Throwback Thursday is a common theme on sites and blogs where you hearken back to something interesting or random from the past. On Land of Redemption, our current Throwback Thursday trend is re-posts of preview articles from years and sets past.
This week we continue with the Faith of Our Fathers articles. Enjoy!
Originally Posted By: Bryon | Date: 2007
David vs. Goliath. We all know the story. Goliath taunted Israel. His size brought fear into the hearts of Israelites, who should have known better. King Saul was the tall king of Israel who should have battled the giant, but sat brooding in his tent instead. Only David, a shepherd with faith in God, would face the giant.
Goliath stood menacing, with a tremendous array of armor and a huge spear. But God gave David the strength and the skill to take down Goliath with a sling and a stone.
Not much attention is often given to another detail in the story: Goliath had a fellow Philistine walking ahead of him carrying his spear.
Now, David didn’t need to defeat that warrior. David’s battle was against Goliath alone. The armor bearer only helped get the weapons into battle for the huge warrior. This card works similarly. The Philistine Armor Bearer does not band to Goliath. Rather, he can exchange for Goliath. Any weapon that the Philistine Armor Bearer was carrying is transferred to whoever he brings into battle. For example, let’s say Philistine Armor Bearer is holding Goliath’s Armor, a new 0/5 black brigade weapon class enhancement. Block with Philistine Armor Bearer, exchange for Goliath and give Goliath his armor. Now you have a 10/20 evil character that is un-negate-ably immune to purple.
Besides putting a screeching halt to purple decks, this can be enormously helpful against heroes like The Strong Angel, who negates all special abilities. Thankfully, Philistine Armor Bearer’s special ability cannot be negated. So, 10/8 Strong Angel, say hello to a 10/20 Goliath!
In a dedicated Philistine deck, Philistine Armor Bearer is quite versatile. If you need initiative, use him to exchange for your Fallen Warrior. If you need to stop a banding chain, exchange for your Twelve-Fingered Giant. If you want to grow your big banding chain, exchange for your Ishbibenob, Lahmi, or Saph, and then band in the rest from your territory or hand. If you need a Temple of Dagon, or you’d like to negate and deactivate an active OT artifact, exchange for your Philistine Priests. You could even exchange for Delilah if you want, though most people probably won’t include her in a typical Philistine deck.
If you have an occupied Ashdod site in play, your O.T. weapons of any brigade (except Pale Green) can be played on Philistine Armor Bearer, who can then exchange for just the Philistine you wish to use that weapon.
Exchanging for a Philistine evil character in your deck is fun, because you’ll draw the Philistine Armor Bearer again and might get to use his ability again. In some situations, his best benefit is pulling a key evil character out of your discard pile. However, since Philistine Armor Bearer goes to the discard pile in exchange, you won’t get to use him again.
I really enjoyed play-testing a Philistine deck with the new cards from Faith of Our Fathers. That deck includes most of the evil cards mentioned above, plus O.T. interrupts like Devourer, Foolish Advice, Joseph in Prison, and a new O.T. black brigade enhancement that players will see when this set releases. The careful use of the versatile Philistine Armor Bearer was a key to the success of the deck. If used wisely, he’s a big help.
When Faith of Our Fathers releases, build a Philistine deck and give it a try. It is different and fun.
To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!
