By the perfect authority of His Word, the Holy Bible, we know that about 6,000 years ago, God created the heavens and the earth over six 24-hour days. Humanity was uniquely created on the sixth day in God’s image to live forever in face-to-face loving relationship with Him amongst the rest of Creation (yes even including the then-peaceful dinosaurs!) in the perfect universe God made and called “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
The rest of the Book of Genesis’ 50 chapters describe this and the ensuing Fall, worldwide Flood and Tower of Babel dispersion, as well as the ensuing formation and development of the nation of Israel as God progressively revealed both Himself and His ultimate plan of salvation for humanity: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – the Creator God Himself (!) – on the Cross.
In Redemption, the strong Genesis offense theme is in the blue Brigade, and employs two main strategies to rescue Lost Souls: Joseph/Benjamin battle-winners and hand control using Zebulun.
Joseph is a very strong Hero, as he is protected from discard and Enhancements with Joseph in the title or reference also cannot be negated (CBN) when played on him. With his very low numbers of 2/2 and that protection from discard, he almost always gets initiative against his defender to play one of three battle–winning Enhancements meeting that condition: Forgiveness of Joseph, Joseph before Pharaoh, and Reuben’s Torn Clothes. Reuben’s Torn Clothes can even be played pre-block using Hidden Treasures to keep an entire brigade from entering battle! Along those same lines, Benjamin is 1/1 and if all your Heroes are Genesis, then Genesis Enhancements are CBN.
Furthermore, multiple other Genesis cards are designed to get Joseph, Benjamin, or one of the aforementioned Enhancements in play quickly: Rachel, Judah, Numerous as the Stars, Answer to Prayer, and Stone Pillar at Bethel. And one final note for Joseph: being dual brigade blue and green, he is able to use the super-powerful Enhancement Creation of the World, which searches your deck for all your Genesis Heroes and bands them into battle at once!
Jacob is another key Genesis character whose strength is in his versatile abilities of either banding to any silver brigade Hero or immediately playing a Genesis Enhancement. The instant-initiative opportunity is excellent for using Reuben’s Torn Clothes to prevent human Evil Characters from even entering battle. Jacob, as well as Joseph (with Hidden Treasures) can both play Obedience of Noah pre-block to choose one of your small Evil Characters that doesn’t match the brigade played by your opponent. This almost assures you of a successful rescue! Or, if the banding ability of Jacob is utilized instead, one great angel to employ is Captain of the Host, who negates all special abilities except banding.
Using Zebulun is one of the strongest strategies for Genesis, as his ability to ignore Evil Characters with a toughness greater than the number of cards in your hand enables you to strategically reduce your hand through cards such as I Am Holy to be so low that Zebulun will ignore almost any Evil Character and walk in uncontested for the rescue. Another way to shrink your hand is by playing a deck with lots of “permanents” (Characters, Sites, Artifacts, Fortresses) and a low Enhancement count. It also helps if the Enhancements you have are territory class, and you can use Goshen to protect your Genesis Heroes in play.
Additionally, in T1, Simeon is actually one of the strongest Genesis characters. His ability to repeatedly discard an evil card from the opponent’s hand or territory can be brutal- especially when combined with other hand control. Dan is also useful for hand control, but not nearly as good as Simeon. One final note about Genesis offenses – they have good recursion with both Asher and Abraham’s Descent, and Eve’s draw and ignore abilities make her a unique weapon as well.
One of the best defenses to pair with Genesis offenses is Romans, as their strength in hand control complements well the aforementioned cards such as I Am Holy and Seven Years of Famine to reduce your opponent’s options and control the game. Pharisees, being also gray brigade along with Romans, may be combined with Romans to add speed to the defense.
Pharisees are very good with Genesis, but are often combined with Romans if you’re using a hand control style Genesis offense. Romans offer more hand control options that Pharisees. This can be seen in both the 2008 and 2013 T1-2P 1st place decks.
Also, a defense of Gold brigade Egyptians are a natural match for a Genesis offense, as the dual Enhancements Seven Years of Plentyy and Seven Years of Famine are both blue and evil gold brigades. Also, the Egyptian defense uses many Genesis Evil Characters, which syncs well with the offense in case any of them are converted because Benjamin and Zebulun’s abilities depend on all your Heroes being Genesis.
Finally, the new card Peace from The Early Church set is an extremely strong enhancement that is Blue Brigade. It causes all enhancements played in the battle to be tossed. It will be interesting to see how players utilize it with Genesis Hero offenses!
PrimaryStrategies:
Ignore/Hand Control
Jacob-Silver Banding
Protect Fortress:
Goshen
Key Artifacts:
Other Key Cards:
Best Characters:
Best Enhancements:
Best Defenses to Use With:
Romans
Pharisees
Egyptians
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RedWing
Jubilee is a great card for Genesis. Goes well with I am Holy.