Want a unique deck build with a potent offense and a stingy defense? Check out this deck that was one half of a 3rd place finish in Teams at the 2023 Redemption National Tournament.
Introduction:
Well here it is, the final deck I promised that I built for my play group members for Nationals. I previously shared two other decks I prepared for my play group members to use at Nationals. One is “Black Widow” which you can find here. The other is “Valley Girls” which you can find here. This deck build was piloted by one half of the 3rd place Team in the Teams category at Nationals (technically they tied for 3rd). Specifically Timothy Sarnecky/Daniel Mazzucchi tied for 3rd in teams and Timothy ran this deck. Daniel was running a Clay/Moses choose the blocker centric offense with a soul hide defense deck that I built for him. It ran the evil Dominants primarily and would not be a legitimate Type 1 deck but was good for teams complimenting Timothy’s deck quite well. However, Timothy’s deck here is certainly a legitimate Type 1 deck.
Together Daniel and Timothy’s decks sought to hide the souls and then create strong rescues by both using choose the blocker which is in my opinion the strongest type of rescue in Teams. Both decks seek to deal with counters to the soul hide strategy by getting Moses (CoW) out fast. The approach of Timothy’s deck I believe is quite viable for Type 1. I am sharing the list he ran at Nationals in teams today.
That being said I have decided to reveal the adjustments I have made post IR and K/L that I will be testing.
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 (Meek N.T.) 1 David's Harp (Promo) 1 The Cross (GoC) 1 Covenant with David (PoC) 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 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 Plague of Darkness 1 Amazing Faith (GoC) 1 Faith of Samuel 1 Ehud's Dagger (ROOTS) 1 The Deceiver (RoJ) 1 The Amalekites' Slave (FoM) 1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ) 1 Abimelech, King of Gerar (LoC) 1 The Herdsmen of Gerar (LoC) 1 Malchus (GoC) 1 Annas the Elder (GoC) 1 Plotting Priests (GoC) 1 Philistine Armor Bearer 1 Surreptitious Scheme (GoC) 1 Just a Hireling (GoC) 1 Stricken Reserve: 1 Oath of Purity (LoC) 1 You Will Remain (CoW) 1 Jairus' Daughter (GoC) 1 Tested by Fire 1 The Lord Goes Before You 1 Supercilious Scribes (GoC) 1 The Expert Lawyer (GoC) 1 Dubious Doubters (GoC) 1 Tenants Kill the Son (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. Additionally my take on the defense includes Herdsmen of Gerar/Abimelech in case my opponent has a large Matthew turn 1 so I can keep up. Sure drawing cards makes the hide less effective but in the event of a large enough Matthew the hide wouldn’t matter as much anyway and I would need resources to stay alive in the game.
Tubo 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. 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, Plague of Darkness, Angel of the Lord, Chronicles of the Kings, or Son of God (K). Additionally: The Lord Goes Before you is a sneaky card here being able to be used with Pharaoh’s Daughter and David for a strong situational rescue and is a nice card for David’s Harp to grab.
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.
Resilience against Matthew:
Matthew of course is a problem for this deck build with all the brigades. The deck has seven ways to deal with Matthew turn 0 (Stricken star ability, The Deceiver (to Herdsmen of Gerar), The Amalekite’s Slave (to Herdsmen of Gerar), Abimelech (to Herdsmen of Gerar), Philistine Armor Bearer, Herdsmen of Gerar itself, and Crowd’s Choice (to Herdsmen of Gerar).
Also if I go first Storehouse can be of use for dealing with Matthew and I have plenty of ways to it (Covenant with David, David’s Harp (to Covenant with David), and Egypt).
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: Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation), Damascus (Moses tutor through Pharaoh’s Daughter), The Chief Priests, 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, The Cross, 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, Scattered Sheep, Wall of Protection, All the Curses, Out of Bethlehem (reserve), Foreign Wives, Golgotha, The Wages of Sin, The Ends of the Earth, Noah (LoC), 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:
(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.