RoJ Playtest Deck Review #2 - Seals and Bowls

As the title suggests, this deck was based around the Seals and Bowls of Wrath cards. These cards are going to be among the most versatile cards in the game so I wanted to see how strong it would be to use all of them in a deck.

Another thing I wanted to test was how strong the I deck Gabriel would be in recurring these cards since they could also be used as evil enhancements and evil characters once they were returned to hand. Because the Bowls of Wrath were all different brigades, I used mostly evil characters that could play any enhancement either because they were multi or they had that specific ability.

Dominants:
Son of God (I)
The Second Coming
Angel of the Lord (E)
Three Woes
Christian Martyr (C)
Falling Away (CoW)
Guardian of Your Souls (RoJ)

Lost Souls:
Lost Soul (Dull)
Lost Soul (Lawless)
Lost Soul (Awake)
Lost Soul (Forsaken)
Lost Soul (Crowds)
Lost Soul (CBP)
Lost Soul "Imitate"

Heroes:
The Strong Angel (RoJ)
The Angelic Army
Servant Angel (RoJ)
Gabriel (I)
Angel from the Altar
Angel of Revelation (RoJ)
Michael, the Archangel
Angels of Wrath
The Four Living Creatures

Good Enhancements/Covenants:
Covenant of Prayer
You Will Remain
Everlasting Beings (RoJ)
Angelic Guidance (I)

Evil Characters:
Silly Women (PC)
Foreign Wives
Deceiving Spirit
User of Curious Arts
The Deceiver
Foreign Spearman
The Priest of Zeus

Evil Enhancements:
Lurking
Lying Unto God
Four Horsemen
Besieging the City

Sites:
Patmos (RoJ)

Artifacts:
Golden Censer

Reserve:
Third Bowl of Wrath
Self
Every Mans Sword (CoW)
Two Thousand Horses
The Amalekites' Slave
Three Nails
Wrath of Satan
The Ends of the Earth (RoJ)
First Bowl of Wrath
Fire, Smoke, and Sulfur

The offense was very strong—because of the Seals and Bowls, I nearly always had a battle winner of some kind available to me so this let me play very aggressively. Gabriel was (as expected) a very strong part of this offense. Many times I already had a battle winner for him in hand and I was able to recur a Seal or Bowl that would be useful for blocking on my opponent’s turn. The one drawback to using Gabriel was that he disrupts The Angelic Army. Ideally I would try to get a couple uses out of Angelic Army early in the game and then start using Gabriel later in the game when recurring resources would be more effective.

The defense was not overpowering, but it could definitely hold its own. With the assistance of Gabriel, I could withstand using 2-3 enhancements per battle without feeling like I was going to run out of resources too quickly. There were many times where I played multiple negates plus a battle winner in order to block, but I was able to recover pretty easily—especially if it took my opponent an extra turn to regroup from a big battle in which lots of resources were expended. War was one of the key evil characters as his ability to grab Every Man’s Sword or Two Thousand Horses proved very effective.

Overall this was a very fun deck to play as the versatility of the Seals and Bowls made for a lot of battle interactions. I definitely expect to see some decks like this show up at the summer tournaments! Last but not least, our winner #2 for the “Thank you!” contest is…
Josh K. a.k.a Master Q!!!

Thanks for stopping by Land of Redemption and be sure to check back soon for another playtest deck review and the last winner of the “Thank you” contest!

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