As you may have seen in the 2026 National Tournament announcement, you can look forward to the first annual National Paragon side-event on Thursday, July 23rd. We have many exciting plans and surprises for the Paragon Format between now and then, so stay tuned!

When adjusting to any new format, it can take a while for even veteran players to get used to all the ways that the format is different. The Paragon Format shakes up gameplay in many ways: it is multiplayer, it uses a smaller card pool without some of the older staples, it has no soul drought, etc.

If you want to succeed in Paragon deck-building, you'll have to rethink some of your typical strategies and consider the implications of the changes. For example, the format does not include Three Woes or any of the territory class characters that negate neutrals, so Artifacts are more reliable. Perhaps you want to add more Artifacts to your deck, and/or you want to have plenty of Enhancements like Furnace of God's Wrath that can remove opponents' Artifacts.

But today, the point I want to emphasize is the added importance of avoiding the table's battle Dominants after you get the lead in a multiplayer game.

Plenty of strategies can get you an early lead, but a game of Redemption is not won by merely making a couple successful rescues. You have to be able to rescue soul #5, and if you are about to do so in multiplayer, the rest of the table will start using all their evil Dominants against you.

The most troublesome Dominant is Christian Martyr, followed by Forces Arise (if used with Abom).

These Dominants are deadly for lone Heroes. You can try to avoid them by banding, but of course bands have their own vulnerabilities.

Strife even sees some play in Paragon. Between it, Wild Animals, and The Trusted Politicians (not to mention anything that negates or restricts banding), you cannot consistently rely on your band abilities to keep you safe.

That's where the "magnificent seven" come in. The Paragon card pool has seven Heroes who can help you avoid Christian Martyr and Forces Arise by either restricting evil Dominants or by protecting against discard. This makes each one of the Heroes a great finisher for your offense.

All seven have their uses, and which one (if any) you include in your deck will mostly depend on what themes you are playing. Nevertheless, here is my ranking of how strong I think they are as finishers in the format:

7. Adino, the Eznite

Adino is the most difficult option to use because he has to be equipped in order to restrict evil Dominants. There are useful weapons in the format (the best being Snatched Spear, as choose-the-blocker effects are extra strong in Paragon), but the requirement of a second card is still an unfortunate hurdle, especially when he could end up being negated anyway.

I think Adino is most useful in a "Benaiah, Paragon of Prowess" deck. That way he has extra weapons to use.

6. The Man of God

At first glance, The Man of God may appear even less consistent than Adino. After all, your opponent has the option to shuffle an evil card from hand to avoid the Dominant restriction. However, this is not so bad in multiplayer, as you choose which opponent to target with the ability. If you have even one opponent with hand protection, you can be guaranteed that the restriction will activate.

And of course, drawing 2 is great!

5. Job, the Perseverant

The best thing about Job is that he can't be negated. In fact, he's the only one of the seven who can't be negated in any circumstance. He also has easy access to whichever Job Enhancement you want.

The reason Job is not ranked higher is that he rarely gets initiative. Protection only goes so far; you need to be able to win battles against all kinds of blockers.

If you want to win with Job, make sure you have some interrupts and/or negates for him to use. To get the most out of him, try him in a "Job, Paragon of Patience" deck.

4. Abiathar

Abiathar is only good in clay priests decks, but in those decks he is excellent. He is small enough to get initiative most of the time, and the flexibility of either banding or taking an Enhancement from Reserve makes him twice as useful.

Like most of the Heroes on this list, Abiathar can be negated. However, as a priest, he is not negated by Holy of Holies. Holy of Holies is especially great in multiplayer, so priests decks with it and Abiathar can be quite strong.

3. Medad

Medad is a strong option for any deck with wilderness Heroes, whether they be white, clay, or gold.

He is limited in that he can only exchange to your deck. You can't switch with a Hero you've already drawn. Exchanging with deck also means that you have to draw Medad a second time if you want to reuse him. But if you choose not to switch, he almost always gets initiative, so you could try to win with white battle-winner Enhancements.

He also has the option of playing a Lost Soul from a deck. Soul drought is a non-issue in Paragon, but you could still search for a particular Lost Soul you want to rescue (for its reward ability).

2. Hadassah (Esther)

The best thing about Esther is that she is territory class. She protects all your O.T Heroes, no matter their brigades, meaning that she can be splashed into any O.T. offense. She can stay safe in your territory while your favorite Hero attacks.

She can be negated, though not by Darius' Decree, which in fact makes her a great combo with Darius' Decree.

The only reason that she doesn't take the top spot is that she protects all your opponents' O.T. Heroes as well. And in the current card pool, almost every deck will use O.T. Heroes.

1. The Lord's Army

Why is The Lord's Army the strongest? It restricts all evil Dominants without a condition, it cannot be prevented, and it even protects Lost Souls.

If you have enough silver Enhancements, The Lord's Army can rescue on its own. But there are also plenty of ways to band to it — several in a Joshua deck, plus options like Jacob the Wrestler and Michael the Guardian. The banding is also safer than usual because Strife is restricted.

Better yet, protect from all harm!

After ranking the seven Heroes, I realized I made the obvious oversight of leaving out the Heroes who can protect from all harm, not just discard. However, most of these are more situational anyway.

Jonathan requires another Hero to band to him for the protection to be useful:

The Angel of His Presence ceases to protect if you have to play a good Enhancement, but at least he is territory class, and his take ability is nice:

Zechariah protects all Heroes, but he requires you to reveal a good Dominant. If you do happen to have one in hand, revealing it without hand protection will make you the target of every opponent's Vain Philosophy:

Obadiah's Hidden 100 only protects one other Hero, but at least unlike Jonathan it has the banding built-in:

Then there is Daniel. Daniel is ridiculously strong. He has protection, banding, and choosing-the-blocker, all in a CBP package. If your Paragon deck has any Enhancements he can use, you'll be hard-pressed to find a good reason not to include him:

FINAL RANKING

C-TIER:

12. Prince Jonathan

11. Adino, the Eznite

10. The Man of God

9. The Angel of His Presence

B-TIER:

8. Zechariah, the Seer

7. Obadiah's Hidden 100

6. Job, the Perseverant

A-TIER:

5. Abiathar, the Survivor

4. Medad

3. Hadassah (Esther)

2. The Lord's Army

S-TIER:

1. Daniel, the Treasured

Do you agree with my ranking? Is there another Hero I missed? Let me know what you think on Discord.

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