Two Arrows aka Two Plungers

Introduction-

This is the main build I have been playing in both online and in person tournament play for the 2025-2026 tournament season. I had posted an earlier version of this build in a Land of Redemption article that I last updated in November 2025. This build has been significantly refined since then now including an additional brigade on offense compared with that previous version. I recently won the Oregon State 2026 Tournament and I also won the Lackey Grand Prix #27 with this deck. The results in these two tournaments were particularly significant since I almost moved on from this build after I failed to top cut with it in both the Lackey Grand Prix #25 and the Lackey Grand Prix #26. However, I analyzed the five losses I had across those two tournaments (two to Justin Alstad, one to Jayden Alstad, one to Red Wing, and one to Eman) and this analysis led to some of the changes to the build that I believe helped it be able to do well in the Oregon State 2026 and Lackey Grand Prix #27 tournaments. I like this since it shows that sometimes a build has potential but just needs more refining to achieve its potential. You can watch the Lackey Grand Prix #27 top cut final match against Jayden Alstad here to see how the build works in live play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00KEacM56pQ. I also played against Jayden in round 3 of that same Lackey Grand Prix and you can check that video out here (this game shows some different aspects of the build than the top cut final does): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSE7I-EhG84.

This deck actually began back in December 2024. I was looking back then for any offenses that offer enough speed to be viable. Speed in terms of card draw is a key factor in my mind in many builds that end up being successful in just about any meta in just about any CCG. There are of course some builds that are exceptions to that which use control elements that are strong and consistency is used to get to those control pieces and the deck wins. That being said even some of the best control decks tend to have a fair amount of speed in terms of card draw. In surveying offenses with speed I noticed back in December 2024 that The Victorious Being to The Watchman (Promo) to Ezekiel (ROOTS) is a way to draw 5 on a turn 1 rescue. The obvious difficulty with the build though was needing an OT Angel in play for Ezekiel to be able to draw. I built the deck and originally it ran OT Angels like The Angel of His Presence (PoC), Captain of the Host (ROOTS), Cherubim (LR), and The Destroyer. Much of the consistency suite in the build posted below was used to get to The Victorious Being or The Watchman turn 1 was used in this original build. Yet the OT angels just felt really cumbersome and I set the build aside a while after I crafted it.

When I saw the cards in Times to Come I realized this build got a huge shot in the arm. First of all the Prophet offense became more viable with the additions of Amos for CBI removal and Jeremiah who is incredibly strong. The Defender of the Saints due to the addition of Zechariah and Jeremiah became a great option as an OT Angel since the card is Zechariah reference and is super strong with Zechariah and Jeremiah being options it can tutor for and make CBN. All in all I became quite excited about revising this build I made back in December 2024 with these new cards. I went with the other Zechariah angels which Zechariah can band too to round out the build and they felt better than what I had in the December 2024 version.

The build worked out well enough and I was having decent success but then I realized I was better off just running Zechariah himself and not the Zechariah angels beyond The Defender of the Saints. Instead I realized running Cherubims fits better and I shifted from just Green/Silver on the offense to Purple/Green/Silver. This was due to a revelation regarding Purple/Green having incredible synergy with each other due to the fairly good Purple/Green GE’s that exist. This meant I could bring Matthew and Simon the Zealous into this already fast and powerful build. This is a game changer in my mind.

I call this deck build Two Arrows since originally my goal turn 1 is to go to Ezekiel or Zechariah to rescue and those are the names of two of my sons who are “arrows” in my quiver (Psalm 127:3-5). This is still the case but with the Purple/Green/Silver version I do also have Matthew as a primary turn 1 rescue option too. The name still works though. Jayden Alstad in his video for our game in round 3 of Lackey Grand Prix #27 dubbed the build "Two Plungers" as a riff on Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales in his super hero outfit that is Purple/Green with two plunger ears. I find that quite funny so folks can call the build that if they want.

With that background information in mind here is an explanation of the deck...

Objectives-

Speedy Turn 1 Rescue-

Essentially the goal of this deck is to turn 1 get to a way to The Victorious Being to The Watchman to Ezekiel to draw 5 for a solid start to the game. I also am just fine if I do not get The Victorious Being just going The Watchman to Ezekiel for the draw 4 on turn 1. Having Matthew the Publican main deck means I am significantly more consistent at getting a speedy turn 1 rescue with a substantial amount of card draw. There are times I get a way to Victorious Being to Watchman to Ezekiel for the potential draw 5 but I do not have an extra OT angel beyond Victorious Being to enable Ezekiel to draw. Also if my opponent has Accusers LS in play then I can go to Matthew and still draw for a strong turn 1 rescue.

Overall then if I can go to The Victorious Being to The Watchman to Ezekiel+an OT angel in play for the draw 5 or The Watchman to Ezekiel+an OT angel in play for the draw 4 I will. Or if I do not have the pieces for that I will just go to Matthew for my first turn rescue and aim to draw whatever I can with him.

If I do not have either of those rescues I can pivot turn 1 to going to Zechariah for a protected rescue. My favorite way to do this is The Defender of the Saints to Zechariah making his protection CBN.

Looking at the deck I have a plethora of ways to The Victorious Being to Watchman to Ezekiel or just to The Watchman to Ezekiel turn 1. In fact I have 11 ways total to either The Victorious Being or The Watchman turn 1: The Victorious Being itself, The Watchman itself, The Angel of the Winds to The Watchman, Angelic Guidance to The Victorious Being, Buckler to Victorious Being, Crowd’s Choice to The Victorious Being, Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to The Victorious Being, Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to CC to Victorious Being, Awake LS to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to CC to Victorious Being, The Manger (star) to Galileans LS to Treachery to CC to Victorious Being, and Harvest Time to Galileans LS to Treachery to CC to Victorious Being. I have 5 total ways to a Herod turn 1 to make Herod’s Treachery work since Golgotha gives an additional way to a Herod turn 1. So clearly this deck is very consistent at getting a huge speed burst to begin the game.

I have 8 ways to Matthew turn 1 due to Matthew himself, The Angel of the Winds to Matthew, Angelic Guidance to The Angel of the Winds to Matthew, Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Awake LS to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, and The Manger (star) to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew. So this deck build is very consistent at being able to tutor for Matthew turn 1.

Counter Package-

This deck build seeks to have offense/defense that can power through and win the game without battle winning Dominants and therefore lock down battle winning Dominants with The Cross/Complacent hurting the opponents ability to rescue and block. Cherubim (LR) also helps with dealing with the opponents battle winning Dominants.

The build also is meant to provide support to the offense so it does not get stopped by another major threat in the meta in soul hide which is why you see Harvest Time, Guardian of Your Souls, Harvest LS, and Orphans LS. I can afford to run Harvest Time and Guardian of Your Souls over battle winning Dominants due to The Cross and Complacent LS. Harvest LS helps against soul hide by offering soul gen and is particularly good against Moabites soul hide with Subdued LS since it generates NT lost soul tokens and interferes with their OT lost soul hide strategy with Subdued LS.

NT Clay Goodstuff has a strong presence in the meta currently and Guardian of Your Souls makes life more difficult for that powerful offense.


Possessing Spirit is a strong counter to the opponents good territory class enhancements, characters, and fortresses.

Strong Rescues without Battle Winning Dominants-

In terms of having an offense powerful enough to win without battle winning Doms my main focus turn 2 and later is using banding enhancements to bring in Watchman to Ezekiel for the draw 4, or Matthew to draw cards, and then topping of the band with Amos for the CBI removal. These banding rescues draw a bunch of cards and typically win the battle due to the CBI removal Amos has. To achieve this main deck I run Not Alone, Gathered Together, and Loyalty to David. Not Alone is particularly important in this meta since it can get around Abomination of Desolation.

Pairing with this turn 2 and later I am looking to utilize Jeremiah to achieve arguably the most powerful banding rescue in this deck. I especially like to tutor for Jeremiah with The Defender of the Saints since then he will be CBN. Many deck builds run a large amount of GEs in Reserve for Jeremiah to use. I have found that this is superfluous in this specific build since really all I need is two battle winners in Reserve for Jeremiah and then also Covenant of Time. The first battle winner I run in Reserve for Jeremiah to use is Entertaining Angels. I cannot stress enough just how powerful Jeremiah to Entertaining Angels is in this deck build. Jeremiah can use Entertaining Angels to tutor for whatever Angel I want to get whatever hero I want and then it can band to any of the other angels I have in hand or territory including the three Cherubims who can band to any of my Prophets who I already have in hand or territory. Typically this play will lead to me drawing four off of Watchman/Ezekiel whether Watchman is brought in via The Victorious Being or The Angel of the Winds or if Watchman is banded in via a Cherubim, sometimes I will also draw from Matthew if The Angel of the Winds is banded in to tutor for Matthew, and then I will often be getting to Amos for the CBI battle winner effect either by tutoring for him via a searcher angel or banding to him with a Cherubim. Bringing Zechariah in via a searcher angel or a Cherubim isn’t too shabby to protect the band as well. After a big Entertaining Angels band off of Jeremiah I typically will have enough resources in hand from deck that I won’t need another battle winner in Reserve for Jeremiah to use. What this allows for then is I just can go to battle with Jeremiah and use my main deck battle winners on subsequent turns which is a great rescue still due to Jeremiah’s paralyze effect and getting initiative with him so often. The one other battle winner I have in Reserve for Jeremiah to use is The First Sacrifice which is important to give Jeremiah a way around Abomination of Desolation. Covenant of Time pairs well with Jeremiah as well for being able to get an additional use of a main deck Green battle winner or a second use of The First Sacrifice if it is used in battle.

Outside of these powerful banding rescues that draw quite a few cards and have CBI removal with Amos another aspect of this offense that makes it powerful enough to not need to use battle winning Dominants is the hand control aspect of Twenty Shekels and The First Sacrifice. I like using Twenty Shekels paired with Amos who offers a similar approach to the way Nativity has used Mary, Holy Virgin and Disciples have used Thaddeus paired with Twenty Shekels to play out an opponents best evil character and then remove it in battle. I also like Twenty Shekels paired with Simon the Zealous to play out a weak blocker to choose to block with Simon. Twenty Shekels also pairs well with the paralyze ability on Jeremiah since I can play out a character that would be paralyzed by Jeremiah that would be a blocking threat. And of course The First Sacrifice also fits in nicely in this hand control package.

Simon the Zealous naturally also has the cheese rescue option with being able to choose Possessing Spirit to block. In this build that is especially strong since I am keeping Simon as Purple and if I choose Possessing Spirit to block I can trigger Herod’s Temple and win the battle by the numbers and not give my opponent the opportunity to play Lurking which is a commonly used card in the current meta to try to have a way around this cheesy rescue. Simon can also choose a blocker with toughness 5 or less and trigger Herod’s Temple to toss either Out of Bethlehem and Covenant with David to defeat such an evil character.

Matthew’s synergy with Herod’s Temple is important too with the aforementioned larger number enhancements in Out of Bethlehem and Covenant with David. A good way to deal with situations where a smaller EC gets init against Matthew is to trigger Herod’s Temple and toss Out of Bethlehem or Covenant with David to kill that smaller EC.

Daniel the Apocalyptist helps the build against Herods by negating Herod’s Temple and NT enhancements. Jehu, Message Bringer helps in that matchup too by being able to shuffle Golgotha if the opponent has it in play and negating NT enhancements. Jehu, Message Bringer is quite good against the Brown defense that is becoming more prevalent in the meta and in particular against Brown Tower which runs multiple copies of Leave Your Name to make Brown ECs CBP. I do believe this build needs the support of having heroes which negate evil characters. Haman in particular is quite annoying if Daniel/Jehu are not run. Also it is important to note than all of the battle winners with Green brigade in the deck are OT so they are not negated by Daniel/Jehu.

How about the Cherubims? Well as was mentioned earlier Cherubim (LR) is helpful for dealing with evil Dominants. Cherubm (Blake) is helpful for drawing a card or stopping opponents from accessing their Reserve in battle. Cherubim (Roots) is helpful for if I tutor for Daniel with The Watchman then I can use Cherubim (Roots) in a later battle to top deck The Watchman and then band to Cherubim (Blake) to draw The Watchman and then band to him so I can get my draw 4 with Ezekiel again. The Cherubims are quite good with Entertaining Angels and make it very powerful played off of Jeremiah since the Cherubims can each band to my Prophets already in my hand or territory meaning Entertaining Angels can bring them into battle via the Cherubims. I like the Cherubims over other OT Angel options since they are not often sitting ducks for choose the attacker effects such as that of Herod the Great since they can band to my Prophets.

And then the offense seeks to run non-banding options to win battles as well. Covenant with David and Out of Bethlehem offer this support. Covenant of Time also lets me get an additional use of one of these if necessary. Out of Bethlehem may seem like an odd include in an offense that draws so much but in reality most of the cards in this build can be played down from hand as the character count is heavy. So if I am going to rescue turn 1 and have Out of Bethlehem in hand I will often play down most of my hand and I will often do this also if I lack a battle winner in hand turn 1 in case I draw into Out of Bethlehem.

Defense that Works with The Cross/Complacent/Guardian of Your Souls/Orphans LS-

This build puts some tight restrictions on what Defense can be run due to The Cross/Complacent/Guardian of Your Souls/Orphans LS. The Cross and Complacent mean the defense cannot be reliant on battle winning Dominants. Additionally Orphans LS and Guardian of Your Souls mean the defense cannot rely on soul hide or protecting lost souls from rescue as blocking tactics. That whittles down the options to only a couple viable defenses. Herods are the best fit in my mind for several reasons. Sure Herods typically like to use CBN battle winners in Foreign Horses, Abandonment, and No Straw! but they do not have to. I found this out in my build The Last Stand which also runs The Cross. Herods function just fine with non-CBN battle winners such as Revolt, Futile Inquisition, and Contagious Fear. Including one CBN battle winner is often reasonable enough with The Cross.

This defense is compact and straightforward overall.

One unique thing with this version is running Herod’s Treachery which is a big reason I run Herods over Orange demons which are another defense that works in this build. Herod’s Treachery and all the ways I have to it main deck provides incredible consistency for offense/defense alike. Galileans LS and all the ways to it is the key cog allowing me to get to Herod’s Treachery consistently and it aids the defense with consistency as well.

In Reserve I run Contagious Fear for Herod Antipas to tutor for since even though I am running Orphans LS and Guardian of Your Souls Antipas makes Contagious Fear regardless of protection so it works through those. Foreign Wives is also in Reserve for The Deceiver to tutor for as an additional block.

This defense is not flashy but gets the job done especially in a build with such a fast and powerful offense. Herod’s by the way really like Cross/Complacent support making their blocking potential stronger without battle winning Dominants interfering.

Resiliency against Threats in the Meta-

One thing I found with this build is Galileans LS and all the ways to it offers great consistency in getting to my ways around annoying cards my opponent might have. If my opponent is going first and gets an annoying good fortress or a negate neutral hero in play I have 7 ways to a way around these turn 0 (Three Woes, Crowd’s Choice to Three Woes, Herodias’ Daughter, Galileans LS to Herodias’ Daughter, Awake LS to Galileans LS to Herodias’ Daughter, The Manger (star) to Galileans LS to Herodias’ Daughter, and Harvest Time to Galileans to Herodias’ Daughter.

If I am up against Honey Pot then on my turn I have 8 ways to a negate to deal with Pot of Manna turn 1 and 9 ways to deal with Holy of Holies turn 1 (Three Woes, Humble LS (only for HoH), Crowd’s Choice to Three Woes, The Manger, Herod’s Treachery to Three Woes, Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to the aforementioned, Awake LS to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to the aforementioned or to Humble LS for HoH, The Manger (star) to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to the aforementioned or to Humble LS for HoH, and Harvest Time to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to the aforementioned or to Humble LS for HoH).

Galileans LS is a great consistency piece as is Herod’s Treachery tied with it.

 Wastelands and The Manger I find are really handy tech cards in this meta. The meta is rife with annoying artifacts and being able to deal with them is important. Confusion of Mind, Holy of Holies, Pot of Manna, Abomination of Desolation, and Idol of Nebuchadnezzar are all seeing play and are quite annoying. Wastelands is so good since it not only deals with artifacts but can deal with any territory class counters such as The Priest of Zeus, Moses (CoW), Jonah, They Babylonian Merchants, Hate the Light, and Destructive sin.

The Manger is a card I believe is underrated since it can deal with so many threats. Not only can it deal with artifacts but it also negates Sheol, The Gates of Hell, and can negate an Evil Character in opponents territory like The Babylonian Merchants or Ahaseurus the Father. The star ability on The Manger is just fantastic as well particularly in this build running strong counter souls and a strong consistency soul in Galileans.

Furthermore this build is built to deal with all the attacking of hand, deck, and discard pile in the meta. Storehouse naturally helps with this. For hand/deck attacks Crowds LS helps. I have 5 ways to Crowds LS turn 0 via The Manger (star), Harvest Time, Crowd’s Choice to Harvest Time, Awake LS, and Crowds LS itself. Along with Storehouse this gives 6 ways turn 1 to a source of hand/deck protection.

Another threat this deck is fairly resilient against is Prince of the Air and The Depraved. I only primarily run three good brigades on offense in Green, Purple, and Silver so neither is going to hit me for much. Occasionally White is added as a fourth brigade if I need to use Daniel, the Apocalyptist. Furthermore Zechariah and The Defender of the Saints offer great support against Prince of the Air and Zechariah is quite good against The Depraved.

Abomination of Desolation blocks are quite annoying. This build is able to deal with them via Not Alone and The First Sacrifice. Additionally Zechariah is able to be a good option against Abomination of Desolation blocks due to his protection ability.

Three additional cards that help in dealing with annoying threats are Jehu, Message Bring, Daniel, the Apocalyptist, Herodias’ Daughter, and Possessing Spirit. Daniel, the Apocalyptist deals well with annoying fortresses. Jehu, Message Bringer can negate Achim as well as deal with annoying artifacts and Golgotha. Herodias’ Daughter can deal with annoying good fortresses and negate neutral heroes. Possessing Spirit helps with many similar threats.

Running Herods gives this build a natural resiliency against Possessing Spirit/CTB tactics since outside of Foreign Wives I will likely be maintaining Gospel unity and can band with Possessing Spirit to one of my ECs if my opponent places it in my territory and chooses it to block. Foreign Wives is easy enough for me to bounce with Twenty Shekels or shuffle away with Amos to regain unity.

Also Covenant of Time deals with a threat from my own Herod’s Temple. If I do reserve a card such as Son of God or The Second Coming with Herod’s Temple I can use Covenant of Time off of Jeremiah with initiative to get that valuable card back.

Maybeboard-

Cards I have been considering for this build include:

Jonah, Son of God [K], The First Sacrifice main deck instead of in Reserve, Darkness LS, Hopper LS, Lost Souls LS, Chronicles of the Kings, The New Covenant, Storehouse (Promo), Wall of Protection, Majestic Heavens, Golden Cherubim, Covenant of Prayer (Reserve) paired with Book of the Covenant (deck), All the Curses (Reserve), The Prophetess, Cherubim (52), Patrollers of the Earth/Jerusalem Filled, Surveying Spirit, Relayer of Messages, The Great White Throne, Outsiders (B/G), Reprimand/Repercussion, Elijah, Deborah, the Victorious, Retribution for Sin, Do Not Be Afraid, Foreseen by Samuel, Faith of Samuel, Enjoy Their Hands, Return to Fight, Mayhem, The Restored Land, Delivered, Escape LS, Noah (LoC) (would only use his blue/green side), Imprisoned Prophet, Fifth Bowl of Wrath, Joel (T2C), You Will Remain (Reserve), Vow for Samuel (Reserve), I Am Sustainer (Reserve), Book of the Covenant paired with those aforementioned Covenants, Assyrian Affliction (Reserve), Moses (CoW), Chariot of Fire/Elisha (originally was running these but with Moses gone felt I needed Son of God to deal with souls and also Chariot of Fire is not so good with Complacent/The Cross I realized), Captain of the Host (ROOTS), The Angel of His Presence (PoC), Executioner’s Sword (main deck), Two Bears, Plague of Frogs, and I AM Has Sent Me.


Conclusion:

Overall this deck build I do believe is powerful and is one of the faster builds in the game in terms of speed from card draw. It also offers a compelling counter package to some of the threats in the meta to bolster this speedy build. It is fun to pilot and with the Green/Silver version I won the RobM Zoom Series 31 tournament and placed 3rd in the Lackey Grand Prix #24 with it. With the Purple/Green/Silver version I won the Oregon State 2026 Tournament and also the Lackey Grand Prix #27.

If you have any ideas on how to make this deck build better feel free to reach out to me.

Change Log-

03-30-2025 (Purple/Green Version):

Deck-

Cut Son of God [K] and added Son of God (Manger).

Cut Jonah and added Matthew the Publican.

Cut Hopper Lost Soul and added Jehu, Message Bringer.

Cut Relayer of Messages and added Cherubim (LR).

Cut Patrollers of the Earth and added Cherubim [Blake].

Cut Surveying Spirit and added Cherubim (Roots).

Cut Retribution for Sin and added Covenant with David [K].

Cut Do Not be Afraid and added Not Alone.

Cut Foreseen by Samuel and added Out of Bethlehem.

Cut Faith of Samuel and added Gathered Together.

Cut The First Sacrifice and added Loyalty to David.

Cut The Great White Throne and added Virgin Birth.

Cut Outsiders (B/G) and added Herodias’ Daughter.

Cut Reprimand/Repercussion and added Abandonment.

Cut Darkness LS and added Harvest LS.

Reserve-

Cut Jerusalem Filled and added Simon the Zealous.

Cut Herodias’ Daughter and added Daniel the Apocalyptist.

Cut Not Alone and added The First Sacrifice.

Cut Enjoy Their Hands and added Possessing Spirit.

Explanation:

Essentially these changes are centered around moving the build to being Purple/Green/Silver rather than just Green/Silver. Having Matthew the Publican main deck means I am significantly more consistent at getting a turn 1 rescue with a substantial amount of card draw than I was in the previous version. There are times I get a way to Victorious Being to Watchman to Ezekiel for the potential draw 5 but I do not have an extra OT angel beyond Victorious Being to enable Ezekiel to draw. Also if my opponent has Accusers LS in play then I can go to Matthew and still draw for a strong turn 1 rescue.

Jonah is good but I believe Matthew feels more useful so I did that change.

I have 8 ways to Matthew turn 1 due to Matthew himself, The Angel of the Winds to Matthew, Angelic Guidance to The Angel of the Winds to Matthew, Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, Awake LS to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew, and The Manger (star) to Galileans LS to Herod’s Treachery to Crowd’s Choice to Matthew. So this deck build is very consistent at being able to tutor for Matthew turn 1.


Overall then if I can go to The Victorious Being to The Watchman to Ezekiel+an OT angel in play for the draw 5 or The Watchman to Ezekiel+an OT angel in play for the draw 4 I will. Or if I do not have the pieces for that I will just go to Matthew for my first turn rescue and aim to draw whatever I can with him. Adding Matthew in makes the deck more resilient and versatile. It also naturally makes it faster.

I also am able to run Simon the Zealous in this build who opens up so many strong rescues including being able to choose Possessing Spirit to block. Additionally, Simon the Zealous is quite good in the 100 card meta due to being able to negate the opponent’s lost souls. I found I really missed choose the blocker support in the previous version where I cut Elijah. CTB support is important in this meta to break through against defensive heavy 100 card deck builds.

Due to adding Matthew and Simon in I have shifted the entire offensive battle winner package to being Green/Purple. Not Alone slots in for Do Not Be Afraid, Gathered Together slots in for Faith of Samuel, Loyalty to David slots in for The First Sacrifice, Out of Bethlehem slots in for Foreseen by Samuel, and Covenant with David [K] slots in for Retribution for Sin. Overall these Green/Purple battle winners offer similar utility to the purely Green ones I was running before. The Green ones are arguably slightly better but the difference is not big enough to nullify the benefit of being able to run Matthew/Simon.

Beyond this I realized a weakness of this offense is Herods as well as the Brown defense facing cards like Haman and Ahasuerus. I realized that Daniel, the Apocalyptist is needed for dealing with Herods. Due to moving Herodias’ Daughter to the main deck I had space for Daniel in Reserve. Secondly to deal with Brown defenses which are plenty in the meta and particularly Justin’s Brown tower I went with Jehu, Message Bringer main deck instead of Hopper LS as this build has plenty of soul gen. Why run both Jehu and Daniel? Well Jehu is helpful against Brown defenses such as in Justin’s Brown Tower which run Leave Your Name to make their ECs CBP since Jehu can shuffle away Leave Your Name and then be negating the opponent’s ECs. Furthermore Jehu is helpful against Herod’s as well since if they have Golgotha out he can shuffle it away and still be negating their EEs completely. Jehu also negates Achim which is significant if the opponent is running Achim to negate neutrals.

I also shifted to Cherubims instead of the Zechariah angles (aside from Defender of the Saints): Cherubim (PoC) instead of Relayer of Messages, Cherubim [Blake] instead of Patrollers of the Earth, and Cherubim (Roots) instead of Surveying Spirit. There are four main reasons for this change: 1) I found the Zechariah angels made me more vulnerable to choose the attacker effects especially turn 1. I often need to play down whatever OT angel I have in hand down to make Ezekiel able to draw 2. The Zechariah angels (aside from Defender of the Saints) especially turn 1 when played down are vulnerable to CTA. The Cherubims do not have this issue as much since they can band to my OT Prophets if they are chosen to attack. 2) The Cherubims are more useful with more characters aside from just Zechariah. The Zechariah angels I cut are primarily just useful if I am rescuing with Zechariah. The Cherubims pair well with other green prophets. 3) Running the Cherubims means I was able to slim down my Reserve package for Jeremiah. There is really no need for Jerusalem Filled in Reserve since Entertaining Angels is what I will always want to play with Jeremiah in this build since the Cherubims make Entertaining Angels played off Jeremiah even better since I am able to band the Cherubims in with Entertaining Angels to band to any of my Prophets who I already happen to have in hand or territory. Entertaining Angels and the Cherubims are quite powerful in this build. 4) The Cherubims address some issues the build has as A) Cherubim (LR) gives me another way around Evil Dominants if my opponent has dealt with the Dominant restriction effects of The Cross or Complacent LS. Secondly Cherubim [Blake] and Cherubim (Roots) pair well together since I can use The Watchman to tutor for Daniel, the Apocalyptist from Reserve and then later I can get The Watchman back for the strong draw synergy with Ezekiel via Cherubim (Roots) topdecking The Watchman from Reserve and then banding to Cherubim [Blake] to draw The Watchman and then band to him. Very nice synergy. These factors to me outweigh the benefit of the Zechariah angels I cut.

Due to no longer running Patrollers of the Earth I shifted to Son of God (Manger) over Son of God [K] since I no longer needed the OT Son of God for Patrollers to be able to get from Reserve if it gets reserved by Herod’s Temple. There is an argument to go with the Daniel Son of God over Son of God (Manger) due to Eternal Believers being common in Daniel offenses and being able to band to them to be able to tutor for the Daniel SoG. However, I feel due to Resurrection Revealer, Joseph, the Betrothed, and The Messianic Messenger existing and being able to band to an opponent’s Joseph with Gathered Together and their Resurrection Revealer/The Messianic Messenger with Entertaining Angels it is slightly better to go with Son of God (Manger). This could vary though based on how much Eternal Believers is in the meta versus the other Gospel heroes that tutor for the Manger SoG.

On defense due to cutting Herodias’ Daughter from Reserve I cut Outsiders (B/G) to make space for Herodias’ Daughter main deck. I like Outsiders (B/G) quite a bit and it was hard to cut it since I lose draw power on defense. However, in this build due to how fast the offense is I most of the time have more cards in play than my opponent and due to that Outsiders (B/G) is not getting to underdeck annoying cards the opponent has very often. I would rather have the surefire ability of Herodias’ Daughter who can dispath annoying cards like negate neutral heroes or Herod’s Temple. Additionally now that I am running Possessing Spirit Outsiders (B/G) can disrupt unity for Possessing Spirit and the other two cards I run that do that in Herod Agrippa I and Foreign Wives feel more necessary. I can use Amos to shuffle evil characters in my territory that break unity and Twenty Shekels can bounce Foreign Wives to enable unity for Possessing Spirit but it is nice having one less bump in the road for unity with Herodias’ Daughter over Outsiders (B/G). This change was hard for me but I do think it is right. For the defense I also cut Reprimand/Repercussion for Abandonment as I felt I needed more firepower against banding offenses such as the Daniel offense and Joshua offense.

In terms of main deck changes the other change is increasing Reserve access for heroes by going to Virgin Birth over The Great White Throne. Virgin Birth makes my build more consistent turn 1 than The Great White Throne due to its star ability.

In terms of Reserve changes I cut Jerusalem Filled for Simon the Zealous since I no longer needed Jerusalem Filled I felt due to how effective Entertaining Angels is with Jeremiah now due to running the Cherubims. I cut Herodias’ Daughter from Reserve to make room for Daniel the Apocalyptist since I could move Herodias’ Daughter main deck over Outsiders (B/G). With moving Not Alone to the main deck I moved The First Sacrifice to Reserve. Lastly I cut Enjoy their Hands and added in Possessing Spirit. Possessing Spirit is great for dealing with annoying cards in my opponent’s territory and pairs well for the cheesy rescue with Simon the Zealous. Simon the Zealous is the best option for choosing Possessing Spirit to block in this meta since paired with Herod’s Temple I can toss all enhancements played in battle not allowing my opponent to play Lurking on Possessing Spirit.

11-9-2025 (Lackey Grand Prix #24 3rd Place Version):

Deck-

In- The Great White Throne (RoJ). Out- Virgin Birth.

Reserve:

In- Enjoy Their Hands. Out- Out of Bethlehem.


In- Herodias’ Daughter- Out- Elijah (PoC).

Explanation:

I did not change too much for and during the Lackey Grand Prix #24 but I did do a few changes. The only main deck change was cutting Virgin Birth for The Great White Throne. Virgin Birth is better in terms of turn 1 consistency since sometimes The Great White Throne can be a dead card if I do not have an evil card in my discard pile for it. However I do have quite a few ways to get an evil card in discard pile if I am going first due to all the ways in the build to Herod’s Treachery turn 1 via Galileans and tutors for it as well as the ways to Outsiders (B/G) which I can play in territory if I am going first and it would discard itself since the opponent would not have any good brigades in play for it to have any numbers so it would die. That being said Virgin Birth is still the superior card consistency wise turn 1 but I went with The Great White Throne since I can use it on my opponent’s turn if the place Possessing Spirit or a fool in my territory and discard that card with The Great White Throne since I can trigger it even on my opponent’s turn. This helps against choose the blocker strategies seeking to choose a placed Possessing Spirit or a placed fool to block. The Great White Throne is also powerful as a tutor for whatever hero I am looking to get.

Due to shifting off of Virgin Birth I did not really have enough ways to get Elijah from Reserve since only Crowd’s Choice and Patrollers of the Earth could be used to do so. In light of this I shifted ultimately after testing some other cards in the slot Elijah was in to Herodias’ Daughter. I found I needed more ways around annoying Good cards in my opponent’s territory such as Herod’s Temple, their protection fortresses such as Storehouse, and negate neutral characters such as Resurrection Revealer. Beyond this in Reserve I shifted to Enjoy Their Hands over Out of Bethlehem since I felt Enjoy Their Hands is more versatile.

10-02-2025 (RobM Zoom Series 31 Winner Version):

Deck-

Cut Son of God (Manger) and added Son of God [K].

Cut Chronicles of the Kings and added Buckler.

Cut The New Covenant and added Hopper LS (NT Version).

Cut Harvest LS and added Humble LS.

Cut Loyalty to David and added The First Sacrifice.

Reserve-

Cut The First Sacrifice and added Covenant of Time.

Cut Gathered Together and added Not Alone.

Cut Return to Fight and added Wastelands.

Explanation:

After losing three games in a row with Two Arrows in the first Lackey Grand Prix I used it in I realized the build needed some work. Looking at the meta I realized I really wanted Humble LS in the deck. I figured out the best way to get it in was getting rid of Harvest LS. I would need to offset the loss of soul gen though so I needed to fit Hopper LS in. To do this I cut The New Covenant. This made my build less consistent. With Humble LS in Chronicles of the Kings became a bit less necessary to deal with cards like Holy of Holies and Confusion of Mind so I cut CotK for Buckler which offsets the consistency lost from losing The New Covenant to Angelic Guidance consistency.

Another realization I had is with running Herod’s Temple I needed ways to get Son of God and The Second Coming from Reserve if I were to Reserve them with Herod’s Temple. I noticed Patrollers of the Earth can get any OT good card from Reserve so I swapped over to the OT version of Son of God from the K starter deck instead of Son of God (Manger). Then I still needed a way to get TSC from my Reserve in the event Herod’s Temple were to Reserve it. I noticed Covenant of Time played in battle can do this and it is a useful card in the build overall. To accommodate Covenant of Time I cut Loyalty to David from the main deck and moved The First Sacrifice from Reserve to the main deck. The First Sacrifice is so strong it should be main deck anyway. Then I put Covenant of Time in Reserve in the slot freed up with moving TFS to the main deck.

With losing Chronicles of the Kings I realized I needed some way to deal with Abomination of Desolation blocks. It was hard to use CotK anyway with those due to running The Cross and Complacent LS. I noticed Not Alone is a great way to get around Abom blocks and though it is not as powerful of a banding card as Gathered Together all I really need is to band to two heroes in a drawing hero and Amos and I have an effective rescue. The upside of Not Alone being able to get around Abom not to mention Pot of Manna as well is huge.

Lastly with losing CotK I needed another way to get around annoying artifacts. Wastelands is so good since not only can it get around annoying artifacts but it also can get around annoying territory class cards including The Priest of Zeus, Moses (CoW), Jonah, The Babylonian Merchants, Hate the Light, and Destructive Sin to mention some. Wastelands is great for dealing with a variety of annoying counters. I rarely used Return to Fight since with Jeremiah I would almost always prefer to use Entertaining Angles for a similar effect so it made sense to cut it for Wastelands.

Overall these changes performed well and I went undefeated with this version of the build in the RobM Zoom series 31 winning that tournament.

Key Changes Made from Original Version-

Just so folks are aware of what changed after the initial version of the deck:



Changes after loss to Jayden Alstad:

Reserve-

In- Return to Fight. Out- Abandonment.


In- Jerusalem Filled. Out- You Will Remain.

Changes after loss to John Earley:

Deck-

In- Jonah. Out- Moses (CoW).


In- Son of God. Out- Chariot of Fire.


In- The Manger. Out- Elijah (PoC).


In- Crowds LS. Out- Escape LS.

Reserve-

In- Elijah (PoC). Out- Elisha.

In the early loss to Jayden I realized that I really could have used Patrollers of the Earth and Relayer of Messages actually having battle winners in Reserve which they could use to make quality rescues on their own. Abandonment I was not using really since I almost always want The Cross active so it was an easy cut for Return to Fight. I really wanted Jerusalem Filled for if I already have the heroes I want to band to out. Cutting You Will Remain felt rough but with Storehouse and Patrollers of the Earth being my only ways to it I felt Jerusalem Filled will get more consistent use between Patrollers of the Earth, Relayer of Messages, and Jeremiah.

In the early loss to John Earley I realized Moses was too much of a liability due to his brigade count and due to negating my own Lost Souls like Complacent and Orphans. Swapped over to Jonah as a counter due to that. With Moses gone and no longer negating lost souls Chariot of Fire is too much of a liability since I need Son of God to get rid of annoying lost souls my opponent might have. Also Chariot of Fire I found rarely gets used to add to battle in a Cross/Complacent build. Getting rid of Chariot of Fire made removing Elisha make sense and so this freed up a Reserve slot. I like Elijah main deck since Angel of the Winds and The Victorious Being can tutor for him but turn 1 he is not as great so moved him to Reserve. Crowd’s Choice, Virgin Birth, Patrollers of the Earth, and Jeremiah to Return to Fight are all ways to get Elijah into play. This freed up a card slot main deck which I wanted to fill with deck/hand protection. In both losses I realized I needed more deck/hand protection. This meta is filled with hand control tactics and even mill. Crowds LS is what I wanted but was not sure which LS to cut. Then I realized I could put The Manger into the open card slot which gives me another way turn 0 to Galileans LS to get to Herod’s Treachery to go to Crowd’s Choice to The Victorious Being for my big turn 1 rescue with Watchman/Ezekiel. This meant I could cut Escape LS and maintain the same consistency in the build and therefore I put Crowds LS in that spot. The Manger also fills a great role of being able to negate Sheol and The Gates of Hell which I needed that support in this build. Also The Manger helps me get to Complacent and Orphans faster which is great.