Join Luke Marshall for a summary of his experience during the third and most recent era in The Saga of Redemption.
Experience during The Third Era of Redemption (2015-2020; The Throne Era):
Welcome to the third Era of Redemption spanning from 2015-2020. This Era was dominated by Throne decks and Samuel/Covenant with Death decks. The top finishes are shown repeatably and if you have played against these two strategies, you would quickly realize why they consistently rose to the top.
However before we dive too deeply into the era I would like to revisit the play experience you could expect during this era of Redemption. I truly think it was a great time for Redemption as so many fun strategies were cheap and it was viable to have great games at the non-tournament scene. I had Angel decks, defensive heavy Job, Clay/Magician decks, Genesis/ Egyptian and so many more. It was 2017 (I think) and some friends were running a Redemption booth out at the alive festival in Ohio and they knew I was a long time player and friend of the game. They asked me to come help them teach people how to play Redemption at the booth. It sounded like a fun way to spend some of my time at the music festival so I decided to go help with some of my fun decks that I did not use often. I also believed it would be a great chance to spend some time with my younger brother Mac. He was in 9th grade and had really been enjoying playing Redemption, building decks, and challenging me every time I was able to make a visit home.
We showed up and I began teaching some different kids how to play the game. Before I started teaching we were in luck because one other kid had learned earlier in the week and had bought his own Redemption cards, He was very excited about the game and ready to play. I figured this was a great chance for him and Mac to get a few games in while I was teaching others. The games began and I was teaching students how to play and Mac and the other kid seemed to have smiles on their faces. That is until the second game began! You see I had told Mac not to play anything too crazy because the other student was pretty new to the game and he took my advice… the first game. But As they started their second game I saw the other student’s face begin to drop. I wondered what was going wrong in this next game that would cause him to look like he was no longer having fun? I walked over to that side of the table to see that The Angel Under the Oak to Samuel to David to The Throne of David had flooded the table with Mac’s territory consuming his side of the table. By the end of his first turn the other kids face was in disbelief, astonishment, and sadness. He correctly assumed that his upgraded starter deck did not stand a chance at what my brother was doing to him. I should let you know that my brother was having an amazing time at this point of the game with completely no awareness of the game state or the other kid’s depression. Luckily the games misery did not last long as my brother ended the game on turn 3 as could be expected. I encouraged the other student that not everyone played decks as crazy as my brother’s and I encouraged my brother that the game will be more fun for both players if you use more comparable strategies. However the whole time I was laughing silently in my head about seeing my brother’s face with sheer joy playing Throne and his poor unsuspecting opponent with sheer regret sitting across from The Throne. Hopefully you head the warning included in this article, never use the phrase… Welcome to Redemption, this deck is called… Throne!
The game Jayden and I played was a great showcase of the close of this third era in Redemption. I think the two decks we played against each other were a classic matchup during this era of the game. You will get to see the great back and forth plays, the big swings in the game, and the very strategic positioning that took place at the beginning of the game to bring about the desired game state in the late game. These are very important aspects of the game you have to understand to become a great Redemption player. (I believe it was especially important during this unforgiving era). The concept is that the best play for you this turn might not be the best play for you in the overall game. Great players consistently decide how important it is to make a particular play now versus the patience to make the play at the right time of the game. I do not want to expand on the specifics because hopefully you can pick some out in the game but notice how one player in our game made specific actions early to bring about the desired endgame and another player made some plays that seemed good but end up having many reproductions in the late game.
Hope you enjoy thinking about the overall game state as you enjoy the match. Remember to constantly be assessing your own decisions through the question, “will this line of play win me the turn, or the game?” The deck posted below was my favorite deck to play during this era. You may notice that we did not go up to LoC for this era on our game. That is because LoC greatly shifted the meta and with Samuel’s ban. For my game against Jayden I wanted people to see the pre-LoC game for a different perspective. Even though I did not include LoC in this game, Throne placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd the year LoC was legal which in my opinion speaks for itself. I had to update my old list with PoC cards and a Reserve as I did not play during the tournament season that year. Thank you for joining me for the last major era of Redemption. Who knows what this next era of Rotation will hold!
While this article is the final major era of Redemption before rotation, be on the lookout for one final summary article and special game play to be announced the following week!
Below is a game with Jayden in which I use my favorite deck to play during this era. Enjoy!
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