Join Chad (CtheTree) as he considers if an old school Redemption style deck with NO territory class enhancements is viable in the current meta. Is it possible?
Introduction:
This week we received some wonderful news from Redemption Elder Joe Schaefer that the Widow Combo and Daniel (CoW) will be banned and GoC Phase 2 will be legal on September 1. This means that we are able to move forward and discover the new meta post-GoC phase 2 and post-Widow. Lackey now has the GoC phase 2 cards on it and the latest unique promos so we are ready to build decks.
As of late there has been quite a bit of discussion in the Redemption community about if going first is too much of an advantage even once Widow is banned. Specifically some have been claiming that Territory class enhancements are far too many, too easy to splash in, make the game too quick, and give the player going first a big advantage. Initially I was in agreement with this sentiment. However, once I thought about the game a bit more and what it would look like post-Widow combo I realized I was not so sure that immediate action needs to be taken toward Territory class enhancements and their power level. Perhaps eventually something will need to be done but at this juncture I personally feel more testing and play needs to happen in the GoC phase 2 meta era. Widow being banned is huge for the game and I personally think the meta will stabilize and TC enhancements will not be as much of an issue when a player is not able to draw most of their deck as easily as they could with the Widow combo.
With that in mind as I was deck building with the GoC phase 2 I ended up with this deck build that is in reality an old school type of Redemption deck. It is a balanced deck in many ways running a full defense, stout offense, and ZERO territory class enhancements. You read that right ZERO territory class enhancements. Is this actually viable in the current meta? Well I would say that this deck can definitely hold its own as I beat this week the players who placed 7th and 8th at Redemption Nationals this year with this deck so it can hold its own.
It is also interesting to note I have two other versions of this deck that run a large amount of Territory class enhancements with a smaller defense and slightly different offensive package. They were the first two versions I built and then this one developed.
Here is the deck list and a summary of it. I do not believe this deck is fully optimized yet and would appreciate feedback anyone has on how you think it can be better.
The Deck:
Carmelo Iso Salted (50 cards):
1 Son of God (1st Print – K) [Yes I know it is not legal yet. Fits best with David, HAG though.]
1 The Second Coming (CoW AB)
1 Angel of the Lord (J)
1 Harvest Time (GoC)
1 Crowd’s Choice (GoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1 Vain Philosophy (PoC)
1 Lost Soul (Awake)
1 Lost Soul (Escape)
1 Lost Soul (Hunter)
1 Lost Soul “Salty” (Matthew 5:13) (GoC)
1 Lost Soul (Distressed)
1 Lost Soul (Crowds) Luke 5:15
1 Lost Soul (Wanderer) (FoM)
1 Lost Soul (Hopper) (FoM)
1 The New Covenant (I/J+)
1 David’s Harp (Promo)
1 Denarius (I/J+)
1 Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1 The Cross (GoC)
1 Patmos (RoJ)
1 Land of Moab (LoC)
1 Golgotha (GoC)
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 David, Heart After God / David, the Contrite (LoC)
1 The Woman with Child (RoJ AB)
1 Angel from the Sun (RoJ)
1 Justin Martyr (RoJ)
1 Adam, the Exile / Adam (Man) (LoC)
1 Noah, the Righteous / Noah (Rest and Comfort) (LoC)
1 The Magi (GoC)
1 Reassuring Angels (EC)
1 Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC)
1 Simon the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC)
1 Royal Parade (LoC)
1 Magnificat (GoC)
1 Word of Their Testimony
1 Blood of the Lamb (RoJ)
1 Authority of Christ (GoC)
1 Goliath (FoM Promo)
1 High Priest Ananias (RoJ AB)
1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ)
1 Fire Foxes
1 Foreign Wives
1 Emperor Nero (Promo)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ)
1 The Chief Priests (RoJ)
1 Stricken
1 Plot to Kill (RoJ)
1 Tenants Kill the Son (GoC)
Reserve:
1 You Will Remain
1 Send the Helper (GoC)
1 Covenant of Prayer (RoJ)
1 Word of Christ
1 Untouchable (GoC)
1 Eternal Inheritance (CoW AB)
1 Persian Horsemen / Persian Horses
1 Confusion (CoW)
1 Supercilious Scribes (GoC)
1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
Deck Summary:
Background and First Version-
This deck build originally began out of an attempt I made at making unity Judges with Shamgar semi-viable post rotation. In that process I realized the deck build can win games but what I noticed that was very interesting to me is how Gideon (CoW) can grab Faith of Gideon from deck to withdraw all evil characters in battle on turn one. This sparked an interest in me to see how many more characters like Gideon (CoW) can create their own rescue at any point in the game including turn 1. This led to a deck build pre-GoC phase 2 being on Lackey that ran Adam the Exile to Noah (this is really cool that Adam can grab Noah from deck AND band to him. Strong), Gideon to Faith of Gideon, David, HAG to Royal Parade and Angel of the Lord, The Woman with Child to Angel of the Lord, Priests of Christ to Angel from the Sun to Justin Martyr to Word of Their Testimony or Blood of the Lamb. Patmos and Land of Moab provided extra ways to get to these characters which create their own rescues. I have Simon in reserve in that build since he pairs well with Faith of Gideon/Grapes of Wrath and of course I have Authority of Christ in reserve for Simon. The deck can run an amazing consistency suite of Love Righteousness, David’s Harp (to Love Righteousness or Royal Parade), Fifth Seal/Justice Seekers, Angelic Guidance, The Emmaus Road, Delivered, Solomon’s Dream, Faith, and New Covenant. Evil side has The Wages of Sin. Also Blood of the Lamb, Word of their Testimony, and Royal Parade work with basically the entire offensive set of characters other than Noah not being able to use Blood of the Lamb.
The name Carmelo Iso came out of watching Carmelo Anthony in basketball as a kid constantly running isolation plays. He aimed to create his own offense for better or worse. This deck wants to do something similar in that I aim to have characters who create their own rescue potential. The “Salted” part is explained later.
I liked the deck and found characters creating their own rescues to be a compelling concept. It is compelling to me since it helps to make a strong turn 1 rescue possible and is resilient to reset and even counters since my characters create their own rescues.
Second Version-
Then phase 2 of GoC hit and that provided a whole new set of options for characters which create their own rescues. Resurrection Revealer can grab The Resurrection which in this build WwC can grab, Priests of Christ can grab, and Mary, the Restored can grab too. I ended up cutting Gideon/Faith of Gideon/Grapes of Wrath/Good Seed and running The Resurrection, Resurrection Revealer, John the Fisherman, and Mary, the Restored instead. This is a cool alternate take on the offense. All of the other strong characters that created their own rescues in my original build like Adam to Noah, WwC, Justin Martyr, and David remained. This deck runs a truly absurd TC consistency package in that along with all of the TC cards in the first deck mentioned above I also am able to run Spirit as a Dove due to the meek clay peeps. I have 5 ways to play every TC enhancement in the deck. The deck is so consistent and has such strong characters creating their own rescues. My hesitancy with both the post-GoC phase 2 version and the first version with Gideon is that they do not have enough ways to interact with the opponent in my mind. With the post-GoC phase 2 version I am a bit wary of The Resurrection package since once I use The Resurrection Mary, the Restored is not so useful and Resurrection Revealer is just there to grab SoG or Crowd’s Choice to get to The Second Coming or something else needed. John, the Fisherman is good outside The Resurrection play since he pairs well with Royal Parade and I run The First Sacrifice in reserve which is great with him.
Current Version-
Well after building this deck a certain player who will remain anonymous shared a deck build that basically locks the whole board down on turn 1. I will not give details about this build since it is not public but it is pretty nasty. At this point I started thinking about “Salty” LS since that lock down deck is reliant on TC enhancements to get set up. As I was looking at my two deck versions I realized that in reality they could function well without TC enhancements since the characters create their own rescues. I decided to try to build a deck that functioned well under the board state created by “Salty” LS. The result is the above deck list Carmelo Iso Salted. The strategy of the above deck is to get “Salty” and “Distressed” out and maybe “Crowds” on turn 0 or if I go first turn 1 to hurt the opponent in their set up attempts. The deck also seeks to do what my previous two decks did in trying to have heroes that create their own rescue potential and evil characters that create their own block potential. This deck is a remarkably balanced deck and an ode to a different era of Redemption without TC enhancements. The deck does very well after being reset by Three Nails or A New Beginning since my characters create their own block potential and their own rescue potential. This deck is also meant to operate well in an environment where more and more people are running counters. Their are counters that impact this deck but many of the popular ones like Golden Calf, Possessing Spirit (I think it will be popular post-phase 2), Jesse, Moses, etc. do not impact my deck at all. Also this deck seeks to prioritize turn 0 interaction with Crowd’s Choice, Vain Philosophy, Harvest Time (to Salty, Distressed, etc.), Stricken, and the whole Lost Soul package emphasizing turn 0 interaction.
I removed The Resurrection package since I want Vain Philosophy as it helps me to get rid of cards that can interfere with “Salty” like SoG and Three Woes. In light of that I evaluated other strong heroes that create their own offense and slotted in The Magi/Magnificat which is nasty. Magnificat pairs well with David, HAG too who often will get initiative and can reserve all EC’s in battle with Magnificat and it can be be played with Justin Martyr and WwC too. The Magi works with Royal Parade, Word of Their Testimony, and Blood of the Lamb too. In cutting The Resurrection package I also slotted Matthew/Reassuring Angels in (I was already running Angel from the Sun for Justin Martyr and The Angel of the Winds in the other two deck builds) and put Authority of Christ in for him. Word of Their Testimony, Royal Parade (for non meek Matthew), Angel of the Lord, and Blood of the Lamb all pair well with Matthew. Blood of the Lamb I realized is AMAZING with Matthew. I find when he draws he has plenty of ways to rescue in this deck without adding cards beyond AoC which do not pair well with the rest of the offense. I also shifted Simon to main deck in this version. The rest of the offense remained the same with Adam to Noah (I should note Noah works with Royal Parade, Word of Their Testimony, and Word of Christ in reserve), David to Royal Parade and AotL, and WwC to Angel of the Lord (or to Crowd’s Choice to Magnificat or Royal Parade), and Angel from the Sun to Justin Martyr (to Word of Their Testimony and Blood of the Lamb) remaining as strong rescue options.
Of course “Salty” hits me too so I seek to be consistent through the draw off Matthew, Angel from the Sun/Justin Martyr package, Denarius, Outsiders (B/G), and Persian Horsemen. David’s Harp, New Covenant, Book of the Covenant, Patmos, Golgotha (to The Chief Priests) and Land of Moab (gets both David and Foreign Wives) all help aid consistency as well. All of these consistency pieces are not territory class and are solid value engines. The value engines of David’s Harp and New Covenant can grab most of my battle winners in deck and reserve and Book of the Covenant is important since negate neutrals are prevalent and it ensures New Covenant works. I noticed New Covenant is sneaky on Book in a negate neutral environment since it can grab either Send the Helper or Covenant of Prayer which can then go on Book to grab what I need. With Angel of the Winds and the tutor angels to boot I have plenty of ways to my heroes. Upon cutting TC enhancements I added in The Cross/Golgotha since both the offense/defense work great with The Cross active and enjoy its support. Also I like having The Cross up to limit an opponent’s ability to interact with Salty, Crowds, and Distressed. This deck I have found thus far to be fast enough and due to the strong individual value of literally every character in the deck even if I am not drawing much I am having blocks and rescues in hand since my heroes and even evil characters create their own block and rescue potential. I truly believe this is close to an optimal build to run for the board state of “Salty”. The deck build is remarkably resilient to counters since I am able to just cruise in with my characters to seek to win the game. WwC and David, HAG help to make it possible to get SoG/TSC when needed.
I also beefed up the defense quite a bit once TC enhancements were cut and Golgotha can grab The Chief Priests to go to HPA or Supercilious Scribes in reserve. My three EE’s work with all my main deck EC’s and Scribes to Unsuccessful and Persian Horsemen to Confusion round out the defense. I personally really like the Black defense paired with Denarius/Emperor Nero. All three EE’s work with Nero and all the Black evil characters and I like Black since it can fit Stricken in naturally which has an incredible star ability and is one of the premier turn 0 interaction pieces in the game. Outsiders (B/G), HPA, and Goliath are all so good and I find Black to have a better core of strong big boy blockers than even Orange right now since King of Tyrus is not so good in a meta with so many NT characters around. Gospel demons help Orange but this black defense gets the job done.
For supplemental offense outside of the characters that create their own offense I like Simon/The Cross with Untouchable to toss it off The Cross, Simon and AoC, and Simon with EI to close out the game (I can get EI through Send the Helper or Cov of Prayer).
Considering:
I would like more ways to deal with Fortresses both good and evil. I contemplate Shipwreck over Vain Philosophy since Herod’s Temple is a pain for this deck and Babel can be annoying too. There are so many strong fortresses I almost feel like Shipwreck is a must. Noah works against Herod’s Temple and SH but in terms of Babel I am reliant on Three Woes. I need more ways to deal with Fortresses for sure.
I would like to run The Amalekite’s Slave main deck but cut it when I added The Cross/Golgotha in. Golgotha though tutors for The Chief Priests who can get to HPA or Supercilious Scribes so I did not lose much consistency for getting to an evil character with the change. I also had Distressing People in prior to shifting to having The Cross/Golgotha in and would love to run Distressing People but I do not have space.
Pontius Pilate would fit just fine in this deck and has been a consideration. All three EE’s work just fine with his special ability.
I have considered Gabriel/The Annunciation (strong way to create own offense), Joseph the Betrothed (he can grab Magnificat), Peter to Herod’s Temple (and even Messengers of Joppa with Peter), Gideon to Faith of Gideon, Messianic Messenger to Nativity stuff, and Angels of Wrath to Fifth Bowl of Wrath for this build. These are all heroes which fulfill my condition of being able to create their own rescue potential. There are other heroes that create their own rescue potential which exist in the game (like Resurrection Revealer to The Resurrection which I run in one of my other versions of this deck and stuff like Jacob, Follower of God) but the ones I have listed here in my mind are the potential ones that could pair decently well with this build. Currently I think the hero package I have has the most synergy since the heroes can use many of the same battle winners and so I am sticking with it as is for now.
I have considered running Orphans LS in here. Also I have considered running Oath of Purity to be able to bounce David, HAG but I find one use of David tends to be enough and it is hard to get to Oath of Purity vs. Send the Helper here. Every other meek can be bounced by Send the Helper other than David in this deck.
In the Reserve I have contemplated Love One Another, The Great Commission, Reassurance of Jesus, Reprimand, Nunc Dimittis (nice tech for Babel which can eliminate Babel and grab a different battle winner all at once if played right), and Plague of Frogs as alternate enhancement options.
Mayhem has also been considered but my Dominant slots are tight. The extra speed would be nice from Mayhem though and the auto block potential with Foreign Wives.
I have thought of running a select few premium TC enhancements like maybe Delivered to have more ways to The Cross but am not sold on that yet.
In this same vein Peter’s Curse and Endless Treasures to it have been considered for stopping good doms.
Also I have thought of running cards like Day of Judgment or Lost Child Found with the “Play a lost soul from a deck” star ability to have more ways to get Salty/Distressed/Crowds out on Turn 0.
Results:
I have played two games with this deck. One against Seth Morlan (bingaling) and won 5-3 against his turbo speedy Nativity/Herod’s deck. Then I won 3-1 (conceded victory) against Jared Strauss (Hymn) against a Resetti deck piloted by him.
This deck may not be top tier but I believe it proves a deck without TC enhancements focused on establishing an early “Salty” board state can do well. I also believe this direction of aiming to have characters who create their own blocking and rescue potential is a strong deck direction and my other two builds which do not run “Salty” and each run a TON of TC enhancements can be good too.
Conclusion:
So I believe this deck shows that perhaps a deck not running any territory class enhancements can hold its own in the meta. I believe it also shows once again the premier value of Turn 0 interaction in Redemption as I mentioned in my recent article series “A Quest to Lackey Grand Prix Success”. “Salty” is an amazing way to break parity in this meta and fits in great with my Harvest Time tactic of getting Distressed and Crowds Lost souls out which I discovered in building my deck that won the Lackey Grand Prix #4. “Salty” is difficult to run since it hits you as well as the opponent but a deck like this is not impacted by it at all.
“Salty” is very good in a meta where many people are running lots of TC enhancements and that is what inspired me to shift from the two original deck builds seeking to focus on heroes who create their own rescue potential in which I ran MANY TC enhancements to this build with now focuses on featuring “Salty”.
I do think that my three deck builds do show that Heroes who create their own rescue potential are immensely valuable in Redemption as are Evil Characters who produce their own blocking potential. This minimizes dead cards in hand by running cards with high individual value.
On that note I am curious if I missed any heroes that create their own rescue potential. I have a list going with some that I did not even mention here but if you find any that I did not mention here please send them over to me. Perhaps it/they will be original to me which would be helpful as I seek to make this type of deck better.
Also I would appreciate any feedback on how to make this deck better and how to optimize it. Thanks for reading and happy deck building!
****BONUS CONTENT (8-29-2022)****
So I mentioned on the Redemption Discord that I had built a different version of the above deck that I felt might actually be even better. The deck once again is seeking to function very well with the “Salty” effect on the board. Here is the deck list:
Carmelo Iso Salted Unified (50 cards):
1 Son of God “Manger” (Promo)
1 The Second Coming
1 Angel of the Lord (I)
1 Harvest Time (GoC)
1 Crowd’s Choice (GoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1 Mayhem (FoM)
1 Lost Soul (Awake)
1 Lost Soul (Escape)
1 Lost Soul (Hunter)
1 Lost Soul “Salty” (Matthew 5:13) (GoC)
1 Lost Soul (Distressed)
1 Lost Soul (Crowds) Luke 5:15
1 Lost Soul (Wanderer) (FoM)
1 Lost Soul (Hopper) (FoM)
1 The New Covenant (I/J+)
1 Four-Drachma Coin (GoC) [Alternate option is The Manger]
1 Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1 The Cross (GoC)
1 Broken Covenant (CoW AB)
1 Herod’s Temple (GoC)
1 Patmos (RoJ)
1 Golgotha (GoC)
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 The Woman with Child (RoJ AB)
1 Gabriel, Mouth of God [UR+] (GoC)
1 Joseph, the Betrothed (GoC)
1 The Magi (GoC)
1 Angel from the Sun (RoJ)
1 Justin Martyr (RoJ)
1 Reassuring Angels (EC)
1 Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC)
1 Simon Peter / Peter, the Rock (GoC) [Alternate option is The Messianic Messenger]
1 Simon the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC)
1 Word of Their Testimony
1 Blood of the Lamb (RoJ)
1 Authority of Christ (GoC)
1 The Annunciation (GoC)
1 Lost Child Found (GoC)
1 Reprimand / Repercussion (GoC)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ)
1 The Amalekites’ Slave (FoM)
1 Fire Foxes
1 Herod’s Guard (GoC)
1 Herod the Great (GoC)
1 Herod Archelaus (GoC)
1 Herod Agrippa I (GoC)
1 Herod Philip II (GoC)
1 Revolt
1 Executioner’s Sword (GoC)
Reserve:
1 Send the Helper (GoC)
1 His Sacrifice (GoC UR+)
1 Covenant of Prayer (RoJ)
1 Untouchable (GoC)
1 The Child is Born (GoC)
1 Elizabeth (GoC)
1 Herod Antipas (GoC)
1 Futile Inquisition (GoC)
1 Contagious Fear (GoC)
1 Possessing Spirit (GoC)
Summary-
The key differences between this deck and the one I already posted are the following: I cut David, Land of Moab, Adam, Noah, David’s Harp, and Royal Parade and shifted over to a unity NT offense. I slotted in Gabriel, Mouth of God, Joseph, the Betrothed, and Simon Peter as heroes who create their own rescue potential instead of David, Adam, and Noah. These three have better synergy with my other NT heroes and Gabriel/Joseph can grab similar resources to what The Magi can grab. Also this allows for me to run His Sacrifice which I believe is a very good and underrated card. The other avenue this opens up is I was able to shift my reserve around a bit to include The Child is Born and Elizabeth in reserve. The Woman with Child and Joseph, Betrothed can both grab The Child is Born from Reserve and Gabriel can recur The Child is Born a limitless amount of times. Banding Elizabeth in from reserve off of it offers a strong protection rescue route. I also shifted to Lost Child Found over Magnificat since the star ability on Lost Child Found offers turn 0 interaction being able to get Salty, Distressed, or Crowds out.
The deck does run one TC enhancement: The Annunciation. It is not being run for the TC aspect but rather its in battle utility with Gabriel, Joseph, the Betrothed, and The Magi all being able to grab it for a FBTN effect and being able to grab Angel of the Lord with it as well.
The other major change is centered on the defense. I went with a unity Gospel defense as well so I can run Possessing Spirit in reserve to deal with annoyances like an opponent’s Herod’s Temple. It is good to note any unity Gospel defense works with Possessing Spirit not just Demons. In terms of unity Gospel defenses I feel personally that the Herod defense I include is the one that packs the most punch and runs the most characters who create their own block potential. I originally had Emperor Domitian with Denarius in and I ran Mercenary Chariots, Duplicity, and Lurking but I found that I really did not like how when I block turn 1 none of these three interrupts/prevents actually work for me. I realized Herod Philip II in place of Emperor Domitian offers draw power and I can run Broken Covenant instead of Denarius for draw power. Broken Covenant actually has an argument for it instead of Denarius since it can still offer draw utility after a reset. My defense is supported by The Deceiver, The Amalekite’s Slave, and Fire Foxes since they do not interfere with unity as once they hit the board they are gone since I just let Fire Foxes die and TAS goes to opponent’s Land of Bondage and The Deceiver exchanges.
The deck is called Carmelo Iso Salted “Unified” since I aim for unity NT offense and unity Gospel defense so I can run Possessing Spirit and His Sacrifice.
A few other key perks to this build over my other one: Elizabeth and Possessing Spirit give me a way to negate my opponent’s territory class enhancements if Salty gets dealt with. They also just make the deck better overall with Elizabeth being a fantastic answer to Babel which is something the other version is weak too and Possessing Spirit being a great answer to Herod’s Temple which the other version is weak too.
Possessing Spirit/His Sacrifice/Simon the Zealous is a cheesy rescue. Instead of running Eternal Inheritance I run this as a great cheesy rescue option. I can choose the Possessing Spirit I placed in my opponent’s territory to block with Simon the Zealous and get initiative on Simon’s meek side and play His Sacrifice to dispatch Possessing Spirit CBI. This is quite strong and more consistent than Eternal Inheritance which only Covenant of Prayer could grab from Reserve in my other deck build.
Thirdly Reprimand/Repercussion is amazing. It supports both my offense and my defense and this card demonstrates the nice synergy between my offense and defense.
Fourth, Herod’s Temple has great synergy with both my offense and defense.
Fifth, Gabriel is very good being able to infinitely recur The Annunciation for a FBTN effect and being able to infinitely recur The Child is Born. Excellent.
Shortcomings vs. Other Build:
Perks to my other build I posted above over this one are having Denarius as a nice draw option, having more value engines like David’s Harp/Land of Moab, having Adam/Noah as a rescue that can keep happening over and over again, and having Noah/Outsiders (B/G)/Persian Horsemen as great ways to deal with annoying cards/counters such as The Cross. Also my other deck has more character draw power on defense with Outsiders (B/G) and Persian Horsemen offering more draw power than Herod Philip II. My other deck at the moment has slightly better turn 0 interaction potential with Stricken and Vain Philosophy. This deck does have Lost Child Found for turn 0 interaction but the non unity focused deck can run Lost Child Found instead of Magnificat if I wanted to. This deck could run Vain Philosophy instead of Mayhem so Stricken is really the main difference in terms of turn 0 interaction.
Considering-
I am considering ways to deal with The Cross. It is totally fine if my opponent has it active since the only rescue or blocks it makes difficult are Angel of the Lord and Authority of Christ. That being said not being able to play SoG/TSC can be problematic. The Manger in particular has caught my eye as a possibility due to synergy with Joseph, the Betrothed being able to tutor for it and the star ability offers more turn 0 interaction.
The Messianic Messenger fits great here being able to create its own rescue potential and having very good synergy overall. I contemplate running it over Simon Peter. Peter gets the edge here since he makes the Four-Drachma coin play possible for extra draw power. He is less of a rescue fiend though just creating his own rescue potential with Herod’s Temple and offering banding support to Simon/Matthew.
If I were to change something I would cut Four-Drachma Coin/Simon Peter and add in The Messianic Messenger and The Manger. I am going to test both versions and see which is better. I lose draw power without Four-Drachma Coin but this deck version is running Mayhem over Vain Philosophy for extra draw power. Additionally, The Manger does draw too albeit not as much. Also The Manger would offset a bit losing the turn 0 interaction of Vain Philosophy since it offers great turn 0 interaction from its star ability. This deck does not have a way to deal with Sheol or The Gates of Hell at the moment so The Manger would fill a void there. Peter does offer a nice fat band with Gabriel to Peter to Matthew or Simon and this backed by an interrupt or negate is pretty good with The Cross active so that is one advantage to Peter. The Messianic Messenger can band too but is not as fat in terms of numbers. However, The Messianic Messenger has better overall synergy with the battle winners in the deck. Peter though is of course great with Herod’s Temple. All that to say there are pros and cons both ways. EDIT: On my list above I went ahead and added The Messianic Messenger and The Manger as alternate options to Simon Peter/Four-Drachma Coin.
Other than that Magnificat, Reassurance of Jesus, Flight into Egypt, The Great Commission, Love One Another, and Eternal Inheritance are on my watch list as possible enhancements to run in the Reserve.
I went with Mayhem here in this list to test out what it is like having the extra draw power. Vain Philosophy and Shipwreck are alternate Dominants for that slot and Vain Philosophy is likely the right one to run. Just decided to test out Mayhem though and see how it performs.
Conclusion-
Overall I really am pleased with both of these deck builds seeking to operate well with a board state of “Salty” being active. I think both of these decks are strong and can hold their own. Personally I feel the Unified version with the unity NT offense and unity Gospel defense is a slightly better deck but both are solid.
I hope these deck builds are of benefit to you in your deck building and help to encourage you that there are tools in the game to punish TC heavy speedy decks.
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