Disclaimer: I don't own Magic: The Gathering or any other products mentioned in this fic.

Here we go! Day 2 of the one chapter a day challenge!

As they entered the store, Arrathir looked around. The inside of the store was jam packed with the typical merchandise of a comic store. Anime DVDs waited on rows of shelves for faithful viewers to rent them. On other shelves where displayed manga and comic books. Arrathir recognized a few title by the characters on the cover. Near the entrance was a small counter with row upon row of collectible card game boxes behind it. Arrathir saw Magic, Duel Masters, Inu-Yasha, Dragon Ball Z, Star Wars, and even Pokemon. At the back of the store were several long tables at which a few people were already sitting, playing their games.

"Konichiwa," said Arrathir to the shopkeeper, a young bespectacled woman wearing a Gundam Wing shirt. "Eigo wo hanasemasuka? (Do you speak English?)"

"Of course," the woman replied cheerfully "How may I help you?"

"Em, we'd like to enter the Saviors tournament," said Arrathir, still disconcerted by hearing the woman speak in fluent English.

"All right," said the woman "It's a sealed tournament so you'll get a Kamigawa Tournament Pack, a booster of Betrayers and a booster of Saviors. It would have been two boosters of Saviors, but our shipment got delayed, gomen."

"Sure," said Arrathir "How much?"

"2,141¥ (Approx $25 Canadian)," said the shopkeeper "And we have English editions of the cards."

Arrathir and Eva paid their fee and went to the back, sitting down at one of the tables. Looking around, Arrathir saw there were maybe about a dozen people in the room; a small turnout for the release of a new Magic set. The shopkeeper came to the back and passed out the tournament packs, boosters, and two Ghost-Lit Raider promo cards. Arrathir was intrigued by the new Channel mechanism and was eager to try it out. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm was crushed when the shopkeeper told thm they could not use their promo cards in their decks.

Arrathir tore open his tournament pack. He nearly choked when he saw the first card: Cranial Extraction, one of the most sought-after cards in the Champions of Kamigawa expansion. It was a black sorcery for three uncolored and one black mana that allowed you to search a player's deck, hand, and graveyard for all copies of one non-land card and remove all those copies from the game. Having multiple copies in a deck was a sure way to cripple an opponent's deck by removing all their key cards from the game. Arrathir had gone against deck containing four copies of the card and had lost terribly.

This is a good sign.

Arrathir's good luck continued as he found a Jugan, the Rising Star in his pack. This 5/5 legendary dragon spirit allowed five +1+1 counters to be distributed among any number of creatures when he went to the graveyard so that even if he died, his power remained on the field.

Arrathir's third rare of the tournament pack was Long Forgotten Gohei, a useful artifact in spirit decks since it gave all spirits +1+1 and reduced the cost of playing Arcane spells by one colorless mana. Some other noteworthy cards Arrathir got included: Sosuke, Son of Seshiro, a 3/4 green snake legend that gave all warriors the ability to destroy a creature they dealt combat damage to at the end of combat; Lava Spike and Glacial Ray, two Arcane cards that could be spliced to deal a fair amount of damage; Sakura-Tribe Elder, a 1/1 snake shaman that could be sacked to put one land from one's deck into play tapped, great for mana accel, and Honden of Infinite Rage, a legendary red enchantment that dealt damage to a player or creature equal to the number of shrines you controlled.

So far, black and red are looking pretty good. Green's not bad either. Let's see the boosters.

The Betrayers booster was a disappointment, yielding Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar as the rare. Arrathir didn't have enough good blue cards to make a decent deck, so the card was all but useless to him. The uncommons weren't that great either: Kitsune Palliator and Ashen Monstrosity.

The Saviors booster contained cards new to him, so Arrathir picked out a few good-looking cards.

When he'd finished opening his boosters, Arrathir considered his options. He had a strong base in green and black. However, he felt as though he should throw in a few burn cards.

Three-color decks usually aren't a good choice.

Yeah, I know, but I think I'll take a chance and go for it.

Arrathir put Sosuke in his deck, along with a few other warrior-type creatures. Seeing as he had a few good spirit cards, he also put Long Forgotten Gohei to boost his spirits. Along with the spirits, he threw in Devouring Greed, a useful sorcery that allowed the caster to sack any number of spirits and made an opponent loose two life plus two more life for each spirit sacked. The caster gained that much life. It wasn't the best deck, but he figured it was the best he could do with what he had. Shuffling his mana into his deck, he looked around to see how others were doing. Beside him, Eva was swapping cards in and out of her deck. Looking at a few of her cards, Arrathir saw she seemed to have gone with a red-blue deck, an unusual combination seeing as red and blue were usually seen as enemies in Magic.

Soon, the pairings for the first round were called. Arrathir left Eva to face his first opponent, a blonde teen about his age. After cutting each other's decks, the duellists pulled out their D20s and rolled; Arrathir getting a 16 and his opponent a 20.

"I'll go first," said the teen "My name is Jounouchi Katsuya."

"Arrathir Quinn," said Arrathir "Hajimemashite (Nice to meet you)."

"Hajimemashite," said Jounouchi "I'll start by playing one Plains and I summon Bushi Tenderfoot (1/1). Your turn."

Arrathir was worried. Bushi Tenderfoot may have been a lowly 1/1 creature, but once it sent another creature to the graveyard, it became Kenzo the Hardhearted, a 3/4 legendary samurai with bushido 2 and doublestrike.

Let's try this.

"I play a Swamp and play Psychic Spear," he said "You show me your hand and I choose a Spirit or Arcane card from it. You discard that card." Jounouchi showed his hand: Call to Glory, Kodama's Might, Samurai of the Pale Curtain, a Plains and a Forest.

Hmm, a white-green deck, eh?

"Get rid of Kodama's Might," he said. Jounouchi discarded his card. "End turn."

"Second Plains," said Jou "And I summon Samurai of the Pale Curtain (2/2, bushido 1). Now I hit your for one with Bushi. End turn."

JOUNOUCHI: 20
ARRATHIR: 19

"Draw!" said Arrathir. He frowned. His hand contained plenty of mana, but not many creatures. "I'll play a Swamp and end my turn."

"I play a Forest and summon Child of Thorns (1/1)," said Jou "Now I attack with Bushi and Samurai of the Pale Curtain. Go."

JOUNOUCHI: 20
ARRATHIR: 17

"This will hold me for now," said Arrathir "I play a Forest and summon Villainous Ogre (3/2). Your move."

"Your creature can't block," said Jou "How's that going to help? I attack with Samurai of the Pale Curtain. Your move."

JOUNOUCHI: 20
ARRATHIR: 15

"Yes!" Arrathir "I play a Forest and summon Sosuke, Son of Seshiro (3/4)! Now I'll attack with Villainous Ogre!"

"I take it," said Jou.

JOUNOUCHI: 17
ARRATHIR: 15

"End turn."

"I play a Forest and attack with Samurai of the Pale Curtain and Bushi," said Jou.

What's he got planned?

"I block your Samurai with Sosuke," said Arrathir "And I take the one from your Bushi."

"Before damage goes on the stack, I Channel my Ghost-Lit Nourisher to give Bushi +4+4 until end of turn!" (A/N: The Channel mechanism works like so: You pay the Channel cost and discard the card you are Channelling from your hand to activate its effect.)

JOUNOUCHI: 17
ARRATHIR: 10

"I play a Mountain and play Midnight Covenant on my Villainous Ogre," said Arrathir "Now I can tap one Swamp to give him +1+1 until end of turn. I attack with Villainous Ogre."

"I block with Child of Thorns," said Jou.

"End turn."

Meanwhile, Eva was faring better than Arrathir in her duel. She was facing a red-green deck. Her opponent had Feral Deceiver (3/2) and Orochi Leafcaller (1/1) out. Eva had Ronin Houndmaster (2/2, bushido 1). Drawing her next card, she smiled.

"I summon Frostling (1/1)," she said "And I sack him to deal one damage to your Leafcaller. Next, I attack with Houndmaster."

"I bock with Feral Deceiver," said her opponent.

"In response, I'll Glacial Ray it," said Eva.

"And I'll play Sideswipe to change your Arcane spell's target to your Houndmaster," said her opponent "So our creatures mutually die."

"End turn," said Eva.

"Good," said her opponent, a girl by the name of Izumi "I play Glitterfang (1/1, haste) and play Captive Flame. This enchantment lets me pay one red mana to give target creature +1+0 until end of turn. I attack with Glitterfang and boost him to a 2/1."

IZUMI: 11
EVA: 14

"At the end of turn, Glitterfang returns to my hand. End turn."

"I summon Heartless Hidetsugu (3/4)," said Eva "I can tap him to deal each player damage equal to half their lifepoints, rounded down. End turn."

"Since you've summoned your legend, it's time I summoned mine," said Izumi "I summon Iwamori of the Open Fist (5/5). When this card comes into play, each opponent may put a legendary creature from his or her hand into play. Do you have a legend in your hand?"

Eva shook her head.

"Fine, end turn!" said Izumi.

"I Consume Vortex your Iwamori," said Eva "Returning it to your hand. Next, I'll play Reach Through Mist to draw a card and summon Wandering Ones (1/1). End turn."

"I play Kashi-Tribe Reaver (3/2)," said Izumi "End turn."

"I attack with Hidetsugu and Wandering Ones," said Eva.

"I block your Hidetsugu with my Reaver and regenerate him," said Izumi.

"And I activate my Ninjutsu card!" said Eva "Go, Ninja of the Deep Hours (2/2)!"

IZUMI: 9
EVA: 14

"When Ninja of the Deep Hours deals damage to a player, I may draw a card," said Eva, snapping a card off her deck "End turn."

"I summon Glitterfang (1/1, haste)," said Izumi "And I play Desperate Ritual, adding three red mana to my mana pool. I pump up my Glitterfang to a 5/1 and attack with Glitterfang and Reaver. End turn."

IZUMI: 9
EVA: 6

"This isn't over yet!" said Eva "I play Honden of the Infinite Rage and attack you with Hidetsugu! Next, I play Phantom Wings on my Ninja of the Deep Hours to give him flying. End turn."

IZUMI: 6
EVA: 6

"It is over," said Izumi "I play Aura Barbs! Each enchantment deals 2 damage to its controller, then each enchantment enchanting a creature deals 2 damage to that creature."

"In response," said Eva "I sack Phantom Wings to return my Ninja of the Deep Hours to my hand."

IZUMI: 4
EVA: 4

"Now I summon Glitterfang (1/1, haste) and attack full out for the win."

IZUMI: 4
EVA: 0

Back at Arrathir's duel, thing weren't going well. Jounouchi had summoned Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, a fox cleric that allowed him to give permanents protection from white as well as changing the color of a permanent or spell to white. Arrathir currently had Nezumi Cutthroat (2/1, fear) and Orochi Ranger (2/1) out. Jounouchi had his Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (2/2). Arrathir ended his turn, playing a fourth swamp.

JOUNOUCHI: 8
ARRATHIR: 5

"My turn," said Jou "I play Plow Through Reito, retuning three Plains to my hand to give Eight-and-a-Half-Tails +1+1 for each Plains returned until end of turn, meaning he's a 5/5 then I Splice Blessed Breath, giving Eight-and-a-Half Tails pro white until end of turn. Next, I pay two mana to make both your creatures white and attack you!"

JOUNOUCHI: 8
ARRATHIR: 0

To be continued…

Author's note: HA! It's still June 7th! It's nearly midnight, but I'm still within the regulations of the challenge! So Arrathir and Eva both lost the first game of the Saviors tournament. Will they do better in the next games or fail miserably?