Fishing Boat Article

FISHING BOAT – LUKE 5:4
by Bryon Hake

Going fishing was to the disciples what driving to the grocery store is to most of us. Fish are food (regardless of what a shark named Bruce might say). And to get the food, the disciples had to take the boat out to where the fish were, gather some in nets, and return to the shore where they could cook it.

When Jesus called brothers Peter and Andrew and brothers James and John to be His disciples, they were fishermen by trade. All four of them were experts, and could handle fishing boats and nets even under challenging conditions. Though these disciples left their nets (their profession) to follow Jesus, they did not lose their skills. In fact, they used their mastery of fishing boat and net to provide food for the disciples and even for Jesus.

Peter, Andrew, James, and John were not the only disciples who could handle a boat or a net. According to John chapter 21, after Jesus was raised from the dead, but before he ascended to heaven, Thomas and Nathaniel and a couple other disciples joined Peter, James, and John in the boat for some fishing. Following the directions of Jesus, those seven disciples caught 153 fish in one net.

Besides the obvious use for fishing, a fishing boat can also be used simply for transportation. The disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee on numerous occasions, traveling from one city to another during Christ's ministry. Jesus even preached from the fishing boat.

The disciples used fishing boats to draw fish out of the water, or to access the lost in other cities (by sailing to those cities, or by letting Jesus use the boat as a preaching platform). The Fishing Boat card is similarly versatile:

Fishing Boat Good Fortress SPECIAL ABILITY: Set this aside. Each upkeep, you may place a Hero from here beneath your deck to draw X or to give your disciples access to all Sites this turn. IDENTIFIER: Holds up to 12 disciples. X = # of Heroes here SCRIPTURE: Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Luke 5:4 CARD NUMBER: 35 of 115

It might seem odd that a fishing boat is classified as a fortress, but it was the best fit for what it does. It holds characters - disciples specifically. Interestingly, it can hold Judas Iscariot, or a disciple that is converted to an evil character, but it does not give you a benefit for holding those evil characters there.

Because of the X value on this, Fishing Boat gives its greatest benefit in a deck that contains a good number of disciple heroes. A few other cards in The Disciples expansion benefit a deck with a greater number of disciples in it, so it is likely we will see some heavily-themed disciples decks in the 2010-11 tournament season. But, as a lot of testing has shown, a disciples deck can be quite difficult to master. Using a disciples themed deck is a little bit like keeping a little boat balanced. Leaning too far to one side or the other can capsize the craft.

How full do you want your Fishing Boat? The fishing boat gives a draw ability based on how many disciples are left in the boat after you put one of your disciples under your deck. But the boat is set aside. All of the other "X = number of disciples" cards give you benefits when the disciples are in play, or in battle:

X = number of disciples in play: James son of Alphaeus negates special abilities on evil characters with toughness X or less, and bands to Thaddeus. Thaddeus protects all cards in play, set-aside area, Artifact piles, hands, and decks from Evil Characters with toughness X or less (cannot be interrupted). Matthew may draw up to X cards (limit 3).

X = number of disciples in battle: A New Commandment converts X human Evil Characters to Heroes in the brigade of your choice.

You can only put disciples into the Fishing Boat in your preparation phase, so you have to plan ahead. You are probably going to want to keep a disciple (or two, since so many of them band) out of the boat, to be used for your rescue attempt. Do you keep as many heroes in Fishing Boat as possible, to maximize the Fishing Boat draw next turn? Or, do you keep three disciples out of the boat, so you can maximize the Matthew draw this turn? Or, do you keep all of them out of the boat, so you can maximize the effectiveness of a James the Less and Thaddeus band? Perhaps your disciples need site access next turn, so having one hero in the boat will suffice. Site decks will not be a problem for most dedicated disciples decks, since putting one disciple under deck per turn guarantees access for all your disciples.

If there is no lost soul to rescue, do you put all of your disciples in the Fishing Boat to get a huge draw next turn? What if your opponent activates Darius' Decree and discards it to discard all your heroes in set aside area? Do you activate The New Covenant so that you can heal them in that case? Or did you already activate Wash Basin, hoping to find a lost soul among the bottom two cards of your opponent's deck? If you did, perhaps the risk of putting all your disciples in one boat is too great without the possibility of a mass heal from The New Covenant.

Or, maybe you don't need the mass heal after all, because you have the new Herod's Temple fortress in play, which says, "If your N.T. human is discarded by a special ability used by an opponent, you may discard a card of matching brigade from hand and the top X cards of your deck instead. Put Lost Souls in play instead." Since X = # of your rescued lost souls, you can weigh the cost of the "instead" for each hero. How many purple cards do you have in your hand? How many of them can you afford to discard to save your heroes? If you draw your deck out too quickly, you won't be able to discard the top X cards of your deck to save a hero.

Maybe you'd rather play a 100-card disciples deck, with duplicates of several cards, including Fishing Boat, Authority of Christ, and most of the disciples. If you draw a duplicate hero, you can put the other copy under your deck from your Fishing Boat. Keeping your deck large guarantees a lot of fuel for Herod's Temple to burn, keeping your heroes from being discarded. Imagine the consternation on your opponent's face when he tries to play Christian Martyr on your Thomas in battle, only to have you discard a purple card from hand and the top X cards of your deck instead. There your Thomas sits, in battle, ready to rescue that lost soul.

Fishing Boat and Herod's Temple will make a big impact on Redemption this year. The other two new fortresses in The Disciples will also be fun and powerful additions, and will make certain Old Testament themes playable that have not been so in the past. I'm looking forward to using a disciples deck, and navigating it through the rough waters churned up by my opponent's defenses. The disciples won't have to worry much about sites, and will be able to draw out more cards as needed, thanks to their Fishing Boat.