Well the blessed are quite new. I was talking to a friend (prior to SB4’s release) who was really down on the Blessed really not working as a solid concept by itself yet. I agreed with that but told the person to keep in mind that the Blessed so far were only in one 40 card expansion, of which only a single faction’s cards to could be dedicated to it, and not even all the cards of that faction. What you have is a maximum of 8 or so cards that can be used for the blessed, which limits choice.
4R really didn’t work great out the first box until the expansions hit, Paralysis Mark being the key component to 4R decks, and that box had 3x the card choices. So don’t fear, blessed fans, The Lord is with you!
I think that Frontier Justice has opened up some Blessed possibilities though. Both the miracles in the set are very playable, and with more blessed dudes it only makes the deck possibilities stronger.
I don’t like the concept of “Abram Super-Unit” with blessed. I think Abram is very expensive and his ability doesn’t make him worth it, since it’ll be so rarely used. Unprepared, which EVERYONE is running, also wrecks the deck far too much, unlike 4R who doesn’t care so much with their Hex Slinging ability.
I’ve built a deck I’m tastefully splashing miracles with, which I’ll post after KublaCon (Might run the deck there for the tourney, haven’t decided yet). I think it’s strong enough to be competitive, but stil find the Blessed missing a couple key components for a truly strong deck.
It would be really nice if there was a club that really supported Blessed, the way Hex Slingin’ does. Maybe you could do some nonsense with really high values and Magical Distraction, but it feels weak. A powerful combat effect like Hex Slingin’ would really push Miracles up.
With the printing of an alternate starter for LD blessed decks, and two new blessings. IMHO nothing has really changed beyond a sort of voltron approach to blessed. Andrew Burton is just too easily replaced by many other cards (Travis is cheaper for bullets, Gina actually gives you card advantage, Phil lets you rummage more often and has influence, and Reverand has a higher skill and a relevant mid game ability).
The best aspect of Andrew is that he opens up powerful starting plays like bounty hunter easier than anything printed yet.
Confession is in a similar situation, good if you plan on punishing wanted dudes, and not much else.
Shield of faith however, to me at least, is a serious power player. It makes your dudes immune to cards like shotgun, point blank, or even the dreaded (in our meta at least) Legendary Holster. It also causes you to take one less casualty, making ties always go in your favor, or even just losing by one rank no big deal. Since Abram and other miracles really want shootouts to go for a second round, this pseudo “+2” to your hand ranks can make it much more likely to happen, or at least make it so that getting an unlucky draw isn’t as punishing, especially since most of these effects have the “by 3 or more hand ranks” clause.
However, I think with FJ with the addition of Andrew and Shield of Faith it is looking more attractive to start Abram XP. Not to form a “super unit” but just to get a lead shooter and a blessed all-in-one (Evanor and his ability being basically ignored, I just want his stats and traits). With Andrew’s grifter ability he speeds up the deck by allowing Abram to potential gun for kills right out of the gate (if you pull a Miracle) as well as providing a solid back-up blessed and shooter.
Overall I’m happy with the state of Blesseds after only 2 sets.