It had been two days since the match with West Bank and Lane had become obsessed. That night, he’d stayed up watching recorded tournament matches, live streams from game shops and events across the world. He'd laid in bed watching video essays about metalists, banlists, decklists and all of the information had populated a messy, swirling ocean in his head. He’d also tried to find Harvey’s YouTube channel, but never caught the name of it and all his searching turned out to be fruitless.
For all of that background information, nothing was as formative as his crash course in the game itself. Playing with Felix had been elevated in his mind to something beyond just a memory. Even all of the unsavory edges of the experience had been shaved away as he relived it over and over.
Lane had tried to find Tai and Harvey in the days after the match, but Tai ignored him in the halls and he couldn’t easily explain what he wanted to Harvey. He tried returning to the club room after school the day before, but it was locked as was normal for rooms not in use in the school.
So, instead of trying to get into the club again, Lane resolved himself to go straight to the source of the game. For the second time that week, he didn’t go straight home after school. Instead, he hopped on a bus to go to the Forum.
Engine City was built around two densely urban commercial districts divided by a steep river. Lane’s high school was nestled between a flat park and a jungle of restaurants, stores and malls, of which the Forum was the most popular. It didn’t have the same upscale destination stores built on the west side of the river, but even Lane knew it had a two-story tabletop game shop.
The shop, Sprocket Games, was a popular hub for tabletop games of all kinds. Lane remembered the construction project required for expanding the store into a second level to host events. The first floor had its every wall plastered in toys, cards and games. The rare empty spaces sported stickers and posters featuring popular characters from its different game.
And while it wasn’t the only game it sold, by far its most popular merchandise was its Cross Kingdom inventory. Lane even recognized a case full of AR glasses like the ones Felix had worn. He also noticed their price tag and quickly walked away from them. Lane had never had a job, despite some urging from his parents, but all of the birthday money he’d accrued fattened his wallet. Still, he wasn’t looking for an accessory to the game, but for cards.
The sheer volume of cards was overwhelming. Single boosters, booster boxes and pre-built decks were organized neatly by release set. Shoppers flowed around him and towards the products like he was a stone stuck in an active river. Foil tubes also disguised mystery kingdoms that shoppers could buy and play with. Lane imagined the playmats wrapped tightly inside the handsome packages. He wondered which one might have his.
Lane had done plenty of research on what cards were in the current meta of the game. At least, he’d tried. Every different video and article and ranking seemed to have a different opinion of what was strong, what was unreliable and what should be ran. Amidst the noise and confusion, Lane was drawn to finding the playmat and cards that he’d borrowed from the club room. But, most of the cards he was after were already over a year old. With new sets being released every few months, there was little space on the shelves for older generations of cards.
Instead, Lane wandered to the glass cases between cash registers. Card singles, some in sleeves and some in plastic casings, had been arranged like a jewelry store, with their respective prices written in on stickers underneath each card. Even there, Lane couldn’t find Lonely Repairman, Dream Invader or any of the key cards from his deck. The closest find was Clockwork Apocalypse. It loosely resembled his other Clockwork cards in design, but Lane didn’t feel that same magnetic attraction towards it.
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“Were you looking for something specific?” a man asked from behind the counter. He was short and a bit round. His beard and hair were a red-rust color, a shade darker than his pink cheeks. Lane tried to respond, but the words didn’t come. He fished for his phone instead. Lane tried not to break into an awkward sweat as the clerk waited patiently, still smiling.
Lane flipped the screen to show the clerk, and he leaned over the glass case to get a good look.
Clockwork Struggle was a booster set that had come out nearly three years ago. It didn’t contain all of the cards that Lane sought, but it was a good place to start. He'd pulled up a picture of the booster box.
“It won’t be on the shelves, unfortunately,” the clerk said. “My name’s Henry. Tell you what, I can check if we have any in our-”
The clerk was interrupted by an announcement made over the store’s P.A. system.
“To all pre-release players, our sealed tournament still has a few open spaces. Come up to register in the next twenty minutes, first come, first serve!”
Henry must have caught Lane staring upstairs and misunderstood his intentions. “Hey don’t worry about it,” the clerk said. “Go on up for the tourney. If I end up finding any boosters, I’ll look for you up there.” Lane tried to shake his head, but the clerk misunderstood him for just trying to be polite. “It’s not a problem! Go sign up before you lose your chance!”
Lane was practically shooed away. He climbed the stairs amidst a light crowd. Lane checked over his shoulder and the clerk was still waving him up the stairs. There was no fighting the river now. He let the crowd of people push him towards the registration desk. Lane had already written his name onto a sign-up sheet when another store clerk was asking for the entrance fee.
“Hey, sorry, payment is made up front,” he explained. Lane couldn’t explain he hadn’t realized there was an entrance fee. He just paid the money and was given a number.
He received a ticket that read “31” and looked for the corresponding spot at one of the tables. Lane explored the upper level of Sprocket Games. Where the downstairs was a bazaar of endless foil merchandise, the upstairs was more drab, with rows of sleek black desks and a few dozen players sat at each of them. A few TV screens had been mounted onto the thick columns across the floor.
The real jewels of the room were two glass enclosures pitted in the center of the room. A few stairs led up to the raised domes. Stand-up desks were set up on either side of the enclosures, separated by ten yards of space. They were empty, but a few people still crowded around the rooms, peeking inside.
“Lane?” He whipped around to see Harvey, walking towards him. “Oh man, I thought that was you! What’re you doing here? Well I guess that’s obvious… sorry I’ve been so busy this week. I told Tai to talk to you, did he? The video of your match did really well by the way. Did you check it out?”
Lane couldn’t even answer one question, but keeping up with her barrage in this crowded environment was impossible.
“Oh, right, sorry… um…” Harvey remembered the boy’s silence and tried to think of something simple to say. “What number did you get?”
Lane showed her the little plastic ticket.
“Ah we won’t be sitting near each other to start… but It’s cool you came out!” She tried again to think of something to say. Lane recognized that familiar frustration from well-meaning people. She just wanted to have a conversation. He couldn’t even help with that.
Harvey eventually gave up. “I hope I don’t play you early on!” Lane nodded in agreement. “Good luck!” She walked back to her table and Lane looked for his seat, already feeling somewhat defeated by the day.