Lane and Felix sat opposite one another, and laid out their playmats, their kingdoms. Felix’s mat was mostly yellow, with a hexagonal pattern. Its name and description were outlined at the top.
Honey Insectoid Hive - Pendulum Score: 3
Prize Deck: 3
One Ruler Position, six subject positions, three resource positions.
Kingdom Effect: If all your subject positions are empty at the start of the turn, play a subject card from your deck with Honeyed Insectoid in its name at no cost. Shuffle your deck.
Immediately, Lane recalled what these different descriptions meant. The kingdom’s pendulum score was how much Swing the owner of the kingdom would start with. Both players shared a pendulum gauge between them, a long counter with a translucent marker in the middle. The Pendulum decided whose turn it would be and what kinds of plays they could make. Each card had its own Swing cost to be played, which would bring the Pendulum closer to zero until it crossed zero and the turn ended.
Subjects were the game’s smaller creatures. Both players started with a Ruler card, which were played face up before either took a turn. To play additional subjects would cost Swing. Resource cards, which provided special effects without being attached to subjects could be played behind them, in a row of open rectangles called the Resource Positions. Subjects were played in front of the ruler. To the left of the Kingdom was space for the Prize Deck. To its right was space for the Main Deck, and the Waste, for discarded cards, destroyed subjects and consumed resources.
If Felix’s Pendulum Score was higher, then he would get to play first. Lane laid out his kingdom.
The ClockWorkshop - Pendulum Score: 0
Prize Deck: 3
One Ruler Position, No Subject Positions, Five Resource Positions.
Kingdom Effect: If there are five subjects on your kingdom, The Lonely Repairman can be returned to the hand if there is a Proud Inventor in the hand or deck. The Proud Inventor must then be played as the ruler at no Pendulum cost. Then, shuffle your deck.
Every time the player draws two cards after the start of the game, open up a new subject position, up to twenty.
The ClockWorkshop was a gray and gold brick pattern, with wide gears decorating the playmat. Faded rectangles represented the potentially available Subject Positions. To keep track of which were and weren’t available, Lane had gathered up some extra, empty card sleeves and covered the positions with them.
Between their starting pendulum scores, Felix would get to go first with a Swing of 3. Felix was already setting his Main deck and Lane did the same. The minimum cards required in a deck was thirty with the maximum being forty. It looked like Felix’s stack of cards was the same size as Lane’s, which he’d packed with thirty cards. He was able to carefully pick between his options in the library, but towards the end he felt rushed. The already messy deck wouldn’t be perfect.
Lane started to shuffle before noticing that Felix had plucked a card from his 30-card deck and placed it in the center of his Kingdom.
Ruler: Honeyed Insectoid Controller - Power: 800
Swing: 0
Effect: Honeyed Insectoid Controller can increase its Power during an attack by selecting Honeyed Insectoids on the field. It can’t select cards that have already attacked and selected cards may not attack for the rest of the turn.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Lane realized it was stupid to shuffle before fishing out his Ruler card and awkwardly started sorting through it before laying his Ruler down too.
Ruler: The Lonely Repairman - Power: 100
Swing: 1
Effect: This card can be played as a subject. Once per turn, a subject can be returned from the Waste to the hand. If a card is returned to the hand this way, its Swing is reduced by one.
“Haven’t seen that one in a while,” Felix commented. He finished shuffling his deck and offered it to Lane. Lane wasn’t sure why, but shuffled his deck and offered it over too. Felix cut the deck, stacking the bottom third onto the top. Lane did the same for his opponent.
“You new to the game?” Felix asked.
Tai quickly interjected, “He’s filling in for Callum.”
“That’s too bad,” Felix complained. “He’s pretty much the only reason we keep playing your club.” Felix moved the counter in between them to 3 and drew the starting hand of six cards. Lane drew his starting hand as well.
GAME START
Pendulum Swing towards Felix: 3
Felix cards in hand: 6
Lane cards in hand: 6
“Activate Kingdom effect to summon Honeyed Insectoid Supervisor for free,” Felix said. He rifled through his deck for the card and placed it down.
Honeyed Insectoid Supervisor - Power: 400 → 600
Swing: 3
Effect: All cards with Honeyed Insectoid in their name gain 200 power. Duplicates of this card are allowed.
“And I’ll summon this!”
Honeyed Insectoid Salarybee - Power: 400 → 600
Swing: 2
Effect: Duplicates of this card are allowed.
“And to end my turn.”
Timecard - Resource
Swing: 3
Effect: At the start of your turn, if your Pendulum is under 3, add one Swing to it.
Pendulum Swing towards Lane: 2
Lane cards in hand: 6
Felix cards in hand: 4
Lane drew two cards and a subject position opened up on his kingdom. Lane studied his options before playing one resource card face-down. Lane played another face-up.
Lost in Translation - Resource
Swing: 2
Effect: Reveal one card and return it to the bottom of the deck. Reveal a card and discard it into the Waste. Draw one card.
Lane revealed Crow of Foul Omen and returned it to the deck. It was one of the last minute additions to bring his deck size up to the legal requirement. Lane revealed Dream Invader and dropped it into the Waste. Lane drew one card.
“That was a blunder,” Tai commented to Harvey at the other game table. It was hard for him to watch. It was even harder for him to just focus on his own game. “Dream Invader is a rogue option. It’s best if your opponent can’t plan for it. By revealing it, Felix can play around the card.”
“It’s probably his first match,” Harvey said, trying to think of something kind to say about the play. “Maybe it’s some kind of mind game?”
“I don’t have the energy left to be optimistic,” Tai admitted, refocusing on his own match.
Lane activated the effect of The Lonely Repairman to retrieve Dream Invader from the Waste at a reduced cost. Drawing the card from the Waste was the fourth draw for the turn and ClockWorkshop activated to open another subject position. Lane placed one card face-down in the Resource position and then summoned a subject.
Ill-Equipped Knight - Power: 700
Swing: 2
Effect: If this subject has its power increased, increase its power further by 100.
With another card summoned, the turn moved again. Lane could actually feel himself settling into the rhythm of the game.