The Fall of Man has been the most difficult Redemption set I have ever worked on. I started helping the playtest team back in 2005 as “junior member” when the Priests expansion was being created, and never before has a set been so challenging for me personally. It has been very challenging for our team as well and many times our discussions had very different viewpoints represented. While sometimes this was due to different ideas on the direction certain cards should take or the potential power levels of certain abilities, I believe the subject matter was at the root cause…our sin nature.

No one likes to look at the sinful areas of their life—it’s much easier to simply ignore them and pretend they really aren’t all that bad. Or, we look at others and think “Well, at least I’m not doing that stuff.” Romans chapter 1 speaks about the sin nature and depravity that results.

being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, – Romans 1:29-30

One thing that has always struck me about this verse is the last sin on the list: disobedient to parents. While I can honestly say that a lot of those sins haven’t been a part of my life, I know that I have disobeyed my parents on many occasions, and according to the Scripture, that sin belongs right there with the rest of them…ouch. While we know there is good news (more on that later), sin is still hard to deal with in our personal lives, and that’s because we can’t deal with it on our own (despite what the enemy may try to get us to believe).

For those who are well-versed in Redemption history, you might recognize the above verse from a very old card from the Un/Limited set—Wildness. As we started putting together the list for Fall of Man, we knew it would be primarily based in the O.T. However, we also wanted a little representation from the N.T. and I thought it would be great to reprint some of the “classic” Redemption cards that never see play anymore. Because the verse speaks of all different kinds of sins, I thought Wildness would be a great card to give evil some generic Reserve access. While many more Reserve access cards were created in Fall of Man, some themes still won’t have very much and having some cards with generic availability will help those themes. As we continued to develop the set, we felt the name “Wildness” didn’t really do justice to the significance of the sin nature—after all, being a little wild is not always a bad thing. There was also discussion about making this card a Curse as well (and calling it The Curse of Sin), but we had one multi Curse already on the list and as the one who designed the card, I felt the multi-aspect was more foundational to the idea of the card.

As I read through Romans 1, the phrase “depraved minds” caught my eye. While our minds can certainly be depraved, the sin nature starts in the heart, and thus the name became

You’ll notice the artwork has also changed from the Wildness card. While I was a fan of the original art, we realized that the quality of the original image was not that great, and we started looking for something better. One night I found this piece of Judas plotting with the Pharisees and it seemed very fitting as we know Judas’ heart was filled with greed—one of the sins listed in the verse.

What is the result of a Heart of Depravity? Well Romans 6:23 gives us the answer to that, and that is where we get our next card and the final ultra-rare for the Fall of Man set.

Our sin nature passed down through Adam and Eve, deserves death—eternal separation from God our Father. Like its original version, The Wages of Sin allows the player to search out some of the most powerful evil cards: evil dominants. Not all of the evil dominants can be searched out, but specifically, those that result in discard (death). You’ll also realize that there are many, many evil cards with “discard abilities” but discard really isn’t their primary function. For example, The Gates of Hell and Broken Covenant have “discard abilities” even though they are not always discarding the opponent’s cards.

Thankfully, the penalty of death is not the end of the story of The Fall of Man. I’m now going to incorporate an article written by JD, our T1 2P National Champion last season, as he explains his player created card.

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13
 
Redemption has lots of Faith Cards… Cloud of Witnesses gave us some really great ones. Redemption even has a very powerful Love card! One thing I noticed Redemption was missing was a great Hope card! The original Hope was a 2/2 Red Brigade enhancement with no special ability. Maybe this is okay sometimes in Booster Draft, but most of the time there are far better cards to include in constructed categories. Redemption is an amazing game because you can simultaneously have the Holy Trinity with Guardian of Your Souls – representing God the Father, The Holy Spirit and all of the fruits of the Spirit, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- The Son of God all in one deck!
 
I present to you… Hope!
 

 
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13
 
The brigades are Clay representing a new creation through Christ’s power molded by the Creator like clay into a work of His hands , White for glory and majesty as a symbolic hero and as a fulfillment of the Priesthood and Prophecy of Jesus, which is on the enhancement side, of our eternal life to come. A 0/12 Hero that gives you initiative, can survive toss battles, (which can be initiated by grabbing Peace), and can grab Joy to avoid being negated by Babel, and becoming a 7/12 Hero that is protected from decrease. This card gives OT Musicians access to Joy for Chenaiah (who can band to Moses) or maybe if you need a CBN Music Leader! The versatility of this Hero is very high as is the enhancement.
 
Being 7/0 means it can be a great option for Moses to overcome a big evil giant band, or perfect for a toss battle, but it also has a strong special ability for Teal and Green! Interrupt the battle. Look at the top 7 cards of deck and take 1 (or add it to battle). This allows you to add strong heroes when you may have otherwise lost, or a battle winning enhancement (if you aren’t decked out!).
 
Exciting uses of this card include Job decks as being a symbolic hero Hope does not shut off Job’s Faith and also gives him access to Peace which can be very powerful with Babel to stop chump blocks, and Endurance of Job for big toss numbers on protected Foreign Wives or Red Dragon! I really like that the hero side gives you access to fruits of the Spirit in Reserve so decks that may not always need the fruits can use them situationally. I’ve found Peace and Joy of all of the fruits of the Spirit to very commonly be cards I wish I had a lot of times when it just didn’t quite fit into a deck.
 
Hope also gives you a way to immediately find The Holy Spirit. Now I know The Holy Spirit has not been a very popular card.. But that’s because people don’t always like to think outside of the box. Minister Polarius won the 2017 T2 Only T1 Iron Man 11-0 with a Philippi deck which utilized Joy, Peace, and The Holy Spirit with Love and Goodness along with a demon defense and The Throne of Grace. The healing power of Love keeps your Heroes on the table, and Goodness can be a great stand alone card for negating evil cards in territory, your own Coliseum, but is amazing with The Throne of Grace as a free recurring negate to keep key heroes in battle! This along with You Will Remain and big Philippi bands makes for a formidable offense I can see Hope playing a role in.
 
Another deck type I’m looking forward to is one I like to call… JET PRIEST!! It’s been in the works for a while, but it is a very fast priest archetype with strong rescues and clearing potential. Now that we have The Tabernacle, Hope, Gifts and Offerings, Dutiful Priest, Priests of Christ, High Priest Ananias, Darkness, and some fine new priest cards from Fall of Man, I believe Priests may become a powerful stand-alone theme, as every fine theme should be! Don’t forget about Kidron Valley! This card is amazing at taking out powerful curses and idols!
 
Overall Redemption is a very fun game, but it is mostly an opportunity to reveal to others God’s ways which we can only understand through Jesus. Thank you Lord for this amazing game and our opportunity to play it free of the persecution which You endured unto death and resurrection to give us eternal life. His sacrifice is the core of our Faith, Love, and HOPE!! Enjoy!!
 
What kinds of decks would you use Hope in?? Martyrs/Musicians? Missionaries? Your favorite Clay church? Your Children of Light deck? Do you think it can withstand a Wicked soul or A New Beginning? Will your hero become nothing but Rubble and Dust? We will see!

 
Personally, I’m really glad we are getting a new version of Hope—JD is absolutely right that for such an important aspect of our faith in Jesus, the original Hope card has very little value in today’s game. This new version of Hope will be extremely versatile and should find uses in a variety of decks as he mentioned.

And now, the last card of The Fall of Man. As I said in the beginning, this has been a difficult set. We made a lot of dual alignment cards that were often hard to see the “good” aspect of the story, but in the end they all point to one thing: our need for Redemption; our need for a Savior. And that is why we are excited to have this card be the one to end this set as we look forward to the upcoming sets that will demonstrate God’s incredible plan to save us from our fall.

There is little that needs to be explained about this card beyond what the verse tells us—our sin nature from Adam produces death, but when our Hope is in Christ, we can have Life through Him.

I hope you’re as excited as I am to start getting these cards and using them in tournaments! Be sure to keep an eye on Cactusgamedesign.com and ThreeLionsGaming.com for announcements about pre-ordering!

To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!

By Justin

Justin began playing Redemption in 1997 with his brothers and a few other friends from his church though it was not until 2002 that he discovered and became a part of the wider Redemption community. While his involvement in the game includes being a tournament host, a playtester and a national champion player, the aspect he finds most rewarding is the amazing friends he has met through the game. "I am simply amazed at what God has done through the game of Redemption, both in my life and in the lives of others, and I am excited for the ways in which He will continue to use it."