Cards are not just a game. They are a way of life. Whenever a game becomes popular enough, it takes on a life of its own whether it is chess or basketball. Once it takes on a life of its own, it is outside of the realm of the creators’ control. All they can do is try to support the game as it grows and evolves. That was what happened to Dueling Spirits.
Dueling Spirits was a simple card game played with a small deck of twenty cards inside your main deck. This composed of your spirits and magic. Each player started with five cards in their hand and would draw one card at the beginning of their turn with the exception of the player who went first. Every time a player is attacked without a spirit to protect them, they take one damage. With six points of damage, you are out. Spirits that are attacked go to the banished zone and can only be brought back with special cards. The most spirits a player could have out at once was five. The idea was to prevent one turn kills and to allow for a chance at a comeback. It was a simple premise, but things got more and more complicated with every expansion pack. It got to the point where players wanted to make their own cards, and so, the opportunity was given.
If you sent an archetype design to the game company and it was approved, they would produce it. The result was that many archetypes got made. At the same time, many were often forgotten as new ones replaced old ones. Stylistic changes developed between players where most players began to focus on speed and power, gambling everything on a single move and a relentless chain of attacks. And so, things stagnated. That was the modern history of Dueling Spirits.
My school offered multiple classes on it because they wanted to send a team to compete in tournaments like other sports did. Everyone was even allowed a choice of structure decks to play if they did not have one in order to try to encourage it. Some people played with their own custom decks. Once in a while, we had a good team.
While it was okay to refuse challenges, it was frowned upon socially because of the school’s push for the game. As a result of that, I played half of the challenges that I accepted and always used one of the structure decks. I had my own deck, but I did not play it.
“Are there any questions?” Professor Lyman asked.
Professor Lyman was a former professional player of Dueling Spirits, winner of the First World Championship and finalist during the Second World Championship. It was from a time before I was born so I had only seen videos of it. He utilized a Seven Samurai deck, partially based on the old movie by the same name. The samurais would empower the others upon death, making his deck stronger the more of his samurais you killed. However, he eventually lost when all of his samurais were taken out and he was attacked once more. It was famous for being the closest match ever.
“Professor, why is that decks are so focused on speed?” a girl asked.
“That’s a very good question,” Professor Lyman answered. “It’s because you cannot deal damage to your opponent unless they have no spirits out on the field, meaning that multiple attacks are more valuable than a powerful attack. The most you need is one strong spirit to clear out their strongest spirit.”
The girl followed up with another question. “What about you then? I heard you still use the same archetype.”
“Since my old competitive days, I’ve refined my deck,” Professor Lyman replied. “I still use the same samurais, but I’ve swapped out most of my support cards for equip type magic that empower them.”
I heard whispers around me. “That’s still a slow deck is it not?”
“Do you want to find out?” Professor Lyman teased.
“N-n-no thanks,” the girl replied.
The girl hesitated for good reason. Professor Lyman often used one of the school’s structure decks to play against students who challenged him. Even with any single one of the stock decks, he still had a win rate of over ninety percent. It was a display of how truly skilled he was compared to others. His knowledge of the game was just unmatched and he had the skills to use that knowledge to his advantage. Nowadays, he was considered the top player since the Second World Champion disappeared after she won her title.
“Anyone want to challenge me?” Professor Lyman asked. “I’ll give the first student who wants to play against me the chance to do so right now.”
Professor Lyman pressed a button next to the display monitor. The desk he usually lectured from began to turn around. When the rotation finished, there was only a single hologram projector for Dueling Spirits in its place. He was going to make a show and an example of anyone who wanted to play against him.
“I’ll accept that challenge!” a boy shouted.
The boy with short brown hair and an untucked uniform stepped forward. The black blazar he wore was indicative of an elite group of duelists within one of the school’s club, the Dueling Kings. The club was exclusive to boys.
“That’s Lucas!” someone whispered.
Most people knew who Lucas was. He was a complete scum. He resorted to dirty tactics and sometimes blackmailed people.
“Come on down here, Lucas,” said Professor Lyman. “I hope you’re ready.”
“I want you to play with your Seven Samurai deck,” said Lucas. “I want to see how strong you were.”
“Too bad,” Professor Lyman replied. “I’ve made so many changes to my deck that it cannot even be considered the same as it is back then.”
“Then play me with your own deck!” Lucas shouted. “I want to beat you at your best so you have no excuses.”
Professor Lyman’s eyes suddenly changed to that of disgust. “Is that so?” he asked. “Too bad, you have no honor and are undeserving of my samurai!”
“How dare you!” Lucas responded.
“Put your cards where your mouth is!” Professor Lyman answered back.
With a flip of a switch, the hologram projector was active. Professor Lyman took one of the decks out of the boxes stored within the compartment under the place where people play their cards. This was where all the stock decks were kept.
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“Fine!” Lucas slammed his deck down onto the slot. It automatically shuffled the cards to prevent cheating. He drew five cards. He looked at his hand and gave a sinister smile. It looked like he had the cards he wanted.
Professor Lyman was the opposite. He was calm and composed. He took the cards out of the box and placed it into the slot. He drew five cards from the deck. He took a look at the cards and then stacked it in his hand and closed his eyes for a few seconds.
“Ready?” Professor Lyman asked.
“Yes,” Lucas answered.
The two of them called out together, “Rise my spirits!” This phrase was used as the official signal of the start of the match.
“I’ll go first!” Lucas cried out. He placed the first card down. “I call forth my Machine Spirit, Production Drone!”
A small, silver robotic crab with six legs and a large pair of claws emerged. The projection on the white board displayed its stats.
Name: Production Drone
Type: Machine
Power: 1000
Effect: Allows you to call two more drones from your hand, deck, or banished zone once per turn.
“I activate my Production Drone’s effect!” said Lucas. The deck slot ejected two cards out for Lucas, who immediately played them.
There were now three Production Drones on the field. If this was not the first turn, he would have been able to deal major damage to Professor Lyman.
“Now, because I have three machines on my field, I can summon forth Production Worker from my hand!” Four monsters in one turn.
Name: Production Worker
Type: Machine
Power: 2000
Effect: Increases the power of all Machines on the field by 1000.
“And I will finish by placing one magic card,” said Lucas.
Magic cards had special effects. Since it was set face down and not visible to us, only Lucas knew what it was. But, in doing so, it was clearly something that could be activated during your opponent’s turn, essentially making it a “trap” that would be set off when the conditions were met. They ranged from mitigating damage to flat out destroying cards.
“Very well,” said Professor Lyman. He drew his card. He had six cards in his hand. “I will begin by calling out Arthur, King of Knights.”
Name: Arthur, the King of Knights
Type: Warrior
Power: 2000
Effect: When Arthur, King of Knights is successfully called, you can add another Knight card from your deck to your hand. When Arthur is banished, you can call a Lancelot card from your hand or deck.
All the Knights shared a common ability. They could add a Knight card from the deck because it was their way of drawing a weapon. The weapon could be equipped to the spirit in order to grant them new abilities or more power. There would be a secondary effect when the corresponding weapon was equipped to their knight. Arthur played the card he just took from his deck.
Name: Knight Arm – Excalibur
Type: Equip Magic
Effect: Increases the power of the card equipped with Knight Arm – Excalibur by 1000 and the card that is equipped with Knight Arm – Excalibur can attack all spirits your opponent controls.
“When Arthur is equipped with Excalibur, Arthur gains 1000 power and is able to attack all the spirits you control,” Professor Lyman explained.
The weapon on Arthur changed into a white blade with a golden hilt. The plain looking sword he wielded before was now replaced with a much more ornate one. “Attack, Arthur,” Professor Lyman commanded.
Arthur raised Excalibur. With a single swing, all four of the spirits were destroyed. “Not so fast!” said Lucas. He activated the magic card.
Name: Machine Salvaging Operation
Type: Magic
Effect: Returns all machine type spirits that were destroyed this turn to their controllers’ hand.
With that card, Lucas would be able to recover all the spirits that he had last turn, essentially allowing him to replay the same move once more. “Are you finished yet old man?” Lucas asked.
Professor Lyman set the remaining four cards in his hand into his magic zones. His hand was empty and his field was filled. This was considered a risky gamble as there were cards that did clear out certain types of cards that were already out but did not affect cards in your hand. The only reason he would do this is that he wanted the cards to be destroyed.
“It’s your turn now,” said Professor Lyman.
Lucas now had seven cards in his hands. With more than a third of his deck in his hand, he probably had something prepared. “First, I will repeat the same combo from before, I summon my Production Drone!”
The Production Drone appeared once more. Then, two more Production Drones and the Production Worker appeared once more. He then slammed the card he drew down onto the table.
Name: Machine Operating System Upgrade
Type: Magic
Effect: Increases the power of all machines by 1000
Lucas was increasing the power of his cards even more. With the effect of Production Worker, his Production Drones and Production Worker now had 3000 power each. “Attack!”
The Production Worker stabbed Arthur, who then shattered into glittering light. It was destroyed and banished. “Go my Production Workers!”
“When Arthur is destroyed, I can call a Lancelot from my hand or deck,” Professor Lyman explained.
Name: Lancelot, the Fierce Knight
Type: Warrior
Power: 2000
Effect: When Lancelot is called, check all magic cards on the field and equip all cards possible onto Lancelot, even if they are controlled by your opponent. When Lancelot is destroyed, you can call another Knight spirit from your hand.
Professor Lyman had prepared for this. All four of the cards on his field were flipped over. Three could be equipped to Lancelot. Lancelot’s power rose from 2000 to 5000, making it the strongest spirit on the field now.
Name: Knight Arm - Caliburn
Type: Equip Magic
Effect: Increases the power of the card equipped with Knight Arm – Caliburn by 1000 and if the spirit that is equipped with Knight Arm – Caliburn successfully banishes a spirit through combat, the equipped spirit can attack again.
Name: Knight Arm – Garm
Type: Equip Magic
Effect: Increases the power of the card equipped with Knight Arm – Garm by 1000 and the spirit that is equipped with Knight Arm – Garm deals 1 damage to your opponent when the equipped spirit destroys a spirit through battle.
Name: Knight Arm – Sphyra
Type: Equip Magic
Effect: Increases the power of the card equipped with Knight Arm – Sphyra by 1000 and if the spirit that is equipped with Knight Arm – Sphyra would be banished, you can destroy this card instead.
“I stop my attack and end my turn…” Lucas was hesitating. He did not even have any cards to defend himself with.
“I draw my card,” said Professor Lyman as he took his card from the deck. He immediately played it.
Name: Gawain, the Strongest Knight
Type: Warrior
Power: 0
Effect: Gawain can target one another Knight on the field, then, he gains all the abilities that the Knight has plus 1000 power. When Gawain is destroyed, he can call a Knight card from the banished zone back onto the field.
Each of the Knight cards had two effects, one normal and one for when they are destroyed. The calling effect made it really hard to get their cards off the field without the right effects. Gawain’s effect allowed him to surpass the power of Lancelot, resulting in one 5000 and one 6000 power Knight in addition to all the effects.
Lancelot drew one of the swords and attacked. One by one the Production Drones fell to his might. The drones were cut in two and exploded into a rain of sparkling metal fragments that looked more fantastical than disastrous. On top of that, Lucas suffered five points of damage due to the effects of Garm. One more point and he would lose. The only way for him to make a comeback would be to draw a card that would allow him to call forth either his destroyed spirits again or one that let him fuse them together using the machines that were already banished.
“Are you ready to concede?” Professor Lyman asked.
“As if I would lose to some ancient fossil!” Lucas shouted. He drew his card. He had a terrified look on his face. He did not draw what he needed to turn the match around.
From that face alone, even I could tell that he had lost. “I…” Lucas could not finish his words. After all, he was not used to losing.
“Do you want to concede the match?” Professor Lyman asked Lucas.
“Yes,” Lucas answered. He put his hand on top of his deck. After ten seconds, the holograms disappeared and the match ended.
It was a one sided stomp by Professor Lyman against Lucas. The match results then appeared.
Name: Albert Lyman
Rank: Professor (Special)
Wins: 31938
Losses: 2837
Name: Lucas
Rank: Elite
Wins: 815
Losses: 153
Lucas’s stats looked impressive based on the 84 percent win rate, but Professor Lyman had an insane 92 percent win rate. On top of that, Lucas was known for challenging weaker opponents to make himself look better, but even then, he would lose once in a while as well.
“Let this be a lesson in why you should never estimate a deck by its older archetypes,” Professor Lyman added. “All archetypes have their strengths and weaknesses. It is just a matter of how you play to the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses.”
Lucas’s deck failed because without a way to stop magic cards, he had no way to counter Professor Lyman’s strategy. He was too focused on swarming mechanics to inflict as much damage as soon as possible. All it took was for Professor Lyman to call one powerful spirit and it was essentially over due to the inability of swarm decks to boost the power of their spirits. The general theory was that swarm decks beat lock down decks, lock down decks beat decks that fortified a strong spirit, and decks that fortified a strong spirit beat swarm decks.
However, the creators of Dueling Spirits announced a major change. There was going to be a new side deck that stored powerful spirits unique to each archetype with special calling conditions because older cards had powerful cards with too strict of conditions. They said it was going to change everything in order to try to rebalance some of the weaker decks along with archetypal support for some long forgotten decks. Its release date was only three months away. Once January came around, the game was going to change significantly and everything we already knew about the game was going to be thrown out the window.
“I hope that this will emphasize the need for all of you to adapt,” said Professor Lyman. “Just as how we had to adapt to the competitive three deck style, you will need to adapt to this new
Professor Lyman was absolutely right. In a game that released new cards every four to six months, things changed quickly and the balance of power could be tipped. And to make things worse, no one knows how much a new booster much less a new feature to the game altogether could change things.