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.
We now continue with more Rock of Ages articles. Enjoy!
When designing a Redemption card, sometimes the stats write themselves.
For example, The Twelve-Fingered Giant who had 6 fingers on each hand just had to have stats 6/12.
Mary’s Seven Demons, Seven Wicked Spirits, and the Seven Sons of Sceva all have the obvious stats 7/7. The same is true for Job’s three Friends (3/3).
Also, when the card Tithe was developed, it clearly had to have the stats 1/10, since that, as a fraction, is what “tithe” means.
Tithe is one of very few enhancements that break the “rule” for good enhancements that the combined stats on the card do not exceed 7. Seven is often considered a “good” number in the Bible. On the other hand, six is sometimes associated with evil, and thus the “rule” exists for keeping the combined stats on evil enhancements no greater than 6. While some older cards contain higher totals, most cards printed beginning in 2003 have followed these rules. Weapons have a maximum stat total of 5, unless they interrupt and draw 2, in which case their maximum stat total is 4. One benefit to following all of these guidelines is that it keeps Redemption from producing cards with higher and higher stats with each new set. Another benefit to these guidelines is that it makes a card like Tithe much more meaningful and unique.
Speaking of unique, The Thief (10/10) from the Priests is probably the only character whose stats were based solely on the numbers in his reference (John 10:10).
Quite a few other cards have stats that are based on the Bible story or history surrounding the card:
Fire, Smoke, and Sulfur has the stats 1/3, since one-third of the people were destroyed by that plague. Incidentally, that is why the special ability lets a player discard a second human evil character if there are at least 6 humans in play, since 2 out of 6 is still one-third.
The Magi (3/3) brought 3 gifts, and are traditionally thought to be 3 in number.
Izban (7/7) led Israel as Judge for 7 years, while Abdon (8/4) ruled for 8 years.
All of Jacob’s sons except Joseph have strength based on birth order, with the oldest having strength 12 and the youngest, Benjamin, having strength 1. It won’t be difficult for players to guess what the strengths of Levi and Asher are going to be in Rock of Ages.
From the story of the fiery furnace, Unbowed and Unbound are both 3/3, because of the 3 heroes depicted on the cards, while Undefiled has a 4 because there are 4 heroes in that story.
The Roman Emperors printed in the last few years have toughness based on the number of years they ruled, to a maximum of 11. For example, the emperors who ruled for a year or less (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) each have toughness 1. Though not intentional, it is a nice coincidence that Emperor Caius Caligula (10/4) ruled for 4 years.
Similarly, but less specifically, the 1/1 kings from The Kings expansion set all had short reigns.
Besides the hints listed above, even more cards with meaningful stats are releasing in Rock of Ages. For example:
The Jeering Youths (4/2) and Two Bears (4/2) are both based on the 42 jeering youths that were attacked.
“He is Risen!” has the meaningful 3/3 stats referring to Christ’s resurrection on the third day.
Tin XII has three good cards with meaningful stats:
The Thankful Leper (1/10) was one of ten lepers who were healed by Jesus.
Repentance and Restitution (4/1) refers to Zacchaeus’ promise to repay at a rate of 4-for-1 anyone he had cheated out of money.
And finally, The Generous Widow (2/2) gave 2 out of the 2 coins she owned. Her special ability references this number as well.
The Generous Widow helps gold’s “Luke heroes” theme which focuses on converting your opponent’s human evil characters and shrinking your opponent’s deck. Her numbers are small enough that you will usually have initiative, which is great when you have a hand full of convert enhancements. Her special ability subtracts two from your opponent’s deck count each time she enters battle. When your opponent has a deck count of under 10, two other cards in this tin become quite powerful.
The Generous Widow is great in combination with Gifts of the Magi, especially in multiplayer. If your Gifts of the Magi is active in a four player game, and your The Generous Widow enters battle, you discard two cards and draw 8.
She is nearly as good as Seeker of the Lost at finding lost souls on the top of opponent’s deck. She has access to the N.T. and female lost souls, has decent initiative numbers, she can help you dig though your own deck faster, and helps with the deck-shrinking theme for Luke heroes.
There are defensive strategies to consider with her in your deck. Do you play an evil defense that shrinks your opponent’s deck, thus helping your good deck shrinking? Or do you use an evil theme that shrinks your opponent’s hand, thus making the discards that The Generous Widow forces potentially more painful for your opponent? One thing you probably don’t want to combo with her is a site lockout defense, since she forces you to draw cards and may make you draw a lost soul when it is too late to put it in your site.
The Generous Widow leaves us a lot to think about, and I’m not just talking about game play. The fact that she gave so generously when she was so poor can help us remember to be generous givers as well. How can we not give generously when we have so much compared to her?
To buy singles, sealed product, and other gaming supplies mentioned, please visit Three Lions Gaming!
Ironisaac
“One thing you probably don’t want to combo with her is a site lockout defense, since she forces you to draw cards and may make you draw a lost soul when it is too late to put it in your site.”
Lol
Jonathan Gomez
This is a great article! I love all the details about the numbers. Keep it up!