Legacy

The Shaman – Part 3

Part Three: The Shaman’s War (Grand Prix New Jersey, Day One)

Round One: Bye

When the fight is this close, when the war heaves itself onto the landscape, when the cries of battle echo through your bones, it is difficult not to smash anything that steps inside your range. But when no evil presents itself, when you have only your will and your weapon and an hour for preparation, it is best to use that time to focus. I removed myself from the arena, in the company of a pair of gnomes, and we found a small grove with a sunny patch of grass beyond the industrial steeds of the competitors and removed from curious eyes. We drew power from the land and inspiration from our ancestors. The ritual of consumption was heavy and expensive, but when it was done, I felt confident that I had consumed enough green mana to fuel the cannon all day. With little exchange of words, I parted from my gnome companions and made my way back to the hall.

Round Two: Bye

The clamor of combat could not conquer the calm of my confidence. I walked between skirmishes of varying nature, glancing into the eyes of potential foes with such serenity that I sent chills through them, occasionally causing them to stumble and fall before their immediate rival. None of it mattered. I was scouring the crowd in search of the true enemy, in search of Squee, knowing well that he was present and suspecting that he was aware of my pursuit and remaining obscure. The war ahead would be the most difficult one I had ever fought, and it had more riding on it than any of these foolish members of my species could possibly understand. I was untouched by this severity, enveloped in the splendor granted by the ritual, and though I was unable to find my rival amongst the multitudes, I embraced my mission nontheless.

I was here to recover the book, but I was also here to triumph in the face of evil. There was little inside of me that was not engorged with purpose. I paraded around the fray, feeling my power flourish. I was ready to carve justice in the flesh of villains. I would not be stopped. I would burn the witches to warm the bewitched. The world was in need of the salvation my hand alone could provide. I would set it free by slaying its demons. A world unchained would prosper in the sunshine of the future.

Round Three: Ghosta Dirk

Ghosta Dirk is a champion of Law and Order. He mercilessly persecutes any that he deems unfit for the good of the Order he is trying to establish, and he wasted little time letting me know that I was rather unfit for his Utopian prison planet. He won the die roll.

It did not take more than his first turn to reveal the nature of his purpose. He opened with a Karakas and an [card]Aether Vial[/card]. He swelled with pride as I acknowledged that he was wielding the oppression crudely disguised as law known as Death and Taxes. I have a low tolerance for this sort of tyranny, and I followed up his grotesque, banner-waving opening with a cry for freedom. I chained through my spells with a storm of conviction, calling forth an army of avenging goblins in great enough number to threaten instant demise. He retorted with a death moan. He made his land drop and summoned my most hated enemy: Thalia, Tyrant of Thraben. But it was far too little and much too late. The damage was done. The warrens were empty. We were bloodthirsty, and it was too late to tax us for our spells. After the first assault, Ghosta was left clinging to his last shred of life from hiding behind the wretched Thalia, who stood strong against my onslaught yet stood alone amidst the massacre. He made one desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but he found no love from his library, and with a heavy sigh he conceded.

Things would not get better.

Our second battle began with him settling on a hand of six as I dropped desperately to a grip of five. He began the game again, this time with a Plains and nothing to follow as he passed the turn. He was rather calm under the pressure, perhaps assuming that my situation was worse than his. I drew for the turn and took a moment to admire my hand: [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card], [card]Lotus Petal[/card], [card]Land Grant[/card], [card]Desperate Ritual[/card], [card]Empty the Warrens[/card], and a freshly drawn second Probe. I paid with blood to look at his hand and saw him clutching Thalia, [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card], [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card], and [card]Flickerwisp[/card]. He was left with the desperate hope of drawing a land on the presumption that I would fail to bring justice before he did. I drew a [card]Burning Wish[/card] from the Probe and cast the second one, this time looking once more at my hand before adding a [card]Chrome Mox[/card] to it. I had all the tools I needed. I Emptied the Warrens once more, and passed the turn back to him as I rallied my army of 14 goblins. He drew, looked down at his toxic mix of too little and too late, dragged a deep breath through his clenched teeth, and decided not to wait for the inevitable. Ghosta Dirk accepted defeat graciously, pulled the bone of a small child from his pocket, and placed it between his teeth. He began gnawing on it and wandered off to find a weaker enemy more suited for his type of enslavement.

The first of many battles was won, but it was too early to celebrate. Many villains wandered the road ahead, and I knew better than to let my guard down. The swift defeat of Ghosta Dirk provided me with ample time to find the sustenance I craved in the aftermath of my heavy green mana consumption.

3-0

Round Four: Livonya Silone

Livonya had all the ferocity of a tiger and the grace of an antelope. She was prepared for just about anything, and unfortunately for her I was an unpredictable whirlwind of virtue ready to carve a path through any monstrosity that fell in my path. One cannot expect the sort of madness I brought to the table, but without madness the most well-intentioned of heroes often falls short of glory.

I won the die roll, putting her on her heel for only a moment. I kept a hand of six that could not quite get there, so instead of doing anything I passed the turn, silently lamenting my success at being on the play. I would have been filled to the brim with terror if I hadn’t properly stomped the capability from my bones, and my foolish beginning felt truly reckless when she played and tapped a Taiga. Fortunately for me she used it to cast a Kird Ape instead of pursuing grander paths. I drew my card, a Taiga of my own, and promptly played through my hand. I activated the Charbelcher and shot her for 53, well in excess of her remaining life total.

Bewildered by my method but battle-hardened and hungry for glory, she did not hesitate in the face of my brand of vigilante justice. She perused her options as she prepared for another round, and I made the slight adjustment of footing I needed to give another go. In moments we were facing off once again; this time she took the lead. She was left digging for a way to stop me, but at five cards she was out of options and settled on an opening [card]Loam Lion[/card] off a Plateau. I had six cards to fuel a [card]Burning Wish[/card], and by the time I was done I had 16 goblins in play and nothing left in my grip. She drew for the turn, glanced about, saw that she could not overcome the [card]Hand of Justice[/card], and accepted defeat.

Livonya complimented my madness and power, or at least I perceived her words as such and wished her well as I parted ways with her, knowing she now fought against evil instead of beside it. I had made the world a more respectable place with my efforts, and though I was through another battle, I knew it was too early to feel pride. The quest to save the world was far from over.

I set out to check on my gnome friends, but I was unable to find them, a consequence of their short stature and inability to swiftly close games. I wandered the landscape in search of them for only a few moments before I distracted by the pursuit of liquid nourishment. I had all the green mana I needed to fire the cannon, but I need to ensure that it was properly maintained between fights. I found overpriced caffeine to be exactly the solution and consumed it without thought to the injustice I faced at the demand of a cash register.

4-0

Round Five: Dakkon Blackblade

Dakkon was quiet from the moment he took his position across from me. It was the silence of certainty: a calm, stoic, almost arrogant tone that came from within and had little to do with me. He looked into my eyes, but I was immediately aware he was not searching for anything within them. He was staring at his own reflection.

I matched his lack of words with a more awkward silence, as I was restraining a fit of gibbering laughter that sought to break free of the smirk on my lips. This also had nothing to do with my opponent, or with anything for that matter. I was intoxicated on the triumph over evil, and the more I tasted it the more inebriated I became. When Dakkon won the die roll he broke the silence to inform me that he would begin, but the remainder of our communication was left to gestures.

He pondered his hand, played a [card]Tropical Island[/card] and passed to me. I had many options. I had the mana to play and activate Charbelcher. I had the [card]Lion’s Eye Diamond[/card] and the [card]Burning Wish[/card]. I had the safe plan of [card]Empty the Warrens[/card]. I ramped to four mana. I played the Diamond. I looked at him, almost through him, and I heard my own voice inside my head, offering me guidance: “He is on Lands. He has no counter magic. Have no fear. Kill him.” I knew that I told myself the truth. In the distance I heard the voice of Squee cackling over some fiendish thing he has done. I hesitated and felt the sudden clutch of confusion. I made the safe play and put ten goblins onto the battlefield.

Dakkon casts [card]Crop Rotation[/card] in my endstep, confirming what I knew. [card]The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale[/card] came to charge a heavy price for my efforts, a tax I cannot pay. I lost my army to it and lamented my reserved decision. The words of my mentor, Genghis Khan, echoed through me: “Safe decisions lead to comfortable deaths. But they still lead to deaths.” Dakkon developed his board, preparing for the inevitable close, but I was not ready to give up.

Time was on my side.

He was in possession of five lands and a [card]Zuran Orb[/card]. He had the ability to call forth the Sleeping God Trapped under Ice and kill me on his next turn. The stars were aligned. He was ready to steal my glory. My hand was forced. I drew for the turn, made as much mana as possible, and cast [card]Burning Wish[/card] for [card]Diminishing Returns[/card]. After the pomp and circumstance of my spell, I was able to power through my new hand, playing and activating a lethal Charbelcher. He sacrificed all his lands in response, bringing his life total to 29, but the Taiga was exiled and there were 41 cards left in my library. He was dead, but he did not pick up his cards until he was irrevocably executed.

The desperation of our next game was present in his trembling hands. Dakkon fumbled with his Blackblade, settled on five cards and hope for the best. He led with a land and passed the turn. I drew, Probed him, and saw that he was holding a [card]Sphere of Resistance[/card] intent on placing a harsher tax than Thalia upon me beginning on my next turn. I had no desire to pay taxes. I proceeded to show him the Gospel of Freedom. I played through my hand and activated the Charbelcher with 51 cards remaining in my library and my Taiga on the field. He was dead. His Lord remained buried. I kept the world safe from yet another Ancient Evil and its willing servant. I truly felt relief with this serving of vigilante fate.

5-0

Round Six: Axelrod Gunnarson

Axelrod was enthusiastic as he watched me mulligan into oblivion. I kept a four-card hand that was unlikely to close a game. This was made worse when he began play by casting most of his hand, including a [card]Vault Skirge[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] off two successive Mox Opals. He searched out [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card], unsure of what to expect of me, and I proceeded to do nothing for a series of turns. I added an eighth card to my hand, did the math, and conceded the game before showing him a single card. Axelrod emerged from our first game victorious, but in doing so he gained no information.

We prepared for the next game, and I refused to let the blow I had been dealt keep me back. We briefly discussed the misfortune of luck as we presented our weapons. It didn’t take long for me to drop to five cards, which were capable of casting the Charbelcher but which would have to pass the turn before winning. I led the game with a [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card] and was horrified by what I saw. He held an [card]Ancient Tomb[/card], [card]Seat of the Synod[/card], [card]Pithing Needle[/card], [card]Arcbound Ravager[/card], [card]Baleful Strix[/card] and a pair of Mox Opals. I drew my card but could go no further, so I passed the turn after playing a [card]Lotus Petal[/card]. He verbally questioned my misfortune and put me on some kind of Reanimator build, much to my benefit. He began to play aggressively, the Needle remaining in his hand as I took damage from the Ravager. A few turns passed and I drew my Taiga.

Things had changed; I had everything I needed. I played the land and the [card]Lion’s Eye Diamond[/card]. I cast two [card]Tinder Wall[/card]s, then sacrificed them to play the Charbelcher. I felt triumphant, but he tapped his Seat and set to stopping me. He played [card]Flusterstorm[/card]. Things were quiet for a moment. I asked him to read his card. He did so and it slowly came together: Charbelcher was not a legal target. He was dead. My patience forced a game three.

This time he began, but it was his turn to mulligan. He kept a hand of four against my hand of seven. He led with a [card]Vault Skirge[/card] from a [card]Glimmervoid[/card]. My perseverance blinded him. I played through a barrage of spells, including casting a [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] before I Emptied the Warrens and was joined by 18 Goblins. He drew his card, decided it was his last, and conceded to my superior presence.

I felt stronger after performing in the rending claws of despair. I endured the worst and came out victorious. Nothing could stop me. I was hungry for the fight with Squee. I needed to liberate the Necronomicon. There would be no mercy for those who stood in my way.

6-0

Round Seven: Angus Mackenzie

Angus was jovial from the start, laughing at every menacing thought that passed through his fiendish mind. We exchanged some words as we set up, and while he spoke politely he also made it clear that he understood his role as an enemy. I recall little of the substance of the conversation as many other substances were at work in my mind. The winner of this battle locked up their return the next day, and I needed that more than anything if I was ever going to catch Squee and steal back what belonged to me.

I won the die roll and Angus promptly swallowed the dice. I found this odd, but they were not my dice and I had bigger things to concern myself with. I kept my seven and he took six. We were ready, and I wasted no time employing the Phyrexian Method. My Probe revealed [card]Phyrexian Revoker[/card], [card]Serra Avenger[/card], [card]Spirit of the Labyrinth[/card], [card]Flickerwisp[/card], [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card], and Karakas. He was on Death and Taxes. He was a true monster.

So I killed him with the cannon.

We began a game two that was strange at best. I kept a risky six but still managed to fire the cannon. The land was not far from the top, and I dealt only four points of damage after revealing two [card]Lion’s Eye Diamond[/card]s. In order to fire I used a main-phase [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] to destroy a Revoker that had my [card]Tinder Wall[/card]s locked out, which in turn caused me to have to overspend my resources. Had I waited until his endstep, I would have been able to save a wall and fire twice instead of once. As a result of a faulty attack, I found myself defeated and immediately rallied for our final game.

At this point I found myself in the Void. Any numerous other entities may have entered my earthly vessel and piloted the battle, but I was pulled from myself and into the darkness beyond. As I drifted about in the thick absence of everything, I found myself aware that Squee was close, and I was closing in on him. The Void whispered secrets into my ears, made sure I understood, and dissipated slowly. When it was gone I was once again sitting across from Angus, attacking for lethal damage. He conceded in the face of the onslaught and quickly made away to prepare to slay some unfortunate victim the next round.

I was thus undefeated and a lock for day two. If Squee was battling (as I was certain he was) powered by the book and guided towards an apocalyptic destiny, I knew he would be performing equally well. We would come face to face soon, and with the proper level of madness this could all come to a close before the sun rose again. I slipped off to fuel myself further, to lift my mind from its haze and sharpen it with the tributes nature so kindly bestowed. Within a few minutes and after fearless consumption, I was ready to continue the war.

Round Eight: Squee

Fate had finally brought me face to face with my enemy. He looked me in the eye and asked if we had met before. The voice was not his. The body of Squee stood before me, but it was being piloted by an Ancient Evil that is Not Safe to Name. I had not considered this in my pursuit, and none of my actions prepared me for what I now had to do. I was ready to crush the life out of Squee, to punish him for the crimes he committed against me and the good people of New Jersey, but I had no idea how I would defeat a demon that I was not ready to fight.

In spite of this, I was determined. He presented three six sided dice, allowed me to roll first, then smiled fiendishly as he rolled three sixes. He wasted no time keeping a hand of seven as I was forced to settle on five. He played an Island and deferred to me. I Probed him to see two Stifles, a [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], a [card]Brainstorm[/card], a [card]Wooded Foothills[/card], and a [card]Volcanic Island[/card]. He was toying with me. I drew my card and ramped out my mana to cast the Charbelcher. He Brainstormed in response as there was no way for me to activate this turn, but he did not find what he was looking for and let my spell resolve. From there it was a game of cat and mouse. I kept trying to add mana to the board, and he countered it when he could. I activated the Charbelcher at every opportunity, and he Stifled it without mercy. After playing three Stifles and playing one of them again from the Snapcaster, I had fired four times without wounding my target. In the meantime he was bleeding my life away with a [card]Faerie Conclave[/card] and the aforementioned Mage. One last [card]Force of Will[/card] sealed the deal, and I picked up my cards in defeat.

Game two was far more savage. He kept seven once more, and I settled on five once more. I did nothing before turn three, when I attempted to cast Charbelcher. He cast his [card]Force of Will[/card], and I responded with a [card]Pyroblast[/card]. He let it resolve and targeted it with a [card]Surgical Extraction[/card]. This ripped the other [card]Pyroblast[/card] from my hand, clearing the way for his [card]Spell Pierce[/card] to counter my Charbelcher. He was resourceful, cunning, evil, and bent on victory. He left me with nothing as he picked me apart slowly, enjoying the torment as he attacked me with a [card]Mishra’s Factory[/card] and a [card]Faerie Conclave[/card]. I died again without casting another spell. I had suffered my first defeat at the hands of the one I came to vanquish.

This was not the end. The demon wounded me, but I was not finished. I would regroup and prepare, and we would battle again. Next time I would be ready for him instead of imprudently expecting the bug-eyed goblin king. As we parted ways, I beguiled the overconfident demon into sharing his True Name, and I tucked it into the depths of my Aether-soaked brain for our next encounter.

7-1

Round Nine: Adun Oakenshield

I was alive with the desire for vengeance. I wanted nothing more than to make the next villain suffer all the pain and despair I had just undergone seven times over. I would not rest until I had cleansed the world of one more source of evil. In the final battle of the day, I would be given that opportunity, and it was up to me to follow through with my burning want for retribution.

I was presented with another unfallen foe. We were both locked for the following day, and the Land Baron [card]Adun Oakenshield[/card] was proud of his victories. He fueled his trip to this distant land with the blood of the serfs who worked his kingdom, and he showed no restraint in bragging up the glory given to him by those he willingly trampled underfoot.

This was precisely the sort of monster I needed to slay.

I lost the die roll but kept seven cards that would kill my opponent on my turn. He kept seven as well, played an [card]Exploration[/card] off a Bayou, and followed up with a [card]Mox Diamond[/card] and a [card]Rishadan Port[/card]. A strong opening against the sort of vile company that filled the room, but it would do nothing against my fierce and precise justice. On my turn I chained through my spells, dealt him a deathblow, and let him review my library to ascertain that he had lost. We quickly prepared for our next game.

This one was far less in my favor. He opened with a [card]Pithing Needle[/card] naming [card]Goblin Charbelcher[/card], an insurance plan against what I had done to him the prior game. My hand of five had little to do anyway, and when I Probed him I saw that he had a [card]Sphere of Resistance[/card] and a [card]Wasteland[/card] to lock me out of the game. I let him explore his position for a few turns while I considered all the ways I could knock this monster from his throne in the following one, and once I felt comfortable with my course of action I conceded to his oppressive devices and moved to the next game.

I mulled to six and stared at my hand for a moment. I had two [card]Lion’s Eye Diamond[/card]s, my Taiga, a [card]Burning Wish[/card], a [card]Tinder Wall[/card], and a [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card]. I kept, and I opened with the Probe. He had his church of taxation in his grip, beaming like a pinnacle of tyranny. I knew I could not unleash my army of goblins only to have them die under the harsh living conditions in the shadow of [card]The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale[/card]. There would have to be another way. I drew an [card]Elvish Spirit Guide[/card], cast the tinder wall, played my land and my diamonds, and cast the burning wish off my wall while leaving my Taiga untapped. I broke both Diamonds, one for blue and one for red, and I searched for the help of my ancestors as I Wished for [card]Diminishing Returns[/card].

Once my enemy properly understood how things would play out, we went through all of the trappings of the spell till each possessed a new hand of seven. Mine was a favorable hand, and it didn’t take me long to cast the Charbelcher and shoot him. He was defenseless and mortified. He looked everything over to confirm my victory, congratulated me through the teeth of a Despot, and moved along as I closed out the day.

8-1

I was successful in defeating numerous villains but had fallen in the face of the one tribulation that was most important. With the fiercest competitors heading back to their dwellings to seek rest and recovery for the day that would follow, I found my company of gnomes with the intention of doing the same. When we united I discovered that their numbers had grown, and they had with them numerous ranks of oppressed and downtrodden wanderers from the far reaches of this mortal world. Instead of rest we departed to a place where we could eat, drink, and share stories of Good triumphing over Evil.

There are those who would tell you that chasing a dragon into oblivion is no way to prepare for a war, but it would be foolish to house an army in a palace of luxury the night before sending them into the mires of horror and the relentless battlefields. Instead of sleep I prepared for the next day by listening to the tales of the defeated while nourishing myself with [card]Serum Powder[/card], green mana, and the [card]Everflowing Chalice[/card] of whiskey. The battle that was ahead of me was heavier than ever in light of the true power of my enemy. I would be ready when we met the next day.

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