What are all the parts that make up a Redemption card? To a veteran the answer might seem obvious. But to many beginners there are aspects that don’t always stand out right away.
Icon Box
The first thing we find at the top left of a card is the icon box. There are several key pieces of information that can be gleaned from this area, starting with the card type. Here you can tell if a card is a Hero (cross), Evil Character (dragon), good Enhancement (book), evil Enhancement (skull), Dominant (lamb or reaper), Site (pyramids), Artifact (cup), Fortress (building), Covenant (book and cup), Curse (skull and snake), or Lost Soul (no icon).
If the card is a Hero, Evil Character, Enhancement, Site, Covenant, or Curse, the icon box will also have at least one brigade color. This is important because the brigade color will often dictate what kind of cards can be used together. For example, Enhancements have to be played on a character of matching brigade. Also, some special abilities target cards based on the card’s brigade.
The last piece of information you might find in the icon box is a card’s stats. These used to be referred to as “abilities”. Because that sounds very similar to “special ability” (an attribute we’ll get to shortly) that terminology is no longer used.
Only Heroes, Evil Characters, Enhancements, Covenants, and Curses have stats. The first number of a card’s stats is called the strength. It represents the amount of damage a card can deal. The second number of a card’s stats is called the toughness. It represents the amount of damage a card can take.
Other Main Components
Across the top right you’ll find the card name or card title. This tells you who or what the card represents. Cards are sometimes targeted by other cards based on the name. There are also cards that give a bonus when certain cards are on the table.
The illustration takes up the largest portion of the card. Pictures are chosen to represent the person, place, or event for each specific card. Since Redemption does not usually commission art, the illustration is often a piece of classic art from the public domain. Occasionally a card will will be referenced based on what is depicted on the illustration.
Some cards may contain another element along the left side of the illustration under the icon box. There are three main types of icons you can find here. It is very rare for a card to have more than one of these icons on it.
The first two icons are very similar because they are two halves of a puzzle piece. Of course we’re talking about the shield icon. One half of the shield is found on warrior class characters. The other half of the shield can be found on weapon class Enhancements. If you complete the puzzle piece by matching a weapon to a warrior, the warrior may keep the weapon outside of battle.
The other type of icon found on this part of the card looks like two palm trees with a tent in the middle. This is called the territory class icon. It’s found on both characters and Enhancements. Cards with this icon can be activated outside of battle during your preparation or discard phase.
There are two types of icons that are newer to Redemption, the cloud and star icons.
The cloud icon debuted with the Cloud of Witnesses set. It appears on any character mentioned (directly or indirectly) in Hebrews chapter 11. There are some cards with abilities that reference other cards based on this icon.
The star icon has only been used in three recent sets – Prophecies of Christ, Lineage of Christ and Gospel of Christ. The icon appears in the top left of the text box, followed by an ability. If you draw a card with a star icon by game rule (the draw 8 to start the game or the draw 3 at the start of each turn) you may reveal the star card from your hand and carry out the star ability.
The special ability can be found in one of two places depending on the era in which a card was printed. Prior to the I/J Starter Decks in 2012 special abilities were written over the illustration. Even though colors are chosen that contrast the illustration these special abilities can still be difficult to read at times.
Beginning with the I/J Starter Decks the special ability was moved below the illustration into the newly designed text box. Here the special ability is much easier to read!
Also in the card text box we find the scripture text and reference. In the new design these are directly below the special ability. On older cards these are the only thing found in the text box. There are a great number of cards that reference other cards based on the book of the Bible or the testament.
Promo cards replace the scripture text with the promo level information. All but a handful of old promos have the scripture reference printed on the card.
Between the illustration and the text box is an often overlooked, but extremely important, section of the card – the identifier line. Not every card has an identifier and old cards don’t always have all of their identifier information listed.
When a card does have identifier text it’s good to pay attention. You can learn what civilization a character belongs to, what type of cards can be held or placed on Fortresses, how to determine X in a special ability, and many other important pieces of information.
Peripheral Components
If the artist information is known the artist is credited at the bottom right of the card. This doesn’t have any game play purpose but it’s helpful if you want to learn more about the person who created the illustration or if you want to find more pieces by that artist.
At the bottom left of the card you’ll find the set icon. This will help you determine which set the card is from. Beginning with the Priests set, cards also received a card number and rarity. These pieces are helpful to collectors and traders alike.
The last element that we haven’t discussed is the card border. These vary in color but typically the color is not of any significance. The exception is the gold border. Gold border cards are either ultra rare or a promo. If you find a gold border card – you’ve struck gold!
Cloud of Witnesses (2016) and Revelation of John (2017) both used the standard variety of Redemption borders but also released a special edition set at Nationals that had unique, often thematic borders. Ultra Rare cards were done in a “borderless” format where the art extends past the white space on a normal card so that the entire card features the picture.
In 2018 the “special borders” became the new standard. Ultra rare cards are all done in the borderless format. Promos and other special cards are usually featured with “full art” meaning that the art takes up the card border area but the white edges remain.
Why It Matters
Having taught a number of people to play, I’ve found that people often understand things like the icon box, card title, and special ability pretty quickly.
It’s not uncommon for players to overlook the identifier line which sometimes contains pretty important information. The text is small and sometimes hidden between two larger elements so it’s easily overlooked.
The warrior, weapon, and territory class icons are also more advanced components that players don’t always catch on to right away.
New players also don’t always realize that the gold border means they have something special.
The scripture is easily the most important component. It’s the living breathing words of God and the basis for the other components of the card. Yet it’s often overlooked as not relevant to the game. It’s not uncommon that I need to explain how a special ability is referencing a card based on the scripture.
Now that you’re more familiar with all the components of a Redemption card, its time to go look through your collection to find those gems that you’ve overlooked before! Maybe a Bible verse will stand out to you or a card that you’ll understand in a new way when you notice the identifier. May this new understanding bring more enjoyment to your game!
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