Zac is back, this time overviewing of all the defensive brigades in Redemption (pre-PoC). First up are brown, pale green, crimson, and evil gold. Enjoy!
Brown is one of the most used defenses in the game right now, or rather a splash Brown defense is. It is known for its powerful decrease abilities and being in just about every deck in some way. Before we get splashy, let’s go through the main themes. First, we have the Gates of Samaria deck. This defense can cause some major damage with its powerful decrease ability and surprise your opponents with site-lock, but it can be very unwieldy, slow, and tends to get big from all the sites needed to make it work. Top cards in this would be King Jeroboam I and King Nadab, King Omri, Jezebel, The Fallen King, King Ahab, King Jehoash, King Ahaziah, King Jeroboam II, Land Purchase, and Taking Naboth’s Vineyard.
Next, we have the Gates of Jerusalem defense, which is almost always paired with a Solomon’s Temple offense. Gates of Jerusalem makes your Kings cannot be negated and the draw 1 is nice, but it lacks depth and needs to be paired with something else to work. Top cards here would be King Zedekiah and Dungeon of Malchiah, King Abijam, King Manasseh and King Amon, King Rehoboam and Strife, King Saul and Doeg.
Job is the next defense, which you will only see with a Job offense as well. This has lots of banding and big numbers, but lacks any kind of speed. It also needs to be huge and supplemented with some faster cards and initiative characters, but since Job offenses are tiny this can be arranged. Top cards are Behemoth, Zophar the Naamathite, Bildad, the Shuhite, Eliphaz, the Temanite, Job’s Wife, Leviathan, Affliction of Job, Fire from Heaven, Fires of Abaddon, and Foolish Advice.
Finally, we have Persians, which are only technically a thing right now (until Prophecies of Christ comes out that is, where they get some love). Right now, the only notable things they can do is set-aside lots of heroes and play Haman’s Plot without ripping it because of Haman’s Gallows.
Alright, so now on to the splash defense. This can go in a lot of different ways, but in general you will be using, Gomer, Gibeonite Trickery, Haman’s Plot, Scattered, Medium in Endor/Complainers, Confusion, Treasures of War, Provoked, Outsiders with some fun idols, and The Amalekites’ Slave/Uzzah/Foreign Wives in reserve. You can also add parts for the above defenses, such as Leviathan/Behemoth/Job’s Wife/Fire from Heaven, King Rehoboam/Strife, and King Zedekiah/Dungeon of Malchiah. This defense also has a lot of synergy with Crimson and Pale Green. Offenses that work well with this include…everything, but particularly White, as they share many enhancements (see the section on White of all the shared enhancements)
Pale Green has been in many of the top defenses over the past years, mainly because of Magicians. Magicians power come from the fact they pair well with just about anything, but they go especially well with Brown, Crimson, and Orange. You have Astrologers, Sorcerers, Elymas the Sorcerer, and Egyptian Magicians who can get cards off the bottom of your deck, such as the very powerful Invoking Terror. Damsel with Spirit of Divination is great for drawing, Medium in Endor can shut down offenses if they have a weak hero out, and The Judean Mediums can create some nasty combos. One of the main reasons for running Magicians is Magic Charms, giving you a more powerful Unholy Writ without using an artifact slot. Other good Magicians cards include King Manasseh, Balaam, Simon the Magician, Chaldeans, Laban, Divination, Magicians’ Snakes, Pride of Simon, and Mimicking Miracles.
Antediluvians is the next most prominent Pale Green defense out there, mainly because of the prominence of the Flood Survivors offense, which it pairs well with. Between Corrupt People and Continuous Evil, you have great recursion of your characters and enhancements, Good reserve access with City of Enoch, Zillah, and Tubal-Cain, and a strong protect ability in Naamah. Other prominent cards include The Flood, Violent Men, Cain, Wicked People, Wickedness Abounds, Cain Murders Abel, and Lamech the Avenged.
Finally, we have the Assyrians. Now a-days you will mostly see them in Type 2, as most of their powerful characters are generic. You have Assyrian Archer and The Rabsaris for banding, Assyrian Survivor for initiative, Assyrian Siege Army for territory destruction, and Nimrod, the Mighty for searching.
Pale Green also has tons of powerful cards not specific to a theme, such as Death of Unrighteous, Two Thousand Horses, Forgotten History, Scattered, Achan’s Sin, Women as Snares, Confusion, Treasures of War, Balaam’s Teaching, The Serpent, Did God Really Say?, Shame, Forbidden Fruit, Blame Shifting, Corrupt Earth, and Envy.
Crimson is a brigade that packs a lot of power, and just like Brown, is usually run as a kind of splash defense. First let’s go over the main themes, starting with Babylonians. Your powerful characters include Nebuchadnezzar, Nergalsharezer, King Belshazzar, Babylonian Soldiers, Nimrod, the Mighty, Babylon/The Harlot, and Astrologers. Enhancements include Head of Gold, Swift Horses, Desecrate the Temple, and Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride. Although this defense has a lot of power, especially with capture and being able to search out most anything with Nebuchadnezzar, it lacks speed. Usually you will see this paired with an Ezekiel offense, as they share Forest Fire, Drawn Sword, and Iron Pan.
Next, we have Heretics, which is mostly a Type 2 defense. They have some powerful lost soul protection abilities, but usually can only protect a few NT lost souls at a time, making them very hard to use in Type 1. Your main cards in this deck would include Philetus, False Teacher, Creeping Deceiver, Simon the Magician, Impostors, Judaizers, Hermogenes, Phygellus, and Diotrephes.
Finally, we have Animals, which have seen the most love in recent years. There are some very powerful characters here, such as the ever-present Fire Foxes, along with Lions, Bear, Esau, the Hunter, The Serpent, Fiery Serpents, Wayward Sheep, Leviathan, and Behemoth. You also have Serpent’s Curse and Honey from a Lion for support. If you are seeing Crimson, you are most likely seeing an Animals defense.
There are tons of other powerful non-theme specific cards in Crimson, such as Dream, Midianite Attack, Belshazzar’s Banquet, Scattered, Red Dragon, Sapphira, Deceit of Sapphira, Imitating Evil, Great Image, Hypocrisy, Dissension in Antioch, Disagreement over Mark, The Egyptian Rebel, Treasures of War, Deceitful Sin, Outsiders, Dragon’s Wrath, Nicolaitans’ Teaching, and The Wages of Sin. There are so many options for Crimson, so pick a base theme for a defense and add what looks good to you!
Evil Gold is known for 1 thing in recent years: deck discard, also called milling. There are 2 main themes in Evil Gold, the first one being Herods. Herods revolve around withdraw abilities, as Herod Agrippa II and Herod’s Praetorium makes them cannot be negated, along with a fair amount of deck discard and capture. Top characters and enhancements include Salome, Herod the Great, Archelaus, Herod Philip II, Herod Agrippa I, Bernice, Rash Oath, Herod’s Treachery, Escape to Egypt, and Imprisoned. Herod’s Dungeon is a powerful support card, so cards that let you get rid of captured characters or empty a site help this deck, and Herod’s Temple helps keep your NT characters around longer. This defense pairs well with any NT human offense, particularly one with speed as this defense doesn’t have any.
Next, we have the defense Evil Gold is known for: Egyptians. They come in a few different builds, focusing around Genesis and Exodus. Genesis Egyptians is a super-fast defense focusing around Pharaoh’s Baker, Pharaoh’s Cupbearer, The Dreaming Pharaoh, and Egyptian Magicians for speed and Potiphar, Potiphar’s Wife, Egyptian Warden, and The Deceived Pharaoh for capturing power. This is very fast, but doesn’t last long as you get rid of most of your characters to use their abilities. It pairs well with a Genesis offense, as they share Seven Years of Famine, Seven Years of Plenty, and both can use/search for Storehouse.
Exodus Egyptians focus a bit more on milling, featuring The Hard-Hearted Pharaoh, Egyptian Horsemen, and Taskmaster. You also have Jambres, Jannes, and Magicians Staves/Snakes (along with Egyptian Magicians) to have some Magicians in there for Magic Charms. Other notable characters include Egyptian Charioteers, Egyptian Wise Men, and Pharaoh’s Daughter. Since this defense leans on milling, you will probably add in Queen Tahpenes, Huge Egyptian, Egyptian Spear, Beheaded, Egyptian Treasures, Pithom, Sun Worship, Stormy Seas, and Given Over to Egypt. This defense pars well with any offense small enough to give it the card space it needs to make it work, as it can take a lot. One that comes to mind specifically is a Watchful Servant deck.
Other non-theme specific Evil Gold cards include Egyptian Archer, Failed Objective, Unknown Nation, Wonders Forgotten, Ruthless, The Amalekites’ Slave, Foreign Wives, Egyptian Horses, King of Tyrus, Magicians’ Snakes, Herod’s Sword, Abandonment, Revolt, Paying Taxes, No Straw!, Evicted, Outsiders, Raamses, Pharaoh’s Throne Room, Hard Bondage, and Envy.
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