Magic the Gathering: Not Just a Game
Note: I do not own Magic the Gathering or any creatures and players related to it. I do, however, own the characters in the story as well as any place that is made up, I hope.
Chapter 1: Goblin Raid
The mall in Kirten was busy as usual. All the stores were open and customers were walking from store to store to check out or purchase merchandise. The place always had more than 500 people walking through it, especially in the middle of the day. However, today was the one day that there would be even more people within the place. Card day it is sometimes called, commonly known as the card expo amongst the common folk. Anyone interested in any card collecting hobby comes when this day arrives. There are the old baseball cards that have existed since forever, portraying the famous players of the ages on them with history. Children ran around with their Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon decks, seeking out stronger creatures for them as well as battling it out amongst themselves. Needless to say, Magic loomed as well.
Several card dealers had a large assortment of cards displayed behind glass, so as to keep potential thieves away from the sacred merchandise. Within those cases, Magic cards having existed throughout the years were displayed, many of them powerful cards in their own rights which are really hard to find. Boxes of unopened packs long out of print were occasionally with these dealers as well, as well as themed decks and packs from all the sets, from Tempest to Kamigawa. One such dealer was looking at a potential customer, who was looking through the glass for a card. It only took him a moment before he recognized the girl. She had bought several legendary artifact and creature cards and an Onslaught deck the year before. "May I help you, miss?" he asked politely to the brown haired girl.
She looked up at the shopkeeper with her green eyes. She is a rather slim girl with a mild bust, but enough to show she truly is one. She wore a white shirt with a pair of blue jeans, finished with a pair of black shoes. Her hair was long, having grown out to just below her shoulder blades, while her skin is lightly tanned. "Um…" she started, "do you have a 'Circle of Protection: Green'?"
The keeper looked through the glass. "One second," he replied as he looked at his stock hidden behind the table, while the girl herself chose to look at the cards still in the case while she waited. "Sorry, don't have that one," he said a minute later.
She saddened slightly. "I see…" she replied as she continued to scan the case, until a pair of reddish-orange eyes of a creature caught her attention. She lifted her eyebrows in confusion. "What is that card?" she asked, pointing to the one.
"Lets see," the vender said, unlocking the case so as to take the card in question out and examine it. " 'Darksteel Colossus'," he read, before letting her get a better look at it.
" 'Darksteel'?" she asked as she looked at it. 'Darksteel Colossus. Artifact creature. Mana Cost: 11 colorless. "That's a little expensive…" Trample. Darksteel Colossus is indestructible ( "Destroy" effects and lethal Damage don't destroy it.) "What…I gotta check this rule." If Darksteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Darksteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.' She nodded her head as she read it silently, then her eyes shot up when she reached the last thing she needed to know, how strong it was. ' 11/11! This thing's a monster!' She thought carefully about how it could possibly help her deck out before looking at the vender. "How much does this guy cost?" she asked in a surprised voice, still having not gotten over how strong it is.
The vender pulled out a book, which the girl recognized as a card magazine focused on games like Magic and Yu-gi-oh. That was the book the venders looked at to find certain cards and their prices in real life. "Lets see….this guy is about $14 in the book," he started. The girl was shocked, for she had encountered cards that weren't nearly like that one and were more expensive. "I was going to sell him for seven, but for you, only $5." She couldn't hide her smile, pulling out her wallet and taking out a five dollar bill. The exchange was done within ten seconds.
"Thank you, sir," the girl said as she handed the money over. The vender nodded in return and placed the Darksteel Colossus into her hand with its own hard plastic case as he accepted the bill from her. She nodded her thanks again before leaving, looking at the new card she acquired before pulling out her deck box and safely putting the creature inside. 'This card isn't as great as what I was looking for,' she thought with a grin. 'But it seems to be pretty bad for its enemies anyway. After looking it up online can I figure out how he'd do in my deck.' She removed her cards from the deck box, looking through her collection of green and white cards that she called her deck. 'He's expensive, but Mirari's Wake can easily rectify the price problem with interest, although I could get burned if I'm not careful.' She looked through her deck, locating her favored cards, the three circles of protection she currently had, her runes of protection from white, Lieutenant Kirtar, and Major Teroh. 'Well, these cards are definitely staying. If I get the green circle, I can protect myself from all the non-artifact creatures. As for these two,' she looked at her two Aven legends, 'I just can't see this deck without them.' She continued moving through the mall as she checked her cards she brought with her.
Meanwhile, the other aspect of such conventions was taking place. Because of how many players actually show up to purchase new cards to strengthen their decks, they often were prepared to actually test their new decks out against one another. One such battle was taking place, and the other players were checking to see what was going on. Both players had been playing the game on and off for several years, and their decks varied greatly. The one kid was a young man with brown eyes and a mess of black hair only about a half inch long per strand. Standing about 5'8", he was rather lacking in the muscle department. His attire consisted of a red t-shirt with a pair of black jeans and black sneakers. His deck consisted of nothing but red cards and featured a Mirari artifact legend from Odyssey to augment his spell casting. His opponent is a brown haired, brown eyed teenager. His hair was relatively shorter than the one boy and he wore clothes that were completely black. His deck is a rainbow deck, which was armed with the strongest monsters he could find backed up my cheap creatures to back him up. Both players were halfway through the game. The red player had his Mirari out and was able to do damage with his spells, but his creatures were either waiting for the chance to strike or else were already dead, considering the opponent wasn't afraid to lose his creatures to defend himself. The rainbow player had only a Werebear out , provided someone forgot about his Treva, the dragon of recovery from the Invasion block. Although on the defensive, he did get a few attacks through before summoning Treva.
"This fight's gonna be close," someone from the crowd said.
"Nah," another said, "Diron needs just a few more spells to wipe that guy out."
"Are you kidding?" another questioned. "Nick there has Treva out, and that guy has no air defense. Won't take long for him to get in the lead still."
"Alright," the boy named Nick said, smirking as he drew his next card. "First, I'll put a Swamp down," he placed the said card into the swamp pile he had, "Then I'll use the Werebear's ability to add another mana to my mana pool." He then grabbed his deck and started looking though it.
Diron glared at the player. "What the hell are you doing looking through your deck?" he asked in an irritated tone.
"Doing what the card said," he replied, pulling out another forest land from his library. "Adding another green mana to my mana pool."
Most of the crowd groaned in irritation, while Diron's irritation hit its peak. "That is NOT how that effect works!"
Nick glared back. "Say what?"
"The were bear's effect states that he adds another mana to the pool by paying his ability cost of tapping him," Diron replied cooly. "In essence, the were bear creates the mana from his body, not brings out another forest from the library."
"That makes no sense," Nick shot back. "The card says to add the mana to the pool!" He was starting to get angered, having never been told how to use a card before.
"How about I put it in terms that your noob brain can understand," Diron said. "The were bear ACTS like a forest for the turn he uses his effect. Tapping any land sends its respective mana into the mana pool."
Nick was about to say something in return when everyone heard the sound of someone screaming. Everyone turned to see something that couldn't be possible. There was a terrified mall rat running from what appeared to be a Goblin Raider, complete with its mallot. There was already blood on the hammer, but some people didn't see it as such. "What the hell? Who the hell dresses themselves up as a monster?" one of the crowd asked. The Raider charged at a stand and swung his hammer, the vender barely having time to get out of the way as his stand was pulverized by the weapon. More people were screaming and running from what happened, and the crowd dispersed, leaving the two combatants alone.
Diron glared at Nick, who was pale as a ghost. "oh no…" he muttered, quickly packing up his cards into his deck. "May as well end the battle, or else our lives may end," Nick said in irritation.
"Not a bad idea," Diron said cooly, "but it isn't wise for one of your creatures to be running around raising havoc!"
Nick's eyes widened slightly, before cursing. "Shit, you're a wizard too?" Diron nodded. "Dammit!"
"Quit swearing and do something before someone gets hurt!" Nick nodded and sough out something he could use to stop his creature. As he was doing so, a girl walked into the area, preoccupied with her cards. She didn't notice the chaos around her until someone bumped into her in a panic, knocking her down.
"Hey, watch it!" she yelled as she gathered her dropped cards, when her eyes locked with the Goblin Raider. "What the hell?"
Nick noticed this. "Hey, you. MOVE IT!" The girl didn't need telling twice, for the raider lifted his mallot and was charging her, and it looked like he wanted to smash her with his weapon. She jumped to her feet and ran, holding the cards to her chest as she tried to get away, while the Goblin smashed where she was laying a moment ago. It lifted the weapon again and chased her. She just continued to run, not having the time to scream and sure as hell wasn't looking back. "What the hell, it never chased anything before!" Nick said in shock. He looked through his deck, searching for something to use to stop the Goblin without causing any more panic. "Shit!" Diron was chasing after the creature, and Nick was trailing behind.
The girl was still running, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. 'That creature,' she thought. 'That thing is too real to be a guy in costume…' She looked behind her and saw that the goblin was gaining on her. She didn't have a chance to do much of anything else before she tripped again, her deck scattering on the floor. She struggled to get her cards back together quickly when she saw the creature standing right at her, his mallet held high. She screamed in fear with her eyes shut, not noticing that one of the cards she was holding was glowing white.
Nick had finally found a card. "Got it," he said triumphantly, holding the card to his side. "I Summon Kamahl, the Pit Fighter!" he said focusing only on the card as he ran. The card glowed red before a red vortex opened up next to him. Then a man stepped through the vortex, wielding a sword in one hand and wearing a layer of worn red armor on his chest, shoulder, and feet. His privates were covered by a creature's hide held up by a belt. He stood over six feet tall with no hair on his head, his eyes sharp.
Diron saw this and glared at Nick. "Its bad enough you summoned a monster with your rage," he said, "You could at least summon a creature that doesn't carry visible weaponry or else just use a spell on the thing!" Nick was about to shout back when they both saw a white flash, blinding them temporarily. When the effect of the flash wore off, they saw the girl and the goblin, yet they weren't alone anymore. Another creature had appeared, blocking the goblin's mallet with his staff. With a swift motion, the new creature thrusted his weapon up to knock the goblin off balance before he went ahead and smashed his staff through the creature's chest. The goblin screamed in pain as it turned to ash and vanished. The creature could now be seen clearly. It stood over seven feet tall and was clad in armor on his torso. His feet had reversed knee joints and feet resembling a bird, as did his 'hands' which held his staff. Wings protruded from the creature's back, and his head was that of a bird. His entire body was a mess of feathers, and his red eyes were sharp and checking the area for another threat. The girl opened her eyes, thinking she was dead, only to see something she couldn't believe.
"Teroh.." she said softly. The creature, the legendary aven warrior Teroh, looked behind him at the girl. He nodded before a white circle appeared below him. In an instant, he glowed white and was dragged into the circle before disappearing completely, leaving behind only a single feather. She looked in shock at where Teroh stood before collapsing where she was and passing out. Nick and Diron moved quickly to the girl, the armored man following them. Diron collected the cards she dropped while Nick made sure she was ok.
"How is she?" Diron asked as he picked up her cards, noticing some of the cards she had.
"She's fine," Nick replied. "She's just out cold right now."
"Good," Diron said. "It would seem whoever summoned Teroh saved both your asses."
Nick glared at him, knowing full well he was right. They didn't need to worry about someone listening in on them, for they were speaking softly on that subject. He turned his attention back to the girl when he noticed the card in her hand. He took the card and looked at it, his eyes widening. "Hey!"
"What now?" Diron said in irritation as he finished collecting her deck.
Nick held up the card to Diron, revealing the image of Teroh. "I think she saved herself."
That is it for now. I apologise if anything seems wrong in this fic, this is the first time I'm writing a Magic story. Several words I must say.
Yes, I have encountered someone that misunderstood the were bear's effect like that
No, I'm not well aware of all the cards in the game. I'm just using what I know
Yes, someone really did get a Darksteel Colossus for only five bucks, and it really was at an expo.
Hope to hear your comments and reviews on the story so far. I plan on continuing this if you, the readers, actually like it enough. Until then, if there is a then, later.