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2022 Oregon State T1-2P 1st Place- Once Upon a Time in Zion

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CtheTree:
Considering-

David’s Harp definitely belongs in this deck. It can get the unity Zion play by grabbing Covenant with David from deck, can grab Royal Parade from reserve, and helps deal with demon defenses which still are common enough. Also lone David, HAG is a common enough rescue and so the last part of the card works well with him. Why do I not have it in this list? Well I did not own one, that is why. But now I do thanks to this deck winning the Oregon State tournament for me and the prize was a David’s Harp! At this juncture I would probably cut Reverence and Awe and put David’s Harp in the deck instead of it. Reverence and Awe is great but I would rather cut down on opportunities for Matthew the Publican to draw big and since David’s Harp can snag Covenant with David it serves a similar purpose and does much more than Reverence and Awe. The only downside to this is it hypothetically does cut down on my chances to get Throne of David, Storehouse, and Majestic Heaves if I draw Covenant with David early but I think it is worth it.

False Peace is really nice in this deck. It gets Zion directly for the unity play or can just grab Jeshua or David or Impartial Judgment or Solomon’s Dream directly. It also gives me more reserve access. Once I subbed Nero in though for one of my false prophets I just did not have enough to make it worth it. I have thought of cutting Denarius for Pentecost and running False Peace instead of Delivered which is what I used to do. However, since Delivered can get New Covenant which can get Emmaus Road which can get Solomon’s Dream which can get anything good in deck (or evil through Crowd’s Choice and Crowd’s Choice gives reserve access) it really has a similar effect as False Peace. I personally feel the instant draw of Denarius over the delayed one of Pentecost makes Delivered worth it over False Peace but it is a close call due to the better reserve access of False Peace.

Joshua the Conqueror is a card I want in the deck and would help with dealing with counters. He fits fairly well due to being able to exchange with pretty much any of the royals in the deck aside from David, HAG and being able to exchange with Jehoshaphat who can band to David. I have a hard time cutting a meek guy for him though since the critical mass of meek guys is important for the IJ play, for having royals to plop down for Zion to work, and the fact my main rescues tend to involve David, Noah, and Jeremiah all three of whom he cannot exchange with directly and only with David out of those is there a way to go from Joshua to him through Jehoshaphat. I have thought of putting Joshua in reserve. He is one thing I probably would add now with The Cross and Golden Calf being so prevalent in the meta.

I also have found myself wanting Zadok in this deck or Mighty Men to go from Jehoshaphat to Noah. I had a previous version of this deck before the reserve rule that used David, Outcasts Refuge to Jotham in reserve to grab IJ from reserve for the early IJ play. This deck also used Jeshua package to get Awesome Things and meek guys out early. Mighty Men was in this build due to interaction with David, Outcasts Refuge. I miss that to a point. Instead I have to rely on Oath of Purity for bouncing Noah which is ok. The other thing I can do is bounce Noah with Jeshoshaphat and then add Noah to battle with Faith of David.

Chronicles of the Kings would be nice to run and is what I would run if I did not run Crowd’s Choice. It is great for dealing with Golden Calf. However, Crowd’s Choice is better since it can grab any of my ways to deal with a counter and can also grab pieces for my IJ play or anything else really.

Also I have thought of running The Lord’s Prayer since it can be played on most of my heroes and get Emmaus Road to get Solomon’s Dream, David’s Descendant, Plumb Line, Delivered, or Triumphal Entry or David or most of my heroes. It could be an option over the Reverence and Awe slot or Triumphal Entry’s slot. I am not sure which is more consistent though since Emmaus Road only goes on 4 heroes but since I get Jeshua out early most of the time it is very consistent. I think there is a reasonable case for keeping David’s Harp or Reverence and Awe (likely David’s Harp) and then cutting Triumphal Entry for The Lord’s Prayer since I can just go to Plumb Line or Solomon’s Dream with The Lord’s Prayer through Emmaus or just snag a hero directly with Emmaus or go to Delivered through Emmaus for card draw through Denarius. It seems more versatile than Triumphal Entry.

Three Nails is a card I have thought of running as a way to set my opponent back if they go first. I have to burn tutors to get to it but it could very well be worth an add to set them back.

Lastly I have thought of running The Coming Prince in reserve as a way to recur Solomon’s Dream or Plumb Line or even David off Jeshua. I feel having the other cards that are there is more important.

Continued below...

CtheTree:
Deck Performance-

This deck currently has an 8-0 record in tournament play across three tournaments: Lackey Grand Prix #1 (I ran it in two out of four rounds there), an Oregon Local Tournament where it won T1-2P, and the Oregon State Tournament where it won T1-2P.

In casual play the very first version of this deck lost to Jayden on Redemption with Jayden. However, after that game against him I made significant revisions to the deck and since then I have not lost a game with it in tournament or casual play. The loss to Jayden is the only game I have lost with this deck and I am thankful for that game since it really helped me to see what I needed to refine in the deck in general including ways to make it more resilient as far as rescue options beyond Impartial Judgment, ways to make it more consistent, and to refine the lines of play I am aiming for with the deck. I cannot emphasize enough learning from losses. We learn far more from losing than winning in Redemption. Even though I am on a winning streak with this deck at the moment I am sure I will lose with it eventually and will seek to learn as much as I can from that eventual loss.

The deck performed well in the Oregon State Tournament this past weekend going 3-0. The final win at the state tournament was a timeout win which was not the deck’s fault but rather my poor play. At this stage in my Redemption career I do not like timeout wins. It shows either a deficiency in my deck or in my play in my mind. This timeout win was due to a deficiency in my play. I had a way to get 5 souls on my final turn but I totally botched it with a bad misplay. I had a winning rescue with Noah and Royal Parade as my opponent had Red Dragon, King of Tyrus, and The Judean Mediums backed by Blindness (I knew what was in his hand). However, I had Son of God in hand and Zerubbabel’s Plumb Line and knew if I got Asa from deck I could top deck The Second Coming with Plumb Line and then rescue with Asa to draw The Second Coming and play SoG and The Second Coming for the win. I had three successful rescues going into my final turn and had not played SoG or TSC. Well I totally botched my search order I believe and shuffled TSC from the top of my deck after I had top decked it with Plumb Line. Due to this my opponent was able to block with Judean Mediums to a protected demon CBN since I searched. I would have won 5-2 if I had just rescued with Noah+Royal Parade and then used SoG and not gone for the cute TSC grab. Instead I won 4-3 giving my opponent a final turn where he rescued a third soul. Generally the deck wins 5-1 or 5-2 in my experience and that timeout win should have been a 5-2 win if I had played it properly. The game however did show the surprising resiliency of this deck. In that game I did IJ for 5 on the first turn but my opponent was running a rotation Blood and Fire deck based off Watchman’s deck that is defense heavy and he had 6 evil cards in hand. He wisely kept Abaddon and discarded the rest and then negated IJ with Abaddon getting all of his cards back. Abaddon died by numbers though so I got the rescue. The one thing I like is the game showed the surprising resiliency of the deck. He got both Coliseum and The Cross up in the course of the game and I mitigated both of them. He also Christian Martyred Jeshua on his first or second turn and negated my Storehouse with Three Woes early. My deck survived all of this and was set to win 5-2 but then I had the misplay on what should have been my final rescue and instead won 4-3 by timeout. Still though it was enough for me to win the tournament and I learned a lot from the mistakes I made.

This is my favorite deck I have crafted this tournament season since it is a unique build and is completely in line with my preferred play style of a fast build that seeks to win quickly. In T1-2P classic before the reserve rule I had a Creation of the World deck that used the LAFS consistency shell to play IJ turn 1 pre-block to lethal effect. I actually in some ways liked that deck better than LAFS. Prior to Rotation and the reserve rule being implemented I planned to run that deck at Nationals 2022 if I was able to go. Once rotation hit this deck is the closest thing to that deck which I like so much that I have been able to come up with.

I will also add: this deck is not an easy deck to pilot. It requires intimate knowledge of what you are trying to do and the ability to decide when to combo with IJ and when to wait. It is very important to be able figure out which rescues to go with at the right moment. I do not recommend running this deck in tournament play unless you have thoroughly practiced with it and tested it out. This is especially important since counters are so prevalent in the meta and you have to know how to use your toolbox within the deck properly to work around these counters.

Continued below...

CtheTree:
Conclusion-

The only person I shared an earlier version of this deck list with was Mr. Hiatus and he kindly has kept it between us. He agrees with me from what I can tell that turn 1 or 2 Impartial Judgment is good. It sets the opponent back right away and if you have a good follow up to it rescue wise then it is pretty good. I thought of running this deck at the Northwest Regional Tournament the end of May which will likely be the final tournament I get to participate in this tournament season since I cannot attend Nationals. I was keeping it on the down low leading up to the Oregon State Tournament and the Northwest Regional Tournament since it has been my main deck. I have done this since I am preparing for the Northwest Regional Tournament as if it were the National tournament since I cannot make Nationals and I feel taking a tournament season off from dedicated deck building and playing would hamper my growth and development as a player. All of that being said, I have another deck build I am working on that I think is possibly stronger in this meta than this deck. Perhaps I will play this deck since I like it so much but since there is a chance I won’t I have decided to reveal it to the community. I hope some of you gain enjoyment from it as I have.

One thing a reader might bring up is, "isn't Jeshua now Jeshua the Limited because of the rule limiting him to four activations of his ability per turn?" He is limited but in my experience it is not a big deal at all. I rarely exceed four activations of his ability but you do have to keep track. Balaam's Prophecy is the main thing that can push him past four. At the Oregon State tournament I had a Balaam's Prophecy that revealed I believe 5 or 6 good cards. I snagged one star card with Balaam's Prophecy but topdecking and drawing the remaining good cards off Jeshua used up all of my Jeshua activations for that turn. It was fine because I did not need to use him again that turn. Remember, you do not have to draw every good card you topdeck with Balaam's Prophecy if you need a Jeshua activation for Plumb Line or Triumphal Entry or Majestic Heavens. Just draw what you need/want off Balaam's Prophecy in that case and save 1 or 2 activations (normally you just need one) for one of the other tutors. It is important to keep things like this in mind. Overall I do not feel the new rule hampers this deck significantly and Jeshua performs mostly as well as he did before overall.

One final thing, I have one insight for the community after my deck building experience in the Rotation meta: build a lot of different types of decks. It is good to do. I have 9 different rotation decks that are unique. Not all of them are fully fleshed out but I did build them. However, I think it is very important after building a variety of decks to identify a couple deck builds that are your best and focus most of your time and energy into testing and refining those. I have been tinkering with and refining this deck since before the reserve rule was implemented so I believe I have been refining this deck since September or early October 2021. I had a very primitive version of this built alongside my other version with David, Outcasts refuge to Jotham to set up the early IJ play. I actually preferred that version until the reserve rule was implemented but this one is better with the reserve rule since David, HAG goes right to deck unlike Jotham who goes to reserve. Now it is April 2022 and I have poured many, many hours into refining this deck and testing it since the time I first built it. This is good to do and is something I did in the classic meta too with my Creation of the World deck for Type 1 (both prior to LAFS, during LAFS, and post-LAFS) and two other decks that were my best I felt in classic. A deck is always a work in progress and is never finished. It can always be better. Focusing on your best couple decks provides more of a likelihood of creating something that is strong. That does not mean we should just be tunnel visioned with one or two builds and not build new decks alongside them but during the tournament season it is good to find a couple strong builds and really refine them and get used to playing them. I do believe that leads to better decks and results.

Anyhow happy deck building. Until next time…

P.S.
My apologies for the very long posts. I debated about how much to share but this is a culmination of many months of work and I figured I might as well share everything. Some folks will read more than others but at least it is available.

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