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
The huge Egyptian wields a spear, while Benaiah carries only a club, or staff. Who wins?
David’s Mighty Men were like the Special Forces, or the GI Joe team, of the Old Testament. The books of II Samuel and I Chronicles tell tremendous tales of the exploits of this brave band of heroes. The Faith of Our Fathers tin number nine contains three members of David’s mighty men, but this article is not about them. This article is about David’s bodyguard, Benaiah, and about Benaiah’s adversary who appears in tin number one: the Huge Egyptian.
Benaiah was the son of the priest Jehoiada. He joined David’s band of soldiers and gained a reputation greater than most of the others. His impressive feats of strength include triumphing over two of Moab’s best men. As depicted in his card art, he once went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. I don’t know about you, but when I need to kill a lion, I prefer a nice clear day, a rifle, and a good 50 yards, minimum, and maybe an impregnable fortress where I can hide. Don’t even think about putting me in a pit with the animal. Benaiah was bravery and loyalty personified. He remained loyal to David when others, including Joab, followed David’s ambitious son and would-be usurper, Adonijah. But one of my favorite stories about Benaiah is depicted on the card “Benaiah Snatches a Spear.”
Imagine it. Benaiah looked up at the tall, impressive Egyptian warrior, armed with a spear. Benaiah had only a club, some courage, and faith like his father the priest. Did Benaiah seek a tactical withdrawal? Did he call for reinforcements? Not this man. He charged his huge opponent, wrested the spear from his hands, and slew the Egyptian with his own spear. Wow. I want to be like Benaiah – courageous and stalwart no matter the obstacle.
Now to Benaiah’s obstacle: All that is known about the Egyptian is what is written in this verse. That does not tell us much, other than that he was carrying a spear, and that he was huge or tall or impressive or “goodly,” depending on the translation. So, while he gets the obvious warrior class and “goodly” stats, his special ability was open for discussion. What resulted was an ability designed to fit into Gold’s deck-discarding strategy. And, to further the deck-dicing fun, pair the Huge Egyptian with his Egyptian Spear.
With these cards paired, you can discard two cards every time you block. In Type 2, you can load up some Egyptian Archers with spears and band them all together and end it with the Huge Egyptian, multiplying the discarding. Gold has a decent number of interrupts and negates, and gets another in this set, so hopefully the Huge Egyptian will survive long enough to make a few blocks, taking a decent bite out of your opponent’s deck, and hopefully shrinking his chances at victory along with it. Forget worrying about discarding lost souls. In fact, the Huge Egyptian can sometimes put a lost soul or two out for you to rescue, which can be a game-saver against site lock-out decks.
For those planning an Egyptian deck using this card, remember that Jerusalem Tower can prevent his discard ability. There are a couple ways for Gold to deal with Jerusalem Tower so that the Huge Egyptian’s discard ability will work. One way is to activate Oppressed and Robbed, which grants “cannot be negated” to the Huge Egyptian’s special ability and to the special ability on the spear as well. That is also helpful against the popular “negate all special abilities” heroes. Another option is to use Spreading Mildew to negate Jerusalem Tower, and eventually discard it.
The deck-discard strategy appears to be growing into a viable option for tournament decks, but that is up to the players and creative deck-builders to decide. Will it work well enough to win? Should it be coupled with a deck-discarding hero strategy such as Gabriel and a certain new red hero with a similar ability? It will be fun to try!
To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!
