Welcome back once again to Drafting with Drrek.  A crazy school semester had left this article series on hiatus, but now I have a shiny piece of paper that says I went to school for several years and am back to satisfy your draft advice needs. This time we’ll be taking a look at a pack with a lot of strong cards: Patriarchs.

1. Ehud – Choose the blocker is good. Choose the blocker with first strike is fantastic.  This guy is a booster monster, take him if you can.
2. Hur – Soul generation is super important in booster, and Hur is really good at generating souls. A great pick if you are running green, and a solid pick otherwise.
3. Jephthah – His drawback isn’t that big in booster where you are unlikely to have cards that you can’t afford discarding from your deck. His benefit is huge.  This guy is always a great pick.
4. Enoch – Good numbers, and an ability that generally ensures you will always have a hero to at least make an attempt with. Solid card all around.
5. Covenant of Noah – A negate that doesn’t even require your character to be in battle. This card is amazing, causes no hand clog, and can even be used in an opponent’s battle if they do something like play a Great Image.  A great pick.
6. Abraham’s Servant to Ur – FBTN enhancements are very good. They stop a defensive battle winner, and often end up winning the battle for you themselves.  This card is great.
7. Blessings – Basically the same as Abe’s Servant, except in a different color and doesn’t get Name on Name on Abraham. Still a great pick.
8. Battle Cry – A band will often win you the battle. A mass band even more so.  Interrupting the battle is just icing on the cake, a great pick.
9. Death of Unrighteous – A block that’s very hard to negate, and that blocks for the future as it hides the souls from the players after your current opponent too. A fantastic evil enhancement.
10. Burning Bush – Solid negates are always good to get in booster. This one even takes away their numbers.  A very solid pick.
11. Three Angels – There generally will be some angels at the table to band to, and a band two is strong enough to generally win you the battle. Solid pick.
12. Best Friends – This card probably wasn’t meant to just let you band to female heroes into battle, but it does. There are generally enough female heroes going around to activate this, and banding two heroes in will often win you the battle.  Solid card.
13. Joseph Before Pharaoh – A little situational because it only targets O.T. evil characters, but that makes it a battle-winner against half the evil characters in the game, and a solid pick.
14. Achan’s Sin – A powerful interrupt the battle battle-winner. A very solid pick.
15. Joseph in Prison – Same as Achan’s Sin, though with the added benefit of being CBN against tin Joseph.
16. Korah’s Rebellion – Same as the last two cards.
17. Balaam’s Disobedience – CBN battle-winner that’s just as good in booster as it is in constructed.
18. Gibeonite Trickery – A strong CBN battle-winner. Solid pick.
19. Haman’s Plot – Very powerful CBN battle-winner. You can only use it once though, which cuts into its value in a multiple game tournament.
20. Patriarch’s Travels – A single band will often win you a battle. A solid card.
21. Babel – Banding in all evil characters on the table generally wins you the battle. A solid battle winning pick.
22. Moses Kills Egyptian – Interrupt battle-winner is always good, though its inability to target females is a small negative. Still a solid pick.
23. Joseph – Great numbers, and his stock gets a nice little boost if you drafted Coat of Many Colors. Generally he’s just a 9/7 vanilla hero, but beefy heroes like that get the job done.
24. Abram/Abraham – If he makes a rescue he gains pretty beefy numbers for a booster hero, but you do need to rescue with him first to do so. The negating of souls isn’t worthless, as it negates things like a N.T. only, but it’s certainly not strong.  Being a blue genesis hero is good with the genesis tin cards you can get from Early Church packs.  At worst he’s just a hero, which is fine.
25. Noah – Good numbers, and a blue genesis hero for those synergies. If there’s a Noah’s Sons out, he becomes even beefier.
26. Widow – She’s not beefy, but she ensures that she won’t be blocked by a truly beefy evil character. A solid ability makes up for subpar numbers to make a reasonable hero for booster.
27. Sarah’s Jealousy – Choose the rescuer is a solid way to win a battle. A solid battle-winner for a crimson defense.
28. Isaac Deceived – Solid battle-winner for crimson. Good to draft if you are drafting that brigade.
29. Moses and Elders – Not as strong as a battle winner because you can’t be certain you’ll have one to search for. Still plenty strong enough to be a solid pick.
30. Esau – That band is pretty sweet. A solid evil character to pick.
31. Leviathan – Great, super beefy numbers and he’s hard to target as he is neither a human nor a demon. Always a solid pick.
32. Midianite Attack – Good numbers and a great fight by the numbers ability. A solid pick.
33. Begging for Grain – Fight by the numbers is strong on defense just like it is on offense. A solid pick for a gray booster defense.
34. Disobedience – A negate is always useful to stop your opponent’s battle winners. A solid pick.
35. Water Shaft – A good band can be a battle-winner on defense just as much as it can be on offense. A solid gray enhancement.
36. Isaac – Answer to Prayer and Abraham’s Servant to Ur are pretty good cards that Isaac can play because of his ability, so if you draft one of those, is stock goes significantly up. His numbers are still decent without them, so he’s a reasonable pick.
37. Paladin – Several situational abilities, but all of them can have their uses. Numbers are decent for offense.  A reasonable pick.
38. Destroying Angel – Generally not a worthwhile ability, as only being able to target Genesis sites is pretty situational. Still his numbers are good, so he’s solid as a vanilla hero.
39. Adam – Pretty good offensive numbers, and if you draft an eve obviously his stock goes up (though he doesn’t match her brigades). A decent hero pick.
40. Centurion – Slightly lower offense than Adam which is important on a hero. He is a centurion so he can be searched for by Angelic Visitor if you draft one.
41. Joseph’s Brothers’ Scheme – Can be a battle winner, but you have to be able to beat the opponent’s hero in the side battle. Still, worth a pick if you are picking gold.
42. Hosts of Heaven – Numbers are pretty average. Ability will likely not matter. Fine to take if you just need a silver hero.
43. Melchizedek – Protection from capture is pretty decent. The rest of his ability is situational.  4/4 is bad numbers, but he’s fine to take if you are running purple.
44. Eli the Priest – If you have strong O.T. artifact like Unknown Nation or Go Into Captivity or something else, his ability is pretty good. Otherwise he’s just a 4/4 hero, which is weak, but acceptable if you are running blue.
45. Noah’s Sons – Remove from game is a rare form of battle-winner, so the ability is pretty situational. Decent numbers, a reasonable pick.
46. Elders of the City – Soul generation is nice, but generally you want it before you start the rescue, not after it’s complete. More often than not, these guys will just end up generating souls for your opponents to rescue.  Still a hero is a hero, and sometimes you just need a hero.
47. Aaron – The band ability is alright if you pull a Miriam, but even then it’s not a large band. The second ability is unlikely to matter as well.  Still a 6/4 vanilla hero is fine to have in your deck, and he’s a green prophet for things like two bears.
48. A New Beginning – Sometimes, you just need a board reset. The judges and your tablemates may not be happy though.
49. Covenant with Moses – If there’s ever a case to draft an enhancement for numbers, this is it. Furthermore it stops some annoying artifacts that can be common in booster, and it has name on name for if you get a warriors Moses from TxP or PC.
50. Boaz – Generally just a 6/5 vanilla hero. You can do worse but you can also do better.
51. Messenger Angel – You’ll generally have some target for that 1/1 buff, so it’s not useless, just pretty low impact. Numbers are mediocre, so a below average hero.
52. Foretelling Angel – Numbers aren’t the best for a hero, and while the little information you can glean from his ability is worth something, it’s not great. Again though, if you need a silver hero, you sometimes just have to take sub-par heroes to fill out the numbers.
53. Watcher – Same numbers as Foretelling but with an even more situational ability.
54. Covenant of Salt – Great numbers, and a blanket increase of your heroes can be pretty good if you use it as an artifact. Be aware it increases opponent heroes too.
55. Confused Languages – Actually pretty decent if you’re facing defences that like to band. Still, not great numbers and doesn’t do much against single evil characters.
56. Barak – The ability is good if you have a Deborah, but that is somewhat unlikely. Still, heroes are always important to have, so don’t feel bad about having to take him, even if his numbers aren’t great.
57. Providing Angel – Bad numbers, situational ability. Generally weak hero.
58. Covenant of Palestine – Protection from capture can be nice, as can clearing out captured heroes to remove souls. Additionally its numbers are pretty good, so not a bad pick.
59. Promised Land – If you’ve seen a lot of sites go around the table, this card becomes better. It’s always nice to be sure that you don’t have to worry about site access.
60. Demon in Armor – Decent numbers, and a situational but pretty useful ability. His downside is irrelevant in booster, as no one will have Son of God.
61. Dream – Interrupt, draw and play next can certainly save you against many battle winners. Less useful than a straight negate because you have to have some follow up but solid nonetheless.
62. Orpah – Generally a vanilla 7/8 EC. Good numbers but nothing else.
63. Abimelech – Judges heroes are pretty common, but the ability is still situational. Decent numbers.  A decent evil character if you are picking gray.
64. Nabal – Protection from conversion is useful. Self-ignore is bad, but it’s pretty limited.  Decent evil character.
65. Achan – Ability generally won’t do anything. Decent as a vanilla evil character.
66. Cain – Ability is useful for hitting that Captain or such from another player’s territory. Too bad you have to lose a battle to do so.  His numbers are mediocre.
67. Leper – Ability is slow, but not useless. Acceptable if you are drafting gray.
68. Destruction of Nehushtan – An all-purpose counter to whatever artifact is annoying you. Writ is the obvious culprit here, but there are others, so you should feel fine taking this card.
69. Covenant with Adam – Like Covenant of Salt this helps both you and your opponent. It does have decent numbers though, and you can control when you put it down to be when it benefits your offense the most.
70. Gleaning the Fields – Taking a battle-winner if you share a brigade with your opponent can be pretty good. It’s situational, but the numbers are alright, so the card isn’t overall bad.
71. Wrestling with God – Same as Gleaning the Fields.
72. Gideon’s Call – Can be alright in the spread offenses that booster tends to create. Numbers are alright for an enhancement too.  Not great, but not terrible.
73. Jacob’s Rods – Can be a decent way to remove some numbers off the opposing evil characters. Also helpful against bands.
74. Korah – Ability is situational, numbers are mediocre. If you need a brown evil character he’s fine but nothing more.
75. Abner – Vanilla evil character. If you are picking brown, he’s not terrible, but he’s nothing to write home about.
76. Creation of the World – This card is very good if you have green heroes and several genesis heroes. Absolutely worthless otherwise.
77. Death of Firstborn – Forcing your opponent to send out a new evil character can be important, but this isn’t a straight battle-winner. There are certainly better enhancements, but it’s not so bad that you’d never play it.
78. Bera, King of Sodom – Very unlikely that his ability will go off. Bad numbers, but he is a canaanite for things like Gibeonite Trickery and Fortify Site.
79. Blue Tassels – Unholy Writ can be pretty common depending on the packs being drafted, and it is worthwhile to stop your opponents’ Writs, as well as their capture battle-winners on both offense and defense. It can be worth it to hate draft this card if you have a good number of captures.
80. Covenant with David – Stopping Household Idols can be important if you drafted several band cards. The numbers are pretty good too.
81. Lot – Terrible numbers, situational ability. If you are desperate for a hero, there could be worse picks, but he’s low priority.
82. Egyptian Wise Men – Terrible numbers, but banding to something like your opponent’s Egyptian Rebel is pretty sweet. Still a situational band.
83. Pharaoh’s Magicians – Bad defensive numbers. Ability can be a drawn one or could hide a lost soul so it can be useful.  A pretty weak evil character.
84. The Serpent – Very bad numbers, but hard to target because of its status as an animal. A weak evil character but if you are desperate for a crimson one, he might be worth it.
85. Vulnerable – First strike is strong, and negating opponent’s first strike is situational, but a nice little bonus. Not a great enhancement, but one that might make it into your deck.
86. Altar of Dagon – So long as you aren’t drafting converts for yourself, protecting your evil characters from it can be useful from the art slot that often won’t have anything better to activate. If you have drafted a lot of converts, you may have to hate draft this card.
87. Bad Decision – A situational ability, but a battle winner when it goes off.
88. Jawbone – If you have Samson, this card’s value goes way up as it is a battle-winner. Otherwise, the numbers are good for offense, but that doesn’t make it worth it.
89. Drowning of Pharaoh’s Army – If one of your opponents drafted primarily evil gold, this card can give them a nasty surprise. It’s still situational, but it  can work out from time to time.
90. A Wife for Isaac – Numbers are mediocre, and the ability is situational, but not overtly so, and is a battle-winner when it goes off. There are worse picks for enhancements.
91. Loyalty of Ruth – First strike is good, and the numbers are decent. Not terrible but not good.
92. Storehouse – Enhancement clog can be a real problem in booster, and this card alleviates that. It’s not the best effect, but you won’t feel bad playing it.
93. Joseph’s Silver Cup – Stopping an impact artifact like writ can be good, but this card still probably isn’t good enough to make it into your deck.
94. Wool Fleece – If you can’t handle multiple evil characters based on your deck’s battle-winners, this might be worth it. Another potential hate-draft if you have cards like Lot’s Wife or Gomer.
95. Amorite Invasion – Numbers are really good if against a hero that fought in an earthly battle (which is quite a lot of them). Still, it’s just numbers, so a relatively mediocre pick.
96. Samson’s Strength – Numbers are good, ignoring beasts is situational but not worthless. A mediocre pick.
97. Spiritual Protection – With the release of the Armor of God enhancements in the Persecuted Church, this card has gained some value. It’s still situational and with not great numbers, but it could be alright if you draft an Armor of God enhancement or two.
98. Love at First Sight – If only you could play this pre-block it could be some good soul generation. As it is, it’s hard to get off, and probably not worth it.
99. Journey to Egypt – Site access can be good, but it’s dependent on your opponents, it’s probably not worth playing.
100. Hagar and Angel at Shur – Good numbers but literally nothing else. We want more out of our enhancements.
101. Covenant of Abraham – Ability is next to worthless, so it will generally just be a 3/4 enhancement, which is fine numbers, but we want more from our cards.
102. Covenant of Eden – What’s said for Covenant of Abraham goes for this card to, except that it has no possibility for name on name bonus.
103. Wrath of Cain – A situational battle-winner, but green brigade prophets aren’t exactly rare. This card isn’t good, but sometimes it could be worth it.
104. Coercion – The ability is really good if you use it on a female evil character, but there aren’t that many black female evil characters. The numbers aren’t terrible, but unless you’ve drafted some females to activate this on, it’s not worth it.
105. Prosperity – Can help you dig for that battle-winner you need, but that’s not ideal, and it adds no number nor does it help you itself in the battle. Probably not worth it in the end.
106. Brother’s Reunion – Situational ability, though it is good against gold evil characters. Still, it’s probably not worth putting in.
107. Jethro’s Wisdom – Boosts the wrong stat for offense. Just numbers, not worth it.
108. God’s Generosity – Decent numbers but horribly situational ability.
109. Helping Pharaoh’s Daughter – Another bad ability paired with ok numbers. Take a pass on this one.
110. Blessing of Joshua – Situational ability, mediocre numbers. Probably not going to make it into your deck.
111. Jacob’s Dream – Stealing a site can be nice to give you site access, however you need to have access to a soul in the first place for your opponent to be willing to block you generally. In the end, another situational ability without good numbers.
112. Water from the Rock – A draw one that generally is just 1/3 numbers isn’t very good. It’s not worthless, but it’s not worth it.
113. Deepening Lie – Forcing a discard is nice, but your opponent will generally have a sub-par card to throw in booster. Numbers are nice, but we still want more out of cards we put in our deck.
114. Jerusalem Tower – Most decks aren’t going to be discarding your deck in booster, but it does protect you from some forms of soul generation. Not useless, but probably not worth the spot.
115. Sarah’s Beauty – Good numbers if used by a female, bad numbers otherwise. Either way, we still want more than numbers out of enhancements.
116. Ruth Meets Boaz – Requires you to draft two different brigade heroes and draw both to be worth it. So this is not worth it.
117. Striking the Rock – Pretty decent numbers but the ability is very situational. Not worth a pick.
118. Book of the Wars – Another situational ability with mediocre numbers. Won’t be worth the cut.
119. Manna – Mediocre numbers, very situational ability. Pass
120. Rebekah Meets Isaac – Same as Ruth Meets Boaz with slightly worse numbers.
121. Plague of Blood – Another situational, mediocre numbers card.
122. Battering Ram – All it can really do is add 2/2 to a battle. It’s multi-color, but still not worth a slot.
123. Pit – Its ability lets you remove an annoying hero from an opponent, but it does little to help you in the current battle. Generally not worth the slot.
124. Abusive Taskmasters – Decent numbers but ability is poor. Not worth putting in your deck.
125. Book of Nathan – Situational, and with bad numbers. A poor enhancement.
126. The Wages of Sin – Unlikely that you’ll have an evil dominant that is worth putting this card in your deck for. The second ability could remove another opponent’s annoying hero, but again, that’s not worth a deck slot. Two sub-par abilities and sub-par numbers lead to a sub-par card.
127. Desolation of Tamar – Mediocre numbers and a situational ability. Not what we’re looking for to make the final cut.
128. Complaint of Moses – Situational ability that will likely not matter. Decent numbers but not strong enough to make it into your deck.
129. Gifts for Esau – Extremely situational. Just 0/4 numbers, not good enough.
130. Smashing Tablets – Another special ability that’s not worth much of anything. 2/3 numbers aren’t enough to put this into your deck.
131. Stolen Blessing – Can help you mess with the player in the lead, but doesn’t help you win the battle, so probably not worth it.
132. All Hope Lost – Numbers aren’t worthless for defense, but it doesn’t really help you win the battle. For the ability to matter at all, you have to win the battle against a strong hero, so it’s very situational and not worth a slot.
133. Hagar Dismissed – If it could remove a hero in battle, it would be fringe acceptable. But as it is, it’s not worth a slot.
134. Jephthah’s Tragic Vow – More situational than Hagar Dismissed with the same numbers.
135. Brothers’ Envy – Super situational card. All it will ever really do is add 0/3 to battle, which isn’t what we are looking for.
136. Stolen Idols – Unlikely for its ability to matter, so it is generally just a 2/2 enhancement, which isn’t good.
137. Wickedness of Delilah – Bad numbers and an ability that is very unlikely to go off.
138. Treachery Afoot – Doesn’t help at all for your defense, and the toughness is awful for defense.
139. Siegeworks – Everything said for Battering Ram goes for this too, except its numbers are worse for defense.
140. Solomon’s Temple – You probably won’t have enough artifacts that you’ll even be making hard decisions on artifact pile. You almost certainly won’t have enough artifacts with a temple artifact for this to be worth it.
141. Lamenting – Very situational and no numbers. Not worth a pick.
142. Judah’s Sin – Can stop an annoying opponent’s hero, but does nothing for the current battle with no numbers. It’s not worth a slot in your deck.
143. Arrogance – Ability doesn’t really do anything, as if you had initiative and a battle winner, you should probably just play that, and if you are trying to win the battle with numbers, you don’t want to waste those enhancements by playing them all if your opponent has a battle-winner. It is better to only play as long  as you have initiative in a numbers battle, to ensure numbers don’t get wasted.
144. Jacob’s New Name – First strike and some alright permanent increase is pretty fine in booster actually. Too bad you have to draft one specific hero and draw him at the same time as this card to make this work.
145. Abel’s Sacrifice – CBN enhancements are nice, but not worth having to play a no numbers enhancement in booster. There are worse things to take, but this shouldn’t end up making your deck’s final cut.
146. Danites Attack – No numbers and an ability that doesn’t help you win the battle. Not worth putting in your booster deck.
147. Prophecy of Eldad and Medad – Very situational and no numbers. Not good.
148. Witness to Creation – Seven turns is just too long to wait, even though the ability it gives is actually pretty good. Pass on this card.
149. Flight of Spies – This card does nothing proactive to help you win. I’d rather play a card with numbers that might push me just over their numbers than a card that only admits defeat.
150. Trust – Like Flight of Spies but worse.
151. Passover Preparations – Just too slow to be worth playing.
152. Angelic Advice – Shuffling artifact piles won’t help you in the battle. With no numbers you should pass on this enhancement.
153. Ambush – Unless you get an Ahimelek, the odds of this card being worth it are pretty low.
154. The gods of Egypt – Very unlikely you’ll have enough Egyptians for this to be worth it. Even if you have Egyptians, it’s really not worth putting this in your deck to just protect just those characters from conversion and capture.  Especially since, unlike heroes, you can’t set them aside after you use them on your turn and get them back at the start of your next turn when you’d need them again.
155. Jacob’s Ladder – Choosing the lost soul you rescue basically is never worth a card slot unless someone drafted a liner (2 or 3), which is pretty rare.
156. Protection of Jerusalem – Not worth it. At all.
157. Passover – This card should never be in your deck.
158. Interceding for Battle – This card is very bad. The ability is beyond situational, and no numbers to make up for it.
159. Sold into Slavery – Not only does this card not help you in the battle, but to actually do the capture that will generate a soul for your opponents to rescue, you have to discard another perfectly good evil enhancement just to use this. Add into that that it has no numbers, this card is just bad.

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By Blake

Blake began collecting as a little kid back when Warriors cards were still in print. He started playing competitively in 2011, and has played with the Maryland/PA group ever since. Blake now plays primarily Teams and Type I. He also helps playtest the new sets.