Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

Watching Hull take Plutar out of the tournament was a moment of sheer bliss, nearly on par with the sublime kisses I had shared with Esmi. I’d hoped that after he and I would have a chance to briefly celebrate and discuss our upcoming matches, but Hull, unfortunately, hadn’t been in the mood. I was disappointed, but chalked it up to him wanting to preserve that killer instinct he seemed to tap into when he was on the dueling board – he’d certainly need any edge he could get against a competitor like Lustra.

With the first four matches of the day having been played, there was now an hour’s break for competitors to recover their Mind Homes and for spectators to make use of the many shops, vendors, and trading booths that filled the Coliseum. So, bereft of my new compatriot and my fiancée – who had confessed to me that her pre-match routine involved being alone with her kobolds – I found myself heading toward The Souls’ Haven.

The destination was largely inspired by nostalgia since the restaurant was where we had all gathered on the first day of the tournament. However, that wasn’t its only charm. I quite liked the privacy its curtains provided, and though I hadn’t partaken of the beverage on my first visit, the smell of their coffee, rich and hearty, lingered in my mind. The taste of the warm brew turned out to be even better than expected, and I sipped it contentedly at a private table as I contemplated my upcoming losers’ bracket duel.

I had seen an updated bracket board on the way, and had chuckled heartily at my pairing.

My opponent would be none other than Losum of Drakk, the very person Tipfin had been training me to defeat. Of course, that was long before we knew about Plutar or could predict that the Charbonder would best Losum before I ever had a chance to face his archer-centric deck. But now Fate was giving me the chance to see the deed done myself, and it was an opportunity I relished.

Not only would publicly defeating him be incredibly satisfying after all the cruel pecking he’d done to me over the years, but I was already very familiar with his deck – an advantage I wouldn’t have possessed if it were Afi I was up against instead. Also, if Losum had scouted my deck – which he surely had since we started in the same quarter of the bracket – there was no way he would be able to guess its current form. Or, more accurately, the form it would be by the time I was finished with this excellent cup of coffee. Was that hazelnut in the brew? And mint? I would certainly have to come back here even when I wasn’t competing.

While fantasizing about making the trip with Esmi on my arm and us stealing more kisses when sequestered at our table, I began pulling cards from my Mind Home. Even with my Twins-given card memory, I found I could make better decisions with all the cards laid out before me, and what a spread they made. I could hardly believe that with my original deck, my purchases at the tournament, my mother’s grimoire, and Hull’s recent gift, I had over 40 cards to my name. It was a shocking amount to see all at once, and I took a moment to pray, humbly thanking Fate and Fortune for being so rich in their creations.

The amount of cards available also made the prospect of restructuring my deck incredibly exciting – something that my match against Esmi had proved without a doubt was a necessity. The truth was, my attempt to build up to the bigger Water Souls by using smaller ones just wasn’t feasible when I only had two Water Source to my name.

But I didn’t think that meant I should abandon using the Water Fabricator entirely. That same match had also shown me the power of the large Water Souls as blockers. Being able to defend for 6 using the Greater Water Elemental had been wonderful and kept me fighting longer, and the Sea Titan would let me defend for a staggering 7. Even if I could never summon the two, that was reason enough to include them in my deck. And with Water Source Explosion, it was actually feasible that I could get one out in a match.

Another advantage to having Water Source was that, with 10 total Source instead of just 8, I wouldn’t necessarily have to play them all. Instead, I could keep some in hand to use as blockers of single damage, which would be very effective against Losum’s Archers. My memory conjured an image of the card, and I imagined blocking the exact damage it was doing to me with relish.

That important decision made, I patted the Water fabricator on my arm and then put the two large Souls to the right, the first in my ‘definite keep’ pile.

And, since it was a sure thing that I would be using Water, I decided that I might as well go through the rest of those cards now. Considering them for a solid few minutes, in the end, most didn’t seem to be a very good fit. For some, like the Lesser Elemental and Bowl of Tides, it was because I was no longer trying to use Summon cards to gain Source, and for others, like the Ice Armor or Sword, it was because I didn’t see them having much utility against a deck that would mostly be attacking me from a distance, not in combat.

However, there were two Water cards that had proved themselves invaluable against Esmi’s deck and should perform similarly against Losum’s, specifically for removing his 1 Health Archers: Ice Arrows and the Troglodyte Dart Thrower. I wasn’t sure how many of each I’d be including, but it would definitely be some, so I moved them to the right as well.

Air seemed like the next easiest thing to consider since I only had Carrion Condors, Microburst, and Atrea, my Human Winged Knight. Atrea was a definite inclusion, not because I was partial to her – well, maybe a little – but because her Armor would be perfect for defending against the pings of Archers. So, to the right she went.

The Carrion Condors… their 4 Health would be good for weathering shots from Losum’s Archers, and even the Master Archer, which was another Order card I had seen in my studies.

However, I wasn’t convinced that the Condors would be very good at destroying Losum’s units. This was important because, after seeing Losum show off the Armor that his personal Soul ability gave him, attacking him directly seemed like a trap to me. Instead, a much more practical path to victory would be to eliminate all the ways he had of hurting me, which was just his Souls. After all, he was a pure Order user, and Order’s Source Power and Explosion did nothing but draw cards. Plus, I didn’t know of a single Order Spell that could damage an opposing summoner. But Carrion Condors weren’t great at targeting Souls. Their strength was getting buffed by other friendly Souls attacking and then using their Flying to soar over defenders to strike the opposing summoner. Since targeting the opposing summoner wasn’t my primary goal in this duel, they didn’t make sense to have. So I slid the pair to the left, as part of my ‘cut’ pile.

The line of reason I was heading down naturally got me thinking about my Order Assassins, but I wanted to finish with Air first, so I picked up the last of them, Microburst.

The newness and beauty of the card still made me giddy, and I internally bemoaned the fact that it had been destroyed as deck damage in my match against Esmi. I itched to use it against Losum, both to see it in action and to show Hull how very much I appreciated him gifting it to me. But, would it help me win? Unlike playing a card such as Atrea, who only required a single Air Source, I would need two of my three Air Source to be able to summon this Spell. With 10 Sources in my heart, they would be harder to come by. In a different duel, I could see the card being a fabulous winning move, sending, for instance, my strengthened Carrion Condors at the summoner twice in one turn. But targeting Souls? My Assassins normally died when they fought, and the same was true of the troglodytes I was going to use. The idea of my Master Assassin striking twice in one turn was tempting, but he was only one card. If I was using my Condors and wasn’t using the Water source, I could definitely see myself using Microburst. As it was though…

“Terribly sorry, friend,” I said, as I moved the Epic to the left. It was my hardest cut so far, and it broke my heart to do it. However, the true gift of the card had been the act of Hull giving it to me, because it meant that he believed in me, supported me, and was willing to sacrifice something incredibly precious to prove it. He would understand that I was honoring the spirit of the gift by doing everything I could to beat Losum, even if the choice was difficult. “Next time, I promise.”

My attention turned to the Assassins since they had been on my mind repeatedly, but the pair happened to be sitting beside my non-Source specific Relics.

“Feckless Fate,” I swore. “I should probably do those first since there are so few.”

My Scalemail Armor was an instant include; it would be instrumental in protecting me from both regular and Master Archer shots.

The Soulforged Helm could work against a volley of arrows, but Losum could easily get around that by having the Archers fire at me individually. Losum did have some heavy hitters with his High Paladins. The image of that card popped into my mind.

But I’d rather include a way to remove the Paladins from the field than simply defend against them for a turn, so the Helm went to the left.

The Golems, though… while playing Esmi I had found myself wishing I had the pair since they would work no matter which of my three Source types I drew. Plus, they would cycle my deck, helping me get to key cards like the Scalemail faster. I moved both to the right.

“Now, finally to some Order. But first…” I signaled my waiter and got a refill on my coffee, as well as a warm chocolate cake with even warmer chocolate sauce in the middle – absolutely delectable. Esmi had said that the food at Obu had been incredibly good, but I had trouble imagining anything tasting better than this.

So: the Assassins. They could target Souls and remove them, just as I wanted my deck to do. However, attacking would break their Stealth, which would give Losum’s Archers a chance to react. Only 1 health and no Armor let the Archers destroy them in a single shot, and their 1 health would also trigger the High Paladin’s ability if they ended up in combat together. To top it off, the Armor that Losum and his High Paladins possessed meant the Assassins couldn’t scratch them unless they attacked in a group. Too many negatives had me pushing those two cards to the left.

The Master Assassin, however, was a completely different story. His attack of 2, paired with Fast Attack and Venom, would let him remove High Paladins without dying in return, and his 2 Health would help him survive slightly longer against Archers. Also, his rarity meant that if I did somehow manage to pull off a Water Source Explosion, he could swap with a Greater Water Elemental at ready, or the Sea Titan at focused. But more important than that, my strategy revolved around having a Soul left on the board when Losum didn’t, and as my match against Plutar had proved, no card I had was better suited for that task than the Master Assassin with his return-to-deck ability.

I moved him to the right while savoring the last bite of cake.

The only other Order Souls I had available to include were my Headsmen. They had 3 attack, which would help break through Armor, 2 health, which would assist against Archers, and could instantly destroy any Soul if it was devoted, like those High Paladin or the high health Shieldbearers I knew Losum used. The thought of them brought their stalwart image to mind.

The Headsman could even destroy Losum’s Mythic archer, Orelus the Inspiring. I had never seen that card because Losum possessed the only copy of it, but from what I had read about its abilities, I would need to remove it from the field as soon as it appeared to have a chance at winning.

All of those reasons combined was enough for me to move both Headsmen to the right, though I didn’t move them quite as far as my other ‘keep’ cards in case I needed to cut one later.

If I was including the Headsmen, that meant I also needed to have my Penitence Spell to maximize their effectiveness. And with Penitence came Execution – a perfect Spell against Souls that would be focusing and devoting themselves to use their abilities.

But how many of each should I include?

After a moment’s hesitation, I decided to go with all 3 copies of Penitence I had. Not only did the Spell pair well with those other cards, but it could stop any of the archers in their tracks, even Orelus, forcing them to focus before they had a chance to activate, similar to what I had done against the Colossal Golem.

I also needed my Protection Spell to defend myself and my more valuable Souls, so I moved those 2 copies to the right as well.

A quick count revealed that, depending on how many Ice Arrows, Dart Throwers, Headsman, and Executions I included, I was already at 20 cards. Should I worry about Equality?

I had 2 of the Rares now, something that would have had me dancing for joy before I entered the tournament, but did they make sense? I certainly wanted to destroy Losum’s Souls, but I planned to do that largely with my own Souls, so I didn’t foresee too many instances where Equality would be able to remove more than one Soul. And if all I was taking out was a single Soul, I could do that with Execution for half the cost.

I decided to let those thoughts marinate while switching to the last important thing I had to do before my upcoming match. It took a few moments, but eventually I had the proper Source balls circling my head and a Headsman summoned beside me. The Uncommon sat in a chair, absolutely quiet in his dark, foreboding garb. I would have summoned Atrea or the Master Assassin instead, but the chime I had recently heard told me that I didn’t have time to chat before my next match.

I then flagged down my waiter.

“Excuse me,” I said when he neared. “Could you please bring me a knife?”

He eyed my plate, empty but for a few remaining crumbs of cake.

“A knife, sir? Do you want anything else with that?”

“No, just the knife, and make it the sharpest one you can, please.”

He openly frowned at me, and it was then he caught sight of the Headsman sitting in the shadows and jumped near out of his skin.

“Yes, sir. Very good, sir,” he mumbled before dashing off.

The man quickly returned with a steak knife, which I thanked him for and apologized for surprising him with my Summon, though he seemed to have trouble focusing on me.

When he departed, I placed the blade over my bare arm and pressed down. It took some effort, but finally, a card shed from my Mind Home from the damage I was trying to do to myself. I tsked in annoyance. I had been trying to watch for that moment, so I could transfer the damage using the Water Source that hovered above me to engage its Source Power. Against Esmi, I had just assumed that I could do these sorts of things in the moment when needed, but that had been a foolhardy assumption, like the construction of my deck. I was in the Losers’ Bracket now, and I didn’t have the luxury of being unprepared again. It was true that the Power would happen if I willed it to, but the timing mattered, both to engage the effect at the proper time and to do it fast enough, so that it happened on my turn.

I pressed down with the knife again, reaching out with my senses, trying to feel the card that would loosen out of me in response. I waited, and pressed, and waited, and when I felt a twinge, I pulled energy from the Water Source above me. The now familiar rush of that Source entered my body, and I imagined that flowing feeling carrying the twinge in my mind to the Headsman who sat beside me. The card in my Mind Home stilled and the Headsman grunted. Sure enough, a cut had appeared on his arm.

“Sorry about that,” I told him, even though I knew he wouldn’t respond. “I’ll get you back Home soon, where you’ll be fit as a fiddle.” That fact was a core tenant preached by the Tenders: the hallowed halls of the Mind Home healed all. Atrea spoke very little about such things, but I had gotten her to confirm that it was indeed a peaceful place – a little thing maybe, but as a beginning summoner, it had made me feel much better.

Before I could let him dissipate, I needed to see about Source Explosion. I didn’t plan on actually performing it, since neither of my ideal targets, the Greater Water Elemental or the Sea Titan, would fit in this tent with me. Even so, I wanted to get a feel for it. I had arranged things so that I only had one Water Source left in my heart, and after putting the Greater Water Elemental behind my ear and drawing a few cards, I had the Rare Water Soul in my hand.

I then turned my attention inward, focusing on where Source collected in my chest. Tipfin had told me that some people liked to use gestures to activate a Source Explosion but they weren’t strictly necessary. What was necessary was compressing the remaining energy that lived in your heart and then setting it free. Compressing Order felt like folding a sheet smaller and smaller until it became difficult to get it to bend, and Air required one to spread their attention wide to capture the entirety of the Source and then gradually bring it inward. With Water… it felt expansive, so at first I tried gathering it up like Air, but parts of it flowed away from me when I tried to coax it together. When I attempted to pluck at parts of it with my mind as I would with Order, it slipped from my grasp, just like water would if I tried picking it up in a bath. A bath… could that be it? Curious, I focused on what felt like the middle of the Source instead of the edges and then twisted. I kept this up, turning the center point, and I felt the Water Source respond, moving with me, slowly and then spiraling faster, like water twisting down a drain. As it picked up intensity, I also felt a link appear between the Headsman and the Soul cards in my hand. The connection wasn’t visible beyond the related cards bending slightly toward the summoned Soul, and the Headsman must have sensed it too, because for the first time, he turned and looked at me.

I stopped the twisting then, letting the Source in my heart calm. I was confident now that I could Explode the Source should the opportunity arise, and that left me feeling quite good.

“Some big changes, eh?” I said to my grim companion. “I bet you haven’t fought beside a troglodyte before, but I think this new setup is going to take us places. I can’t wait to see Losum’s face when it does.”

I heard someone speak outside the tent in a voice that sounded all too familiar. I stood, swinging part of the curtain back and looked out.

“Warrick? Is that you?”

I searched around but didn’t see the lanky boy, so eventually sat back down, letting the curtain fall. I found that my pulse had sped up, and that I didn’t feel nearly as good as I had a moment before. Was this the real reason I had chosen to come to The Souls’ Haven? Hoping that Warrick might find me and apologize for the awful things he had said? Hull had been a solid ally, listening to me recount the horrid affair, and I was confident Esmi would do the same for me when I had a chance to tell her. I had been trying rather hard to forget the whole thing, but the truth was that Warrick’s words would sometimes pop into the middle of my thoughts, or worse, just a memory of that last look he had given me, clearer than I could see cards – so put off, so disgusted.

Like Hull looked at you today, an unwanted voice in my mind said. My fist tightened around the steak knife. There were certainly kinder ways Hull could have told me he wished to be alone, but it didn’t make sense for him to be cross at me, did it? Unless he was regretting giving me the Epic? Or maybe he had realized that I couldn’t offer him anything anymore? Maybe he expected me to lose. Maybe I was dead weight to him now.

I forced myself to stop that destructive line of thinking and slowly breathed those feelings out. That wasn’t the type of person I was going to be anymore, always worrying, always second-guessing. The achievements that Warrick had thrown in my face were true, Fate be praised: I had a wonderful fiancée, a chance at joining the King’s elite War Camp, and a Soul on the edge of advancing. Hull was also my friend, and I wasn’t going to let a moment of surliness from someone I knew could be a boorish grump let me believe otherwise.

I turned to the Headsman. “What say you? Ready to cut some Archers and Paladins in half?” And Twins as my witness, I swore he smiled at me.