HOLDER'S HEROES

I'm posting this deck and the strategy of it in the hopes of increasing strategy within the game. Before I go further, major props go out to Tim "Sir Nobody" Maly, who game up with the basic idea for the deck, which I modified ever so slightly (at Nationals, it turned out our two decks had the same 42 of 56 cards). I actually built a second deck for Nationals, which I was going to play if and only if I played Tim, which wound up happening. I may post that deck later, but for now, here's my main Type 1 2-player deck that went 5-0 to win Illinois State and went 7-2 to place second at the 2007 Nationals :

Follow up:

56-cards

Lost Souls: 8

• Lost Soul(II Chronicles 28:13) Hopper
• Lost Souls(Proverbs 22:14) 2-Line
• Lost Soul(Jeremiah 7:18) Female
• Lost Soul(Ezekiel 31:14) Shuffler
• Lost Soul(Ezekiel 34:6) Exchanger
• Lost Soul(Acts 11:18) New Testament
• Lost Soul(Romans 3:23) Revealer
• Lost Soul(II Chronicles 15:4) */4

Sites: 2

• Dragon Raid
• Promised Land

Artifacts: 4

• Blue Tassels
• Holy Grail
• Three Nails
• Unholy Writ

Curses: 2

• Confusion of Mind
• Unknown Nation

Fortress: 1

• Kingdoms of the World (Priests)

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

Multi-Color: 4

• Faithful Servant (Promo)
• Sword of the Spirit (Kings)
• Shoes of Peace (F Deck)
• Lying Unto God

Gold: 2

• Moses (Warriors)
• Covenant with Moses

Purple: 3

• King David
• Authority of Christ (Promo)
• Reach of Desperation

Teal: 2

• Phinehas, son of Eleazar
• Zeal for the Lord

White: 2

• King Amaziah
• Transfiguration

Silver: 1

• The Strong Angel (Warriors)

Green: 2

• Benaiah (Warriors)
• Provisions

Brown: 2

• King Zedekiah
• Dungeon of Malchiah

Gold: 3

• King Elah
• King of Tyrus (Warriors)
• Evil Spirit (Kings)

Pale Green: 2

• Esau the Hunter
• Slave Trade

Crimson: 3

• Sapphira
• King Zimri
• Midianite Attack

Gray: 2

• Job’s Wife
• Balaam’s Disobedience

Black: 2

• Simon the Magician
• Joseph in Prison

Most of these cards should explain themselves, but I will add in a few comments.

There are two changes I would make with this deck after playing with it at Nationals. The first is I would take out the */4 Lost Soul and replace it with (perhaps) the Anti-Burial Lost Soul. To the best of my knowledge, the */4 never stopped anyone from making a rescue attempt and only served to thwart my own SOG/NJ combo.

The second change is that I would add in a Household Idols. Both decks that defeated me used banded Heroes at least partly, and while I'm sure my opponents probably played Covenant with David to stop HHI, it is worth playing. I would probably take out Three Nails to put in HHI, but it is worth noting that 3N helped me win at least two rescues over the course of 9 games. Is that worth the card being in there? I'll leave that for you to decide.

Almost all of the Enhancements, good and evil, cannot be negated. This is the cornerstone to the deck. While it may appear disjointed, in that it is tough to get (for instance) Esau the Hunter and Slave Trade together, when you do, it is virtually unstoppable. The good characters are in three different categories: numbers-only (Strong Angel, Benaiah, and Moses), big and powerful (King David and Phinehas), and multi-useful cards (King Amaziah and Faithful Servant). King David (ignores royalty) and Phinehas (protects from convert and capture) can sometimes win souls without the Enhancements to go with them. It may seem like you need to be extra-careful about risking these two characters with no way to get them back, but, in a pinch, you can convert one of your own 1/1 evil kings with Holy Grail to use the Enhancements if you get them without the character. Also, remember that Faithful Servant is green, purple, and white, so he can use several of the Enhancements in this deck. Amaziah only has two picks from this deck, King Elah and King Zimri, and while it might seem risky to force your opponent to block with Zimri, unless he's playing Crimson or lucky enough to have a multi-colored Enhancement, you'll still win. By the way, your Zimri can use Midianite Attack or Lying Unto God to work his ability.

Sapphira and Job's Wife can be used defensively (especially Job's Wife with Balaam's Disobedience, one of the coolest combos in the game), but they (especially Sapphira) have another purpose: Heroes that you can make with Holy Grail. This gives you numbers-only women. Sapphira also gives you another numbers-only New Testament Hero.

The only true downside to this deck is that you will find yourself with a character with no Enhancements to play with him. When this happens defensively, there is something psychological about putting down (for instance) King Zedekiah. Your opponent will assume that there is a Dungeon of Malchiah or even a Haman's Plot behind it and be reluctant to attack. Yes, Haman's Plot isn't even in this deck, but your opponent doesn't know that, and you're under no obligation to tell him. If he's worried he'll lose multiple characters, he might wait a turn or two to attack, and that might buy you a turn to draw an Enhancement that will actually work.

Try this deck, or, better still, revamp it and make it better! I like it, but I'm not so naive to believe it's perfect. There are a number of cards in Faith of our Fathers that may require a change or two.

I hope this helps you design your next great deck.