A bell rang as Jacob entered the card shop, the door closing softly behind him. It was quiet as he stepped inside, the madness of the past weeks forgotten. Despite the world’s insatiable lust for cards the shop was the same, albeit with no almost no Wonder Corp. packs on display. Their stock had been largely depleted, though Jacob noticed a few newer packs on the shelves. He peered around the store, then froze in surprise. There was a priest of Aman’thea at the front counter, deep in conversation with the shop owner. The owner spotted Jacob as he spoke with the priest, the two talking in hushed tones too low to hear. A slight look of warning flashed over the owner’s eyes, and Jacob turned away from the pair, feigning interest in the Happy Card Co packs by the door.
Happy Card Co. had started its life as a toy company, before retrieving a card machine in the ruins of Tokyo. They were the second company to retool for card production, introducing a line of equip and spell cards designed to entertain children. They had unlocked their machine only weeks after the first company, Advanced Decks Inc., and were the second card company to bring packs to market. The company had developed a small cult-like following, with one or two competitive casters entering the internaitonal circuit each year with a deck solely built of their releases. Advanced Decks Inc. tried unlocking and introducing competing cards early in their history, but by that time Happy Card Co. had already cornered the market. ADI gave up shortly thereafter, focusing on tech cards that echoed their origins as a cloud computing corporation.
The talking behind Jacob stopped, and he heard the sound of soft footsteps slowly approaching from behind. He continued to fake interest in the Happy Card Co packs, picking up a booster that had the mascot of the company (a small, round, fuzzy ball-like creature called PokoPan) emblazoned on its front. The footsteps stopped next to Jacob, and he glanced over to see the priest hesitating by the door. Just like the other priests he had encountered he had a mask equipped to hide his face. He appeared to be the same build as the first he had encountered, though with the Order of Aman’thea it was impossible to tell. In one hand the priest held a weekly newspaper, while the other lightly held the doorknob.
“You do not believe in the cards.” The voice was the same as the first priest he had encountered several weeks ago, in front of the Wonder Corp repository. Jacob didn’t reply, and the priest didn’t turn to face him.
“You will.” The priest opened the door and moved quickly out of the shop, their robes billowing behind them. The bell over the door rang lightly as it shut. Jacob glanced over at the shop owner and raised an eyebrow. The owner shrugged.
“I thought you never sold cards to the order?” Jacob asked suspiciously.
“I don’t.” the shop owner replied with a light smile “First time one has come in. And he didn’t buy any cards.”
“What were you two talking about?”
“The news. He bought a paper.” the shop owner raised his own eyebrow at Jacob “Speaking of which, your allotment isn’t for another two days, you’re early.”
“Not here for an allotment today.” Jacob pulled the battle deck box off of his belt, and placed it on the counter “I came for some advice about this. And to buy a pack.”
“You finally got some proper cards.” The Old Shop Owner smiled, reaching for the deck box. Jacob focused slightly on the owner as he picked it up, reading through his intentions. The back of his left hand warmed up as the Insight of Soul card he had equipped kicked in. He felt warm as the genuine excitement of the old man rolled over him.
These must be his grandfather’s cards. The shop owner started placing the cards one by one on the table. He stopped when he reached the first shadow card, looking at Jacob with new interest This family always finds a way to surprise me.
“Would you mind locking the front door?” The shop owner asked “These are cards neither of us would want to be caught with.”
Jacob nodded, and walked back to the front door. He took a quick look outside, and seeing no one shut it again. He slid the deadbolt into place, and for good measure flipped around the small cardboard sign in the window from Open to Closed. He walked back to the counter, returning just in time to see the shop owner lay the last card on the table. Jacob had removed the Card of the Gods from the battle deck as a precaution, placing it into one of the pockets of his pants. While he trusted the old man (everyone did in this city), he heeded his grandfather’s advice. There was a safety in secrecy, and the questions he had to ask would only be derailed with the presence of the Sacred card. The Old Man smiled up at him and he sensed more warm intentions. The shop owner was unsurprisingly genuine, living up to his reputation for truly loving the cards.
“This is not a government deck.” The old man said sarcastically, studying the cards in front of him.
“No, it is not.” Jacob met the old man’s tone with sarcasm of his own, looking down at the 43 cards in front of them.
“It’s also a mess.” The old man gently picking up a few cards “The cards are all over the place, and the fact you included The ManRay of Skaraam tells me that what I’m seeing is every battle card you own.”
“Also true.” Jacob’s hand heated up as he sensed general amusement from the old man. The Shop Owner was enjoying this; it was no secret he had been hoping Jacob would come to him about a battle deck for years, mentioning it every time he came in. It had been hard not saying anything to the old man the past few weeks, but with the Wonder Corp. insanity it wasn’t the right time. Now that the final invite was found he could talk about it, without worrying how the search for invites would affect the advice he was given.
“I’m going to guess your question is something along the lines of ‘what can I do with this?’”
Jacob reached into a pocket and pulled out one of the 100 unit CivCreds. He placed it on the counter, and the Old Man raised an eyebrow.
“One more pack gets me a complete deck, right?” Jacob asked “I want to know what I should get. Then I want to know what I can do with it”
More and more surprises. The man’s thoughts hit Jacob alongside a wave of bemusement. Countless of new casters had walked into his shop with the exact same question as Jacob. What made this different was how long they had known each other, and how unlikely it was he’d be asking now. His grandfather must have felt he was ready.
“For illegal tournaments, yes.” the old man was cautious in his response “though for anything official you’re a long ways off; half your deck is shadow cards, and that’s just in the total number of cards you have. That’s not thinking of strategy or having the right cards.”
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“The right cards?”
The old man sighed, then pulled a stool out from behind the counter. He walked it around and placed it next to Jacob, indicating for him to sit. The owner walked back and grabbed a second stool, sitting across from Jacob. Jacob pulled over the stool and sat, leaning on the counter.
“You learned to cast through the academy, yes?”
“Yeah, everyone does. It’s a basic requirement.”
“And for their basic requirement they teach you basic knowledge. Maybe for your advanced elective classes they teach you a little more, but it has a purpose. You learn just enough to go out there, catch some criminals, maybe do a street match. Competitive Casters don’t learn much different. Everyone is looking for the cards and the strategies that makes them just good enough. Good enough to catch the criminal, good enough to win the tournament, good enough to impress an audience. What none of it teaches you is how to be great.”
“If winning the tournaments doesn’t make you great, what does?”
“Knowing your cards. Trusting them. Working with them so that they work with you.”
“Sounds a lot like the Order of Aman’thea nutjobs.” Jacob leaned away from the counter, while the old man chuckled
“I said trust your cards, not worship them.” The old man started re-arranging the cards on the table, separating out the shadow cards and placing other together “Everyone has a different style, a different approach. The truly great casters built their decks around this. It wasn’t about having the latest strategy or the absolute best cards; it was about having the right cards to do what they wanted to do every time. This deck speaks a lot about your grandfather, but in an official tournament would be seen as weak.”
“There’s nothing weak about my grandfather’s cards.” Jacob leaned forward to take his deck. The old suddenly grabbed Jacob’s hand, turning it over to look at the back. Jacob had reached forward without thinking, instinctively trying to grab his cards with this right hand. The symbol of the eye shimmered on the back of it, and the shop owner looked at it with an amused smile.
That explains a lot. Amusement flowed over him, before Jacob felt static against his mind. The shop owners intentions were still readable, but took significantly more focus than before. The Owner let go of Jacob’s hand, and he drew it back towards himself, placing it in his lap sheepishly.
“Not all of these cards are from your grandfather’s deck. Including whatever shadow equip you have on right now.” The shop owner scolded. Jacob sighed. He removed the Insight of Soul card from his equipper and passed it over to the shop owner. The man took it gently, and held it close to his face. He studied it for a moment in silence, before placing it next to the other shadow cards. “That is a powerful card, you must have found a shadow pack to get one of those.”
“I was given one.” Jacob responded flatly “By a priest of Aman’thea.”
The shop owner leaned back on his stool, deep in thought. He nodded slightly, before looking back at Jacob. His eyes were intense, looking deep into him. Something in them seemed to make a decision, and the owner grabbed the CivCreds off the counter.
“Your grandfather’s deck isn’t weak, but was clearly meant for combat - not matches. Besides being too small it has very little counters to snares and spells. The water focus is useful; Casters right now are obsessed with Soul cards, an elemental deck would catch them off guard.”
The old man got up from his stool and walked over to the card displays. He stopped at a FateCo display and picked out a green foil pack, bringing it to the counter.
“FateCo cards aren’t sexy, but their packs always include a good amount of defensive snares and spells. They aren’t as fancy as the new Wonder Corp. snares and spells, but you don’t need fancy.” The old man pressed a button on the register and placed the cash inside. He pulled out a few bills and handed them and the pack to Jacob. “Plus you get twice the cards for the standard price, benefits of the pack being so basic.”
Jacob nodded and took both. The old man began to stack Jacob’s cards back up, placing them gently in the deck box as he did. He took a second to look at each of the older cards, and Jacob could sense the nostalgia the old man felt, even without his shadow equip. Most of the wartime cards would have been produced shortly before he opened the store, likely when he was first learning about casting. They likely had special meaning to him. While the owner reminisced, Jacob glanced at the FateCo pack. It had simple green foiling on it with the company logo, and was noticeably thicker than the Wonder Corp. pack he had opened a few weeks ago. All companies were required to charge the same pack rate by law - currently set at 75 Units of CivCreds - but FateCo had curated a budget friendly image by finding a loophole; while the other companies included 12-15 cards per pack, FateCo included 20. They rarely introduced new cards, using their machines to produce the same reliable ones for the past 30 years.
“You said it would take two packs to become tournament legal?” Jacob said,
“For official tournaments, yes.” The shop owner held out Jacob’s deck box for him. Jacob quickly pocketed the FateCo pack and change, then took the deck box. He slid it onto his belt, then reached into his pocket. He placed the other 100 Unit CivCred on the counter. The shop owner raised an eyebrow, and looked at the money.
“That could buy a lot of vegetables.” The shop owner said.
“My grandfather will never let me hear the end of it if I don’t use this for cards.” Jacob replied.
“Sounds like him.” The shopkeeper nodded, and took the units. He reached below the counter, and pulled out a Wonder Corp. pack he had stashed there.
“Technically, they don’t release this line for another few days.” The owner said quietly “But I won’t tell them you bought it early, if you don’t say anything.”
“My lips are sealed.” Jacob said. The owner smiled, and put the currency in the register. He pulled out 25 more units and handed them to Jacob, who pocketed the change.
“My only request.” The shop owner replied “Is that you open these here, these are recreations of cards from my era; I would love to see what the first pack holds.”
Jacob nodded, and the shop owner handed him the pack. The foil on it had a distinctly vintage appearance to it, while the front of the pack had the words Classic Collection printed in large block letters. The pack appeared to contain reprints of the earliest cards made by Wonder Corp., many of which hadn’t been printed in years. Increasing power of the modern cards being produced lead many to look down on the old cards, viewing them as outdated and useless. Having used his grandfather’s cards however ,Jacob had found himself preferring them. They were simpler, with fewer secondary effects and less complicated strategies.
Jacob inspected the pack for a moment longer, then carefully opened the foil, tearing it so that the shop owner could also see. He pulled the cards out of the pack and fanned them out, and both he and the owner gasped. In between a snare and a classic creature was a complete impossibility.
The fourth card in the pack gleamed with a glittering gold, with patterned lettering just showing through on the corner. Jacob pulled out the card and dropped the others on the counter in disbelief.
You’re Invited!
“This isn’t possible.” Jacob whispered “All five were found.”
“And yet, you’re holding one.” The shop owner whispered back “Seems Wonder Corp. had a few surprises left.”
Jacob nodded, then carefully set the card on the table. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them again. The card was still there.
“I think you’d better head home.” The shop owner said, quickly looking through the other cards in the pack. He placed them in a stack next to the Invite Card, and reached under the counter. Jacob heard the sound of a box opening, and tore his eyes away from the invite. The shop owner stood back up, and held a card out to Jacob. It was the one he had shown Jacob a few weeks ago, The Piper’s Melody, still in its plastic case “You should take this with you.”
“I can’t take that.” Jacob said “It’s way too rare, I couldn’t afford it.”
“With this card.” The shop owner lowered his voice, locking eyes with Jacob “I made some of greatest achievements. Something tells me you’ll use it to make even greater ones. Plus its better than everything else in that pack. Take it. Before I change my mind.”
Jacob nodded, and took it gently. He picked up the cards on the counter carefully, slipping them into his deck box. He then picked up the invite card and placed it delicately into the cargo pocket on his right thigh, separate from the others. He stood up to go, then looked at the shop owner.
“Thank you.” Jacob said, choking up slightly “I don’t know how to repay you.”
The card shop owner “Trust in the cards. That’s all the payment I need.”
Jacob nodded and quickly walked out of the store.
There was a sixth invite.
And he was the one who found it.
sixth invite. Were you surprised? Did you expect any other way for our hero Jacob to get into the factory? Or do you know what story this is based on, and knew this was coming? While the last chapter took me a long time to write, this one took very little time. I love writing the card shop; part of the reason we’ve only seen it twice is so that I can keep that love of writing about it. The Card Shop Owner is one of my favorite characters; he’s truly knowledgeable and wise, and knows a vast amount about the cards. His appearances are few and far between in the first book, but he has a fascinating backstory and is genuinely a great character. There are no sinister turns or twists about him, he’ll always stay a wise, loveable card expert.
trust in the cards…
What Card Company do you want to see a pack opened in future chapters?
