“Players, if you haven’t already done so, please raise your hand so we have a referee confirm your decklist.”
The MC of the event had made a few similar reminders through the last five minutes of the deckbuilding portion of the event. Once Lane had actually assembled his deck, he looked through the thirty cards to make sure he hadn’t accidentally included any duplicates. Aaron also suggested he try drawing through it a few times to see what the ratio of cards felt like.
When he was finally satisfied, Lane raised his hand and fanned out the cards for one of the referees to take a picture and confirm its legality. “You’re all set,” they said. “Number 31, Lane Ramsay… perfect! If you wanna make any changes between rounds, just let us know. Good luck!” Lane nodded his thanks and tried to calm himself before the games.
He’d decided to go with Aegir. It didn’t perfectly fit with his kingdom the same way the Lonely Repairman and ClockWorkhop had, but this event wasn’t about perfection. Lane felt it was about finding victory with the hand he’d been dealt.
After a short delay, the MC conferenced with one of the referees and made another announcement. “Okay, players, that will be it for the deckbuilding portion. Please find your table assignment up on the screens and make your way to your first match!”
Lane, and every other player, looked up to find their number. Lane had been worried his first game would be against Aaron and was relieved that wasn’t the case. It made sense, the two had been watching the other build their deck for that whole half hour. To immediately play one another would be awkward, especially after how nice he’d been.
The onscreen map was a little tricky to follow, but Lane eventually found player number nine, seated next to the transparent enclosures.
“Are you thirty-one?” He asked. Player number nine was gangly and thin-nosed. He wore a silver chain and his hair had been dyed blonde. “I’m Kurt.” Lane shook his hand and set down his cards.
Once he was settled, he introduced himself with the notes on his phone and Kurt laughed. “Sure thing, good to meetcha. You ready to go?” The other teenager was already shuffling his cards and his leg bounced as he sat.
Lane nodded, putting his extra cards off to the side and his deck on the kingdom.
“Alright, alright, let’s hit it,” Kurt said. Lane examined his kingdom and the ruler he sat at its center.
Atlantean Colony - Pendulum Score: 2
Prize Deck: 3
One Ruler Position, Six Subject Positions, Six Resource Positions.
Kingdom Effect: You may summon subjects “Underwater.” If a subject is Underwater, it costs one more Swing to summon. When an Underwater subject is attacked, roll a die. If the result is 1 or 2, the attack is negated.
Ruler: Pirate Sovereign, Pygillion - Power: 500
Swing: 0
Effect: This card gains 1000 Power during battle when it attacks a Subject. You can summon subject cards to your opponent’s kingdom for 1 additional Swing.
Lane revealed his kingdom and ruler.
The Final Lighthouse - Pendulum Score: 3
Prize Deck: 3
One Ruler Position, Three Subject Positions, Eight Resource Positions.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Kingdom Effect: Your ruler gains 100 Power for every Resource card on your Kingdom. Once per turn you can send one card from your deck to the Waste to reveal a face down card on your opponent’s Kingdom or one card of your choice in their hand.
Ruler: Aegir - Power: 800
Swing: 0
Effect: When this card attacks, draw three cards from your deck and reveal them. If there is a Resource card among them, add one resource card to your hand and gain 1 Swing. Return the rest to the bottom of your deck. If there isn’t, return the cards to the bottom of your deck.
“Alright, alright,” the other boy laughed. It seemed he had a habit of repeating himself. “I was worried about running into a bunch of mirror matchups.”
Both of them shuffled their decks and offered them to the other for cutting.
“No sleeves?” the other guy said. “I’ll try and be careful.” And he was. He gingerly pulled off half of the deck and didn’t restack the bottom half on top. “I’ll let you do that. Don’t wanna mess up fresh cards, okay? Okay.”
Lane hadn’t thought of that, but stacked the deck how Kurt asked. He moved three cards into his Prize Deck. Kurt had already laid out a Pendulum gauge, plastic and tin with cartoon snakes decorating the long counter. Kurt moved the gauge to one on Lane’s side. Both players drew six cards.
GAME START
Out of misguided instinct, Lane almost drew two cards on his turn, but stopped himself. The first player doesn’t draw any cards. He tried to settle down, checking the cards already in his hand. The TV screens started another countdown from thirty minutes. But, what was really distracting was the scene next to their players.
“Wait, wait, check this out,” Kurt said.
Two players each had stepped into the transparent enclosures, raised up in the middle of the game room. Aaron stood at one of the tables. There was some muffled conversation between the players and then a wave of pixels across the glass. Lane thought he needed to wake up from a dream.
It looked like Aaron was standing on the deck of a wooden galleon. He had cards in his hand and the desk in front of his body, but the space under his feet had been transformed, expanding out towards the midpoint of the chamber, where torrential seas met the galleon. It looked as though his opponent was ankle deep in the waves.
Aaron laid down his first card and Lane recognized it. Pirate Sovereign, Pygallion stood, about seven feet tall at Aaron’s side. The pirate looked just like its card, not realistic, but cartoony and exaggerated, with a cannon for a hand and a knife for a leg. It stood next to Aaron like an ally, scowling at the opponent across the enclosure.
Aaron’s opponent played the Amphibious Leviathan, navy-fleshed, big-cheeked and serpentine. The size of the monster had been scaled down to stand around Aaron’s opponent, defensively embracing him.
“The best. The. Best. No other shop has a rig that good,” Kurt said. The sight of the life-sized cards even drew in spectators walking by the card shop. Some explored the game tables, but most watched the ensuing fight in the AR chambers.
“Only the matches between players with winning records happen in there,” Kurt explained. “They even stream the games and play them downstairs.”
Lane was transfixed, but when Aaron’s opponent started playing cards, he looked away. He had to focus on his own game.
Timecard - Resource
Swing: 3
Effect: At the start of your turn, if your Pendulum is under 3, add one Swing to it.
Lane had found out this card was a staple, constantly rereleased with different artwork across different sets. Cards with similar effects also existed, but even pro players usually ran one copy of this in their decks.
Pendulum Swing towards Kurt: 2
Lane cards in hand: 5
Kurt cards in hand: 6
“Nice, nice!” Kurt drew two cards and played one.
Pygillion’s Companion - Power: 400
Swing: 2
Effect: If your ruler has “Pirate Sovereign,” in its name, using its effect costs 1 less Swing.
Kurt set a Resource card face down. “And I’ll activate my ruler’s effect for free to summon this to your side of the board.”
Cowardly Raider - Power: 400
Swing: 3
Effect: Subjects can not attack on the turn they’re summoned. This card can’t attack if there are no other Subjects on your Kingdom.
Lane’s board had been invaded and Kurt’s turn ended.