John returns to discuss the near-complete Prophecies of Christ (phase 2) set, as well as to share another set previews!
Our whole set concept this year, and stretching into next, was the idea of looking at Christ, and how the whole Bible is about Him. In the Old Testament we focus in on the prophetic words, images and concepts that foretold How, When, Where, Why and Who Jesus is. As we developed the initial plans that formed the Prophecies of Christ set, we came up with the idea of differentiating those cards that foretold of Jesus with a special symbol and then referencing this symbol to give the cards a cohesive feel. We tossed around some ideas of exactly what this would look like – would it be similar to the Cloud icon? Would it function like a warrior/weapon idea where you could “equip” prophecies to prophets? In the end, we settled on the pre-game abilities you’ve seen on so many cards already. The last thing we needed to do was come up with exactly what that symbol would be. We tossed around a few ideas, like a dove or a palm leaf, but decided upon the Star of David, both because Jesus is of the Line of David, and as a reference to the star the shepherds followed.
In Phase One we printed Isaiah, who had more prophecies than any other. Today I get to share with you some of the enhancements from Phase Two that he can trigger.
For this card we took the concept that light reveals, and gave the star a look ability that can show you either what you have coming, or what an opponent, or even teammate, might.
The enhancement side isn’t half bad either – actually, it’s fantastic! Hitting both Demons, Humans, CBN on either version of Isaiah and reusable, it’ll be the lynchpin enhancement of any green prophet deck.
After you look at the top three cards of your deck, you might decide that you don’t like them that much. That’s where this card comes into play – though Justin will probably just use it for hand knowledge.
With such a O.T. heavy set, we had to work to find ways to incorporate clay brigade into a few cards. Prophecy about the Fruits of the Spirit seemed like a good place. There’s a few decent Fruits that you can grab with this, and sometimes recursion of them can be good too. A hard utility card, this might be best starting in your Reserve.
After Fall of Man had so many dual-alignment cards, we made a concerted effort this year to limit them. This is one of only three in Phase Two, one of which was Tyler’s Scapegoat. A twist on the classic deck-discard theme of the Exodus Egyptians, and now Israelite Heroes, the star here is particularly fun in multi-player. The ability to surprise by changing artifact mid-battle is pretty good, but I suspect most players will use this as another way to go get Book of the Covenant.
By His Wounds, we are healed. Pretty easy to come up with this card’s concept. We reflect on Jesus cleansing us of our sin by using the star to banish all evil cards in a discard pile, stopping any recursion games your opponent might be playing. The enhancement gives you either an easy heal, or a way to remove something like Envy pre-battle.
One of our concerns with star cards was that activating them pre-game could give a player a large hand advantage. This card very thematically replaces one thing with another, just as Jesus bore our sin on himself. We see another Heal as well, but this one doubles as a battle extender across a couple of different themes.
One of my favorite cards in this set, this is a solid Isaiah angel if you want to run the old Isaiah. Can help reset any cards like Imprisoned Prophet, or remove things like The Serpent’s paralyze. And again, stellar in multi-player where the draws can add up quick.
The final card I get to share with you today is the last New Covenant:
We wanted each of the New Covenants to be reusable. Because of how strong Isaiah is, we had to make this one a little trickier. First it goes from Enhancement to Artifact, and then if you activate it, you can get it back in the deck to use again later.
I hope you enjoyed a little of the theory behind our Star design, as well as a set of previews, some of which will undoubtedly see plenty of play next year. You may have noticed some rarity symbols as well. We’re almost done with this set, have now added rarity, and the cards will be sent to the printer soon!
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