Fantasy Heart of Cards

[InfinityBeholden]

Everything he was burned away in that fire. The once grand estate, so full of life, so full of memories, his entire life, had burned down before him. 20xx

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His Uncle Roman was heard outside, he was yelling very loud, and cracking down on Dylan, this was just an ordinary day to him. It wasn't home if you didn't hear an obnoxiously large voice throughout the house. It wasn't all bad, they lived a good life for what they had, Uncle Romans foreign noodle recipes, that tasted amazing; He got to spend time with his brother, playing cards, walking around, or watching him in tournaments. This was the life, he held it dear to him, and he'd be lying if he said his Uncle hadn't rubbed off on him a bit.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?! PLAYING CARDS?"

"Of course Uncle Ray, What else would I be doing, magic?"

"OKAY SMARTY PANTS!! WHY I OUGHTTA!"

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It was a beautiful dark night in the city. The sky was lit up with the stars, it was a shame they didn't get to see more of it. Dylan had exited the huge, dome, tournament building.

"Let's go bro"

"Okay"

They took the back alleys to get home. There was a criminally low amount of graffiti. The best part was the bridges that you could cross that lead to the higher level apartments. They would always talk about his brothers performance and his sweet awesome moves. He was the tournament champ! he has been holding that title for about 3 years now. Even so, Uncle Ramon wouldn't let up, the family bond was the magic that was passed down generation to generation. That's why he was so strict about training, it wasn't like he was being rude, it was the opposite - he cared.

"And then you did the attack Pwooosh! That was awesome, Your dragon deck is unstoppable! How could anyone beat you!"

His oldest brother was too humble for his good. "I know one day, Even I'll get beat, that's what keeps me going, You don't need to be the best to be important bro"

"Yeah, I'm not sure I get what you mean, Big words for the smart mouth champ!"

"Come on, it's just for the show!"

A small, hooded figure came around the corner and held up a glowing card. Dylan hid me behind him, he pushed me back. I hit the floor like a brick.

"Get out of here Max!"

He ran around the corner and looked back seeing the shadow of his brother and his opponent. There was another glowing light that was as bright as hope itself. Max could see the flashy effects from around the corner. It was a loud, bright, and powerful fight. You could feel energy irradiating in the air, the passion of two mages colliding together to create both the beauty and chaos of duels. There was two intents, you could feel one of animosity, and one of Brotherly love. There was no way to tell who was winning, the only feeling was that of the two clashing ideals. It was like two sharp razor blades grinding odd each other - until bang! Everything was still but for a moment.

An oversize arrow plunged into Max's brother and he was pinned against a wall. He was dead.

Max ran towards his brother, but it was already too late. That was the end for him. He let the tears stream down his face, he was all he had left.

"No, you can't go"

"Don't give.......up......go....fo....me" he breathed his last breath.

His brother vanished, a bright light appeared, a magic card appeared, it was the spirit of his brother. But he couldn't use magic, why would this appear before him. This was your basic magic deck card. Suddenly the sky got grey, the clouds twirled into each other, they twisted and created an eye of the storm, it started to downpour, it was crying for his brother. A bright light manifested in the eye, there was a card in the middle, it gently descended, Max reached out his hand as it fell into them. He quickly, passionately, and with hope, grabbed the card. He slid it into his deckbox holster on his belt. The box had magically been altered it changed it's form, it was made of black leather, it had silver metal on each corner and on the button. This was the start of his magehood, He would live for his brother, and avenge him.
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6 months later....

There he stood in front of the tournament, the place where his brother held his glory, it was up to him to take it back, but more than that, he was going to show the world that you didn't need a monster deck to be a winner. For 6 hard months he had honed his skills, listening to his Uncle's advice, and put his heart into his deck. He was more than ready for his first tournament. It held 3 different tournaments, so there could be 3 winners, who then would go into the next round. Max knew it wouldn't be easy, he could see all his competition, people from all over the country came here to compete in this new style of tournament. He stood in the waiting line to register for the tournament. This was for more than a title, it was for honor among mages!
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Heart of Cards!
Starring
Deadwood Deer as Lenore Corva
InfinityBeholden as Max Sperazzo

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Tournaments only happened a few times a year. Lenore knew this, especially with her family's involvement in the industry. She wondered what rank her brother would have been, sometimes. That always brought pangs of survivor's guilt, though, which Lenore was quick to push back down and bury. She had other things to do and worry about. Like win a tournament.

Card hunting had the potential for profit, sure. Companies that produced replicas paid very well to those that came in with new cards to buy the rights to it. Tournaments and games with a cash payout for what place you came out to were also a decent source of income. Until Lenore could get a real job, this was her job. She'd already picked out what cards she'd play, her strategy, and when to quit while she was ahead if things got rough.

"Big turnout tonight," she muttered as she looked out the cab window at the area around the arena. She could only guess how many people were here to compete, and how many were here to watch. Duels were incredibly entertaining to watch. But also dangerous. You didn't want to make someone want to hurt you. Sure, every competitor had to sign a waiver and each mage had to pass a psychological examination once a month. If the other person wished you harm, and they landed a hit, that hit would annihilate you. Lenore couldn't imagine what it felt like to be Carded, as that event was sometimes called. It had to be painful. And it was illegal.

"It's a huge tournament," the cab driver agreed, "Who do you think's gonna win?"

"You're driving her," Lenore replied, grinning as the cab pulled to a stop at the curb. She did a quick check to make sure she had everything important with her. Purse, deck, phone, wallet, cab fare for the ride back home. Everything in order, she paid the cab driver and stepped out to go line up and register. By the look on the driver's face, he apparently had a favorite player in the tournament, maybe his kid or a family member, if Lenore would hazard a guess. Hopefully whoever it was did well, but Lenore planned to win.

There were a lot of photographers, snapping pictures of the up and coming competitors as they lined up to register. Probably to get candid shots for whatever story the media would write about the tournament. Some of the mages stood out, like the guy up near the front with a face tat, or the kid behind Lenore that couldn't have been older than fifteen, or Lenore herself with her whole style of appearance. She wondered what was in whose decks, as the line moved up. It was impossible to guess, she could only hope her strategy would succeed.

Players from across North America came to this colosseum. Three tournaments tonight, Lenore knew which bracket she'd compete in, even though this was a weird format. It sounded like the next round would be a three-way royale. She could deal with those, she hoped. There was a reason she specialized in undead. Hopefully no one else had the same strategy. She kept her hand on her deckbox holster. Sometimes card thieves tried to snatch competitor's decks, and Lenore didn't have her collection with her to patch up another deck if she had to.

"You sure you can play?", Lenore asked the kid in front of her, gesturing to Max's card holster, "Or is your box somewhere in that hoodie?"

 

[InfinityBeholden]

Max stood in line, it dwindled down painfully slow. There could only be 3 winners, 3 different tournaments, he wondered which one he would be part of, not that it mattered to him, he was in it to win it! He said those words confidently but he was nervous, he had never been in a tournament before, but his practice couldn't be for nothing. He kept his hands in is hoodie pocket, and the hood over his head, he didn't want to draw any attention to himself. Which didn't seem to work as a Gothic girl had talked to him. She has a smart mouth and a face to go with it.

"Uh.... Yeah, hey.. wait this is my deck! Can't you seee? It's uh black, and has metal, and well its a box, but magic!" The conversation caught him off guard.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Lenore chuckled and unclipped her own box, "That's not a box, this is a box," she held out her deckbox. Hers had a lot of purple, black, and metallic ravens and skulls on it, green accents for contrast. She couldn't be broadcasting any clearer that she used 'dark' cards. She put the deckbox back in its clip and crossed her arms. Intimidation, if you could reduce the competition ahead of time without ever stepping in the ring, it was a win.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

This was a bizarre experience to say the least.

"Wow, isn't that, uh cool, I don't get what your doing, But I did see one of your cards, do you run a zombie deck by chance or is it a mixed deck?"

He was more curious than anything, but what was she doing flying her deckbox around? Probably showing off, theses tournaments did attract plenty of show offs from around the nation. While they were talking he didn't realize they were already at registry.

"Sir, here's your ticket" They sounded exhausted from sitting there all day

"Oh yeah, sorry!"

He snatched his ticket an went on into the waiting room. I wonder which tournament the girl is entering, maybe I'll ask! He waited by the door until the girl entered. This was all so exciting! the smell of the tournament, the energy in the room, the fellow aspiring duelists. It felt like he belonged here. A man approached him, he handed him a number to stick onto his outfit, it was meant so they could pair up numbers to verse them off, unless you were well known you didn't get a proper introduction.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Lenore was going to answer that she ran a deck that got the job done, but then the teller got the boy's attention to claim his ticket and move on. "And, you, miss," the teller had Lenore sign for a ticket and move on.

"Thank you," Lenore smiled and walked into the waiting room, taking her assigned number from the man going around for them. She wasn't getting a proper introduction this round, but if she did well, she'd likely have one in the next tournament. Titles had that effect, if you're official you'll soon have a following, whether rooting for or against you depended on how you won. Did you win by just being that good? Are you consistently good? You'll get a mixed bag if both of those were "yes" questions.

"Were you waiting on me?", Lenore asked Max when she saw him again just inside the waiting room. "You know we're probably going to be enemies in twenty minutes, right?"

 

[InfinityBeholden]

He sat by and listened to the banter between mages. They were bragging about who had the best deck, about who's skill was better, they would go on and on about how many tournaments they've been in before. That didn't matter to him until a strange kid came up to him.

"Heyya mister what ya in for, I've never seen you before, we don't get many new mages around these parts anymore" He had a curious and sweet voice.

"Yeah, I'm new here, I'm in it for the experience, but I won't give up! But I'm sure no one here is going to make it easy"

The girl from before entered the room and spoke to him.

"That may be, but that depends which tournament are you in, they are holding 3 you know. There will be 3 winners that go onto the next tournament. Which number did you get 1, 2, or 3?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

The goth gestured to the sticker on her top, emblazoned with a number two. "Yourself?" Lenore looked Max over for his sticker. He didn't look like much, but looks could be deceiving. He might be super competent and hiding it.

Once all of the competitors were in the waiting room, a few moments later some screens lit up with tournament brackets on them, names being filled in one by one as competitors went to the appropriate screen to input their names and have a portrait image taken. The names were randomly placed in the starting duels, with a small portrait appearing by their name on the bracket to help identify them.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

Max showed off his tournament bracket, he was in tournament - "I'm in the third tournament, looks like I'm not facing you. What a shame, Hey make it to the end and we can duel the next tournament, yeah?"

He saw the screens light up, he got paired with a pretty well known competitor, it was Jerald, he got 2nd place twice each year. He preferred a Dinosaur deck, he had seen his opponents skills before on television. Only one tournament at a time was held so other mages dueling could see possible competitors. He was 3 so he would end up going last, which sucked, he was very impatient.

"Man this blows, But hey, I can't wait to see your match! Good luck yeah?" He gestured towards the Girl.

"By the way, the names Max"

The random kid also butted in "I'm Liam!"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Lenore," she turned to go take a look at the bracket. Second match of the second bracket, against some chick with a real redneck-sounding name, Billie. Lenore hadn't heard of her before, but she'd bet her lucky earring her deck was all forest animals and drunks. She'd find out when it got to that, though. The first match was starting.

The first match in tournament one was another pro against, probably a noobie player, if their scattered strategy was any judge. He couldn't decide if he was pushing or defending, and he got crushed by the wall of wyverns his opponent summoned. "Well, that didn't go very well for him," Lenore chuckled as the next match got started. Wonder what Max's match is gonna look like.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Wow, a rookie mistake, if only he had a definite strategy, I bet if he trusted himself he could've stood a chance. Then again that guys wyvern deck was really solid. A wall of wyverns huh?"

That match was a close one, when it was his turn he knew he'd have to be certain with his moves, don't let chance control the match, let your trust of the game and heart within the cards determine it all. that was his solid strategy, this was the key to victory, it was one of the words of wisdom given to him by his brother. After the deep thought he looked back up. Max looked at the next match up, there deck won, the next match up was the 2nd Tournament. That could only mean that it was ~

"Lenore isn't your match next, look its the second bracket, you and Billie. I'll be rooting for you!" He gave a gentle smile.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Next match indeed. Lenore waved backwards to Max as she walked through the door to the arena. “Damn, that’s bright,” going into the arena out of the, relatively, dark waiting room, with all the lights was almost blinding.

On the other side of the arena was already the redneck girl. The announcer read off their names and called for the duel to start. Unceremonious introductions for unrecognized mages. Billie won the race to raise her power card in challenge. Lenore raised hers in response, and flipped open her deckbox.

“Duel, start!" Shields went up over the crowd to protect them from any shrapnel kicked up by the duel as deckboxes unfolded, libraries were shuffled, and hands were drawn by the two mages’ power cards.

“First turn goes to…” The announcer flipped a coin to see who went first in the duel. “Billie Tucker!”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Billie called as she placed down a token and summoned a Monster. A dairy cow appeared on the field under Billie’s control. “I’ll try not to ruin your makeup!”

Lenore pinched the bridge of her nose, there could not have been a worse opening line to be annoying. Lenore took a look at her hand and placed down a token. None of her cards could be cast on one point, so she passed her turn. “Your go.”

Another cow, another token. It was too early to see the strategy, but it looked like Billie’s strategy involved throwing fodder up as a wall. Lenore put down another token on her turn and cast her own card. “Corpse Lily.” Anything killed while a Corpse Lily was on the field gave a bonus to damage and defense for every undead under the summoner’s control. The lily itself had no Damage stat, but its Defense stat was decent.

“That flower reeks,” Billie complained.

“It’s a corpse lily, it smells like a corpse.” Lenore ended her turn for Billie to continue. A few turns later, and Billie had an army of animals, as predicted. Lenore’s growing army of undead, however, was comparitively small.

“You sure you can even launch an attack like that?”, Billie asked, smirking.

“Field card, Unhallowed Ground!”, Lenore’s field card glowed as it activated, altering the battlefield to the appearance of a dark graveyard, full of musty old mausoleums and crooked tombstones, robbed graves, and all kinds of gothic architecture.

“It looks like the tables just turned!”, the announcer called.

“Cursed Bones, Whomping Willows, Lumbering Corpses, Cryptkeeper Thralls, Will-o’-the-Wisps, attack.” Lenore turned the cards on her deckbox to activate their attacks. “Defend yourself, please.” She smiled and cocked her head as she said that.

“Uh…” Cows, horses, goats, and farmhands assumed defensive maneuvers to block the incoming attacks. Farm animals, as numerous as they were, had far lower Defense stats than any of Lenore’s undead’s Damage stats. The monsters glowed and shattered, but instead of going to Billie’s graveyard, the sparkles flowed into Lenore’s.

“Unhallowed Ground’s Field ability, every creature that dies on the field goes to my graveyard.” Lenore passed her turn as all her attackers entered the tapped phase. “I spent all twenty points on that Field Card, everything you summon is mine. Your move.”

“God-damn you sadistic little-! Bird Shot!”, Billie conjured a farmer’s shotgun Equipment card and fired on Lenore, which shattered one of Lenore’s tokens.

“Ritual Spell, Unfinished Business,” Lenore dropped another spell card down. “Your move.” Ritual spells couldn’t be used until two turns after they were cast, that was Billie’s window of opportunity.

“That can’t be a legal move!”, Billie protested, “She robbed my graveyard!”

“Hang on, folks, Billie wants to challenge the play!”, the announcer called before going to check the rules. “Nope, that was a legal play. A harsh move, to be fair, but perfectly legal! The game continues!”

Billie grit her teeth and summoned a handful of farmhands for cover to plan another move. One turn down.

“Lifeleach Vampire, two of them,” Lenore turned out two monsters to add to the field. “Your move."

“I attack!”, Billie shot back, her farmhands and chickens going to attack Lenore’s undead. The corpse lilies vanished, going to Lenore’s Graveyard, along with the Cursed Bones and the newly summoned Lifelink Vampires. Turn two.

“I spend nineteen points on Unfinished Business’s ritual ability,” Lenore slapped her hand down on the graveyard and drew out the top nineteen monster cards. “For every mana point I spend on Unfinished Business, one creature goes from my graveyard to the field as an Undead creature, tapped.” Those nineteen monsters were mostly Billie’s animals and farmhands, zombie farm life appearing on the field made things a bit more crammed.

“I think this battle’s just about concluded, folks.”

Billie grit her teeth and tried to find something to help her out of this situation. She found a counter and tried to counter the Ritual spell, but its effect had already happened.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Lenore smiled, “I’ll try not to ruin your makeup!” And then the army of the dead attacked.

“That’s game!”, the duel ended, the crowd cheered, and the announcer dithered some lines about the game while highlights played in the intermission before the next match. Lenore folded her deckbox and walked back into the waiting room. On the bracket on the screens, Billie’s name was crossed off and Lenore advanced to the next round of the tournament.

“Good luck,” Lenore shuffled her deck again when she sat down, not looking at Max.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Wow, your skills are incredible, it's easy to see the positives and negatives, you have plenty of monsters on the field and can even resurrect enemy opponents cards giving you a great advantage on variety, but with the size of the available monsters in your deck stacked with the monsters of your enemies must require an amount of tokens you don't have, so strategy must be required to run such a deck. That's not to mention the idea of heavy spell based decks. Ha sorry, it's easy to get lost in these sorts of things" He rambled.

"Thank you, but I think I've prepared" He said in a very serious tone. This was his other side, when it came to cards, he was passionate.

The staff waved him into the arena, the bright lights got in his eyes, but this gave him hope. When he entered there was a bunch of fanfare. The announcer had introduce his opponent "Welcome our Dino loving, second in the running: Jerald!!!" He got a round of applause. When Max got announced the crowd fell silent, they didn't know what to think, that was going to change, but he'd have to earn it. They both gestured their card in the air, the magic barriers lifted. Max grabbed his deckbox and but it on his left arm, it folded open, it looked like a gauntlet. He grabbed the first card on top, it turned into a hat that he put on his head, it controlled how wild hair.

The announcer spoke "What is this new guy doing? Showing off? Hope his skill matches his flare! He's going to need it!!!"

"I've seen you before, your Dino deck is amazing!"

"Let's see if your skills are as sharp as your ability to be impressed"

They both got very serious. The announcer tossed a coin. "Looks like this one goes to the newbie, let's hope this helps"

"Let's go!" He drew his first set of cards, it was mostly tokens as to be expected. He placed down 3 tokens on the field.

"I see, your planning to summon a big monster, we'll see about that!" He placed down a token and summoned fourth a basic Raptor.

Max was getting serious, he put more tokens down, and drew his Horizontal Slash card, he placed it face down.

"Your strategy is no use to me, let's see what you can do!" He poked. Slobbering while he talked with a strong lisp.

"You asked for it! I tap one token to use, Horizontal strike!" The slash destroyed his raptor in one blow. He let out a small grin. Placing down a few more tokens down.

"You've fallen right for my trap, now I place down my next card, fertile soil, I can use my destroyed dinosaur to use this field card, now It's the perfect environment for my next card!" The grass on the floor turned to dirt and became brown and fertile.

"Do you announce everything your doing? Well fine, I'll compliment your style. Horizontal Slash!" He screamed as he slashed away at his opponents tokens.

"I call fourth my 3 death petals! They have murderous intent, but dont worry they wont kill you" He tapped his tokens for this turn. "It appears his Dino deck is.... no more?"

"That's right, after losing two years in a row I decided I needed a change of plan"

"Well here, I wont hold back then" He drew another card, it was the holy sword, but that wasn't what he needed, well he did have vertical slash, so he might he might as well place the card down. He slashed at the plants. It was to no avail, his blade wasn't strong enough yet.

"Don't tell me that was it! puh-lease, are you going to Token me to death, at this rate I'll pulverize you" His plants attacked, destroying two of his mana.

"Don't count me out yet" He played 3 more tokens down. He drew another Horizontal Strike, his plan was slowly forming

His opponent was content with placing more energy down. He was planning a big event.

Max drew a lucky card, it was a combo finisher, cleave, it allowed him to strike multiple opponents at once, it could be just what he needed. Ordinarily you needed tokens to summon monsters, but this was a spell card, it didn't follow the same rules. "I've got it!"

"I'll be the judge of that!" He placed down 1 token, and placed another card face down.

"Horizontal, Horizontal, Cleave!" By inputting the prerequisites, he could use the combo finisher! He slashed the plants away.

"What is this a game! Well, no matter, you've helped make the ground even more fertile, I call fourth the grand mother plant!" A huge plant emerged from the ground that covered the whole field

"If you haven't realized, this deck is based off many arcade video games. There isn't a combo I haven't burned into my brain" Whats this? The combo finisher Rising Dragon. I doubt he could de-root this plant from the ground. It was worth a shot. He placed down the cards Uppercut and Rising Dragon. Horizontal, Horizontal, Uppercut ----> Rising Dragon. the plant got flung up, but it's root brought it back to earth quickly.

"Nice, try his roots are to the very core, this soil gives him a rather great advantage wouldn't you say? Strike him! demolish his tokens!" The massive rose petal had a mouth in the rose, its teeth were razor sharp pedals. It struck his tokens directly. Only leaving him with one.

Damn, this was a set back. He placed down 5 more tokens. This would bolster his defenses. He drew his card, it was the Pheonix Blade! that was what he needed, he placed it down, but it was a ritual summon, so he would have to tap it, until the next turn he had the energy to summon it.

"Hmph" He pulled a spell card out and a grin spread across his face "I equip my Death Pedal with explosive sprouts, it'll give him a special effect in a few turns hehe!"

He tapped his energy to call fourth his Phoenix Blade. "Horizontal Slash!" It did some damage knocking it back! "Wow, would you look at the effect"

"I'm done playing games with you, explosive sprouts, engage!" The little flowers on the death pedal opened upon, a poison released in the air. This would slowly eat away at his tokens. "Now attack!"

His Tokens were depleted, he had 3 left, but that wasn't enough for his combo. He placed down another token, the poison in the air took one token away, it was dwindling away at him. "Now, I tap my 3 energy, to Horizontal, Horizontal, Uppercut"

"Not enough, you'll have to do better than that! Strike!" His plant struck, but suddenly! It the attack was reflected back by one of his horizontal strikes! "Wh-what? Impossible!"

"I did two Horizontal slashes, but you never saw my second one, that's right I waited to strike! These sort of games are all about it, Sorry to flip you expectations, oh, and I'm not cheating, I know these duels are held in place by force of magic, it'd be impossible for me to cheat. But you know, I'll use your words 'I'm done playing games with you'" He placed down another 2 token(s). Horizontal Strike.

"My attacks may not be able to hit you, but I'm sure single targets are your specialty, however I don't think you'll forget my poison! Attack Death Pedal!" The plant tried to attack, but he countered the attack with another attack!

"That's where your wrong Jerald, I know exactly how your poison works, it only takes 1 token at a time, which is exactly why I placed two down, so I can use my next move!" He tapped Horizontal, Horizontal, Uppercut ----> Rising Dragon!

"Impossible, you guessed my strategy?" The blade encased in fire and Max swung at the creature in a rising, spinning strike. "That move again? You can;t possibly expect to win by repeating the same strategy, I will win this!"

"You should look again!" the creature was ablaze and turned into chard crisps. "What!!!!" "That's right my Rising Strike becomes more powerful with the Phoenix Sword, allowing my damage to penetrate your defenses, and fire is a plants weakness!"

"Let's end this, Follow up, Vertical Slash!" His blade swung over the guys head destroying his pathetically low amount of tokens. He was destroyed.

"You focused too much on your field card, using your other monsters to fuel your next, you didn't prepare in tokens, It was your downfall! Never underestimate your opponent!"

He returned into the room and saw Lenore. She was very cute and her skills were solid. He would be lying if he said he didn't admire her a bit. "Hey did you get a good view?"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

“No, the only thing I conjure that isn’t undead is the Whomping Willow, even things I resurrect are undead,” but by the time Lenore looked up to finish that sentence, Max was already heading out to his match.

“Oh, that squirt lied,” he did have a deckbox, after all. What kind of setup was that? New model, maybe? And what was with that hat? Did he seriously rig his deck so the top card was always a hat equipment card, or did he have thirty sprinkled in there?

His strategy was interesting. Three tokens as his opening move, was he planning to throw out a field card, or summon something massive? Neither, it seemed, as he cast a Spell Effect. Horizontal Slash did solid damage for a one-token spell.

“Does he only use spells and items?”, how was that legal? It was almost a requirement to compete, you needed two layers of protection in these tournaments, your tokens could only do so much!

“Looks like it, and somehow it’s workin’,” the guy with face tats replied, “Hope his cards don’t rip one on him, I want a shot at him. He knows what he’s doin’.”

“No kidding,” although in her head Lenore knew her primary strategy would be useless if Max never summoned. Unhallowed Ground and Unfinished Business would be futile to steal enemy creatures if the enemy didn’t summon any creatures!

The match was over before it started, really. These two were incompatible for a long game. Jerald had no defenses, and Max’s Spell Effect style didn’t have to wait for creatures to recharge, he could just keep going as long as he had free tokens. Lenore didn’t think Jerald had much experience with that new deck, or he wouldn’t have been such a glass cannon.

“Why would you build a strategy on spell effects?”, Lenore demanded, “If he could have summoned any faster, you’d have been wide open!”

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Is that what you think, You see each game is like a series of numbers, you just need the right combination, even then you must trust yourself more than ever. Over half my deck consists of tokens, health pieces, its very risk-reward. Thats where the trust for myself comes in"

He looked at the girl, finally he had gotten some attention, it was the reaction he so desperately wanted to hear. He was fed up with monster decks, he wanted -

"I want as much involvement in the flow of combat as I can, and then - and then, it comes like second nature, I control the flow, you know?" The hands of fate would twist in his favor on a level he couldn't see, let alone comprehend. That was the way to victory was a medium : Skill, Luck, Control, Power. They were all tools to win a match, but most people didn't see it that way, Max himself hardly saw it himself. That would change.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"It's not numbers, it's common sense." Lenore pulled out one of her cards, "This monster is two points to summon. I can have it out first turn if I wanted. And next turn, two more." She flicked her hand and the card vanished like a magician's trick, another appearing in its place. "This one creates Thrall Tokens when it destroys yours. Its four points to summon. Turn two." That card vanished as well. "You didn't even have a solid defense, just attack. You're a glass cannon, like the guy you fought. 'cept your glass is thicker." She didn't know why she was explaining her deck's abilities to Max, something about a no-Monster set-up bugged her immensely. Maybe because it was a strategy she tried against her siblings when she was small and it never worked for more than a turn cycle.

"You can be involved in the flow without being wide-open. What if you went up against a spam-summoner?"

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Then it's simple, I destroy them all - I have more tokens than your standard deck, it's to compensate for my lack of monsters, the less resources in one place, the more in another, simple math, only an armature would just throw cards out the window. Your thrall token? You should know for every card there is a counter, but I'm keeping my secrets in my sleeve for now okay? Besides your forgetting one thing, the heart of cards! It's not a term used in modernization, it's a very traditional term, but I know it's true!" He spoke with passion in his words.

"Don't worry, you'll see, I'm going to show you my deck can win..... I don't say this often, but I'm doing this to make my step brother proud... I miss Dylan" He pulled out a card and looked at it. This was all he had left before he died 6 months ago. He was the best player there ever was, but he would never admit it. He was too humble for this world.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Lenore shook her head, Max seemed a dreamer. A skilled dreamer, but a dreamer no less. If he ever faced someone that could exploit the weakness in his strategy, it'd come down hard on him. "Just..." Lenore realized she didn't have a way to put into words how wrong it felt that someone could play without monsters.

The next match was starting, eventually the bracket would come to the next match involving the two, but tournaments like these could drag on all day.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

There was a series of gruesome matches, everyone was fighting for the top of the leaderboard. After hours of sweat and effort, Max finally made his way back into the waiting room. He was beat, but that didn't matter everyone left was here for the final round of each of there tournaments. He had proven himself to be more than walking luck, he had shown his skill through the 5 matches he battled through. After all that he was here, he felt a sense of accomplishment. It wasn't an easy journey but all the struggle had been worth it. One more match to give his all!

"I did it, I'm in the final round haha I can't believe it! I wonder who my final opponent is!"

He saw Lenore in the finals too, she had certainly shown her skill, and if her personality was anything to go by she was stubborn and not a push over.

"I'll be routing for you!"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Lenore fanned herself with a magazine. Her last opponent had an affinity for fire and brimstone, and all the moving around didn't help her try to keep her mascara from running. She probably should have used the waterproof stuff, but that was more expensive. A note for the future, then. "Well, someone's full of energy," she smirked at bit at Max's running around. Somehow, his strategy had worked. How was that guy so hyper? Was he ADHD or something?

"You should probably calm down before your next match," she cautioned as she got up to go face her next opponent. Some kid from Mexico with a thing for pirates, based on his previous matches.

"Ye ready to-"

"Barbossa, get out of the Caribbean," Lenore cut him off before he could launch into pirate talk.

"Duel, Start!"

Lenore's strategy had proven highly predictable over the last few rounds. Build a small force with decent Damage and Defense, let your opponent build a large force, play Unhallowed Ground and Unfinished Business, and turn that army against them. It was hard to counter because it was just that solid. It didn't matter much if you put your land down first, she could wait a few rounds and build her forces in the meantime. Undead were sturdy.

Before long, Pirate Boy's crew met the Curse of the Black Pearl as undead pirates laid siege on him. Lenore advanced to her place amongst the final three competitors, all that was left was Max's final match.

"How you doing, Face Tats?", Lenore asked as she sat down next to the other winner.

"I've got a name, Goth," Face Tats replied.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Game time" Max said as he threw his hoodie off, underneath was a light blue, v-neck, short sleeve shirt. His palms were sweaty, he felt a bit sick from the constant battles. It felt like his uncles cooking was about to come back up. NO! I won't give into doubt! He ran into the tournaments battle ground. There was debris from the previous battles. A short, hooded man strolled onto the middle of the court.

"Give a shoutout for the menace himself, the 2 time 1st place champ, Alex the Ultimate Skill Master!"

The kid took of his mask. No way it was - "It's been a long time brother" Their cards had already both been risen.

"Alex...Alexander? I watched you die!! Why didn't you tell us anything!"

"And waste my time with you I don't think so, You're no brother of mine, just second-hand property"

"And what about your uncle? You - You - Monster! How could you leave him in the dark!" He put down 3 Tokens down and placed a few horizontal slashes down.

"Save the theatrics for the play, I don't care what you or our uncle things, I'm the new head of family, and i'll bring in a new era" He placed down 5 tokens, his whole hand was tokens? What was he getting at.

"I'll make you eat those words" !?! He drew that card? No way! this was perfect, but he didn't want to reveal his hand just yet. He place more tokens down. And followed up by putting cleave down.

"You'll see theatrics are my specialty, I traveled all across the world, watching the best movies, have you heard of the movie Spy God? Well did you also know IT WAS BASED OFF A CARD!" He slammed Spy God 1: Rise of Spy God onto the field.

"I don't care where your cards came from, i'll give you what you deserve" Horizontal, Horizontal, Horizontal. Slash! Slash! Sling! Spy God was defeated.

"You really are an amateur to think you've destroyed my beloved Spy God. Well It's time for a re-cast, And I think you'll come to find out Spy God loves his role in this Movie. I play Spy God 2: Return of Spy God. As long as I have mana I ca perform a ritual to have Spy God return to the field every 2 turns. This is you go" A magic reel came down and formed a magic circle.

He drew The Phoenix Sword Card. His chance. He placed down 3 Tokens. "I summon Phoenix Sword, Attack!"

"Oh, Boo Hoo, you destroyed 3 of my Tokens, Next round Spy God will return and I've got a plan" He placed a card down. He needed a strategy too.

Damn he was right, But I have a plan too! He drew another card. It was Pierce Strike. He was missing one card for it. "I place down vertical strike and Pierce Strike. With my remaining tokens I strike you with 3 horizontal strikes"

"Not fast enough, I quick summon 3 Spy God minions, these are my damage soakers. They will hold off until spy god arrives" The 3 minions were killed by his strikes, but that just held him off until next turn. Damn.

He drew.....Knockback! It was just the card he needed. He placed the card down.

"Tsk. Nothing to say to me? awfully prideful of you brother. Oh, Look who returned. Spy God. And now for the second act, I use Spy God 5: Divine Intervention. Now Spy God, Has divintity, I hope your packing a god in that deck of yours!" Spy God glowed and gained a bright, golden armor.

His hand was pretty good, he placed down more tokens. He drew an equipment card this was perfect, just what he needed. He was going to hold off to quick play it when he needed it. However he didn't have a divine card, his chances were looking Grimm at this point.

"Now, I use a field card: Stage! It's showtime!" Red curtains dropped over the field held by magic! "Spy God thrives in such conditions, Let's see you escape this. Divine Spy God, attack this mongral and finish him" He scoffed.

"Not so fast, I use my equipment card. Shield! It blocks your attack, preventing any real damage"

"I see your just delaying the inevitable, look your shield has already broken"

He was right, he grabbed another card, the holy sword? What could this even do, right now? He placed his sword down. On top of that he acquired Uppercut. There was a plan here that wasn't forming, Wait - thats it! "I use, Horizontal, Horizontal, Uppercut, then I use Rising Dragon!"

"You absolute fool, your damage did nothing, you've just delayed him for one turn"

"Check again, Look up!" The red ribbons caught fire, his field card was being destroyed?

"Impossible how could you even do that? That's unheard of!" He grinded his teeth. "You leave me no choice, I summon 3 Spy Minions to attack"

"I have more than enough Tokens for this. I attack all three, and swap my weapon to the holy sword!" He destroyed the 3 minions.

"Well play time is over, It's time for me to attack! You're a fool for changing your weapon too! an idiot! Attack!" Spy God went in for the strike.

"I tap into two mana for a quick play! Horizontal Strike!" They both hit at the same time. Spy God was so close to his face, the blade touched his nose, which cut it. there was murderous intent involved, this was looking bad. But his brother was too prideful to hold a grudge, theres no way anyone else could be involved.

"See he is unaffected - Wait what?" Divine Spy God was cut in two, he was destroyed! "How is this possible, the Holy sword was made by the divines!"

"Guess again Alexander, This card is very different from the holy sword, this is the Golden Sword, it wasn't just made by the holy god of divinity, a piece of his soul was put into it! Thus allowing me to bypass your divinity!" He smirked.

"Spy God 12: The resurrected Spy God!" A Zombie looking Spy God emerged from the ground. This was a powerful and rare card, of that Max was certain. Alexander had an angry look on his face,

It was time for the final play, the both placed down their game winning cards - Boom! Woosh! The windows above cracked open a hooded man being held in a giant ghostly avatar was above them.

"I use 20 tokens to demolish Zombie Spy God" The stranger's ghostly God touched his zombie and evaporated him instantly.

"What, but how?"

"The rules are rather simple whenever anyone raises a card they become a part of the duel. I hid in the shadows also using my card, I was stacking up tokens for sometime, Once I built up enough points I summoned. The one and only: Ultimate God! He can evaporate anything below his power level, luckily it wasn't hard to summon with no one attacking me!"

"That's it, you were the one with murderous intent!"

"Well arent you the clever one! Ill give you a round of applause, Ultimate God use your turn to clap"

"Looks like you wasted your turn,m I should be thanking you, if you hadn't noticed I placed Judgment onto the field and tapped all my Tokens, this gave me enough time to charge up my attack, with no interruption to it, The card can destroy anything!" The blade slashed through, destroying Ultimate God.

"What how did you acquire that card? Grrr. That'll be my last mistake. If you want your uncle to live then you'll both meet me on top of the hill by midnight" He flew out of the building and disappeared.

Max ran up to Alexander "Bro are you okay?" He shoved him away "Don't touch me, This match is ruined" He was angry.

"I guess this makes Max our unofficial champ!" The crowd applaud, but that didn't make him feel any better, they had his uncle! But what were their motives. He was going to find out, no matter what! He ran outside and tripped to the ground. Damn, my Uncle I hope he's okay!

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Wait, where's he going?", Lenore hopped down from the winner's box to get either of the two competitors out of the way of whatever fatal attack was no doubt coming from the intruding Divinity user, but Max had already disposed of the god creature and run off before she could even raise her card and draw a hand.

"God-dammit," Lenore ducked under officials coming to ask questions, flicking a card with her contact information to one of them before sprinting off after Max. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!", she shouted once she could see him again on the streets outside.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

He heard a shout from behind himself. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

"Look, I think you're a good person and all, but I'm not sure you care, I've tried reaching out to you, but you just tried tearing me down. I think I got this you'll see!"

He started to run off by himself, but a part of him, he could feel the heart of another, was it a card or a human? His feet stopped.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

So he thought he had this? He was going against a guy that actively had and used God cards, especially that epithet of that god. "Look- Ahh!" When Max suddenly stopped, you could almost hear the screeching tires as Lenore tried to not bowl him over and ended up taking a header into a bush. Why did she pick today to wear the boots with a little heel to them?

"Ow...", pulling herself out of the bush, and sticks out of her clothes, "Look, dude, you can 'got this' all you want, but that guy has God cards, and we don't know how many are in his deck." She shook herself off, "You can destroy God cards, good, I can ressurect them on my side." Lenore wanted to help this kid, at least far enough to make sure he didn't get hit by a fatal blow.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"He has my Uncle, I have to face them. I'll accept the help, I'm not a fool. It was obvious he had Gabriel: Ultimate Astral Projection God. I don't know what cards he has, but he won't pull that again. It was only possible because he waited, he hid during our duel, it must've take 20 to 30 cards to summon"

He looked at the girl, she was showing concern, he had a weird feeling that she did care after all! So his cheery personality did get through

"You could help a lot, who knows if he is working with more people. So let's do this! Together!"

He put out his hand to her.