Ranking Lost Souls is a daunting challenge. There are currently 39 different Lost Soul abilities if you count the 2 and 3-liner separately. You might ask, “How can you possibly rank such an array of abilities when they interact so differently in different decks?” The honest answer is that you can’t. Understanding how souls interact with each individualized deck is a crucial part of Redemption and a crucial part of upping your skill level. Sense ranking souls is so particular, I am going to create 7 tiers of Lost Souls and place each soul in a tier with a small explanation.

Tier 1 Excellent (Can go in any deck and be useful. Played in nearly all competitive decks)

II Chronicles 28:13 (Ki) “Hopper” – This is genuinely the only cost free card in the game. Generating a Lost Soul to go after is huge early, mid and late game. This is the best Lost Soul in the game as well as a top 10 non-Dominant card in the game.

Acts 16:22 (TEC) “Retribution” – This causes your opponent to rethink playing top level cards like Urim and Thummim, Angelic Guidance, Mayhem, hand control etc.

Jeremiah 11:8 (RA) “Can’t be Prevented” – This soul cannot be negated and counters all forms of offensive fight by the numbers.

Tier 2 Very Good (Can go into most decks and be useful (played in most competitive decks))

Ezekiel 34:6 (Pi) “Wanderer” – Short and sweet this soul is incredibly versatile. It can be a game changer.

Psalm 30:3 (I) “Resurrection” – The ability to regenerate a Hero who is crucial to your deck is an awesome ability. The negative is that you must allow the Lost Soul to be redeemed in order for it to work.

Tier 3 Good (Can go into a majority of decks but not a staple (played in majority of competitive decks))

II Samuel 23:6 (Pi) “Thorns” – This card counters popular souls and defensive Enhancements in the game. This makes it one of the few souls in the game that benefits your offense. This soul crushes soul depletion decks.

Proverbs 22:14 (UL) “3-Line” – Has to be saved by the same players twice making it a little stronger in multi. It does give your opponent an additional soul to rescue but it can also be used for multiple additional blocks with Death of Unrighteous, Suicidal Swine Stampede, Falling Away, Burial, Nebushaban ect.

Psalm 35:20 (RA) “Site Guard” – Because of the new Dragon Raid, this soul received a major bump. It can help you over an Angel of the Lord or a cannot be negated battle winner.

Romans 3:23 (AW) “Revealer” – Has the potential to generate Lost Souls or to show you what type of deck your opponent may be playing. This soul creeps into more decks when speed is more prevalent. It can help you dodge droughts in turn 1 through 3.

Tier 4 Fair (Don’t play in most decks (played in a minority of competitive decks))

Ecclesiastes 10:3 (RA3) “Fool” – This Lost Soul is great in specific scenario’s, if your opponent happens to be running a banding offense it gives you a way to knock out the chain despite losing the battle. This is also a great way to counter Thaddeus. The problem is that you need to present a blocker, play an evil Enhancement and still lose the battle. This means it effectively costs at least 2 cards and you have to give up a Lost Soul to get the benefit. Fool is rarely worth the slot.

Jeremiah 17:9 (RA) “Punisher” – This soul has a great ability but because of the prevalence of the “Wanderer” most top decks (excluding Genesis) can’t risk it. If you want to negate Heroes defensively, you can play Confusion of Mind or Covenant with Death.

Jeremiah 3:25 (RA) “Shame” – If drawn in your opening 8 cards it is worthless, if not it becomes a way to effectively eliminate an opponent’s most threatening Hero for a couple turns.

Luke 19:10 (Di) “FBTN” – This is a top 5 power soul that doesn’t get a lot of play. People do not like to negate their own souls so it drops because of that.

Jeremiah 7:18 (H) “Female Only” – This is the only consistently playable protect soul. Female Heroes are still not overly abundant.

Matthew 19:23 (Pi) “Speed Bump” – This soul can generate a block if your opponent misplays, that block is free of charge. It is a soft counter to speed decks.

Proverbs 22:14 (L) “2-Line” – Generates an extra soul for your opponent to go for but can become multiple blocks.

Tier 5 Poor (Put in if you don’t have another option (played rarely in competitive decks))

Acts 11:18 (Ap) “N.T. Only” – This protection used to be lot better, but with the Son of God reprint negating souls it’s not as good. Not to mention the addition of an entirely new testament brigade means its protection will be worthless against clay.

Acts 23:27 (AW) “Anti-Withdraw” – This can be combined with Strife, Goliath (P), Abandonment to help you hide it from your opponent but it’s not a must have.

Luke 13:25 (Di) “Shut Door” – Decent ability, but not overwhelming. It can be rescued by a Dominant before its ability can trigger.

Luke 15:13 (Di) “Far Country” – Recurs a discarded Site if you draw it after the Site is discarded. This soul is very hit or miss. If your deck requires a particular Site to be in play this soul is your one safety net.

Luke 15:6 (J) “Rejoice” – Great in an Abomination of Desolation deck, but still requires you to surrender a soul for the ability.

Matthew 19:26 (AW) “First Round” – Can generate a free block but it misses way more often then it hits and angels are very prevalent in today’s game.

Matthew 8:34 (AW) “Evictor” – Requires specific conditions and only benefits a couple other souls in the game.

Proverbs 22:10 (RA) “Anti-Ignore” – A conditional Lost Soul that negates ignore, but not the best versions of ignore. It is almost never played.

Psalm 119:176 (Pi) “Anti-Angel” – Conditional ability that is meant to retrigger other souls. It must be surrendered to get the benefit.

Tier 6 Very Poor (Next to worthless (played almost never in competitive decks))

Acts 14:4 (RA) “Same Testament” – Basically this souls stops a Seraph band to an N.T. prophet and the Simeon (WA) to an O.T. prophet band. It will almost never work.

Acts 23:8 (RA) “Anti-Human” – The protection is worthless in 99.9% of games unless you’re playing against Megamanlan at Minnesota States.

Galatians 3:13 (AW) “Anti-Burial” – Virtually unplayable in Type 1 but, in Type 2 it has a little more merit. Tier 6 for Type 1 and tier 5 in Type 2.

II Chronicles 15:4 (Ki) “*/4 Only” – Terrible, the protection Lost Souls took a huge hit when Son of God got the negate added. This might help against small Genesis offenses.

James 1:15 (AW) “Demon Discard” – Stipulates all over this soul. It’s bad.

Jeremiah 13:10 (Pi) “Color Guard” – This is a theoretically a stipulated Fortress. If its ability is needed, there are better options to use.

Luke 16:20-21 (Di) “Beggar” – It only shuffles N.T. souls and you have to give it up to get the shuffle.

Proverbs 16:28 (RA) “Different Books” – This Lost Soul is better than the “Same Testament” Lost Soul, but still not great. I have never seen it played in a regional or higher tournament.

Psalm 119:150 (FF) “Discarder” – Almost never worth it because defense is rarely expendable.

***Deck Build Tier*** (this tier is for souls that require particular deck builds)

Ezekiel 31:14 (Ki) “Shuffler” – “Shuffler” tends to hurt you more than help you. It may still have a place in soul depletion decks. Depletion remains a B- tier deck and won’t be winning Nationals anytime soon. (Tier 5)

Hosea 13:2 (RA) “Deck Discard” – This soul requires you to play Sites, but is worth it in most decks with 2 or more Sites. Generally only play this with at least 2 Sites. This can possibly hit a Dominant which always shapes games. (Tier 3)

I Corinthians 1:27 (G) “Hand Discard” – This soul requires you to play Sites, but is worth it in most decks with 2 or more Sites. Generally only play this with at least 2 Sites. This is always valuable and you know it won’t miss. (Tier 2)

Luke 15:15-16 (Di) “Pigs” – This is a top 5 power soul but requires a particular build to survive its ability yourself. If you build a deck that can operate with pigs, the soul can win you some games. (Tier 4)

Psalm 1:4 (Ki) “Site Doubler” – Great in Site-lock decks. (Tier 4)

Josiah’s Go To 7 (remember Hopper doesn’t count towards Lost Soul count in deck building)

Hopper
Can’t be Prevented
Resurrection
Retribution
Thorns
Site Guard
Revealer
Wanderer

Jerome’s Go To 7 (remember Hopper doesn’t count towards lost soul count in deck building)

Hopper
Retribution
Can’t be Prevented
Resurrection
Wanderer/Thorns
Punisher
Site Guard
Shame

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By Josiah

Josiah and Jerome are brothers from Pennsylvania. Jerome started playing Redemption in 2010 and Josiah in 2011. Thanks to Jerome's ability to analyze cards and with help from other players and leaders like Jon M. and Chad Z., the brothers quickly became competitive players on the national circuit. Both have enjoyed getting connected with the nation wide Redemption community and greatly appreciate the friendships which have been cultivated through Redemption. Josiah and Jerome both have a love for Redemption and are excited to forward the game in any way possible.