“They are extremely expensive."
Joke let out a sigh. He could not argue about the price, but still, he wanted to start off with a deck that was compatible with the White Dragon card in his pocket because it might be useful to him in the future. Needless to say, Joke did not want to say that he had such a rare item with him otherwise it would become an issue again.
His life was hectic enough the way it was.
Joke wanted to begin his journey in the AOS world the same way as everybody else!
“Is there a starter deck for dragons that is on the cheaper end?” Joke asked.
“Uh, no. This one for example—Starlight Dragon—is up to two thousand five hundred a box.” She then pointed at the tablet in Joke’s hand. “And the less popular one, such as the Sea Dragon is already up to one thousand eight hundred fifty. I think you should start with the cheaper decks like the warrior or spellcaster decks. These are very suitable for beginners because there are very few limitations to these decks and are easier to play with, just like the Oberik deck you tried yesterday. The Oberik only cost six hundred fifty, see?”
She pointed to the warrior Oberik deck he used yesterday. The truth was he kind of liked this deck. It was easy to work with and understand, but the main point was... it could not be used with his dragon card!
But, it would be a hit to his wallet for him to purchase a deck worth up to two thousand baht.
"Well, it doesn’t have to be all-dragon. Just some dragons in that deck would be fine. There isn’t one like that at all?”
When he wanted to play stubborn, he seemed to not be listening to any of her advice. All Madame Fon could do was take a deep breath.
"Listen carefully, brother. It is true that dragons are really good. Its abilities are even top-notch in AOS, but the mana cost in summoning a rare dragon, at the very least, has never been lower than eight units. Plus, the DP that has to be lost when it loses the battle is tremendous. In a sense, a summoner is almost dead meat if their dragon loses the fight; therefore, it requires people with expertise and advanced techniques to use it. Will a beginner like you stand a chance?”
Joke nodded. He understood that starting with an easier and cheaper deck as advised would be more beneficial to him. But for long-term benefits, a deck related to dragons would be better for him... Well, at least this was what his heart told him.
Seeing that Joke was serious with the dragons, Madame Fon sighed.
She could feel that he probably had some plans in mind. The truth was, it was not like a beginner could not be able to play with a dragon deck at all. It was just not the best starting point, and she wanted her customers to get the best out of her shop.
“Uh… wait. If it’s not directly a dragon deck, there should be some that work.”
She scrolled the tablet in her hands until information on one of the decks in the store’s database was found. Madame Fon smiled before gently tapping on the screen.
"Here, this deck might be it... wait a minute"
After saying that, she ran into a room on the other side not much far away from the counter, presumably the store’s stockroom. She was gone for around a minute, leaving Joke to keep looking around after her. Soon after, she returned with a red cardboard box in hand.
She then placed it on the counter in front of Joke with a big smile.
“Good thing I still have this starter deck.”
Joke narrowed his eyes after seeing it. The box had a beautiful AOS-styled pattern with an image of a card displayed distinctly on the front along with the deck’s title…
"The Rider Series?" Joke read and then narrowed down his eyes. “Uh… I want a deck that involves dragons, not a deck about those motorcycle-riding masked superheroes.”
“It’s not Kamen Rider, you idiot. And what did you just call it? Motorcycle-riding masked superheroes? You sound like a freakin’ old man.” She sighed before pointing at the deck. “It’s a deck about people who ride creatures—horses, unicorns, sea creatures, and all that. And this one right here is a dragon rider.”
“Oh,” Joke cried in realization while Madame Fon pressed on the tablet and handed it to him. The mentioned information consisted of an image of the card that was the exact same image as the one printed on the box. Joke squinted his eyes, trying to read the given information closely.
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Eureasa LV1 (Fire)
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♦♦♦♦
Race: warrior / dragon
*decrease 1 unit of MP needed for summoning a dragon*
*atk+1 def+1 to every dragon on the battlefield*
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Attack-3
Defense-3
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HP 1,500 (DP-5)
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Joke was able to smile when seeing that information. It seemed like the deck that Madame Fon had been searching for would work well with his dragon as the information on the card’s “race” stated that it was both warrior and dragon at the same time. If he used this card as his partner, then he would be able to add a dragon card into his deck.
"This is very suitable," said Madame Fon. "If you really want to use a dragon, this deck will go along well with it. Plus, it is a warrior deck that is easy to use. Consider yourself very lucky ‘cause this is the last box left in my shop.”
After saying that, Madame Fon grabbed the starter deck box and waved it in front of Joke with a smile.
“The Rider Series is not very popular with the players because it is kind of an average deck without any standout specialty. This S card, for instance, its attack is too low compared to other warrior cards, and its defense is too low compared to other dragon cards. These are decks that need to rely on multiple cards in order to work well—somewhat a midrange tempo deck. Decks like this are not popular lately. People now prefer control decks like the one you used yesterday.”
“Midrange tempo” was a type of deck that leaned towards gameplay where intermediate-level halves would be deployed to occupy the field and other cards used for support whenever attacks or defenses were seen as beneficial and reasonable to the cost of mana. Therefore, it was a “midrange” gameplay style that required very on-point decisions.
“By the way, this style kind of suits you based on the duel I saw yesterday. You’re one of those players who control the pace of the game well, making good decisions whether in attacking or defending. Also, midrange cards are easy to use because the mana cost for each of them is evenly distributed throughout every card in the deck—they aren’t heavy on just some main cards. Are you okay with this?”
Joke did not immediately respond to the question. He read through the information on the fifty cards in this box slowly. This caused Madame Fon to sigh. She was amused and amazed at how the young man in front seemed to be concentrating on every little detail, which was different from other beginners who would usually want to get over with this quickly in order to set foot inside the world of Arcadia.
“This is okay as far as I see,” Joke stated after taking nearly ten minutes going through the information.
“Huh? You’re done?”