Designed by Jayden Alstad, a multi-National tournament winner of several categories, this Disciples and Demons Contender Deck comprises two themes that have been competitive nearly non-stop since their respective introductions as cohesive themes over a decade ago. They have both changed significantly during that time, but the newest Gospel of Christ set brought Disciples into the Rotation meta with some incredible speed and strong battlewinners, and it spiced up the Demon defense with a new focus on place abilities.
See top for recommended GoC cards to boost this deck's theme, and/or to substitute if you'd like to play the GoC Only category. You'll also find recommended non-GoC Rotation cards as well! Finally, see the bottom of this page for the full list of recommended cards, including Classic cards!
Thaddaeus / Judas (Thaddaeus) (GoC)
Deck strategy and tips:
- OVERVIEW
- Because the GoC disciples all have purple ability sides and clay meek sides, this offense can easily go in either of those two directions, or some combination thereof. In this case, the offense is focused on the purple side of things which is almost entirely interrupts and negates that either act as battlewinners or stop your opponent’s battlewinners.
- The defense is mono-orange “good stuff”, so it pulls together the best orange cards from among Old Testament, Gospel, and Revelation themes. This means you’ll have big protection and small chump blocks available with plenty of negate support either way.
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THE OFFENSE
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Most players familiar with the Gospel of Christ set will know that Matthew the Publican is typically your number one priority. Your ways to get to Matthew on turn 1 include Patmos, Angel from the Sun, the star ability on Peter alongside a bounce effect like Temple Veil, and then of course Matthew himself. Since there aren’t many things you can do on the clay side with him, hopefully you can find a Dominant to reveal instead of converting him. Either way, getting that big draw and finding some counters like Judas Iscariot, The Fallen Star, and/or Destructive Sin can provide a strong early advantage.
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Another great turn 1 option is to convert Peter to meek to play Herod’s Temple from deck and use the toss ability if they block with a low-numbered Evil Character. Be careful that you don’t lose him early though since you’ll want the draw from Four Drachma Coin.
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Attack with John the Fisherman to toss the next Enhancement and use Good Seed to add Matthias to battle after they block for a nearly unstoppable battlewinner against a lone Evil Character. In the same vain, load Matthias into Fishing Boat so that you can add him to battle and bounce their Evil Character once they’ve removed your other Heroes.
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I Am He makes for a great prep phase play to protect a big band like Peter to John or Andrew. If you play it in your prep phase then there’s no way for your opponent to negate the protect during battle. I Am He also has great numbers for tossing with Herod’s Temple.
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Use Simon the Zealous to choose a low-numbered Evil Character to block while you have Covenant with Adam active for a reusable and hard to stop battlewinner. You can also choose a slightly bigger Evil Character if you have Herod’s Temple and something to toss to it like I Am He, Boanerges, or The Great Commission.
Make the most of your strong battlewinners by making them “cannot be negated” with Bartholomew. Just make sure you’re patient with your good Dominants so you can keep using the purple side. -
Once your opponent has found more of their defense, utilize Lost Anointing, Thaddaeus, and The Great Commission to tidy things up.
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THE DEFENSE
The key to this defense is discerning whether to go big or small with each block. Early on when your opponent is low on resources, going big is usually the best to conserve your own resources. Later in the game when the opponent has set up some stronger rescues then going small for a Swine Stampede might be the safest option. -
Use Prince of this World to bounce your Deafening Spirit to have a negate for every block. You can also use it to bounce and reset Heroes or even your own placed Sordid Spirit so that you can use it again to get to the demons in Reserve.
King of Tyrus lets you pull out Afflicting Spirit for your own use, or give it to your opponent to choose with Simon the Zealous while Covenant with Adam is active. -
Suicidal Swine Stampede is great to be able to use twice as an Enhancement, but if needed you can block with the Character side, discard it to add Restless Spirit, take and play Twice Afflicted from Reserve, and then bring back the Enhancement side of Stampede for a clean and easy block. Just be careful that you don’t have Covenant with Adam active…
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Combine the Artifact side of Cursed for Us with bounce effects like Remiss Lost Soul, Temple Veil, Life in the Son, Matthias, and Prince of this World to keep bringing back your Gospel Evil Enhancements from discard.
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Use Gates of Hell to extend a battle or add Abaddon, the Destroyer to negate their battlewinner and bring your other Evil Character back. Gates can also be used to speed the deck up with The Bronze Laver. Underdeck your Evil Characters from hand, draw some cards, and then use Gates to bring the Evil Characters out. Use some of the bounce effects mentioned earlier to keep cycle some through every turn.
YTG recommends the below cards as other viable options for this deck’s theme. You can search for them here!
To convert this deck to a GoC Only constructed deck, remove all cards that do not have GoC or GoC LR after each card title from the deck and Reserve. You can then add any number of GoC or GoC LR cards from the Reserve to the main deck, in order to make the main deck a minimum of 50 cards. You'll also need GoC or GoC LR lost souls to replace any non-GoC cards (purchase separately). Another option is to purchase GoC cards separately to replace the non-GoC cards in the deck / Reserve (see below list of recommended GoC cards which can be purchased at the top of the page at a discount).
GoC cards
Crowd’s Choice
The Resurrection
Golgotha
James, the Fisherman
Philip of Bethsaida
Thomas the Twin
Day of Judgment
Authority of Christ
Sent Two by Two
Walking on Water (GoC)
Washed by Christ
Beelzebub
Evil Spawn
Strong Demon
Driven by Spirits
Hate the Light
Rotation cards
Sheol
Out of Bethlehem
Pentecost
The Divining Damsel
Beast from the Sea
Messenger of Satan
Red Dragon
The god of this World
The Wages of Sin
Dragon’s Wrath
Fearfulness
Classic cards
Crown of Thorns (Wa)
Ethiopian Treasurer
Thaddeus (Di)
Authority of Christ (Promo)
Great Faith (Wo or G)
Sinning Hand
Worshipping Demons