HOLDER'S HEROES

I used this musical offense to win third in the Ironman tournament at 2007 Nationals. I shall now dissect it and show YOU how to build, use, and win with this very fun offense!

This type of offense was introduced in the Priests expansion, so most of the cards will be from there, and most of them are un/common so it is fairly easy and inexpensive to make this offense.

This offensive strategy is very easy to understand but can be difficult to pull off due to the three Heroes needed. I will add suggestions to help it out.

Follow up:

What is needed: Heman (priests), Ethan (priests), Asaph (priests), Musical enhancements.

From the Redemption® Exegesis Guide - The following cards involve music:

• Angel Chariots
• Banner
• Banner of Love
• Banner of Truth (D Deck) or Banner of Truth (Priests)
• Battle Prayer
• Bow and Arrow (Red) or Bow and Arrow (Gold)
• Bronze Cymbals
• David’s Music
• Defeating the Enemy
• Hind’s Feet
• Hope
• Jubilee
• Praise Him, Moon
• Praises
• Protection of Angels
• Refined by Fire
• Rod of Iron
• Sing and Praise
• Sleep
• Spiritual Protection
• Stillness

Now you will notice A LOT of these make NO sense as musical Enhancements (Stillness is musical?) I was told these are from Psalms and in so (since Psalms are music) they are considered musical.

What is suggested: cards that can search for Heroes, Gathering of Angels, Protection of Angels(Priests), silver Heroes.

The key to this offense is the ability to infinitely recur any musical Enhancement through Ethan, allowing you to have only a few Enhancements but still work quite well allowing more room for other cards to help this out.

I will now explain how each card helps this, I'll start with the three Heroes. (Hm, maybe it shouldn't be "Heman and the Masters of the Musicverse"...but the "Three Musicteers"?) (No. -Ed.)

• Heman - 2/2 white Hero.
  May use any musical Enhancement. May band to Ethan and/or Asaph.
  One of the keys to this offense. Allows any musical Enhancement and allows them to band.
• Ethan - 5/5 white Hero.
  May search discard pile for a musical Enhancement and place it in hand.
  The one hero you NEED to keep alive. He allows the infinite recursion of musical Enhancements
• Asaph - 6/6 white Hero.
  Musical Enhancements cannot be negated.
  Makes it so Heman is a cannot-be-negated powerhouse with his "play any musical Enhancement" ability.

Now the suggested Heroes to go with them

• Angel in the Path (WA) - 5/5 silver Hero
  This hero has access to any Site. May band to any white Hero.
  Allowing Site access to your Heman band and making it bigger for protection of angels.
• Angel at Shur (Promo) - 7/2 silver Hero
  May search draw pile for one male O.T. Hero and place in hand. Immune to demons.
  Allows you to pull that band out A LOT quicker to get earlier devastation, combo with David's Harp to keep kamakaze-ing that band out.
• Michael - 12/8 silver Hero
  Enhancements played on Michael cannot be negated.
  Allows a back up with Ethan and Gathering of Angels if the band dies.
• Providing Angel - 3/5 silver Hero
  Search draw pile or discard pile for one healing card and add to hand.
  Allows you to grab a healing Enhancement to keep that band alive.
• Angel at Tomb (Priests) - 6/6 silver Hero
  If Son of God was discarded without making a rescue, search discard pile for it and shuffle it into your deck. Cannot be negated.
  The most sneaky of all Heroes in this deck, a lot of confusions kill SoG before seeing this card. This allows you to get it back.

Artifacts, Sites and Covenants (Suggested)

• Chariot of Fire (to get back Heroes)
• David's Harp (Good for drawing Destruction of Nehushtan when you go out with Angel at Shur/Michael)
• Priestly Crown (additional access)
• I Am Creator (to pull out the band)
• I Am Holy (get rid of a musical Enhancement before the rescue attempt. Then get it back with Ethan!)
• Covenant with David (Stop HHI! keep your band alive!)
• Dragon Raid (since none of the access Sites work super well for this band. This is just uber back up against Site lock)

For Enhancements, I will show you the more helpful of the musical ones, and other helpful ones.

Musical

• Bow and arrow - 2/2 gold Enhancement
  Negate and discard the last evil enhancement played this battle.
  Cannot-be-negated negate (with Asaph) isn't too bad, is it?
• Bronze Cymbals - 3/3 white Enhancment
  Prevent the next evil enhancement in played in current battle.
  Really nice to play before a battle winner so they cant negate it.
• David's Music - 1/3 green Enhancement
  Interrupt the battle and shuffle all of opponents' demons into their deck. Cannot be interrupted.
  This is really nasty vs Prince of This World or Red Dragon or other immune/high-numbered demons.
• Sing and Praise - 0/0 red Enhancement
  Make two Evil Characters fight each other. Enhancements used in that battle are prevented.
  Really nice to use when you have a middle-numbered blocker,you have a huge evil banding chain. Or my personal favorite, one of the self-destructing evil characters.

And the top card for this deck musically.

• Protection of Angels - 2/3 silver Enhancement
  Interrupt the battle and protect all Heroes in play from evil cards.
  So now your 13/13 band is 15/16 and cannot be affected by evil cards! AT ALL! If you are using this with Angel in the Path and your 18/18 band gets blocked by a fight by the numbers character (this NEEDS Asaph to work), you can play this card interrupt his fight by the numbers (Because musical Enhancements cannot be negated). Making your 20/21 band against what they have for fight by the numbers and you can STILL play musical Enhancements!

Other enhancements (suggested)

• Gathering of Angels (make the band bigger, put it on Ethan or Michael if the band dies)
• Brass Serpent (healing all + retrievable with Providing Angel)
• Swift Beings (Interrupt the battle always helps)
• Words of Encouragement (same as above)
• Seventh Trumpet (Anti human card)
• Gentle Resolution (Same reason)
• Burning Bush (Negate and discard all evil Enhancements)
• Flaming Sword (negate one selected)
• Coat of Many Colors (Helps for David' Music, etc., if you don't have Heman yet)

Now for execution.

Getting out the Heroes:
Assume you draw I Am Creator and two pieces of the band on the opening draw by some insane luck. Will you put down the Heroes, then I Am Creator? NO! Put up I Am Creator to grab out a piece of the band, then place the others. Remember, getting the band out is key to this deck!

Enhancements in the discard:
Make sure to choose the Enhancement you grab with Ethan carefully. If your opponent is using an orange defense, is it better to grab Protection of Angels or David's Music? Make sure to look. IS that face-down Evil Character in his Darkness... King of Tyrus? That may need protection! Make sure you always look before you leap with this. Watch out for Hezekiah's Signet Ring. It can stop your recursion of Enhancements!

Band of doom:
This band is great if you don't want iniative, but if you do, remember you CAN send just one hero if you want. (Heman + Bronze Cymbals, for example.) Also, remember to watch out for Household Idols that can stop your band cold!

Suggestions from above:
Those are suggestions for cards that help, the style of this is up to you. I would suggest the Rule of Sevens for this offense it helps as hand discard doesn't phase this offense.