HOLDER'S HEROES

Basic Principles: Take a large Hero and choose your own low-numbered Evil Character to block. Since your opponent doesn’t use the same brigade as this character, they lose the battle.

6 years ago, somebody would’ve slapped you if you said sacrificing your own Evil Characters in rescues could win you the game. Now, choosing the blocker is a very viable strategy. It needs as many cards as any other offensive strategy, is much more effective than others but does take longer.

Follow up:

There are currently four cards in the game of Redemption that directly choose the blocker. These cards are King Amaziah, Provisions, and Lamenting for Jepthah’s
Daughters, and Obedience of Noah.

The basic principle of “Choose the Blocker” is to have a character with large numbers choose a small character (preferably 1/1) block. The reason this strategy works is because you get a character of a brigade your opponent doesn’t use and they can’t play any Enhancements.

There are some ways to beat “Choose the Blocker” if it’s being used by somebody who doesn’t normally play it, but most of these ways can be overcome if you are prepared. Enemy number one is Lurking. Lurking is a multi-color Enhancement from the Angel Wars expansion that reads, “Interrupt the battle and band one of your Evil Characters into battle from hand, territory, “The Darkness”, or from face down on a Site.” The reason I chose this as the most deadly card for choose the blocker is that it works in all circumstances (except FBTN, but we’ll get to that later).

So, your King Amaziah just chose King Elah to block your rescue. You obviously think you’re going to win the battle, but then your opponent uses Lurking and bands in his own Esau, The Hunter. It’s still your opponent’s initiative, and he quickly plays Stocks and captures Amaziah. Not only did you lose the battle, but you wasted one of the four precious “guaranteed” rescues you had.

Enemy number two is The Darkness. This can shut a “Choose the Blocker” deck down as long as your opponent constantly has characters in his/her hand. The Darkness might be even better than Lurking because it can be used more than once and you have no idea what’s coming. (It's also better because by the time your opponent finishes reading the card text, you've snuck one of his Lost Souls into your pile. -Schaef) The only reason I don’t think The Darkness is as good as Lurking is because this takes up a valuable spot in your deck, and doesn’t help at all if your opponent isn’t using “Choose the Blocker".

Enemy number three is Love of Money. This card is like Coat of Many Colors for Evil Characters. If you choose the Evil Character that your opponent blocks with, and they play this card, then they can use any/all Enhancements that they use in their defense.

Your last enemies are well-played Dominants. Christian Martyr stops any “Choose the Blocker (CTB)” attack in its tracks if there isn’t any banding involved. Burial can also be harmful if the Lost Souls card is out, or if a single Lost Soul is out.

So now you’re thinking, “these cards are fairly common, how do I stop them?” The answer is all in strategy. Lurking can be stopped if you’re in a FBTN battle, or if you play a card like Blessings on Lydia (after being set aside w/ Lamenting). The Darkness can be shuffled with Burst of Light or can be discarded by Confusion (if it’s still in their deck). Both of these Angel War additions to stop FBTN can be stopped by a simple Wool Fleece.

Artifact management is very important. Hur and Gifts of the Magi can be deadly to an opponent so they are likely to play DON on Gifts. This helps you out because you lose one character and have banding-free rescues forever. The Anti-burial Lost Soul in the Angel Wars’ expansion is the only card that stops Burial. This is one Lost Soul that you should give to your opponent. Christian Martyr is another card that hinders CtB decks if played correctly. For this reason you should try to have at least one character banding to your character that’s choosing the blocker this turn.

Now that you know how to get around these obstacles, feel free to make a CtB deck. CtB is a great strategy if used right, but you have to make sure you have enough sacrificial EC’s in your deck. Don’t try to use CtB with a single-color defense without some other-color characters. Good sacrificial EC’s include King Pekahiah (1/1 gray), King Elah (1/1 Gold), King Shallum (1/1 Crimson) and King Jeroboam (if your using brown and King Nadab). These work well because King Amaziah can choose and kill any of them. The 1/1’s are the easiest characters to kill in the game. Make sure you have some other cards to compliment your CtB offense in your deck. Some good ones are Ethiopian Treasurer and Authority of Christ promo. Other’s include FBTN and/or Banding cards. Make sure your defense is good and strong because 2 of the 4 CtB cards require a few turns to be set aside. Lamenting for Jepthah’s Daughters requires 4 turns and 2 females. Remember, if you get AoC and ET early in the game, don’t be afraid to use them unless you’re discarding more of your own EC’s than theirs. Also, if using AoC, be sure not to kill off your sacrificial EC’s.

The release of the G/H starters hurt CTB a bit, but it is still a very good strategy. Be careful about the sacrificial characters you use because many of the evil brigades are used in the meta-game today.