Wolfe hesitated. “Do you think it’s better to take perks, on the off chance I can improve the cards first, or open the pack and see if anything there calls to me to level or when I take perks?”
“Just check,” Shel said. “But don’t make a choice unless you have a pull modifying perk. If you don’t have a pull perk, you can open the cards and return to your status after.”
Shel grinned. “I can’t wait to see what perks the system offers you for how you’ve played the Great Game so far.”
Wolfe pulled his status sheet up but didn’t pay much attention to it, instead going to perk selection, next to his name where “free leveling pips” were listed.
He was presented with a new notification chart, containing six new options for perks.
Alpha Wolf: The Deckbearer counts as a Beast[Canine] tribal himself and may have one additional card on the field so long as it is a Beast[Canine] tribal.
Lone Wolf: So long no creatures are on the field, the deckbearer gains 2 to all stats except health.
Stray Street: Lose 1 Fire Power, Gain 1 Mortal Power. Bonuses to Mortal[Criminal] cards will benefit Beast[Canine] cards, and vice-versa, as well. May have up to one additional Minion card at all times so long as it is an [Orphan]. May have up to one additional Building card at all times so long as it is Mortal[Criminal] type or has Criminal in the title. Gain the Stray Street rare building card.
Bane[Infernal]: The deckbearer and all creature cards gain advantage against Infernal, and lose any disadvantage. This stacks with anything already possessing advantage or other bonuses against type.
Master of the Lost and the Lonely: Orphans gain +1 Tier when they switch over, and any card packs or non-orphan cards gained from orphan advancement are gained twice. Any one [evolved orphan] card of no more than 2 power may be treated as if it were a free-slot companion card with a 0 power cost.
Fire’s Temptation: Gain 3 Legendary Fire card packs immediately, and the first non-creature fire card used each time a deck is pulled does not count against card plays.
Wolfe stared at his screen for a moment. That is six legitimately good abilities.
“What did you get?” Shel asked.
Wolfe gave her a quick rundown.
She smiled. “Now I can’t wait to get to level twenty-five. Damn those are good—each is a serious power boost.”
“Do champions have four additional perks?” Wolfe asked.
Shel nodded. “New perks are gained every twenty-five levels, supposedly based on your style in the Great Game for the previous twenty-five levels.”
Shel smiled slighly. “So… you got offered a temptation perk because you’ve never used fire cards?
Wolfe chuckled darkly. “Probably, yeah. Although the Fireborn Hellhound requires Fire power... It’s actually right, it’s tempting. That is an amazing ability, which would give insane card advantage. But I would have to nearly rebuild my deck to get it—and I have multiple set cards that won’t synergize at all, many of which are really good, like the Hellmouth Institute and Malviere, and of course Cereboo.”
“Well, the perk is further proof this cycle was power crept, as if companion cards, sets, and orphans weren’t proof enough already. I wonder if the gods are working toward anything…”
“Why is it proof this cycle was power crept?” Wolfe asked
“Because people have not used a type in their deck before, and never received a perk option like that.” Shel pursed her lips. “As to the perk itself, you’ll get three legendary fire packs. That probably means you’ll actually get three fire legendary cards. Which would most likely make your deck rather epic, especially with a free cast of a non-creature spell. You tend toward an ‘early overwhelm’ or ‘aggro’ style anyway.”
Wolfe nodded consideringly. “You think that’s best, then?”
She paused and glanced around the dark park. “Normally I’d want to weigh every decision and think about it for days, but perhaps you should just open the deck and see what you have first, since you didn’t get the option for a card pulling perk.”
“I think you should open it, Shel. Two of my six options are for orphan cards—and even though there are common and uncommon orphan cards, they’re a lot harder to come by. How often did cards become orphan cards normally?”
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Shel held her hand out. “I think I remember any given card in this set having a two-point-five percent chance of becoming an orphan card. So even a common orphan card is fairly rare.”
Wolfe passed the pack over, and Shel tore it open, shook the six cards into her hand, and then passed them without looking to Wolfe.
Two Escaped Damned made up the commons, and Wolfe frowned. Once upon a time, that would have excited him, but at the moment, he had purged them from his deck, despite their synergy with his Angry Hellhounds.
Wolfe had three uncommon cards. First was an Enraged Imp, a one power imp glass cannon, which he reminded himself to sell to Derek.
The second was, in fact, an orphan card, which Wolfe would have bet Infernal packs wouldn’t have. But Shel’s card trumped, he supposed. Shel and Wolfe stared at it.
Desperate Cult Child
Uncommon, no-tier Mortal minion[orphan, criminal]
0 Power
Health: 7
Attack: N/A
Defense: 5
Magical Attack: N/A
Magical Defense: 3
Special: Will fetch normal objects and such with a decent degree of precision and help carry up to ten pounds.
Special: If kept ‘alive’ for three straight years, will turn into a rare, Mortal/Infernal, 1-power-available, tier-4 creature card called “Obsessive Infernal Cultist.”
Special: If in play as a minion, may be sacrificed for 3 Infernal Power that lasts for 30 minutes
“This young girl was abandoned by an abusive family before her fifth birthday, and has been raised in a street cult ever since. She has dedicated herself to its every rite since, hoping to find approval from someone—or something.”
Wolfe stared at it, his mind whirling with ideas.
But the first thing that popped out of his mouth was, “Not that all your pulling specialties haven’t been amazing, but I can’t wait till it makes a rare card into a legendary, or turns it into a rare orphan or something.”
Shel nodded absently to his words. “These orphan cards are really sad. I mean, I know it’s the Great Game, and probably not real, but that one hits hard. Especially with my sister lost.”
Wolfe rubbed her back. “Yeah, sorry. Don’t worry—as soon as I finish increasing my power, we’ll rescue her. I just want to be sure we don’t die because I forgot to level and deck adjust.”
Shel shuddered. “No, I agree. But just check the next card, please.”
Wolfe flipped it over. His third uncommon card was named Demonic Portal. It cost one Infernal and five any power. It created of a side deck and added five Infernal creature card ‘slots’ to any side deck. When the card was played, it allowed any number of creatures, up to five power worth, in any combination, to be quickly summoned.
“That could play well with your deck,” Shel murmured beside Wolfe.
Wolfe quirked an eyebrow. “It’s a chump move, spending six power for five power of creatures.”
Shel kissed his cheek. “In a swarm deck like yours, it could put three-to-five creatures on the field quickly. Since they’d get all their stacking benefits, it could be worth it. Additionally, you could put some oddball creatures in there for, well, odd situations.”
“Hmm… I’ll think about it. I don’t like total reduction in power. But maybe.”
“You did just gain a permanent power, so long as Hellfire and Brimstone are in your deck.”
Wolfe slowly nodded, but rather than answering, he flipped over the last card—the rare, although it might have gone up to legendary or down to uncommon.
It had remained a rare, which was briefly disappointing to Wolfe.
Deal with the Devil
Rare Tier-1 Infernal Persistent
3 Infernal Power
So long as the deckbearer has any Infernal Creature on the field, he may assign control of any one non-Infernal creature controlled by any deckbearer to any other deckbearer. When the card leaves the control of its original deckbearer, it may take an attack against that deckbearer or their card, obeying normal rules as if it were an enemy card, before it switches. This cards power remains spent so long as the creature is on the field.
“In the abstract, Evil should be defeated quickly, as most want to be on the side of good. But there are always individuals that will betray the whole for their own benefit, and the Infernal is always there, whispering in their ears.”
“This is an Infernal version of your Barter the Soul card,” Wolfe said.
“Thanks, I’d missed that,” Shel muttered, kissing Wolfe’s cheek a second time, probably to take the sting from her gentle mockery.
Wolfe was briefly embarrassed, but was too concerned with the new card for it to last long. “It’s notably pricier, but is considerably more versatile and doesn’t require a sacrifice—and could really switch a fight. But it would take a beefy chunk of my power and it doesn’t synergize with the rest of my deck. What do you think overall?”
Shel considered, staring out into the dark park. “Well… As to the cards, I’d recommend putting your spare Angry Hellhounds into a side deck and putting Demonic Portal in, as well as adding the Deal with the Devil card. Since we’re rescuing my sister, I’d normally advise taking the ones that gave personal power… but since you have Malviere and the Hellmouth Institute as improved, rare cards I think you might be better off taking one of the two orphan cards.”
Shel’s face went briefly fierce. “And you have a lot of cleanup to make sure things like this quit happening to people like my sister and brother. You should be as strong as possible.”
Wolfe slowly nodded. “I agree… absent the tempting switch to actually use Fire, I think the most power I can get is likely with the orphans. But which one? I mean, both sound amazing—one gives me an extra building slot and a free orphan card, which is at least six levels, more if I add other specialty cards, and bonus synergy.”
“Not to mention a rare building card,” Shel said, pulling out her phone and typing into a search bar, perhaps to check on the stats of the building.
Wolfe nodded. “And the second gives a permanent tier to any orphan cards, which are already very high tier, and also gives me a third free companion slot, which is insane in converted levels.”
Shel nodded to his words.
“I’m honestly torn, Shel. I don’t normally hesitate on shit like this, but… Which one do you think I should take?”