Cactus Game Design Message Boards
Redemption® Collectible Trading Card Game HQ => Deck Building & Design => National Tournament Winners => Topic started by: Gabe on August 16, 2010, 11:07:12 PM
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Player: Gabe Isbell
Honestly I've been wrestling with whether or not to post any of my decks this year. Every time I do it seems like I run into other good players using a copy of my deck and they beat me with it (you know who you are ;)). I guess that it comes down to the fact that it's not all about me. The reason I've always posted my decks is to give back to the community, so here we go again. :)
Nuetral Cards 32
1 Blue Tassels
1 Crown of Thorns
1 Holy Grail
1 Lampstand of the Sanctuary
2 The Bronze Laver
2 Kir
1 Babylonian Banquet Hall
2 Pergamum
3 Babylon
2 Mildewed House
2 Lost Soul (deck discard)
2 Lost Soul (female only)
2 Lost Soul (hopper)
2 Lost Soul (N.T. only)
2 Lost Soul (site discard)
2 Lost Soul (site doubler)
2 Lost Soul (speed bump)
2 Lost Soul (wanderer)
Good Cards 34
1 Angel of the Lord (OT)
1 Grapes of Wrath
1 Guardian Of Your Souls
1 New Jerusalem
1 Son of God
2 I am Holy
1 I am Redemption
2 I am Salvation
1 I am Grace
1 Solomon's Temple
1 The Tabernacle
1 Wall of Protection
1 Judah
4 Jacob
1 Leah
4 Zebulun
1 Benjamin
2 Captain of the Host
1 Angel at Shur
3 Well Reopened
3 Reuben’s Torn Clothes
Evil Cards 34
1 Burial
1 Christian Martyr
1 Destruction of Nehushtan
1 Falling Away
1 Mayhem
3 Captured Ark
1 Kingdoms of the World
2 Philistine Outpost
1 The Gates of Hell
1 The Amalekites' Slave
1 Philistine Garrison
1 The Twelve-Fingered Giant
4 Philistine Armor Bearer
1 Philistine Priests
2 Gomer
1 Uzzah
1 Leviathan
1 Nebuchadnezzar
1 Nebushasban
2 King of Tyrus
1 Prince of this World
1 Prince of the Air
4 Land Dispute
It started when I needed to come up with something to play for "Wild Bill" Voigt's annual T2 blowout in MN. I was inspired by this post (http://www.cactusgamedesign.com/message_boards/index.php?topic=18979.0) by Tyler. I built off the basic concept that he presented and added some of my own ideas. But when I was testing my deck kept getting beaten up by FBTN/ANB decks that seemed to be everywhere this year. I adjusted my defense so that it could stand up to FBTN and felt like I was ready for the BIG T2 blowout (http://www.cactusgamedesign.com/message_boards/index.php?topic=20170.0). The deck went 5-0 winning 7-2, 7-0, 7-2, 7-2 and 7-4.
I made a couple slight modifications for Iowa States and went 3-0 by scores of 7-0, 7-2 and 7-2. I don't think there were any additional changes before I played in MidWest Regionals. The deck went 4-0 with a first round time out to a new player who was really slow, then wins of 7-1, 7-0 and 7-0.
Has anyone noticed a trend here yet? Almost nobody can get more than two Redeemed souls against this defense. :o The competition at Nationals was a little tougher though and that trend didn't continue...
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1st round vs Nathan Mashuda. He drew a hopper and chose to play first. I believe that he had AotL for my blocker and won his only LS. I opened with a Jacob+Captain band and walked in for 6 Lost Souls in a row and ended the game 7-1 with SoG.
2nd round vs Bill Voigt. He's a creative deck building genius and a super swell guy. His defense was very annoying for me but his offense really never showed up. I had to convert his King Zed so Zeb could sneak through. I also had to play a Mayhem when he created a side battle so he couldn't decimate me. We almost went to the time limit before I pulled off a 7-1 victory.
3rd round vs Kirk Dennison. Kirk had a crazy combo deck. No surprise there. I rescued 3 souls in the first three turns. Kirk just played 3 Divination. On the 4th turn I made the mistake of letting Kirk block. He used False Peace to set up his combo. I kept checking for any loop hole or mistake that Kirk might make but didn't find any. Fortunately for me Kirk's deck fell short with the win condition(s) he was using. He couldn't get around my PO + KoT + Philistines. He tried to bluff one turn to see if I'm make a mistake which left me a window to rescue LS #4. Our game timed out 4-0.
4th round vs Dwayne Ford. Dwayne was everyone's Hero this tournament. He defected from sealed deck to join T2 with a borrowed deck so we wouldn't have a bye. His offense was pretty effective the first few turns of the game but he also couldn't block mine. We both got to 4 before I could stop his offense. He had Pharaoh's Throne Room + a Pharaoh which stops Zeb. I also had a Captain in play. I had an extra Zeb in my hand so I decided to bluff and he didn't block. I proceeded to bluff my way to a 7-4 win.
5th round vs James Roepke. This was by far the toughest T2 match I've played all year. James had Nahum to gain access to my Sites and Two Bears/Plague of Frogs to get around my immunity. He had searches and side battles and wiped out my Heroes with Haman promo. He had PotA for my Captain and King Zed for my Zeb. Lots of captures and Raider's Camp to stall. Neither of us has what we needed on offense for the first several turns so we got off to a very slow start. Eventually I was able to convert his King Zed with Holy Grail. Zeb walked through for a couple souls before my hand was too clogged. I was racing through my deck so I could use Zebulun for 1. We reached the point that both of us were able to get through for a LS every turn but he was half a turn ahead of me so he was going to get to 7 first. When it was 6-6 he turned up Priestly Crown and made a RA with Nathan. He must have forgotten what Philistine Priests do so I blocked with them and negated his access. The next turn Zebulun won it for me 7-6.
6th round vs Nathan Voigt. He'd built his own take on my deck after the BIG T2 Blowout in MN. He used it to sweep NC Regionals. We talked about our decks in detail there. I knew he had been playing it all day so I assumed this would be a mirror match. I soon found out that Nate had built the "anti-deck" to play against me if were got paired late (when he could expect it to pick the right deck before pairings). He had Samaritan Water Jar, Meeting the Messiah, and TGT, some of my least favorite things to face. He had a nice crimson defense that should handle a Captain band well. He got me with a Water Jar and took out my KoT and Bronze Laver. After I won a couple souls with Zeb and played my SoG/NJ he even set Zeb aside with Two Possessed. I took out his Garden Tomb with Land Dispute and delayed his Temple Veil access with Captured Ark. He converted four of my key defenders to Heroes. I finally got a Jacob+Captain going. Suprisingly he didn't have anything to stop it. If we played a dozen more games I don't know that I'd win one against his deck but this time I was able to walk in the for the remaining souls I needed to win 7-3.
I knew the deck was good but I didn't think that a repeat title was very likely with the field of great players that would be in Boston. Somehow I managed to avoid playing Tyler who was piloting a deck that would be been pretty brutal against mine. In it's completed form the deck still hasn't lost a game but I'm sure Disciples will change that. :)
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Every time I do it seems like I run into other good players using a copy of my deck and they beat me with it (you know who you are ;)).
Hey hey, I'd atleast have the decency to change a couple cards (Deck Discard for Site Guard, maybe) to avoid giving you credit.
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Hey hey, I'd atleast have the decency to change a couple cards (Deck Discard for Site Guard, maybe) to avoid giving you credit.
Maybe that's why I like you so much. That and the fact that your so cute and cuddly. ;)
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Impressive. What was your final standing T1-2P and deck?
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Every time I do it seems like I run into other good players using a copy of my deck and they beat me with it (you know who you are ;)).
Hey hey, I'd atleast have the decency to change a couple cards (Deck Discard for Site Guard, maybe) to avoid giving you credit.
I did hav the decency to change a few cards. lol
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Excellent job again Gabe! winning T2 2 player 2 yrs in a row is amazing! :)
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I imagine those are TexP Gomers right?
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Impressive. What was your final standing T1-2P and deck?
My final standing for T1-2P was 4th. Four players tied for second. I had the highest differential and didn't play the 2nd place player. During my game against Tyler with 55 seconds left I was winning 4-2 but Tyler clearly had me beat and would have won in 3 more turns so I gave him the 5-4 win. He placed 3rd so that dropped me to 4th because of the head to head tie breaker.
I imagine those are TexP Gomers right?
Absolutely! ;D
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During my game against Tyler with 55 seconds left I was winning 4-2 but Tyler clearly had me beat and would have won in 3 more turns so I gave him the 5-4 win.
This is absolutely an amazing display of selflessness. When you could have used the time limit to grab 2 victory points for yourself despite knowing that the game really would've been won by your opponent, instead you gave him the full 3 victory points and removed yourself from placing in the top 3 at the biggest event of the biggest tournament of the year. This is a great example of why Redemption and Redemption players are different from typical card games and CCG players. Awesome!!!
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This is absolutely an amazing display of selflessness. When you could have used the time limit to grab 2 victory points for yourself despite knowing that the game really would've been won by your opponent, instead you gave him the full 3 victory points and removed yourself from placing in the top 3 at the biggest event of the biggest tournament of the year. This is a great example of why Redemption and Redemption players are different from typical card games and CCG players. Awesome!!!
Well, if you know me, and I think you do, that's very uncharacteristic of me not to take full advantage of everything I can within the rules and play very "hard core" at a major event like this. Honestly it still stings a little to know I could have placed and even maybe had a shot at taking Jonathan down. I'd say this is a fine example of how Christ isn't through with me yet and there is still a lot of work to do. ;)
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Wait? You're telling me that the noob of type 2 at nats scored the most against you? And it was a fun game. The sites were hard to get around if you don't prepare for them. xp
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Wait? You're telling me that the noob of type 2 at nats scored the most against you? And it was a fun game. The sites were hard to get around if you don't prepare for them. xp
Not only did the 'Noob' score the most lost souls but an asterik has to be placed by Gabe's victory, knowing that your deck was built by me. That should bring shame on everyone else who lost to him in the tourney. ;D
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Wait? You're telling me that the noob of type 2 at nats scored the most against you? And it was a fun game. The sites were hard to get around if you don't prepare for them. xp
Not only did the 'Noob' score the most lost souls but an asterik has to be placed by Gabe's victory, knowing that your deck was built by me. That should bring shame on everyone else who lost to him in the tourney. ;D
True. That's why everybody plays egyptians. Tons of interrupts and battle-winners. TTOD is a beast anyway.
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i love it! i played someone who copied that deck, not mentioning who, and he beat rather easily unfortunetly.