Welcome back to A Journey Through ROOT! Part 1 left off right before my January ROOT game against kariusvega. I included the deck list for the deck I was testing in ROOT which was tweaked after my first ROOT test game (a 5-0 win for me). With Part 2, I’ll be doing a play-by-play walk-through of our game. Without further ado…

JD (kariusvega on the message board) and I load our decks. I see that he is playing a 51-card deck which leads me to believe he’s playing a faster offensive-heavy deck.

We both draw 2 lost souls – JD puts the Retribution and Awake LS in play, and I put the Awake and Revealer LS in play. JD carries out his Awake LS immediately, searches my deck, and puts my Hopper LS in play. I carry out my Awake LS first, as it was played first. I look at JD’s deck and see a familiar deck: a clay splash offense centered around Colossae heroes with a crimson splash defense focused around heretics.

I played against this deck in ROOT a few months ago and barely won 5-4 with my Judges/Ezekiel/Babylonians/Magicians deck. I know it’s a very solid deck that takes advantage of a lot of new PC cards. I don’t spend too much time trying to memorize his deck; I find his Hopper LS and put it in play. JD shuffles his deck and my Revealer LS reveals Claudia and Destruction of Nehushtan which get underdecked.

Both of us now have 3 LS in play so we roll a die to see who goes first: JD wins and chooses to go first. He attacks with Epaphras from hand and searches his deck for Philemon, then bands to Philemon. Philemon then draws 2 cards. In my hand, I have the following 8 cards: Scattered, Captured by Assyria, Stocks, Falling Away, Siegeworks, Live Coal, Vain Philosophy, and Seraphim (band to Blue). Not a great hand at all – the only character I have is a hero I never plan on attacking with. I have no cards to jump-start my offense, like Angelic Guidance or Wheel Within a Wheel. I also have 3 lost souls in play and no evil character. I relinquish a LS and immediately play Falling Away. JD plays out Cornelius and passes the turn to me. 0-0

I draw 3 cards (Christian Martyr, Daniel, Assyrian Archer). I attack with Daniel and look at JD’s hand. He is holding Mercy of James, Scattered, The Serpent, The Lord Rebuke You!, Praise from Prison, Judas Iscariot, Deluders, and Angel of the Lord. JD gives me his Hopper. I play out Seraphim and end my turn. 1-0 (me)

JD draws 3 and attacks with Epaphras again. He searches out Onesimus and adds him to hand. Then he bands to Philemon to draw 2, hitting his Thorns and Escape lost souls in the process. I block with Assyrian Archer and discard Cornelius. JD plays Angel of the Lord instead of granting me initiative, which really hurts as I had Scattered in hand, and once again I have no evil characters. I give JD my Hopper. He plays out Music Leader, Onesimus, Sapphira, Deluders, and Judas Iscariot and ends his turn. 1-1

I draw 3 cards (Seraphim (band to Green), Two Thousand Horses, Wheel Within a Wheel), hitting my own Retribution LS. I play Wheel and search out Seraph with a Live Coal and place Wheel on him. JD uses Music Leader to search out Word of Christ. I have no better options than attacking with Daniel and I don’t want to band to him with an angel since JD is holding Scattered. So I attack with Daniel again. JD blocks with Judas Iscariot and I grant him initiative. He plays Christian Suing Another. I point out that it is negated by Daniel and let him take it back to hand. JD then plays Christian Martyr to discard Daniel. I play out Seraphim (band to Green) and end my turn. 1-1

JD draws 3 and plays out Peter. Then he attacks with Philemon and draws 3. I play Christian Martyr to win the battle and JD heals Philemon with Peter. JD plays out Archippus and The Serpent. He discards Word of Christ and Praise from Prison from hand. Then he plays Hypocrisy and returns my three angels and Wheel back to my hand. JD ends his turn. 1-1

I draw 3 and hit no lost souls. As I was afraid of, JD immediately plays Mayhem. I shuffle 15 cards and JD only shuffles 7; plus, he still has a lot of characters in play. I draw 6 (I Am Holy, Seraphim (band to Blue), Siegeworks, Esau the Hunter, Damsel with Spirit of Divination, and Angelic Guidance), hitting the FBTN LS and 3-Liner LS. JD hits his NT-only LS with his D6.

I play out I Am Holy (face-down) and Seraphim. I play Angelic Guidance and look at JD’s hand (Christian Suing Another, Disagreement over Mark, Simon the Magician, Burning of Magic Books, Jude, James Leader in Jerusalem). I grab Isaiah’s Call from deck and use it to grab Isaiah from deck. JD uses Music Leader to get back Praise from Prison and Word of Christ from discard. I activate I Am Holy and discard Siegeworks from hand; JD discards Simon.

At this point, even though the score is 1-1, I am so far behind that I probably need a miracle to win. I know JD can stop me with his enhancements in hand but I bluff anyways. I attack with Isaiah, place Siegeworks on deck, and draw it. JD blocks with Judas Iscariot and plays CSA making my Isaiah fight his Philemon (JD draws 3). JD plays Falling Away, which he just drew. My initiative in the side battle: I play Siegeworks to underdeck Philemon. The original battle resumes where JD plays Disagreement over Mark to underdeck Isaiah and Seraphim. I end my turn. 1-0 JD

JD draws 3 and plays/activates Unholy Writ. He attacks with Epaphras to search out Philemon, band him into battle, and draw 3. I block with Damsel and look at JD’s hand (Herod’s Temple, Hymenaeus, Barnabas, The Lord Rebuke You!, New Jerusalem, Elymas Struck Blind, Praise from Prison, Word of Christ, Burning of Magic Books, Jude, James LiJ). I draw 4 (Confusion, Assyrian Survivor, Assyrian Siege Army, Striking Herod) and JD grants me initiative. I play Confusion and find my miracle: Son of God is in JD’s last 10 cards! I discard it, Damsel dies, and I give a tap to the 3-Liner LS. JD plays out Barnabas and James then discards New Jerusalem from hand and ends his turn. 1-0 JD

I draw 3 (Seraph, Mist, Magic Charms). I deactivate I Am Holy and attack with Seraph banded to JD’s Barnabas. I search his deck and put the Revealer LS in play. JD blocks with Hymenaeus, searches out Philetus from deck, and bands him into battle. Then he searches my discard pile and removes Daniel, Angelic Guidance, and Siegeworks from the game. He takes Barnabas prisoner with Unholy Writ and grants me initiative. I play Striking Herod and we debate if Philetus would be interrupted by it. We decide on “not interrupted” so I discard Hymenaeus. It’s a mutual destruction and we both pass. Our characters are discarded and JD gives me his Hopper. I play out Assyrian Survivor (I’ll discuss this at length in Part 3) and end my turn. 1-1

JD draws 3 and plays out Herod’s Temple. He activates Holy Grail and converts my Assyrian Survivor to blue. Then he rescues with Music Leader. I block with Assyrian Siege Army and discard Holy Grail. I grant JD initiative and he plays Word of Christ: he draws a card and chooses to ignore pale green. I can’t interrupt or negate this so I give him my Retriever LS. JD puts Apollos in play and ends his turn. 2-1 (JD)

I draw 3 (Stocks, Razor, Michael). I attack with Michael. JD blocks with The Serpent and paralyzes Assyrian Survivor for 3 turns. I grant him initiative and he plays Dissension in Antioch. I have nothing to interrupt or negate this so Michael withdraws. I end my turn. 2-1 (JD)

JD draws 3 (decking out in the process) and attacks with Jude from hand. When he checks his discard pile for a Jude enhancement, we discover that the two cards my Revealer revealed at the beginning of the game (Claudia and Destruction of Nehushtan) have disappeared. This does happen on rare occasion by the Revealer LS, so we agree that JD’s SoG and NJ will now be Claudia and DoN. He underdecks them and I block with ASA to discard Herod’s Temple. I grant JD initiative, and he plays Praise from Prison and converts Assyrian Siege Army to clay. I give JD my Revealer LS and JD ends his turn. 3-1 (JD)

I draw 3 (Death of Unrighteous, Vain Philosophy, Angel of the Lord). I reduce Assyrian Survivor’s paralysis to 2 turns. As a quick update, my hand is now Razor, Stocks, Mist, Esau the Hunter, Angel of the Lord, Vain Philosophy, and Death of Unrighteous. I attack with Michael again. JD blocks with The Egyptian Rebel and bands to Judas Iscariot. I can’t play Angel of the Lord so Michael dies. I end my turn. 3-1 (JD)

JD draws 2 and decks out. He attacks with Epaphras. My Esau the Hunter won’t get initiative against Epaphras unless I have Two Thousand Horses and I haven’t looked at his hand in a while so I play Vain Philosophy. I see DoN, Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride, Scattered, Mercy of James, Elymas Struck Blind, The Lord Rebuke You!, Peter’s Sermon, and Burning of Magic Books. My decision of what to underdeck won’t change the battle outcome so I choose Mercy of James. I give JD the Awake LS and JD ends his turn. 4-1 (JD)

I draw 3 (Seraphim (band to Green), Angel of His Presence, Live Coal) and reduce Assyrian Survivor’s paralysis to 1 turn. I activate I Am Holy and discard Seraphim (band to Green) from hand. JD considers playing DoN but then discards Scattered. I attack with Angel of His Presence since my only chance of winning is to draw Two Thousand Horses. I draw New Jerusalem instead. JD gets Praise from Prison and Word of Christ back with Music Leader and blocks with The Egyptian Rebel banded to Judas Iscariot. Angel of His Presence dies and end my turn. 4-1 (JD)

JD draws Mercy of James, attacks with Jude, and chooses Deluders to block. I grant him initiative and he plays Elymas Struck Blind. I give JD his 5th LS and congratulate him on a game well played.

In Part 3, I’ll discuss my reasoning for some of my bigger decisions, what changes I’d make to my deck, and how to separate “things that didn’t work in your deck” with “things that need changing from your deck”. Congrats to JD for a deck well built and piloted!

To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies, please visit Three Lions Gaming!

By JoshH

Josh has collected Redemption cards since the original unlimited booster packs, but has only been playing Redemption competitively since 2010. He has fallen in love with pretty much every strategy game ever introduced to him. When Josh plays Redemption, he tries to find and build creative decks that are outside the mold of the current popular decks.