Land of Redemption editor CtheTree (Chad) reveals a really cool combo he found for Rotation formats.
Introduction:
I am here to divulge a combo I found to the community. I was planning to keep this combo secret and use it at Nationals this year but I cannot go to Nationals due to a work conflict. I used it effectively in my fourth round Lackey Grand Prix game against Jay Chambers (Red) this week. Gabe’s BoM decklist he posted recently on Discord prompted me to decide to spill the beans because whether he realized it or not his deck contains one of the versions of the combo.
Without further ado here is the combo.
The Combo:
How many of you remember the old cheese rescue with Faith of David+King Jehu+Ahimelek, the Hittite+David in play? Well for those of you not familiar the basic premise was to have David in territory, King Jehu in territory, and Ahimelek the Hittite in play and then play faith of David down. Normally you would enter battle with Asahel or Elijah to choose the blocker and then discard Faith of David to add King Jehu to battle and exchange King Jehu with Ahimelek the Hittite to bounce their lone EC, CBN. This combo went away with Rotation though and is only possible in Classic.
Well I have found a way to do something very similar to this in Rotation. Here is the basic premise: Play Faith of David, have a removal effect that can be added to battle off Faith of David, and enter battle with Jeremiah, Hope Bringer. Then you discard Faith of David to add your removal effect to battle which is functionally CBN since Jeremiah will toss whatever negate or interrupt is played in SI. The only way around this really is something like Three Woes or Chronicles of the Kings or of course having more than one EC in battle.
The way in Gabe’s BoM deck to accomplish this is entering battle with Jeremiah and discarding Faith of David to add a cloud or royal warrior who has Sword of the Spirit equipped to them to negate and discard the opponent’s evil multi brigade or Orange EC.
There are other ways to accomplish this combo though. Here are the ones I have found.
Combo Variations:
Faith of David+Jeremiah+Temple Spear’s and Shields on a red warrior who is cloud or royal.
Faith of David+Jeremiah+Israel’s Bow or Israel’s Sword on a blue or red warrior who is cloud or royal.
Faith of David+Jeremiah+Isaac (CoW)+An angel in play
Faith of David+Jeremiah+King Jehu+Amminadab, the Generous+Meek hero in play
Faith of David+Jeremiah+King Jehu+Amos (with board advantage, this one is cool since potentially you can get rid of multiple EC’s)
Faith of David+Jeremiah+King Jehu+Elijah/Zaccheus (GoC) (This works if their is a royal evil human in opponents territory. You add Jehu with FoD, exchange with a CTB hero, and choose the royal evil human to block and Jehu’s ability will discard that EC essentially CBN due to Jeremiah).
Faith of David+Jeremiah+Asa, the Upright (if the EC is an evil male with a band ability or an evil royal female)
EDIT- DemonHunter85 pointed out another variation after I wrote this article: Faith of David+Jeremiah+Noah (add Noah off FoD to shuffle their non-human EC). This also works with Isaiah: Faith of David+Isaiah+Noah.
EDIT- Jayden Alstad pointed out a simple combo where if the opponent has an evil royal human in battle you enter with King Jehu, exchange with Elijah or Zaccheus (GoC) to choose that EC to block and they get discarded by Jehu’s ability. It is not essentially CBN though since Jeremiah is not there. As you can see above I found a route with Faith of David that leads to getting this concept essentially CBN with Jeremiah there.
Non Jeremiah Ways to Combo:
Faith of David+Isaiah+King Jehu+Amminadab+Meek hero in play
Faith of David+Isaiah+King Jehu+Perez, the Younger
These two with Isaiah are truly CBN. Unlike with Jeremiah dominants cannot negate Isaiah’s modifier and dominants cannot negate Amminadab or Perez since they are modified by Isaiah.
Summary:
The most direct routes in my opinion are Faith of David+Jeremiah+TS&S on a red warrior who is could or royal, OR Faith of David+Jeremiah+Israel’s Bow or Israel’s Sword on a blue or red warrior who is cloud or royal, OR Faith of David+Sword of the Spirit+Any warrior who is cloud or royal. These all require less cards than the original Faith of David+King Jehu+Ahimelek+David in play combo did. The reason is instead of needing to grab David they work if your build is correct with any of the cloud or royal warriors in a deck. Both my new version(s) of the combo mentioned here specifically and the old one with Ahimelek require four total cards but since David was the only one who could enable Ahimelek to be CBN and in the versions I mention above any cloud or royal warrior of the needed brigade will work depending on the version.
A Problem?
Now you might say: well that is really cool but it is not as strong as Faith of David+King Jehu+Ahimelek, the Hittite+David in play since you could choose the blocker with Asahel or Elijah prior to battle to make sure the opponent would not block with a band. This is true. That being said you can time this right when an opponent does not have a band available.
—OR—
How to get the combo with choose the blocker:
EDIT: (Originally I had this Route: Faith of David+Jeremiah+King Jehu, or David, Outcast’s Refuge, OR Jehoshaphat+Zadok with Temple Spears and Shields Equipped+Elijah, OR Zaccheus (GoC), OR Bathsheba paired with David or Solomon). Jayden Alstad pointed out this does not work due to the way ability activation order works according to the R.E.G. on page 15. The abilities on characters do happen before the abilities on weapons OTHER than abilities that add a character to battle. So the bounce on Temple Spears and Shields would happen before Zadok bands to Jeremiah meaning the bounce would not be essentially CBN since Jeremiah would not be in battle yet. That being said I discovered another route that works!)
Route 1: Faith of David+Jeremiah+King Jehu, OR David, Outcast’s Refuge, OR Jehoshaphat+Zadok with Temple Spears and Shields equipped+A red warrior with Israel’s Bow, Israel’s Sword, or Sword of the Spirit equipped+Elijah, OR Zaccheus (GoC), OR Bathsheba paired with David or Solomon.
So basically you enter battle with Elijah or Zaccheus to choose the blocker (or enter with lone Solomon or David and convert Bathsheba in territory to meek to CTB), then you discard Faith of David to add King Jehu to battle who exchanges with Zadok with Temple Spears and Shields equipped (you can also accomplish this adding David, Outcasts Refuge or Jehoshaphat to battle off Faith of David. Depending on the variation of the combo you are running and your build one of these guys could be better than Jehu). If there is more than one EC in battle (say the EC you chose to block had a band ability) Zadok will elect to bounce one of them with Temple Spears and Shields but if only one EC is in battle Zadok will not bounce the lone EC in battle with Temple Spears and Shields since the bounce is optional. Then Zadok will band to Jeremiah with his band ability, then temple Spears and Shields will band to a red warrior with Israel’s Bow, Israel’s Sword, or Sword of the Spirit (this one is limited on the types of ECs it can remove) equipped to it removing the lone EC in battle essentially CBN due to Jeremiah. This requires extra cards to pull off compared to the original route but has the added bonus of being able to get rid of two evil characters. Bouncing one of the ECs with Temple Spear’s and Shields does not create special initiative and then Jeremiah will toss any possible negate or interrupt when the final EC is removed from battle by a red warrior with one of the removal effects equipped.
[NOTE: If you are running the Isaac variation, the Amminadab variation, or Amos variation then you bring Zadok into battle with David or Jehoshaphat and then band to King Jehu with Temple Spears and Shields to exchange with one of these heroes].
Route 2: Faith of David+Isaiah+David, Outcast’s Refuge, OR Jehoshaphat+Zadok with Temple Spears and Shields equipped+King Jehu+Amminadab or Perez+Elijah, OR Zaccheus (GoC), OR Bathsheba paired with David or Solomon.
If you are running the Isaiah variation with Amminadab or Perez then this allows for CTB with that variation. It runs the same as the Jeremiah variation other than you have to use David or Jehoshaphat off Faith of David to bring Zadok into battle with Temple Spears and Shields equipped after the CTB character has chosen a blocker. Then Zadok bands to Isaiah with his band ability and then uses Temple Spears and Shields to band to King Jehu who exchanges with Amminadab or Perez. This route requires less extra cards than the Jeremiah route paired with CTB interestingly enough.
Route 3: Faith of David+Jeremiah+New Covenant (Jeremiah)+CTB character+Removal effect.
I figured out this route due to a comment by Jayden Alstad. Basically you use New Covenant (Jeremiah) to give Jeremiah the ability to band. Then you band to Elijah or Zaccheus (GoC) from hand since you have to have unity to use New Covenant (Jeremiah) to choose the blocker then you use Faith of David to get you removal effect of choice into battle. The problem is unity since many of the removal effects require an equipped weapon in territory on a character who will likely break unity with Jeremiah. So you have to keep them in hand until New Covenant has done its job. Routes 1 and 2 are likely easier to pull off depending on your build.
NOTE: This of course all works with the Isaiah variation too just you use New Covenant on Isaiah and then add Jehu and Amminadab or Perez in after Isaiah has banded to a CTB effect.
–OR–
How to obtain a lone evil character in battle for the combo:
Route 3: Any of the above variations of the combo with Wool Fleece (CoW) active.
This is a simple way to get a lone EC in battle for the combo. That being said it is not quite as strong as choose the blocker since an opponent can block with an EC of their choice and can band to an evil character in hand.
Route 4 (courtesy of Jayden Alstad): Any of the above variations of the combo with The Great White Throne active.
This is a reliable way to get a lone evil character in battle if you have an evil card to discard in territory.
Conclusion:
So there you have it. Had I been able to go to Nationals I would have kept this a secret and utilized it in a deck there. I actually asked Jay Chambers to keep it secret after I used one of the versions of the combo against him in our Lackey Grand Prix game but when I saw Gabe’s BoM decklist today and the Faith of David+Jeremiah+Sword of the Spirit+any warrior who is cloud or royal version of the combo within it I decided to divulge this to the community. I felt it was a matter of time till someone else figured it out. The one request I have is if you find any variations of this combo or ways to make it better/pair it with choose the blocker please share them here for all to enjoy. Also please discuss any thoughts on this combo on the forums here for all to enjoy.
BONUS- A Simple Jeremiah Combo:
Jeremiah+Spirit of Elijah (this one does not use Faith of David and all you need is Jeremiah+Spirit of Elijah. You just discard Spirit of Elijah to convert the opponent’s lone evil human and Jeremiah tosses their interrupt or negate so it is essentially CBN).
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