Fantasy Heart of Cards

[Deadwood Deer]

"The Ultimate epithets take almost double the normal token cost," Lenore shook her head, "But if you can kill it, I can re-summon it on our side." She pulled a leaf out of her hair and shook Max's hand. "Now, which way did he go, and why'd you stop running?" This guy had kidnapped Max's family and interrupted a tournament. With Max and Lenore running off, Face Tats would probably win the damn thing by default, and there went the prize money. This better be worth it.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"I stopped to listen to you, That's why, I know when I need help, I'm not a clueless dreamer, I'm an entire person" He looked to her for a second. His eyes were calm, they looked directly into her soul. It was as if they had known each other, even if it was for only a moment. He wondered, why did she chase him and decide to help. There was a caring person inside her. He grinned.

"Let's go save my Uncle"

They darted down the alleyways of the grand city.
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The middle of the City, Arosha Park.

There was a beautiful display, there was a sidewalk that went through the park, it was surrounded by trees. In the center was a huge fountain with a stone mermaid on top spitting out water, 4 lights were pointed at the fountain. This was a display of the towns Glory. There were plenty of times where his brother and him would meet here just to talk. This place held importance to him.

Two men appeared from behind the fountain. One was Liam! and the other was a stranger! The new guy wore a bandanna over his head, he had blonde hair with a bright blonde mustache.

"Hold up, What's the rush?" The stranger spoke.

"Out of my way!!" Max ran past.

"Don't you know, you'll never see your Uncle again without the key into the hills"

"Tsk, Fine what do you want?"

"A duel! What else? You two verse us two. It's a fair game, one on one, two separate matches"

"Liam, don't tell me your with them?"

"Of course I am, do you see anyone else around here. I would love to chat but I'm not so sure your dear Uncle has the time"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

“Hold up!”, Lenore caught up to Max and screeched to a halt, bent over the side of the fountain and gasping for air, she wasn’t used to running around this much, not in years. After a moment to catch her breath, she cleared her throat and looked at the two. “Liam? You got eliminated in the second round, what do you think you’re doing?”

First, the tournament, potentially Lenore’s rent, gone. Now, competitors were running around kidnapping other competitor’s family. “You guys really wanna do this? You’ve seen us in the tournament, it’s not gonna go well for you.”

She shook her head and looked to Max, “Blondie or Liam?” She was asking which one Max wanted to take down. She’d handle the other.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"I think it's time I teach blonde a lesson"

"Hey! I'm good at dueling, come on man fight me!"

"Well then let's get this over with!" Blonde said. He cracked his knuckles.

"I've seen your deck, I'm not impressed" He lifted his magic card.

"I'll show you why I'm a threat" He raised his magic card.

The magic duel initiated the ground beneath them was manipulated, the fountain started to fold in impossible ways, it transformed int a structure that surrounded them, it was like they were in an alleyway, but blocked in by castle walls. This cut off Lenore and Max's view of each other. But maybe there was a chance he could hear her.

"Lenore!"

"I'd worry about your game here. I'm a stickler for respect and rules. Let's have a good game"

"You have my Uncle hostage, You hardly have respect"

"It's game time"

Max drew slapped his deckbox over his arm. Hs first draw was great, he placed down two energy, placed down the Phoenix sword, and a Horizontal slash.

His opponent was passive and placed down 4 Tokens. He was starting with a great defense.

"I attack with horizontal slash!" He struck at him, destroying two of his tokens.

"Well this won't be much of a match if I dont draw a monster" He kept the same calm composure. His eyes flickered as he drew an invaluable card. He placed down his monster. A bunch of cards appeared, they formed into a stick figure shape. "He may look simple, but don't worry there's much more to him" He smirked.

Max drew a card, he drew a variety of different combos: Strike, Vertical, Uppercut, and Slam Down. He could use these. He placed each combo down and a Token. "I'm not here to judge you're cards, I'm just here to win. You wanted a game and now you'll get it" He tapped horizontal strike. Which struck his card monster. "Let's see is your paper ignites!" The card figure fizzled up in flames.

"No matter, I can replace his numbers. I place down another card figure alongside 2 Tokens" Another one sprouted. It appeared his strategy was to create a wall of monsters for a bigger play. He tapped his monster to attack Max, it destroyed 2 Tokens.

Max placed a few Tokens to replace his missing members. He drew.....The Golden Sword? This was turning to hi favor, but what use would it have here. He placed it down, it never hurt to have quick access to swapping between weapons. "Uppercut!" He struck and killed the creature.

Blonde kept a straight face "Hmph, I got exactly what I needed. My deck consists entirely of card figures, all to delay the forthcoming of this card - Card Forge!" An anvil fell from the sky, than a hammer soon followed, hitting the anvil and on the side. "This is my decks strength, It consists of anvils. I use discarded or sacrificed cards to forge into new cards, all the it requires is a blue print. And lookie here, I drew a knight blueprint" His Card Figure got an upgrade, the forge magically hammer down on a card, suddenly more cards appeared around the stick figure, a new layer of cards surrounded him granting him armor. "Thats not it, I use the anvil to create him a card sword!" The forge fused cards into a weapon for his Card Knight.

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[Deadwood Deer]

“Bring it,” Lenore raised her card in challenge. Liam scowed and raised his to accept. Before they could even draw their starting hands, though, Blondie’s Field Card morphed the area, cutting the two duels off. “Oh, that’s just cheap!” She could hear Max’s call, but before she could reply Liam was already in action.

“You should focus on what’s in front of you, Goblin Scouts!” Liam already had his hand and the thump of a card benign slammed down on the field announced he was summoning something. Lenore drew her starting hand as a trio of red goblins crawled out of the card on the field. “Let’s see you get through my army, Wednesday!”

“Try Morticia,” Lenore put down three tokens and cast a spell. “Foul Omen!” Ravens appeared out of nowhere to surround Lenore as she drew three cards and revealed them to Liam. A Monster Card called Lifeleach Vampire, a Field Card called Misty Graveyard, and another token. Lenore put two of them in her hand and stuck the other one in the upper third of her deck, and placed down a token. “Cursed Bones!” A pile of bones appeared on the field, clicking and clanking against each other as they formed into a skeleton.

“Only a skeleton?”, Liam laughed, “My goblins spawn faster than you can kill them! Fetid Matriarch!” A visibly pregnant goblin woman, maybe three times the size of the others on the field appeared. “She’ll have an army out before you can even-”

“Lichmark!”, Lenore slammed a spell down, an image of a raven burning itself into the Matriarch’s forehead. “Go ahead and try me, pretty boy. Wandering Specter!” A wispy ghost appeared and groaned alongside the chattering skeleton.

 

[InfinityBeholden]

Max drew a card he wasn't expecting "Sword Rain? I don't -" he had a flash back....

You don't have to be the best to be important.

That's right, those were his brothers words of wisdom, they were passed onto him before he made a smart remark to him. There was another phrase he'd always say: All living things have a heart beat. Its said if your quiet enough you can hear the heart of cards. He closed his eyes.

bu-buh, bu-buh, bu-buh
​

The melody of the heart, he could feel the heart in this card. "No, this card might be exactly what I needed" Max slammed the card down. The clouds above came together to form a rain cloud. He tapped two Tokens. "For each sword I have I can tap that amount of Mana, by doing so I can make it rain damage, the more swords tapped, the more damage" The sky rained swords, they deflected off the card solider.

"I don't think so, you'll have to try harder than that, when I activated my card, I also activated my field card, this castle bolsters my defenses from outside sources, unfortunately for you, the clouds are out of bounds" He placed down a Token and another card figure down. His cards were stacking up for his next move. His card knight was sent fourth to attack. It destroyed 5 Tokens, it was a damaging blow.

Max countered by placing more Tokens down to recover strength. That wasn't it. He placed a Shield Card down onto the field to help out. He needed to draw more cards and figure out a strategy, he had to do more than kill the card figures, but get enough time to land a blow on him, basic combos would help to destroy them and then focus his combo finisher on Blondie.

"This next move is a game changer"
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[Deadwood Deer]

Liam growled and drew another card, summoning another goblin. And then he grinned, and tapped his Fetid Matriarch. “Spawn,” he declared. The matriarch’s stomach deflated and a trio of small goblins appeared on the field.

“Corpse Lily,” Lenore planted one of her flowers of decay on the field, “Cursed Bones, attack.”

“Scouts, block!” The skeleton ran up and lashed at the goblins, the goblins vanishing into light and going into Liam’s deck. The Corpse Lily bloomed, pollen flying out as the skeleton began to grow flesh.

“Whenever something I don't control dies, Corpse Lily gives all Undead I control a +2 Damage and a +1 defense token,” Lenore grinned, “And when something I don't control dies, Cursed Bones gains a +1 Damage and +1 defense.”

“Then I’ll just have to kill it faster!”, Liam snapped, “Spawn!” The goblin matriarch spawned more goblins as Liam rallied his others to attack. “Open the Den!”, he placed down a Ritual card to spawn more goblins faster.

“Wandering Specter, block.” Wandering Specter assumed defensive position against the incoming attacks, but wasn’t destroyed despite its low Defense stat.

“Wandering Specter can’t take damage from any non-spirit creatures that don’t have Etherealness,” Lenore grinned, “He can’t be blocked by the same, either. Whomping Willow!” An enormous tree grew out of the ground, roots spreading across the battlefield working their way between bricks and poking out the other side on Max and Blondie’s side. They were close together, the fight hadn’t moved around yet.

“Cursed Bones, Wandering Specter, Whomping Willow, attack.” Whomping Willow was by far Lenore’s heaviest hitter, with a base Damage stat of 5 and base Defense of 7. The goblin spawn vanished, the specter going for Liam’s token.

“Just you wait,” Liam snarled, “Late game is where I thrive.”

“Too bad you won’t get there,” Lenore replied, pointing to Corpse Lily and Cursed Bones. The flower was blooming and enhancing all of Lenore’s creatures. Cursed bones had grown all its flesh back. “When Cursed Bones’s Damage and Defense exceed 6/6, he transforms into Manic Cultist. Get ready for some spell damage, buddy.”

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"I use card forge to give my knight a new upgrade. King of the Castle!" his cards lifted his knight up far above them, but still underneath the top of the walls. "While he's in the castle he gains a substantial bonus to defense, it'll be near impossible to kill him. card figure! Attack!" His Token was destroyed.

"I don't care, I'll knock him of his throne and save my Uncle" Max furiously grabbed a card out. He got the combo finisher rising dragon, and another Uppercut card. He was getting nervous, he placed his cards down and replenished a few Tokens. "Uppercut!" he wanted to test the waters a bit. He hit the Castle, but it didn't even bulge. It was like he thought, but he could find another strategy.

"You'll have to try harder than that Max! Oh and time for a little back up, I use card forge to create a guardian for my castle, Card Dragon! Do have fun trying to strike him from up there" A dragon was flying around the top of the cards castle, it had a flying effect only appropriate cards could hit it. "Attack my dragon, I tap all my tokens to perform Card Breath!" A flurry of cards overcame max, it hurt really bad, like a thousand little paper cuts. He fell to the ground.

All hope felt lost, but he knew that his deck had chosen these cards for a reason. There had to be! He wouldn't give up, his Uncles life was at risk, not to mention he had a friend who was watching over him now. "I place down 10 Tokens! and end my turn!" He drew a special card.

"Do you plan to Token me to death? attack!"

A dragons furry attacked him dealing high damage, but he needed more time to create a plan. Then he drew the Slam down card. He understood it now. Uppercut, Horizontal, Horizontal, Uppercut, Rising dragon, and then -

"I play my cards" the dragon received a flurry of blows lifting up further and further into the sky. "Now, it's time for my big play, Sword Rain!"

"Did you not learn your lesson from last time?" Swing! Slice! Cut! Boom! "What impossible he's protected by my castle field card"

"Your dragons greatest strength was also his greatest down fall, I used my uppercut to gain me leverage,lifting him up into the sky further, and then once again with rising dragon, he was too far above the protection of the castle walls. That's not all my turn isn't up. I use Slam down!"

"I don't think that'll work, my castle's defense is too high" he drew another card, but this card - it glowed, it was his specialization card! "Did you know my label was King of Cards, you're about to find out why!" his card absorbed into him. all his cards disappeared off the field, and a hand of cards spawned into his right hand. "Have a taste of the cards!"

A storm of cards cut through max, it was a sharp pain, he had scratches all over his body. After the blow, all his cards returned to the field.

"I make my weakness my strength, my deck consists of a high amount of card figures, which can be turned into stronger cards. However it's main purpose is based entirely off my specialization card, for every card on the field i have, the more damage my special attack gains! It'll be over soon for you!" he kept his calm composure.

If max had any hope of winning he would need that card! He drew his next card.......

 

[Deadwood Deer]

“Heh, he’s wrapping this up,” Liam grinned, “Guess I should step this up a notch as well!” he spun a card off of the top of his deck and slammed it down. “Warg Rider!” A goblin on the back of an enormous wolf-like creature appeared.

“You just have a throbber for Tolkien, don’t you?”, Lenore shook her head and drew another card. “Let’s get this over with, kid, your pal’s stunt cost me my rent for the month,” she plopped down a field card. “Misty Graveyard!” Gravestones and wrought iron fences popped out of the ground on both sides of the wall, fog and mist rolling in and obscuring vision. “My undead aren’t affected by this mist, but you’ll have to work twice as hard to do the same damage!”

“My warg riders have an excellent sense of smell, and my Matriarch’s ability can produce more than just goblings,” Liam laughed, “She can replicate any Goblin monster on the field! Spawn!”

“You’re not too bright, are you? Did you forget how I’ve won every duel so far today? Manic Cultist, bring me that Matriarch!” The manic cultist chittered and twitched, pointing its hands at the Fetid Matriarch and the Warg Rider card. They both went up in flames, with the Matriarch reappearing on Lenore’s side of the field as a wretched zombie.

“What did you-”

“Manic Cultist does damage equal to its Damge stat to up to two creatures I don’t control. Lichmark is an Enchantment spell, whenever something under the Lichmark enchantment dies, it’s resurrected as a zombie under my control. Your Matriarch was Lichmarked.” Lenore grinned, “Spawn! Warg Riders!”

“That’s not… No fair!”

“Kid, you’re working with kidnappers, you don’t get fair, and I’m done playing with you. Step up or back down.” Lenore pointed at Liam’s remaining forces. “Corpse Lily, Whomping Willow, Warg Riders, go!”

“Captive Shield!”, the goblins on Liam’s side all pulled out wooden shields, bands reaching out to snare Lenore’s non-plant undead. “You want my creatures, you’ll have to get through your own!” He grinned, "I told you, late game is where I thrive."

 

[InfinityBeholden]

"Bruh!"

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Lenore and Liam looked from their duel to see Max and Blondie again as the fortress field card disengaged. “Who won?”, Liam called.

“Does it matter?”, Lenore snapped back, “Manic Cultist, free yourself and the Matriarch.” The chattering cultist fried the goblin holding him and the zombie goblin matriarch. “Manic Cultist deals damage to victims directly, no attacks. Spawn, Warg Rider!”

“You’re really starting to bug me,” Liam muttered, drawing another card to play. “I open the Den!”, the Open the Den ritual card glowed, a small hoard of goblins coming out. “While we’ve been fighting, the den has been filling. And now, I repopulate the field.”

“That’s too bad,” Lenore shook her head, “If it was anyone else, you might have accomplished something.” The graveyard vanished as the field card’s effects ended. “I play my other field card, Unhallowed Ground!” She slammed it down, the world around assuming the gothic graveyard of desecrated graves and spooky scenery that it had in the tournament. “Whomping Willow, take them out.” In all of the death and the Corpse Lily’s effect, Lenore’s surviving monsters had incredibly high stats. The whomping willow, for instance, had damage and defense in the mid twenties by now. More than enough that Liam couldn’t rally enough creatures, whether Lenore’s captive critters or his own goblin spawn, to completely block it, taking out all monsters on the field under Liam’s control, and a significant chunk of his tokens.

“You see, Liam,” Lenore cocked her head, “I’m a necromancer. It doesn’t matter what you kill on my side of the board, and now, for the next seventeen rounds, it really matters what I kill on yours.” She put down another spell, a Ritual. “Not that I’ll need that long to knock you flat. Unfinished Business!”

“So, you wanna keep going, make me stronger, or should I just have Corpse Lily and Manic Cultist take out your tokens now? You’ve only got twelve left. Lily could do it on its own, now.”

“I’m still in this!”, Liam played all the cards in his hand to summon more goblins and had to draw a new one. “I haven’t even touched my ogres yet!”

“Bring it.”

“Infested Wargs, cut down her garden!” The goblins he summoned, a variety of Warg Riders with an ability to do damage to specific creatures much like Manic Cultist, lunged at the Lily and Willow. The damage they did to their Defense stats wasn’t recovered at the start of Lenore’s turn, though. “These Wargs inflict the Poisoned effect, you aren’t recovering anything until the wargs are dead!”

“Then it’s a good thing I have backup,” Lenore replied, “Spawn! Warg Riders! Corpse Lily, Willow, Cultist, Attack!” Infested Wargs were whittled down. There were quite a few of them this turn, actually.

“You see?”, Liam laughed, “It’s over for you.” He repeated his assault, Lenore’s plants and her remaining forces biting the dust. “Next I’ll come for your tokens.”

“You’ve just messed up bigtime,” Lenore tapped all of her tokens on the field, “Didn’t I tell you it didn’t matter what you killed? Unfinished Business!” Lenore’s creatures and many of Liam’s goblins reappeared on the field. “Attack.”

Lenore turned around as Liam’s tokens and creatures were eaten, the Field Card fading back into her deck as she caught the box out of the air. “Now, where’s that key?”