As some of you know I am SwiftxRedemption on the forums and just started playing a couple months ago. From the day I started, I have been searching for tournaments that were within driving distance. The moment I found out about the TLG event in Knoxville there was no doubt in my mind that I would be attending.

Now before I get into the actual tournament report, I would like to share a little bit about my CCG history. CCGs have been my main hobby for the last seven or eight years. It all started with VS System which was a comic book character card game that I simply played for fun with a local playgroup.

I then moved on to the WoW TCG and played competitively for about two years. In that stint, I was able to win a large regional qualifier, two state championships, and top 8 at a major event. Once I got married, playing a physical CCG wasn’t really an option.

So, with online CCGs exploding in popularity at the time, it was the perfect opportunity for me to jump right on the bandwagon. Hearthstone and Shadow Era consumed a good bit of my time for the next couple years. After the long stint of online CCGs and a short break, I decided to get back into the physical world of CCGs and play Magic.

The one and only reason I began playing Magic was to play competitively at a high level and win money. The Lord quickly humbled me by letting me fall flat on my face at two qualifying events and revealing that I was gambling. There was a strong conviction in my heart that had to be dealt with.

What was different from me playing Magic with the only intention of winning money to let’s say, playing poker? Nothing. At a poker tournament, you pay an entree fee, and only the top X players will make any money. That was the exact same thing I was doing. It was one hundred percent gambling, and it wasn’t right.

Within two weeks, I had all of my Magic cards sold. My wife and I took that money and gave it to our church to go towards a Jerusalem project that we have been funding. God blessed us tremendously because I acted on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

From the time I began playing CCGs, it was all about being competitive and winning. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being competitive and wanting to win; but my problem was that I was not being the witness that Christ expected me to be. My attitude and behavior was totally different when I was losing or didn’t place well in a tournament.

To be honest, I wasn’t showing the love of Jesus. This is why I am so excited to have come across Redemption. The sole purpose of Redemption is to share the good news of the Gospel. The fact that the game focuses on a fun and fellowship-type atmosphere is quite refreshing. My goal with Redemption is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with other gamers and edify one another in Christ.

Now that you know a little bit about my history with CCGs, let’s jump right in to the tournament report. Friday after work, I began my short three hour journey to Knoxville. Unlike most trips, I was actually looking forward to the drive.

I had the privilege to mileage a brand new 2016 BMW 340i from work. For you car guys out there, it is an absolute beast. A twin turbo 320hp engine sits under the hood.

I arrived at the church shortly after 8 pm. After meeting Chris and Josh, we hung out for a bit and played a few games. I checked into the hotel (Red Roof Inn) shortly after 11pm. Unfortunately, my stay was not a very pleasant experience, but that is a discussion for another day. The next morning I arrived at the church around 8am ready for some Redemption action! Unfortunately, we only had six players in attendance, but that wasn’t going to keep us from having a good time.

We started the day with Booster. With this being my first Redemption draft, not being familiar with all of the cards, and having not played in any form of card tournament in about a year, I knew I would be at a disadvantage. The packs we used were: Patriarchs, Kings, Angel Wars, Priests, TxP, Disciples, Early Church and Persecuted Church.

My draft was very poor. Part of the problem was my lack of knowledge of the cards, but I wasn’t doing a good job of picking up on signals either. For instance, once we got to the Early Church pack no one was taking Clay to start with. My offense at the time was very lackluster to say the least, and I would have benefited greatly by switching to a Clay offense.

When the drafting was all said and done I ended up with a very below average pool, in my opinion. I went with a Purple/Red offense. My only standout heroes were Abishai, Bartholomew, and The Centurion at Calvary. To my dismay, I only had one battle winner on offense. Although I did have two Battle Cry, which won a Lost Soul for me each time it was played.

Prosperity helped a lot with card advantage. My defense was solid, but it wasn’t consistent, as I went with a four color defense. I did have a few battle winners and an awesome demon lineup. My main goal on defense was to get a demon banding chain going. Fallen Angel, three Panic Demons, and Wandering Spirit were the main components of the engine. However, I did have some other support demons, including Morgan and Pestering Spirit.

With six players, there were going to be three rounds. In round one, my opponent admitted to having the perfect hand against my deck. Everything I tried to do was immediately stopped. It was 4-0 in his favor very quickly. The next turn I was able to get my demon banding chain online which stalled the game for a couple turns until my opponent was able to ignore orange and walk through for game. The game ended at an ugly 5-0.

Round two was much better for me. My opponent wasn’t able to block on four of my five rescue attempts, and that led to a very quick 5-1 victory. I knew round three was a must win to have a shot at top three and prizes. It was an extremely long match, as we ended at the time limit.

The game started well for me but I made two crucial misplays in the early turns. I decided not to make a rescue attempt for two straight turns with Bartholomew thinking my opponent could answer him, and I didn’t have any purple support. My opponent actually questioned why I didn’t attack with Bartholomew and revealed they didn’t have an answer. Oh well, the best way to learn is by making mistakes. The game ended in a 5-3 loss and Booster concluded with a disappointing 1-2 record for myself.

At the conclusion of Booster we got started with Sealed. I chose to go with one Patriarchs, one Kings, and one Priests pack and received the J starter deck. I just made a few small changes. Abimelech, Begging for Grain, Jawbone, and Raising Lazarus were added in place of Gideon’s Call, Roman Whip, and Sword of the Lord. If I had to do it again I would probably keep Gideon’s Call and Roman Whip in the deck as well as leaving it at fifty cards.

We also had three rounds in the Sealed tournament. In round one, I got off to a really quick start and grabbed a 3-0 lead. After a little bit of a scare and a nice comeback from my opponent, I squeaked by with a 5-3 win.

Round two was an extremely close game. The tempo was constantly changing. After going down 4-2 I was able to tie things up at four due to not drawing any Lost Souls for two turns. I passed to my opponent with the score tied at four and no Lost Souls in my Land of Bondage. I knew that if he was unable to generate a Lost Soul, I would most likely win the game on my next turn.

Unfortunately, he found a way with a genius play. he played Ruth meets Boaz to search out Gleaning the Fields from his deck. He then played Gleaning the Fields to get Gideon’s Call back from his discard pile and play it. The top three were revealed, and it just so happened that the third and final card was the Lost Soul he needed. My defense was unable to hold him off, and he took the super close 5-4 victory.

Going into round three my next opponent was 2-0. With the way the other matches played out, the winner of our match would win the tournament. I don’t remember most of this match, but it was another extremely close game, with neither my opponent or myself really able to gain the edge. Each time I rescued a Lost Soul, my opponent would then rescue the next Lost Soul. This continued to a score of 4-4.

Going for the fifth and final Soul, my rescue attempt was stifled with a battle winner and two negates. Of course, I was unable to block my opponent’s rescue attempt on the next turn. I was holding two or three orange enhancements that could have drawn out the game, but the rest of my orange evil characters were nowhere to be found. With another heartbreaking 5-4 loss, I ended the day 1-2 in sealed as well. Due to how the other matches played out, I did manage a third place finish in sealed and received a $5 TLG gift certificate.

Overall, the results were very disappointing for me, but it was definitely a great learning experience. The TLG rules were a lot of fun. Although, each time I chose to mulligan it ended up hurting me by drawing more Lost Souls. Even though we didn’t have a big turnout, everyone had a great time. The event was a ton of fun, and I met some awesome people. A big congratulations to Josh and Meleena for winning Booster and Sealed respectively.

A big thanks goes out to Travis for running the TLG series. There is no doubt that it is great for the game. I would also like to thank Chris and Meridian Baptist Church for hosting the event. I look forward to more of these events in the future!

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

By JoshS

Josh just started playing Redemption in the summer of 2015. He has been an avid CCG player for almost a decade. He is thankful to have come across Redemption and plans to use it as a tool to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while enjoying the fun and fellowship type atmosphere that the game brings.