• Published 2nd Sep 2018
  • 413 Views, 11 Comments

The Best of Games - Grey Vicar



The card game Elements of Harmony is the center of Mountain Pass' life. When he learns that Princess Luna herself will be presiding over a tournament in Ponyville, he and his team see their chance to make their club shine. But everything goes wrong.

  • ...
1
 11
 413

It was the best of games

“Hey, Mountain, isn’t that that card game you play?”

Mountain Pass’ mouth dropped to the table. It had been a normal morning. A peaceful morning. He had been eating cereals while his father read the daily newspaper.

But everything changed as his father turned the newspaper toward him, pointing to a big, bold-lettered headline.

Princess Luna to personally preside over the new Elements of Harmony expansion’s debut tournament in Ponyville.

Mountain Pass snatched the newspaper and read the article multiple times, heart beating. Princess Luna, presiding over a tournament in Ponyville? He pinched himself and let out a small yelp of pain. He wasn’t dreaming.

The Princess offered an autographed copy of the flagship card of the expansion, Nightmare Moon: Darkness Unleashed, to anyone who could beat her in a fair duel, breaking her 300 win streak.

Mountain Pass had to wipe drool from his lips as he saw the new card. With five power and three defence for the low low cost of five Moon mana, Nightmare Moon: Darkness Unleashed destroyed every Sun artifact in play and dealt damage equal to their cost to the opponent. He grinned. An obvious tech card to the Sun Artifact dominance that had plagued the game for months. Finally.

And it would fit perfectly in his Moon Bat-themed deck.

He needed that card.

“Mountain?” His father rose an eyebrow. “It’s just a game.”

“Yeah, dad.” Mountain Pass didn’t listen. The tournament was… “Tomorrow?!”

His mother shushed at him from the kitchen, and his father frowned at him. Alright, no panic here. He had a day to get prepared. No biggie. That was a standard tournament. He just needed to beat everyone who would show up without losing three times himself, and he would be golden. Then, he just had to beat Luna.

Everyone would show up with the best decks, or the counters to those decks, of course. Sun Artifact vs Rainbow Token. One would try to take down its opponent in one, superpowered blow backed by all the might of Celestia’s arsenal of artifacts. The other would try to overwhelm its foe with the mighty Pegasus army, creating dozens and hundreds of expandable creatures to chip away at the Alicorn’s fortress. A dynamic that had been the driving force behind every tournament since the last expansion.

Mountain Pass had won every single one of his games since he had discovered his secret weapon: a versatile, Bat themed deck that could build up enough defences to endure a single blow from a Sun Artifact deck, and could muster enough firepower to keep the Rainbow Token legions at bay while he searched for Commander Crescent and her loyal companions, Sergeant Serene and Lieutenant Lake to unleash an unstoppable combo on his opponent. His only weakness: any deck that contained any card to stop him from calling a single piece of the Bat Leadership annihilated him.

He grinned. Out of the five types of deck: Sun, Moon, Rainbow, Magic, and Earth, the only type who played these types of cards with any degree of success was Magic. Magic, which was completely defenceless in the current era of the game, and barely saw any play at all.

“I’m off!” He trotted to the door and grabbed his bag. “See ya mom and dad!”

His father nodded and flipped a page of his newspaper.

Mountain Pass ran in the streets of Ponyville, narrowly avoiding colliding face first into several other ponies. He took a left just before Sugarcube Corner and into a lightly shaded alley between two houses. A few paces later, he knocked at a wooden door set in the wall.

“Untap?” Came a high pitched voice from behind the door.

“Upkeep.”

“Draw.”

With the sound of a latch being undone, the door creaked open, and Mountain Pass walked into the secret Ponyville Elements Club. Behind the door, a few bright lamps shone on the walls, casting light on two rectangular wooden tables either side of the room and on a blackboard near the centre. In the centre of the room, five cushions sat in a circle, three other foals already seated on them. Button Mash, a brown coated, oranged maned colt, barely lifted his eyes off his Gamecolt even as Card Flip, a white coated and yellow maned unicorn filly announced Mountain Pass’ presence. The other two seated on the cushions, however, beamed at him and rushed to meet him.

“Did you see the newspaper?” Blue Drift, a navy Earth Pony with a flowing white mane shoved said newspaper in his face.

“Princess Luna will preside herself!” Scootaloo, an orange Pegasus filly with a purple mane giggled excitedly. “This is so cool!”

“Oh, hi Scoots." Mountain Pass considered her and narrowed his eyes. It was way too early for her to be out. "Did you sneak out of the orphanage again or…”

“Nah, they let me go.” She shrugged. “They’re used to me always sneaking out anyway, so I think they stopped caring.”

The fillies pulled him into the circle, where he took place beside Button Mash, who grunted a ‘hello’ with a small nod, too absorbed in his game to pay any more attention to him. Mountain Pass craned his neck to look at his console. On it, the heroes of The Firebrand Emblem fought against an army of Dragons and Manticores. Mountain Pass raised an eyebrow and slightly hoofed toward Button Mash. The others in the room gave him shrugs and little shakes of the head. The message was clear: whatever Button Mash was doing, he wouldn’t accept being bothered. Scootaloo pulled one of the tables to the centre of the room and slammed her hooves on it.

“For today’s meeting,” Scootaloo said with a grin, “we’re going to prepare for the tournament.”

The others nodded with enthusiasm, except for Button Mash.

“As you probably all know, this is going to be Ponyville’s very first Elements of Harmony tournament.” Her wings buzzed in excitement. “And this might be our biggest chance to propel this club out of secrecy and into the mainstream.” Her eyes glittered as she traced an imaginary line in the air. “I can see it now: the Ponyville Elements’ Club, world champions!”

“The best of Equestria will certainly be there,” Blue Drift said. “I like the idea of winning that tournament, but do we really have what it takes?”

Scootaloo smiled a smug smile. “Of course!”

She picked up a chalk and walked to the blackboard. “Our goal is only to get one of us to the top to beat Luna. Then, we’ll make national headlines.”

She drew a quick diagram. Five pony heads representing each of them, each with three marks underneath them. “This will be a brawl tournament. That means we each get three chances, and the last pony standing gets to face Luna in a standard match.”

“So no sideboard?” Card Flip sighed. Understandably. Standard matches were played in best of threes, and allowed players to make changes to their decks between battles. Card Flip prided herself on the versatility of her decks, which would usually lose the first round but win the other two high hooved. Single matches would assure she would be out of the game before she even knew it.

Scootaloo grinned. “No sidebar, but I have a plan.”

With a few strokes, Scootaloo added a bunch of circles above their faces of the chalkboard. Two line went from Button Mash and her head head into the crowd. “Button has a Sun Artifact deck. I have a Rainbow Token deck. We have about a 50% chance of winning any one game. You two, Card and Blue, have decks that are easily beaten without proper support.”

Card Flip and Blue Drift looked at each other with a quizzical expression.

“So,” Scootaloo continued, “Button and I will be the vanguard, and will try and scout for opponents that would be weak to either of your deck.”

“But we’ll still lose in the end,” Blue Drift said. “Even if we score a few games, we’ll run out of opponents we can beat.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yes, but here’s the thing: as long as you take care of the weaker players, the stronger ones will be pitted against each others, which will remove a couple of big players from the tournaments. As long as we keep at it, only Button and I will have to face the troublesome decks.”

“What about me?” Mountain pass raised a hoof, and the others looked at him.

Scootaloo’s mouth stretched in a sly smile. “You, Mountain, will make your games last as long as you can and focus on the games around you. You’ll report to me when you spot troublesome players, and when you spot those who will go easy on Card and Blue. You’re the only here who can afford it, since you have Hour of the Nightmare in your deck.”

Hour of the Nightmare was one of the five Hour cards, the ultimate weapons of their respective types. That particular one allowed him to summon three creatures from his deck instantly. Sergeant Serene, Lieutenant Lake, and Commander Crescent had such great synergy together that playing that card always meant victory. It’s very high cost — ten Moon mana — meant that his deck had been built around stealing as much life from his opponent as possible to stall the game long enough for him to generate enough mana. However, he had built it in such a way that even if there was a chance that Hour of the Nightmare was countered somehow, he could drop that tactic and focus on winning the battle of attrition. Scootaloo’s plan made perfect sense. He could scout easily and…

“Um, Scoots? If my deck is good enough to hold against anyone in the tournament, shouldn’t that mean that we should focus more on getting me to Luna instead?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Greedy, Mountain. I would have agreed with you if not for one simple thing: Luna plays a Magic deck.”

He frowned. He had heard rumours, but hadn’t assumed they had been true. “How?”

She shrugged. “No one really knows. She wins every single one of her games with one of the weakest decks around, and she absolutely annihilates everyone too. I know your deck doesn’t match up well against those, but…”

She pointed at Blue Drift. “Her Earth deck has multiple protections against Magic’s removals. If someone can win this thing, it’s Blue.”

“I don’t know,” Blue Drift said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I lost last tournament.”

“And won every other one. As long as we stick to the plan, everything will be fine.”

Mountain nodded. Maybe he couldn’t face Luna, but at least he would get his club to win that tournament. If only his deck had some way to deal with Magic.

There was a way, of course, but it wasn’t something he could even consider. The legendary artifact card Starlight Watch could negate a single Magic effect at any time and was irremovable. Only a few had ever been printed, but despite their scarcity, the mere presence of such a card had helped push Magic out of the spotlight. Of course, he couldn’t find one, and if he could, it would cost him probably several thousand bits he didn’t have.

“Until them, want to play a game?”

Scootaloo had her deck out and a grin on her face. He gave her his most confident look. “Bring it on.”

The board was set with their deck next to them. The foals took out two small figurines and set them before them. Two holographic forts rose on either side of the table. On Mountain Pass’ side, Princess Luna looked over the battlefield with a serene expression on top of a twisting tower. On Scootaloo’s, Rainbow Dash, the captain of the Wonderbolts, Element of Harmony, and Scootaloo’s idol, stood with a smirk on a flying fortress. A floating ‘20’ appeared next to each leader. The foals rolled a dice, and Scootaloo got the highest number. She would start.

She drew ten cards and considered them for a moment before replacing four of them in her deck and shuffling it. She played a card on which a beautiful rendering of Cloudsdale was drawn. “Cloud.” She turned it on its side — tapping it. A small rainbow appeared over the card, indicating she had one Rainbow mana to spend. The simple land card was the base of their casting abilities, although they could only play one per turn. A player could tap into the power of those lands to play their spells, which she did by slamming a card on which an armoured Pegasus held a lance. A transparent image of the Pegasus floated above the card, lightly bobbing up and down. “Pegasus Vanguard. Pass.”

The Pegasus’ stats were displayed underneath it. 1/2. One power. Two defence. A card made to stop a possible attack from a creature with a single power early in the game. A standard opening.

He drew his own ten cards, put back the four he didn’t want — either because they were too costy or didn’t fit in his opening strategy — and shuffled his deck.

“Shrine,” Mountain Pass called, plopping a card featuring an elegant statue on the table. A small moon floated over it. “Pass.”

Scootaloo smiled and nodded. She straightened her cards and drew from her deck. “Cloud.” She plopped another rainbow making card on the table and tapped them both. She played another card. “Weather Factory.”

The image of Cloudsdale’s famous weather factory appeared above the card, and a small pegasus wearing a worker’s uniform joined the side of the Pegasus Vanguard. Its stats were displayed: 1/1. A simple token created by another card. The Factory itself could be tapped for an extra mana. “I attack you with Pegasus Vanguard.”

The Pegasus Vanguard struck Luna’s magic shield, and Mountain Pass’ life counter dropped from 20 to 19. The Pegasus Vanguard returned to Scootaloo’s side of the battlefield and dropped to its knees, waiting for her next turn to start. After attacking with a creature, it had to recharge until its owner’s next turn.

Mountain pass frowned and played another shrine, turning both on their side. He showed Scootaloo a card on which Luna cast dark tendrils on multiple ponies around her. “Mind Scry.”

Tendrils shot from the card and ripped Scootaloo’s own cards from her hand, revealing them to Mountain Pass. He could choose one of them and put it on the bottom of her deck if he wanted to. However, seeing the perfect hand she had, he sighed, and tipped his Luna figurine over. “I concede.”

The tower crumbled and Luna fell with it. He swiped her cards off the table and shook Scootaloo’s hoof. She had been especially lucky, and he unlucky. Of course, he had Bulwark of the Deep, which negated any damage he would take for one turn, but she would just roll over him the next turn.

“Hard to beat either a turn four Skyfortress or Skysworn Rally, eh?” Scootaloo said with a smirk. The first card would summon a Pegasus token every turn, and the second would simply summon three at once for a single use. In any case, Scootaloo could easily capitalize on the net advantage that would offer her and beat him two or three turns later. He could have countered it, that is, if he didn’t only have Shrines in his hand, and no way to spend the mana they offered. “At least it wasn’t a turn three Sonic Rainboom.”

“Second round?”

She grinned and cracked her neck. “You’re on.”