Join CtheTree for his main deck build from fall 2022-spring 2024 that has been through much refining and has won numerous tournaments.
Introduction:
This deck build is in my mind the pinnacle of my deck building efforts for the past year and a half. An earlier version of the deck build which is preserved in the change log at the end of the article won the 2023 Oregon State and 2023 NW Regional Tournaments for me. It also won Series X of the RobM Zoom tournament series for me. Originally I published an article about this deck build on April 4, 2023. I have removed some of the content of that article to be able to present the revised version of the deck with less clutter. Overall I have been working on the Soul Surfer build since fall 2022 and this current deck build reflects over a year and a half worth of refinement.
I went on this fall 2023 to place 2nd in the RobM Zoom Series 14 and to win the Lackey Grand Prix #12. The championship match against Jayden Alstad is found in this article. That deck build which I won the LGP #12 with is preserved in the change log but I have made some adjustments to account for new threats in the meta post Redemption ROOTS.
These initial adjustments seemed promising but in the LGP #13 I lost two games with this build to a Nazareth build and a Disciples/Herods build. I realized changes were necessary. An initial list with changes won the RobM Zoom Series 16. That version can be found in the change log. I ran that version for part of the Lackey Grand Prix #14 but lost a game to a Honey Pot deck build and changed some things up to make the build better against Honey Pot. This version is the list below and I managed to win the entire LGP #14 with this deck build. Stay tuned for a video of the LGP #14 Top Cut Final against AgurTheWise. Winning the LGP #14 was particularly special to me since it is the 4th Lackey Grand Prix I have won which is the most any player has won to date. Jayden Alstad and I were tied having won three Lackey Grand Prix tournaments a piece going into LGP #14 and this tournament victory led to my 4th LGP win breaking that tie. For what it is worth I have won two LGP titles with versions of Soul Surfer now: one in 2023 and this most recent one in 2024.
I was planning to run this take on the Soul Surfer deck build at Nationals with the success I have been having. But then a new card was spoiled that I feel makes tips the scale a bit too much negatively against the offense in this deck. Already the offense here has been countered by Holy of Holies/Pact with Death and the new Glory of the Lord (winner promo) is also a good card against it. However, the Nationals participant promo Guardian of Your Souls was spoiled this week and it is a hard counter to the entire offense in this list. Basically this promo makes it so heroes cannot convert to meek and every hero in the deck does that and in this list needs to do that since the enhancements in the build are Clay brigade. The new Guardian of Your Souls promo will be usable at Nationals this year. I do not know how many people will run it but it is enough of a threat that I plan to run a different deck build at Nationals this year.
One thing I firmly believe in though is if you have a solid deck build and a hard counter to that build is printed it is good to not give up on the deck build and to try and find another way to optimize the deck build and work around the counter. I contemplated shifting to NT Gold for the Soul Surfer build or White/Silver splash since there are “Play a Lost Soul from a deck” star cards in those themes but I find they are a bit too slow to be as strong as the Matthew approach. Then I realized the solution: instead of focusing on converting characters to meek including Matthew I could just adjust to running primarily Purple battle winners and revealing a Good Dominant from hand to get the strong abilities of Matthew and Simon. I was a bit doubtful if this would be as strong as the convert to meek route since cards like Authority of Christ are not as strong with the Purple route but I found a way to make the Purple based offense work and in fact I feel this revised build is close to just as good as my build I just won the Lackey Grand Prix #14 with. It may be a little worse in a vacuum but is better I think in a meta that will include the new Guardian of Your Souls Nats promo. I am stoked to test out this new Purple take on the Soul Surfer offense that is strong against Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo) and would appreciate any feedback you all have on how to make the list better since it is a new approach to the Soul Surfer offense for me and untested at this juncture.
So you will get two deck builds in this article today: Soul Surfer’s Crown and Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal.
Without further ado I present to you Soul Surfer’s Crown.
The Decks:
Deck 1:
Soul Surfer’s Crown (50 cards):
1 Son of God "Manger" (Promo) 1 The Second Coming 1 Harvest Time (GoC) 1 Crowd's Choice (GoC) 1 Three Woes (RoJ) 1 Shipwreck (EC) 1 Mayhem (FoM) 1 Lost Soul "Accusers" (Ezra 4:6) (LoC) 1 Lost Soul (Protector) Luke 5:15 1 Lost Soul "Salty" (Matthew 5:13) (GoC) 1 Lost Soul "Complacent" (Zephaniah 1:12) (LoC) 1 Lost Soul (Jeremiah 22:3) (Orphans) 1 Lost Soul (Humble) 1 Lost Soul (Hopper) (FoM) 1 Lost Soul "Wanderer" [Ezekiel 34:6 - RR] (Roots) 1 Book of the Covenant (PoC) 1 The Cross (GoC UR+) 1 The Manger (GoC) 1 The New Covenant (I/J+) 1 Patmos (RoJ) 1 Herod's Temple (GoC) 1 The Angel of the Winds 1 Angel from the Sun (RoJ) 1 Reassuring Angel (EC) 1 Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC) 1 Simon the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC) 1 Mary, Holy Virgin / Mary, Willing Servant (GoC) 1 Lazarus, the Called / Lazarus of Bethany (GoC) 1 Joanna, the Generous / Joanna, Wife of Chuza (GoC) 1 Virgin Birth 1 Spirit as a Dove (GoC) 1 Lost Child Found (GoC) 1 Day of Judgment (GoC) 1 The Ascension (GoC) 1 Baptism of Jesus (GoC) 1 Love One Another (GoC) 1 Generous Giving (Roots) 1 Authority of Christ (GoC UR+) 1 Reprimand / Repercussion (GoC) 1 The Deceiver (RoJ) 1 Possessing Spirit (GoC) 1 Repudiating Rulers (GoC) 1 Herod's Guard (GoC) 1 Herod the Great (GoC) 1 Herod Archelaus (GoC) 1 Herod Agrippa I (GoC) 1 Herodias' Daughter (GoC) 1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ) 1 Revolt 1 Foreign Spears (LoC) Reserve: 1 Send the Helper (GoC) 1 You Will Remain 1 His Sacrifice (GoC UR+) 1 Untouchable (GoC) 1 Eternal Inheritance 1 Herod Antipas (GoC) 1 Contagious Fear (GoC) 1 Futile Inquisition (GoC) 1 Duplicity (GoC) 1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
LGP #14 Top Cut Final Match:
Here is a video of the Lackey Grand Prix #14 Top Cut Final match between AgurTheWise and myself. I am using the above version of Soul Surfer in the match. BaboonyTim and AgurTheWise commentate on the game in this video.
Summary:
Objective 1- Soul Surfing:
The reason this deck is called “The Soul Surfer” is the point of the deck is to gain an advantage against various deck builds by playing a Lost Soul or two out turn 0 through the multitude of “Play a Lost Soul” star cards in the deck (The Manger, The Ascension, Day of Judgement, Repudiating Rulers, and Lost Child Found) OR by playing out multiple Lost Souls that create problems for the opponent on turn 1 through Harvest Time (which can be accessed via Crowd’s Choice as well). These cards provide 8 ways to each Lost Soul in the deck turn 0 meaning I have a very good chance turn 0 of getting to the soul I want depending on the matchup. This makes the deck build quite resilient and adaptable. The deck includes Crowds/Salty/Complacent/Orphans/Humble since these souls are problematic for various different deck builds currently strong in the meta.
The beauty of the deck build is I can pivot to whichever soul(s) are best suited for the individual deck build I am facing. If I am facing a Disciples deck build I will go to Crowds for sure to seek to stop Matthew and if I can get a second soul will go to Salty or Complacent to have up alongside Crowds depending on if I know the opponent relies a lot on battle winning Dominants like The Resurrection or on TCE (Territory Class Enhancement) cards for set up. This is also strong against decks seeking to get to Nazareth fast since they typically rely on Matthew or The Resurrection in battle to get set up or a TCE to get to Nazareth and going to Complacent/Salty/Crowds impedes this a bit. If I am facing a soul hide deck build I will tend to go to Orphans right away and generally will want Salty alongside it. If I am facing a Holy of Holies deck I go to Salty LS right away and Humble LS. If I am facing a deck running Crowds LS I go to Wanderer LS so my Matthew can still draw cards. If I am facing a deck running The Herdsmen of Gerar or OT offense and/or defense I will go to Accusers LS to negate their characters. I surf along and bring out whichever souls are best suited to the individual deck build I am facing.
Objective 2- Safeguard Matthew Turn 1 Rescue:
One key objective of this deck build is to set up a turn 1 Matthew rescue. The deck has 8 ways to Matthew turn 1 (Crowd’s Choice, New Covenant (to Spirit as a Dove), Spirit as a Dove, Patmos, The Angel of the Winds, Angel from the Sun, Reassuring Angels, and Matthew himself). Matthew at this point is a well known threat in the meta and so people tech for Matthew which is wise. Two of the most common techs against Matthew are Crowds Lost Soul and The Herdsmen of Gerar. Soul Surfer offers the best package I know of to interact with those ways of teching against Matthew since I have 8 ways to Wanderer LS turn 0 which can deal with Crowds LS and 8 ways to Accusers LS which can deal with The Herdsmen of Gerar turn 0. Beyond this if the opponent manages to go first and get Bethlehem Stable or Storehouse up protecting their hand from Matthew I have 7 ways going second to interact with those cards (Crowd’s Choice to Shipwreck, Shipwreck, Three Woes, Possessing Spirit, Spirit as a Dove to Three Woes, The New Covenant to Spirit as a Dove to Three Woes, and Lost Child Found). Further if I can’t get around the hand protection from one of those fortresses on my first turn then blocking my second turn Outsiders (B/G), Herodias’ Daughter, and Foreign Spears can help as well. As you can see this deck build is built to be resilient against the major techs against Matthew helping to safeguard a turn 1 Matthew rescue. The one exception to all of this is the new Guardian of Your Souls Nats Promo. I do not have many ways in this build to deal with that with Outsiders, Herodias’ Daughter, and Foreign Spears being able to interact with it. The best way around Guardian of Your Souls is rescuing with Matthew as purple revealing a Good Dominant from hand instead of converting to meek. That being said this version of Soul Surfer is not well set up for that. Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal is set up for that making it able to safeguard a turn 1 Matthew rescue better once the new Guardian of Your Souls promo is legal for tournament play.
Objective 3- Strong Individual Character Value:
In evaluating how the 1 TCE per turn rule impacts the meta I realized that characters on both offense and defense with strong individual character value are quite valuable. What I mean by this is characters on offense who create their own rescue potential and on defense who create their own blocking potential. Characters can do this by creating a potential battle winning environment through their ability or by directly tutoring for a battle winner through their ability. If you look at my offense every single character creates their own rescue potential. On defense as well every single character creates their own blocking potential. This means that the deck will have strong blocks and rescues without needing to use territory class enhancements to tutor for the strongest rescues and blocks in the deck.
Objective 3- Options against Nazareth and Holy of Holies:
With the advent of Redemption Roots two strong counter cards have hit the scene: Holy of Holies/Nazareth. I have adjusted this deck build to account for them. Outside of the aforementioned Lost Souls which help to slow down the set up of decks seeking to get to these two counter cards this deck build has 9 ways to deal with Nazareth turn 0 (Shipwreck, Three Woes, Crowd’s Choice to Shipwreck, Possessing Spirit, Foreign Spears, Herodias’ Daughter, Outsiders (B/G), Lost Child Found, and Harvest time to Complacent/Crowds/Salty LS). The deck has 10 ways to deal with Holy of Holies (Mary, Holy Virgin, Crowd’s Choice to Mary, Holy Virgin, Spirit as a Dove to Mary, Holy Virgin, New Covenant to the Spirit as a Dove to Mary chain, Three Woes, The Manger, Lost Child Found, Harvest Time to Humble/Salty LS, Humble LS, and Salty LS (early Salty makes it hard to tutor for Holy of Holies). Overall this deck build therefore is quite resilient against these strong counters. It is important to note these 9 ways to deal with Nazareth turn 0 and 10 ways to deal with Holy of Holies turn 0 do not include the multiple “Play a Lost Soul from a deck” type star abilities which can also deal with Nazareth turn 0 going to Crowds LS and HoH going to Humbe LS or even Salty LS.
Consistency-
This deck obviously is quite consistent at getting the powerful Lost Soul cards out to cause problems for the opponent and I have already explained the general consistency suite I use to do so. I have 8 ways to every Lost Soul in the deck turn 0. I should also note that the star ability on Virgin Birth aids further with consistently getting to Lost Soul cards turn 0.
This deck is built so that it is not reliant on TCE cards so I can have Salty up and not care. The only TCE cards I run main deck are Virgin Birth/Lost Child Found/Spirit as a Dove. The first two are both main deck for their star abilities. Spirit as a Dove is great in battle. Due to not running many consistency TCE cards I have to generate speed/consistency some other way than TCE cards. The main method I do this is through in battle draw. Obviously I run the key tutors for Matthew, the Publican in Patmos, The Angel of the Winds, Reassuring Angels, and Angel from the Sun. Also I run Generous Giving and Baptism of Jesus for additional speed. On defense Outsiders (B/G) provides me with additional draw power and Mayhem rounds out my ways to draw cards.
I have found this deck to be quite consistent at getting to my desired rescues/blocks in battle since turn 1 I want to rescue with Matthew and I have plenty of ways to Matthew.
Offense:
This offense is of course based on the aforementioned principle of having characters who create their own rescue potential. The tutor angels all get me to characters that do exactly that. Turn 1 I want to draw with Matthew. Turn 2 and following if my opponent has evil characters down in territory I want to do a strong choose the blocker rescue with Simon the Zealous or if they do not have evil characters in territory I want to go into battle with Lazarus backed by a battle winner particularly with The Cross active or with Mary, Holy Virgin to interact with their territory and snag a battle winner or Joanna if they are going to have to block from hand. Turn 2 and later if I need to draw cards I can always bounce Matthew with Send the Helper and rescue with him.
A couple key things to note about this offense are as follows. 1) I try to emphasize rescues that leave the opponent with little opportunity to interact. You will notice most of my rescues set up a very difficult battle scenario for the opponent to navigate or one in which there is no way out really. A) Simon the Zealous with The Cross or Herod’s Temple active and choosing an evil character with toughness of 7 or less and tossing Untouchable to kill them. You can also toss His Sacrifice off Herod’s Temple for a similar rescue. Another sweet Simon rescue is choosing a fat blocker and using Spirit as a Dove to tutor for Love One Another, Untouchable, or Day of Judgment and with still having initiative playing that battle winner which will be CBN due to Spirit as a Dove for massive pain. An additional cool Simon rescue is paired with Possessing Spirit. If the opponent does not have unity for Possessing Spirit or has no evil characters in play (meaning they will not have unity since they do not own Possessing Spirit) then it is quite the cheese rescue. Even if they are on Orange using His Sacrifice on Possessing Spirit is strong. Also if they have unity and can band with Possessing Spirit then Baptism of Jesus or His Sacrifice can be used to negate the band on Possessing Spirit and get the rescue. Simon paired with Eternal Inheritance to get the fifth and final soul is really strong. Simon works well with Chronicles of the Kings in battle being able to negate Complacent and then use it. Of course Simon and Authority of Christ is not too shabby either. I feel this deck maximizes the potential of Simon to make life miserable for the opponent.
B) Lazarus is amazing solo. People often emphasize the Bethany band but that takes time to assemble and is harder to do in 1 TCE. Lazarus doesn’t need the band to be awesome. In this deck my favorite rescues are Lazarus with The Cross active backed by Baptism of Jesus, Day of Judgment, Love One Another, His Sacrifice, or even Eternal Inheritance. I realized Lazarus with Eternal Inheritance is great since I can use Eternal Inheritance on a soul other than the fifth soul with him since Lazarus is quite likely to negate whatever way the opponent would have of interrupting/negating Eternal Inheritance. If The Cross is not active then Lazarus works great with Untouchable, The Ascension, and Authority of Christ. Even though Authority of Christ is not CBN with Lazarus the odds of an opponent being able to negate it are low due to the FBTN environment created by Lazarus. He is likely the best non-Disciple to use AoC with.
C) Mary, Holy Virgin is quite strong. She gets initiative almost always and being able to tutor for Untouchable from Reserve is strong especially tossing down a character to 0 with it off Herod’s Temple or The Cross. Mary is great for dealing with threats and sending a potential blocker to opponent’s Reserve as well as an evil Three Woes.
D) Joanna is a strong rescue if the opponent has to block from hand and also is nice for draw power banded in off The Ascension.
Regarding support I have found overall this offense definitely likes the support of The Cross and Complacent LS. Authority of Christ, The Ascension, and Spirit as a Dove do not like The Cross but I have plenty of other rescue options that do really like The Cross. There are some points where I do not have The Cross or do not want it active and then my CBN battle winners come in great handy. Oh yeah and Untouchable as I already mentioned is great tossed off The Cross. You Will Remain is a key card to support Simon the Zealous rescues backed by a CBN battle winner since when I want to use one of those The Cross will not be active and Complacent LS gets negated by Simon. Having You Will Remain makes Simon with a CBN battle winner a safer rescue since if they use Christian Martyr or Falling Away on Simon I can add to battle with You Will Remain. His Sacrifice is important for dealing with Overtaken which is a pain. Mary can deal with Overtaken as well but the ability of Overtaken will still be in effect for that battle phase. His Sacrifice gets around that.
Send the Helper and New Covenant on their artifact sides provide consistency for this offense in getting to the rescues options that I want. Also both of these cards can be battle winners if needed. New Covenant on the enhancement side is particularly strong when being used to band in Lazarus. Normally of course using the artifact side of both is preferable but if the opponent is negating neutrals then this build can utilize the enhancement side of both well.
Defense:
This is my favorite defense in the game currently. It is also such a good defense to run in a deck where Complacent, Orphans, and The Cross are a part of the deck since it is not hurt by Orphans and The Cross and Complacent both help this defense. Every single character creates its own blocking potential. I have never had a defense that is able to get to an ideal block with such ease early in the game. The Deceiver and Herod’s Guard mean that I am getting to Herod the Great, Herod Archelaus, or Herod Agrippa I with decent consistency on turn 1 to get an ideal block turn one. The value in this cannot be underestimated. Herod’s Guard is just incredible plain and simple and is such a resource for this defense. Herod the Great, Archelaus, and Herod Agrippa I are all pretty self explanatory regarding their value. Outsiders (B/G) is fantastic for draw and also since it can deal with counters and can even be a block on its own. Repudiating Rulers to Duplicity to Unsuccessful is a cool block and it is great being able to have both Unsuccessful and Futile Inquisition blocks in this deck.
Herod Antipas is great and creates blocks on his own due to Contagious Fear and Futile Inquisition. Also it is important to note Antipas/Contagious Fear work through Orphans LS due to Antipas’ Regardless of Protection clause. Also Antipas enjoys The Cross and Complacent since then the opponent does not just Angel him or Woes him.
Herodias’ Daughter is really strong for clearing the board of annoyances and can go to any of my big Herods or Antipas.
In terms of main deck battle winner support Repercussion, Revolt, and Foreign Spears. It is important to note the support of Herod’s Guard means that less negates are necessary to back up the big Herods.
Overall the defense gets the job done to block sufficiently.
Contingency:
Every good deck needs contingency for dealing with the possibility of annoying counters hitting the table. An offense like this sadly does not have some of the better pieces for dealing with counters like Joshua the Conqueror or cards like Achim. All that being said I have found I believe sufficient pieces to deal with counters. Mary, Holy Virgin is incredible for dealing with a variety of annoying cards. Outsiders (B/G) has already been mentioned as a helpful piece for dealing with counters. Outsiders is helpful since they can hit such a wide variety of counters. Herodias’ Daughter is also great for clearing the board of good cards that cause problems like heroes who negate neutrals, Herod’s Temple, Storehouse, Wall of Protection, etc. to make a better scenario for my upcoming rescue. Three Woes is great as always on the note of dealing with counters. The Manger is good for dealing with annoying artifacts and cards like Gates of Hell/Sheol. Foreign Spears is good for dealing with cards like Nazareth/Herod’s Temple/Storehouse. Shipwreck is very good in a meta with fortresses causing so many issues. And then Lost Child Found is really good. You might have wondered why that card is main deck for its “Play a Lost Soul” star ability instead of something like Walking on Water. Well for one I have three white characters main deck who I can play it on. Secondly Lost Child Found is one of the strongest ways to deal with counters in the game prior to a rescue attempt since it can remove up to THREE counters from the board in one fell swoop. Now that is really helpful! Sure they are just bounced but still the impact that can have for seeking to have a successful rescue or accomplish other objectives is huge. Naturally Salty negates LCF in territory but generally I am wanting to use it by the time the opponent has dealt with Salty. Such a good card.
Maybe Board:
Cards I have considered for this deck and have even been in the deck at points include Angel of the Lord, Golgotha, Good Seed, Awake LS, Distressed LS, John, the Fisherman, Zaccheus, Bless the Nations, Faith of Samuel, David, HAG, Noah, the Righteous, The Woman with Child, The Twenty Four Elders, Covenant with Moses (L), Blood of the Lamb, Justin Martyr, Word of Christ, The Amalekite’s Slave, Foreign Wives, Simon Peter, Polycarp, Reclaimed by Egypt, Sin Offering (IR), The Great Commission, Lost Soul (Color Guard), Lost Soul (Escape), Lost Soul (Hunter), Forsaken LS, Twenty Shekels, Blood Avenger, Priests of Christ, Bartholomew, Word of Their Testimony, Overcome, an extra EE negate main deck like Executioner’s Sword or Fourth Bowl of Wrath, Harvest LS, Punisher LS, Entertaining Angels, Matthew’s Begats, Wall of Protection, Chronicles of the Kings, The Ends of the Earth, Overtaken, Peter’s Curse, Temple Veil, Walking on Water, Goliath’s Curse (K/L), Overcome, Mary, the Restored, Sin Offering, Power of the Cross, Vain Philosophy, and Falling Away.
Conclusion:
I hope you have enjoyed this summary of this deck build which is the product of over a year and a half worth of refining. It certainly has led to some great experiences and some memorable tournament wins. But it is now no longer my most recent Soul Surfer build.
For the most recent version of Soul Surfer tuned for the future meta impacted by Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo) I present to you…
Deck 2:
Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal (50 cards):
1 Son of God "Manger" (Promo)
1 The Second Coming
1 Harvest Time (GoC)
1 Crowd's Choice (GoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ)
1 Chronicles of the Kings (LoC Plus)
1 Mayhem (FoM)
1 Lost Soul "Accusers" (Ezra 4:6) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Protector) Luke 5:15
1 Lost Soul "Salty" (Matthew 5:13) (GoC)
1 Lost Soul "Complacent" (Zephaniah 1:12) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Jeremiah 22:3) (Orphans)
1 Lost Soul (Humble)
1 Lost Soul (Hopper) (FoM)
1 Lost Soul "Wanderer" [Ezekiel 34:6 - RR] (Roots)
1 Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1 The Manger (GoC)
1 The New Covenant (I/J+)
1 Goliath's Curse [L]
1 Patmos (RoJ)
1 Herod's Temple (GoC)
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 Angel from the Sun (RoJ)
1 Reassuring Angel (EC)
1 Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC)
1 Simon the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC)
1 John, the Fisherman / John, Son of Thunder (GoC)
1 Bartholomew (Nathanael) / Bartholomew the True (GoC)
1 Thaddaeus / Judas (Thaddaeus) (GoC)
1 Virgin Birth
1 Spirit as a Dove (GoC)
1 The Ascension (GoC)
1 Day of Judgment (GoC)
1 Walking on Water (GoC)
1 Reach of Desperation (GoC)
1 Boanerges (GoC)
1 My Lord and My God (GoC)
1 Testing Solomon (Roots)
1 Reprimand / Repercussion (GoC)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ)
1 Possessing Spirit (GoC)
1 Repudiating Rulers (GoC)
1 Herod's Guard (GoC)
1 Herod the Great (GoC)
1 Herod Archelaus (GoC)
1 Herod Agrippa I (GoC)
1 Herodias' Daughter (GoC)
1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ)
1 Revolt
1 Foreign Spears (LoC)
Reserve:
1 Send the Helper (GoC)
1 You Will Remain
1 His Sacrifice (GoC UR+)
1 Authority of Christ (GoC UR+)
1 Eternal Inheritance
1 Herod Antipas (GoC)
1 Contagious Fear (GoC)
1 Futile Inquisition (GoC)
1 Duplicity (GoC)
1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
Summary:
Naturally this deck build is built off of the framework of the Soul Surfer’s Crown build I won the Lackey Grand Prix #14 with so much of what I wrote about the Crown build applies to the Rebuttal build. That being said their are some key distinctions between the two builds I will share here. I want to note when I saw the Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo) spoiled I thought I was going to retire Soul Surfer for the season. Then I did some thinking and realized I just needed to change up to a Purple based offense and Soul Surfer is still a highly viable deck build even with the new GoYS. I think the Soul Surfer’s Crown build is slightly stronger against the overall meta than Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal but Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal is superior in a meta with the new GoYS looming. I am quite pleased with this build here but it is untested and I am sure I can optimize it further once I test it. I am excited that all my work on Soul Surfer is not put to rest by GoYS and look forward to testing and playing this new version of the deck that largely circumvents GoYS. I call this version of the deck build Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal since it is a rebuttal to the most direct counter printed against the type of offense I have been running in practically every version of Soul Surfer for over a year and a half.
May this be a lesson to all deck builders: when a hard counter is printed against your deck build don’t give up. Calm down and consider all your options. Who knows maybe you will find a way to modify your deck build like I have here to keep it viable?
Here are the key distinctions between Soul Surfer’s Crown and Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal…
Distinction 1: Resiliency against Guadian of Your Souls (Nats Promo)-
The big difference between the two builds is the offense in Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal is built to be far more resilient if the opponent gets the new Guardian of Your Souls (Nats Promo into play. This is achieved through the entire offense not needing to convert to meek to rescue. In Soul Surfer’s Crown every character looks to convert to meek most of the time to use the Clay battle winners in the deck. That offense is stopped in its tracks by Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo). I realized that going with a Purple Offense centered around Matthew and Simon the Zealous rather than a Clay offense would work. I felt this offense would be outright weaker though with cards like Love One Another wanting the meek Clay side as well as Authority of Christ and Untouchable. After a decent amount of brewing the deck I realized there is a Purple based offense that is close to as powerful as the Clay based offense in Soul Surfer’s Crown.
In Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal Lazarus, Joanna, and Mary are cut and replaced with Bartholomew, John, the Fisherman, and Thaddeus. Amazingly the replacements line up quite well power wise with Lazarus, Joanna, and Mary. John, the Fisherman is quite similar to Joanna but he naturally does not need to convert to meek. Joanna needs to convert to meek in the other build most of the to use Clay GE’s. John is quite solid in this deck build rescuing solo when backed up by Boanerges, My Lord and My God, Walking on Water (to His Sacrifice or Authority of Christ), Testing Solomon, and even Reach of Desperation backed by a battle winner. John, the Fisherman in this offense is stronger than Joanna in my opinion with better synergy with the battle winner package than Joanna had with the battle winners in the build she is in.
Lazarus is replaced with Bartholomew. I like this change a bit actually in this meta with Nicodemus being prevalent. I have found myself hesitant to rescue with solo Lazarus against Gray defenses since Nicodemus makes NT Gray enhancements CBN. Against Nicodemus Bartholomew gets initiative and will be able to play Boanerges, My Lord and My God, Walking on Water (to His Sacrifice or Authority of Christ) CBN. Also if the opponent blocks with a tiny character like Saul of Tarsus against Bartholomew then I can trigger Herod’s Temple. To me Bartholomew is close to as strong as Lazarus and has some unique upside.
Then Thaddeus replaces Mary, Holy Virgin. Mary, Holy Virgin unlike Lazarus and Joanna can work well without converting to meek. However she would need lots of white support which does not fit well with a deck build trying to run Matthew and Simon the Zealous. You want her to convert to her meek Clay side. Therefore, Thaddeus is the right choice. Admittedly Thaddeus is a poor man’s Mary since he is not CBN and is slightly higher numbers (still he will get initiative most of the time). Still Thaddeus does similar things to Mary with the biggest downside being he is not CBN so he needs Humble LS support to dispatch Holy of Holies.
In terms of battle winners the Purple main deck battle winner package is fairly strong. Baptism of Jesus, Love One Another, Generous Giving, and Authority of Christ are replaced in this build with Walking on Water, Testing Solomon, Reach of Desperation, and Boanerges. In Reserve Untouchable is replaced with Authority of Christ. Baptism of Jesus is replaced with Walking on Water. Turn 1 Baptism of Jesus is stronger and offers the upside of being able to draw 2 but turn 2 and later Walking on Water offers more punch being able to negate and go into His Sacrifice or Authority of Christ from Reserve. Love One Another is replace with Testing Solomon. They are quite similar being regardless of protection with Love One Another having the perk of being able to more than one Evil Character but Testing Solomon being able to hit the opponents hand. Generous Giving is replaced with Reach of Desperation and they pretty much the same. Lastly Boanerges slots in main deck over Authority of Christ since Matthew characters are mainly aiming to rescue as Purple rather than Clay. Boanerges is strong particularly with John and Bartholomew. Rebuttal runs one extra battle winner main deck compared with Crown in My Lord and My God. I cut The Cross since after I cut Golgotha from a previous version of the deck build for Possessing Spirit I have found I rarely activate The Cross as I tend to want Book of the Covenant or The New Covenant up instead. I feel an extra battle winner is needed since Matthew turn 1 will not have The Ascension to use since he will be Purple rather than Clay most of the time. One cool play is Walking on Water to Authority off Bartholomew as purple which makes it CBN. This is slick since Authority comes in off a negate. I also like Reach of Desperation into Authority paired with Bartholomew. In Reserve Untouchable is cut for Authority of Christ.
One key thing to note is that if the opponent does not have Guardian of Your Souls up then I can easily pivot to converting to meek to do an Authority of Christ, Ascension, Spirit as a Dove into His Sacrifice or Day of Judgement CBN, or Eternal inheritance rescue. I feel the strongest Clay based rescues in Soul Surfer’s Crown are Authority, Spirit into a battle winner CBN, and Eternal Inheritance and this build maintains all of those. The other rescue I feel is very strong in Soul Surfer’s Crown is Simon choosing Possessing Spirit to block. This Rebuttal build has that as well. This build also has Chronicles of the Kings which if played at the beginning of a battle to negate all of the opponent’s EE’s for that phase is strong with even just one battle winner in hand.
All in all this Purple based offense might be a little weaker than the Clay based offense in Soul Surfer’s Crown but it is plenty strong and has some unique upsides. One unique upside is better synergy with the searcher angels Angel from the Sun and Reassuring Angels. I am able to get to the heroes in this build more reliably due to that synergy. And once Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo) is legal this offense will most likely be a better than the Clay based offense in Soul Surfer’s Crown since this Purple based offense is resilient against GoYS. I should note having Goliath’s Curse, Herodias’ Daughter, Foreign Spears, and Outsiders (B/G) gives me plenty of ways to get Guardian of Your Souls potentially off the board for a turn to cruise in for a Clay based rescue with something like Authority of Christ which is handy. Goliath’s Curse over Lost Child Found obviously interacts better with GoYS.
Distinction 2: Slightly Different Resiliency against Honey Pot and Nazareth-
One slight downside to this build is it is slightly less resilient against Nazareth and Holy of Holies than the other build. Due to losing Mary, Holy Virgin I have to run Chronicles of the Kings in place of Shipwreck. This provides one less way to interact with Nazareth turn 0. The Rebuttal build has 8 reliable ways versus 9 in the Crown build to interact with Nazareth turn 0. This is plenty though as I was content with 8 ways prior to getting the extra way with Possessing Spirit and I have actually contemplated cutting Shipwreck for a different Dominant in the crown build with the addition of Possessing Spirit.
Against Holy of Holies Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal has 9 solid ways turn 0 to interact with Holy of Holies turn 0 not including “Play a Lost Soul from a Deck” star cards whereas the Crown build has 10 ways. This is just a very slight difference especially since technically Thaddeus is a 10th way with Humble LS out. The Rebuttal build still has plenty of consistency in dealing with Nazareth and Holy of Holies.
A key thing to note is the Rebuttal build runs Goliath’s Curse [L] instead of Lost Child Found. This is possible since Walking On Water has a “Play a Lost Soul from a deck” star ability maintaining 8 ways to each Lost Soul in the deck. Without any White brigade heroes Lost Child Found does not fit. Losing Lost Child Found is why there is one less way around Holy of Holies but I must note Goliath’s Curse does help greatly against Holy of Holies decks since it can dispatch Eleazar, Son of Aaron allowing Three Woes or The Magner for instance to negate Holy of Holies once it reactivates on the opponent’s next turn. Also Goliath’s Curse can get rid of Glory of the Lord (Nats Promo) if it is protecting Holy of Holies from Chronicles of the Kings which is significant. In a way Goliath’s Curse may be preferable to Lost Child Found since the deck build already has plenty of ways to deal with Holy of Holies and it can dispatch the two things that stop some of those ways from interacting: Eleazar and Glory of the Lord (Nats promo). Against Nazareth Goliath’s Curse is better I think for sure since it does not run the risk of being negated by Salty LS and I only have three heroes in the Crown build it was able to be played on.
So overall the Rebuttal build is quite resilient against Holy of Holies and Nazareth.
Maybe Board-
Cards I am considering in this deck build are Polycarp (number one card I want in here is Polycarp), Fishing Boat, Covenant with Adam, Out of Bethlehem, The Coming Prince, Sow, Reap, and Rejoice, Royal Parade, The Great Commission, Golgotha, The Cross, Twenty Shekels, Love One Another, The Lord’s Prayer, I Am He, Washed by Christ, Expelled from Heaven, Sent Two by Two, David’s Prayer, Good Seed, Covenant of Prayer, Judas Iscariot, Simon Peter, Covenant with David (PoC), Angelic Guidance, Covenant with David (K), Lost Anointing, Sixth Bowl of Wrath (reserve), Pentecost, Prosperity (Roots), The Acts of Solomon, Feast of Booths, Impartial Judgment, Captive Princes, Life Through Christ, Overtaken, David’s Proclamation, Angel of the Lord, House of Prayer,, Untouchable, Transfiguration with Moses (GoC) and Elijah (GoC), Mary, Holy Virgin, Lost Child Found, Banner of Love, Counsel for the King, and Gathered Together.
Conclusion:
Well even with Guardian of Your Souls (Nats Promo) seeming like a hard blow to the Soul Surfer deck build it seems Soul Surfer still has meta relevancy and is able to function well even with GoYS active on the board. It is funny because Tuesday March 19 when Guardian of Your Souls was spoiled was the same day I was playing the LGP #14 Top Cut Final against AgurTheWise. I planned to run Soul Surfer’s Crown in that game but was a bit sad thinking my best deck build was not going to be the same once GoYS became legal. Well it is true it is not going to be the same in the GoYS meta but it is by no means done for. Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal gives the build life even in that meta. If you have any ideas for this latest version of Soul Surfer please send them my way as I have not tested this new version of the build yet.
Change Log:
03-22-2024 (Soul Surfer’s Rebuttal)
Deck-
Cut Joanna the Generous and added John, the Fisherman.
Cut Lazarus and added Bartholomew.
Cut Mary, Holy Virgin and added Thaddeus.
Cut The Cross and added My Lord and My God.
Cut Baptism of Jesus and added Walking on Water.
Cut Generous Giving and added Reach of Desperation.
Cut Love One Another and added Testing Solomon.
Cut Authority of Christ and added Boanerges.
Cut Shipwreck and added Chronicles of the Kings.
Cut Lost Child Found and added Goliath’s Curse.
Reserve-
Cut Untouchable and added Authority of Christ.
Explanation:
This update changed the offense to a Purple based offense to navigate around the Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo). With this Lost Child Found no longer had white heroes to be played on so I opted for Goliath’s Curse instead. Without Mary, Holy Virgin Chronicles of the Kings is necessary for dealing with Holy of Holies. All of the other changes are centered around making the offense Purple based so the whole offense can still rescue even with Guardian of Your Souls in play.
03-19-2024 (Soul Surfer’s Crown- LGP #14 Winner)
Deck-
Cut John, the Fisherman and added Possessing Spirit.
Cut Faith of Samuel and added Baptism of Jesus.
Cut Send the Helper and added Book of the Covenant.
Reserve-
Cut Zaccheus and added Send the Helper.
Cut Good Seed and added You Will Remain.
Cut Bless the Nations and added His Sacrifice.
Explanation:
These changes are centered entirely on making the build better against Honey Pot deck builds as well as Overtaken. Obviously as much as I did not want to I cut the powerful banding rescue package of John, the Fisherman, Zaccheus, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations. This is still quite relevant against many defenses in the game but is bad against Honey Pot since dealing with both Holy of Holies and Pot of Manna is tough to do. Neutralizing one is doable but neutralizing both is tough. Baptism of Jesus is good against Honey Pot and is strong in particular with solo Lazarus. Possessing Spirit is a remarkable card in this build. I only run two non-Gospel ECs in Herod Agrippa I and Outsiders (B/G) so it can in many situations set up a cheese rescue with Simon since if the opponent has no evil characters in territory they lack unity to band with Possessing Spirit. Also if the opponent does have evil characters in territory but does not have unity then they cannot band with Possessing Spirit. Even if they do have unity and band with Possessing Spirit I can negate the band on with Baptism of Jesus or His Sacrifice and get the rescue. Further Possessing Spirit provides another way to deal with Nazareth and many other annoying cards such as Resurrection Revealer. If I do happen to need to use Outsiders or Herod Agrippa I to block I can use Lost Child Found to bounce them and then play Possessing Spirit. I added in a Book of the Covenant package in the space cleared out by getting rid of Faith of Samuel, Bless the Nations, and Zaccheus. You Will Remain fits better as an add to battle tool than Good Seed. Also His Sacrifice is necessary. to get rid of Overtaken which has become a threat in the current meta.
02-06-2024 (Rob M Zoom Series 16 winner):
Deck-
Cut Chronicles of the Kings and added Shipwreck.
Cut David, Heart after God and added Mary, Holy Virgin.
Cut Noah, the Righteous and added Joanna, the Generous.
Cut Golgotha and added John, the Fisherman.
Cut Justin Martyr and added Spirit as a Dove.
Cut Word of Christ and added Faith of Samuel.
Cut Blood of the Lamb and added Generous Giving.
Cut Royal Parade and added Love One Another.
Cut Awake LS and added Accusers LS.
Cut The Amalekite’s Slave and added Repudiating Rulers.
Cut Matthew’s Begats and added Hopper LS.
Reserve-
Cut Polycarp and added Zaccheus.
Cut Love One Another and added Bless the Nations.
Cut Spirit as a Dove and added Good Seed.
Cut Amazing Faith and added Duplicity.
Cut Foreign Wives and added Unsuccessful.
Explanation:
The changes here were meant to make the deck better against Nazareth lists as well as giving the offense more firepower. When I lost to a Nazareth deck build in the LGP #13 I realized it is good to have most every character able to use all of the battle winners in the deck. The reason for this is if Nazareth is out then at least the battle winners in hand can be used on each character and searching for a battle winner is not as necessary. Due to this David, Heart after God and Noah, the Righteous got cut and replaced with heroes who work with all the Clay battle winners in the deck: Mary, Holy Virgin and Joanna, the Generous. Due to Mary being able to deal with annoyances like Holy of Holies and losing the ability of Noah to dispatch Nazareth I cut Chronicles of the Kings and added Shipwreck instead.
Further I had found I wanted more ways to Matthew turn 1 so I cut Justin Martyr and shifted Spirit as a Dove to the main deck. This provided two extra ways to Matthew turn 1 due to New Covenant being able to tutor for Spirit as a Dove. Then I wanted to bolster the offense a bit with no longer having CotK and its battle winning potential so I added a package to do hard to interact with rescues where I band in Zaccheus with the support of FBTN from Lazarus or toss from John, the Fisherman. Zaccheus is better than Matthias here because Matthias breaks Mary’s unity. I cut Polycarp for Zaccheus from Reserve since Polycarp breaks Mary’s unity. I cut Golgotha to make room for John, the Fisherman which was a tough call to cut but I could not find anything else main deck worth cutting. Then I cut Word of Christ with Noah being gone and added in Faith of Samuel as a way to band in John/Lazarus along with Zaccheus. I have plenty of ways to get Zaccheus out here since Virgin Birth, Send the Helper, Crowd’s Choice, and Joanna all can snag Zaccheus from Reserve. With The Ascension, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations I was able to get plenty of use from these bands. Throw Joanna/Matthew in and boy does this band draw a lot. I got rid of Blood of the Lamb since Generous Giving fits far better here working with more heroes. Then I had been getting annoyed getting blocked by Foreign Wives turn 1 so I placed Love One Another main deck in place of Royal Parade which no longer was needed for David and Noah.
Then regarding Lost Soul package I discovered a huge innovation for this deck build: Accusers LS. I have a reliable way around Crowds LS in the form of Wanderer LS but I did not have a way around Herdsmen of Gerar. Typically I would just not rescue with Matthew turn 1 if I knew someone was running Herdsmen or I would and accept they would draw a bunch of cards. Well then I realized if I get Accusers LS out before I rescue with Matthew Herdsmen would be negated by Accusers. With 8 ways to Accusers in this deck build turn 0 the odds of that happening are pretty good. I cut Awake LS for Accusers and then I needed another way to get a LS out of deck turn 0 without Awake. Due to this I cut The Amalekite’s Slave which would be negated by Accusers anyway and added Repudiating Rulers whose star ability can get a Lost Soul out turn 0. To make Repudiating Rulers viable as a block I cut Foreign Wives from Reserve and added Unsuccessful. Then I cut Amazing Faith (no use with Noah gone) and added Duplicity. Repudiating Rulers to Duplicity/Unsuccessful is a slick block. Also no longer having Noah and David for Matthew’s Begats to be activated on I cut it for Hopper LS to make my build faster and for more soul gen.
Additional changes to the Reserve not already mentioned included adding Good Seed in the empty slot opened up from Spirit as a Dove being main deck and Bless the Nations in place of Love One Another which was now main deck. Good Seed is great for add to battle and Bless the Nations could be snagged my Mary to band to John/Lazarus along with Zaccheus and also of course could be grabbed off Send the Helper to work with the other heroes rescuing. Bless the Nations is also nasty tossed off Herod’s Temple.
Overall this version of the deck was the most fun to play out of any version of Soul Surfer I have had. It is super explosive and drew tons of cards with using The Ascension, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations to band at least John and/or Lazarus along with Zaccheus in and if I could Matthew and Joanna and Mary as well. These are very strong rescues and draw so many cards. That being said the deck was cruising as I went undefeated with this deck build in the RobM Zoom Series 16 and had won my first three rounds in the Lackey Grand Prix #14. Then in the 4th round I lost to Jay Chamber’s piloting Honey Pot. I swiftly realized all of this banding stuff was ill advised against Pot of Manna. This led to me regrettably shifting off the banding package to be more resilient against Pot of Manna. Naturally this makes the build a little worse against non-Pot of Manna builds but necessary since Honey Pot is one of the best deck builds in the meta.
12-12-2023:
Deck-
Cut Angel of the Lord (O.T.) and added Chronicles of the Kings.
Cut The Twenty-Four Elders and added Noah, the Righteous.
Cut Distressed LS and added Humble LS.
Cut Hopper LS and added Matthew’s Begats.
Cut Covenant with Moses (L Starter) and added Word of Christ.
Cut Reclaimed by Egypt and added Foreign Spears.
Moved Herodias’ Daughter to main deck and moved Foreign Wives to Reserve.
Reserve-
Cut Good Seed and added Amazing Faith.
Explanation:
Most of these changes were not really ones I wanted to make but are necessary due to how the meta has shifted post Redemption ROOTS being released. Holy of Holies and Nazareth are threats that every deck needs to account for. To account for these threats Noah, the Righteous was added in place of The Twenty-Four Elders offering far better contingency. While I really like The Twenty-Four Elders in this deck build as the card fits so well and has better synergy with battle winners than Noah I feel this change is necessary to make the deck build more resilient. The fact Noah hits set-aside area now and his ongoing prevent no longer fizzles when an interrupt the battle is played makes him far more playable. I enjoyed Good Seed and its synergy with 24 Elders and Lazarus but now Amazing Faith is important to have in Reserve to bolster Noah’s rescuing power. Add to battle is important though and Matthew’s Begats fits marvelously in this deck build since it can be activated on both meek Noah and David and the main rescuers in this deck convert to meek. I like Hopper LS since it aids T1 consistency but this deck has plenty of soul gen and Matthew’s Begats is a better card for helping the offense win. It’s star ability is sneaky good since it can grab all of the main rescuers. Humble LS is a necessity with Holy of Holies being such a powerful card but I had a hard time deciding what to cut. I reluctantly cut Distressed LS which I do want in this deck but it is the least critical out of the Lost Souls in the list. It is such a good card but I have seen less negate neutrals as of late and the other souls feel more important right now. Another soul I could cut is Orphans LS for Humble and then bring Distressed back but I feel there are a lot of cards on defense right now that have chump blocks centered around lost souls. Distressed will be missed but Humble is more important right now. Angel of the Lord I will miss since when Complacent is not out it is amazing and is great with Simon the Zealous who can negate Complacent and then use AotL to win the battle. However, Chronicles of the Kings feels more important for dealing with cards like Holy of Holies and it can be a battle winner as well. David, HAG can tutor for Chronicles just as he can AotL (O.T.). Word of Christ is a natural inclusion over Covenant with Moses since they are similar and it works with Noah, the Righteous. Foreign Spears is important since it can get rid of Nazareth. I do like how Reclaimed by Egypt can be a battle winner and not just a negate while also being CBP with Foreign Wives but contingency is more important in this meta. Herodias’ Daughter needs to be main deck as another way to deal with Nazareth and Foreign Wives is fine in Reserve. Overall tough changes to make but necessary for the sake of resiliency against threats in the meta.
10-20-2023 (Previous version 04-4-23):
Deck-
Cut Noah (LoC) and added The Twenty-Four Elders (RoJ).
Cut Lost Soul (Humble) and added Lost Soul (Distressed).
Cut Lost Soul (Escape) and added Lost Soul (Wanderer).
Cut Love One Another and added Covenant with Moses (L Starter).
Reserve-
Cut The Great Commission and added Love One Another.
Cut Amazing Faith and added Good Seed.
Explanation:
Deck- This update is the final result of much refining post winning the 2023 NW Regional Tournament with this deck build back in May 2023. I have alternated between a decent number of cards in the slots above but landed here. Noah, the Righteous became weaker with the ruling that interrupt the battle (even my own) cause his prevent to fizzle entirely and with how many people are running The Highwayman and Outsiders (B/G) he is a major liability with the high brigade count. The Twenty-Four Elders actually is a stronger rescue in this deck due to have 5 battle winners to back them up and the fact 24 Elders has synergy with The Ascension, Herod’s Temple, and the newly added Good Seed. Distressed LS I realized is important since territory class characters are still quite a threat in the 1 TCE world. I realized I did not need Escape LS since I have 8 total ways to every LS in the deck turn 0 without it and Wanderer LS is amazing for dealing with an opponents Crowds LS if I am going first and they got it out turn 0 so my Matthew can work. Beyond this stealing opponent’s LS’s is strong. Covenant with Moses is an amazing addition to the main deck as it works with every single hero in the deck (aside from the searcher angels of course) and is an extra artifact for The Twenty-Four Elders.
Reserve- Amazing Faith is no longer worth running with Noah (LoC) out of the deck and Good Seed adds great add to battle support for Simon rescues and other rescues as well and pairs so well with The Twenty-Four Elders. To make room for Covenant with Moses main deck I cut Love One Another but it is a very important card for dealing with threats like Foreign Wives and is more important than The Great Commission so I cut The Great Commission to make room for Love One Another in Reserve.
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