But staying at 51 may just be fine because the deck is able to get what it needs with relative ease.

Quote from: dermo4christ on February 08, 2022, 01:19:12 PM

I'm  wondering if Oath of Purity should be in reserve for a consistent bounce of David. Maybe BoTC to get to YWR and Oath faster? Of course you do have Storehouse which could get them I suppose. Maybe Preparing to Return as well. I'm also thinking this is a classic deck since it has David's Harp?

David's Harp is the new winner promo and can get YWR. Temple Dedication -> Book of the Law is also a nice bounce play and fits the musician theme.

Ah, yes I forgot about those. And yes I forgot David's Harp is a new promo.

Thank you for the advice, questions and feedback!

Quote from: Sean on February 08, 2022, 01:35:34 PM

This is a really tough choice on what to cut to get to 50.  I was thinking Kinsman Redeemer maybe or 1 of the cards from reserve to push a main deck card in there.  But staying at 51 may just be fine because the deck is able to get what it needs with relative ease.

With cards like David's Harp (P), Love Righteousness and Boaz' Offspring that it might be OK to go down to 9 Heroes. Kinsman Redeemer is definitely the weakest Hero in the line up. Josh P pointed that out on Discord too.

Quote from: Red Wing on February 08, 2022, 01:37:35 PM

Temple Dedication -> Book of the Law is also a nice bounce play and fits the musician theme.

That's a really solid play! Temple Dedication didn't make the cut because I don't have a lot of musicians, but there are definitely enough to take advantage of it. Seeing the value with BotL makes it even more tempting.

Quote from: dermo4christ on February 08, 2022, 01:19:12 PM

I'm  wondering if Oath of Purity should be in reserve for a consistent bounce of David. Maybe BoTC to get to YWR and Oath faster? Of course you do have Storehouse which could get them I suppose. Maybe Preparing to Return as well.  I might cut S. Mercs for Naaman. But that's just me.

I strongly considered BotC but it didn't feel necessary since there are other cards that perform that same function which work on turn 1. My plan for the offense it to use David ASAP and leave him as meek to power Obed and Jesse, so I don't really want to bounce him. Subsequent rescues will usually involve other Heroes. But I can definitely see someone using a game plan that wants to use David over and over, in which case having more reliable ways to bounce him would be necessary.

Interesting....I didn't think about the possibility of leaving David meek to keep Obed and Jesse triggered. I think that's a smart play. I've gotten so used to continually bouncing him in my Ruth deck and didn't really think about the benefit of continually keeping Obed and Jesse triggered.