One of the unique features of the Paragon format is that players do not include Lost Souls in their decks. Instead, they share a separate Soul Deck, which contains all the Lost Souls they will race to rescue.
Getting to Know the Deck
Here are answers to some of the questions you may have about the Soul Deck:
Why are there 21 Lost Souls?
21 may seem like an arbitrary number, but it is actually the minimum required for a 5-player game. If all 5 players are tied with 4 redeemed souls each, and no one has generated any Lost Soul tokens or captured any humans, then there needs to be a 21st Lost Soul available so that someone can rescue their 5th and win.
At lower player counts, having so many Lost Souls just provides a nice variety.
Why are all the Scripture references both O.T. and N.T.?
I made sure all the Lost Souls were both O.T. and N.T. so that any cards that reference Lost Souls of a specific testament would be guaranteed to work. For example, the Moabites theme has many special abilities that require O.T. Lost Souls.
It was important to ensure that these kinds of abilities would still work in the format. Otherwise many cards (and even some entire themes) could be too weak to use.
Why are there Rewards that also benefit opponents?
The Soul Deck has several cards that give a big benefit to you, and a weaker version of that benefit to all other players. For instance, there are "Celebrate" and "Prepare."
I included these abilities because they provide player interaction in a way that speeds everyone up. Positive player interaction like this is especially fun in multiplayer games. I like to call such abilities "governor effects" because they resemble the "Governor" card from the game Dominion.
Having abilities like this helps keep all players engaged. They also add another layer of strategy to choosing a Reward, because you have to decide whether it is worth helping your opponents.
Why are there so many Rewards that bring Heroes back from discard pile and other zones?
This is intentional. There are Rewards that can get Heroes back from deck, Reserve, discard pile, Land of Bondage, and even banish pile.
It is important to provide many such ways to Heroes so that players don't get stuck.
In a multiplayer game, it is possible to suffer a disproportionate number of removal effects. Especially if your opponents gang up, you could quickly run out of Heroes with which to attack. Having so many ways to restore them helps avoid this situation.
If you do completely run out of Heroes, you could choose one of these Rewards after you successfully block. There is even "Resurrect" which may get you back a Hero when someone else gets the Reward.
Strategy Tips
In no particular order, here are some implications of the Soul Deck that you should keep in mind to adjust your strategies for the Paragon format:
Soul-generating abilities are far less important in the format, but they still have their uses.
You will always begin your turn with at least three Lost Souls available to rescue, so you won't need to generate a Lost Soul to make a rescue attempt. However, you can use an ability that plays a Lost Soul from a deck to search for a Lost Soul with a specific Reward you want.
Cards that generate Lost Soul tokens or capture humans won't add additional Reward options for you, but they do cause you to control meek Lost Souls (otherwise impossible due to the Soul Deck), which is relevant for cards that require meek Lost Souls.
Certain "soul hide" blocks can still be effective, but they may result in you receiving no Soul Reward.
For example, Death of Unrighteous is still a strong Enhancement, but if you successfully block by shuffling all the Lost Souls, there will be no Rewards left in play for you.
The Lost Souls will also refill at the start of the next turn, so you won't slow down any additional opponents by blocking this way.
The best Soul Reward to choose sometimes depends on whether you are rescuing or blocking.
If you are blocking, then you should probably just pick whichever Reward would have the most expedient effect. This is because selecting a block Reward does not change the Lost Souls themselves in any way.
However, if you are rescuing, then there are additional factors to consider. Whichever Lost Soul you rescue will not only provide you its Reward, but will also cease to be available to other players (or to you for that matter). You may want to rescue a specific Lost Soul just so another player can't.
If "Repeat" has not yet been rescued, then you may even want to choose a Lost Soul that you would like to copy later in the game.
If there are no particularly useful Rewards available, you may want to rescue an opponent's captured human instead.
This would stop that opponent from releasing the captured character later. Even if they have no release effects in their deck, they may end up using the "Liberate" Reward.
You should consider the Soul Rewards when you are constructing your Reserve.
There are many Lost Soul Rewards that allow you to search your Reserve for a card. You may want to include a bit of everything in your Reserve so that you can take advantage of these abilities.
Don't underestimate the power of "Scavenge."
"Scavenge" is not the flashiest of the Lost Souls. Most often, you would rather use a Reward that draws a card, takes a card from your Reserve, etc. However, it can be unexpectedly helpful, even when opponent is not playing any of the same brigades as you.
In the very first game of multiplayer Paragon ever tested, an early use of the "Scavenge" Reward ended up winning my friend the game. He took Covenant with Moses from my discard pile, even though he had no White or Clay Heroes in his deck, because it was his only option.
In the final attack of the game, he banded to some of my wilderness Heroes. The blocker managed to remove all the other Heroes, so that only my white and clay ones remained in battle, opposed by an evil character who was protected.
We all assumed this would result in a block, but my friend still had Covenant with Moses, and was able to play it on my Hero to win the game.
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