Want a unique deck build with a potent offense and a stingy defense? Check out this deck that an earlier version of it was one half of a 2nd place finish in Teams at the 2024 Redemption National Tournament.
Introduction:
I have been working on this deck build since spring 2023 and it is my take on a Soul Hide deck build. The build had some success in TEAMS where I used it and my teammate and I placed 2nd in TEAMS at Nationals 2024. I have updated the build post Israel’s Inheritance which gave it some nice new cards.
With that in mind here is the deck…
Money Tree (50 cards):
1 Son of God (K)
1 The Second Coming
1 Angel of the Lord (J)
1 Three Woes (RoJ)
1 Chronicles of the Kings (LoC)
1 Crowd's Choice (GoC)
1 Burial (GoC)
7 Lost Soul (John 8:3-4) (GoC)
1 David's Harp (Promo)
1 The Cross (GoC)
1 Covenant with David (PoC)
1 The New Covenant (I/J+)
1 Goliath's Curse (L)
1 Egypt
1 Storehouse (IR)
1 Sheol
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 Pharaoh's Daughter (FoM)
1 Imprisoned Prophet
1 Samuel, Born of Prayer
1 Moses (CoW)
1 Elijah (PoC)
1 Jeremiah, Hope Bringer
1 Noah, the Righteous / Noah (Rest and Comfort) (LoC)
1 Jairus (GoC)
1 Zaccheus, the Repentant / Zaccheus, Tax Collector (GoC)
1 David, Heart After God / David, the Contrite (LoC)
1 Faith
1 The Emmaus Road
1 Plague of Frogs (GoC)
1 Amazing Faith (GoC)
1 Faith of Samuel
1 Ehud's Dagger (Roots)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ)
1 The Amalekites' Slave (FoM)
1 The Chief Priests (RoJ)
1 Malchus (GoC)
1 Annas the Elder (GoC)
1 Plotting Priests (GoC)
1 The Woman of Thebez [II]
1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ)
1 Surreptitious Scheme (GoC)
1 Just a Hireling (GoC)
1 Tenants Kill the Son (GoC)
Reserve:
1 Oath of Purity (LoC)
1 You Will Remain (CoW)
1 Jairus' Daughter (GoC)
1 Holy Ground [II]
1 Tested by Fire
1 Wastelands (Roots)
1 Supercilious Scribes (GoC)
1 The Expert Lawyer (GoC)
1 Dubious Doubters (GoC)
1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
Summary:
Soul Hide:
Achieve It: I have long been a fan of turbo Moses decks. You might recall an article series I posted last year on the forums with turbo Moses decks. You can check those out here and here. Well I realized that soul hide pairs perfectly with Moses since he negates lost souls anyway and he shuts down threats to the soul hide strategy like Orphans/Thorns Lost Souls. Overall this deck runs a pretty standard soul hide defense with a couple unique innovations. I realized with The Expert Lawyer in reserve I can keep the hide going longer by recurring Just a Hireling. The Amalekite’s Slave gives an additional way to Annas the Elder and can be tutored for by Egypt. Samuel, Born of Prayer supports the soul hide strategy by potentially hitting souls with his look/underdeck ability.
Turbo Moses:
The deck has 9 ways to Moses including himself (Crowd’s Choice, David’s Harp (to Covenant with David), Covenant with David, Egypt, Pharaoh’s Daughter, The Angel of the Winds, Moses himself, Faith, and Surreptitious Scheme (to Crowd’s Choice). Overall the deck is very consistent at achieving turn 1 Moses especially considering meek lost souls are run for the soul hide strategy meaning Darkness LS is not another way to Moses (through Pharaoh’s Daughter).
Powerful Offense:
This offense is built around the premise of using FBTN effects (Moses, Noah, and Jairus), choose the blocker effects (Zaccheus and Elijah), and toss effects (Jairus/Jairus Daughter and Jeremiah) all within the color palette of Green/Gold which share key enhancements together that also work with Moses (CoW). The synergy is strong in this offense and you will notice the FBTN characters have plenty of enhancements between deck/reserve to back them up. David, Heart after God is the one character who is not Green or Gold but he has amazing synergy in this build being able to grab Plague of Frogs, Angel of the Lord, Chronicles of the Kings, or Son of God (K). One play I really like is with initiative in battle playing The Emmaus Road on one of my Green or Gold heroes and tutoring for David, HAG with Emmaus Road and adding him to battle with Emmaus Road to tutor for Angel of the Lord or Chronicles of the Kings or Son of God or a OT GE battle winner. Nifty!
In terms of support pieces for the offense, The Cross works well with the offense and defense providing good support to both. Tossing Amazing Faith off The Cross is a cool effect. Oath of Purity is great for rescuing and then banding in Moses with it. Wastelands is important for getting rid of Golgotha which can really be a damper on the FBTN rescues in this build
Contingency:
Faith helps me to recur Moses if he is discarded. Oath of Purity allows for me to bounce Moses if he gets negated. Goliath’s Curse, Noah, and Outsiders (B/G) all help with dealing with annoyances like Nazareth. Imprisoned Prophet and Chronicles of the Kings help with dealing with problematic artifacts.
Maybe board:
Cards that have been considered and could work with this deck include: Plague of Darkness, The Lord Goes Before You, Stricken, The Herdsmen of Gerar, Glory of the Lord (winner promo), Scattered Sheep or Gibeonite Trickery in Reserve for The Woman of Thebez to tutor for, Vow for Samuel (Reserve), Scarlet Line, Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation), Damascus (Moses tutor through Pharaoh’s Daughter), The Brood of Vipers, Elisha, Jephthah’s Daughter/Jephthah, Goliath, Chariot of Fire, Herod’s Temple, High Priest Ananias, Two Bears (reserve), Medad, Captive Priest, Twenty Shekels, Steady till Sunset (reserve), Rain Becomes Dust, Spirit of Elijah (reserve), Mount Sinai, Aaron (IR), Abandonment, Falling Away (CoW), High Priest’s Plot, Captive Priest, Wall of Protection, All the Curses, Out of Bethlehem (reserve), Foreign Wives, Golgotha, The Wages of Sin, The Ends of the Earth, The Mighty Warrior, Moses’ Staff, Confusion of Mind, Word of Their Testimony, Search, New Covenant (Ezekiel) (reserve), and Sign of Jonah (reserve).
Conclusion:
Overall this deck is fun to play and I am pleased with the deck due to the creative thinking that went into to piecing it all together. I think the deck build is strong and personally due to it getting to Moses (CoW) so consistently turn 1 to deal with counters to the soul hide strategy it is probably the best soul hide build along with Food Soul Hide.
I hope you enjoy this deck build and if you have any insights for me on the build feel free to share. Happy deck building!
Change Log:
(01-30-2025):
Deck-
Cut The Herdsmen of Gerar and added Samuel, Born of Prayer.
Cut Abimilech, King of Gerar and added The Woman of Thebez.
Cut Philistine Armor Bearer and added The Chief Priests.
Cut Plague of Darkness and added The New Covenant (I/J+).
Cut Stricken and added Tenants Kill the Son.
Reserve-
Cut The Lord Goes Before You and added Holy Ground.
Cut Tenants Kill the Son and added Wastelands.
Explanation:
This revision is post Israel’s Inheritance and is based upon things I learned piloting the former version of the build in TEAMS at Nationals 2024. I did make one change from the former version (02-06-2024) to the version I ran at Nats which was I swapped out Plague of Darkness for The New Covenant (I/J+). The New Covenant is better in my mind since it gets me to Amazing Faith faster which is far preferable to Plague of Darkness as a battle winner. Also being able to tutor for The Emmaus Road before Moses (CoW) is in play is nice for getting to Jairus. This change performed well at Nats in TEAMS. Beyond this as a result of piloting the deck in TEAMS at Nats, I realized that the Herdsmen of Gerar package is nice against Matthew decks but really fits badly overall with what the build is trying to do. The build does not want to draw cards as drawing cards goes against the hiding souls strategy. Due to this most of the changes in this update involve getting rid of The Herdsmen of Gerar package for cards which fit with the soul hide strategy better. Fitting with this, The Herdsmen of Gerar is cut for Samuel, Born of Prayer who is a great new tool from the new set for Soul Hide builds as he can potentially underdeck souls with his ability. The Woman of Thebez is a great block and fits very well in this defense offering more blocking power to the defense. So much better than Abimelech here. Philistine Armor Bearer was only in as a way to Herdsmen and The Chief Priests is vastly superior for the Soul Hide approach giving another way to Annas the Elder, Plotting Priests, Malchus, as well as Dubious Doubters/Supercilious Scribes in Reserve. Tenants Kill the Son is a much stronger blocking tool than Stricken and gets the nod main deck due to that.
In Reserve Wastelands takes the spot Tenants filled and is important for getting rid of Golgotha which is significant annoyance for the FBTN based offense in this build and is another way around an opponent’s Cross that might be stopping Burial. Holy Ground works great with Moses, Noah, and Jairus and is a better option than The Lord Goes Before You due to this.
(02-06-2024):
Deck-
Cut Chariot of Fire and added Son of God (K).
Cut Herod’s Temple and added The Cross (GoC).
Cut Storehouse (Promo) and added Storehouse (IR).
Cut Elisha (PoC) and added Noah (LoC).
Cut Steady till Sunset and added Ehud’s Dagger (ROOTS).
Cut The Chief Priests and added Outsiders (B/G).
Cut Tenants Kill the Son and added Goliath’s Curse (L).
Reserve-
Cut Goliath and added Tenants Kill the Son.
Cut The Brood of Vipers and added You Will Remain.
Explanation:
This set of changes is all about providing resiliency against Nazareth and Honey Pot decks and making the deck better when it comes to rescuing. Son of God (K) is slotted in instead of Chariot of Fire since soul hide decks are not as prevalent and Humble LS is very common. With all the FBTN on the offense SoG is necessary to get rid of Humble LS. The Cross pairs really well with the offense and defense since the only CBN enhancement in the deck is Amazing Faith which has synergy with Zaccheus choosing a blocker with toughness 7 or less and tossing Amazing Faith off The Cross. Storehouse (IR) is the preferable option to Storehouse (Promo) in this build since the defense likes to recur Just a Hireling and potentially Tenants Kill the Son with The Expert Lawyer. Noah (LoC) is great for dealing with Nazareth and without Chariot of Fire is a stronger rescuer than Elisha (LoC). With the strong concentration of Green GE’s Noah does not even have to commit to meek to be effective. Ehud’s Dagger is a stronger battle winner than Steady Till Sunset and pairs better with The Cross. I hate cutting The Chief Priest’s but Outsiders (B/G) is necessary to have another way around Nazareth. With The Deceiver and Malchus I do feel I have enough ways to the EC’s in Reserve. Tenants Kill the Son is fantastic here but the other EE’s are more vital to have main deck and Goliath’s Curse is great against both Nazareth and Holy of Holies/Pot of Manna/Glory of the Lord decks.
Regarding the Reserve changes Tenants feels more vital than Goliath and with all the ways around Nazareth main deck Brood of Vipers can be cut for You Will Remain to help bolster the offense.
(10-10-2023):
Deck-
Cut High Priest Ananias and added Philistine Armor Bearer.
Cut Jephthah’s Daughter and added Steady till Sunset.
Reserve:
Cut Jephthah (J) and added Goliath (Promo).
Explanation: This update is centered on making the deck more resilient against Matthew by adding Philistine Armor Bearer and cleaning out “win more” in Jephthah’s Daughter/Jephthah. Having Steady till Sunset makes Moses a more reliable rescue as well as David, HAG. Beyond this now I have space for Goliath in reserve which makes Philistine Armor Bearer a nice option both turn 1 to get to Herdsmen of Gerar and later turns for getting to Goliath. I prefer Goliath in this meta over High Priest Ananias since with IR/Roots single brigade enhancements are going to see more play. The rule loophole regarding Goliath where the opponent can present your own heroes has been fixed.
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Timothy Estes
Can you elaborate on the “rule loophole with Goliath”? I thought this was already fixed, but maybe I am mistaken.
Chad
It was fixed. That was written a while ago. This article was originally written months ago. I update the deck build articles I write periodically with changes hence the change log.