Join high level player Rob Smith as he shares his experience transitioning from other collectible card games to Redemption and in this article specifically some helpful deck building tips!
Hello there again Redemption Community! It’s time for part two of our series on switching to Redemption. If you have not I would encourage you to go back and read the first part of this series. It will give you a back story and some information to catch you up on everything. In this article I am going to be going over some basic deck building tips that I have learned through my years of playing competitive card games. They will all help you grow in playing as well as really start to give you a different perspective on playing the game. It can also help you grow closer to your fellow players and build relationships that could branch out from the card game into your daily lives. So without further ado we will jump right into this.
TWO SETS OF EYES ARE BETTER THAN ONE:
In competitive card games it can be very easy for us to want to build a deck and keep it hidden. We don’t talk about certain decks that we have or like because we want that element of surprise. We think that we can sit down at a game and blow our opponent’s mind away and rush to victory. This is not the way to go. Keeping something hidden will only hinder the potential of that deck. I know that seems backwards but trust me it is the case. When a deck is hidden and not talked about we miss things that may interact with it because in all reality we aren’t looking. You can build a deck for hours and hours and something can slip by that you don’t see that maybe someone else can see. I encourage everyone reading this if you do not have some already, find someone you can deck build with. I have around 5 people that I bounce ideas off of and we sit down and look at deck lists together. I have found things that I thought were very good until I showed them. Then one of them would say “What about this stopping you?” Then I would look down and realize the deck had a very big flaw. The more eyes that look at the deck will help see what you missed in the deck building phase. If you do not do it this way you will miss some of these details. Then you could sit down expecting to shock your opponent only to find out that one thing you forgot about just shut your deck down. Now you are mad because what you thought was so strong crumbled. You don’t have to post every deck to everyone. You don’t have to post every part of the deck either. I would get that small group of people and build together and run those ideas past each other. Don’t be upset if they find a flaw. Be thankful it was found before a tournament. As far as not sharing every part, you could ask small questions on the Redemption discord. Ask about a ruling to make sure it works. By only revealing a couple cards you don’t reveal your whole strategy but are making sure the interaction works as you are seeing it. Take your time and communicate with your building buddy. After you are feeling confident with this we move on to the next tip.
LOSING IS THE NEW WINNING:
Yes that title reads exactly as you see it. Losing is one of the best ways to improve. I’ll explain what I mean. Now that you have bounced ideas off of your buddy and feel your deck is good what’s next? Do you stash it away until that next Lackey game or tournament? No! You take the deck and start playing it. You play as many games as you can with it. It’s alright if you are still learning the deck at this point. You also will probably lose some games. There is a hidden agenda here as you are playing these games. You and your buddies are not perfect. There may be something that has slipped through the cracks from when you were building the deck. Playing people outside of your building group is the best way to test this deck and see how someone who does not know about it can handle it. If you build the deck and go and play someone and lose then what happens? Some would be discouraged and walk away from it. You would probably think to yourself it wasn’t a good idea. Here is where the deck building tip comes in. What beat you in that game? Was it a close one or did you get shut out? Was there one defining moment where the momentum shifted and you could not come back? This is the time to really analyze and go over the game and see what caused the deck to not perform. If you are running multiple brigades maybe Babel was just too much to handle. If your deck searched very heavily maybe Sheol and Jonah were a bit too much. Really dig deep and go over every moment. All the things you missed in the previous step come to light in this step. Now you can go back and edit the deck to make sure that you have answers for the things that tripped you up. If a Fortress or Site seem to be your undoing maybe you need to drop a Dominant so you can run Shipwreck. These things help you refine and mold the deck into its best possible version. This is why losing in reality is winning. Play testing is very crucial and needed to help with having success at any level of play. One other thing I would like to add to this: If it has been a long time and you have gone through many changes of the deck it may be that deck idea is not good in the current meta. I would not drop it after a couple times or even ten, but if it has been months and months and it still keeps getting beat then the lesson from losing is to move on. Losing isn’t losing, it’s learning. There is also one other thing you learn in this phase that will take us right into the next.
DEJAVU……DEJAVU:
As you are playing your deck you may start to see similar cards being played. This is not a coincidence. There is something that we like to call the “Meta”. In short the Meta is a term for a group of cards that are very heavily played and seem to be common in the community. Most likely it can be because the cards are very good or do a variety of different things. I can give one example. Currently as I am writing this article Babel is in the Meta. With a lot of decks playing multiple brigades on not just good but also on the evil side Babel is putting in some work. It is 99.99% played as a fortress and is there to try and negate your characters’ abilities. Knowing this card is out there should change the way you deck build. You must have a way to answer this card or you are at a disadvantage. Answering this card may not be by playing another card. Maybe you build your deck with 4 brigades max on both good and evil to avoid being hurt by it. Maybe you play Shipwreck or some other card that can hit a Fortress. Regardless of the exact method, you are making sure you build your deck knowing you have to have an answer for that card. So while you are testing your deck and seeing what is out there take some mental notes. Make sure you are keeping an eye on what you see a lot of. You should keep an eye on any media being released in the community. In Redemption today, we have a lot more content than ever before. Use that to your advantage. Watch the games being played. See if you see any of the cards in those that you have seen in your games. Anything that is becoming common will probably show up at tournaments. Also, pay attention to the Redemption forums and the Redemption discord. You may see those same cards being talked about. If you see it keep coming up I would make a note. You can take this information and take it back to your deck. Ask yourself are you prepared for those cards. We saw a National tournament that had the LAFS deck being a threat to everyone. One player knew what it was and made sure he had a deck to answer it. Only a deck made to counter it could have won that year and current National T1-2P champion Joshua Potratz did win by making a deck that could effectively counter LAFS and still win against other decks too. Being involved in the community you know you are going to see that specific strong deck. So you decide to play it or you counter it and make sure you have cards to deal with it. Your deck may pass all the tests of building and play testing but if you don’t know the Meta you are at a disadvantage.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I hope that all of this is very helpful information. I also want to say don’t be discouraged. It’s easy to have some ideas, get them together, and when they fall flat give up. The best way to succeed in card games is to get involved. Be a part of what is going on and use all the information that is available. If you build a deck and take it to a tournament with no testing or knowing what others may play it very quickly can end up a sad day for you. Every person in this community has the tools in front of them. If you have a question you can feel free to DM me. I love talking about Redemption. No one is great overnight and nothing is perfect except God. Start to take some of these tips and see if they help you move up in the ladder. It has been a great privilege writing this series and I once again wish you all the best. I hope this series helps each and every one of you!
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