Today we’re going to take a peak behind the curtain to give the Redemption fan base a glimpse at what goes on during the design and development of a card. The process isn’t the same every time. Some cards have a really good story, while others don’t have much to talk about.
In the beginning…
Boaz’ Sandal came to be during the design and development of the I & J starter set, when the Ruth theme first came to be. We knew that we wanted to keep the starter sets simple to make the game easy to learn. That meant that we weren’t going to include Artifacts, Fortresses, Sites, Covenants or Curses as well as some of Redemptions more complex abilities.
Part way through the testing process, Rob thought there might be a chance to include a “premium” card that could be added to each deck after players learned the game. We wanted an Artifact that would fit well into each deck. We quickly decided upon a Holy Grail reprint for the “I” deck. For the “J” deck we began testing an Artifact that related to the Gideon theme called Gideon’s Jar.
Another “Gideon” card
Gideon’s Jar was a really nice card that fit well in a Judges deck. But thanks to support cards that had already been printed, like Samuel’s Edict and The Angel Under the Oak, Judges were already really good. After a little bit of testing we decided that they didn’t need any more help right now.
The Cobblers brainstorm
We really liked the Ruth mini theme and wanted to come up with a way to help it succeed. That’s when someone suggested Boaz’ Sandal. The initial idea for the Sandal was essentially an Unknown Nation that worked for a Ruth Hero. Since the Ruth theme is pretty small with only four Heroes, it was suggested that we include the discard pile as a location to search.
After a little playing with the card we made one last addition, to allow it to search any time for those instances that you want to get a Ruth Hero outside of the battle phase. There are occasions where you want to play your territory class Enhancements but don’t have the character to play them with.
We settled on the following ability – “At anytime, you may discard this card to search deck or discard pile for a Ruth Hero. If used during your rescue attempt, you may add your Ruth Hero to battle.”
We were ready to send the card to print, along with several other promos, when things changed at the printer. We found out both of the “premium cards” and all the promos were being put on hold.
A second chance
In fall of 2014 when Rob told us he was going to print new promos, Boaz’ Sandal wasn’t on the list. During the development of the I & J starters, when we were testing new promos, we went through well over a dozen different new ideas and reprints. We settled on eight of them, not including the “premium cards”.
Not all of the promos we were testing back then are relevant today. A different version of Damascus was on the docket to be reprinted as a promo, but Damascus got a reprint in the Early Church. The team agreed to replace the Damascus promo with Boaz’ Sandal, giving it a second chance to boost the Ruth theme.
A last minute save
During the final wave of testing, one of our team members brought up a concern about potential combos with Grapes of Wrath that could potentially cause a free rescue. After looking into the game rules more, we found that the combo didn’t work, but neither did Boaz’ Sandal. At least it didn’t work the way we intended.
“If used during your rescue attempt” means that you have a Hero in battle with access to a Lost Soul. We intended for this to be used to get a Hero in battle when your Hero(es) have been removed by the blocker. We made one last adjustment to the wording to allow it to work as we originally intended.
The future looks bright
Boaz’ Sandal is now available as a local promo. If your favorite tournament host doesn’t have a local tournament scheduled, let him know you’d like him to hold a tournament so you can get your copy!
Along with Boaz’ Sandal, Cactus Game Design has released a new District, State and Regional promo. In the coming weeks you can expect a behind the scenes story on at least two more of the new promos.
To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!
