Excited for the upcoming new Redemption set: The Gospel of Christ (GoC)? Well check out this sneak peek on what to expect from this fascinating expansion to our game. This is the first in a six part series giving an introduction to this upcoming set. Be sure to stay tuned for the rest of the articles in this series!

Introduction:

Spoilers ahead! If you want your first impression of Redemption’s next set to come when you open up those brand new packs, then turn back now! However, if you’d like a sneak peek behind the curtain at the thought process that went into creating our favorite game’s next expansion, then you’ve come to the right place!

For the past several years Redemption has been on a path that leads to the Gospels. It began with The Fall of Man (2018) when we took a look at the brokenness of our world. The following year brought hope in Prophecies of Christ (2019) when we saw that all of the O.T. scriptures point to the promised Messiah. Last year we took a look at the people God used to unfold his plan in the Lineage of Christ (2020). And now we’re here longing for the fruition of that journey just as Israel longed for the Messiah to come and bring good news – The Gospel of Christ!

From the onset our goal has been to show collectors and players the hope of the Gospel through the design of GoC. But how do we point to Christ’s redemptive work with our planned 240 new cards and 18 Legacy rares? We found a number of ways to accomplish this! Some are subtle and others are pretty obvious.

Fun New Stuff:

Take star abilities for example. They were created to be part of the 3 “Christ centric” sets to help tie them all together. Stars largely dealt with information in Prophecies of Christ. In Lineage of Christ the star’s were more focused on characters. Since Jesus came to save the lost, the 70+ star abilities in Gospel of Christ are heavily focused on Lost Souls. We will see plenty of new star abilities this year, including some that are designed to have powerful effects later in the game.

Speaking of Lost Souls, I’d be shocked if the pendulum doesn’t swing back towards the use of N.T. Lost Souls after GoC’s release. With souls like “defiled” helping you gain card advantage and “harvest” providing us with a new type of soul generation, players are going to want N.T. Lost Souls in their decks! And I didn’t even mention my favorite one… but I can’t reveal everything just yet.

With PoC we saw that God began to reveal his plan to redeem mankind all the way back in Genesis 3! But despite all of the old testament prophecies, Jesus’ victory over sin and death on the cross was still not at all what people expected from the promised Messiah. We’ve used that idea as an opportunity to test an “alternate win condition” on a card called “The Cross”. Late in the game, if enough conditions are met, players might be able to win in a single turn! Now that’s powerful!

The power of the Gospel belongs to God and is gifted to man at the Lord’s good pleasure. Since aspects of God’s power and character are often represented by good Dominants in our game, we’ve created several cards in GoC that gain a powerful benefit if you’re able to reveal a good Dominant from hand. And with so many cards relying on good Dominants to reach their full potential, we have a single set record of 5 good Dominants in GoC!

Bringing Things Full Circle:

Way back in “The Fall of Man” we received the game’s first full multi-brigade curse, titled after the set itself. Ever since then the curse “Fall of Man” has seen a decent amount of play, especially in multi-player formats. Just as the fall of mankind into sin put us into a perpetual curse, Jesus’ sacrifice has broken that curse giving us access to eternal blessing! It’s fitting that in GoC we receive the game’s first full multi-brigade Covenant!

While reserve access was originally introduced in Revelation of John, it’s something we’ve been expanding slowly ever since. This set not only brings reserve interactions back to the N.T., but continues to open up the use of the reserve. There will be more ways to send cards there, more ways to get cards from there and ways to stop people from getting to the reserve!

But Wait, There’s More!

There are quite a few other exciting things going on in GoC too!!! We have six new cards that create tokens (an ability only seen on Majestic Heavens until now)! We have a couple of new “fools”, including what might be the best fool yet! And we will see tri-brigade versions of the remaining two Exodus plagues that have not yet been reprinted on the new card layout!

Similar to how LoC focused on five good brigades and 5 evil brigades, GoC also has 5 of each, setting it up for some great GoC only booster draft potential as well as GoC constructed play! For good we will see clay, gold, purple, silver and white. The other brigades might still make a minor appearance on multi-brigade cards when appropriate. The evil brigades represented are black, crimson, gold, gray and orange. If you’d like to hear more specific information about these brigades and how they are used in GoC, be sure to check back soon!

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

By Gabe

Gabe has been playing Redemption since early in 2006. While life has changed a lot since that time, his love for Redemption has not. He hosts a playgroup and assists with the design and development of upcoming set releases and even plays competitively on occasion.