Duelists of the Friendship Cup
Magnet Force – Applejack vs Sugarcoat (Part 1)
-Applejack Life Points: 8000-
-Sugarcoat Life Points: 8000-
Applejack’s portrait lit up on the display. “Jacklyn Apple will take the first turn.”
“Ah wish they’d stop using that name,” Applejack muttered as she picked up her opening hand. She looked at her cards and grabbed one. “Here Ah go! Ah summon ‘Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio’!” A black scorpion appeared in front of Applejack, roots on its back running up to a plant sprout behind its stinger tail (1200/800). “Ah activate Scorpio’s effect, an’ discard ‘Predaplant Cordyceps’ to Special Summon a ‘Predaplant’ monster from mah deck. Ah call out ‘Predaplant Darlingtonia Cobra’.” A snake with a body like a plant vine slithered in front of Applejack, its jaws patterned like flower petals (1000/1500).
Sugarcoat tilted her head. “Predaplants. Interesting.”
Applejack grinned. “Worried?”
“No.”
“Ya should be.”
“I think not.” Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up her nose. “Continue, please.”
Applejack’s grin faded. “Just ribbin’ ya a bit. But fine, if that’s what ya want. Since Ah summoned Darlingtonia Cobra from mah deck, Ah can add a Fusion card from mah deck to mah hand.” She held her card out as it ejected. “Ah take this, ‘Polymerization’. And then Ah set a card and end mah turn.” Applejack lowered her duel disk as her card materialized. “Go for it, girl.”
“Naturally.” Sugarcoat stiffly drew, slid her card into her hand, and withdrew another. “I activate the Field Spell ‘Magnetic Field’.” Pillars of shining grey steel rose in the shape of a cross around Sugarcoat, sparks coursing along their length. “As long as this card is in play, I am allowed to revive a Level 4 or lower ‘Magnet Warrior’ monster in the Graveyard, as long as I control an Earth-Attribute Rock-type monster.”
Sugarcoat held up another card. “I summon ‘Delta the Magnet Warrior’.” Trails of electricity rose from the ground, tracing out the image of a monster that solidified in a flash of silver light. It was a spindly robot, limbs of circular steel cable connecting hands, feet, and a head of silver-blue metal with magnetic bars running along the edges. A horseshoe magnet around a triangular prism of metal made its head, yellow eyes blinking on the metal (1600/1400).
The duel disk beeped and ejected a card. “Since I just summoned Delta, I use its effect to send a Magnet Warrior from my deck to the Graveyard. I choose ‘Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior’. I then immediately use the effect of Magnetic Field to revive Alpha to my field.” The pillars of steel shot bolts of lightning to the ground next to Delta. Another robot manifested, covered in bulky grey armor with magnets on its joints. It held outs its hands and summoned a shield with a magnet, and a staff consisting of a magnet and two long electrical coils, and swung them out (1700/1100).
Sugarcoat reached to her deck. “Alpha’s summon triggers its effect, letting me add a ‘Magna Warrior’ monster from my deck to my hand. I choose this, ‘Berserkion the Electromagna Warrior’.” She placed the offered card in her hand, and then pointed forward. “And now, I attack Ophrys Scorpio with Delta The Magnet Warrior!”
Delta swung its hands together and created an electrical field between its magnetic limbs, sending a surge of lightning across the field.
Applejack flung her hand up. “Ah activate mah Trap, ‘Plant Food Chain’! This gives Ophrys Scorpion an extra five hundred points!” Yellow tendrils sprouted from the scorpion’s back and entwined around its tail. (1200 → 1700). Delta’s attack struck the scorpion and it recoiled. The electricity traveled along its body, collected at the plant tip of its tail, and fired back. Delta convulsed with the impact and exploded.
-Sugarcoat Life Points: 7900-
“First hit!” Rainbow cheered on the sidelines.
Sugarcoat frowned. “I activate the second effect of Magnetic Field. Since a monster that battled with an Earth-Attribute Rock-type monster of mine was not destroyed, it returns to its owner’s hand.” Applejack’s Scorpio turned into an orb of light and lowered into the ground, its card on Applejack’s duel disk lighting up.
“Phooey.” Applejack grumbled and picked up the card.
Sugarcoat smirked. “You won’t defeat my deck with tricks like that so easily.”
“Ah hope not, you’re Crystal Prep after all,” Applejack said with a smirk of her own.
“For now, I continue my turn. Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior attacks Darlingtonia Cobra.” Alpha ran forward, spinning its sword of magnetic coils in the air, and brought it down on the Cobra. The snake cringed and lit up in lightning before exploding.
-Applejack Life Points: 7300-
“I set two cards and end my turn.” Sugarcross crossed her arms. “Make your move.”
“Ah will!” Applejack drew with a flourish. “Ah’ll start by activatin’ ‘Predapruning’. Ah use it to revive Darlington Cobra from the Graveyard!” Applejack’s field shook and ripped open a chasm; Darlingtonia Cobra slithered out from within it. Applejack picked a card from her hand and swung it into her duel disk. “Next, Ah activate ‘Polymerization’! Ah fuse Darlington Cobra with Ophrys Scorpio!”
The crowd cheered as Applejack’s two monsters swirled together in a vortex of green light. “Ah combine mah stinging predator and mah venomous predator, and let a vicious new plant bloom!” Applejack held her card up. “Ah Fusion Summon ‘Predaplant Chimerafflesia’!”
A large coil of vines burst from the chasm and splayed out on the field. A large circular mouth ringed with teeth and surrounded by plump pink petals was at the end of the largest of the vines, and two smaller mouths rose up beside it on smaller vines (2500/2000).
Applejack pointed at Alpha on Sugarcoat’s field. “Ah activate Chimerafflesia’s effect; Ah can target any monster on the field with a lower Level than it, and banish it!” Chimerafflesia lashed out its two mouthed vines towards Alpha.
“I chain with Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior’s effect.” Sugarcoat snapped her fingers and Alpha shattered into scrapings of metal and sparks of light. “By offering Alpha as Tribute during either of our turns, I can summon a Level 4 Magnet Warrior from the deck. I choose another copy of Delta the Magnet Warrior and summon it in defense mode.” The shrapnel of Alpha’s destruction congregated in an orb of metal and lightning, reforming into a new Delta, kneeling with a barrier of electricity around it.
“Since the target of your effect has left the field, it is nullified.” The mouths of Chimerafflesia struck Delta’s barrier and recoiled with high-pitched shrieks. “I also get to activate Delta’s effect since it was summoned. I send ‘Beta The Electromagnet Warrior’ from my deck to the Graveyard.”
Applejack pouted and shook her head. “Fine then, Ah’ll just get rid of your monster the hard way. Chimerafflesia attacks Delta!” Chimerafflesia lashed outs its tentacles again and shattered Delta into shards of metal. “Ah end mah turn.”
“And it is my turn again.” Sugarcoat drew and tapped her duel disk screen. “I’ll begin by activating my Trap card ‘Magnet Conversion’. This lets me select up to three Magnet Warriors in my Graveyard and return them to my hand.” She tapped three more times, the cards sliding out of her duel disk as she did, and then held them up. “I’ll take back Beta and my two Deltas. And then, I’ll summon Delta to the field.”
As the silver magnetic robot appeared in front of Sugarcoat in a shower of sparkles, she ignored it in favor of pressing tool prompts that popped up on her duel disk. “I activate Delta’s effect to send ‘Gamma The Electromagnet Warrior’ from my deck to the Graveyard, and then use the effect of Magnetic Field to revive Gamma.”
Sugarcoat’s newest monster manifested from the lightning of Magnetic Field. It was a short, stocky robot with thick armor in dull gold, a magnet forming its collar and a magnet mounted on the back of each large fist (800/2000). “Summoning Gamma activates its effect, letting me summon Beta from my hand. This then triggers Beta’s effect, adding ‘Alpha The Magnet Warrior’ from my deck to my hand.”
Sugarcoat smiled and looked up at her three monsters hovering in front of her. “And now, all the pieces are in place.” She pulled a card from her hand and held it up. “I banish Alpha The Electromagnet Warrior from my Graveyard, and Beta and Gamma The Electromagnet Warriors from my field, to Special Summon!” Her two monsters on the field turned into orbs of lightning and began to swirl around her, Alpha’s hologram emerging from her duel disk and turning into lightning to join them. “Come forth, ‘Berserkion The Electromagna Warrior’!” She slammed her card onto her duel disk.
The orbs of lightning around her circled higher into the air and collided in a flash of light. The orb grew larger, the air crackling, sparks shooting out of it. It gleamed and then exploded outward to reveal a massive robotic monster. Its limbs were armored in red, silver, and blue, the metal curved and gleaming. Sparks flew from electrical coils embedded in its shoulders and running along its arms. A sword formed from a metal rod with electrical coils appeared in its hand, and it thrust the blade up to summon lightning to it, a metallic clang echoing across the field (3000/2800).
Rarity gaped. “Look at the size of that behemoth!”
The robot thudded down in front of Sugarcoat, the ground shaking. She held her hand up. “I’m sure you know what happens next.” She flipped her hand out to direct her monster. “Berserkion, destroy Predaplant Chimerafflesia!”
Berserkion leapt into the air and stabbed its sword down.
Applejack shook her head. “Not today! Ah activate Chimerafflesia’s ability! When it battles, the monster it fights loses a thousand points, and Chimerafflesia gains it back!” Chimerafflesia’s two vine mouths swung forward towards Berserkion.
“I chain with my Trap card ‘Magnet Force’.” The Magnetic Field pillars around Sugarcoat lit up blue and shot beams of energy toward Berserkion. “During the turn I activate this card, my Rock and Thunder-type monsters are unaffected by your monster effects.” Sugarcoat gave a small snort. “My attack continues.”
Berserkion swatted aside Chimerafflesia’s vine mouths and impaled its sword into the main growth, shattering it in a spray of electricity.
-Applejack Life Points: 6800-
“And next, Delta attacks!” Delta held its hands up and fired an orb of lightning at Applejack. She raised her arm and braced herself as the attack hit.
-Applejack Life Points: 5200-
“I set one card and end my turn.”
Applejack lowered her arm from her face to reveal a small smirk. “Not bad. Ah was expectin’ a bigger hit, though.”
Sugarcoat frowned. “What?”
Applejack stood upright. “It was pretty obvious you were gearin’ up for somethin’ big, with how you kept searching out all those different monsters. A deck like that doesn’t focus on gettin’ all kinds of monsters into play without somethin’ to do with them. Sure enough, there he is.” She put a hand on her hip. “But only 3000 points? Ah hope he’s got a heck of an effect, because that’s plain underwhelming.”
“As a matter of fact, he does,” Sugarcoat replied, giving a small snort. “Now, will you take your turn or will you continue to insult my monster?”
“You’re right. Wonder if he can stop himself from bein’ destroyed? Only one way to find out.” Applejack drew. “First, Ah use the effect of Chimerafflesia in the Graveyard. The turn after it gets destroyed, Ah can add a Fusion card from mah deck to mah hand.” She took her card from her deck and immediately slid it into her duel disk. “Ah’ll take ‘Fusion Recovery’ and activate it immediately to get Polymerization and Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio back to mah hand. And then Ah’ll summon Scorpio to the field.”
Applejack flipped a card out from her hand as her scorpion appeared in front of her. “Ah’ll use Scorpio’s ability and discard ‘Rose Lover’ from mah hand, to summon ‘Predaplant Flytrap’ from the deck!” The ground in front of Applejack cracked open. A small spindly vine with hand-like leaves and a pair of jaws formed from two large leaves grew up from the crack (400/800).
Applejack smiled. “See that there? That’s the monster that’s gonna take out your Berserkion.”
Sugarcoat frowned. “You must be joking.”
“Nope. Here, Ah’ll show ya. Ah use Predaplant Flytrap’s special ability and place a ‘Predator Counter’ on your monster.” Flytrap opened its jaws and shot a glowing purple seed at Berserkion. The seed landed on Berserkion’s shoulder and sprouted into a tangled mass of green and purple vines, a growth in their center pulsing with purple light. “As long as that Predator Counter is on your monster, its level is sapped down to 1.”
Applejack pointed. “And now, Predaplant Flytrap attacks Berserkion!” Flytrap lowered to the ground and slithered like a serpent toward Berserkion.
Sugarcoat scowled. “Are you crazy?”
“Nope. Flytrap’s got a special ability. See, any time it battles a monster with a lower level, that monster gets destroyed instantly.”
Sugarcoat’s eyes widened. “No!”
Flytrap stopped in front of Berserkion, raised up, and opened its jaws. The Predator Counter on Berserkion glowed brighter and exploded in a cloud of green spores. The spores fell around Flytrap and it took on the same glow as the Counter. Before Sugarcoat’s eyes, Flytrap grew taller and bigger, until it towered over Berserkion and its jaws were as large as a person. It dove down and snapped its jaws over Berserkion’s head. The robot convulsed and exploded in a spray of purple and green spores.
Applejack smiled. “When Flytrap destroys a monster with that effect, its level increases by its level.” Flytrap slunk back to Applejack’s field, still glowing (Level 2 → 10).
Sugarcoat narrowed her eyes. “Berserkion’s effect activates. When he’s destroyed, his component monsters are returned from my banished zone. I summon back my three Electromagnetic Warriors in defense.” The pillars of Magnetic Zone around Sugarcoat conjured three orbs of electricity and sent them floating down in front of her to reform Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.
Sugarcoat began tapping on her duel disk screen. “With my monsters summoned their effects activate. Alpha lets me add another copy of Berserkion from my deck to my hand, Beta lets me add ‘Gamma The Magnet Warrior’ to my hand, and Gamma lets me summon Alpha The Magnet Warrior from my hand, in defense mode.” Another robot knelt in front of Sugarcoat, slender and grey with a shield and sword, the sword handle shaped like a magnet and an emblem of the same on the shield (1400/1700).
Applejack nodded. “And on your next turn you’ll get rid of the three of them to bring Berserkion back. Heck of a combo.”
“Indeed.” Sugarcoat pushed her glasses up. “And if you destroy that Berserkion I’ll just bring back my Magnet Warriors again and search out another Berserkion.”
“Yup.” Applejack put a hand on her hip. “Ah figured you had something like this planned. Searchin’ out all those different monsters with themed names? You were building up to something big.”
Sugarcoat nodded. “And you allowed me to do it because you knew you had the means to get rid of whatever it was I summoned.”
“Not a foolproof plan, but it worked.” Applejack held up two more cards. “Ah set two cards and end my turn.”
“Shall I presume those cards are something to stop me from calling Berserkion back to the field, or are they to defend your Flytrap so you can use it to destroy Berserkion on your next turn?”
“Maybe. Or Ah could be bluffing both ways. It’d be right silly of me to make moves that obvious, wouldn’t it?”
Sugarcoat stared at Applejack evenly. Slowly, she smiled. “No. You’re no fool. Even if I knew what kind of cards those are, those are your best options for a move, so of course you’d take them.”
“Just as Ah know you’re probably gonna call out Berserkion on your next turn because that’s your best move.” Applejack nodded. “But that’s the kind o’ game this is, ain’t it?”
“Move and counter-move, anticipate and intercede, until one of us can’t do it any longer and falls behind.” Sugarcoat nodded back. “For a Canterlot duelist, you’ve done a decent job keeping up with me so far.”
“Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet, sugarcube.” Applejack raised her duel disk in front of her and leaned forward. “If you wanna win this thing, you gotta come at me with everything you’ve got!”
“And when I do, you’d better be prepared to handle it!” Sugarcoat drew with a flourish and a smirk. “This duel is only just getting started!”
Seems like it could go either way so far. I gotta wonder though, with Applejack using Predaplants does that mean she has those two cards too? If she does then I bet she could win easily.
Looks like AJ ditched her plant princess deck. So far so good. But something is odd at the end of the chapter
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damn GDocs! Thanks
You've left some notes, either for us or to yourself, at the end of the chapter. Aside from that, a thrilling match of applied botany versus combining mecha. Looking forward to more.
For some reason I was expecting something more like Aromages from AJ than Prediplants yet somehow it fits so well. as does Magnets.
Also You might want to check the end of the chapter, you seem to have forgotten to finish your Author Note tag.
Magnet warriors...that brings me back.
I'm just going to go ahead and agree with the following people:
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Nice chapter.
Oh, this duel is getting good. AJ's already planning something for Sugarcoat.
Sugarcoat and Applejack have a strange sort of respect for each other here. I didn't expect that, but it makes sense.
That wouldn't happen to be an allusion to the giant plants that Twilight accidently let loose during the second round would it?
Interesting start. Really unique that Sugarcoat took the early lead, and not by a small margin either, after the early LP lead Fluttershy took last duel. Of course, early LP loss is no indication of a duel's outcome.
After the previous duel where one duelist used at least some cards they used in DotAC, this is a return to the two pre-tournament duels, where both duelists are using decks brand-new to the viewer. And as befits keeping up with power creep, they're both recent deck archtypes, from 2016 onwards. I don't keep up with the game much, this is just my observation from checking every new card that appear on the Yu-Gi-Oh Wiki as they appear (I'd do this just to properly get an idea of what the monster looks like), at least first time reading the chapter.
Anyway, no errors in the duel that leapt out. Vicious plants for Applejack as an archtype? I guess it's a bit different then the Princess Plant archtype, though that felt more in character for her. I just... this Applejack feels bland and one-note, and the focus on the duel action without much perspective into her thoughts really hurts her here, given how poorly her personality translates to this duel-centric universe, even compared to Fluttershy, as I elaborated on last chapter. Put it this way: even when Fluttershy was confident without stuttering for long periods of time last chapter, I could still hear her dialogue in her voice. Here? Even with the phonetic writing (not sure how I feel about that) that's not happening with Applejack. Maybe this isn't a problem; it just means my main investment is from the duel action itself.
As for Sugarcoat, well, there's little to her in FG beyond stating harsh truths bluntly. Her treatment here isn't exactly a replication of that, but it's not too far off either. As for the retrained Magnet Warriors as her deck... no obvious connection to her personality, at least not yet. It is kind of neat to see someone have a deck where there isn't an obvious tie to their personality, so I dig it. And hey, retrained Magnet Warriors! Used to really dig Yugi's trio of Alpha, Beta and Gamma, not to mention Valkyrion. And given Delta's effect can summon Valkyrion without the need for the original Magnet Warriors, I wouldn't put it past you to have it appear next chapter, what with that 3500/3850 stat split.
One last observation: really curious how Applejack will keep up the pressure, given she only has one card in hand while Sugarcoat has six, plus she's about to draw for turn, and her Magnet Warriors keep adding from her deck to her Graveyard and hand. These retrained Magnet Warriors do come across as quite tough and pressure-inducing, though how much of that is down to this being scripted and her draws being naturally predetermined, I cannot say. Maybe this archtype bricks hard in real life, or when you don't have Magnetic Field in your opening hand.
Also, the meta acknowledgement that characters can't check opposing monster effects whenever they please, nor do they seem to know them, was hilarious. More of that, please.
Anyway, decent duel start as always, if still suffering on the bland state that is your Applejack, DrakeyC.
Something about this line feels... wrong. It's probably grammatically correct, but using the same pronoun to refer to two different objects made me do a double-take.
Great chapter though. I wasn't expecting Applejack to do meta-commentary on her own duel, but it doesn't feel out of character for her either.
EDIT: How about, "it adds that monster's level to its own"?
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Well, I had put more effort into trying to give the tel personality and a mutual dynamic. Guess I need to try harder.
Well, Applejack seems to be at a disadvantage, at least right now. Could change.
Predaplants is tricky to use. But, if Applejack has the card that I think she has, she might win this duel.
Good chapter but...
This seems really off to me why her name is changed. When there are people walking around called Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Snips, and Sour Sweet then Applejack shouldn't be that odd or off. Also, why is the school calling her that? In every school I've ever been to the teachers and principals always made sure to use the name you were most comfortable with. Like people with the name Fredrick would be called Fred or Freddie if they so desired. It was only during government tests like SATs and the like where you had to use your full name. So why is the school using a name that Applejack hates in this friendly competition?
It feels off, like you just wanted to fill some extra space or make her pissy about it. Like how Wondergirl hates being called by her superhero mantle instead of the name she was born with
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Oh, don't get me wrong; the banter between Applejack and Sugarcoat throughout, especially at the end, was great. Especially after Sour Sweet's refusal to acknowledge Fluttershy backed her into a corner all duel, which, though plot necessary, isn't all that entertaining to read. Basically Seto Kaiba arrogance, which has limited appeal when stretched out, even if it justifiably stretched out.
It more boils down to how little character and personality for Applejack was established in DotAC and previously in this story. Pinkie may suffer from this problem too, but she still shined in her moments in DotAC, and since we've never seen her duel, I expect her duel to be something else to read. In a good way. Anyway, reading Fluttershy's duel was great because all we knew about your version of her from before informed our reading of this. But since Applejack's canon personality has translated poorly to these two stories, even moments that are true to her, and they exist, don't deliver as much as they should.
Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Not only will Applejack (likely?) play little importance after this duel, but this problem isn't really fixable just by bearing it in mind for newer chapters. Just keep doing what you do for newer chapters. Applejack is a tough character to write in fanfiction, as much as for the actual writers in the show, and I've read hundreds of worse portrayals of her.
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Fair enough then, thank you. I go more into it in author notes (which will be posted at the end of the story), but yeah, Applejack and Sugarcoat's personalities don't translate well to Yugioh, either in dueling style or in demeanor during duels.
9200321
The matter at hand is that she was the only character without a plausible last name, unless I went with "Applejack Apple", which doesn't work (really, all the Apples have names that translate poorly to human world naming conventions). Albinocorn suggested Jacklyn Apple and I liked it, and ran with the idea she uses Applejack as a nickname because she dislikes her name, and her dislike of it in turn explained why her full name isn't used outside of these announcements.
As for schools, I've seen it both ways. I recall an elderly gym teacher who always refered to students by their proper, full first name, particularly calling one of us "Reginald" when every other teacher called him Reggie, which he obviously preferred because we were line, 3rd grade. I also remember a classmate named Elizabeth who went as "Beth" because she didn't like her full name or the more traditional nickname "Liz".
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That's it exactly. I don't think I quite realised what a hard job you had with Applejack, even though I had practically said (written?) the reason myself in these comments. So you didn't do half bad at all. It probably stuck out to me because, since she's my favourite, I'm gonna note such things more. One could make the argument the same thing applies to Rainbow playing duels properly rather then being her usual reckless self, but you have to accept that for duels. Plus, that'd just make her Duelist Kingdom Joey in terms of attitute towards duels. Ain't no room for that at this skill level.
And actually, the problem about her not translating well to a duel demeanour isn't all you; of all the EqG characters compared to their Pony characters, well, they are all proxies basically, aside from Sci-Twi and Sunset, but Applejack suffers the worst. Because, naturally, very little of her farm attributes come over outside of glances in the EqG shorts. And since either Sunset or Sci-Twi leads the group whenever stuff's going on, we don't even get, for the most part, her being a natural, calm leader or any of them calm authority she shows in situations. Basically, I find EqG Applejack really bland. So the fault is only somewhat yours; mostly the EqG thing and the practicalities of having a duel-centric universe.
I felt I should say all that because I felt I came across a little harshly before. Sorry about that. Keep writing as you are, DrakeyC, you're doing a fine job. I keep coming back, after all.
Also, should I take it as a given that updates every 4th Friday rather then every 3rd Friday are the norm now?
So Predaplants vs Magnet Warriors. Interesting. Keep up the good work.
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It varies depending on how much I have written. I do it once a month at the very most, and always on Fridays.
I anticipate a rather violent Starving Venom coming soon.
Just wondering, are there gonna be any Cyber Dragon users in this fic? It's the archetype I play.
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sorry, no
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Drat. Any Machine archetypes in general?
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You'll see
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How do you assemble each deck a character uses?
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I think about what kind of deck they would use...?
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No, I’m asking if you use some kind of program or assemble it with physical cards.
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No and no? I use Word.
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You have such a knowledge of these cards and how they work together, that your able to write out the deck in a word doc?
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I use the website to look up cards, is that's what you've been trying to ask.
I don't know why, but Sci-Twi sort of is like the female version of Declan Akaba.
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It’s more of a combination of Sombra and Sci-Twi, if you ask me.