HOLDER'S HEROES

At first blush, the thought of playing with a defenseless deck may seem like gameplay suicide. Make no mistake, playing defenseless is risky; if you draw a bunch of Lost Souls right at the start you can be in trouble. However, it will keep your opponent guessing, at least for the first few rounds, as he waits for your defense to materialize…and it never does, at least, not in the sense that most people think of defense. The defenseless archetype, in my experience, is rarely used. In my opinion that’s unfortunate, as it’s one of my favorite deck types to play.

Follow up:

By way of explanation, the defenseless deck archetype (sometimes referred to as an “attack” deck) contains no Evil Characters and no evil Enhancements. Essentially, you’re attempting to win before you lose. A truly defenseless deck would also include no evil Dominants, but I’ve never tried playing such a deck. With no Evil Characters I believe it’s necessary to have at least the evil Dominants.

This article will introduce some of the basics of playing a defenseless deck. My opinions and preferences are reflected here, so as with any deck design, there’s always room to modify the design to suit your own preferences and playing style. With that in mind, here we go:

Deck size: You want a deck that’s as fast as possible when it’s defenseless, so I recommend playing 50 cards. I once played a 50-card defenseless deck in a tournament against another defenseless deck—one that was 63 cards—and won simply because I had the smaller (and therefore, faster) deck. I was able to get to my Dominants and crucial Artifacts more quickly, which made all the difference.

Offense: A defenseless deck must have a quick-hitting, strong offense. You have to be able to get rescues as quickly as possible, and every rescue attempt has to count. Since no space in the deck has to be devoted to Evil Characters/Enhancements, you can pack quite a bit of offense in a 50-card deck. You’ll want to include some searching/drawing cards if possible, and perhaps one or two healing cards, too. I like to use a silver/purple offense in this type of deck, but there again, that’s just my personal preference. Many other offensive combinations will also work.

Dominants: I recommend using all 4 of the evil Dominants, and the “usual suspects” from among the good Dominants—which is to say all of them, except for Glory of the Lord. It’s imperative with this deck type that you use your Dominants defensively, such as using Christian Martyr to stop a single-Hero rescue attempt (as opposed to Martyring a Hero in territory), and using Son of God/New Jerusalem to rescue your own Lost Souls (especially the Shuffler) in order to prevent your opponent from making successful rescues.

Lost Souls: You’ll want to use Lost Souls that will limit or stall your opponent when possible. I recommend the 2-liner, Shuffler, NT Only, Female Only, */4, Revealer, First Round Protector, Anti-burial, and also a Hopper.

Artifacts: You can use Artifacts defensively, just like Dominants. Burial Shroud and Unholy Writ are great for a defenseless deck. You might also consider Thirty Pieces of Silver, so that when your opponent does rescue he’ll have to discard the Hero afterwards, which may help to slow down his offense. Crown of Thorns can be useful for taking out low-toughness Evil Characters in territory—like those pesky 1/1 kings—as well as reducing the possibility of stalemates when you rescue. If you go with a banding offense, you’ll want a Wool Fleece. Three Nails can be handy for keeping those Kings of Tyrus, Red Dragons, and Princes of this World from blocking. Ark of the Covenant (I prefer the Warriors’ version) and Holy Grail can be helpful, too. You’ll probably want a Chariot of Fire as well, depending on what (if any) healing cards you’re using.

Fortresses: I typically don’t use Fortresses in a defenseless deck, with the possible exception of Chamber of Angels (or perhaps The Name of the Lord). You could also use Jerusalem Tower.

Sites: I always include at least a couple of access Sites. All-access Heroes are helpful, too.

Many people just don’t like the thought of playing with a defenseless deck. Personally, I think that playing defenseless adds an element of excitement to the game. Why don’t you give it a try?