My Thoughts on The Threshing Floor Pocast Ep. 95

First and foremost, super glad to see The Threshing Floor Podcast again. Make sure to check the latest episode out by clicking here! Love listening to the thoughts of The Guardian as well.

As someone who was playing back in the days of the Wild West of Redemption, I definitely need to state I love the structure the rules have taken since way back than.

Back in the day of slapstick Redemption I remember many times defending with Simon the Magician and playing Wrath of Satan, basically instantly if I had initiative, to wipe my opponent's heroes. It would kill yours, but back than most people played Chariots of Fire to get their own heroes back or played Goshen or similar to protect them certain amount. Super thankful we have moved past this phase.

Speaking of the Wild West, the Son of God being able to rescue the */4 or N.T. Only was definately extremely controversial. My dad would play with me at the time and I remember how upset he got over the ruling. I can see how we need clear rules, but I will say I definitely advocated that it could rescue anything regardless. I'm pretty sure this ruling alone caused several people to quit the game unfortunately.

I haven't been to any major tournaments over a state tournament since I went to Nationals in NY sometime around 2015ish so it's hard for me to make any complaints on judging. That being said I definitely have my opinion. A few years ago a new TCG came out called Lorcana. It was based on Disney characters. I got into and competed pretty heavy and won several tournaments. Some of the bigger tournaments had card prizing where the card alone was worth $10,000-$20,000. I don't play anymore but follow the game and meta a little. This last season they put a ruling into place, take backs are allowed even in the highest levels of tournaments. I was kind of mind blown at the highest level tournament they would allow this. All card games and rules are different.

I specifically, since being back, have really only played in Lackey Grand Prixs. I've asked to take stuff back several times, probably every game to be honest. In my opinion, I think tournaments like this, Locals, Districts should allow for minor take backs without a big issue. That being said, once you get to State level and above I think take backs should not be allowed at all. Once a card is played, even if it does nothing because something on the board is negating or protecting against it, it goes to discard. Getting to Nationals and staying in a Hotel can be pricey. Although we need to show grace and mercy as a Christian card game, I think we need to respect the time and effort people put into the game and especially the cost of making these higher level tournaments. Now..... if you are in round 1 playing against a child or someone super new to the game, I don't think it needs to be set in the rules to show them a little grace. If you know you are going to 5-0 or 5-2 someone with ease, give them grace. If you are playing against a top player, the top player vs top player should not allow take backs (unless the person agrees to it).

To move on from this subject, the actual judges. It's been a while since I've been to a major tournament so I haven't run into these instances really at the highest level at least, but we need to remember judges are volunteer. We also need to realize we should trust in the elder team who specifically picks judges. Trust that they are people who will make decisions using their own Godly integrity. I do agree that if a judge disagrees with the head judge they should talk about the situation more. Also just because it's Marcus you another judge should be able to disagree and talk it out. We would love to think every scenario is mapped in black and white in the rules, but there are tons of combinations in cards that can create a scenario that is unexpected and needs to be thought out. The rules, since I played last in 2020, have gotten a lot clearer and moving into rotation and eliminating scroll cards has made the rules much, much smoother.

As far as missed triggers go, I would love to see something get put into official rules for how to play this and other types of situations that may arise similar to this. Another thing we should put into official rules is how we handle drawing cards and where in the hand they need to go until we know for SURE the draw won't be negated. A lot of times people don't intentionally cheat, but they have done so much stuff after the draw that it is easy to forget the exact cards that they drew.

Now to move on to a new subject. I know Redemption is for fun, but a lot of people play to be competitive at the highest level. I think we should take that into our minds. Type 1-2 Player should be made to top cut after 7 rounds. The other players can continue to play and finish out 10 rounds. Those last 3 rounds should be best of 3 games. As someone who has won Nationals with a large amount of players, I don't think best of 1 games always show the best player. Sometimes people get a horrible draw, miss every tutor and evil character, draw every soul, etc. The variable factor with who actually should win the tournament with best of 1 games vs. best of 3 is much lower. With this tournament happening once a year and the expense paid to come I think we should really think about moving to a best of 3 format. The top cut could even be the following day and you miss out on another category, etc. if it's all about time restraints.

In conclusion, I am thankful none of my 3 brothers play the game because I'm sure I'd hear about several times I was a butthead during game nights, etc. lol..... Thankfully I've grown in Christ since a lot of these moments. We all love Redemption and none of us are immune to doing something foolish. In the end it is only a game no matter how competitive we are and we need to make sure our actions are reflecting our lives as Christians.

"Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others" - Colossians 3:13 (NLT)