Last week we saw some Daniel Eyes combo action so of course we have to follow it up with the other combo that everyone’s been talking about lately which is the unexpected interaction with Love at First Sight (LaFS) and negating draw abilities.
LaFS was nearly a word for word reprint of the old Patriarchs version but with more relevant brigades and it’s a little more restricted. It has to be used by a meek Hero and instead of being CBN all around, it’s now only CBN by an evil card, which sounds like a limitation but it turns out that that’s what makes it abusable. If you use the Pigs LS, the good side of Seven Years of Famine, or Iron Pan then you negate the draw portion of LaFS without negating the shuffle so it might as well say, “Shuffle your opponent’s hand back into their deck”. This seems like kind of a niche combo and it isn’t the first time we’ve seen this sort of effect (Besieging the City/Displeased Philistines + Mayhem before the rule change on that), but the difference here is that, in the right deck, pulling this combo off on the first turn really isn’t too hard to manage.
Interestingly, Joe Schaepher and I both discovered this interaction during the ANB Reset Type 2 game that was on my channel on April Fool’s Day of this year (how fitting…). Neither of us mentioned it to the other and we both began theorizing and testing it to see how broken it actually was. I had a pretty rough first draft of a Type 1 that had to get Noah, Hidden Treasures, a negate card, and LaFS on turn 1, so it wasn’t quite as consistent until I realized that David, Heart After God + Awesome Things could replace Noah/HT. Not long after I told John about it and we built a Type 2 version of it that we then trimmed down to more streamlined Type 1 versions which needed a negate, Jared, the Beholder, and David to combo off with false prophets on defense to utilize the deck stacking abilities to hamper the opponent’s recovery. I hadn’t really told anyone else so by this point John and I were pretty sure we had the best deck in the game.
Low and behold, Joe (naturally) gravitated toward a Creation of the World build that he (alongside Chad Frantz and Jay and Jeremy Chambers) brainstormed and fine tuned to the point that Jeremy handily piloted the deck to victory in the AL State and SE Regional tournaments in June. At first glance, John and I were both thinking there was too much going on and all the Creation stuff was unnecessary, how could it find all the pieces consistently? We didn’t realize though with this version, all you needed were Hidden Treasures and Jacob, Follower of God and you could get to every part of the combo from there. Jacob searches for Creation, HT plays it, Adam searches for David, Jared grabs LaFS and bands to David, David searches for Awesome Things, Mahalalel plays Pigs from your deck, and Awesome Things plays LaFS. So not only is it reduced to a two card requirement but you get most of your Heroes from your deck and likely you get to draw 8 or so additional cards from your Hero abilities, putting you in a much better position to coast for the rest of the game.
Finally, the same crew (mainly Chad as far as I’m aware) theorized and built a version that uses The Widow at Zarephath to exchange with Elijah and grab Creation from Reserve to play off of Hidden Treasures and do most of the rest of it the same way except you get to use the FooF Jacob to play LaFS instead of Awesome Things. This opens a few things up, namely the potential to combo off multiple turns in a row (since Jacob sticks around) and also using Melchizedek (CoW) for soul gen since you don’t rely on converting your David, HAG to meek. I tend to like this version a lot as I personally find it the most creative and flexible, but there are certainly benefits to either approach. I think the Follower version is slightly easier to set up, so potentially ever so slightly more consistent, and comboing every turn is generally unnecessary.
So how do you beat this thing? Well, John and I pooled our brains (along with suggestions from Chad, Tyler Stevens, and others who have been discussing ideas on Discord) to bring you a list of counter cards categorized by type and effectiveness and also have a few games for you to watch where we tested our ideas. Enjoy!
Counters List
D8 High-level:
1 Lost Soul “Forsaken” (Hebrews 10:25) (CoW AB)
1 Lost Soul (Escape) > 1 Lost Soul “Forsaken” (Hebrews 10:25) (CoW AB)
1 Lost Soul “Darkness” (Job 30:26) (Promo) > 1 Scapegoat (PoC)
1 Distressing People (LoC)
1 Lost Soul “Accusers” (Ezra 4:6) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Hunter) > 1 Lost Soul “Accusers” (Ezra 4:6) (LoC)
D8 Mid-level:
1 Lost Soul Jeremiah 17:9 (Punisher)
1 Assyrian Laborers > 1 Confusion of Mind / 1 Incurable (PoC)
1 Lost Soul “Oppressed” (II Chronicles 16:10) (LoC)
1 Peleg, the Divider / Peleg, the Tributary (LoC)
1 Transgressors > 1 All the Curses (LoC)
1 Lost Soul “Darkness” (Job 30:26) (Promo) > 1 False Leaders (PoC) > 1 Paying Taxes (CoW AB) / 1 Treasures of War (CoW AB)
D8 Low-level:
1 Lost Soul “Complacent” (Zephaniah 1:12) (LoC)
1 False Prophets (PoC) > 1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
1 Lost Soul (Distressed)
1 Lost Soul Luke 19:10 (FBTN)
Soul Gen Stars:
1 Nahor, the Scorched / Nahor, the Noble (LoC)
1 Amos (PoC)
1 Virgin Birth
1 Moses, Friend of God
1 Terah, the Delayed / Terah, the Wanderer (LoC)
1 Jehoiachin, the Conquered (LoC)
Look at Opponent’s Hand Stars (determine what to counter):
1 Solomon’s Dream (LoC)
1 Jacob’s Ladder (PoC)
1 The Emmaus Road
1 Tamar, the Widow / Tamar, the Righteous (LoC)
1 Balaam’s Prophecy
High-level Disruption Stars:
1 Out of Egypt
1 Stricken
1 Jeremiah, Hope Bringer
1 Serug, the Branch / Serug, the Pruned (LoC)
Low-level Disruption Stars:
1 Rehoboam, the Divider (LoC)
1 Foolish Shepherds
1 Ram, the Exalter / Ram, the Uplifted (LoC)
1 Righteous Judge
1 Eliud, the Revolutionary / Eliud, the Pious (LoC)
1 Hosea
1 Zephaniah (PoC)
1 The Suffering Servant
1 House of Prayer
1 Achim, the Compiler / Achim, the Talmid (LoC)
1 Arpachshad, the Curtailed / Arpachshad, the Releaser (LoC)
1 Outpouring
1 Manna (PoC) > 1 Jonah (PoC) / 1 Moses (Promo) / negate neutrals Heroes
1 Scattered Sheep
1 The Afflicted
Disruption Doms:
1 Chronicles of the Kings (LoC Plus)
1 Destruction of Nehushtan (PoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1 Son of God (Promo 2018)
1 The Second Coming (CoW AB)
High-level Go First:
1 Hezekiah’s Signet Ring
1 Moses (Promo)
1 Covenant with Death (FooF)
1 Nazareth
1 Golden Calf (FoM)
1 Golden Calf
1 King Balak
1 Covenant of Eden (PoC)
1 Golden Calf Worship
1 Obed, the Servant / Obed, the Gift (LoC)
1 Enosh, the Worshiper / Enosh (Mortal) (LoC)
1 Achim, the Compiler / Achim, the Talmid (LoC)
Mid-level Go First:
1 Jonah (PoC)
1 Blindness (PoC)
1 The Babylonian Merchants
1 Coliseum (CoW AB)
1 Gamaliel’s Speech
1 Amon, the Forsaken (LoC)
1 The Fallen Star
Low-level Go First:
1 Lacking Prophecy
1 Lost Soul (Protector) Luke 5:15
1 The Four Living Creatures (RoJ AB)
1 Tables of the Law
1 Seven Lamps of Fire (RoJ AB)
1 Jacob (Israel) (CoW AB)
1 Storehouse (Promo)
1 King’s Pomp
1 Jesse, the Ephrathite / Jesse, the Root (LoC)
Jayden’s Deck
1 Lost Soul “Accusers” (Ezra 4:6) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Awake)
1 Lost Soul “Darkness” (Job 30:26) (Promo)
1 Lost Soul (Escape)
1 Lost Soul “Forsaken” (Hebrews 10:25) (CoW AB)
1 Lost Soul (Hunter)
1 Lost Soul “Lawless” (Hebrews 12:8) (CoW AB)
1 Lost Soul “Oppressed” (II Chronicles 16:10) (LoC)
1 Chronicles of the Kings (LoC Plus)
1 Destruction of Nehushtan (PoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1 Son of God (Promo 2018)
1 The Second Coming (CoW AB)
1 Falling Away
1 Mayhem (FoM)
1 Vain Philosophy (PoC)
1 Storehouse (Promo)
1 Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1 Endless Treasures
1 Hidden Treasures
1 Unsuccessful (PoC)
1 Delivered
1 Noah, the Righteous / Noah (Rest and Comfort) (LoC)
1 Jeremiah, Hope Bringer
1 Amos (PoC)
1 Elijah (PoC)
1 Isaiah
1 Jonah (PoC)
1 Malachi (PoC)
1 Micah (PoC)
1 Moses, Friend of God
1 The Watchman (Promo)
1 Zephaniah (PoC)
1 Adam, the Exile / Adam (Man) (LoC)
1 Enosh, the Worshiper / Enosh (Mortal) (LoC)
1 Nahor, the Scorched / Nahor, the Noble (LoC)
1 Peleg, the Divider / Peleg, the Tributary (LoC)
1 Terah, the Delayed / Terah, the Wanderer (LoC)
1 Offering Your Son
1 The Emmaus Road
1 The First Sacrifice
1 Numerous as the Stars (PoC)
1 Out of Egypt
1 Virgin Birth
1 His Name
1 Righteous Judge
1 Foolish Shepherds **Note: doesn’t copy into Lackey as of 7/21**
1 Profane Daughters
1 False Leaders (PoC)
1 The Lying Prophet
1 Jehoiachin, the Conquered (LoC)
1 Transgressors
1 Assyrian Laborers
1 Scattered
1 Scattered Sheep
1 Stricken
1 False Prophecy (PoC)
Reserve:
1 Scapegoat (PoC)
1 Golden Calf (FoM)
1 Covenant with Abraham (PoC)
1 Covenant of Eden (PoC)
1 All the Curses (LoC)
1 Confusion of Mind (PoC)
1 Jacob (Israel) (CoW AB)
1 Ezekiel (FooF)
1 Treasures of War (CoW AB)
1 False Peace (PoC)
John’s Deck
1 Lost Soul “Accusers” (Ezra 4:6) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul “Complacent” (Zephaniah 1:12) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Darkness)
1 Lost Soul “Forsaken” (Hebrews 10:25) (CoW AB)
1 Lost Soul (Hunter)
1 Lost Soul “Oppressed” (II Chronicles 16:10) (LoC)
1 Lost Soul (Protector) Luke 5:15
1 Chronicles of the Kings (LoC Plus)
1 Destruction of Nehushtan (PoC)
1 Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1 Angel of the Lord (Promo 2018)
1 Son of God (Promo 2018)
1 The Second Coming (CoW AB)
1 Falling Away
1 Treacherous Land
1 Nazareth
1 Storehouse (Promo)
1 Coliseum (CoW AB)
1 Sheol
1 Endless Treasures
1 Leviathan (FoM)
1 Scapegoat (PoC)
1 Delivered
1 Moses (Promo)
1 Ezekiel, the Vindicator (PoC)
1 Jeremiah, Hope Bringer
1 Zechariah, the Renewer
1 Amos (PoC)
1 Elijah (PoC)
1 Haggai (PoC)
1 Jonah (PoC)
1 Nahor, the Scorched / Nahor, the Noble (LoC)
1 Terah, the Delayed / Terah, the Wanderer (LoC)
1 Faith
1 Fountain of Living Water (PoC)
1 The Emmaus Road
1 Virgin Birth
1 Two Bears (PoC)
1 Foolish Shepherds **Note: doesn’t copy into Lackey as of 7/21**
1 Profane Daughters
1 Necromancer
1 The Lying Prophet
1 Gomer (PoC)
1 Jehoiachin, the Conquered (LoC)
1 Distressing People (LoC)
1 The Deceiver (RoJ AB)
1 Accursed of God
1 Confusion (CoW AB)
1 Death of Unrighteous (FoM)
1 Divination (TxP)
Reserve:
1 Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation)
1 Magic Charms
1 Covenant with Death (FooF)
1 Flying Scroll (PoC)
1 The Watchman (Promo)
1 The First Sacrifice
1 Faith of Samuel (CoW AB)
1 The Amalekites’ Slave (FoM)
1 Fire From Heaven (RoJ AB)
1 Haman’s Plot
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