This is a follow-up to the previous article on using Dominants, which discussed Good Dominants.
EVIL DOMINANTS
Evil Dominants are the most powerful options available for playing defense in Redemption. They are not in and of themselves a defense but greatly supplement one. Before you fill your Dominant slots with Evil Dominants, however, remember a few things: 1) Your total number of Dominants (Good and Evil combined) cannot exceed the number of Lost Souls in your deck, and 2) A commonly used and awesome Artifact, Lampstand of the Sanctuary, shuts down almost half of all the Evil Dominants (Burial, Falling Away, Destruction of Nehushtan, and Shipwreck). This is strong enough to warrant consideration when deck-building – either avoid those particular Evil Dominants or, if you use them, be sure to have an answer for Lampstand!
Christian Martyr – Some may disagree, but it seems to me that Christian Martyr is the only evil Dominant that is an absolute must, a true staple of any deck. It is powerful – immediately discarding any unprotected Hero – and it is versatile, as the Hero can be in territory or battle. Lampstand of the Sanctuary prevents it from discarding Heroes in territory or set-aside, but not in battle. And timed right in battle, CM is usually good for a block all on its own. Just wait until your opponent attacks with one Hero who is not protected from discard, let them use up their good battle-winners, and at the last moment right when they think they’ve won…wha-BAM! Additionally, with the new Territory-Class Heroes in the game, CM is very useful to take one out that is hurting you (provided Lampstand isn’t up or they aren’t otherwise protected from discard).
Burial – This Dominant discards a Lost Soul, and is very situationally useful. In Type 1, used in combination with the Lost Souls card is very strong, as you can give your opponent one “tap” on the double souls card (meaning they’ve rescued half of it – but they don’t get credited until they rescue the other half and get 2 Redeemed Souls) and then bury it with Burial, effectively taking away 2 Redeemed Souls from them. Overall though, Burial is strongest in Type 2 because of the “Rescuer’s Choice” rule. This rule forces the rescuing player to choose the Lost Soul they are attempting to Redeem, and thereby limits them to only being able to Redeem that Lost Soul (or one it is subsequently exchanged with). Thus, playing Burial on a Lost Soul that your opponent has selected for their rescue is an automatic block! Unlike in Type 1 where any Lost Soul in an opponent’s Land of Bondage can be rescued (so long as the Hero has access to it), in Type 2 once a Lost Soul is selected by Rescuer’s Choice, if that Lost Soul is subsequently discarded (or otherwise disrupted such that the Hero loses access to it) then no other Lost Soul can be rescued that battle.
Falling Away – Arguably the most powerful Evil Dominant and one of the most powerful cards in the entire game, Falling Away takes away one of your opponent’s Redeemed Souls. Given that the game of Redemption is won by reaching 5 Redeemed Souls (or 7 in Type 2), Falling Away is always played on a player with between 1 and 4 Redeemed Souls (between 1-6 in T2), it takes away from 25 to 100% of a player’s score (or 16% to 100% in Type 2), and makes them effectively need to rescue 6 Lost Souls (or 8 in Type 2) to win. THAT is powerful, and warrants consideration in deck-building! So either use Lampstand of the Sanctuary or the good Dominant Guardian of Your Souls in order to stop Falling Away, or have an answer for the former if you’re going to use the latter.
Vain Philosophy – VP is a very useful Dominant. Just being able to see your opponent’s hand is very powerful because it simultaneously takes away their element of surprise while potentially giving you one. Also, a well-timed Vain Philosophy can underdeck your opponent’s Son of God or New Jerusalem while they are waiting on the other half of that combo – which in and of itself is a huge, game-changing play. In battle, Vain Philosophy can be used to underdeck a battle-winning Enhancement or even a key Dominant such as Angel of the Lord or Grapes of Wrath. This is definitely a pesky card that can be frustrating to have played against you, but is powerful to use against your opponent at just the right moment in the game! Lampstand doesn’t stop it, and there aren’t all that many abilities in the game that protect an opponent’s hand.
Mayhem – Many devastating combinations exist using Mayhem, which is an extremely powerful evil Dominant. Playing Mayhem immediately after your opponent draws, when on the previous turn you played Displeased Philistines or Besieging the City, empties your opponent’s hand to 0 cards for that entire turn. This obviously gives you a large card advantage. Another combo is to use Mayhem with Hypocrisy, which enables you to return all of your opponent’s Heroes to their hand, which Mayhem then shuffles back into their draw pile along with the rest of their hand. Despite these great combinations, though, Mayhem remains a risky card that you have to be careful with, as it can drastically change the momentum of the game. You may draw 6 cards that won’t help you at all, whereas your opponent is suddenly set up for the win. Or vice-versa! Know that Lampstand of the Sanctuary doesn’t stop Mayhem, but the powerful Site Nazareth does.
Strife – At first glance, Strife seems to be a weak Dominant. After all, it does nothing if your opponent has only one Hero in battle, and if your opponent has multiple Heroes in battle, it leaves one remaining for them to still attempt the rescue! However, there is a reason why a common word that is heard along with Strife is “underrated”. Like Mayhem, there are some great combos you can pull off with Strife. A side-battle initiated by an evil Character such as King Rehoboam followed by Strife to return the Hero(es) in the initial battle to territory is a strong block. Following up Strife with Christian Martyr is a block. Removing all but the one hero in a banding chain that you know your opponent has no enhancements to support, or that you know that you can take out, can be a block, too. How about using it on offense? Rescue with a large character and a small character banded together, and after your opponent presents a mid-sized evil Character and asks for initiative, you play Strife and ask for initiative instead to play your battle-winner! Clearly, Strife can be a legitimate and powerful option for some decks.
Destruction of Nehushtan – DoN discards and negates an artifact – wording that gives Lampstand of the Sanctuary the upper hand on it, because the protection Lampstand gives needs to be negated first in order to discard an artifact with it active. Also, Glory of the Lord is a Dominant that protects Tabernacle and Temple artifacts, also weakening DoN. Nevertheless, DoN remains a very useful Dominant which finds its way into many T1 decks, as artifacts are one of the most powerful card types and the ability to instantly take one out is game-changing.
Doubt – The butt of many jokes and the loser of many Dominant rankings, Doubt is an evil Dominant that may be placed in any territory to become an orange brigade 0/12 evil Character until the end of the turn. I’m not sure what the rationale was behind creating this Dominant, but the clear weakness of Doubt is the fact that it can’t be played from hand (so you can’t surprise your opponent) and the “until the end of turn” aspect – why use a valuable Dominant slot for a card that is essentially just an evil Character (albeit it has a strong toughness and no identifiers, which are both potentially good as a defender), except it can only function as an evil Character for one turn? One strategy is to include it in an demon defense as a non-demon block if your opponent has Three Nails active. Also, there are a few tricks to shuffle Doubt back once played, such as Nathan and Shrine to Artemis, but whether it is worth the effort is questionable at best.
Shipwreck – The newest Evil Dominant, printed in the Early Church set, is Shipwreck. It has been quite a “catch card”, and is currently the most expensive card in the game at $75! Its ability to negate and discard a Site or Fortress is great for its versatility, but the fact that it is stopped by Lampstand and there are other means to do what it does without using a Dominant slot (especially in Type 1 where most players run a tight selection of 7 total Dominants) means that Shipwreck really isn’t a staple card. In Type 2 in which you can have 14 Dominants, there is more space for it, but your opponent will most likely be running multiple copies of any Site or Fortress that is critical to their strategy, so all it may do is slow them down for a bit. You may be wondering, “so why is Shipwreck $75″? And my answer would be: “supply and demand.”
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Jonathan Gomez
I like strife as a dominant and I think it’s use will begin to grow because of the new persecuted church cards and effectiveness of a daniel heroes deck.