Redemption

Redemption(™) is a Bible-based collectible card game (CCG). Created in 1995 by Rob Anderson of Cactus Game Design Inc. as a Christian faith alternative to Magic the Gathering, Redemption (™) is the 2nd-longest running CCG in existence (after Magic). As of 2023, 6 starter sets and 24 expansion sets have been released, along with many promotional cards. There are over 4500 unique Redemption cards in print - including variants and reprints.

For all of the impressive numbers, what is even more impressive is that every single Redemption card is based on a character, event, or concept from the Bible and has its own identifying Bible verse(s). Moreover, most cards’ special abilities tie directly into their verse’s meaning or topic.

Going further - the game is a simple-to-learn, complex-to-master strategy game. Unlike most other CCGs, it is 2-sided: each player plays offense and defense, and will build each into their customized deck.

So how do you play? In a nutshell, the first player to rescue 5 lost souls (in “Type 1” format, or 7 Lost Souls in Type 2 format) is the winner. Lost Souls are rescued by using Heroes on offense, and strategically overcoming your opponent’s defensive villains, called Evil Characters. Each time you do that, you rescue 1 Lost Soul card, and the turn is passed for your opponent to play offense with their Heroes and against your defensive Evil Characters. Hundreds of unique special abilities create endless play combinations and deep strategy, for extremely high replay value for the game. Once you get into Redemption, you’ll always enjoy tweaking - or completely scrapping and starting over - decks, acquiring new cards, trying new strategies, and testing yourself against opponents in casual and tournament settings.

Speaking of tournaments, every year there is a long tournament season, filled with local, district, state, and regional tournaments, as well as a national tournament, that anyone can attend. The national tournament, known within the community as "Nationals", is usually hosted in the summer months of July or August. This event is a 3 day tournament where every legal category is played to determine a National Champion of that category for the year. Also, at this point, the annual ranking system for players which awards points for top 3 finishes in sanctioned tournaments throughout the year is finalized and the winners are announced. All National winners and winners of a category in the annual ranking system for a category receive special National Winner Promos. These are some of the coolest looking cards in the game and are highly sought after as playable collectibles.

Though of course far from perfect, being a Christian game in which most players who play are Christians, there is also a wonderful community that has been established over the past 25 years. So many players are welcoming and encouraging to newcomers and veterans alike, and there is an online message board and Discord channel in which conversation goes on daily. This is a community in which players feel just as natural about asking a strategy question about the game as sharing a personal prayer topic - trusting that they will be treated with respect and care no matter what. This active community of Redemption players, which includes the team of Elders (the game's leadership group), have really worked hard to make it about as easy to join the game as can be. There are tremendous community driven resources to provide plenty of engagement with new and active players alike. In addition to the message boards and Discord, the game has an active subreddit, a blog site with contributions from the broad community of players, active Youtubers and even two podcasts - One a weekly source of content spanning various topics of the game and the other a biweekly dive into high level competitive gameplay.