Cursed Draw

“ Each individual Card you play draws you another Card at the end of that Phase, even when you end your turn. However, it is important to remember you always end the turn with a full hand. If you have too many you discard down, if you have too few you draw to replace the missing cards. Cards played in your second Creation Phase are replaced this way.”

-Arcadia Roe, Teaching her son

Chapter 35: Cursed King Vs Hungry Corsair

Alabaster

Chains appeared on the other Creature Cards and Grave Caller Manifested in a burst of teal light between Alley and the mid-point barrier. It was a spindly thing taller by a head than Alley, in ornate robes of black and teal. It might have been a human being once but that was long before it was a card. The figure standing here now, with stats hovering above its head, had glowing yellow eyes and pale skin that was almost blue.

As soon as the light of Manifestation faded the Creature raised a gem-tipped wand from within its robe above its head.

The wand glowed and Alley watched as two cards were revealed to both players and then exploded into teal light.

‘It sent them to Crypt.’

It was a Grave Caller after all, so that was hardly surprising. The dark-haired boy tongued his cheek as he inspected the Cards that had been sent to the Crypt. The first was Chase The Wind, a sky spell he had found among the belongings of the Deep Hunters League. He had to admit he was happy to have the spell sent to the Crypt so he didn’t draw it later.

The second Card sent to the Crypt was a powerful and costly Creature; Necrotic Fiend 3 Vials, 4500 Power, 2 Vitality. Undeath, Curse, Maleficarum. Despite sharing Resonances with his Deck the Monster was too much for Alley to Manifest normally. With a little luck, he might draw into one of the Spells in his Library that could Manifest the Creature from the Crypt and avoid paying the Vial cost.

While he was checking the Card images Alley noticed something unusual out of the corner of his eye. The Grave Caller was still holding its wand above its head. Almost as if…

“I uhh Activate the second half of Grave Caller’s ability.” He said with an unsure tilt of his head. The Grave Caller span the wand in a lazy circle and the images of the two Cards reappeared in front of him.

Trying to keep a stoic expression, Alley nevertheless let out a little fist pump when he realized his intuition had been correct. There was a second half to the Creature’s effect. The elation he felt quickly faded when he realized he had no choice but to select the spell. Chase The Wind returned to Alley’s hand, prompting a little nasal exhale from him. ‘Oh well.’ He would redraw from playing the Grave Caller at the end of the phase, which would take his hand to six Cards. If things stayed that way at the end of the turn he would need to discard back down to his maximum hand size of five. Chase The Wind which only affected Sky Resonance Creatures and would cost him a Vial would be returning to the Crypt then.

With a mental push, Alley ended his first Creation Phase, the card he had played was replaced with Grimoire Of The Doomed Scholar; A free Relic card that appeared to be a huge book. ‘Grimoire means book I guess?’ He knew that much, he just didn’t know what the Relic did.

As it was the first turn of the Challenge Alley’s War Phase was skipped and in his second Creation Phase, the final Phase of his turn Alley opted to risk it and play the Relic he had drawn. It likely meant that he wouldn’t get to discard the spell he couldn’t use but that really didn’t matter.

“Grimoire Of The Doomed Scholar” He declared with a confidence he wasn’t feeling.

‘No hidden cost. No hidden cost.’ Alley silently willed as the Relic appeared in the crook of his arm. Fortunately, no detrimental secondary cost he wasn’t aware of activated, in fact, nothing happened at all.

Alley could feel the Manifested book, but it still seemed weightless, like he was holding the item’s reflection. Knowing nothing about the Card other than its lack of cost and its Curse Resonance Alley awkwardly waited another few seconds for something to happen, before lamely ending his turn, drawing back up to replace the Grimoire. The new Card was Cursed Grave Digger.

‘I know that one at least.’

Far more comfortable with his Greed Of The Hungry Corsair Karieto immediately began to play Cards as soon as his Creation Phase started.

“GoldFish” He declared Manifesting the Creature. “ I Activate its effect.” The fish card that Manifested was about the size of a man’s head and covered in shining scales of metallic gold. It looked…well like a regular goldfish just bigger and plated in gold.

The fish shone brighter for a moment as its effect was activated. It’s Vitality dropped from 2 to 1 and the pirate drew an extra card. Despite the exceedingly low Power Alley had to admit that it wasn’t a bad little Creature.

A small smile crossed Karieto’s face as he saw what he drew.

“Next I activate Discerning taste.”

Watching the pirate discard and then draw two more cards Alley couldn’t help but feel his own turn one had been a little lacking. Especially as Karieto wasn’t done yet, redrawing when his Creation Phase ended the raider captain met Alley’s eyes.

“ You should have just let me crush your chest in”

Alley kept his features neutral, but it was obvious to him that his opponent was happy with what he had drawn. Despite the aggressive words, what the pirate proceeded to play was more set up. Well-timed set up admittedly, in Karieto’s second Creation Phase before he would need to discard back down to five cards he made them into a resource instead.

“Treasures Of The Deep”

The pirate’s eyes glowed blue as his vision was replaced with his Library. Alley waited expecting Karieto to instantly play whatever Relic he dug out, but no. The Shattered Hull captain simply ended his turn after adding the card to his hand.

At the start of his turn, the ornate book resting in the crook of Alley’s arm glowed and flew open of its own accord.

‘Now we’re talking. Please be useful.’

The relic was quite useful indeed. An additional card was added to Alley’s hand. Lesser Shade Hound: No Cost, 1000 Power, 1 Vitality, Shadow, Pursuit, Wolfkin.

Immediately after the Monster was added to his hand, the top two cards of his Library were sent to his Crypt. The first Final Malediction was an extremely powerful spell that allowed him to return his Crypt to the field or his hand. It also cost three Vials, putting it outside the range of what Alley could afford anyway.

‘Okay. Not too bad.’

The next card sent to his Crypt was the reasonably powerful Skeletal Cavalry. That was a bit more of a loss than a spell he couldn't afford but at least now he had a decent idea what the Relic book he was holding did.

Giving his hand a quick glance, Alley got to work starting his turn.

Danse Macabre, Wraith Master, Withered One, Chase The Wind, Cursed Grave Digger, Lesser Shade Hound.

“Lesser Shade Hound” He declared using his Manifestation for the turn.

Moving onto the War Phase Alley redrew. It was another cursed draw. Enchanted Grove; an ongoing land manipulation spell that helped Creatures with Bloom and Life Resonances.

‘Useless’

There was no point in him bemoaning it so Alley focussed on what he could control.

“ I activate Lesser shade hound’s effect.” He said basically under his breath.

“What was that?” Called back Karieto

“Nothing.”

It didn’t seem like the monster had an ability he could activate at the moment. Well, it had been worth a try at least.

“Grave Caller “ The Deck supplied the attack command for the Creature to his mind. It was an odd feeling having the words just pop in. Almost like remembering a sudden important task you had forgotten, only for it to surge to the forefront of your mind out of nowhere.

“Wraith Bolt” As he said it the dark-haired boy gestured towards the Gold Fish.

“I activated Gold Fish’s ability” Declared the pirate quickly before Alley’s monster could attack.

The vitality of the fish Creature dropped to zero destroying it and drawing Karieto another card.

Suddenly finding itself without a target the Grave Caller turned its gaze onto the pirate himself. With a flick of its wand, a ball of Undeath Resonance in the form of a chattering skull was sent hurtling toward the pirate.

Karieto took a single casual step to his left and the Grave Caller’s attack missed him entirely. While it was nice that the pirate’s board was cleared the intense flow of Cards through the man’s hand was a concern. Especially as Alley didn’t have good follow-up play. Skipping his second Creation Phase Alley discarded Chase The Wind and ended his turn.