Author Topic: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)  (Read 2299 times)

Offline CtheTree

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Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« on: May 01, 2022, 06:58:14 PM »
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Introduction:

Well I am back very unexpectedly. A couple days ago after I posted my Parrying with Moses deck Mr. Hiatus had some very good questions for me on the Redemption discord about my deck especially targeting High Places and Harvest Time being good inclusions for speed. Also Reth kept pushing for The First being included. The First would not work well at all with my defense in Parrying with Moses since that defense is so reliant on meek lost souls for block and Moses would negate The First ruining those blocks since it would be in my land of bondage. That being said I did mention to Reth I did think it was worth testing a different defense that is not reliant on having unity meek lost souls for blocks and including the entire The First combo (Harvest Time, High Places, and The First) within that deck. Well I did that and uncovered a gold mine.

This discovery affirmed to me that transparency is the best route. Sharing a deck build will only lead to good things for the deck builder and the community. I believe this deck below is something special. And I do believe it could be even better so I value any feedback any of you have.

Here is the deck…

Moses Magnum Opus? (50 cards):

1   Son of God (I)
1   The Second Coming (CoW AB)
1   Three Woes (RoJ AB)
1   Mayhem (FoM)
1   Crowd's Choice (GoC)
1   Harvest Time (GoC)
1   Chronicles of the Kings (LoC)

6   Lost Soul Luke 15:15-16 (J)
1   Lost Soul (The First)

1   Egypt
1   Golgotha (GoC)
1   House of Prayer

1   High Places (LoC)

1   The Cross (GoC)
1   Denarius (I/J+)

1   The New Covenant (I/J+)
1   Covenant with David (PoC)

1   Moses (Promo)
1   Pharaoh's Daughter (FoM)
1   Zadok (PoC)
1   Noah, the Righteous / Noah (Rest and Comfort) (LoC)
1   Jeremiah, Hope Bringer
1   Saint Patrick (GoC)
1   Simon, the Zealous / Saint Simon (GoC)
1   Matthew the Publican / Matthew (Levi) (GoC)
1   Captive Priest
1   The Angel of the Winds (CoW AB)

1   The Emmaus Road
1   The Lord's Prayer (GoC)
1   Spirit as a Dove (GoC)
1   Faith
1   Offering Your Son
1   Faith of Samuel (CoW AB)
1   Word of Their Testimony

1   Delivered

1   High Priest Ananias (RoJ AB)
1   Goliath (FoM Promo)
1   King of Tyrus (PoC)
1   Emperor Nero (Promo)
1   Supercilious Scribes (GoC)
1   Foreign Wives

1   The Wages of Sin (FoM)
1   Surreptitious Scheme (GoC)
1   Tenants Kill the Son (GoC)
1   Plot to Kill (RoJ AB)

Reserve:

1   Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation)
1   Book of the Covenant (PoC)
1   Covenant of Prayer (RoJ AB)
1   Oath of Purity (LoC)
1   Word of Christ
1   Royal Parade (LoC)
1   Authority of Christ (GoC)
1   Joshua, the Conqueror (LoC)
1   Fire Foxes (CoW AB)
1   Unsuccessful (PoC)

See below for deck summary...
« Last Edit: May 01, 2022, 07:41:06 PM by CtheTree »
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Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2022, 06:58:59 PM »
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Summary:

I will not go as in depth as my last article since the basic premise of the deck remains the same. There still are 15 ways in the deck to get to Moses and 9 ways to get to The Cross.

The only difference tutor wise is I am running The Lord’s Prayer and Spirit as a Dove instead of Love Righteousness and Fifth Seal/Justice Seekers. Why the change? Well I included a version of the defense in this deck and The First Combo in my other build with those tutors and I very rarely managed to pull off The First Combo on turn 1 since none of my offensive tutors in that build can get to High Places or to Harvest Time. This left me longing for Spirit as a Dove/The Lord’s Prayer which would mean each of those cards would be able to get me to Harvest Time or even High Places by grabbing Crowd’s Choice AND New Covenant and The Emmaus Road (through Delivered to New Covenant) could get me to High Places or Harvest Time as well. I looked at my white/green/teal hero base and longed for some meek clay heroes. But alas I thought there is no way those heroes would fit with Moses. And then it hit me…

Faith of Samuel, Word of their Testimony, and a card I had been wanting to run which fits perfectly with Moses, Noah, AND works with The Cross active: Word of Christ all work with clay heroes! Clay and Moses/Noah do indeed work and very well at that! So I looked at which heroes to cut and which to add to make this pipe dream a reality.

On the cutting block were Elijah, Moses’ Parents, and Naaman’s Servant Girl. With Harvest Time and Captive Priest Naaman’s Servant Girl was not needed for soul gen. Simon the Zealous is arguably superior to Elijah as a CTB option since he works with my battle winners just as well as Elijah and can choose ANY evil character to block whereas Elijah is limited to evil humans. And then Matthew the Publican is a speed fiend and works with my battle winners as well and while I do love the protection offered by Moses’ Parents the speed of Matthew is far more important. Saint Patrick slots in instead of Naaman’s Servant Girl and while he does not offer soul gen her only other purpose was to be a character I could play Love Righteousness and Fifth Seal/Justice Seekers on. Ole Saint Patty can have every tutor in the deck played on him and his star ability can top deck Covenant with David, Delivered, Emmaus Road, or Moses himself and I can often get that card on turn 1 with The First or even Offering Your Son’s star ability.

And with these changes I am just as efficient at getting to Moses and The Cross but now I am able to get to The First Combo very reliably. Also excluding The First Package I actually like offensively what this deck is doing better. Matthew the Publican adds incredible speed and Simon well lets just say he offers huge upside once The Cross is dealt with or if I decide to deactivate it. I can easily get Authority of Christ promo from my reserve and do CTB with Simon and wipe out my opponent’s defense. Nasty… Quite frankly I have elected to change the offense in my previous deck which does not use The First Combo to this offense as well. It is better in my mind. That deck still had the same chump block defense and is not running The First combo since it does not fit well there due to the defense.

Summary continued below...
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Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2022, 07:00:09 PM »
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Summary Continued:

This deck is truly a thing of beauty in my mind. The unexpected synergy on the offense between all these characters and the battle winners I am running literally shocks me. Also the fact none of the tutors feel forced but have plenty of characters to be played on in a mixed OT/NT offense that you just would not think would fit together is really quite remarkable. Also every card in this offense works with The Cross active aside from Authority of Christ is very, very good. This feels like the right offense to run in a deck that is trying to power out The Cross on turn 1. I am quite happy with where the offense is at. Being able to pull of The First combo so consistently is an amazing speed boost to this deck.

So how about consistency for getting The First Combo? Just how consistent is this deck in getting to The First Combo? Well there are 9 ways to get to High Places in the deck and 9 ways to get to Harvest Time. So I can get to both just as consistently as I can get to The Cross. And you might say, “well some of those routes require using Delivered to activate New Covenant so what about wanting to activate The Cross?” So? Remember if I activate New Covenant with Delivered and I draw into The Cross with The First Combo I can still activate The Cross since I have not used my one activation on the artifact pile since the other activation was by the ability on Delivered.

I would wager there are actually very few deck builds out there that can get to The First Combo as quickly and consistently as this deck without making a significant sacrifice to offensive strength to be able to somehow squeeze Solomon’s Dream in. I thought through what a build would look like that runs Solomon’s Dream but I do not like what that would do to the offense. You want Emmaus Road to get to Delivered in this deck plain and simple. One alternate route is running ruth meek heroes alongside the meek clay guys I have would allow a shift to Solomon’s Dream and Love Righteousness/Fifth Seal but those characters would just be dead draws really and do not synergize as well with what I am doing offensively. Postexilics work with Emmaus Road and Solomon’s Dream but once again running some Postexilic guys alongside the meek clay guys just does not jive as well with what this offense wants to do and they feel quite awkward. There is a marginal speed advantage with Solomon’s Dream but another big problem is you start losing characters who you can play Delivered on and are going to have to do some suspect stuff like running Silly Women on Defense to have enough characters to play Delivered on if you run Ruth or Postexilic meek characters. Both routes could get to The First combo a bit faster/more consistently but they do not fit as well with the overall purpose of this deck of building around Moses/The Cross.

As far as consistency for being able to play my tutors on characters here are the stats: 6 characters Delivered can be played on, 5 characters The Emmaus Road can be played on, 5 characters The Lord’s Prayer can be played on, 5 characters Offering Your Son can be played on, 6 characters Covenant with David can be played on, 4 characters Spirit as a Dove can be played on, 5 characters Surreptitious Scheme can be played on, and 5 characters The Wages of Sin can be played on. Just as consistent as my other deck was in being able to have characters to play my tutors on. I was shocked that this is the case!

Defense:

So the defense is enough I think. It does not block as well in my mind as the other defense but has some beefy boys that the opponent has to get through backed by negates. Goliath, High Priest Ananias, King of Tyrus, Foreign Wives, Fire Foxes, and Supercilious Scribes to Unsuccesful are solid blocks. Also I have Mayhem+FW as a block option too. It should get the job done.

Plot to Kill and Tenants Kill the Son work with every character in the defense and Tenants Kill the Son can bring Goliath and HPA into the battle for some fun. The defense should get the job done.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2022, 07:16:39 PM by CtheTree »
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Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2022, 07:00:26 PM »
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Reserve:

This looks a bit different than the other deck. Due to the added speed of The First Combo and even just High Places on its own with meek souls and Matthew the Publican I felt Covenant with Philistia was not as necessary. Instead I have Covenant of Prayer which is great reserve access of Zadok activating Book of the Covenant and also The Lord’s Prayer and New Covenant can grab Covenant of Prayer directly to get any card from my reserve. Including Covenant of Prayer means on Turn 2 Zadok can activate book to activate covenant of prayer  and grab Royal Parade to back up Jeremiah or Noah or Word of Christ to back up Noah or Moses and then band to the desired hero. That is pretty strong and I feel more valuable than the draw 2 of Cov w Philistia with the extra speed I have in this deck. If I really need Fire Foxes Covenant of Prayer can grab that too. I also like Covenant of Prayer with how many folks are running Confusion at the moment in crimson builds with peeps like Conjurers.

To make room for High Places I need to move a card and I moved Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation) to reserve and cut Covenant with Moses. Covenant with Moses will be a draw 2 at best with Moses’ Parents being cut and I think I am fast enough. I am taking a bit of a risk with cutting Covenant with Philistia, Covenant with Moses, and Plague of Frogs since I am cutting a fair amount of draw power from my deck. I feel Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation) is a must to protect Noah and frankly it should be main deck but not sure how to fit it in. 

Word of Christ slots in instead of Amazing Faith since it works with Moses, Noah, Matthew, or Simon with The Cross being active. I do miss the fact that Amazing Faith negates ALL evil cards in battle and being able to snag a Dom (a great play is grabbing CotK if you know opponent is sitting on a CBP battle winner or of course SoG or TSC to win the game if I have deactivated The Cross) but I feel being able to actually use Word of Christ with The Cross active is worth it. I will be testing that further though and may go back to Amazing Faith if I am having issues getting to TSC and SoG and the end of the game.

Lastly I cut Plague of Frogs for Authority of Christ. Authority of Christ can be grabbed by so many cards in my deck and with Simon is so incredibly powerful. Yes I have to have The Cross deactivated but I like Authority of Christ as a final rescue or to clear the board if I am being unable to get through my opponents defense. I do lose potential card draw from Plague of Frogs though but honestly it does not fit well with my offense as a battle winner since only Jeremiah, Saint Patrick, and Moses (only if Pharah’s Daughter goes down before Moses) will be able to use it effectively.

Royal Parade stays since it is great with Jeremiah, Noah, Saint Patrick, Zadok, and even regular (non meek) Matthew, and Simon.

Fire Foxes and Unsuccessful are in for blocks and Joshua is in to deal with opponents counters. He still works with Zadok going to Moses, Noah, and Jeremiah.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2022, 07:02:39 PM by CtheTree »
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Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2022, 07:00:54 PM »
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Considering:

Noah’s Ark (Ark of Salvation) preferably should be main deck. It is so important to keep Moses on the board. However I just do not know what to cut/move for it. Perhaps some of you could help me with that?

I did cut card draw out with Covenant with Philistia, Covenant with Moses, and Plague of Frogs. I have found I rarely am able to use Plague of Frogs though so I don’t miss that. If I am not fast enough I would probably throw Covenant with Philistia back in since I can cycle Fire Foxes with House of Prayer to draw 2 multiple times off Covenant with Philistia. Plague of Frogs would be next to bring back since it potentially can draw for quite a bit and doubles as a battle winner. Covenant with Moses is a one time draw 2 at best with Moses’ Parents gone so I think it would be last in line to be brought back in.

I thought long and hard about Eternal Inheritance instead of Authority of Christ. It works through the Cross and is fantastic with Simon’s choose the blocker ability. That being said I generally am only going to want to play EI after I have played TSC and SoG because you do not want’t EI to get negated. In that situation I would likely be playing EI when The Cross is deactivated. Authority of Christ in my mind then also will be played with The Cross not active and is more versatile for clearing the board of annoying ECs if I am struggling breaking through my opponents defense. I still would keep Eternal Inheritance in the back of my mind though it for whatever reason Authority of Christ is not proving as useful as I thought.

I should likely have another EE battlewinner or character block in reserve. I struggle with what to cut. Just a Hireling is a nice grab if the first is not on the table with Supercillious. Also an additional negate would be nice to have in reserve to back up my beefy blockers further. I just struggle with space and feeling the offense needs the battle winner support from reserve. If I were not running Book to pair with Zadok that would open things up a bit but I feel Zadok really helps my offense get access to resources fast through Book. I might be off on this though and cutting Book to be able to put another evil card in reserve might be the way to go.

Also I consider having High Priest’s Plot, Lurking, or Stricken over Plot to Kill main deck. Lurking is strong with Supercilious Scribes since you can band to Fire Foxes from reserve and the numbers are low so you just die and protect souls and Lurking interrupts their in battle soul protection. Also Lurking allows for banding to KoT in battle. However, Lurking is risky with Matthew the Publican being prevalent and Michael, Chief Prince being prevalent. The thing though is Plot to Kill has the same issue with Michael, Chief Prince. High Priest’s Plot gets around Michael, Chief Prince but it does not work with Emperor Nero which is a negative. High Priest’s Plot is especially strong with Supercilious Scribes since it allows for a nice block where I get rid of their interrupt or negate from hand and am then protecting evil cards. Stricken is a nice tech against Matthew, the Publican due to its star ability but I like the CBP nature of Plot to Kill on HPA which I feel makes it more reliable and the fact both Wages and Surreptitious Scheme can grab it.

Also I am considering going with Storehouse over House of Prayer. Matthew the Publican is prevalent so the hand protection of Storehouse is quite nice. I have a lot of NT enhancements in reserve though so House of Prayer is much better access.

I would include Golden Calf if I could but I just feel I do not have space for it.
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Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2022, 07:01:17 PM »
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Conclusion:

Well that is about it. This deck is something else and I am so thankful I shared the earlier deck or I likely would not have discovered this arguably better build. I am thankful to Mr. Hiatus for the tough questions he asked me which really led to evaluate how I could make my deck better. I am also thankful to Reth for harping on the idea of The First even though it did not fit in my other deck because that paired with the thoughts of Mr. Hiatus on High Places and Harvest Time led to me thinking through and testing a different defense which allowed for The First to work and led to discovering this build in which The First Combo fits very well.

From this I have an encouragement to the community: post what you think are your best decks. Don’t keep them secret. Ask for advice on them. It will lead to you developing a better deck. Each of us miss things regardless of how good a deck builder we are. Extra eyes looking over a deck and giving feedback will only lead to it being better since it makes you think from a different perspective than you did when deck building.

One key thing to note regarding this deck is it is not reliant on The First combo to accomplish its intended purpose. This deck is just as consistent at getting to Moses/The Cross as my first deck I posted and can get to my desired board state without using The First Combo at all. That combo is just the cherry on top really and a perk. To demonstrate that this deck does not need The First combo to work as I mentioned earlier I am now running this offense in my other deck with the meek soul protection/meek soul removal defense and it is in my opinion just as reliable as the other offense at getting me to Moses/The Cross.

The offense really is the key discovery here since I think it might be quite close to the optimal offense to pair with Moses/The Cross. That makes both this deck and the other deck I already posted better.

The key difference between my two builds now then is one runs The First Combo and is faster potentially with that main deck and the other deck runs Noah’s Ark main deck protecting Moses better and has draw power in reserve in the form of Covenant with Moses and Covenant with Philistia. This build has a slightly better main deck speed package due to The First combo and even just High Places in its own right. It is hard to decide which deck is better but I think this one that includes The First combo is better due to the potential for extra speed main deck with The First combo. The other deck though is faster now than it was since I am running this offense in it and it has Matthew the Publican. If I find I really miss the other defense, having Noah’s Ark main deck, and The First combo is not consistent enough I might switch back to the other deck. I will be testing both of them though.

I would appreciate any feedback anyone has on how to make this build better. I believe this build really is something special and I just need some assistance with fully optimizing it.
Christian, Husband, Father, Youth Pastor, Romans 11:33-36. Owner of Land of Redemption.

Offline Reth

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2022, 05:03:48 PM »
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Really great build and deck breakdown! Well done, thank you!
One question: Did you consider to add Escape LS as another tutor/support for The 1st? I always add this one since normally if drawn together with a meek LS if can grab you The First or if drawn together with The 1st it can be used before The 1st to get you the necessary meek LS. If only Escape LS is put in play you can switch it for a meek LS (and maybe still getting HP benefit). - I always add Escape LS to my The 1st package (at least so far).

Offline CtheTree

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Re: Moses Magnum Opus? (T1-2P)
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2022, 11:10:11 PM »
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It is worth testing it out Reth.

Public service announcement: my little strategy with Zadok+Book of the Covenant does not work quite as I desired. Zadok can activate book from reserve and book can grab Cov of Prayer or Oath of Purity but I cannot actually activate them in battle on book like I was doing... Book can hold two covenants but I can’t put them on book in battle... Thank you to Kevinthedude for pointing this out and I am sorry for leading folks astray on this! I think Zadok definitely still belongs in the deck since him banding to Moses, Noah, and Jeremiah is very good I just need to retool the reserve a bit in light of this.
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