The Infamous "Canon" Decks... by: Matt Aebersold 7/12/06 back to list of blogs
What are they talking about? Real Cannons? That can't be right, unless they misspelled the word or something. Even if they are talking about cannons, what does that have to do with Redemption? There's no cards depicting cannons, right? Ohhhh, I get it, they must be talking about Canon Cameras! Of course, that makes perfect sense...they must be using a Canon camera to take pictures of cards and events, things like that... 
Although those are both great ideas, they are nowhere near correct. But hey, that's why I'm writing this blog, to clear everything up! Marcus and I sat down together awhile ago to brainstorm new ideas for our group. We thought the game got a little routine for our group last season, maybe a little boring, always playing type1 tournaments. We thought of focusing on type2, or booster draft and sealed deck tournaments, but that we already do in our districts. And Type1 is the main category, the way the game was designed and the way everyone loves to play. We thought about doing a "vintage" tournament, only being able to use cards up through a certain set, say Warriors. That would bring the game back a few years, make things a little more simple. Another thing that attracted us about this idea was introducing the game to new players, making the rules and game play a little easier to grasp. We both liked this idea, but soon realized that older cards are hard to get a hold of for new players, especially Warriors, unless you wanted to spend $225 on the Factory Set. We still wanted a solution for new players to learn the fundamentals of the game, yet still be competitive with our more experienced players. If you know Magic at all, they release sets in "Blocks" They have a Core Set, then they release certain blocks, consisting of about 3 sets for each block. In their official tournaments, only the current core set and block is legal for game play, then they offer vintage tournaments and blocks, things like that. This helps them to regulate the game, keeping all players current, and preventing someone from dominating tournament play just because he or she has the best and most expensive cards from the entire game. Now, whether or not you like, or agree with, Magic and their themes, this is a great idea for card games in general. Magic just happens to do this very well. Marcus and I thought about applying the same principals to Redemption. Since Cactus releases starter decks every 3 sets or so, we thought they would make natural "Core Sets" or, dividers between blocks. Then each "Block" would consist of the respective starter, and all the sets that came out after said starter, up until the release of the next starter... That leaves the un-answered question of "Why Canons?" We didn't want to use the term "block." We thought of adding some biblical meaning behind our term, like a biblical alternative, just as Redemption itself, is a biblical alternative. The Canons of Scripture, basically deciding what scriptures/letters made it into the bible, we decided was a great term for our decks. The Canon Decks are basically what sets "make it into" legal decks. It's kind of a stretch to relate the 2, but hey, we like the term...it's cool! We both really like this idea, because it serves a dual purpose for our group. It provides some interesting game play. It makes you read more cards and discover new strategies that you would normally browse by, because all of a sudden, the number of cards you can build your deck from just got limited. This only work, of course, if your opponent is playing the same deck-type. If you can't use cards like New Jerusalem and Falling Away, and your opponent can, you are at a strong disadvantage. That is why you need a definition list, and decks can only be made within that list. Here you go...
Haha, I almost forgot to tell you about the other advantage, just like I said earlier in the blog, this would really help new players. If we offered a tournament only playing the modern Canon (Let's call it Type I: modern) and some new players came, they would have the same cards, because the veteran players won't be able to play older cards, like Destruction of Nehustian, for example. This way, it makes you win based more on skill of play, rather than having the best cards. I think it would make competition more exciting, and new players won't be discouraged because they don't have the money to buy the best cards. Marcus and I tested this theory out, using the E/F Canon guideline. We both built deck only using E/F starter cards and Angel Wars. The games we played turned out very well! There were cards we ended up using that we found to be awesome cards that we just overlooked building our regular decks. The competition was suprisingly fun! The games could've gone either way, and the deciding wins were based solely on smart, strategic decisions, rather than the Son of God, New Jerusalem combo or the Authority of Christ Promo. We both know that this type of play is not official, and we won't be running this play-type at any "official" tournaments right now, but we look forward to seeing where this idea goes, and if it catches on... ~Matt |
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