Designed by Jayden Alstad, a multi-National tournament winner of several categories, the teal and crimson Contender Deck employs the best priests in the game for a variety of strong rescue options, whether it's tossing the first Evil Enhancement, fighting by the numbers, playing the first Good Enhancement, or combining those effects by utilizing the Jeremiah version of New Covenant to band any of your priests together. The crimson defense takes some of the best cards from the Edomite, Babylonian, and animal themes and blends them together for great blocking potential with play-first abilities, high value plays, and a one-time, nearly unstoppable block. This is a powerhouse of a deck, so don’t pass it up!
See bottom for recommended cards you can purchase separately to help boost this deck’s theme, some of which are Classic cards to modify this deck to that format!
Dominants
Son of God (I/J)
New Jerusalem (I/J+)
Angel of the Lord (I/J)
Christian Martyr (I/J)
Lost Souls
Prosperity (FoM)
Open Hand (CoW)
Foreigner (PoC)
Unfaithful (CoW)
Darkness (RoJ)
Distressed (PoC)
Oppressed (LoC)
Artifacts/Covenants/Curses
Urim & Thummim (LR)
Golden Cherubim (RoA)
New Covenant (Jeremiah) (PoC)
Seventh Seal (RoJ)
Serpent’s Curse (FoM)
Carcasses (PoC)
Fortresses/Sites/Cities
Solomon's Temple (RoA)
Kidron Valley (RoA)
Dual-Alignment
Anthropophobia (FoM)
Delivered (PoC)
Heroes
Zechariah, the Renewer (PoC)
Zadok (PoC)
Jeremiah, Hope Bringer (PoC)
Melchizedek (CoW)
Eleazar, Son of Aaron (PC)
Jeshua, the Restorer (LoC)
Dutiful Priest (CoW)
Captive Priest (FoM)
The Defender of the Saints (PoC)
Good Enhancements
Sign of Jonah (PoC)
Jordan Interrupted (PoC)
Triumphal Entry (PoC)
Feast of Booths (LoC)
Offering Your Son (PoC)
Gifts and Offerings (CoW)
The First Sacrifice (PoC)
Fountain of Living Water (PoC)
Evil Characters
Outsiders (Crim/Bro) (RoJ)
Conjurers (PoC)
Charioteers of Seir (LoC)
Fiery Serpents (FoM)
Foreign Wives (RoA)
Esau, the Hunter (LoC)
Bear (CoW)
Evil Enhancements
Seized by Babylon (PoC)
Betrayal (PoC)
Scattered (RoA)
Abducted Subjects (CoW)
Balaam’s Prophecy (PoC)
Reserve
Light in the Darkness (PoC)
Trumpet in Zion (PoC)
House of Prayer (PoC)
Oath of Purity (LoC)
Scapegoat (PoC)
Image of the Beast (RoJ)
Worship of Edom (LoC)
Lacking Prophecy (PoC)
Beasts of the Earth (LoC)
Stubborn Heifer (PoC)
Deck strategy and tips:
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OVERVIEW
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The offense is primarily based around having powerful characters with unique abilities that give you options, but of course they also all share a brigade so they synergize together quite easily. Your Heroes are mostly split into rescuers, support Heroes, and tutoring Heroes, but because of the brigade synergy, your battlewinners work on just about all of them so you should rarely be without a solid attacking option.
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Because the defense is a mix of themes, the power comes from having different ways to answer your opponent’s threats. You’ll have a few characters that need little to no support for blocks, a few characters that allow to play-first after a block, and a few that give you immediate access to resources.
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THE OFFENSE
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Your strongest Hero in the deck is undoubtedly Jeremiah, Hope Bringer. He gives you information about your opponent’s hand, depletes their resources more quickly by tossing the first Evil Enhancement, and coming right back if he’s harmed unless he’s negated or captured. Fortunately Melchizedek protects him from capture and Jeshua lets you draw him back right away so you don’t get slowed down at all. Jeremiah is also a Solomon’s Temple Priest, so if your opponent tries to discard or capture him, you can just discard a teal card from hand instead.
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Your next best rescue options are likely going to be with Zechariah and Dutiful Priest. Zechariah is great when your opponent only has negatable Enhancements, especially with Trumpet in Zion and Sign of Jonah to back him up, and Dutiful Priest is great for initiative, especially for playing Gifts and Offerings or even just discarding your own defense for a draw two.
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Eleazar, Son of Aaron is going to be your number one setup priority. With his ability you can search for two of the most valuable cards in the deck--Urim and Thummim and Jeshua, the Restorer. Urim and Thummim gives you free hand knowledge so that you know the best option for attacking and can also be combo’d with Jordan Interrupted to activate any Artifact during battle. Jeshua generates a lot of value through cards like Triumphal Entry, Balaam’s Prophecy, Foreigner LS, New Covenant, and Jeremiah, as mentioned earlier. Another target for Eleazar is Zadok who can hop into battle with Jeremiah or Zechariah for some beefier numbers, and not only that, but Eleazar also grabs any of these cards from the discard pile if needed.
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Use the Artifact side of New Covenant to band two Heroes together, such as Dutiful Priest and Jeremiah in order to play Gifts and Offerings after they block. Their negate would be tossed, effectively making it “Cannot be interrupted”.
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Use The First Sacrifice in conjunction with Jeremiah or Zechariah to leave them with as few blocking options as possible and let you know which Hero to attack with.
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THE DEFENSE
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The defense utilizes various “standalone” Evil Characters that can potentially win battles cheaply, such as Foreign Wives, Fiery Serpents, and Bear.
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Use Outsiders to activate Worship of Edom if you need battle extension with an Edomite or just take it if you need your own battlewinner. Not only does Outsiders let you take or activate it from Reserve, but also discard pile so you can use it again and again.
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The play abilities on Esau, the Hunter and Charioteers of Sier can be great for using Betrayal to underdeck a card from your opponent’s hand. You end up with big numbers, can take out their battle winner, and you get to draw three cards.
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Discard Stolen Blessing or Anthropophobia to trigger Fiery Serpents’ ability because if they negate it, you get your Enhancement back and can use it to negate what they played. You effectively get twice the usage out of your negate that way. Stubborn Heifer also pairs great with Fiery Serpents as long as you have cards to discard to both of them.
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Seventh Seal grabs your Trumpet in Zion from Reserve, but it also gives you a nearly unstoppable block with Bear. As long as Bear is not negated, you can block with Bear and then discard Seventh Seal, withdrawing Bear and protecting Lost Souls even if it was the Heroes’ initiative. The only ways to get around it are by using a Dominant or having a play ability that triggers when blocked.
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If you don’t think you can win the battle, use Abducted Subjects to capture Heroes and/or Evil Characters in territory to generate Lost Souls and clear the way for your next attack.
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Use Offering Your Son or Carcasses to get Beasts of the Earth from Reserve to make sure you have a character to play Balaam’s Prophecy on when you have Jeshua.
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Snag Lacking Prophecy from Reserve with Conjurors to shuffle a lot of the usual suspects but not many of your own.
Jayden recommends the below cards as other viable options for this deck’s theme, in either the Classic or Rotation format, or both! You can view and purchase them by clicking on each one, or search for them here!
Classic cards
Rotation cards
Classic and Rotation cards