Cactus Game Design Message Boards

So even though I might be a mod on the Type 1 Deck Advice it's been around 4 years since I've last played

So this was a pretty simple deck I took to Boston nats. Red beatdown with a wacky Palegreen Magician/Disease defense. I would use All Hope is Lost, Confusion and Foolish Five Virgins to destroy Garden Tomb Decks back in the day.

Note some of the weird card choices were due to personal preference back in the day with my playgroup and what I was teching against at Nats that year. Also pardon me if my math is off on the deck... I was doing this from memory.


I'm looking for help in updating one of my all time favorite decks to modern standards! I'd like to keep the spirit of the deck intact! Looking to update it with a reserve also! I have no clue where to start with that


Thanks guys!


56 Cards

7 Souls
Lost Soul Ezekiel 31:14 (Shuffler) (Ki)
Lost Soul Ezekiel 34:6 (Exchanger)
Lost Soul Romans 3:23 (Revealer)
Lost Soul Matthew 19:26 (First Round Protect)
Lost Soul Jeremiah 11:8 (CBP)
Lost Soul Jeremiah 17:9 (Punisher)
Lost Soul Proverbs 22:10 (Anti Ignore)

6 Doms
Angel of the Lord (B)
Son of God (B)
Falling Away
New Jerusalem (Wa)
Christian Martyr (AU)
Desctruction of N. (PA)

6 Arts/Curses
I am Redemption
Unknown Nation
Asherah Pole
Chariot of Fire (Wa)
Magic Charms
Confusion of Mind

12 ECs
The Amalekites' Slave
x3 Wizards (Yes I used 3 haha the numbers were pretty amazing back then)
Prince of this World (Wa)
Panic Demon (Pale Green)
Witch of Endor (Wa)
Messenger of Satan
Hophni, son of Eli
Phinehas, son of Eli
Damsel with Spirit of Divination (TxP)
Enchanter (TxP)

10 EEs
Rage (Promo)
Achan's Sin (Pa)
Death of Unrighteous
Darkness (Wa)
Forgotten History
Foolishness of Five Virgins
Confusion
Disuading Speech
All Hope Lost
Two Thousand Horses
Lurking

8 Heroes
Captain of the Host (Ki)
Israelite Archer
Jephthah (Pa)
Asahel (TxP)
Men of Judah
Army of Simeonites
Caleb (FooF)
The Centurion at Capernaum

7 Goods Enhancements
United Army
Battle Cry
Freedom!
A Soldier's Prayer
The Might of Faith
The Battle is the Lord's
David's Mighty Men

Awesome!

Any recomendations on what dominats to use?

I was thinking prolly...

Son of God
Angel of the Lord
Second Coming
Three Woes
Shipwrecked
Destruction
Grapes of Wrath

Some defense upgrades:

Witch of Endor --> Medium in Endor
Wizards --> The Judean Mediums, Sorcerers, Astrologers
Darkness --> Scattered
Achan's Sin --> Balaam's Teaching

I know it's not generally considered a staple or even necessarily a good card, but if you're running a pale green defense Women as Snares is pretty great. Nobody expects it, and since fewer people run defense forts these days it has a pretty decent chance of capturing the better part of a defense. On top of that, it's especially good against demons, since the opponent can't rescue them.
I ran it in my reserve at Nats, and the three games I won in T12P were the three games I pulled it out.

As far as the dominants go, I'd second the recommendation of swapping DoN and Shipwrecked for CM and FA. In most cases 3W can be artifact control if you need it; I'd suggest adding Treasures of War as well.

I'd also suggest swapping Chariots of Fire for Eternal Covenant. It's both faster and slower - you don't get everything out of your discard, if you're worried discard will be banished, but they come back directly instead of clogging your deck.

For the reserve the theory is that you put cards that you want, but not in your opening hand. Red and PG don't have a ton of reserve access yet, so I'd recommend a Deciever and moving a couple of the more situational ECs to reserve (if you end up taking the WaS suggestion above, it's a good candidate for this). You can also run a few chump blocks - if they're not in your main deck, Uzzah and Foreign Wives are great Deciever targets.
In addition, you may want to run War - it can pull 2kH from deck or reserve, and you could put an Every Man's Sword into reserve as well.
You'll want a Covenant with Gabe of Prayer to pull whatever you need when you need it, but probably also a Gain and Imitate soul if you don't have much reserve access - shuffling cards is slow, but if you don't have much access it's a lifesaver.

Speaking of souls, in my experience the standards are imitate, humble, dull, lawless, darkness, crowds, punisher, and gain. There's an argument to be made that gain is bad, but that's much more true of decks with lots of reserve access (i.e. themes that were supported in RoJ like martyrs, angels, and demons). It will become more true as new sets give other themes better access, but for now I think it's worth it in a deck like this, especially if you don't use it every single chance you get.

Quote from: Bobbert on August 18, 2017, 03:10:42 AM

.



For the reserve the theory is that you put cards that you want, but not in your opening hand. Red and PG don't have a ton of reserve access yet, so I'd recommend a Deciever and moving a couple of the more situational ECs to reserve (if you end up taking the WaS suggestion above, it's a good candidate for this). You can also run a few chump blocks - if they're not in your main deck, Uzzah and Foreign Wives are great Deciever targets.
In addition, you may want to run War - it can pull 2kH from deck or reserve, and you could put an Every Man's Sword into reserve as well.
You'll want a Covenant with Gabe of Prayer to pull whatever you need when you need it, but probably also a Gain and Imitate soul if you don't have much reserve access - shuffling cards is slow, but if you don't have much access it's a lifesaver.

I typically think of my reserve as an extension of my deck. Now, I don't play much PG and Red (Ironic right?), but in using a reserve accessing theme IN T1, I think of the reserve as an extension of my deck. I will say, that War is an excellent idea to implement a reserve with PG. Every Man's Sword in Reserve would certainly be a must.

I also recommend War. It could get out Foreign Sword so you can use it as evil or good.

Looks pretty decent. Deciever does specify human, so he can't pull the Red Dragon from reserve - just making sure you're aware of that.
I know the recommended list said to use Kings Cap, and if there's a reason for it feel free to tell me, but it seems to me that the Warriors version is better since kings doesn't negate weapon class.
With four multicolor magicians, Invoking Terror is likely worth consideration. Great for getting rid of pesky Moseses (and most other heroes).
If King Jehoiakin is in there simply for initiative, I'd probably swap him with Assyrian Survivor. To my mind the extra 1/1 is well worth cbi protection from discard.
Most of your evil enhancements are OT - I get that you're trying to stall out, but I'm not sure you'll always have targets for Pride of Simon. If you really want to keep it, I'd recommend shifting it to reserve and shuffling it with gain - it's one of those cards you don't want in your opening hand.

...I should make the disclaimer that I'm not actually a great deckbuilder. Take all this with a grain of salt. 

Kings Captain is probably because he can hold Sword of the Spirit (or not negate it if it's on Joshua) in case if he gets it out of Reserve. I guess it would also not negate Foreign Sword if he were banded into battle via Battle Cry or Not Alone + Joshua. Not sure it makes it better than the Warriors one, but I think I'd for sure go with Kings if Sword of the Spirit was in the main deck. At this point I guess it depends on how popular evil weapons are in your playgroup.