I warily kept my eye on the surprise contestant showing up in the middle of this cleared settlement. My eyes were also still adjusting to the light but I could make out my opponent. A dark cloak hid most of its features but it was some kind of animal. Digitigrade feet poked out from under the dark cloak and a muzzle could be seen poking out of the hood. As it overcame the confusion, it turned around and started rubbing its eyes under the hood. In the meantime, I had made my way over to my battlefield position and waited for my opponent to do the same while the clock ticked down.
With screeches and hissing it finally made its way over to the contestant position. By the tone it was producing the sounds with I assumed it was cursing at either me, the light, or the fight to come. Now that the creature was upright, it stood at around five feet tall. Without any further fanfare, the duel started and I looked at my opening hand. I utterly failed at hiding my excitement taking the card in. Skeleton (1/1), wolf skeleton (2/2), the twin strike goblin archer (2/1), rising legionary (4/3), and goblin enforcer (3/2). Just like that, my first three turns were already mapped out. Unless my opponent had any big surprises, this was a done deal. Any lane I placed the archer in would have to be defended against. This meant that all the other lanes were free damage.
The opening play was of course the legionary in the centre lane. With a mighty neigh, a ghostly pale charger appeared. While it had already appeared powerful as a skeleton, the living version just even more formidable. The horse was equipped with a simple saddle and reigns and atop the horse sat what could only be the legionary. While the skeletal version had given me a decent image of the Jah'kali, the living version was a whole other thing. I was once again reminded that a skeleton didn't tell the complete story and that all non-bone features were lost to interpretation.
The same had been true for the Jah'kali. I knew it was some type of animal race based on the bones in the skeletal version but this image now confirmed it. Covered in a sleek black fur it sat on top of the horse. The snout was doglike with longer upright ears. It worse a linen kilt while the chest was covered by a bronze cuirass. The hand not holding the reigns held a sword with a curve in it.
Mesmerized by my creature I failed to notice that my opponent had also made its move and a lowly copy of himself stood in the second lane holding a spear. A quick inspection showed it to be a (1/1) ratling. I was tempted to use my ring to block the one damage but I should be back up to twenty tomorrow even after taking the hit so I let it through. As usual, the hit felt like a middle punch to the chest and was easily brushed off. My opponent on the other hand had to contest with a hoof to the head as the charger reared up and struck him.
The second turn started and I drew one of my skeletal knights (3/2). I'd expect my opponent to play a card opposite it which meant I had free reign to do as I pleased. To get the upper hand in the second land, I played my (2/2) skeletal wolf. To further reinforce the centre lane as the man thread, I played my archer behind the legionary.
The wolf charged the ratling which only managed to land a glancing blow on the wolf's skull before being mauled to death. The instant that combat began and I saw no other creature I knew my opponent had played an ambusher. That was the downside of Ambush, it always caught you off guard. Blood spurted from the charger's neck as something sliced it. In a panic, it reared up and the unfortunate Jah'kali rider got thrown off. This spelled doom for it since the moment it hit the ground a ratling dropped from stealth and pounced on its chest and rapidly stabbed it multiple times around the neck area with claw-like weapons. I barely managed to get an inspection out before the ratling's head and chest were pierced by arrows.
Ratling stalker 2
Under kingdom - Ratling
Ambush
Attack 4 Health 2
The main thread was now established and my victory was almost guaranteed at this point. The moment we had to top deck any other lane would get through. My third turn card was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. I instantly played it in the fifth lane and ended my turn. Frustration was apparent from my opponent as it kept making low screeching sounds.
My opponent ended the turn and he had played two creatures. In the second land was another ratling which was armed with a club and in the middle lane was a labrador-sized black rat. A hiss resounded from the dark and my opponent was hit in the chest by a glob of acid spit. A spider scurried out from one of the houses and took up position in my first lane. The ratling charged my wolf which dodged the first swing which left the ratling open for a counter attack which the wolf utilized with a rake of its claw. Blood flowed heavily but didn't prevent the ratling from recovering for a second swing which shattered the wolf's skull.
A raging storm of black fire burned the corpses of the horse and the Jah'kali. When the fire died down after only a few seconds only the bones remained which then rose again to join the fight. But before the legionary could mount the horse the rat knocked it to the ground and crushed the horse under its weight. Without missing a beat it punched again and jumped on the skeleton. The moment before it landed, the Jah'kali raised its sword and impaled the black rat before being crushed to pieces. Still impaled, the rat was an easy target for the goblin archer.
A wolf howled as the goblin brute entered the battlefield. Wolf and rider charged my undefended opponent with bloodlust in their eyes. The wolf bit down on my opponent's arm and pulled it to the side. This left it wide open for a quick one-two punch combo to the head from the goblin brute. And just like that, their life points dropped by another six.
Turn four gave me the goblin shanker (1/3). While it wouldn't do a lot of damage to my opponent since poison didn't seem to apply to contestants the fact that it had ambush would make it persist another round and thus free up another lane next round. So the shanker went in front of the archer while I played the knight in the second lane.
Surprisingly, my opponent had emptied their hand as three creatures took to the field. Unfortunately for them, they would have no real impact anymore. The only open lane was the first lane where the spider was sitting. This was the most logical choice since it had the lowest attack value. It also predicted that I would play a card in either lane two or four and the gamble had paid off.
The fifth lane had the biggest creature in the form of another black rat. The creatures in lanes two and three were surprisingly both troglodytes. Well, it did make sense since they would be the most likely reward from clearing the settlement and similar to what I had done, they had filled out their deck with the cards they had on hand. What was a bit surprising was the two attack and two health troglodyte in the second lane since it only cost one crystal. Visually comparing the two creatures, I noticed that the one in the second landed was wearing something on its head meaning it was most likely equipped with an item.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The spider scurried past the troglodyte in lane two and sank its fangs into my opponent's arm. The knight feigned an attack and baited out a counter from the troglodyte. using the opening the knight stabbed the troglodyte through the chest with its sword. The attack wasn't an instant kill which gave the troglodyte a chance to counter and kill off the skeleton. The other troglodyte in lane three took a few steps towards the archer but dropped dead when the shanker stabbed it in the back. The black rat slipped under a bite attack from the warg and sank its oversized fangs deep into the warg's neck causing a waterfall of blood to spill out. The action left it completely open for the brute riding the warg and it promptly smashed in the rat's head. The warg collapsed from the bloodless and its breathing stopped soon after. The brute gently stroked the warg's head before it dipped its hands in the pooled blood and used it to paint his face.
For turn number five I drew my second skeleton knight and I now had a luxury problem with three cards in hand and only two vanguard slots left to fill. Not one to waste resources, I played the knight and the enforcer in lanes two and four. For my opponent's turn, he also played two creatures which surprised me since they cleared out their hand last round. Another (1/1) ratling was played in the middle lane while he played a ratling lord in the fifth lane opposing my brute.
Ratling lord 3
Under kingdom - Ratling
Attack 3 Health 5
It was a last-ditch effort to save something but it was already too late. The spider spat a glob of acid at my opponent while the knight charged them and landed a sword strike. The little ratling threw his spear at my shanker but only managed a flesh wound before twin arrows impacted his body and killed it. Both the enforcer and brute charged at the same time. The rating lord was on an intercept course with the brute but the enforcer tackled it before the rating could strike at the brute. The brute pulled back its fast as it quickly approached my opponent. They tried to step back from the upcoming onslaught but their back hit an invisible wall behind them. With a mighty yell, the brute landed a punch straight to its face. The cracking of bone was audible and they folded over like a piece of paper after that single punch. The brute let out one final roar and then the battlefield dissolved.
VICTORY!
Similar to last time, there was only the victory notification and no mention of experience or coin rewards. The only thing that was left behind in the end was a deck box. It was draped in brown fur and the top was clasped closed by a rat's head.
Box of the Under kingdom
Effect 1: When a creature you control from the Under kingdom dies create a bribe token.
Effect 2: You can use (5) tokens to recruit a (1/1) common ratling.
That explained where the last ratling came from. It was almost the same effect as my deck box but this one felt a little less constricted since mine only looked at the skeleton subtype. Just to see what would happen, I touched the new deck box to my own to trigger the fuse option.
Deck box fusion is available.
A previously fused beck box has been detected. Fusion will not return a previously fused deck box.
A fusion can not be undone.
Box of under kingdom bones
Effect 1: When a creature from the under kingdown or with the skeleton subtype dies create a bone token (this effect can only happen once per creature).
Effect 2: You can use (5) bone tokens to summon a basic common ratling skeleton (1/1) to the field.
Box of the under kingdom horde
Effect 1: For every four Greenskins or Under kingdom creatures you play create an Enrage token (this effect can only happen once per creature).
Effect 2: You can use this token to enrage a creature you control.
Box of Greenskins and under kingdom
Effect 1: When a creature you control from the Under kingdom dies create a bribe token.
Effect 2: You can use (5) tokens to recruit a (1/1) common ratling.
Effect 3: For every four Greenskins you play create an Enrage token.
Effect 4: You can use this token to enrage a creature you control.
All the options matched what I could previously create by fusing the goblin deck box. The skeleton or greenskin option was just replaced by under kingdom. Since I wasn't interested in replacing all my goblin cards with rats, I cancelled the fusion. Apart from the ambusher, no other interesting cards had seen play but I hoped that there was a gem hidden inside as I opened my new deckbox.
"Welcome everyone to another unboxing video," I said to no one while staring straight ahead. "In today's video, we'll be having a look and deep dive into this deck box of the under kingdom". I had to chuckle at my cringy joke about YouTube unboxing videos.
The storage and side deck compartments were empty which was a bit of a bummer. With no hidden prices, I pulled out all the main deck cards. After sorting out the cards, I was a tad disappointed. Apart from the stalker, there were no other uncommon cards apart from the lord card. I did manage to get two more equipment cards
Flimsy club
Equipment – non Beast, non Insect
A creature equipped with this item gains +1 attack.
Minor crown of the troglodyte king
Equipment – Troglodyte
A creature equipped with this item gains +1 attack. and +1 health.
The club was useable but the crown was a complete waste. The best troglodyte card in the looted deck box was a common (2/2) and that made me wonder what they didn't equip it to that creature. In the end, the final tally was elven (1/1) ratlings, three (3/2) lack rats, a ratling lord (3/5), ratling stalker (4/2), three (1/1) troglodytes, and a (2/2) troglodyte. I dropped every card apart from the flimsy club into my storage section. I flipped through my cards for a moment and decided to just equip my commander with it and raise it to (5/4).
I spent roughly twenty minutes looking through the rest of the village but just like the goblin settlement, there was nothing of value left to find. There was also no sign of my opponent's backpack. While most likely not a complete loss since I'd upgraded mine at the store yesterday it might have held something of value. My rumbling stomach told me it was roughly midday by now. Any opportunities would have been picked since I found the other contestant down here but the meagre state of their deck could mean that there was nothing to gain or that they hadn't found them.
I weighed my options but in the end, I made the decision to just head back home to the keep. I still wanted to bring Falliana with me to the shop and that was a pretty lengthy trip to make around way. Fortunately, no further encounters took place as I made my back to the entrance. I listened intently for any signs of sound coming from the outpost but I heard nothing and the gate was still as open as I had left It earlier in the day.
I took the opportunity to reaffirm the shop's location before setting out back to the keep and hopefully, we'd make it before the first round ended.