I unclipped the deck box from my belt and brought it up to my eyes. I didn’t really know what to expect but this thing was pretty macabre. The box part was three times as thick as a regular set of playing cards and looked pretty normal. The macabre part was the ribcage in which it was placed. The bottom of the deck box rested on the pelvis. A spine went up behind the back of the box and ribs locked it into place on the front. A skull without a lower jaw sat on top of the lid of the deck box. What I thought to be a metal clip that kept the deck on my belt were the arms of the skeleton that went up with the hands touching the shoulder blades. While it wasn’t my personal taste it did look metal as fuck.
I focussed on the macabre deck box the same way I had done when picking out my deck and its description promptly appeared.
Box of Bones
Effect 1: When a creature with the skeleton sub-type dies create a bone token.
Effect 2: You can use 5 bone tokens to summon a basic common skeleton (1/1) to the field.
Deck size: 12 / 24
Sideboard: 0 / 8
Experience: 0
Coins: 0
The box interface held a lot more information than I had assumed it would. The use of experience evaded me for the moment but perhaps I would need to gather some before I could figure out that mystery. A sideboard was normally used to swap out cards from your main deck during tournaments where you would face different kinds of deck compositions. Neither the tutorial nor the bare-bones tournament rules had any explanation about it. Perhaps the swap feature would happen in a pre-combat step but I would have to get at least thirteen more cards to find that out.
The second effect of the deck box was the reason I had picked the deck in the first place. With the option to get out five more creatures than my opponent, it would prove invaluable assuming the basic skeletons would also get me a bone token. With my curiosity satiated I clipped the macabre box back onto my belt and put the backpack on my back. It was time to set out and find a water source.
Now the question was determining how I would go about finding water. I could either pick a random direction and hope to find it or walk the coastline. Rivers usually ended at the sea so if I found the outlet I could follow it back to the spring. I weighed both options before deciding to follow the cliff side. I had no idea where on this island I even was and by following the coast I could at least find my way back if I wanted to. When I made it back to the cliff and the treeline I quickly took out the axe from the backpack and stripped a long piece of bark from a nearby tree. The stripped bark would serve as my land marker if I returned.
After thirty minutes of trekking through the forest, I ran into my first obstacle. The vegetation in front of me was thinning out and a minute later I stood on a double-sided cliff. The cliff I was following took a turn to the left creating an inlet. The cliff then took a right turn and continued off into the horizon. I set down my backpack and took out the canteen as I contemplated my choice. The cliff looked to take another left turn in the distance but it estimated it would take me at least two hours to get to that point. And then it would probably result in more cliffs. The other option was to walk further into the forest for a minute or two before taking a ninety-degree left turn and walking back the way I came.
In the end, I decided to just double back. Seeing the long cliffs might indicate the entire island was cliff faced so finding inland water was now the better option. I hoisted my backpack back on my back and set out into the forest. I roughly counted two minutes in my head and made the turn left. The vegetation was a lot thicker than on the forest's edge which made the trek back at least half as long.
After I had been walking for about fifteen minutes I could hear a slight commotion coming from up ahead. I took off the backpack and stashed it behind a tree as I slowly made my way forward to see what that was all about. Four, what I assumed to be, goblins had surrounded a wolf against a boulder. I observed how this would play out. Would this also result in a card battle or was that only when the players fought creatures? Remembering that creature would spawn in instead of summoning more my answer was quickly answered. One of the little goblins rushed in with a spear and pierced straight through the wolf. Before the goblin could retreat the wolf pounced and ripped out its throat. It took a few unsteady steps before it collapsed on the floor. If they were both common creatures that means they were both 1/1 creatures. If I would initiate a duel I would fight the three remaining goblins with a disadvantage. The equation was simple. Was I willing to trade two health points for this fight?
I studied the surrounding before committing to the fight. Terrain is a feature and there has to be a way for me to use it to my advantage. I used my best impression of a carpenter's eye and tried to gauge the distances. If the field had a fixed height and width, could I make it so I would only fight one or two goblins instead of all three at once?
It took me less than a minute to get into, what I assumed to be, the correct position. If I was correct It would only face the two goblins now hovering over the corpse of the wolf and their fellow goblin. I took in a deep breath to steel my resolve. “Initiate duel,” I whispered. As soon as I said the words myself and the two goblins were pulled into a position to match the battlefield. I had estimated correctly. The third goblin stood roughly two feet outside of the field.
Combat initiated with advantage (all opponents unaware).
You’ll receive one bonus crystal for the first round of combat.
A huge smile crept on my face. I had successfully initiated combat against only two goblins and I had done so with what I considered a huge advantage. With the two crystals, I could summon two of my skeletons and neutralize both of them in the first round.
“Draw,” and four cards materialized in my hand. Skeleton (1/1), Skeleton(1/1), Skeleton(1/1), Skeletal knight (2/2).
The third goblin looked very confused about what was happening before running onto the battlefield.
Reinforcements have entered the battle. They will arrive next round.
Good, more and more puzzle pieces started falling into place about how to best navigate battling others. I placed a skeleton in front of each goblin and ended my turn. The goblin swept its spear in a wide arc and shattered the spine of the skeleton but the skeleton had already started an overhead swing with its sword and cleaved the goblin's head in two. My second skeleton wasn’t human but a wolf. The little goblin smashed down its club on the head of the wolf almost shattering it. Not to be outdone a skeletal paw flashed out and eviscerated the goblin's abdomen before the rest of the skull fractured. Two black tokens with two crossed bones popped up next to my crystals. The third goblin took up a position on the battlefield as the next round started.
“Draw,” and another skeleton card was added to my hand. Interested in how the knight looked It played it for two crystals. It looked identical to my other human skeleton apart from the broken and rusted iron chest piece and helmet it was wearing. The little goblin charged at the knight with its spear aimed straight ahead. The spear tip deflected off the rusty chest armour. The little goblin was decapitated with a single sword strike. The little trumpets played their tune and the post-combat screen popped up.
VICTORY!
Exp gained: 3 +1 (flawless)
Coins gained: 6
Cards gained: None
Additional rewards: Goblin long spear
Claim
Having an actually filled-in reward screen made me make a few conclusions but it would be a while till I could confirm them. The first was that either every kill was one experience or since these were common goblins a common kill was worth one experience. The flawless bonus could also be a flat amount or a rounded down fifty percent increase of my total experience.
The coins could follow the same logic. Either two for a kill or two for a common. I curiously eyed the Goblin long spear before claiming my rewards. My deck box made a single vibration similar to my old smartphone and that was it.
Once the AR battlefield overlay receded all the goblin corpses had vanished including the one I had not killed. All that remained was the corpse of the wolf. Seeing the body lying in a pool of its own blood made me wonder if the smell would attract other predators looking for an easy meal. Setting out bait like that would probably be an easy way to rank up experience depending on how big of a group would show up. With good planning, I could easily rake in tens of experience especially if reinforcements kept coming in every round. The flip side was that I could also be easily overrun once I ran out of skeletons to summon. Even if I only face the most common of creatures my 3/3 would go down in 3 attacks.
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With no practical way to take the entire wolf with me or a way to transport any meat cuts without getting blood all over my backpack, I continued my journey through the forest. The quest for water was still ongoing. Roughly forty minutes later I spotted the hefty tree again in the distance. As expected my return brought me right back to my starting points. The sun was still high up in the sky so there was plenty of exploration time left before nightfall.
Thirty minutes later I found myself crouched behind a fallen tree. Despite my best efforts to keep my eyes open for any roaming danger I almost walked into the great grey wolf just a few yards ahead. It was vigorously sniffing the ground, probably in search of the scent of whatever prey it was tracking. This wolf was bigger than the wolf the goblins killed which made me assume this was the bigger common variant. It should be within the 30 yards range. I scanned the forest one more time to make sure it was alone. Before I could initiate something shot through the underbrush which made the wolf look up in my direction. Having lost the advantage bonus I still called out “initiate duel”.
The battlefield took effect and I used that opportunity to inspect my opponent, Proud Wolf (2/2). It was indeed the bigger common variant. It held my hand in the ready position before calling “draw”.
My hand was filled with four Skeletons (1/1). Remembering the fight with the goblin I used this moment to go over the artwork of my four cards. Two of the cards had human skeletons wielding rusted swords. The third one was also human but wielded a rusted axe. My fourth card looked like a walking alligator wielding a stone club. I took it into my right hand to get an even better look.
Skeleton Cost 1
Undead - Skeleton, Lizardman
Attack 1 Health 1
I clicked my tongue in annoyance as I recalled my own oversight. When picking the deck it said my common skeletons were varied. While it currently had no actual impact it might be relevant in the future. After this battle, I should sit down and take stock of which types I currently had in my deck.
Since it was already in my hand I cast the skeletal lizard in the slot opposing the Proud wolf in the centre slot and ended my turn. The skeleton stepped forward and struck the wolf with a two-handed swing of its club. It knocked the wolf back but it punched on top of the skeleton and ripped it apart.
Out of seemingly nowhere a wolf with a coat as dark as the night rushed me from the bushes on the fifth slot. I held up my arm on reflex and it bit down. My life total dropped down to nineteen. Breathing heavily I inspected my arm but no visual bitemarks could be seen despite it just getting mauled. I centred myself with a few heavy breaths before drawing a new card. It was the 1/1 skeletal wolf card. Before placing down a skeleton to face off against both of my opponents I took the time to focus on this new previously invisible creature.
Night Stalker Cost 2
Beast – Wolf
Forest Ambush: When played on a Forest tile this creature gains Ambush.
Ambush: A creature with Ambush will only reveal when attacking. The first attack by a creature with Ambush can not be counterattacked. Can only have a mount that also has Ambush.
Attack 1 Health 2
I made a mental copy of the card for later and played two of my skeletons. The Proud wolf repeated its trick of pouncing on the skeleton and was rewarded with a rusty sword through the chest. My axe-wielding skeleton slashed out and left a deep cut on the stalker’s flank but was in turn slashed apart by its claws. No popup about reinforcements joining the battle so without even looking at the card I drew I summoned the skeletal wolf. They both went for an aerial attack but the skeleton bit down on the stalker’s neck. They came down in a tumble and my wolf was crushed under the dying body of the stalker.
VICTORY!
Exp gained: 3
Coins gained: 6
Cards gained: None
Additional rewards: none
Claim
I quickly claimed my rewards and made my way over to one of the bigger trees. The branches were low enough for me to grab hold with a jump and I made my way up the tree. About fifteen feet up I say myself down on the sturdiest branch and sat down with my back against the trunk. I rummage through my backpack and fished one of the apple-like fruits from my ration bundle. I bit down and closed my eyes letting my wind unwind from battle. The fruit was juicy with a firm texture and a slightly sour taste. After finishing the fruit I tossed the core into the distance.
I was feeling angry and frustrated. Tossed into a death game with only a bare-bones explanation of the rules. Which led to me getting caught off-guard by that dumb ambusher. Sure the impact was minimal with me only losing one point of life but I hated that I wasn’t prepared for that. The trade was fine in the end but it just didn’t feel right. I closed my eyes and focussed on my breathing for a few minutes to calm me down. At least my experience and coin theories were proven to be correct. Common enemies were worth one experience and one coin while uncommon enemies were worth two experience and four coins.
I unclipped the deck box from my belt and flipped it open. The inside of the deck box had three separate compartments. From top to bottom, they were listed as Main deck, Sideboard, and Storage. I took out all my cards from the main deck section. Out of my nine skeletons, six were humanoid with a variation of weapons. The other three were a wolf, a lizardman, and a goblin. The two knights looked almost identical and the commander had armour in a slightly better state than the knights and carried a sword and shield.
Putting the deck back into the deck box I noticed another card in the storage section and pulled it out.
Goblin long spear
Equipment – Goblin
A Goblin equipped with this weapon gains the Range ability.
Range – Can attack creatures with Flying.
When upgrading a Goblin holding this item it will be absorbed to permanently grant it the Range ability.
They really needed to upgrade that damn tutorial. Or maybe this was all common knowledge to the other contestants and I was the odd one out.
I pulled out a normal skeleton and the goblin skeleton card from my deck. The fact it had the goblin tag and referenced it two more times meant I could only upgrade the goblin but I wanted to know what would happen if I tried it on the non-goblin card. I tapped the spear card to the goblin card which popped up a little message.
Equipt?
Yes / No
I mentally selected no and repeated it on the other card. That returned a quick Incompatible and sated my curiosity. Now that I had some experience to play with tried a few options to get to this upgrade section. Focussing on the goblin card and thinking about upgrading it showed a little upgrade tree. At the bottom, it read upgrades 0/1. Above that was the current card I was holding. Two paths branched off from the card. The left path would increase the damage by one and the right path its health by one. I mentally cancelled the upgrade and the upgrade overlay vanished from my sight. I equipped the long spear and prompted the upgrade again.
It was the exact same view but the while the base card held the entire text block from the long spear, each upgrade only listed the Range ability. Mentally selecting the left path prompted another confirmation window
Do you want to upgrade this card for 5 experience?
Yes / No
I declined the upgrade and tried to upgrade my other skeleton. This time choosing the health upgrade and the same prompt appeared which I again declined. When I tried to upgrade the uncommon commander the upgrade maximum increased to two. The upgrade tree now also had a third layer. The left path went further left and increased attack again by one to make it 5/3. The same happened on the right side bringing it to 3/5. The option in the middle was connected to both the left and right path indicating it would turn into 4/4. None of the paths indicated an ability gain. The upgrade cost was also five experience which could mean one of three things. Either the cost was static for all cards regardless of rarity, the first upgrade had a static cost regardless of rarity, or commons and uncommons had the same static cost. Too many questions and too little experience to answer them. I thought it over for a few seconds and upgrade the commander to have one more point of health. The left side of the tree went black and only the two options connect to my chosen path remained lit. I selected the 4/4 upgrade and was told I would need five experience for the upgrade. I slipped all my cars back into the box and got ready to leave. The quest for water was still ongoing and daylight was burning.