Purple Heart (15th Place 2026 Nats) (4th Place 2025 Nats)

Introduction:

An earlier version of this build took 4th place in Type 1 at Nationals 2025 and 15th place in Type 1 at Nationals 2026. It is a strong build but does have some weaknesses hence the lower finish in 2026 than 2025.

Introduction:

The idea for this build arose after I revised my Soul Surfer article after I won a Lackey Grand Prix with Soul Surfer in December 2024. You see when I went to revise that article it had two Soul Surfer lists in it: my typical Clay Soul Surfer build and a Purple Soul Surfer build. I had built that Purple Surfer deck last spring when the Guardian of Your Souls (Nats promo) was spoiled since I realized that the Purple Disciples are not phased by GoYS. Well that experimental Purple Surfer build really was not necessary since GoYS sees so little play. Also the Purple version just did not fit as well with the Soul Surfer shell as the Clay version so I abandoned it.

However, when I was revising my Soul Surfer article in December I realized the Purple offense in Purple Surfer is actually a pretty decent offense and I had a revelation of sorts. For months I had been working on Starstruck builds that sought to lock the opponent down with a bunch of counters after tutoring for them via Numerous as the Stars. One version sought to get Nazareth out and Judas. These builds proved too fragile when going second and when they did not combo going first. However, regarding the Nazareth version I thought about how nice it would be to tutor for turn 0 off the Starstruck consistency package and then play it out on my opponent’s turn when they go first to give me a better chance if they go first. The problem with that approach though is that I would shoot myself in the foot with piloting the Starstruck Numerous builds since I need to tutor for Numerous on my turn in order to have any realistic chance of winning. Nazareth played on my opponents turn hurts me just as bad or worse than them in those builds.

With this information in mind here is the revelation I had in light of seeing my Purple offense from Purple Surfer: the Purple offense I had crafted is the optimal offense to pair with the Starstruck consistency engine to set up playing and Nazareth on my opponent’s turn when they go first. The reason for this is when I play The Resurrection on my opponent’s turn when they go first I can play out John the Fisherman as well and the Purple offense I have built runs a bunch of solid Purple battle winners main deck that John can use solo. This means I lock my opponent down on their first turn by playing Rez to Nazzy/John and then I rescue with John on my first turn drawing 2 cards and having strong rescue potential.

Incidentally I also realized the Purple offense is arguably the best offense in the game to pair with Nazareth whether my opponent goes first or I go first. The reason for this is when I go first I try to go to Matthew and play Rez to Naz and band in John and if available Judas. I draw a bunch and lock down my opponent. But what is so great is I can reuse Purple Matthew the next turn without needing a way to bounce him. This makes Purple a superior option in my mind to Clay to pair with Nazareth since less resources are required to keep drawing cards with Matthew as well as using any other character like Simon the Zealous over and over again. Clay needs bounce support to reuse characters with Nazzy live and that can be hard to guarantee without searching. Purple does not have that issue.

So with this big picture account considered now lets get into the nitty gritty of this decks features.

Feature #1- Turn 0 Resurrection/Turn 1 Resurrection:

This build uses the best parts of the Starstruck consistency engine to tutor for turn 0. This build is not as all in as my other Starstruck builds in terms of cards that topdeck a good Dominant from deck/cards that get that topdecked Dominant to hand. I realized the other builds while uber consistent sacrifice too many card slots to be so consistent. Overall this build has 6 ways to a turn 0 Nazareth and 6 ways to get it to hand if the needed card is topdecked. The 6 ways are: The Resurrection, Crowd’s Choice to The Resurrection, Fishing Boat (star) to The Resurrection, Transfiguration (star) to The Resurrection, John the Fisherman (star) to The Resurrection, and John the Forerunnner (star) to The Resurrection. The 6 ways to get the needed top decked Dominant to hand by the star abilities that topdeck it are: (star), (star), Prosperity LS, Grumbled LS, Shepherds LS, and Lawless LS (Crowd’s Choice is topdecked if Lawless is the option available).

I have found that while this is not as consistent as the other Starstruck builds it is consistent enough without causing the deck build to be a glass cannon due to taking up so many slots with cards primarily used for turn 0. Also the cards that topdeck a Good Dominant from deck for turn 0 used all fit seamlessly in this build. John the Fisherman, Fishing Boat, and Transfiguration are all great with the Purple Offense. Fishing Boat I found with other versions of Starstruck is one of the very best add to battle cards in the game. It is at its best in this Disciple offense build. It is stronger than Good Seed and the like since it works when the opponent plays Christian Martyr and the like without and EC in battle. works as well due to unity Gospel on the Purple heroes and since I run he is a strong rescuer. The 6 cards which can get the topdecked Dominant to hand are all good outside turn 0 with being the weakest due to not working with Naz live but still worth it due to how strong its Star ability is.

Overall this is the best deck I have built this season in my mind that uses my Starstruck consistency engine since it is well rounded and more balanced than the Starstruck Numerous builds.

I should note if I am going first Spirit as a Dove and The New Covenant (to Spirit as a Dove) provide two more ways to meaning I have 8 total potential ways to The Resurrection if I am going first. Also I have three additional ways to get the topdecked The Resurrection that was topdecked by the star abilities that do so if I am going first: Matthew, John, and Judas. That means 9 total ways to get that topdecked Resurrection if I am going first. This build is quite consistent at getting to The Resurrection to play Nazareth turn 0 to play on my opponents turn when they go first and even more consistent turn 1 if it is my turn. Even if I don’t get to The Resurrection before battle on my first turn having Matthew, John, and Judas gives further chances at drawing into it.

Turbo Matthew is certainly a goal of this build. I have 8 ways to Matthew turn 1 and if you factor in the star abilities that topdeck a good Dominant from deck that can topdeck Crowd’s Choice along with Mary of Bethany’s star ability that is 13 ways. Uber consistent getting to Matthew which helps turbo to Nazzy in a game where I do not get it one of the other ways. Some might say running three searcher angels is bad in a Nazzy build but to me the value of getting to Matthew fast makes them worth it. Also the fact I can turn off Nazzy on just my turn with DGRS? and Deafening Spirit means I can use these searcher angels to go to a hero I am wanting to rescue with. Reassuring Angels in particular is good with Nazzy live since it can exchange to hand and give Clay brigade to one of my Purple Disciples. More on that will be explained in the section on offense.

I truly believe this build is the best turbo Nazareth build in the game due to the ability it has to get to it quickly without sacrificing too many card slots to do so while also having an offense that has remarkable synergy with Nazareth in the Purple offense beyond any other offense I have seen.

 Feature #2: Synergy-

I have already mentioned how well the Purple offense works with Nazareth active.

In addition to this synergy I realized I think the best Defense for this build is Orange. Originally I was running Herods but Orange works significantly better. The reason for this is three fold. 1) Running Orange has natural synergy with Judas who is Orange and great support to the demon defense. 2) Orange has in my mind the best synergy with Nazareth out of any defense in the game since I can turn off Nazareth on my turn only with or Deafening Spirit if I need to tutor for something on my turn but do not want my opponent to be able to do so on their next turn. This is key also for being able to play . I can negate Nazzy on my turn only and play TSC to get SoG back. 3) Orange allows me to have additional search counters if my opponent deals with Nazareth due to and Blindness being solid search counters in that situation.

This third point leads to an additional example of synergy in this build: layered counters. Aside from having layered search counters this build also of course has the draw counter of Judas to support Nazareth. Beyond this I also realized something else: I built this Purple offense originally to test in my Soul Surfer shell in the event Guardian of Your Souls were to start seeing significant play since this Purple offense works through GoYS. The thought then crossed my mind as I was crafting Purple Heart: why not run GoYS in this build? The build definitely wants resiliency against chump blocks like The Woman of Thebez/Moabites since they are quite good against Matthew/John rescues. Furthermore when I am facing NT offenses I do not want my opponent banding to and converting my Disciples to meek. I want them to stay Purple. GoYS helps to protect my Disciples from being converted to meek so they stay Purple so I can keep using their abilities. GoYS is also a solid counter against the Clay Goodstuff offense and so I figured it was worth testing out. Lastly running Guardian of Your Souls provides great resiliency against Soul Hide builds. If I am facing a Soul Hide build I will often try to tutor for Guardian of Your Souls rather than turn 0. I do believe the offense has enough power to win the game without a battle winning Dominant in the slot GoYS occupies and due to the multiple levels of synergy GoYS has in this build I think it is worth the slot.

Paired with running GoYS and only running two battle winning Dominants main deck, the last counter I want to mention is . The card slot The Cross is in had been previously occupied by Herod’s Temple and then Destructive Sin. Herod’s Temple is good here but not as necessary as in other builds since I am running straight Purple (aside from who is used in a situational manner) and therefore I am not as vulnerable to choose the attacker. I do like the toss ability on Herod’s Temple for dealing with initiative situations and do wish I could fit Herod’s Temple in the build but I found I was not using it all that much in games. This led me to explore other options. Destructive Sin is a great draw counter and from an ability standpoint might be the best counter to draw in the game. However, it is really easy for most top tier offenses to navigate since Joshua has Captain of the Host, Nativity has Gabriel/Chamber of Angels/Mary, Holy Virgin, and Gospel Good stuff has Mary, Holy Virgin. This led me to looking for a better option. One thing that kept happening to me is I kept getting blocked by Dominants with Naz live. If I got to Fishing Boat I would be ok but that was my only main deck way to deal with Dom blocks. I have Sent Two by Two in Reserve which with Simon CTB gets around Dom blocks by bringing an EC into battle so if they Dom block I can use Good Seed due to an EC in battle, but with Nazzy live I am not getting to Good Seed. Also I got tired of being used on . This led me to realize The Cross has great synergy in this build. I only run two battle winning Dominants and I usually use on my first turn leaving just Angel of the Lord for the rest of the game. I run very few CBN enhancements and most of the time am not using the ones I do have. Both the offense and defense like the support of The Cross. It has good synergy with both.

Overall this build fits so well together even beyond the layered counters. Another key point of synergy is the star abilities that topdeck a good Dominant from deck pair quite well with Purple Disciples by helping with having a good Dominant on hand to reveal to use their abilities. Wall of Protection has strong synergy with the offense by stopping my opponent from banding to my heroes to get back into the game by drawing cards/also stopping them from banding to them and then converting them to meek while also making the offense resilient against choose the attacker effects. Wall of Protection also has synergy with the defense by stopping the opponent from being able to choose my evil characters to block. Another point of synergy in this build is in connection with . Twenty Shekels is excellent with the offense supporting Simon the Zealous, Thaddeus, and rescues. Twenty Shekels is also good for the defense since Judean Mediums and Fallen Star don’t coexist well if Judean Mediums survives battle since they ruin Fallen Star’s unity. Twenty Shekels allows me to bounce Judean Mediums and Profane Daughters to hand in my next preparation phase after blocking with Judean Mediums so on my next block I can use either Fallen Star or Judean Mediums based on what works best. Twenty Shekels is also helpful if I want to bounce to clear the way for a John, the Forerunner rescue or to play a TCE. This is just another example of the synergy that exists in this deck build.

Mary of Bethany has great synergy in this build since her star ability paired with the Starstruck consistency engine gets me to my heroes especially Matthew and Judas faster. She also is so good for helping Nazareth and to stay live since she deals with many of the counters to both by getting around negate neutral characters and by negating Possessing Spirit.

Now here are some notes on how I pilot the Offense/Defense.

Offense Analysis:

The Purple Disciple offense does not have as much raw power as Clay however I do believe it has enough power to win even with only two battle winning Dominants. is still in my mind the most powerful offensive battle winning Dominant in the game and is particularly strong in a build running backed up by choose the blocker (Simon), board control (Thaddeus), and limiting who the opponent can even block with being able to clear out tiny ECs that get around John, the Forerunner.

Beyond of course I have which is very strong. Having run Matthew in Soul Surfer for years now I have realized in order for a turn 1 Matthew rescue to work you want plenty of battle winning power to back him up. Disciples across the board want battle winning support. , Royal Parade, and Covenant with David [K] are all solid main deck battle winners. I should also note this build can often utilize The New Covenant as an enhancement in battle. With wanting to play Nazzy out on my opponents turn when they go first along with John the Fisherman I want to have enough battle winners for John to draw into to back him up. I think you really have to pack enough power to win the game on offense main deck in a Nazzy build and cannot rely on the Reserve.

The heroes main deck appreciate this stout GE battle winner support. John the Fisherman backed up by Royal Parade, Covenant with David [K], and is quite good. Every Purple hero in the deck likes this battle winner support. in Reserve by the way offers bounce support for if I play a character as meek for Spirit as a Dove use or happen to convert a character to meek.

Walking on Water into or if Nazareth is not active is quite strong. Simon the Zealous CTB paired with Authority of Christ is naturally strong too. I also like going in Simon the Zealous if Nazareth is not active choosing a fat blocker, and playing Spirit as a Dove to tutor for The Great Commission to deal with the evil character CBN. If GoYS is up I can give Simon the Zealous Clay brigade via Reassuring Angels and do this play as well.

works with Nazareth active and can allow me to use my Reserve. I like to play down and first when I rescue with Jeremiah and then play or while evil enhancements are being dealt with by the FBTN effect of Amazing Faith or Do Not Question. I also like playing Sent Two by Two off Jeremiah to add two Disciples to battle if that is the right approach. Covenant with David [K] from main deck also works with Jeremiah.

Another key feature of this offense is abuse. My Starstruck Nativity build which I ran most of the rounds at this past Nationals proved the value of Twenty Shekels abuse to me. In that build I paired it with a main deck and got several rescues with him by getting all of my opponent’s ECs into their territory and keeping my hand down to cruise in with John the Forerunner. Mary, Holy Virgin in that build paired with Twenty Shekels also proved quite strong to play an opponents only good blocking option from hand and then reserve it with her. In this build I run John the Forerunner as well and he works due to my Purple heroes all being Gospel. Thaddeus in this build is a poor man’s Mary, Holy Virgin and works in a similar manner to her paired with Twenty Shekels. Simon the Zealous also really likes Twenty Shekels support since I can play out a suboptimal blocker with it and then choose that character to block with Simon. I really like Twenty Shekels in this build.

I should also note Covenant with David [K], Royal Parade, and No Need for Spices all work with John, the Forerunner. No Need for Spices and Royal Parade do work with Mary, of Bethany too if I need to rescue with her to restrict evil Dominants in some situations.

offers great support to any rescue in the deck protecting my heroes and lost souls from evil cards. Sent Two by Two offers good add to battle support and a great consistency and speed burst when played in battle off of Walking on Water to search for two disciples from deck and then add two disciples to battle.

Overall this offense is not the most powerful in the game but it is potent enough I believe to get the job done and has fantastic synergy within itself and with this build overall.

Defense Analysis:

The addition of the new Prince of the Air Promo really helps the Orange defense out quite a bit. Originally I was running Herods in this list and I have been primarily running Herods for several years now in Soul Surfer and my other significant build I ran in tournaments last season which is Starstruck Nativity version. Those are the two main decks I have had success with in recent years and both ran Herod defenses. Lets compare mono Orange demons with Herods.

Herods typically run The Deceiver, Herod’s Guard, Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa I, Herod Archelaus, Herodias’ Daughter, Outsiders (B/G), and a flex spot that can contain /Emperor Claudius/or another character. Reserve will often have Herod’s Executioner/Foreign Horses and Antipas and a battle winner. And of course we must not forget the killer main deck battle winner options of Abandonment, No Straw!, Futile Inquisition, and Contagious Fear. All of this is backed up by Herod’s Temple support.

When you compare the Orange defense I have crafted it is a poor man’s version of Herods but in a Nazareth environment I believe it is better than Herods would be due to superior synergy. Both builds run . In place of Herod the Great this build runs . Herod the Great struggles in a Nazareth build since he cannot play out Herod’s Temple. The Fallen Star with his Goliath like blocking ability is fantastic in a Nazareth build being great solo. In place of Herod Agrippa I this build has . Red Dragon is a stronger blocker in a vacuum than Herod Agrippa I due to being protected from lone heroes whereas Herod Agrippa I is only protected from multiple heroes in battle. Red Dragon’s weakness is being able to be killed with and to Michael but the Angel of the Lord weakness is minimized with the help of Judas and . The Ram with Two Horns is in place of Herod Archelaus offering Orange more utility against banding offenses particularly Daniel where Red Dragon is not as good due to the presence of Michael. In place of Outsiders (B/G) Prince of the Air is run. Prince of the Air is better than Outsiders in my mind due to not needing board advantage to underdeck opponent’s card(s). In place of Herodias’ Daugther this build has Judas, the Betrayer who provides great support to all the demons in the build by restricting Dominants. In place of Herod’s Guard this defense runs . I do think Herods are a stronger defense than Orange demons especially with Herod’s Temple support. The Judean Mediums granting CBN to Red Dragon, Prince of the Air, and The Ram with Two Horns is fantastic.

I should note that while this build certainly could run The Deceiver I often found The Deceiver to be a dead card with Nazareth live.

In terms of battle winner support Herod’s certainly have the better battle winners. That being said in a Nazareth build having negates to back up the protected characters is often quite effective due to the limited resources the opponent will often have available. Orange has superior negates in Blindness and Deafening Spirit to what Evil Gold has. Also as I mentioned earlier and Deafening Spirit being able to be used to turn Nazareth off for my turn only so I can search for a battle winning resource for my game plan is quite helpful.

Seven Sons of Sceva offers recursion that is helpful for the defense. is helpful to give the defense choose the attacker support.

This defense is not as good as Herods but in a Nazareth build I feel it is a better fit with superior synergy. In a build like this a defense really just needs to offer enough blocking power for the offense to stave off the opponent so the offense can win the game. This defense does that and offers premium synergy with what my build is seeking to do and also the natural synergy between Orange/Purple due to Judas.

Lost Souls:

Prosperity LS, Grumbled LS, Shepherds LS, and Lawless LS are all here for synergy with the topdeck a good Dominant from deck star abilities.

With Nazareth live the opponent is slowed down quite a bit so soul gen can be an issue. Harvest LS, Lost Souls LS, and Hopper LS help with this.

Orphans LS is key for dealing with soul hide threats.

Maybe board:

 Here are some cards I am considering for this build-

Bartholomew, Boanerges, My Lord and My God, His Sacrifice, Transfiguration/Moses in Glory package, Magic Charms/Necromancer/Profane Daughters/Unsuccessful package, Prince of this World, Herod’s Temple, Chronicles of the Kings, Harvest Time, Life Through Christ, Hopper LS, Moses (CoW), Darkness LS, Reach of Desperation, Glory of the Lord (winner promo), The Deceiver paired with Herod Antipas/Contagious Fear (Reserve), Orphans LS, Good Seed, Captive Princes, Elijah in Glory (Reserve), Conjurers/Confusion (Reserve), Destructive Sin, Bethlehem Stable, Untouchable (Reserve), Simon Peter/4DC, Gabriel, Mouth of God, Grapes of Wrath, Mayhem, Shipwreck, King of Tyrus (PoC), Blood Avenger, The Serpent, Sabbath Breaker (Orange/Gray), Abaddon, the Destroyer, Seven Sons of Sceva (Reserve), The Sordid Spirit (main)/Beelzebub (Reserve), Mask of Worldliness, Blasphemies, The Gates of Hell, Distressed LS, Crowds LS, Humble LS, Accusers LS, Darkness LS, The Ends of the Earth, Achim, Bethlehem (LoC), Life through Christ, Temple Veil, and Golgotha.

Conclusion:

This deck build will forever be one of my favorite decks I have built. The fact I placed 4th at Nationals 2025 with it in Type 1 is a result I did not expect to achieve and am thrilled with. I plan to continue to thinker with it down the road. Do you have any feedback on how to make this build better or any thoughts on it in general?

Change Log-

(07-29-2026) [Nationals 2026 Edition]:

Deck-

Cut Bartholomew. Added .

Cut My Lord and My God. Added Covenant with David [K].

Cut Boanerges. Added Royal Parade. 

Cut Transfiguration. Added No Need for Spices.

Cut Magic Charms. Added Hopper LS (OT).

Reserve-

Cut Moses in Glory. Added .

Cut His Sacrifice. Added .

Cut Necromancer. Added .

Cut Profane Daughters. Added Seven Sons of Sceva.

Cut Unsuccessful. Added .

Explanation:

had been on my maybe board list since likely at least September. I had tried before to fit him in the build but just could not figure out how. I finally figured out how.

First off is the key change of cutting Bartholomew for . Bartholomew is a capable hero due to soul gen and making Gospel enhancements CBN. This is good against FBTN ECs in particular. However, Jeremiah, the Weeper is more powerful. This deck build has always been weak to an opponent playing Glory of the Lord to bolster their block. Jeremiah, the Weeper gives me a rescue in a scenario where Glory of the Lord is played pre-battle. This build is weak to Holy of Holies. Jeremiah, the Weeper provides a rescue option in that scenario. Also Jeremiah. the Weeper paired with gives me another way turn 2 and later to the Resurrection to Nazareth or alternately to Crowd’s Choice to get Nazareth into play in discard phase. Jeremiah, the Weeper paired with is quite good as well due to being able to play from the opponent’s hand and paralyze annoying ECs with strength 5 or less including , Haman, The Terrified Chiefs, The Depraved (Black), Outsiders (B/G), etc.

Furthermore, allows me to use the very strong Purple GEs in my Reserve with Nazareth active. The key to being able to use these and not have them get negated by the opponent is by playing or down first to negate the opponent’s EEs. I run both Amazing Faith and Do Not Question (I do wish Reassurance of Jesus worked with OT heroes but alas Do Not Question is the only GE I can find that has a similar type of effect to Amazing Faith that works with an OT hero. I like Amazing Faith and Reassurance of Jesus better than Do Not Question since they not only negate EEs but also ECs) so I can do up to 2 strong rescues with Jeremiah. Also if the opponent happens to have a CBP EE after I play one of the FBTN enhancements then I can play the other one down. Also I like running both Amazing Faith/Do Not Question in case my opponent is on or Coliseum then I can play Do Not Question instead of Amazing Faith (although Amazing Faith tossed off The Cross or Coliseum can win a battle against an EC with toughness of 7 or less and since I run The Cross this makes Amazing Faith even better in this build). When I play down Amazing Faith or Do Not Question in battle and then follow them up with or that is quite strong. I can alternately, if I am confident due to for instance that my opponent does not have an interrupt the battle EE in hand that cut interrupt Jeremiah’s ability, play Authority of Christ or The Great Commission first and follow up with Amazing Faith or Do Not Question so that I can actually get their effect in case Jeremiah’s numbers get too big with Amazing Faith or Do Not Question played first and the opponent just opts to let their EC die. Jeremiah playing Sent Two by Two in battle is also very good to add two disciples to battle if I want to draw cards especially if Nazareth is not active since I can search for two disciples and add two disciples to battle. Furthermore, Jeremiah can play in battle to get a banished SoG back even with Nazareth active or if Nazareth is not active he can play Cov of Prayer to get Seven Sons of Sceva or to help with blocking. So to say the least I feel Jeremiah, the Weeper offers stronger overall rescue potential than Bartholomew.

I cut His Sacrifice for since Jeremiah interferes with unity for His Sacrifice.

Now let us consider the other changes I made. Due to no longer needing Gospel GE’s to be CBN with Bartholomew I cut My Lord and My God for Covenant with David [K] since they literally do the same exact thing and Covenant with David works with and John, the Forerunner. I also cut Boanerges for Royal Parade since Royal Parade works against EC bands and works with and Mary of Bethany. I will miss the removal aspect of Boanerges though since banish is naturally stronger than bounce. Another perk to running Covenant with David and Royal Parade over My Lord and My God and Boanerges is The Depraved does not negate Covenant with David and Royal Parade since they are OT. I also cut Transfiguration for No Need for Spices. I like Transfiguration into Moses in Glory to back up my Disciple rescues but I have only ever done that in a couple games in all the times I have played Purple Heart due to the play not working with Nazareth live. Of course though the star ability on Transfiguration is key to the deck build. No Need for Spices has the same star ability as Transfiguration and is another battle winner Mary of Bethany and John, the Forerunner can both use so I think I might actually use it more. Cutting Transfiguration means Moses in Glory gets cut too and so I put in the slot that was occupied by Moses in Glory.

Lastly I cut Magic Charms for Hopper LS and due to that got rid of the magicians package in Reserve in Necromancer/Profane Daughters/Unsuccessful. I put , Seven Sons of Sceva, and in Reserve over those three cards. Covenant of Prayer can tutor for either of those blocking options and is quite helpful for getting back if it is banished. Seven Sons of Sceva is strong for recurring a demon. Temptation in the Wilderness I feel is underrated in Orange giving choose the attacker support to the strong blockers the defense has. Hopper LS increases the consistency of the deck and is solid soul gen turn 1.

Overall I do feel these changes make the deck build better. The downsides I have thought of are the deck is weaker to FBTN ECs, the deck has a less soul gen without Bartholomew, the deck has less ways around Confusion of Mind and with His Sacrifice gone, and the deck has one less way around Sheol with Boanerges gone, I have one less hero to play Spirit as a Dove on turn 1 to get to or Matthew depending on which is wanted, Jeremiah is worse turn 1 than Bartholomew, and can interfere with the unity of John, the Forerunner. However, can bounce Jeremiah, the Weeper to restore unity for John, the Forerunner and frankly most of the time i would rescue with John, the Forerunner is with Twenty Shekels having been activated. Overall though I feel the benefits of the changes outweigh the drawbacks.

(03-05-2026):

Deck-

Cut Prince of this World and added The Ram with Two Horns.

Explanation:

Prince of this World will be missed due to its bounce ability being quite handy for bouncing Disciples I happen to have to convert to or play as meek. However, The Ram with Two Horns is a better blocker in my mind against Daniel and Joshua offenses and is handy for reserving annoying negate neutral heroes.

(07-31-2025) [Nationals 2025 Edition]:

Deck-

Cut Moses (CoW) and added Mary of Bethany.

Cut Reach of Desperation and added .

Cut Darkness LS and added Orphans LS.

Reserve-

Cut Elijah in Glory and added Moses in Glory.

Cut and added Sent Two by Two.

Explanation:

These changes overall were made after my loss to my playgroup member at a District tournament in the summer months leading up to Nationals 2025. I realized in that game that against Soul Hide I needed to layer soul protection since he was able to get around my Guardian of Your Souls with The Brood of Vipers and then managed to put it in reserve with Jairus star ability I believe. He hid souls and I could not break through. This led to me cutting Darkness LS for Orphans LS. Darkness is nice for getting a blocker if I am going second to begin the game or going to Judas if I am going first but Orphans LS definitely was the right choice doubling up on soul protection with all the soul hide that was seeing play at Nationals particularly Big Clay.

Moses (CoW) I realized was too much of a liability against Prince of the Air due to adding so many brigades to play. I definitely miss his ability to deal with territory class enhancements and annoying lost souls my opponent might have but one thing I realized against Soul Hide is him negating my soul gen in Harvest LS and Lost Souls LS is not good. Especially once Orphans LS came into the list Moses needed to go. I also realized Moses negating my Orange territory class enhancements that let me play around Nazareth is also problematic. Mary of Bethany is strong at stopping opponents negate neutral characters and Possessing Spirit. Also I realized her star ability is fantastic in this deck build since she can topdeck Matthew or Judas and I can often get them to hand due to the Starstruck consistency engine contained in this build. She is great as well banded in off since she restricts evil Dominants. She only adds one brigade to play alongside Purple so is much less of a liability against Prince of the Air. Overall she ended up being a great addition.

I realized is a must in a meta filled with Prince of the Air. I liked the speed of Reach of Desperation but I Am He being main deck felt more important since with Nazareth live getting it from reserve would be challenging.

Since I am no longer running Moses (CoW), Moses in Glory felt better than Elijah in Glory as a Transfiguration target in Reserve. With moved to main deck I had an extra Reserve slot and Sent Two by Two felt like a great add. A great play is using Walking on Water to add Sent Two by Two to battle to search for two Disciples from deck and add two Disciples to battle in one swift swoop. This is close to as strong as . Also Sent Two by Two is just good on its own too as an add to battle piece.

Overall every single one of these changes ended up feeling right and working well at Nationals 2025. I do not regret any of them. The one thing Tyler Stevens really helped me with is I was struggling deciding between Royal Parade and main deck. Royal Parade I like for Thieves matchups. He said Testing Solomon seemed better with all of the protected characters on defenses such as , , and the protected Herods. He was 100% right. So glad I stuck with Testing Solomon over Royal Parade. I also was struggling deciding between Life Through Christ and main deck. I liked Life Through Christ since it provided another answer to Prince of the Air due to the protection on it and was still a way to Matthew. However, it is less consistent than Angel from the Sun as a tutor. Tyler said consistency was better across 10 rounds and he was right. The downside of me sharing my build with Tyler was he was fully prepped to face it and one of my two losses was to him. However, I doubt I would have done as well as I did at Nationals without his insights and I may not have even chosen Purple Heart over The Last Stand without his encouragement to do so. Thankful for his advice and help.

(05-14-2025):

Deck-

Cut The Deceiver and added Moses (CoW).

Cut Hopper LS and added Magic Charms (Promo).

Cut Orphans LS and added Darkness LS.

Reserve-

Cut Moses in Glory and added Elijah in Glory.

Cut Good Seed and added .

Cut Herod Antipas and added Profane Daughters.

Cut Contagious Fear and added Unsuccessful.

Explanation:

After piloting Purple Heart in online play for a while I realized that one issue the build has is how easily people could get around Nazareth with cards like Possessing Spirit or Lost Child Found and could negate with characters like Achim that negate neutrals. This led to me realize the build needed a way to deal with those threats. Moses (CoW) is a great way to do so dealing with all of these threats all at once. Also if I want to use a TCE like Deafening Spirit to negate my Nazareth so I can search I can just bounce Moses with , do my search, and put him back down. Moses also makes Transfiguration an actual legit battle winner with Nazareth live since he is in deck and if he is in territory I can band to him with Transfiguration. I cut The Deceiver for Moses because The Deceiver was often just a dead card with Nazareth live.

With this change I realized Hopper LS was no longer optimal. I am not a fan of running Hopper in builds that use Moses (CoW) since Moses negates Hopper. I decided to put Magic Charms in over Hopper. This helps mitigate the loss of The Deceiver since Magic Charms can tutor for all the human ECs in the build other than . Magic Charms also fills the soul gen void left by losing Hopper LS. Beyond this Magic Charms is good in terms of removing annoying heroes an opponent has like Joshua, the Commander.

Orphans LS is not as good with Moses (CoW) since he will often negate it and adding in Darkness LS gives me another way to an EC when going 2nd with The Deceiver being gone and is also good when going 1st since it gives me another way to Judas.

The Reserve changes reflect the changes made main deck. Since I am running Moses (CoW) now main deck Moses in Glory is no longer an option in Reserve and Elijah in Glory paired with Moses (CoW) is excellent so he slots in. Good Seed is not going to be as viable with Moses (CoW) factored in and is quite good of Walking on Water so I went with that instead. With The Deceiver being gone the Herod Antipas/Contagious Fear block is no longer viable so I went with Profane Daughter/Unsuccessful instead since Magic Charms can tutor for her.

Overall these changes tested well and I top cut in the Lackey Grand Prix #20 with this updated version of Purple Heart.

(03-11-2025):

Deck-

Cut OT Hopper LS and added NT Hopper LS promo. Cut Royal Parade and added Wall of Protection. Cut Chronicles of the Kings and added . Cut King of Tyrus and added Prince of the Air promo.

Reserve-

Cut Untouchable and added .

Explanation:

Piloting Purple Heart has had its ups and downs so far. I have won plenty of games but have lost four games with the build. These losses to be fair were with various versions of the build testing certain potential changes. The list overall though was just different in a few card slots across these four losses so the losses represented to me some changes needed to be made to the build. I have lost twice to BaboonyTim’s “Big Clay” build [a 3-5 loss and a 2-5 loss I believe], once to Zach Glibaugh’s Joshua/Black build [1-5 loss], and once to Jayden’s Joshua’s Banishment build [4-5 loss]. I have won plenty of games with the build yet the losses are concerning since each of the players I lost to are top players and I lost to top builds.

This led me to reevaluating some things. In the loss to Jayden I had the ability to get to 5 souls as I was up 4-2 but misplayed on my turn where I could have rescued the fifth soul. The two losses to Tim and the loss to Gilbaugh did not feel particularly winnable. I am not sure if these changes will be enough to push the deck over the top against those builds but I have done my best to find a way to get it there.

With that in mind here is a summary of the changes. The first change is slotting in the new NT Hopper LS over the OT Hopper LS. This to me is a trade with one drawback only: this decreases the number of OT Lost Souls in the build to trigger “Lost Souls” LS for token generation. That being said I believe the positives of NT Hopper LS outweigh that drawback in that NT Hopper LS makes the build far more resilient against the Moabite defense that protects OT lost souls from rescue and the annoying Subdued LS which shuffles all OT lost souls in an opponent’s Land of Bondage but would not shuffle NT Hopper. This build already has Harvest LS which creates NT Tokens which get around Subdued and the Moabite defense but the extra option is nice in NT Hopper for dealing with this. I am testing this change and if I find that I really need the extra OT lost soul for triggering “Lost Souls” LS I will shift back to OT Hopper but for now I think this is the right call.

Another change is cutting King of Tyrus for the new Prince of the Air promo. This is a no brainer. KoT is nice against OT offenses but is dead against Clay and Nativity. The new Prince of the Air is one of the best evil characters in the game offering strong blocking potential as well as offering speed while being able simultaneously to deal with annoying counters the opponent might have out.

The final three changes are all centered on the offense with one that helps the defense too. One thing I realized in my losses to Tim Estes using Big Clay is it is very annoying getting off to a good start and the opponent banding to my Purple Disciples to draw cards and get back into the game while also if I don’t have Guardian of Your Souls out converting them to meek so I can’t use them. I was contemplating Wall of Protection for quite a while as an addition to Purple Heart as it was in my maybe board card list in this article since I knew NT offenses banding to my heroes could be an issue. I just could not figure out how to fit it in. After my second loss to Tim he mentioned this weakness of the build since he banded to my heroes in the game we had to his benefit/my detriment and I knew I needed to fit Wall of Protection in. Another option to help with this issue is Temple Veil since I can bounce my heroes after the opponent bands to them to convert them to meek but this is weaker than Wall of Protection since my opponent can still reveal a Good Dominant from hand and band to my heroes to draw cards to generate resources. Wall of Protection stops the opponent from banding to my heroes while also supporting the defense by stopping the opponent from choosing my evil characters to block. Another bonus is it makes my offense more resilient against Herod the Great and the like that choose the attacker. I had a brutal time figuring out what card to cut though for Wall of Protection. The deck list is very tight/refined at this point so fitting in Wall of Protection was a challenge.

What I finally came to ratio wise is realizing I have a heavy emphasis on Good battle winning enhancements main deck. This is by design since if I play during my opponent’s upkeep when they are going first to play out Nazareth/John the Fisherman I want plenty of battle winning power to back up John, the Fisherman on my first rescue the next turn. I also want plenty of battle winning support for a turn 1 Matthew rescue. However, I realized that I could cut one Good battle winning enhancement from the main deck, add in Wall of Protection, and maintain similar battle winning power overall with one other change: cutting Chronicles of the Kings for . Angel of the Lord was in earlier versions of Purple Heart but I cut it for Chronicles of the Kings since Chronicles of the Kings offers more overall utility for both offense/defense and is able to deal with annoying artifacts my opponent might have in play. With all the good battle winners I was running main deck I liked playing Chronicles of the Kings pre-block to negate all of my opponent’s evil enhancements for the whole phase while allowing my good battle winners to still work. Also I felt the defense really could use the extra support of Chronicles of the Kings being able to provide a similar effect toward good enhancements when blocking. Lastly I felt the build was vulnerable to Overtaken and therefore I felt it necessary to have Chronicles of the Kings to deal with that. The build is vulnerable to Overtaken but with the rule change on the horizon announced by RedemptionAggie that once an artifact or fortress is removed from play its ability will cease immediately Thaddeus now is a solid answer to Overtaken. Confusion of Mind is still an issue but I have His Sacrifice in Reserve to deal with that. Regarding the support Chronicles of the Kings offered to the defense: the defense now has Prince of the Air and more universal blocking power due to that. Due to this I decided to cut Royal Parade for Wall of Protection and cut Chronicles of the Kings for Angel of the Lord.

has more individual battle winning power offensively than Chronicles of the Kings and therefore offsets a significant amount of the loss of the battle winning power from cutting Royal Parade in my mind. Angel of the Lord also has strong synergy with Twenty/Shekels and strategies for picking apart the opponents defense and that is something I have missed not having it in the list. Losing Royal Parade makes the offense weaker against banding defenses such as the Thieves defense but having Angel of the Lord is helpful against banding defenses actually paired with since I can play out an EC that does not band and kill that EC with Angel of the Lord. The Reserve has nice options still against banding defenses such as and Walking on Water to His Sacrifice. One additional draw back to cutting Royal Parde is I do have less battle winning power for when I have active but I think I should be ok. In my experience I tend to have to discard a good battle winner from hand on turns 2-4 in the game during my Discard phase to get to 8 cards and Royal Parade is typically what I choose since My Lord and My God/Boanerges are key with Bartholomew since he makes them CBN and is very important against . Due to how much I have had to discard a good battle winner from hand in my Discard phases in games I do not think losing this extra battle winner for when The Cross is active is going to be that big of an issue. Overall I believe these changes allow me to add in Wall of Protection which is very necessary without losing too much value in the process. Another perk of Wall of Protection is it makes me stronger in the mirror match against Purple Heart not allowing my opponent to band to my heroes.

The final change is going back to in Reserve over Untouchable. I originally had I Am He in earlier versions of the build but switched to Untouchable when I added in over Herod’s Temple since I like being able to toss Untouchable off The Cross. However, I did not use Untouchable once since I can only tutor for it with The New Covenant, which I cannot activate and then activate The Cross, and then Spirit as a Dove/Crowd’s Choice. Furthermore it is hard to use Untouchable well with Guardian of Your Souls/Nazareth out having to exchange to hand with Reassuring Angels to gain Clay brigade. I Am He is such a strong card soul protection and making my offense more resilient against battle winning Dominants such as Christian Martyr beyond The Cross/Fishing Boat.

Also a personal note tied to this set of changes (kudos to a private conversation with John Hendrix where I wrestled with not sharing my latest revisions to Purple Heart to help me possibly do better personally at tournaments through gaining a potential edge and a comment he made got to me): I realized that at this point since I passed the keys for Land of Redemption off to Tim Estes my main contributions to the community are what I do with my play group (which is by far the most important contribution) and my deck building articles. My main gift in terms of Redemption as a player is deck building I think and when we have gifts God has given us we should use those gifts to benefit others not just ourselves. I am not as good at game play as I am as a deck builder I think. Currently I share my deck builds and decided this past summer not to keep any deck builds secret after I had kept Starstruck secret before Nationals. However, I still was going to keep certain revisions to my deck builds secret till after big tournaments to get an edge. Moving forward I am not keeping things to myself at all. As I test changes and find things that work I am going to update my deck building articles with those changes once I think they are actually the right change and not wait to use what I found for personal benefit in tournament play. Also what I do with my play group receives such generous support from the community through people giving toward the drawing fundraiser to help teens from my play group go to Nationals. The least I can do is give back my first fruits in terms of what I find in my deck building endeavors for the benefit of the community that is so supportive toward the play group here.

Chad Frantz

Main Deck(50 cards)

Dominants(7)

Artifacts / Covenants / Curses(5)

Fortresses / Sites(4)

Lost Souls(8)

Hero/Evil Character(1)

Heroes(10)

Good Enhancements(7)

Evil Characters(6)

EE/Evil Character(1)

Evil Enhancements(1)

Reserve(10 cards)

Description