Cactus Game Design Message Boards

I use 42/42/21 quite often (or 44/44/24 if I make the deck 112). Obviously it also depends on your deck's strategy as you may want to utilize several copies of certain artifacts or Sites to enhance your offense or defense.

I like Hero/GE ratio to be pretty close to 1:1 with maybe 1-2 more GE. If you utilize cards like Chariot of Fire or other Hero recursion cards then you can afford to have a few less Heroes. Same is true for EC/EE ratio (1:1) but maybe a few more EE (or Curses as those are multi-functional.)

Duplicates are tricky. Generally I don't use more than 2 copies of a unique character unless it's a Hero like Angel under the Oak, where if I end up having 2 at once, it's easy to get one back in my deck for later use.

Duplicate enhancements depends on deck strategy. Some strategies are better suited for having a wider variety of options for winning battles, and other strategies are stronger if they are more focused. For example, if I'm using 16 GE, sometimes I may have 4 copies of 4 different enhancements. Other strategies I might have 3 copies of 5 difference enhancements plus an extra Covenant.

One last piece of advice I like to give (be it for T1 or T2) is to try and use as many cards that are "multi-purposed" as you can. Covenants and Curses are the best example. Having characters like Uzzah allows you to not waste artifacts that you don't need in a particular game (for example you have Site access artifacts but your opponent is not using Sites). I am Holy can allow you to make use of enhancements you might otherwise need to discard due to hand clog.

Glad you are venturing into the world of T2, hit me up if you're interested in trying a game online. 

All of this is great advice, but I have two words for you that need to be considered with every T2 deck you make: Bronze Laver.

A great card to be sure, but one that should be used with caution. You don't always have to attack, but you always need to be ready to defend. Sending your defensive cards to the bottom of the deck can prove costly.*


*Especially if you live in Minnesota where Orange is banned. 

Thanks for all the advice. Question about those artifacts: If you're using Bronze Laver & Lampstand, would a Solomon's Temple fort be advisable too?

These are some general guidelines I use when deck building for T2-2P. Some of these are taken from the school of Tyler Stevens, a T2 player I respect a great deal.

100 cards total, include 2 hopper ls.

Ratios vary depending on the strategy. Something between 33/33/34 if you're neutral card heavy (like a Site deck) to 40/40/20 if you have very few neutral cards.

I've never regretted being character heavy. I have regretted being enhancement heavy. I can't think of many good reasons to ever go more enhancement heavy than 1:1. Character to enhancement ratios usually look like this for good/evil. Between 15/13 to 18/16.

I usually include some kind of Temple/Tabernacle and Lampstand, if not other Temple/Tabernacle Artifacts. As others already mentioned Bronze Laver is a great choice.

Stay away from duplicates of unique cards (except Artifacts). Every card in my deck needs to be useful almost all of the time. Duplicate uniques cause hand clog. The only reason to have more than 1 copy of a unique card is if that card is very important to your offense/defense strategy. For example, in the Zebulun offense I used to win Nationals 2010 I have 4 Zebulun out of a possible 5. In a normal Genesis offense I'd probably only include 1 copy. I dislike duplicate copies of Fortresses too, unless the Fortress is a must have and you'll lose if it's discarded. I disagree that Storehouse and Wall of Protection are staples. They have their place but actually don't belong in most decks.

Include as many Dominants as you can make room for. Prior to the release of the new starter decks I'd use AotL, Grapes, GoYS, NJ, SoG, Burial, CM, DoN, FA and Mayhem. Now I'd probably try to squeeze in VF too.

Usually you'll want to have 3-4 copies of all your best enhancements.

Have a very focused game plan, but also build in alternate routes to victory for both your offense and defense. There are counters to everything and you don't want to get shut down by one counter. Using the 2010 Zebulun deck again as an example, Zebulun was the main offensive plan, but a Captain band was the backup plan. On defense, stand alone blockers was the main plan and Site lock was a backup plan.

That's a lot of information and you've gotten a lot of good advice from others too. Take to the advice that fits your play style and will allow you to have the most fun.

do doms count as neutral cards?

What kind of cards are neutral?

Arts, LSs, sites, dual-alignment cards are essentially neutral.

thanks!