1. Now, instead of numbers representing the various Strength, Faith, etc..  points, there are simply letters:  S, F, etc..  Ultimately, in the published version, these will be replaced with visual graphic icons, in a similar way to the "mana" symbols in MTG or the Pokemon/Energy types in Pokemon.  Instead of trying to get 12 points in a certain theme, now you simply accumulate icons.  This keeps you from having to add up what's on the table, and all you have to do is count.  Most cards now have one or two icons/letters.  Some have more, and some will even have a "FF" double icon, counting as two.  I found this makes play much faster.  In fact, I was surprised just how much faster it is.  I still haven't decided how many icons you have to have in the chapters to close up a book.  I'm thinking 5 or 7, but the jury's still out.
2. The card effects for the Basic game have changed, but only a little.  I went through all of the verses and counted the number of repetitions of each word (except for the "and"s and "the"s).  The most common words were the ones I set up for the "Keyword" effect.  One of the goals is that someone can grab the whole stack of basic game cards.  Split them in half, shuffle them, and play.  With these keyword verses relating to more words, then there is a greater likelihood that the combinations will actually come up.  I also had to re-write the wording of a few verse effects to reflect the new icon style of play.
3. To streamline learning, there are only 4 standardized effects:  Quote, Prayer, Keyword, and Discard.  Everything else will be in the advanced cardsets.

1. Book of Mormon verses
2. Book of Mormon characters
3. Book of Mormon stories (that my teacher tells to me…)

1. The conversion of Zeezrom. What a story. I’d love to see that one written up and shot as a movie! It’s got everything. Intrigue, murder, politics… Everything you need for a good action show! And it gets me everytime I read about Zeezrom leaping up from his sick bed, after Alma and Amulek give him the blessing.
2. Christ coming to America. Another powerful story. So much has been written about this one, that I’m not sure what I could add in a little blog here.
3. The journey to the Promised Land. I love studying Lehi’s borderline dysfunctional family. It gives me hope for my own. Of course we only get to see it through Nephi’s eyes. I often wonder what it would read like if Sam had wrote it. I mean, he’s righteous, but he would have still seen it all from a different perspective.
4. The Final Battles in the end would make a great movie as well. A sad, sad tragedy.

1. If you run out of verses in your deck, you lose the game.  In most other CCG's (Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokemon), that's the way it resolves.  This also tends to make the decks that flow lots of verses a little less powerful.
2. If you run out of verses in your deck, you keep playing, but you can't draw.  That would mean you'd have to have some way to pull from your discard, or your only source of new verses would be your blessing stack.
3. The only other option I can think of is that if you run out of verses, you could shuffle your discard and flip them face down into your deck and continue playing.

1. "Quote" isn't as powerful as I thought it would be.  It is cool, and it did help Brendon bring out lots of verses, but it wasn't as uber-powerful as I was afraid it would be.
2. The two decks really were pretty evenly matched.  If he hadn't won when he did, I would have won the next turn.  And the only reason I didn't win was that I didn't have enough verses to sacrifice to throw down the final combo and pull my last blessing.
3. After this game and some of the other games I've played, I feel like there needs to be some limits on the turns.  Brendon, in his turn, kept drawing and playing.  Then, in my turn, I kept drawing and playing.  It makes for long, drawn out turns.  I'm flirting with the idea of a rule that would say that when you close out a book, the play phase of your turn ends, and you move into the end phase.  I dunno.  I'll have to play with that.  Another idea is to make more verse effects that can be played instantly instead of only in your own turn.  That way the turns can be more interactive instead of so long.  Maybe even some verses that can end an opponent's turn.

• The turn is much more simple and streamlined.  Start, Draw, Freeplay, Play, End.  How much simpler can it get?
  
• No more counting blessing points as you sacrifice verses.  The word "blessings" is now used in another totally different way.
• Now verses have effects that happen AS you play them into verses, rather than INSTEAD of playing them into verses.
  
• The game is much more interactive, as you can combine your own stacks of cards ("Chapters") with your opponent's to form books.
  
• With Quoting, Cross Reference, and the new Keyword ability, the game play responds with the scriptures more and more.

I've played a few more test games, and I'm a bit at a loss.  I need your help.

The question is all about the rule that starts each turn with 2 free blessing points, before you have to sacrifice any cards.  Here's some of my thoughts and experiences.

As I've been playing, I've tried it both with and without the points.  I've noticed that when I play games with the rule in place, there's less sacrificing of cards.  That's not really a problem, I guess, but I feel like it messes with the economy of the cards, and the card flow of the game.

But on the other hand, without it, people tend to hold their cards, and fewer cards actually get played , which really messes with the flow.  Also, there's fewer extra points available, so it's not so often that I use the "Quote It" rule. 

So, what's your experience been?  How does it feel?