HOLDER'S HEROES

I understand the need for people to keep their deck lists secret before a big event. I believe that afterwards it's beneficial to everyone if the deck list and concepts behind it are shared. It helps players grow and understand the game better. This is the deck list I used to win 7 straight games at Nationals after starting out 1-2 with my other deck. Copy it. Use it. Learn from it. Beat it.

Follow up:

50 cards total

Dominants: 9

• Angel of the Lord
• Guardian of Your Souls
• Harvest Time
• New Jerusalem
• Son of God
• Burial
• Christian Martyr
• Destruction of Nehushtan
• Falling Away

(Check out the Holder's Heroes article, "Making the Most of your Dominants" if you don't know what to do with these)

Artifacts: 2

• Gifts of the Magi - Gives me a burst of "speed" with Hur or Feast of Trumpets.
• Unholy Writ - Stops one rescue

Covenants/Curses: 2

• Covenant with Moses - Name on name bonus with Moses. Also stops opposing Writs and Household Idols.
• Confusion of Mind - Slows down opposing offenses. Can be used on Prince of this World in a pinch.

Sites: 1

• Dragon Raid - I would normally use 2 access sites but this was my multi-player deck.

Lost Souls: 8

• Anti-Burial
• Female Only
• Hopper - Because I need more souls to rescue!
• N.T. Only
• Revealer
• Shuffler - Great synergy with the Lost Souls card. Give them half and shuffle.
• Wanderer - Exchange to get access or ensure you don't get half of the "Lost Souls".
• 3-Line - I'd normally use the 2-Line in 2 player but forgot to switch it out. It didn't matter.

Heroes: 12

• Jacob - Bands to Caption of the Host.
• Claudia - Bands to Simeon and Ethiopian Treasurer.
• Moses - For Transfiguration and Covenant of Moses.
• Simeon - Bands to Captain of the Host and Jacob.
• Hur - Usually only used with Gifts of the Magi.
• Elijah - For Transfiguration and he can't be killed with Christian Martyr in battle.
• Ethiopian Treasurer - Lets you play an enhancement when he enters battle.
• Captain of the Host - Big and by the numbers.
• Phinehas, son of Eleazar - Can't be captured comes in handy. Great numbers too.
• Joshua the High Priest - Enhancements cannot be negated. Sweet!
• Mahari - Bands to Jacob or Claudia.
• Lydia - Can't be captured comes in handy.

Good Enhancements: 10

• Feast of Trumpets - I like to draw cards...
• Pentecost - and more cards...
• Book of Hozai - and more cards...
• Abraham's Servant to Ur - Usually wins a battle if played when a couple characters are banded together.
• Reach of Desperation - I get to interrupt, draw 3 and play next? I'll take two please.
• Authority of Christ (promo) - It just wins.
• Jehoiada's Strength - On Josh it bands in Moses or Jacob + Captain or just use your opponent's Heroes.
• Zeal for the Lord - Amazing battle winner.
• Words of Encouragement - I get to interrupt, draw 3 and play next? I'll take two please.
• Transfiguration - White hero + Moses + Elijah is usually enough to win any battle.

Evil Characters: 5

• Red Dragon - Stops most humans
• King of Tyrus (gold) - He's big and he fights by the numbers
• Emperor Nero - Blocks Widow and he's immune to lone rescues
• Sabbath Breaker - and more cards...
• Prince of this World (pale green) - Big and immune to lone rescues

Evil Enhancements: 1

• Lying Unto God - Take out any annoying artifact or give my big guys more numbers when they need it.

To you veteran players, there's really not much new here. Many people would call this a "Speed" deck because it draws cards, but I don't consider it to be "Speed". Speed tries to draw it's whole deck in one turn. This deck tries to get battle winning combos on offense or a good banding chain to win Lost Souls. There are times when I can draw cards, or even use Hur + Gifts of the Magi and choose not to because I have what I need at the moment. I draw cards because I want to win Souls faster than my opponent.

There are a few cards here that might be new to this type of deck. Confusion of Mind slows down your opponents offense, hopefully long enough for you to get ahead in the Lost Soul count. Once you've got the lead, it's very hard for an opponent to catch you. It also negates abilities on your opponents Heroes that might otherwise hinder my defense.

Teal is extremely powerful. Phinehas, son of Eleazar is an amazing Hero. His numbers alone are enough to win sometimes. His special ability "cannot be captured" is enough to win sometimes. Then there's Zeal for the Lord, which cannot be negated when played with him. Amazing. Joshua the High Priest is my second choice for Teal because of how the enhancements work with him. Both of the Teal enhancements interrupt the battle and then probably win. I actually cut back on the amount of Teal I was using. I've tried out Abiathar, Seraiah, Trumpet Blast + Jordan Interrupted (if only it said draw 3) and Scapegoat. They're all really good, I just didn't have room in the deck.

Aren't twelve Heroes a few to many?
Not if you want to start making successful rescues as soon as there's a Lost Soul available. There isn't much that annoys me more than not having a Hero or two in my opening hand. There will be times when your opponent draws Lost Souls and doesn't have the defense to protect them in their opening hand. I've gotten many free Lost Souls because I had a Hero that could take advantage of that situation.

How does the offense work?
There are a lot of card combinations in the offense that are difficult to stop, so they usually win you a Lost Soul.
Phinehas, son of Eleazar + Zeal for the Lord
Joshua the High Priest + Jehoiada's Strength/Zeal for the Lord (band in some fight by the numbers characters because it can't be negated!)
Mahari + Claudia + Ethipian Treasurer + Abraham's Servant to Ur give you a 16/11 fight by the numbers except for banding attack
Elijah or Ethiopian Treasurer + Reach of Desperation + Authority of Christ (promo)
Lydia or Mahari + Transfiguration to band in Moses and/or Elijah
Mahari + Claudia + Simeon + Jacob + Captain of the Host makes a very difficult to stop 34/28 fight by the numbers except for banding battle.
That's 6 reliable ways to win a Lost Soul. Don't forget about Angel of the Lord, Son of God/New Jerusalem too.

Where are the rest of your Evil Characters?
That's all of them. There's only five and the Sabbath Breaker is really only there to draw 3 cards. Three of the characters often make a successful block because of their immunity. King of Tyrus is large and he negates all special abilities. Confusion of Mind and Unholy Writ both help out on defense. So do Burial, Christian Martyr and Falling Away. The "Lost Souls" card can be used anywhere from 1 to 3 times to give someone a rescue without letting them keep a Soul in the Land of Redemption.

Where's the Faithful Servant promo?
Funny you should ask. I only have two copies and they were in the other two decks I registered. This deck was a last minute inclusion. I added Mahari in place of Faithful Servant and was very glad to have him. It makes the decklist more accessible for everyone too and shows that although it's a great card, Faithful Servant is not necessary to win.

Is there anything you would change?
There are a couple things I'd consider changing. Covenant with Moses seems good in theory but I only used it once in 7 games. Lying Unto God isn't useful in every game either. I like the cards in my deck to be useful in every game I draw them if possible. It's also very risky to play with only one access site. Promise Land can be used without limit by Jacob so I'd like to put that in. After I filled the hole left by the Faithful Servant I cut Plague of Frogs from the deck (Hur would have been my only Hero to play it on). I'd like to squeeze both Faithful Servant and Plague of Frogs back into the deck but it's already really full. I don't like to use over 50 cards in a deck because every card over 50 is just one more card to get in the way of drawing my Son of God/New Jerusalem or one of my battle winning combos. It looks like Faith of Our Fathers will change the way decks are built. We'll have to wait and see what kind of impact that might have.

Questions, comments and insight welcome.