Redemption Community Deck/T2 Infini-block combos

[Mr.Hiatus]

I thought this was a cool idea, I think something similar has been done in the past. After Nationals I always think or try new decks out, either ones that beat me, caught me off guard, or I thought was interesting, I would re build. I think if the Redemption community came together and gave ideas and inputs on a deck from scratch that it could be fun. Other players could read this thread and even if they do not play type 2, they could give input and learn. You can post here for ideas and people can all give inputs and start ill start building the deck and updating it as we go alone. Anything you think would be a good combo, some sort of lockout, or non stop offense, give some input and we can see how this works. I mostly want this started because I needed input on a deck I am working on.
I started a brown defense that strived off of side battles. It is supposed to be a recurrable combo that wipes out their characters. Uses lots of fortresses, gates of Samaria, threatened lives, Amon recursion etc. it is really good but I was looking at more side battle cards and heroes to use for them and ran across the Ezekiel cards. A deck consisting of Ezekiel, Forest Fire, Drawn Sword, Sword of The Lord, Search and crimson King Rehobaum with Babylonians seems like a very strong deck. Head of Gold to capture both offense and defense humans, and the Ezekiel cards to kill the rest.
So pretty much I was looking for input on a side battle Ezekiel deck and wanted to ask what would be detrimental to an opponent in a side battle, on both offense and defense, and be recurable? Anything you think can stop this, then please share.

[TheJaylor]

I think Pot of Manna is your main fear. That with Lampstand and Nazzy would shut you down.

Joking aside, if you're using Babylonians, I think it would be fun to incorporate Arrogance so you can play it during a side battle to destroy their territory, and/or draw cards to play. It can make for an interesting combo with Mask of Worldliness and any evil enhancement but at that point I think you'd be at too many cards so perhaps just the Babylonian destruction will do with Axe, Desecrate the Temple, Head of Gold and the Ezekiel stuff. Just a thought that I've always wanted to try but haven't really gotten the motivation to do.

Also, remember that Ezekiel can't play side battle stuff off of Hidden Treasures so Jeremiah + Cup of Wrath could be a good add.

[Josh]

I have wanted to make a Placer Priests deck with Ezekiel, Babylonians, and Crimson King Rehoboam ever since the new cards came out.  That seems to align close with what you want to put together. 

Combos in deck:
1. Solomon's Temple + Glory of the Lord + Book of the Law
Solomon's Temple protects your placer priests and kings of Judah, including Rehoboam.  Glory makes ST CBN and protected from evil discard.  Book of the Law protects your good enhancements from removal (much more valuable, now that Sing and Praise/Ashtaroth Worship are here) and is CBN/protected thanks to Glory.  BotL also makes Agur and Jehoram able to "place".

2. Infiniblock - Gates of Jerusalem/Rehoboam/Placer Priest/Drawn Sword
They attack (probably best if you have HHI active), you block with King Rehoboam.  He is CBN thanks to GoJ.  Cause side-battle, make your placer character enter battle first.  Place Drawn Sword from discard pile on a Green hero.  Make the Green hero enter battle next; DS activates, allowing you to discard the attacking hero in the main battle.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.

I figured that the combo could fit nicely into a deck that was primarily Babylonians and Kings of Judah/Solomon's Temple Priests.  If you get the combo off, well, awesome.  If you don't, you still have a competitive deck to work with.

[Captain Kirk]

jmhartz and I brainstormed various ideas on how to use the deck he described. I made the deck and it is very potent. It's downfall is FBN characters (as they stop Agur/Jehoram from activating). So you also need HoH active to go along with BotL. That means no HHI so I use King Amon to recur Scattered each turn. Use the Rehoboam side battle + DS for lone heroes and Scattered recursion for bands. You have blocks all day long so your offense can be whatever you want. I also have a Gabriel/In the Clouds version too. Works great as well - My 09 version took 3rd.

Kirk

[TheHobbit13]

What is Rehoboam+DS?

[_JM_]

What is Rehoboam+DS?

DS = Drawn Sword.  At least, that's what I'm gleaning from jmhartz's post.

[Mr.Hiatus]

You do a side battle and recur drawn sword for a battle winner they can't really negate.

[TheJaylor]

Hold up a second is there something I missed here or do you have to control both heroes in the side battle. The way I see it, you have to control your place to use his ability and then you have to control the green hero to use Drawn Sword, and you have to give one hero to your opponent to control. Did I miss anything?

[The Guardian]

Placed cards are read from the perspective of the player who placed them, regardless of who controls the Hero they are on.

[Noah]

How do both heroes in the side battle survive? Based on the characters you seem to be using the SB would always end with the "Placer" being discarded.

[Josh]

How do both heroes in the side battle survive? Based on the characters you seem to be using the SB would always end with the "Placer" being discarded.

A hero would be discarded, yes, unless the battle ends as a stalemate. Depends on the size of the Green hero you place DS on and which placer hero you use (Jehoram is 2/3, Elishama is 6/6, and Agur is 8/9).  And if your opponent is using Green, you would probably want to be careful in your choice of Green hero. 

Random facts to keep in mind:  You don't want to place DS on Sam or Zeke, as they would stop it from activating.  Also, DS is protected from removal by Book of the Law (in case they try and Sing and Praise/Ashtaroth Worship it away...).

Random thought...  Since Isaiah is so popular in T2...  You could activate RBD and place DS on Isaiah, forcing them to discard Isaiah's draw of X.

[Gabe]

Using Nehemiah as the green Hero would most likely keep everyone in battle alive.

[Mr.Hiatus]

A more reliable, consistent way that my deck uses. They attack, I block with anyone, play Christian Suing Another, their hero fights mine and I play Visions of Iddo the Seer. Darius' Decree active helps, Micah to get back Visions.

[Josh]

A more reliable, consistent way that my deck uses. They attack, I block with anyone, play Christian Suing Another, their hero fights mine and I play Visions of Iddo the Seer. Darius' Decree active helps, Micah to get back Visions.

Quick question on VoItS:  it says "owner's hand", not "owners' hands"; does that make it a "take" ability and you take their hero into hand?

If that is the case (I know it won't be, but it's fun to hold on to the hope that it is), then I'd be making a deck with Unity in Christ, Unified Kingdom, and VoItS to steal all my opponent's heroes.

[Professoralstad]

A more reliable, consistent way that my deck uses. They attack, I block with anyone, play Christian Suing Another, their hero fights mine and I play Visions of Iddo the Seer. Darius' Decree active helps, Micah to get back Visions.

Quick question on VoItS:  it says "owner's hand", not "owners' hands"; does that make it a "take" ability and you take their hero into hand?

If that is the case (I know it won't be, but it's fun to hold on to the hope that it is), then I'd be making a deck with Unity in Christ, Unified Kingdom, and VoItS to steal all my opponent's heroes.

Unlike "opponents'" vs. "opponent's" vs. "opponents", "owner's", "owners'", and "owners" all mean effectively the same thing (though it is true that in this case owner's is gramatically incorrect). Thus, VoItS returns to hand all Heroes to the respective owners' hands.

[The Guardian]

You guys better be careful or you're gonna turn Pot of Manna into a T2 staple...

[Red Dragon Thorn]

ah, that would be sweet vindication

[Prof Underwood]

So this combo requires having Book of the Law (for the placing), and a Temple to put it in, and Holy of Holies (to stop FBN), and Rehoboam, and a Placer (3 options here), and Drawn Sword, and Nehemiah (to make sure no one dies), and an opponent that doesn't have anything nasty that they can play on Green?  And in case your opponent attacks banded you also have to have King Amon with King Manasseh and Scattered in your discard pile.  So all together that requires 2 artifacts, 1 fortress, 5 characters, and 2 enhancements.

This seems much harder to pull off than some of the other infiniblocks like:
1 - Holy of Holies + Wandering Spirit + Trembling Demon + Gates of Hell
2 - Holy of Holies + Gomer + Scribe + Gib Trick (brown) + Proud Pharisee

[Professoralstad]

So this combo requires having Book of the Law (for the placing), and a Temple to put it in, and Holy of Holies (to stop FBN), and Rehoboam, and a Placer (3 options here), and Drawn Sword, and Nehemiah (to make sure no one dies), and an opponent that doesn't have anything nasty that they can play on Green?  And in case your opponent attacks banded you also have to have King Amon with King Manasseh and Scattered in your discard pile.  So all together that requires 2 artifacts, 1 fortress, 5 characters, and 2 enhancements.

This seems much harder to pull off than some of the other infiniblocks like:
1 - Holy of Holies + Wandering Spirit + Trembling Demon + Gates of Hell
2 - Holy of Holies + Gomer + Scribe + Gib Trick (brown) + Proud Pharisee

The thing with the above combo vs. one of the other ones is there are far more counters to the others. Also, all of the cards in the original combo (except possibly Nehemiah) can integrate well into an already established deck (Solomon's Temple Priests/Kings of Judah).

The following are the counters for your suggested combo 1: Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah w/ Call, Abigail, Temple Priests, Thaddeus (with X>=3), Throne of David, any Hero with less than 7 strength, Covenant with Death, etc.

The following are the counters for your suggested combo 2: Daniel, Isaiah w/ Call, large banding chains, Thaddeus (with X>=3), Ezekiel, Hosea (or any other card that can get rid of Gomer while in territory such as Holy Grail, Meeting the Messiah, Jephthah, Angel of the Lord, etc.), Covenant with Death, etc.

The following are counters for the above combo, assuming everything is optimal (i.e. all the pieces are in place): Thaddeus (with X>=6), Golden Calf, Confusion of Mind, Covenant with Death, something that discards a green Hero (though there can easily be several green Heroes that fit well within a Solomon's Temple deck), A New Beginning, or an opponent's Drawn Sword (which are really the only "nasty" things I can think of that a player can use on a green Hero in a side battle), Pot of Manna.

There are far more well-used counters for the other two combos, which is why they don't see much success. This one would be tricky to pull off for awhile, but that's what many T2 decks (especially combo decks) are: getting the pieces in place for the deck to do what it is designed to do.

[Mr.Hiatus]

I like the more simpler one, Darius Decree, Christian Suing, Visions of Iddo. You can implement recur tactics, but you still have a great block against anything right there.

[Prof Underwood]

I like the more simpler one, Darius Decree, Christian Suing, Visions of Iddo. You can implement recur tactics, but you still have a great block against anything right there.

I like that too, but we're talking infiniblocks.  How you do get the recursion going (sure Micah puts it back in the deck, but how do you draw & play it)?  And to have Darius Decree and Holy of Holies both active you'd have to throw in a temple as well.

[TheJaylor]

Placed cards are read from the perspective of the player who placed them, regardless of who controls the Hero they are on.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

[Isildur]

I like the more simpler one, Darius Decree, Christian Suing, Visions of Iddo. You can implement recur tactics, but you still have a great block against anything right there.

Would you mind humoring me and explaining how that one works?

[Professoralstad]

I like the more simpler one, Darius Decree, Christian Suing, Visions of Iddo. You can implement recur tactics, but you still have a great block against anything right there.

Would you mind humoring me and explaining how that one works?

You block with crimson dude and play CSA. DD is active. you make the rescuing Hero fight your small, green Hero, and play Visions to return Heroes on both sides (it says all Heroes). Since DD is active and no EC is in the side battle, they can't interrupt it. A T2 deck can have 4 CSAs and 4 Imitating Evil to get them back. 

Personally I like Proud Pharisee+Idle Gossip to make them fight Gabriel, who can recur In the Clouds every battle. But side battles+DD in general is going to win you quite a few battles.

[TheHobbit13]

The best way is to use Rehoboam, who cares about CSA because Rehoboam pops regardless of initiatve, then select Joseph and play DS+Stillness (later jubilee to recur stillness). That's probably the best way to infinite unless I missed something.

The following are counters for the above combo, assuming everything is optimal (i.e. all the pieces are in place): Thaddeus (with X>=6), Golden Calf, Confusion of Mind, Covenant with Death, something that discards a green Hero (though there can easily be several green Heroes that fit well within a Solomon's Temple deck), A New Beginning, or an opponent's Drawn Sword (which are really the only "nasty" things I can think of that a player can use on a green Hero in a side battle), Pot of Manna.

You can add Oaked Gideon, Joseph, Simeon (pre SoG), Covenant with Phineas, and Darius' Decree to that list. If you are using the combo I listed above you can remove the artifact counters you listed. Another reason why Micah is probably not as good.