What is a counter? A counter is an effect which cancels another effect or card directly. There are two types of counters in games of strategy. Hard counters and soft counters. With hard counter the opposing strategy has no chance and is completely dominated. For example in rock-paper-scissors: rock hard counters scissors, scissors hard counters paper, etc. Soft-counters include situation where a card has an advantage over another card, but not an overwhelming one. A soft counter will usually beat the card it is opposing if it is able to get into play.
How does this apply in Redemption? Redemption historically has attempted to counter popular strategies from prior years with card printed the following year to counter popular strategies from the previous year. An example from the Disciples set is Golgotha, a soft counter, in response to the sheer dominance of The Garden Tomb strategies for many years, and the always solid Jacob + Reuben’s Torn Clothes play in T2. Another example from the Disciples set was Nazareth a hard counter to search abilities in response to search and A New Beginning abuse in T2 multiplayer. An example from the 2011 release would be Covenant with Death following the dominance of Thaddeus (in T1 and T2), Pharisees (T1 & T2), and Heretics (T2) during the 2010-2011 Tournament Season.
Some counters printed see a ton of play while many never see play in any competitive deck. Why do some counters see play while others collect dust never seeing the light of day? Is it too narrow scoped? Self-destructive to your own strategies? Unreliable? Squishable? No tutor? In the next installment I will discuss counters to some of the best abilities in the game, and how best to utilize them.
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John David Cunningham
Great article on some solid counters and why they exist! Looking forward to the next installment!! Thanks!