Most National tournaments use the same schedule pairing T1-2P and T2-2P together, forcing players to choose between two pretty amazing categories. That makes the choice of what to play on Friday tough for me pretty much every year.

It often comes down to which deck (my T1 or T2) that I feel like I’ll enjoy most. Sometimes it comes down to which category needs another player to keep the count even. But this year the choice was pretty easy for me. I knew I wanted to play BoM!

I registered three copies of my deck so that I could rip some Haman’s Plots. After I checked them in I found out that another player was allowed to check in some custom cards I’d made for him. I grabbed my “special” copy of my BoM deck that was made with 100% borderless cards and confirmed with Rob Anderson that I’m allowed to use them. He gave his OK provided I own a real copy of every card so I checked my deck in to replace one of the real versions.

I’ll summarize my rounds as best I can but I don’t have detailed notes and everything blurs together after 10 rounds. I apologize in advance to my opponent’s if I recall anything inaccurately. Most of the details come at the end during the top cut.

Round 1 vs. Derrick Palumbo playing Disciples and Babylonians.

I had a Christian Martyr for his opening play of Matthew. It took him a couple turns to draw another Hero.

He had some strong blocks but I was able to circumvent Nergalsharezer by converting him with Holy Grail, followed by a 2nd use on another Babylonian. That allowed me to walk in for souls with some of my strong bands like Samuel and David, the Psalmist or Joshua, son of Nun and Captain of the Host.

Derrick was rescuing with Philip and Bartholomew but that gave me initiative to Confusion his Son of God and shuffle my Lost Souls with a suicide block.

I won this round 5-1.

Round 2 vs. Noah Wagenknecht playing a I Samuel Throne offense and Philistines.

This was a rematch of our first round game from North Central Regionals. Noah is always an extremely tough opponent. I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I believe Noah went first. He had an amazing opening, using some combination of Samuel, King Saul, Abigail, David, the Shepherd and Throne of David to speed through his deck. He accumulated a massive lead in card advantage and kept pushing it forward.

My deck was moving at a decent pace, but I was struggling to keep up with the blocks his Philistines could produce. Fortunately, I was able to convert Philistine Armor Bearer with Holy Grail so I wouldn’t have to deal with guys like Goliath more than once.

“Things were looking darker than a black steers tookus on a moonless prairie night.” I rescued three Lost Souls but Noah was decked out already and there was no coming back for me.

I lost this round 3-5.

Round 3 vs. Josh Hartzler playing purple royals and orange demons.

After losing round two my consolation prize is playing one of the greatest strategists in the game. Lovely. Normally you’d expect a little easier match up after starting 1-1. But I had only met Josh in person for the first time that morning and we’d never played before. I’d just prefer to face a guy of his caliber in the top 8.

Early in the game I made a misplay that cost me a Lost Soul. I can’t recall exactly what I did, only that I was disappointed to be playing poorly against such a great opponent. In matches like this it often comes down to who makes the most/biggest mistake(s).

I was able to get Confusion for his Son of God. Towards the end of the game Josh forgot about it and played The Second Coming to his deck in search of Son of God. Had he gone to his discard pile for AotL I think he would have won.

In a game marred by sloppy play on both sides I squeaked out a 5-4 win.

Round 4 vs. Jon Masters playing BoM and Philistines.

This game and my next one kind of blur together in my mind. I think this was the game where Jon went first and activated Hezekiah’s Signet Ring. Then he made a rescue attempt, which I blocked with Damsel, using my initiative to play Confusion for Son of God. He hands me his deck, but as he does I realize – Signet Ring. No searching for me. I saved the rescue by using Grapes when he didn’t have any more Heroes.

I don’t recall much else from this game. It’s interesting how my terrible plays stand out in my mind. More on that at the end.

I pull out a 5-2 win despite the opening mistake. It’s a good thing BoM is a forgiving deck!

Round 5 vs. Jacob Arrowood playing BoM and brown.

I apologize to Jacob and our readers. I don’t remember anything about this game, unless this is the one where I misplayed the opening Confusion with Signet Ring active.

I won the 5th round 5-1.

Round 6 vs. Connor Magras playing a Throne/BoM hybrid with an Assyrian defense.

Connect is easily a top 8 player so I know I’m going to have to step it up. He actually missed the top 8 at 9th place but he’s easily as good as anyone who made the cut.

I’m able to use my soul drought tools early in the game to deny him any Redeemed souls as I pull out to an early lead. With only two rounds left before top cut and no Haman’s Plots ripped I realized that I can start ripping them without consequence. So that’s exactly what I did!

We reached a point in the game where I feel like I have inevitability. I must have had three Redeemed souls with either Son of God or The Second Coming in my hand, just waiting for one more rescue or to draw the other Dominant.

Conner makes a rescue but my only legit block is to rip my Haman’s Plot. I could give him a soul and potentially win next turn but I hadn’t ripped a plot yet all day! I use the plot to take out the rescuer and two other characters, making this copy of the deck null and void for the top 8… if I make it.

With the ripping of the plot to pad my differential I win 5-0.

Round 7 vs. Chris Egley playing Throne and Philistines.

Chris is in 1st place as the only undefeated player. I attempt to talk him into drawing into the top 8 but he declines. Chris beat me last year in the top cut when we played for 3rd and 4th. He also keeps improving every year so I’m not excited about my chances. I didn’t even know at this point that he’s playing a very similar deck to the one that beat me round 2.

Chris got an early, fast start like Throne decks do. He quickly took an early lead on me. But my deck did its job and kept the Lost Souls hidden for a little while to give me a chance to catch up.

Chris needs to do something with the massive amount of cards in his hand so he plays out Sword of the Spirit and Foreign Sword on King Saul and David, the Shepherd. He hadn’t been using his weapons this way all day so when he went for his next rescue he didn’t realize that Throne of David wasn’t going to work. I use the initiative to play Confusion and shuffle my Lost Souls.

He also put down his Philistine Armor Bearer which allowed me to convert him to a Hero with Holy Grail. This ensured that I only needed to beat the toughest of his Evil Characters one time, instead of several times and I pulled out a 5-2 win putting me at 2nd place going into the top cut.

Round 8 – Top 8 vs. Daniel Huisinga playing Throne and Philistines.

Daniel’s take on his deck was a bit different than the prior versions I had played. If you didn’t get a chance to see the live stream video, I heard that they will be posted online again soon.

Neither of us drew souls to start the game. Daniel activates Signet Ring and makes a battle challenge with Joshua to get Captain of the Host. Apparently I didn’t learn from my mistake earlier in the day because I blocked with Damsel thinking I could Confusion him. Damsel drew into a Lost Soul, turning his battle challenge into a rescue attempt. But at least I didn’t play the Confusion this time…

Upon looking at Daniel’s hand I find that he has a Harvest Time. When’s the last time you’ve seen someone play that in Type 1?! I have a soul shuffler but I’m not going to use it until I can force out the Harvest Time. My mistake of blocking with Damsel gives Daniel a rescue.

Unfortunately, I drew a Lost Soul on my first turn and Daniel gets another rescue. I’m drawing all of my Evil Characters but my offense is hiding. I’m not able to stop Daniel’s next rescue so I’m down 0-2.

On his third turn Daniel finally draws a Lost Soul. Since I don’t have any he uses Harvest Time opening the way for me to use my soul shufflers without giving up a freebie.

I beat up Goliath to pick up a Redeemed Soul. His Armor Bearer also meets my Holy Grail. I’ve had to put all 9 of my Evil Characters down now due to hand clog even though I’m only half way through my deck. Unfortunately, my evil Enhancements haven’t been joining them.

The pivotal turn happens when Daniel finally turns down Signet Ring in lieu of You Will Remain. With the ability to search I use AuTO to protect Gideon and get Faith of Gideon. I have 5 ways to make that side battle card a pretty sure win and choose Lions to eat the blocker. Very few cards in the game can stop Lions in this situation and Daniel shows me one I hadn’t thought of before – Foreign Sword! My Lions is negated and topdecked. Gideon is protected but doesn’t bring home the gold this time.

On his turn Daniel goes on a drawing spree with the Throne offense. I believe he was up to three Redeemed Souls at this point so it makes sense for him to dig for his Son of God and New Jerusalem (I don’t think he used The Second Coming).

I block with Foreign Wives since she’ll be protected and his hand is high enough he won’t get the full draw off Throne. I cringe hoping that he doesn’t have Valley of Salt to play off Throne because it will be tossed by Coliseum and get around Foreign Wives protection. He declines the play from Throne allowing me to Confusion his Son of God!

Daniel plays Faith of Samuel to draw some more. I think he was digging for Guardian of Your Souls at this point. That’s an unconventional Dominant selection but Daniel is certainly not a conventional guy. With my entire defense on the table (and a few of his own Evil Characters too) he plays AoCp. Ouch! If it wasn’t for that Confusion this would be another of those moonless prairie nights…

I follow up his drawing spree by using Grapes to shuffle his banded offense and Mayhem to shuffle his hand full of goodness. Irony would have it that I draw my Falling Away and use it. I believe the game was 2-2 at this point.

With his defense nuked by AoCp I have an easier time rescuing one of the many souls he picked up on his drawing spree.

Daniel puts the Signet Ring back up keeping me from using The Second Coming. I know this is a factor through and included multiple ways to deal with it, they’ve just been hiding at the bottom of my deck. The only Evil Character I have left is the Lions he topdecked. I’m holding Haman’s Plot and have Hypocrisy in my small deck so I’d like to save Lions to use that.

He uses a Samuel banded to David to rescue, but he has Faith of David in his territory. Because of FoD I’m thinking that Plot alone won’t get me a block without a little luck so I use it on David, his King Saul and Joshua thinking he wouldn’t have anyone to use with FoD. With just Lions blocking Samuel I was banking on him having nothing to play on Samuel. To my dismay FoD can add my cloud Heroes to the battle too! Daniel ties the game up 3-3.

So I ripped my plot to no avail. In hindsight, if I’d discarded Samuel, David, and my Lions it would have gotten a block because there would have been no Evil Character in battle for FoD’s condition.

On my turn I draw The Second Coming to pair with my Son of God, activate Captured Ark to shuffle Signet Ring and end the game 5-3.

Top 4 – Round 9 vs. John Cunningham (better known as JD or Kariusvega) playing Colossae and Heretics.

Almost all of the people I know through Redemption are really great people with good character and kind hearts, but JD takes that to the next level!

We’ve talked quite a bit and even played online so we know one another’s deck fairly well. JD prays over our game and we begin.

He gets the good start with Epaphras to grab Philemon to get some speed going. He soon adds Claudia to that mix as well. He’s able to power through for one Redeemed Soul from me early in the game.

I had an early Coliseum which is pretty ideal considering I’m pretty sure JD has Scattered and Disagreement over Mark in his defense. I got several Heroes down early this game and JD has the “Punisher” Lost Soul making things difficult for me. I want my Captain and Strong Angel to work so I Hypocrisy a few of my own Heroes leaving me with only silver. This allows my Strong Angel to push through for a couple rescues before he finally meets his maker via JD’s Christian Martyr.

JD continues to draw with Philemon allowing me to Confusion despite his “Crowds” Lost Soul. I follow that up with a Grapes to shuffle his 3-4 Heroes in battle in an effort to slow him down. When he follows up Grapes with a new Hero my Foreign Wives is protected due to his prior drawing.

I rescue with AuTO to Joshua banded to Captain thinking that I’m safe from the “Punisher” Lost Soul. I forgot about the brigades on my You Will Remain but JD did not. He paralyzed my Gideon for 5 turns and set aside my Heroes for 4 turns with Nebuchadnezzar’s Pride. Ouch!

I need a way to get that Gideon off the table. I’m holding Son of God and The Second Coming but can’t use them. My soul drought cards stall for me and Falling Away brings the score to 3-0 in my favor but I can’t get past JD’s defense or play my good Dominants.

Finally, I draw Lions! When JD rescues I use it to discard my own Gideon, then play Son of God and The Second Coming to win 5-0. That score is certainly not telling of how close the game felt!

Finals – round 10 vs. Brian Jones playing Throne/BoM with an Assyrian/demon defense.

Brian requested that I not use the bordless custom deck that I’d used in the other top cut games. He wanted to make sure he recognized all the cards, which is a fair request. I feel like all the cards are easily recognizable but he’d never seen what they actually look like so he was playing it safe. While we’re shuffling I act like his request has me a little on tilt to give him a false sense of confidence.

He opened with a couple Lost Souls including the “Punisher” that gave me fits against JD last round. I only had one Lost Soul so Brian went first. Fortunately for me he put down his Moses, negating that “Punisher”! I can’t afford to remove Moses from play so I gave him a free soul.

He doesn’t seem to have a lot of defense so I’m able to power through for a rescue. IIRC I was using AuTO to Samuel banded to David, the Psalmist to do a little drawing and deck stacking.

When he does finally get some defense he plays down The Rabshakeh and puts Two Thousand Horses on him. On my turn I use Holy Grail to convert him, opening the way for a free rescue.

When his Moses is going to get a third Redeemed Soul from me I use Falling Away to keep him at 2.

On my next rescue he blocks with The Serpent to paralyze my Samuel. He doesn’t have any backup but knows that it’s to his advantage to keep me from playing good Dominants for the next 5 turns.

When he rescues with AuTO to his Samuel and David, I block with Lions to eat Samuel followed by a Grapes on my Lions. He reveals that he wanted to play Angel of the Lord but wasn’t able to. I’m afraid he’s going to follow up with Moses again, who I cannot afford to Christian Martyr. Instead he pushes out Gideon, not realizing that he’s no longer protected by his AuTO since it’s a new battle phase. This allows me to use my Christian Martyr for a block.

He needed to get his hand down so he plays out Assyrian Siege Army with Every Man’s Sword on him. Apparently he forgot about my Holy Grail because that was his only blocker. I used the Holy Grail to clear a path for a free rescue and play my Dominants to win 5-2.

Learn from Your Mistakes

The thing that stands out to me over and over is how many misplays I made throughout the day. Misplays are bound to happen, especially when you play 10 brutal rounds against the best competition the game has to offer. Minimizing those misplays and learning from them is absolutely key to becoming a better player.

Our culture teaches that you should always blame your circumstances on outside forces, whether that’s other people (he had a great draw) or luck (he got exactly what he needed against me). It’s far too common for players to dismiss their mistakes by placing the blame somewhere else, or even be unaware of them. If that’s your mindset, you’ll never be better than you are now.

Owning your mistakes is even more important in real life. If you don’t claim responsibility for your own bad choices (sin), how can you repent and ask forgiveness from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? If you don’t even recognize your sin for what it is, it minimizes your perceived need for Him and makes Him seem very small. Without seeing your need for Him because you aren’t good enough, moment by moment, you miss out on opportunities to allow Him to be effective and receive blessings. If you view your sin as great, you’ll see your Savior as great too!

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Philippians 3:7-10

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By Gabe

Gabe has been playing Redemption since early in 2006. While life has changed a lot since that time, his love for Redemption has not. He hosts a playgroup and assists with the design and development of upcoming set releases and even plays competitively on occasion.