Upgrading Cards. Select the Upgrade Card prompt on the screen. Choose the card you would like to upgrade. Once the card is chosen, insert card into the red or top slot. The Vigor Dust Cost to Upgrade the card for each level will appear.

You can view the changes the Upgrade will make by selecting the card level you would like.

Once decided, insert the appropriate amount of Vigor Dust and then select the level you would like to Upgrade the card to. Confirm the Upgrade on screen and then watch the forge do its work!

Your Upgraded Card will appear in the green or bottom slot once the forge is finished. Enjoy!

“For ten Vigor Dust, there’s not a whole lot you’re going to be able to do,” Aimee said. “It’s early days for the tournament so we’re all stuck with our Level One cards. To upgrade a common card to Level Two, it’s usually a hundred dust. And more for the other rarities.”

“So,” Walt said, “what you’re saying is that I should disenchant ten more common cards to get a hundred dust?”

“Or you can disenchant cards with a higher rarity,” Aimee said. “If you have any that you’re comfortable disenchanting.”

Walt went through his common rarity cards and considered which one would be worth upgrading. He’d like to upgrade some of his more rare cards, but the Vigor Dust Cost would be too much. He was only comfortable with disenchanting and dusting enough cards to get the hundred dust for now.

Desecrate X and Soulbloomwere heavy contenders. The opportunity to include each card in active dueling decks was high, and both were already powerful enough that upgrading them would bring him enough value to justify the cost.

He had a feeling that upgrading Desecrate X would increase the amount of damage per instance any time he dealt damage with cards from the Darkened Soul Arts set. And Soulbloomcurrently allowed him to play a card for fifteen Health Points instead of using Vigor Stones. Upgrading that card probably reduced the cost of Health Points that was required to play a card.

“This is a tough decision,” Walt said. “At this point, I’m not sure which card I would use more.”

But then he remembered he never had a chance to use Desecrate Xin his last duel. But Soulbloom had been a card he’d used in two out of his three duels. That was enough to make the decision.

“Soulbloom it is,” Walt said. He left the card hovering in front of him and then went to the task of choosing cards to dust.

“If you don’t want to disenchant as many common cards,” Aimee said, “maybe dust a rare or an epic. That should yield you more dust.”

He skimmed through Jacob’s deck for epics. He was sure most of the cards were from sets that weren’t compatible with his class, as Walt was a dark caster. But he’d choose one he was sure that he couldn’t use and that Richard would have no interest in.

Fortify Beast. Spell. Set: Bloodhound’s Kennel. Rarity: Epic. An ancient Bloodhound command to make your personal beast minion impervious for a short duration of time.

Make your Tame Beast minion Immune for a Turn.

Cost: 1 Vigor Stone

Walt showed the card to Richard. The old man nodded, “Seems like a Bloodhound-only card.”

Walt fed it into the forge and disenchanted the card. It yielded him fifty Vigor Dust. So he chose another four common cards from his collection and dusted them. He dusted one of the Zombie cards he had from the Necromancer’s deck, another common card that was a beast minion from the Bloodhound’s deck and two cards from his initial Starter Deck.

He now had enough Vigor Dust to upgrade his Soulbloom card.

He inserted the card and followed the Upgrade prompts. He had two options. He could upgrade the card to Level Two or Level Three.

Soulbloom. Spell. Set: Darkened Soul Arts. Rarity: Common. The next spell you play this turn costs Health Points instead of Vigor Stones.

Play a card for 15 Health points instead of Vigor Stones.

He got a view of the Level Two stats.

Level 2 Upgrade.

Play a card for 10 Health Points instead of 15.

Cost: 100 Vigor Dust

Then he looked at the Level Three stats.

Level 3 Upgrade.

Play a card for 5 Health Points.

Cost: 200 Vigor Dust

“Wow,” Walt said. “Getting this baby up to Level Three would be OP. A card for five Health Points? Sign me up.”

“You’d need a hundred more dust though, kid,” Richard said. “That’s ten more common cards or at least a couple epics.”

“Yeah,” Walt said. “I’d have to think on it. I’ll just go for the Level Two upgrade for now.”

He pressed the glyph to reveal the funnel. He poured the Vigor Dust into the forge. Then he touched the screen, confirming the upgrade.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The forge trembled again. Then came the industrialized sound of a furnace, hammers on anvils and clicking cogs from within the interior of the device. As if an army of gnomish tinkerers and dwarven artificers were getting to work making the new card. After a few moments, the blue flames subsided, the noise decreased and the forge stopped vibrating.

There was a click and Walt’s upgraded card emerged out of the bottom slot. He picked it up and showed it to them. Sure enough, it had been upgraded.

Soulbloom. Level 2.

#

Walt examined the next mode of the Card Forge.

Combine Cards

“Can you combine any ‘ol cards?” Richard said. “Just mash ‘em together and see what happens?”

Aimee nodded. “Actually, you can. But they have to be of the same level. And you might not like what you get.”

“Are the cards usually bad?” Walt said.

“Combining cards is usually shit unless you pour enough Vigor Dust into the mix to get something you can actually use,” Aimee said.

“If the two cards used for combining requires the same level,” Richard said, “does that mean they need to be of the same rarity?”

“No,” Aimee said. “But the new card takes on the rarity of the lower card. Unless you pour in enough Vigor Dust to make up for the difference.”

“Sounds like a gamble,” Walt said.

“It’s not the best,” Aimee said. “They're mostly cards used for trolling your opponent. If you’re that much of an asshole.”

“Or maybe it’s just Slaynami trolling us,” Walt said.

“But once in a blue moon you might get something unique and useful,” Aimee said.

Combining Cards. Select the Combine Cards prompt on the screen. Choose the two cards you’d like to combine. Once the cards are chosen, insert them into the red or top slot. The new card and its features will be displayed on the screen. Confirm to continue and combine cards. The new card will appear in the green or bottom slot.

If using Vigor Dust, more possible card options will be displayed according to Vigor Dust Cost.

Once cards are combined, the effect is permanent. There’s no way to split the new card back into the two old cards. So be sure you really want to combine the cards before confirming.

Cards that are to be combined must be of the same level.

Walt looked through his collection to see if he had any candidates for combining cards. He came across the Hellpriest’s Hellwell card. The object that could heal minions or oneself every turn.

He wondered what would happen if he combined that with one of his Blood Mirror cards. Both cards were objects and each healed Health Points every turn.

Out of curiosity he inserted both cards into the forge and then followed the Combine prompts until the screen displayed his options for the offspring cards should he combine the two.

For another hundred Vigor Dust, one option caught his attention.

Hell Mirror. Object. Set: Card Forge Combos. Rarity: Common. An unholy union of a Blood Mirror and a Hellwell.

When placed on the board, drains 3 Health Points from Enemy Hero.

At the start of the Turn, Drains 3 Health Points from Enemy Hero and reflects into your own Health Pool once every turn.

Can still be triggered by Life Leech card.

Cost: 2 Vigor Stones

“Whoa,” Walt said. “This is actually better than the Blood Mirror. It drains and restores more health and it can still be used in my Life Leechcombo! We’re gonna have to get more cards we can dust!”

He ejected the cards and made a note to eventually combine them when he could afford it. He looked at the next forge mode.

Crafting Cards. Select the Craft Card prompt on the screen. Press the schema glyph to manifest schema slot. Insert the Card Schema into this slot. Then insert appropriate amount of Vigor Dust and confirm to craft. In just a few moments, you’ll be able to collect your brand new Slaystone card from the green or bottom slot!

“What’s a card schema?” Walt said.

“A schema is like the blueprint for a card,” Aimee said. “Or you could think of it as a recipe for creating a card. They’re designed by the Card Artisans.”

“Where do we find them?” Richard said.

“They’re pretty rare,” Aimee said. “Usually patrons will buy them and send them to the duelists they support. But they’re expensive and are not a light purchase, even for a wealthy patron.”

“Does that mean they’re more powerful than normal cards?” Walt said.

Aimee nodded. “A crafted card is easily Legendary or higher. Sometimes Mythic. And sometimes something beyond Mythic.”

“There’s a beyond Mythic category?” Walt said.

“That’s up to the game masters,” Aimee said. “But each tournament always has surprises.”

“Aside from patrons,” Richard said, “is there any other way to get schema?”

“There’s the Slaynami Shop,” Aimee said, “but that would take a shit ton of Slaynami credits.”

“I noticed the shop on my interface,” Walt said.

“You guys have access to a Slaynami Shop?” Richard said, flabbergasted. He looked between them both, upset that he was missing out on the feature.

“I was rewarded access for finishing my trial duels,” Walt said. “It also said I had three hundred Slaynami Credits.”

“I need to hurry up and win another duel!” Richard said. “What sorta stuff is on there?”

“I haven’t had a chance to explore it yet,” Walt said.

“Cards. But they can be pricey. It’s mostly skins and other cosmetics,” Aimee said.

“Skins?” Richard said.

“People love their skins,” Aimee said. “People like to alter their appearance. And it can have an effect on growing your stream audience and gaining followers. I hate to say it, but appearance matters.”

“What else is on the shop?” Richard said.

Aimee opened a bottle of water and took a drink. “Schema, like I said. Gauntlet skins. Cams and drones for streaming. Maps for the location of card forges and evolution cocoons. And whatever fun and random stuff that Slaynami wants to surprise us with.”

She delivered the last line with a nice dose of sarcasm.

“Evolution cocoons?” Walt said.

“You need a cocoon to evolve into an advanced form, which have advanced classes,” Aimee said. “Ultra Slinger and Apex Slingers are the other forms.”

“What’s different about those forms?” Walt said.

“It’s different for every tournament,” Aimee said. “Last year, an Ultra Slinger could use any leftover Vigor Stones from previous turns during new turns.”

“They could hoard stones and then use them all at once in one turn?” Walt said.

Aimee nodded. “Led to some interesting combos and plays. It was pretty dramatic.”

“And what was different about the Apex Slinger?” Richard said.

“They had abilities and triggers that affected cards in a way where they could create infinite loops,” Aimee said.

Walt’s eyes grew wide at that. “No.”

“What’s an infinite loop?” Richard said.

“A never ending cycle of card effects triggering in response to each other,” Walt said. “Imagine card triggers going off and never stopping until one of the cards is sent to the graveyard.”

“Sounds like a way to abuse the game,” Richard said.

“Oh it was,” Aimee said. “The top Apex Slinger, who went on to win the tournament, had a deck that could create an infinite loop that abused the card draw mechanics on his opponent’s decks. It would force card draws until all their cards ended up in the graveyard and they’d have nothing to play.”

“And this was legal?” Richard said.

Aimee snickered. “Slaynami doesn’t care about legal or fair. They care about entertainment. Best remember that.”

Walt processed this. But then he had another question. “So how do we get credits? From winning duels?”

“Winning duels,” Aimee said. “Patrons, taking the credits from the gauntlets of defeated opponents and finding credit tokens that Slaynami has stashed in your world are other ways.”

“They plant credits here?” Richard said.

“Think of it like Slaynami pumping money to jumpstart the economy. Plus, it’s another way to force duels to happen.”

Richard snorted. “They’ll take any chance they can get to make us fight for resources, won’t they?”

“You may need Slaynami to survive, but in the end, they are not your friend.”