Join CtheTree for his main deck build from fall 2022-winter 2024 that has been through much refining and has won numerous tournaments including the most recent Lackey Grand Prix this month.
Introduction:
This deck build is my personal favorite deck build I have ever crafted. I have had more prolonged success with it than any other deck build. Overall I have been working on the Soul Surfer build since fall 2022 and this current deck build reflects over two years worth of refinement. I have only been able to use it at Redemption Nationals once in summer 2024 and I made the great mistake of only using it the first two rounds at Nationals and pivoting to a different build that is faster and more explosive. That was a mistake I believe in hindsight as I should have run Soul Surfer the entire tournament as recent results would indicate during this current tournament season.
For what it is worth I have won three Lackey Grand Prix titles with various versions of Soul Surfer now: one in 2023, one in March 2024, and now one in December 2024 that I just won this week. Soul Surfer has also won two RobM Zoom series tournaments. It also won the 2023 and 2024 NW Regional Tournaments as well.
This fall during this current tournament season I started out running my Starstruck (Numerous version) deck build and I had decent overall results with it. You can see a version of that build here. I lost a tough casual play group game though to a 16 year old kid in my play group and that led me to start running Soul Surfer again.
Currently this fall alone Soul Surfer has a 17-2 record and it just won a Lackey Grand Prix title this week. The version of Soul Surfer I brought to Nationals I never actually posted on here as the last time I revised this article was in March. Some of the changes made to the build were made pre-Nationals 2024 but a good number have been made throughout this fall as I have refined the build.
Overall I think the deck build is at a good place. Be sure to read the change log at the end of the article to see what has changed in the deck build from the version I last posted in March and an explanation of those changes. This article has been updated to be current with those changes in both the deck list as well as the write up of the build.
The Deck:
Soul Surfer (50 cards):
1 Son of God "Manger" (Promo)
1 The Second Coming
1 Harvest Time (GoC)
1 Crowd's Choice (GoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ)
1 Shipwreck (EC)
1 Mayhem (FoM)
1 Lost Soul "Accusers" [Ezra 4:6]
1 Lost Soul "Crowds" [Luke 5:15] [2016 - Local]
1 Lost Soul "Salty" [Matthew 5:13]
1 Lost Soul "Complacent" [Zephaniah 1:12]
1 Lost Soul "Orphans" [Jeremiah 22:3]
1 Lost Soul "Humble" [James 4:6 / Proverbs 3:34 - RoJ]
1 Lost Soul "Disoriented" [Deuteronomy 7:23]
1 Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1 The Manger (GoC)
1 The New Covenant (I/J+)
1 Lacking Prophecy
1 Peter's Curse (GoC)
1 Patmos (RoJ)
1 Herod's Temple (GoC)
1 The Angel of the Winds
1 Angel from the Sun (RoJ)
1 Reassuring Angel (EC)
1 Priests of Christ (RoJ)
1 Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC)
1 Simon the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC)
1 Mary, Holy Virgin / Mary, Willing Servant (GoC)
1 Lazarus, the Called / Lazarus of Bethany (GoC)
1 Joanna, the Generous / Joanna, Wife of Chuza (GoC)
1 Spirit as a Dove (GoC)
1 Lost Child Found (GoC)
1 Day of Judgment (GoC)
1 The Ascension (GoC)
1 Baptism of Jesus (GoC)
1 Love One Another (GoC)
1 Generous Giving (Roots)
1 Authority of Christ (GoC UR+)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ)
1 Possessing Spirit (GoC)
1 Repudiating Rulers (GoC)
1 Herod's Guard (GoC)
1 Herod the Great (GoC)
1 Herod Archelaus (GoC)
1 Herod Agrippa I (GoC)
1 Herodias' Daughter (GoC)
1 Outsiders (Black/Gold) (RoJ)
1 No Straw!
1 Futile Inquisition (GoC)
1 Abandonment (EC)
Reserve:
1 Send the Helper (GoC)
1 You Will Remain
1 His Sacrifice (GoC UR+)
1 Untouchable (GoC)
1 Eternal Inheritance
1 Faith of Barak (CoW)
1 Herod Antipas (GoC)
1 Contagious Fear (GoC)
1 Duplicity (GoC)
1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
Summary:
Objective 1- Soul Surfing:
The reason this deck is called “The Soul Surfer” is the point of the deck is to gain an advantage against various deck builds by playing a Lost Soul or two out turn 0 through the multitude of “Play a Lost Soul” star cards in the deck (The Manger, The Ascension, Day of Judgement, Repudiating Rulers, and Lost Child Found) OR by playing out multiple Lost Souls that create problems for the opponent on turn 1 through Harvest Time (which can be accessed via Crowd’s Choice as well).
These cards provide 8 ways to each Lost Soul in the deck turn 0 (included each Lost Soul itself) meaning I have a very good chance turn 0 of getting to the soul I want depending on the matchup. This makes the deck build quite resilient and adaptable.
The deck includes Crowds/Salty/Complacent/Orphans/Humble/Accusers since these souls are problematic for various different deck builds currently strong in the meta.
The beauty of the deck build is I can pivot to whichever soul(s) are best suited for the individual deck build I am facing.
If I am facing a Disciples deck build I will go to Crowds for sure to seek to stop Matthew and if I can get a second soul will go to Salty or Complacent to have up alongside Crowds depending on if I know the opponent relies a lot on battle winning Dominants like The Resurrection or on TCE (Territory Class Enhancement) cards for set up.
This is also strong against decks seeking to get to Nazareth fast since they typically rely on Matthew or The Resurrection in battle to get set up or a TCE to get to Nazareth and going to Complacent/Salty/Crowds impedes this a bit.
If I am facing a soul hide deck build I will tend to go to Orphans right away and generally will want Salty alongside it.
If I am facing a Holy of Holies deck I go to Salty LS right away and Humble LS. If I am facing a deck running Crowds LS and they have it out turn 0 I go to Disoriented LS so my Matthew can still draw cards.
If I am facing a deck running The Herdsmen of Gerar or OT offense and/or defense I will go to Accusers LS to negate their characters. I also often aim to get Accusers LS now that The Woman of Thebez from Israel’s Inheritance is such a threat as a block. I surf along and bring out whichever souls are best suited to the individual deck build I am facing.
Objective 2- Restrict Battle Winning Dominants:
If you look at this deck build it does not run a single battle winning Dominant outside of Three Woes and technically Harvest Time can be one by playing Disoriented LS out from deck. Neither Woes or Harvest Time though is meant primarily as a battle winning Dominant in this build.
Therefore this deck build wants to restrict battle winning Dominants if at all possible to take away a lot of the power many deck builds have as so many deck builds in the meta a heavily reliant on battle winning Dominants. This is achieved by running three cards that restrict battle winning dominants: Complacent LS, Lacking Prophecy, and Peter’s Curse.
The odds of getting one of these in play is high and if the opponent deals with one then there is another waiting in the wings ready to take its place. Both the offense and the defense in this deck build do not need battle winning Dominant support to rescue or block due to strong individual character value and a plethora of strong battle winners for the offense and several strong battle winners for the defense. Due to this this build is able to break parity with builds that rely more on battle winning Dominants to win battles by restricting them and then being able to operate well in that environment to both rescue and block.
Objective 3- Safeguard Matthew Turn 1 Rescue:
One key objective of this deck build is to set up a turn 1 Matthew rescue. The deck has 9 ways to Matthew turn 1 (Crowd’s Choice, New Covenant (to Spirit as a Dove), Spirit as a Dove, Patmos, The Angel of the Winds, Angel from the Sun, Reassuring Angels, Priests of Christ (via going to Angel from the Sun to Matthew), and Matthew himself). Matthew at this point is a well known threat in the meta and so people tech for Matthew which is wise.
Two of the most common techs against Matthew are Crowds Lost Soul and The Herdsmen of Gerar. Soul Surfer offers the best package I know of to interact with those ways of teching against Matthew since I have 8 ways to Wanderer LS turn 0 which can deal with Crowds LS and 8 ways to Accusers LS which can deal with The Herdsmen of Gerar turn 0.
Beyond this if the opponent manages to go first and get Bethlehem Stable or Storehouse up protecting their hand from Matthew I have 8 ways going second to interact with those cards (Crowd’s Choice to Shipwreck, Shipwreck, Three Woes, Possessing Spirit, Spirit as a Dove to Three Woes, The New Covenant to Spirit as a Dove to Three Woes, Lost Child Found, and Harvest Time to Disoriented LS).
Further if I can’t get around the hand protection from one of those fortresses on my first turn then blocking my second turn Outsiders (B/G) and Herodias’ Daughter can help as well. As you can see this deck build is built to be resilient against the major techs against Matthew prevalent in the meta helping to safeguard a turn 1 Matthew rescue.
Objective 4- Strong Individual Character Value:
In evaluating how the 1 TCE per turn rule impacts the meta I realized that characters on both offense and defense with strong individual character value are quite valuable. What I mean by this is characters on offense who create their own rescue potential and on defense who create their own blocking potential.
Characters can do this by creating a potential battle winning environment through their ability or by directly tutoring for a battle winner through their ability. If you look at my offense every single character creates their own rescue potential. On defense as well every single character creates their own blocking potential. This means that the deck will have strong blocks and rescues without needing to use territory class enhancements to tutor for the strongest rescues and blocks in the deck.
Objective 5- Options against Nazareth and Holy of Holies:
With the advent of Redemption Roots two strong counter cards have hit the scene: Holy of Holies/Nazareth. I have adjusted this deck build to account for them.
Outside of the aforementioned Lost Souls which help to slow down the set up of decks seeking to get to these two counter cards this deck build has 9 ways to deal with Nazareth turn 0 (Shipwreck, Three Woes, Crowd’s Choice to Shipwreck, Possessing Spirit, Harvest Time to Disoriented LS, Herodias’ Daughter, Outsiders (B/G), Lost Child Found, and Crowds LS).
The deck has 11 ways to deal with Holy of Holies (Mary, Holy Virgin, Crowd’s Choice to Mary, Holy Virgin, Spirit as a Dove to Mary, Holy Virgin, New Covenant to the Spirit as a Dove to Mary chain, Three Woes, The Manger, Lost Child Found, Harvest Time to Humble/Salty LS, Humble LS, Disoriented LS, and Salty LS (early Salty makes it hard to tutor for Holy of Holies).
Overall this deck build therefore is quite resilient against these strong counters. It is important to note these 9 ways to deal with Nazareth turn 0 and 11 ways to deal with Holy of Holies turn 0 do not include the multiple “Play a Lost Soul from a deck” type star abilities which can also deal with Nazareth turn 0 going to Crowds LS and HoH going to Humble LS or even Salty LS.
Consistency
This deck obviously is quite consistent at getting the powerful Lost Soul cards out to cause problems for the opponent and I have already explained the general consistency suite I use to do so. I have 8 ways to every Lost Soul in the deck turn 0.
This deck is built so that it is not reliant on TCE cards so I can have Salty up and not care. The only TCE cards I run main deck are Lost Child Found and Spirit as a Dove. LCF is main deck for its star ability primarily. Spirit as a Dove is great in battle. Due to not running many consistency TCE cards I have to generate speed/consistency some other way than TCE cards. The main method I do this is through in battle draw.
Obviously I run the key tutors for Matthew, the Publican in Patmos, The Angel of the Winds, Reassuring Angels, Angel from the Sun, and Priests of Christ. Also I run Generous Giving and Baptism of Jesus for additional speed. On defense Outsiders (B/G) provides me with additional draw power and Mayhem rounds out my ways to draw cards.
I have found this deck to be quite consistent at getting to my desired rescues/blocks in battle since turn 1 I want to rescue with Matthew and I have plenty of ways to Matthew.
Offense:
This offense is of course based on the aforementioned principle of having characters who create their own rescue potential. The tutor angels all get me to characters that do exactly that. Turn 1 I want to draw with Matthew.
Turn 2 and following if my opponent has evil characters down in territory I want to do a strong choose the blocker rescue with Simon the Zealous or if they do not have evil characters in territory I want to go into battle with Lazarus backed by a battle winner particularly with Lacking Prophecy active or with Mary, Holy Virgin to interact with their territory and snag a battle winner or Joanna if they are going to have to block from hand.
Turn 2 and later if I need to draw cards I can always bounce Matthew with Send the Helper and rescue with him.
A couple key things to note about this offense are as follows.
1) I try to emphasize rescues that leave the opponent with little opportunity to interact. You will notice most of my rescues set up a very difficult battle scenario for the opponent to navigate or one in which there is no way out really.
A) Simon the Zealous with Herod’s Temple active and choosing an evil character with toughness of 7 or less and tossing Untouchable or His Sacrifice to kill them. Another sweet Simon rescue is choosing a fat blocker and using Spirit as a Dove to tutor for Love One Another, Untouchable, or Day of Judgment and with still having initiative playing that battle winner which will be CBN due to Spirit as a Dove for massive pain. An additional cool Simon rescue is paired with Possessing Spirit. If the opponent does not have unity for Possessing Spirit or has no evil characters in play (meaning they will not have unity since they do not own Possessing Spirit) then it is quite the cheese rescue. Even if they are on Orange using His Sacrifice on Possessing Spirit is strong. Also if they have unity and can band with Possessing Spirit then Baptism of Jesus or His Sacrifice can be used to negate the band on Possessing Spirit and get the rescue. Simon paired with Eternal Inheritance to get the fifth and final soul is really strong. Of course Simon and Authority of Christ is not too shabby either. I feel this deck maximizes the potential of Simon to make life miserable for the opponent.
B) Lazarus is amazing solo. People often emphasize the Bethany band but that takes time to assemble and is harder to do in 1 TCE. Lazarus doesn’t need the band to be awesome. In this deck my favorite rescues are Lazarus with The Cross active backed by Baptism of Jesus, Day of Judgment, Love One Another, His Sacrifice, or even Eternal Inheritance. I realized Lazarus with Eternal Inheritance is great since I can use Eternal Inheritance on a soul other than the fifth soul with him since Lazarus is quite likely to negate whatever way the opponent would have of interrupting/negating Eternal Inheritance. Lazarus works great with Untouchable, The Ascension, and Authority of Christ as well. Even though Authority of Christ is not CBN with Lazarus the odds of an opponent being able to negate it are low due to the FBTN environment created by Lazarus. He is likely the best non-Disciple to use AoC with.
C) Mary, Holy Virgin is quite strong. She gets initiative almost always and being able to tutor for Untouchable from Reserve is strong especially tossing down a character to 0 with it off Herod’s Temple. Mary is great for dealing with threats and sending a potential blocker to opponent’s Reserve as well as an evil Three Woes.
D) Joanna is a strong rescue if the opponent has to block from hand and also is nice for draw power banded in off The Ascension.
Support Cards
Regarding support I have found overall this offense definitely likes the support of Lacking Prophecy, Peter’s Curse (deals with Glory of the Lord and Grapes of Wrath), and Complacent LS. Lacking Prophecy, Peter’s Curse, and You Will Remain are key cards to support Simon the Zealous rescues since he negates lost souls and therefore negates Complacent LS. Stopping Dominants like Glory of the Lord, Christian Martyr, and Falling Away is important for Simon rescues. His Sacrifice is important for dealing with Overtaken which is a pain. Mary can deal with Overtaken as well but the ability of Overtaken will still be in effect for that battle phase. His Sacrifice gets around that.
Send the Helper and New Covenant on their artifact sides provide consistency for this offense in getting to the rescues options that I want. Also both of these cards can be battle winners if needed. New Covenant on the enhancement side is particularly strong when being used to band in Lazarus. Normally of course using the artifact side of both is preferable but if the opponent is negating neutrals then this build can utilize the enhancement side of both well.
Faith of Barak is a recent addition and I added it to help in the matchup with Thieves. It is also a strong battle winner if the opponent blocks with a character who exchanges to a different character since it is CBN in that scenario as well. My favorite way to use it is to play Baptism of Jesus to negate an evil card/draw 2 and then I search for Faith of Barak with Baptism of Jesus. If I have initiative (which often happens due to the low number heroes in the deck) then I play Faith of Barak. I prefer using Faith of Barak this way over tutoring for it with Send the Helper since it is far less telegraphed.
Defense:
Herods are a bit weaker than they used to be due to the Joshua offense but I still feel they are the right defense for this deck build.. It is also such a good defense to run in a deck where Complacent, Orphans, Lacking Prophecy, and Peter’s Curse are a part of the deck since it is not hurt by Orphans and Lacking Prophecy, Peter’s Curse, and Complacent both help this defense. Every single character creates its own blocking potential. The Deceiver and Herod’s Guard mean that I am getting to Herod the Great, Herod Archelaus, or Herod Agrippa I with decent consistency on turn 1 to get an ideal block turn one. The value in this cannot be underestimated. Herod’s Guard is just incredible plain and simple and is such a resource for this defense. Herod the Great, Archelaus, and Herod Agrippa I are all pretty self explanatory regarding their value. Outsiders (B/G) is fantastic for draw and also since it can deal with counters and can even be a block on its own. Repudiating Rulers to Duplicity to Unsuccessful is a cool block and it is great being able to have both Unsuccessful and Futile Inquisition blocks in this deck. I also like using Repudiating Rulers to aid with bouncing my characters including even an Outsiders or Herod Agrippa I who could be ruining unity for Possessing Spirit.
Herod Antipas is great and creates a block on his own due to Contagious Fear. Also it is important to note Antipas/Contagious Fear work through Orphans LS due to Antipas’ Regardless of Protection clause.
Herodias’ Daughter is really strong for clearing the board of annoyances and can go to any of my big Herods or Antipas.
In terms of main deck battle winner support No Straw! and Abandonment provide strong options against bands. I like Abandonment played on Antipas since it gets through protection in that scenario. Futile Inquisition is of course such a fantastic battlewinner.
Overall the defense gets the job done to block sufficiently.
Contingency:
Every good deck needs contingency for dealing with the possibility of annoying counters hitting the table. An offense like this sadly does not have some of the better pieces for dealing with counters like Joshua the Conqueror or cards like Achim. All that being said I have found I believe sufficient pieces to deal with counters. Mary, Holy Virgin is incredible for dealing with a variety of annoying cards. Outsiders (B/G) has already been mentioned as a helpful piece for dealing with counters. Outsiders is helpful since they can hit such a wide variety of counters. Herodias’ Daughter is also great for clearing the board of good cards that cause problems like heroes who negate neutrals, Herod’s Temple, Storehouse, Wall of Protection, etc. to make a better scenario for my upcoming rescue.
Three Woes is great as always on the note of dealing with counters. The Manger is good for dealing with annoying artifacts and cards like Gates of Hell/Sheol. Shipwreck is very good in a meta with fortresses causing so many issues. And then Lost Child Found is really good. You might have wondered why that card is main deck for its “Play a Lost Soul” star ability instead of something like Walking on Water. Well for one I have four white characters main deck who I can play it on. Secondly Lost Child Found is one of the strongest ways to deal with counters in the game prior to a rescue attempt since it can remove up to THREE counters from the board in one fell swoop. Now that is really helpful! Sure they are just bounced but still the impact that can have for seeking to have a successful rescue or accomplish other objectives is huge.
Naturally Salty negates LCF in territory but generally I am wanting to use it by the time the opponent has dealt with Salty. Such a good card. His Sacrifice is important for dealing with annoying curses like Overtaken and Confusion of Mind.
Maybe Board:
Cards I have considered for this deck and have even been in the deck at points include Hopper LS, Falling Away, Angel of the Lord, Golgotha, Twenty Shekels, Stocks, Good Seed, Virgin Birth, Three Nails, Herod’s Executioner/Foreign Horses, Herod’s Banquet, Awake LS, Distressed LS, Joseph of Arimathea, John, the Fisherman, Zaccheus, Bless the Nations, Power of the Spirit, Faith of Samuel, Foreign Spears, The Cross, Ark of the Covenant, David, HAG, Noah, the Righteous, The Woman with Child, The Twenty Four Elders, Covenant with Moses (L), Blood of the Lamb, Justin Martyr, Word of Christ, The Amalekite’s Slave, Foreign Wives, Simon Peter, Polycarp, Reprimand/Repercussion, Revolt, Reclaimed by Egypt, Sin Offering (IR), The Great Commission, Lost Soul (Color Guard), Lost Soul (Escape), Lost Soul (Hunter), Forsaken LS, Blood Avenger, Priests of Christ, Bartholomew, Word of Their Testimony, Overcome, Executioner’s Sword, Fourth Bowl of Wrath, Harvest LS, Punisher LS, Entertaining Angels, Matthew’s Begats, Wall of Protection, Chronicles of the Kings, Sheol, The Ends of the Earth, Overtaken, Peter’s Curse, Temple Veil, Walking on Water, Goliath’s Curse (K/L), Overcome, Mary, the Restored, Sin Offering, Power of the Cross, and Vain Philosophy.
Conclusion:
I hope you have enjoyed this summary of this deck build which is the product of over two years worth of refining. It certainly has led to some great experiences and some memorable tournament wins and is one of the best decks in my arsenal I feel. If you have any ideas of possible improvements for this deck build please send them my way.
Change Log:
12-18-2024 (LGP #18 Winner)
Deck-
Cut Wanderer Lost Soul and added Disoriented Lost Soul.
Cut Hopper Lost Soul and added Peter’s Curse.
Cut The Cross and added Lacking Prophecy.
Cut Virgin Birth and added Priests of Christ.
Cut Reprimand/Repercussion and added No Straw!
Cut Revolt and added Futile Inquisition.
Cut Foreign Spears and added Abandonment.
Reserve-
Cut Futile Inquisition and added Faith of Barak.
Explanation:
Disoriented Lost Soul is an incredible addition to the Soul Surfer deck build. It does so much more than Wanderer LS did and covers the main purpose did of being able to negate Crowds LS if I am going first and the opponent gets it out turn 0 offering a threat to Matthew. Harvest Time to Disoriented is quite strong both as a battle winner but also as a way to get around many annoyances in the game such as Nazareth (Harvest time is regardless of protection so it can play out Disoriented which can negate Nazzy) as well as annoyances to my build such as Bethlehem Stable and an opponents Herod’s Temple. This means that I can move away from Foreign Spears to a more reliable battle winner for the defense (more on that later) since I now have another interaction piece with counters in Disoriented LS. So far it Disoriented LS really adds a whole new edge to the Soul Surfer deck build and has performed quite well in game play.
The second major change to this build is moving from The Cross to Lacking Prophecy. One thing I realized is while I do want to restrict Dominants with this build and do so with Complacent LS, The Cross is the wrong supplemental card to do that with because of all the CBN battle winners the offense wants to use. I often had The Cross deactivated to use cards like Spirit as a Dove, Authority of Christ, and The Ascension in battle. Most of the time I want to play those enhancements of Simon who negates Complacent LS so he becomes vulnerable to Dominant interaction when trying to use my CBN enhancements as I do not want to have The Cross active with those. Lacking Prophecy while not being quite as strong as The Cross, since if the opponent gets down to 4 cards in hand they can play Dominants, has proven to be the ideal fit for this deck build. Most deck builds really struggle getting down to 4 cards in hand and if they do they end up having to place a bunch of evil characters down from hand which makes them vulnerable to Simon CTB rescues.
The other huge perk to running Lacking Prophecy over The Cross is I can now run CBN battle winners with my defense. The negates/interrupts I was running fair decently enough but I would way rather run No Straw! and Abandonment over Reprimand/Repercussion and Foreign Spears. Also moving away from the negate/interrupt battle winners meant shifting to Futile Inquisition main deck makes sense. I would put Contagious Spear main deck but with running Orphans LS I need it to be RoP so I want in Reserve for Herod Antipas to tutor for.
Another change is moving from Hopper LS to Peter’s Curse. This may be one of the only non-meek LS deck builds that can get away with not running Hopper LS. Due to all the lost soul generation in the deck with Harvest Time and all the “play a lost soul” star abilities I realized I could get away with cutting Hopper LS and instead run another card in that slot. Peter’s Curse feels like the right choice to provide another piece to limit the opponents ability to play good battle winning Dominants. Layering Dominant restricts has proven to be better than just having two options with Complacent/Lacking Prophecy to pose more issues for the opponent if they manage to get around the other counters and also to get to a Dom restrict option more consistently. So far it has performed quite well. It also is nasty to play SoG/TSC and then lock the opponent out from playing theirs with Peter’s Curse. Yes I can’t play good Doms either with Peter’s Curse active but since I do not run many battle winning doms (I mean Harvest Time can be one now due to Disoriented LS) I find that Peter’s Curse is a nice addition to the build.
Virgin Birth is a really good card turn 0 as it can get me to my souls/Harvest Time/Matthew faster. That being said after turn 1 it usually is a dud if I draw it off Matthew since I have no hero in Reserve and due to Salty LS. Further, one thing I realized in games is the build really could use another way to Matthew. Due to this I decided to put Priests of Christ in over Virgin Birth. Priests of Christ can get to Matthew turn 1 by going to Angel from the Sun if blocked from hand. Also Priests of Christ is quite good in a meta saturated with Glory of the Lord since my build is very vulnerable to Glory of the Lord and having a character that can play enhancements with Glory having been played is huge. Priests of Christ does break unity for Mary, Holy Virgin but I have found if I do use Priests of Christ in battle Send the Helper, Lost Child Found, and even Repudiating Rulers offer enough bounce support to get that unity back so I can use Mary, Holy Virgin.
In the Reserve slot freed up by moving Futile Inquisition to the main deck I have added in Faith of Barak. I lost a tough game to a Thieves defense and realized I really could use another strong battle winner against banding defenses. Faith of Barak felt like the best option in clay since it also can be CBN if the opponent blocks with a character like The Deceiver and exchanges to another character in battle then Fatih of Barak also cannot be negated.
This latest version of the deck build has been functioning well overall.
03-19-2024 (LGP #14 Winner)
Deck-
Cut John, the Fisherman and added Possessing Spirit.
Cut Faith of Samuel and added Baptism of Jesus.
Cut Send the Helper and added Book of the Covenant.
Reserve-
Cut Zaccheus and added Send the Helper.
Cut Good Seed and added You Will Remain.
Cut Bless the Nations and added His Sacrifice.
Explanation:
These changes are centered entirely on making the build better against Honey Pot deck builds as well as Overtaken. Obviously as much as I did not want to I cut the powerful banding rescue package of John, the Fisherman, Zaccheus, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations. This is still quite relevant against many defenses in the game but is bad against Honey Pot since dealing with both Holy of Holies and Pot of Manna is tough to do. Neutralizing one is doable but neutralizing both is tough. Baptism of Jesus is good against Honey Pot and is strong in particular with solo Lazarus. Possessing Spirit is a remarkable card in this build. I only run two non-Gospel ECs in Herod Agrippa I and Outsiders (B/G) so it can in many situations set up a cheese rescue with Simon since if the opponent has no evil characters in territory they lack unity to band with Possessing Spirit. Also if the opponent does have evil characters in territory but does not have unity then they cannot band with Possessing Spirit. Even if they do have unity and band with Possessing Spirit I can negate the band on with Baptism of Jesus or His Sacrifice and get the rescue. Further Possessing Spirit provides another way to deal with Nazareth and many other annoying cards such as Resurrection Revealer. If I do happen to need to use Outsiders or Herod Agrippa I to block I can use Lost Child Found to bounce them and then play Possessing Spirit. I added in a Book of the Covenant package in the space cleared out by getting rid of Faith of Samuel, Bless the Nations, and Zaccheus. You Will Remain fits better as an add to battle tool than Good Seed. Also His Sacrifice is necessary. to get rid of Overtaken which has become a threat in the current meta.
02-06-2024 (Rob M Zoom Series 16 winner):
Deck-
Cut Chronicles of the Kings and added Shipwreck.
Cut David, Heart after God and added Mary, Holy Virgin.
Cut Noah, the Righteous and added Joanna, the Generous.
Cut Golgotha and added John, the Fisherman.
Cut Justin Martyr and added Spirit as a Dove.
Cut Word of Christ and added Faith of Samuel.
Cut Blood of the Lamb and added Generous Giving.
Cut Royal Parade and added Love One Another.
Cut Awake LS and added Accusers LS.
Cut The Amalekite’s Slave and added Repudiating Rulers.
Cut Matthew’s Begats and added Hopper LS.
Reserve-
Cut Polycarp and added Zaccheus.
Cut Love One Another and added Bless the Nations.
Cut Spirit as a Dove and added Good Seed.
Cut Amazing Faith and added Duplicity.
Cut Foreign Wives and added Unsuccessful.
Explanation:
The changes here were meant to make the deck better against Nazareth lists as well as giving the offense more firepower. When I lost to a Nazareth deck build in the LGP #13 I realized it is good to have most every character able to use all of the battle winners in the deck. The reason for this is if Nazareth is out then at least the battle winners in hand can be used on each character and searching for a battle winner is not as necessary. Due to this David, Heart after God and Noah, the Righteous got cut and replaced with heroes who work with all the Clay battle winners in the deck: Mary, Holy Virgin and Joanna, the Generous. Due to Mary being able to deal with annoyances like Holy of Holies and losing the ability of Noah to dispatch Nazareth I cut Chronicles of the Kings and added Shipwreck instead.
Further I had found I wanted more ways to Matthew turn 1 so I cut Justin Martyr and shifted Spirit as a Dove to the main deck. This provided two extra ways to Matthew turn 1 due to New Covenant being able to tutor for Spirit as a Dove. Then I wanted to bolster the offense a bit with no longer having CotK and its battle winning potential so I added a package to do hard to interact with rescues where I band in Zaccheus with the support of FBTN from Lazarus or toss from John, the Fisherman. Zaccheus is better than Matthias here because Matthias breaks Mary’s unity. I cut Polycarp for Zaccheus from Reserve since Polycarp breaks Mary’s unity. I cut Golgotha to make room for John, the Fisherman which was a tough call to cut but I could not find anything else main deck worth cutting. Then I cut Word of Christ with Noah being gone and added in Faith of Samuel as a way to band in John/Lazarus along with Zaccheus. I have plenty of ways to get Zaccheus out here since Virgin Birth, Send the Helper, Crowd’s Choice, and Joanna all can snag Zaccheus from Reserve. With The Ascension, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations I was able to get plenty of use from these bands. Throw Joanna/Matthew in and boy does this band draw a lot. I got rid of Blood of the Lamb since Generous Giving fits far better here working with more heroes. Then I had been getting annoyed getting blocked by Foreign Wives turn 1 so I placed Love One Another main deck in place of Royal Parade which no longer was needed for David and Noah.
Then regarding Lost Soul package I discovered a huge innovation for this deck build: Accusers LS. I have a reliable way around Crowds LS in the form of Wanderer LS but I did not have a way around Herdsmen of Gerar. Typically I would just not rescue with Matthew turn 1 if I knew someone was running Herdsmen or I would and accept they would draw a bunch of cards. Well then I realized if I get Accusers LS out before I rescue with Matthew Herdsmen would be negated by Accusers. With 8 ways to Accusers in this deck build turn 0 the odds of that happening are pretty good. I cut Awake LS for Accusers and then I needed another way to get a LS out of deck turn 0 without Awake. Due to this I cut The Amalekite’s Slave which would be negated by Accusers anyway and added Repudiating Rulers whose star ability can get a Lost Soul out turn 0. To make Repudiating Rulers viable as a block I cut Foreign Wives from Reserve and added Unsuccessful. Then I cut Amazing Faith (no use with Noah gone) and added Duplicity. Repudiating Rulers to Duplicity/Unsuccessful is a slick block. Also no longer having Noah and David for Matthew’s Begats to be activated on I cut it for Hopper LS to make my build faster and for more soul gen.
Additional changes to the Reserve not already mentioned included adding Good Seed in the empty slot opened up from Spirit as a Dove being main deck and Bless the Nations in place of Love One Another which was now main deck. Good Seed is great for add to battle and Bless the Nations could be snagged my Mary to band to John/Lazarus along with Zaccheus and also of course could be grabbed off Send the Helper to work with the other heroes rescuing. Bless the Nations is also nasty tossed off Herod’s Temple.
Overall this version of the deck was the most fun to play out of any version of Soul Surfer I have had. It is super explosive and drew tons of cards with using The Ascension, Faith of Samuel, and Bless the Nations to band at least John and/or Lazarus along with Zaccheus in and if I could Matthew and Joanna and Mary as well. These are very strong rescues and draw so many cards. That being said the deck was cruising as I went undefeated with this deck build in the RobM Zoom Series 16 and had won my first three rounds in the Lackey Grand Prix #14. Then in the 4th round I lost to Jay Chamber’s piloting Honey Pot. I swiftly realized all of this banding stuff was ill advised against Pot of Manna. This led to me regrettably shifting off the banding package to be more resilient against Pot of Manna. Naturally this makes the build a little worse against non-Pot of Manna builds but necessary since Honey Pot is one of the best deck builds in the meta.
12-12-2023:
Deck-
Cut Angel of the Lord (O.T.) and added Chronicles of the Kings.
Cut The Twenty-Four Elders and added Noah, the Righteous.
Cut Distressed LS and added Humble LS.
Cut Hopper LS and added Matthew’s Begats.
Cut Covenant with Moses (L Starter) and added Word of Christ.
Cut Reclaimed by Egypt and added Foreign Spears.
Moved Herodias’ Daughter to main deck and moved Foreign Wives to Reserve.
Reserve-
Cut Good Seed and added Amazing Faith.
Explanation:
Most of these changes were not really ones I wanted to make but are necessary due to how the meta has shifted post Redemption ROOTS being released. Holy of Holies and Nazareth are threats that every deck needs to account for. To account for these threats Noah, the Righteous was added in place of The Twenty-Four Elders offering far better contingency. While I really like The Twenty-Four Elders in this deck build as the card fits so well and has better synergy with battle winners than Noah I feel this change is necessary to make the deck build more resilient. The fact Noah hits set-aside area now and his ongoing prevent no longer fizzles when an interrupt the battle is played makes him far more playable.
I enjoyed Good Seed and its synergy with 24 Elders and Lazarus but now Amazing Faith is important to have in Reserve to bolster Noah’s rescuing power. Add to battle is important though and Matthew’s Begats fits marvelously in this deck build since it can be activated on both meek Noah and David and the main rescuers in this deck convert to meek. I like Hopper LS since it aids T1 consistency but this deck has plenty of soul gen and Matthew’s Begats is a better card for helping the offense win. It’s star ability is sneaky good since it can grab all of the main rescuers. Humble LS is a necessity with Holy of Holies being such a powerful card but I had a hard time deciding what to cut. I reluctantly cut Distressed LS which I do want in this deck but it is the least critical out of the Lost Souls in the list. It is such a good card but I have seen less negate neutrals as of late and the other souls feel more important right now. Another soul I could cut is Orphans LS for Humble and then bring Distressed back but I feel there are a lot of cards on defense right now that have chump blocks centered around lost souls. Distressed will be missed but Humble is more important right now. Angel of the Lord I will miss since when Complacent is not out it is amazing and is great with Simon the Zealous who can negate Complacent and then use AotL to win the battle. However, Chronicles of the Kings feels more important for dealing with cards like Holy of Holies and it can be a battle winner as well. David, HAG can tutor for Chronicles just as he can AotL (O.T.). Word of Christ is a natural inclusion over Covenant with Moses since they are similar and it works with Noah, the Righteous. Foreign Spears is important since it can get rid of Nazareth. I do like how Reclaimed by Egypt can be a battle winner and not just a negate while also being CBP with Foreign Wives but contingency is more important in this meta. Herodias’ Daughter needs to be main deck as another way to deal with Nazareth and Foreign Wives is fine in Reserve. Overall tough changes to make but necessary for the sake of resiliency against threats in the meta.
10-20-2023 (Previous version 04-4-23):
Deck-
Cut Noah (LoC) and added The Twenty-Four Elders (RoJ).
Cut Lost Soul (Humble) and added Lost Soul (Distressed).
Cut Lost Soul (Escape) and added Lost Soul (Wanderer).
Cut Love One Another and added Covenant with Moses (L Starter).
Reserve-
Cut The Great Commission and added Love One Another.
Cut Amazing Faith and added Good Seed.
Explanation:
This update is the final result of much refining post winning the 2023 NW Regional Tournament with this deck build back in May 2023. I have alternated between a decent number of cards in the slots above but landed here. Noah, the Righteous became weaker with the ruling that interrupt the battle (even my own) cause his prevent to fizzle entirely and with how many people are running The Highwayman and Outsiders (B/G) he is a major liability with the high brigade count.
The Twenty-Four Elders actually is a stronger rescue in this deck due to have 5 battle winners to back them up and the fact 24 Elders has synergy with The Ascension, Herod’s Temple, and the newly added Good Seed. Distressed LS I realized is important since territory class characters are still quite a threat in the 1 TCE world. I realized I did not need Escape LS since I have 8 total ways to every LS in the deck turn 0 without it and Wanderer LS is amazing for dealing with an opponents Crowds LS if I am going first and they got it out turn 0 so my Matthew can work. Beyond this stealing opponent’s LS’s is strong. Covenant with Moses is an amazing addition to the main deck as it works with every single hero in the deck (aside from the searcher angels of course) and is an extra artifact for The Twenty-Four Elders.
Reserve- Amazing Faith is no longer worth running with Noah (LoC) out of the deck and Good Seed adds great add to battle support for Simon rescues and other rescues as well and pairs so well with The Twenty-Four Elders. To make room for Covenant with Moses main deck I cut Love One Another but it is a very important card for dealing with threats like Foreign Wives and is more important than The Great Commission so I cut The Great Commission to make room for Love One Another in Reserve.
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