A complete reference for The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls card game.
Motherly Love
Isaaaaac! Life in their small house on a hill was simple, and Isaac was happy. That was until now, when Mom, fueled with the desire to serve her God and prove she loves Him above all else, has Isaac cornered! It looks like the end of the line for Isaac, but perhaps if your characters can work together, fighting Mom and gaining souls, an angel might be sent down from above to stop her hand just in time…
If you don’t own the Gold Box expansion, feel free to use any other treasure card of your choice as a stand-in for The Bible. You can also use your existing copy of Mom! to represent Devout Mom! and play the challenge, replacing the regular abilities and stats with those detailed for each difficulty level on the third page
Goal
The challenge is won when the ↷ ability of The Bible resolves while targeting Devout Mom!
Setup
Choose a difficulty level for the challenge: Normal Hard Ultra Hard
Set up as normal for solitaire/co-op mode.
Place Devout Mom! face up to one side of the monster slots in a final boss slot. (feel free to use your regular Mom! card as a stand-in to represent this!)
Set aside each treasure card with “Mom” in its name. (If you just want to get playing quickly, you can skip this step and simply use random treasure cards.)
Take those cards, along with however many more random treasure cards you need to reach the number listed below for the chosen difficulty. Shuffle 3 of the cards with The Bible. Put the remaining cards on top of those 4 cards and then place them all to one side. This is the Mom deck. Normal – 8 treasure cards Hard – 9 treasure cards Ultra Hard – 10 treasure cards
Fading Hope Each time a player dies, put the top card of the treasure deck on top of the Mom deck.
Take a Peek Each time a Mom’s Eye dies, the active player may look at the top card of the Mom deck.
Hand of Fate Each time a Mom’s Hand dies, the active player gains any items under it and may put the top card of the Mom deck on the bottom.
An Angel From Above Each time a player gains a soul, they gain the top card of the Mom deck. (For this challenge, if a player gains a soul with a soul value of two, they gain the top two cards of the Mom deck.)
Other Rules
The Mom deck cannot be targeted by any abilities that target a deck non-specifically (e.g. it can’t be targeted by Sleight of Hand, which targets “a deck”).
When a Mom’s Eye or Mom’s Hand dies, it is not put into discard as normal, but instead placed back outside the game. The next time you are instructed to put a Mom’s Eye or Mom’s Hand in a minion slot, that card can once again be targeted to enter play.
Devout Mom! can be targeted by The Bible as if it was named Mom!
New Keywords
For this challenge, there are a few new keywords. When a card or ability uses any of these terms, it is as if the below was written out in full:
Mom’s Eye:
Card with “Mom’s” and “Eye” in its name.
Mom’s Hand:
Card with “Mom’s” and “Hand” in its name.
Mom Peeks:
Put a random Mom’s Eye from outside the game in a minion slot, if able.
Mom Grabs:
Put a random Mom’s Hand from outside the game in a minion slot, if able.
Mom Stomps:
This (Devout Mom!) can be attacked till end of turn.
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Game Modes
Normal
Devout Mom! can’t be attacked.
If Devout Mom! would die, instead the active player gains the top 2 cards of the Mom deck, cancels their attack, and this heals to full .
As each turn starts, the active player rolls- 1. Mom Peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn. 2: Mom peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn. 3: Mom grabs, then each player discards a loot card. 4: Mom grabs, then the active player puts a random non-eternal item they control under a random Mom’s Hand in play. 5: Mom stomps, then each player takes 1 damage. 6: Mom stomps, then the active player destroys a random non-eternal item they control.
Hard
Devout Mom! can’t be attacked.
If Devout Mom! would die, instead the active player gains the top 2 cards of the Mom deck, cancels their attack, and this heals to full .
Minions have +1.
As each turn starts, the active player rolls- 1. Mom Peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn. 2: Mom peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn. 3: Mom grabs, then each player discards a loot card. 4: Mom grabs, then the active player puts a random non-eternal item they control under a random Mom’s Hand in play. 5: Mom stomps, then each player takes 1 damage. 6: Mom stomps, then the active player destroys a random non-eternal item they control.
Use the same abilities as for normal difficulty, with a couple of additions:
Ultra Hard
Use the same abilities as for hard difficulty apart from replacing the start of turn replacement effect with the following:
As each turn starts, the active player rolls- 1: Mom peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn for each Mom’s Eye in play. 2: Mom peeks, then monsters gain +1 till end of turn for each Mom’s Eye in play. 3: Mom grabs, then each player discards a loot card for each Mom’s Hand in play. 4: Mom grabs, then the active player puts a random non-eternal item they control under a random Mom’s Hand in play for each Mom’s Hand in play. 5: Mom stomps, then each player takes 1 damage. 6: Mom stomps, then the active player destroys a random non-eternal item they control.
Competitive Variant
This challenge is primarily designed for solo and co-op mode, but you can also play a game of regular competitive Four Souls with an added twist.
To set up, first perform steps 3, 4, and 6 in the box titled “Setup” on the previous page. Use the normal difficulty version of Devout Mom! with one slight tweak – on rolls of 3 or 5, only the active player must discard a loot card or take damage (rather than each player). The Bible also starts outside the game.
Next, each player sets up a Mom deck next to their character. It consists of 3 random treasure cards and then a random treasure card with “Mom” in its name, which is put on the bottom. Each player can only interact with their own Mom deck (and does so if instructed to interact with the Mom deck). The global modifiers Take a Peek, Hand of Fate, and An Angel From Above all still apply, but Fading Hope shouldn’t be used in the competitive version.
The first player to gain the item with “Mom” in its name from their own personal Mom deck gains The Bible. The Bible gains Eternal and enters play deactivated in the competitive variant. The game is won by the player who controls The Bible when the ↷ ability of The Bible resolves while targeting Devout Mom!
Once The Bible is in play, instead of using the normal ability of Hand of Fate, the active player may steal The Bible from another player each time a Mom’s Hand dies.
Remember that the specific rules and global modifiers for this challenge are used in addition to the general challenge rules that apply to all challenges. The general challenge rules can be downloaded separately from maestromedia.com.
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FAQ
How exactly does Devout Mom!’s replacement effect work? When do I roll the dice? Devout Mom!’s ability that causes you to roll a dice as the turn starts is a replacement effect (”As your turn starts”) rather than a triggered ability (e.g. “At the start of your turn”), and this means it behaves a little differently. Crucially, replacement effects don’t use the stack. This means that you will roll the dice (which, itself, will still go on the stack) after the Recharge Step, but before any abilities that trigger at the start of the turn trigger. The order of steps during the start phase would be as follows:
The Recharge Step. Objects controlled by the active player recharge (are turned upright).
The active player makes a dice roll as instructed by Devout Mom!‘s replacement effect. Priority passes as normal after the die is rolled.
Abilities that trigger at the start of the turn trigger, then priority passes.
The Loot Step. The active player loots 1, then priority passes.
What happens if Mom Peeks or Mom Grabs when all the Mom’s Eyes or Mom’s Hands are already in play? already in play? If there aren’t any Mom’s Eyes or Mom’s Hands remaining outside the game, you can’t put one in a minion slot. This won’t prevent anything else from happening, however. For example, if you had rolled a 3 when all the Mom’s Hands were already in play, you wouldn’t be able to put another Mom’s Hand in play, but each player would still discard a loot card.
Can I use the Alt Art version of Mom’s Hand as part of the challenge? You can if you want to! Since the maximum number of Mom’s Hands being used can affect gameplay, you should replace the regular version of Mom’s Hand if you do use the Alt Art version. You can also select one of the two randomly if you prefer.