“Thank you all for coming!” Near the transparent enclosures, someone in a black store t-shirt had popped on a mic and his voice echoed from some small speakers across the hall. “Today is Sprocket Game’s sealed prerelease event for Cross Kingdom’s latest booster set, Threat Underwater!” Some players volunteered a quick cheer or a few claps.
“In a moment, we’ll pass around the sealed event sets. Inside you’ll find one kingdom playmat and five booster packs from the new set to be officially released this weekend. These cards are all yours.” Some more clerks walked around to pass silvery tubes and a few sealed booster packs. “Please do not open these until instructed. Once we give the green light, you will have thirty minutes to put together a deck from your cards. Do not trade any kingdoms or cards until after the event is over.
“Our event today is a three-round, best-of-one Swiss tournament between thirty-two players. Every round, you’ll play another player with the same record as you, which will eventually leave us with four undefeated players. Those four will receive another bonus pack and kingdom! Even if you lose your early matches, winning more games will count towards your amateur rating if you’ve linked your career account with us.”
Lane wasn’t lost until that last part. Was he supposed to have some kind of account? He was interrupted in his thoughts by receiving his boosters and playmat, all sealed.
“If you have any questions about rulings during the game, please raise your hand and one of the judges in the black shirts will come around to assist. If everyone has their cards… then time has started. Good luck!”
Lane had plenty of questions, but everyone else hurriedly opened their packs. He noticed the guy sitting across from him opened his kingdom first. Lane thought that was a good idea. Figuring it out would be the first part of building any kind of strategy. Lane tore off the foil, popped the tube and spread the mat out before him.
The Final Lighthouse - Pendulum Score: 3
Prize Deck: 3
One Ruler Position, Three Subject Positions, Eight Resource Positions.
Kingdom Effect: Your ruler gains 100 Power for every face-up 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. Cards are then returned to their original position.
Lane tried to anticipate what kinds of cards he should be looking for. It seemed to heavily rely on a certain kind of resource card while also exposing an opponent’s strategy. He anticipated there being some kind of ruler or subject that could make use of all those cards that would be milled into the waste. He laid out the playmat and tore into the first pack.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Each booster contained twelve cards. Lane thumbed through the new cards, glancing over each for what might make a good inclusion into his deck.
“You don’t have any sleeves?” the guy across from him asked. Lane watched him fit every new card into a single card sleeve. Then he noticed every player along the table was doing the same. Lane didn’t think he’d be opening any new cards and hadn’t come prepared.
“First time at a prerelease event?” he also asked. The man was a bit older, perhaps in his mid-twenties. He talked as he opened the boosters, fitting them into card sleeves. “That’s cool bro, you picked a good spot to do it.” The man had dark skin and his hair was pulled into a few thick braids. He was bundled up in a fuzzy green sweater. “I’m Aaron,” he introduced himself.
Lane couldn’t find his voice to respond. He pulled out his phone and typed into the notes. “I’m Lane.”
Aaron paused his opening to process the name and then the fact that he was sitting across from someone that couldn’t talk. He nodded and got over it quickly. “Nice to meet you, bro. If you have any questions, let me know. I’ve been to a few of these now.”
Lane typed another message into the notes of his phone, face going red that he couldn’t just speak up. “Do I need a career account to play?”
Aaron was too engrossed into his cards to notice that Lane had asked something else, but looked up and stopped himself. “Sorry, uh… no, no man. You don’t need one, but it’s free. Most people set one up to keep track of their wins and losses during events. One of the clerks can set you up while we build our decks, actually.” Aaron didn’t wait for an answer before raising his hand. Lane appreciated the help, but braced himself to clumsily communicate with two strangers.
“Everything okay?” It was the announcer with the headset. He’d lifted the mic out of his face so he was only talking to the two of them.
“This is Lane,” Aaron introduced him. “It’s his first prerelease, and he was wondering about getting set up with an account.”
“Exciting!” the clerk said. “First of all, welcome to Sprocket. Since we’re a Cross Kingdom certified event holder, we can get you set up before you play your first match.” He opened up something on his tablet, making a few swipes before handing it across the table to Lane. “Just enter your information and you’ll be all set.”
Lane nodded his head and complied before returning the tablet.
“Name, email, number… Okay you’re all set! We’ll track your wins and losses for the event. Good luck!” The clerk smiled and Lane tried to say thank you. He ended up just giving a thumbs up, which was awkwardly returned by the MC.
Lane was able to type out “Thanks,” on his phone and show it to Aaron. The older guy laughed and nodded.
“No problem bro. It’s great you came out. For real, if you need anything else just let me know.” Lane was beaming. That hadn’t been hard at all. It was overwhelming and everyone’s personality was a lot, but it was startling how welcome he was. Everybody at the event wasn’t just okay with his presence, they encouraged it at every step. They didn’t care who he was, but accepted it eagerly.
Lane wasn’t sure how he could even return the kindness, especially given he couldn’t properly thank them. He tried instead to focus on the matches ahead of him. The only thing he could do was play the game. On the TV screens, a timer counted down from twenty-five minutes until the first round of matches would start. Lane opened another pack.