Israelite Warriors / Philistine Warriors

Regular price: $126.75
Sale price: $95.00

Re-live the legendary battles with David and his mighty men and other Israelite warriors against the powerful Philistine army with this Contender Deck! Comprised of heroes who mostly band together when they attack, supported by various weapon enhancements, your opponent will feel overwhelmed and have an extremely difficult time blocking! Like the offense, the defense is composed of powerful giants and warriors that can band, negate and/or play the first enhancement, which will cause your opponent to immediately be put on the defense!

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

Vindicated (FoM)

Resurrection (I)

Prosperity (FoM)

Complacent (LoC)

Fool (RoA)

Stumble (PoC)

Remiss (LoC)

Artifacts/Covenants/Curses

Altar of Dagon (FoM)

Besieged (PoC)

Fortresses/Sites/Cities

Ashkelon (FoM)

Judean Garrison (LoC)

Philistine Garrison (LoC)

Heroes

David, Outcasts’ Refuge (LoC)

Jehoshaphat, the Seeker (LoC)

Asa, the Upright (LoC)

Joab (CoW)

Hananiah (LoC)

Mighty Men (PoC)

Caleb (FoM)

Ahimaaz (FoM)

Matthan, the Defender (LoC)

Eleazar, the Potentate (LoC)

Naaman's Servant Girl (FoM)

Captive Priest (FoM)

Good Enhancements

Builder's Sword (LoC)

By My Spirit (LoC)

Joshua's Spear (FoM)

Feast of Unleavened Bread (LoC)

Temple Spears and Shields (LoC)

Israel's Bow (LoC)

Helmet (LoC)

Shields (LoC)

Evil Characters

Philistine Commanders (LoC)

Abimelech, King of Gerar (LoC)

Commander Phicol (LoC)

Saph (I)

Goliath (LR)

Philistine Invaders (LoC)

Philistine Armor Bearer (LoC)

Devouring Philistines (PoC)

Evil Enhancements

Bringing Fear (LR)

Ishbibenob's Sword (I)

Ishbibenob’s Spear (I)

Overrun by Philistines (LoC)

Go Away! (LoC)

Goliath’s Armor (LoC)

Reserve
Benaiah (FoM)
Elhanan (FoM)
Phinehas, son of Eleazar (FoM)
Jordan Interrupted (PoC)
Israel's Sword (LoC)
Goliath's Sword (LoC)
Ishbibenob (I)
King Achish (CoW)
Foreign Spears (LoC)
Lahmi’s Spear (I)

Deck strategy and tips:

OVERVIEW
The offense relies heavily upon attacking with banded heroes but doesn’t necessarily need to band in order to win battle, since there are plenty of battle-winning enhancements in the deck. However, the main power is in the band, and the band loves to end with Benaiah, who negates characters and enhancements (except band abilities and good weapons), making your opponent struggle to win the battle. The offense also has a minor meek hero strategy to use when the time is right for that strategy.
The defense has strong warriors that tend to do a lot of damage by their own special abilities, but are also backed up by strong battle winning enhancements that target banded heroes.
THE OFFENSE
David is the lynchpin of the offense as he has a strong band ability, and some of the heroes’ abilities and certain enhancements are the most potent with him being in play, so make sure you can get him in play as soon as possible!
David can band to a hero from Reserve, among other locations. However, Benaiah and Elhanan are in the Reserve (among others), and David banded to Benaiah is very strong as Benaiah negates most abilities, or when David bands to Elhanan, Elhanan can take one of the three red OT cards from the Reserve.
Equip Joshua’s Spear to one of your gold/red heroes to gain the benefit of the spear’s abilities that benefit both brigades.
Is your opponent soul droughted? Keep pressing the attack with Naaman’s Servant Girl (NSG) or Captive Priest to generate a soul for you to rescue. You can also use Matthan to soul gen from your opponent’s deck. And speaking of NSG, if you want to convert one of your Philistines in territory to a red hero, use her convert ability to the right one that you can also use in your hero band!
There are a few cards in the deck that will bounce characters in territories. You can either target nuisance characters in your opponent’s territory, or you can use the ability on some of your own characters to gain a benefit. For example, if you have one of your weapons equipped to a hero or evil character, bounce that character to unequip the weapon so you can use it next battle, or equip it to a different character.
There are a few cards that help restrict your opponent from playing dominants, but watch out as one of them (Complacent lost soul) will also restrict you from playing dominants during the battle phase!
THE DEFENSE
Defensively, Philistine Garrison is a terrific card which can be used as a strong blocker against lone heroes, or use it as a fortress to keep the battle going and add one of your Philistines to battle.
Saph equipped with a battle-winning weapon, such as Ishbibenob’s Spear, is a very strong combo, as the opponent's first enhancement is prevented by Saph's ability. This means that your opponent will need a cannot be prevented or cannot be negated good enhancement which also interrupts the battle or negates your weapon.
Goliath is extremely strong against banded Heroes, or simply to kick the lone hero out of battle. If you opponent doesn’t have another hero to present after the withdraw, you just won the battle!
King Achish's draw-and/or-play ability is great for speed and battle-winning; he is a great target to recur with Philistine Armor Bearer as well!
A nice combo is to discard one of your Philistines with the Prosperity lost soul then use Philistine Armor Bearer to recur that Philistine!

YTG recommends the below cards as other viable options for this deck’s theme. You can view and purchase them by clicking on each one, or search for them here!

Classic cards