Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering
CHAPTER 31-The clash of egos
"I'll take the first turn," said Erik "One Plains and I summon Savannah Lions (2/1). End turn!"
"Draw," said Charles "And I play an Island. Your turn."
"I play a Plains and attack you with my Savannah Lions," said Erik.
CHARLES:
18
ERIK: 20
"Your move."
"I play Mishra's Factory," said Charles "And I'll play Snap, returning your Lions to your hand. Next, I'll summon Cloud of Faeries (1/1, Flying). End turn."
"Third Plains," said Erik "And I'll summon Savannah Lions (2/1) again. As well, I summon Suntail Hawk (1/1, Flying). Go."
"I play an Island and summon Man-o'-War, sending your Hawk back to your hand. Your move."
"Fine," said Erik "I draw and Play Circle of Protection Blue. End turn."
"Accumulated Knowledge. I draw a card," said Charles "And I Boomerang your CoP back to your hand. Next, I attack you with Man-o'-War."
"Then I'll tap my last Plains to cast Holy Day," said Erik.
"End turn."
"Plains, then I summon Dawn Elemental (3/3, Flying). Go."
"I play Faerie Conclave and summon another Man-o'-War, bouncing your Elemental back to your hand. Then I'll attack with Man-o'-War."
CHARLES:
18
ERIK: 18
"End turn."
"I re-summon Suntail Hawk (1/1, Flying) and also Devoted Retainer (1/1, Bushido 1). Your move."
"I attack with both my Man-o'-War," said Charles.
"Block one with my Lions and the other with Retainer," said Erik "Done?"
"Yep. Go."
"Another Plains," said Erik "Then I summon Kami of False Hope (1/1)."
"Not so fast," said Charles, tapping two Islands "Counterspell!"
"All right, I summon Isumaru, Hound of Konda (2/2). Go."
"'Afraid not!" said Charles "I pay one life and remove a blue card in my hand from the game to use Force of Will without paying the mana cost, countering your card."
CHARLES:
17
ERIK: 18
"You're getting annoying," said Charles "I'll play Words of Worship. This enchantment allows me to pay one mana the next time I would draw a card and gain five life instead. End turn."
"I didn't want to have to do this," said Charles "But here goes: Intuition!"
"Let me guess," said Erik "Accumulated Knowledge?"
"Yep," said Charles, removing the cards from his deck and slipping two in his graveyard. "End turn."
"I play Kismet," said Erik "Lands, creatures, and artifacts you play come into play tapped. End turn."
"Fine! Time to replenish my hand. I play Accumulated Knowledge," said Charles, sliding four cards off his deck and adding them to his hand "Next, I'll play an Island and end my turn."
"I'll gain five life with Words of Worship," said Erik "Then I'll summon a Morph (2/2)."
"Counterspell."
"End turn."
CHARLES:
17
ERIK: 23
"I play an Island and Boomerang your Kismet," said Charles "End turn."
"I draw and end my turn."
"Here goes!" said Charles "I summon Palinchron (4/5, Flying)! Then I summon another Man-o'-War (2/2), returning your Hawk back to your hand. End turn."
"I gain five life," said Erik, almost sounding bored.
CHARLES:
17
ERIK: 28
;This is getting out of hand! Good thing I've got a beatstick on the field. I need another Boomerang to get rid of his Words of Worship;
"I play one Plains and end my turn," said Erik.
"I attack full out!" said Charles.
CHARLES:
17
ERIK: 20
"I draw," said Erik "And summon Kami of False Hope (1/1)."
"I use Force of Will to counter it," said Charles.
CHARLES:
16
ERIK: 20
"Feh, I'll play a Plains and end my turn," said Erik.
;What is he doing?;
"I play Intuition, pulling my three other Palinchrons from my deck," announced Charles, discarding two of the cards "I play an Island and attack full out."
CHARLES:
16
ERIK: 12
"My turn," said Erik "I draw and play Wrath of God!"
"In response," said Charles "I pay four mana to return Palinchron to my hand." Charles returned the creature to his hand and put the rest in his graveyard.
"Now I finish off by playing Armageddon! All lands are destroyed!"
;The son of a bitch! By the time I get enough mana to do anything, he'll have gained tons of life!;
"End turn," said Erik.
"I draw and discard," said Charles "End turn."
"I play a Plains and end my turn," said Erik.
"Faerie Conclave. End turn."
;Better than nothing;
"I gain five life and end my turn."
CHARLES:
16
ERIK: 17
"Mishra's Factory," said Charles "And I'll cycle my Cloud of Faeries. End turn."
"One plains. Go."
"I turn my Factory into a 2/2 Assembly-Worker and attack," said Charles "End turn."
CHARLES:
16
ERIK: 15
"I summon Devoted Retainer (1/1, Bushido 1)," said Erik "End turn."
"I discard Palinchron and end my turn," said Charles.
;Damn mana screw!;
"Plains," said Erik "And I'll attack with my Retainer."
"I take it."
;Can't afford to loose lands right now;
CHARLES:
15
ERIK: 15
"End turn."
"Finally!" shouted Charles "Island and I summon Man-o'-War (2/2)! Back to your hand goes the Retainer! End turn."
"I draw and end my turn," said Erik.
"Attack with Man-o'-War and Mishra's Factory," said Charles.
CHARLES:
15
ERIK: 11
"I play a Plains and return my Exalted Angel (4/5, Flying) to play using Breath of Life! That was the morph you countered. End turn."
;Not good, but I just drew my final Boomerang. Do I use it on his angel or Word of Worship? This sucks. I've got a hand full of counter spells, but not enough mana!;
"I play Cloud of Faeries (1/1, Flying) and Boomerang your angel back to your hand."
;At least me doesn't have enough mana to summon it;
"End turn."
"I draw," said Erik "And I end my turn."
"I play Mishra's Factory," said Charles "Then I'll turn Faerie Conclave into a 2/1 flier. Next I attack with my Conclave and Cloud of Faeries."
CHARLES:
15
ERIK: 8
"End turn."
"I gain five life," said Erik.
CHARLES:
15
ERIK: 13
"Then I'll play Divine Sacrament. All white creatures get +1+1 and since I have Threshold, they +2+2."
"I use Force of Will," said Charles, removing a card in his hand from the game.
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 13
"End turn."
"I draw and turn my Conclave into a 2/1, attacking with it and Could of Faeries."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 10
"This should slow you down," said Erik "Go, Dawn Elemental (3/3, Flying)!"
;Shit. I am so screwed. I'm almost out of creatures and there's nothing I can use to bounce stuff back to his hand.;
"I play Faerie Conclave. End turn."
"I draw and play Serra's Blessing," said Erik "Creatures I control have Vigilance."
"Rewind!" said Charles.
"Fine. End turn."
"I play Snap, returning your Elemental to your hand. Now, I attack with Cloud of Faeries. End turn."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 9
"It's pointless," said Erik "I just gain five life."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 14
"Next I'll play a Morph (2/2) and end my turn."
;That's his Exalted Angel. My only hope is to attack with my Faerie Conclave;
"I play an Island and turn one of my Conclaves into a 2/1. Then I attack with Faerie Conclave and Cloud of Faeries."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 11
"If that's the best you can do," said Erik "Then you're going to loose. I morph my Exalted Angel (4/5, Flying) and attack!"
"I turn my other Conclave into a flier and block," said Charles.
"And as per my angel's effect, I gain life equal to the damage it deals," reminded Erik.
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 15
"End turn. You're beaten. With only a handful of creatures there's no way you can win."
"Shut up!" said Charles.
;OK, calm down. Remember what Arrathir said: The cards are alive. Trust your deck;
"Draw!" said Charles "I plan an Island and now I'll cast Time Spiral! We both shuffle our graveyards and hand into our decks and draw seven new cards."
;It's a long shot. I don't like giving him back his Wrath of God, but I need this;
"Also, I untap six lands. Then I'll summon Man-o'-War, returning your angel to your hand. End turn."
"During your end phase, I discard," said Erik "Thanks for the new hand. I play a Plains and summon Leonin Skyhunter (2/2, Flying). End turn."
"I play Snap and Boomerang," said Charles "Returning your creature to your hand. Then I'll attack with Man-o'-War, Cloud of Faeries, and one of my Mishra's Factories. End turn."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 8
"I discard two cards during your end phase," said Erik "Then on my turn I'll gain five life and drop one Plains. End turn."
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 13
"I play an Island and summon Palinchron (4/5, Flying)," said Charles "I attack with Man-o'-War, Cloud of Faeries and both my Factories."
"Fool," said Erik "Holy Day."
"You're the fool," said Charles "Counterspell!"
CHARLES:
14
ERIK: 6
"Heh," said Erik "You played right into my trap. I gain five life and play Breath of Life, returning Akroma (6/6, Flying, Trample, First Strike, Haste, Vigilance, Pro Red, Pro Black) to play!"
Momentarily stunned, Charles quickly regained himself. "You think that's going to stay on the field long enough for you to do much damage?" he asked.
"Oh, it will," said Erik "My next play for this turn: Blue Ward!"
"No!"
"Yes! My Angel of Wrath now has Pro blue! Finally, I summon Kami of False Hope (1/1) and send Akroma to attack!"
CHARLES:
8
ERIK: 11
"Well, I can at least do this," said Charles "Boomerang your Words of Worship back to your hand. I attack with Palinchron. End turn."
"I play a Plains and cast Convalescence," said Erik.
"Rewind it," said Charles.
"Fine, Ghostly Prison."
"Force of Will."
"Then I attack with Akroma!"
CHARLES:
2
ERIK: 11
"End turn."
;I am totally screwed;
"I play Ancestral Recall, drawing three cards!" said Charles "Next I play Mishra's Factory and end my turn."
"Useless," said Erik "I attack with Akroma."
"I take it," said Charles "Nothing I can do."
CHARLES:
0
ERIK: 11
"Once again, white reigns supreme!" said Erik, gathering his cards "Now, give me your deck."
Charles handed his cards over and Erik began shuffling through them, pausing every now and then to look at a card. Finally, he returned the deck to Charles, keeping one card.
"This almost cost me the game," said Erik, holding up Time Spiral "Not it won't be used against me again."
"You're crazy!" yelled Charles "That's one of the most powerful cards in Magic! Why would you want to destroy it?"
"A deal is a deal," said Erik "And you lost. Now tear it up."
Charles took the card with trembling hands. How could he have been so stupid? Risking something so precious just for the chance to one-up Erik.
;I'm no better than he is;
;We all makes Mistakes, Charles;
Charles looked at his card one last time, then decisively ripped the card in half.
"Again," said Erik.
Charles started at Erik in disbelief. He'd ripped the card once; that in itself was incredibly painful and disrespectful. Now he wanted to add insult to injury? Grim-faced, he stacked the two pieces and tore them in half.
"Again," repeated Erik, with a sadistic smile.
So he tore them again, and again, and again. With each tear, he felt as though a spike were being driven into his heart, but each tear also strengthened his resolve not to let Erik win; not to let him see how much the card's destruction was hurting Charles. At the same time, a fiery hatred burned through him.
;Erik Morlock, you will not get away with this. You will receive your comeuppance;
When the card was reduced to a pile of confetti, Charles flung them defiantly into Erik's face.
"Happy?" he asked.
"Thrilled," replied Erik "Now let's get going."
;Can you believe that guy?;
;That's Chihowaido for you. He always thought he was so high and mighty, but between us, he was no better than Chikuro. He committed as many atrocities, if not more, all in the name of fighting "evil";
;Reminds me of George Bush;
To be continued…
Author's Note: I expect almost everyone to be like, "WTF? Charles lost?" Well I assure you there is an underlying reason. On another note, I've come to a decision: I feel that this story should be updated on a regular schedule. That way, you don't have to check every day to see if its updated. A new chapter will be uploaded every Wednesday night, so it should be available for reading by Thursday. Also, I'm going to resume uploads of my webcomic. Be sure to check it out!
K, now time to answer reviews.
John: Well, hope you bet big on blue.
Mega: Well, now with the regular update schedule you don't have to be obsessed.
CC: Sigh. Fine, email it to me and I'll take a look.
YM: A hentai fic with Arrathir and Eva? Not sure if I'd be too comfortable with that, not that I haven't imagined anything of the sort…Must go wash out eyes with hydrochloric acid. As for the song clip, I'm guessing "Phantom of the Opera."
KOY91: I might.
MTDL: And yet you didn't catch the obvious "Temple of Doom" reference. Each Keeper will have some common attributes (speed, strength and so on) but they'll also have their own abilities. Eg. Erik's wings.
SeraphSong: Yes, I did get the idea from InuYasha. There will be elves, and tigers, and bears. Oh my!
Vamp: Well, he blew it. Chikuro probably would watch. He's enough of a pervert.