Welcome to the Mirror of Galadriel, a series in which we explore things that were, things that are, and things that yet may be.

I apologize that it has been so long since the last article. I've been busy working on [REDACTED], which I will be able to share with you soon. Hopefully you will be pleased when you can finally play [REDACTED] without all the issues of traditional [REDACTED].

Things That Were: Artifacts That Weren't

I was recently going through an old box of Redemption stuff, and I came across some playtest cards from years ago. Among these were a few Artifacts that I thought would be fun to share. They are particularly interesting because none of them ended up being printed.

I don't remember why these card designs were abandoned. I don't even remember exactly when they were being playtested, but my guess is around 2011/2012 (after the Disciples and before the Early Church). If that timing is correct, it's possible that these would have been just late enough to have the new card frame and be part of rotation.

The first of the three Artifacts is one you will recognize, because it would have been a redesign of a classic card, and that card was eventually redesigned years later in the Fall of Man:

The old playtest card obviously didn't look like this. I've recreated it in the modern card frame, and with modernized wording.

This Artifact was a wild design, because it had the potential to skip multiple of your opponent's preparation and discard phases (especially in Type 2, because you could use Rescuer's Choice to avoid rescuing the captured Son of Jacob indefinitely). I'm glad it was not printed like this.

The version we eventually got in the Fall of Man has some similarities (because the thematic capturing of a Son of Jacob remains), but without the complex skipping of phases:

The second playtest Artifact is a card that has never been made, but was planned to reuse the Doug Gray art from the Warriors version of Ointment:

Gideon's Jar is a cool design that ties into the Judges strategy of discarding evil cards in territories (which had been established by Jephthah and Judge's Seat). I actually think that this ability is pretty reasonable, and that an Artifact similar to this could eventually be printed. The Judges theme needs some help anyway.

The third playtest Artifact is another that has never been made. It was less developed than the others and didn't even have art yet:

This design for Scarlet Robe could have been added to any kind of deck, but it was intended especially for Roman defenses and their hand-discard strategy. The card seems pretty weak now, but it would have been much better back when it was being designed. After all, hand protection used to be much less common, and there were not yet any Artifacts like The Cross that would simply restrict Dominants. Scarlet Robe would not see competitive play if it were printed today, but it might have been useful enough back then.

What do you think of these old potential Artifacts? Are you disappointed they were never made, or is the game better off without them?

Things That Are: Artifacts in T2C

Not counting Covenants and Curses, there are four Artifacts in the new set, Times to Come.

The one that has made the biggest splash so far is Abomination of Desolation:

This is unsurprising, because it is the long-awaited reprint of a classic black enhancement that used to be the cornerstone of the Greek theme. But this idol would be playable even without its classic draw-punishing effect, simply due to its synergy with Forces Arise.

Together, Abomination of Desolation and Forces Arise can be used to block repeatedly. This is particularly powerful because it is much harder to interrupt an Artifact than it is to interrupt a card in battle.

The second-most powerful new Artifact is probably the other idol:

The capture effect on this seems like a great counter to some of the most powerful good cards, but it remains to be seen whether this will see much play outside of Babylonian decks. I expect it will see some significant use in [REDACTED] because, unlike Abomination of Desolation, the punishing effect does not even have to [REDACTED].

Like the Greeks and Babylonians, the Persians also get their own Artifact:

The ability to discard reserved characters calls back to the classic version of Darius' Decree, which discarded Heroes that were set aside. However, if this card ends up being played much, it will probably be for its negate effect, which makes it an alternative to Holy of Holies.

The last Artifact in the set is one for Daniel offenses:

The Book of Knowledge is a great way for Daniel decks to get around pesky Dominants without restricting them.

All four of these Artifacts are best with their respective themes. But as much as I like incentivizing thematic decks, I also appreciate that all four of these were designed to have some use outside those themes as well. The reason for this is that it makes the Artifacts playable in Booster Draft and/or Sealed Deck. In limited formats, some Artifacts end up being dead cards outside of their themes, but these Times to Come Artifacts are not like that. Even The Book of Knowledge, which has a unity requirement, is usable with the starter decks.

Things That Yet May Be: Cards Based on Songs

Last time, I challenged readers to create a card based on a song. In response, Tyler Stevens designed a powerful enhancement inspired by "Wilderness" by Jeremy Camp:

Wilderness is meant to be a boon for the theme of the same name. That theme is special to Tyler, because it is the first one he ever designed.

He shared that the three discarded cards represent that the journey through the wilderness was supposed to take just 3 days (before it became 40 years due to sin). The randomness is meant to signify how the people did not know what was coming and had to constantly adapt. The negate is to help get around protect abilities.

Other aspects of the design are meant to tie into the lyrics of the song:

"I've had seasons of goodness

Overflowing with life

But I'm no stranger to sorrow

Or a heart that wanders sometimes"

The card is a good enhancement, but due to the randomness of the ability it can end up discarding other good cards that would also be trying to rescue Lost Souls for God's glory. This represents the heart that wanders (makes mistakes). But on the other hand, the draw ability represents those seasons of goodness overflowing with life.

Tyler actually sent in a few versions of the card with varying complexity. The most complex version involves repeating the main effect:

This version could discard a crazy number of cards, especially if the initial discard hits some dual icon cards that increase X. Notably, due to the way this is worded, the "draw 2" part would not be repeated (otherwise this would be way too strong).

I have always enjoyed playing mill decks and hand discard decks, so I'd like to see a card like this be printed to help Exodus offenses be a little more effective. Unfortunately, the emerging meta of 100-card decks is not helping mill strategies have any competitive relevance. There's no realistic way to make opponent run out of cards if they begin with twice as many.

Nevertheless, this is a very fun design that I would love to play. Thanks again for sharing, Tyler!

Card Creation Prompt

If you would like to send in a card design for the next article, the challenge is to create your own version of Gideon's Jar and/or Scarlet Robe. These can be as different as you want from the old playtest designs.

Please submit any cards you make to me (Ear-A-Corn on Discord) before Sunday, November 9th.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Thanks for reading!

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