Consistency

best.

Verily, it is decided. Threats or no threats, this is a matter of honor. You cannot forfeit this match. You will best this scoundrel, no matter the cost. You turn to face him and announce that you accept his challenge.

The cur sees the determination in your eyes, and you see the fear in his. No doubt he thought your will would bend before his underhanded schemes, but you cannot back down. The weight of your sacrifice will be great, but you have no choice. It is a small price to pay for putting an end to his villainy.

Flustered, your foe begins dealing the cards. The contest has not even begun and you have already claimed the advantage. You merely need to press it.

You glance at your hand. You immediately lay down two pairs, leaving you a deuce, a jack, and an eight. But your rival soon laughs and lays down three. You may have thrown him off, but the score is in his favor for now.

However, it is your turn. If fortune is with you, and you ask for the last card in his hand, you can even the playing field. Which card will you ask the ruffian for?

flip the entire graveyard upside down

Yeah, you're through playing by the rules. You flip the graveyard upside down and toss it on top of the deck, and flash a smirk at your opponent, just daring them to do something about it. The referee's already dead, what are they going to do?

They begin chanting. Oh hell. It looks like they're using dark magic to reanimate the referee's corpse!

Your only chance is to make a play so shocking that it disrupts their concentration. So what's it going to be?


You lift up your newly-drawn card and glance into the crowd. You're way down, and every turn counts at this point. You'll have to go for hitting the richest member of the audience, and that's going to be Wilburg Halflington, Esq., the best lawyer in town.

Fortunately, his hat makes him easy to spot. You concentrate, and fling your card right, hitting him right in the nose. He falls over, and your score rockets up.

But Suzette isn't giving up. In fact, she's laughing, and you soon see why. Halflington was only the richest person in town, but you've got a visitor tonight: Lady Penelope Pennington, and she's got enough money to buy this whole arena six times over with enough to spare for a down payment on a new yacht. If this card hits, it's all over for you.

You've got to act fast, find some way to make that shot miss. How are you going to stop Suzette from winning this?

Be the Seven.

Yes... Of course. If you meditate and focus, you can be one with the Seven of Diamonds, the card that will win you this game. Then you will be assured of victory.

You concentrate hard and find your consciousness merging with the Seven... of Clubs? Damn! You must have misspoken the incantation! Worse, you can sense the Seven of Diamonds, and you realize that it is at the very bottom of the deck. You can still will the Seven of Clubs to be your next draw, for it is you, but the Seven of Diamonds is beyond your influence.

You must plan your next play now. What will it be?

Capture the numericon, extigua will vanish

Of course! You play the Duo of Panache on the Numericon of Hides, claiming it for yourself and removing the entire Extigua suit from the game. Now the playing field is much more in your favor, as your Luminescents can advance unimpeded.

But your opponent suddenly laughs, as he slaps down the Triad of Harmony. Damn! You should have expected that! Your Luminescents will still be able to push forward, but they'll be forbidden from attacking! His deck might have been overreliant on Extigua, but that won't matter - as long as he can play even one card and move it across the field, he'll be able to win!

This calls for drastic measures. You flip the Dreadnought of Luminescence face-down, allowing you to sacrifice the remainder of your deployed force in exchange for drawing one specific card from the deck. You have one chance to turn this game around. Which card will you draw?

But how do you plan for a bank full of nuns?

Damn, that's right. You hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but Karlos has been winning all the tricks with nuns in them. If he put them all into his bank, this could be trouble.

You may be a master tactician, but you've hit your limit here. There are no good plans at a time like this, only reckless ones that might work if you're lucky. So which of your last-resort tactics are you going to pull out here?

The dice are weigthedsdf

Of course! That's why your hand is so terrible! That bastard slipped you a bad pair of draw-dice! Probably messed with the deck to make sure the worst cards would be where your dice landed, too.

Unfortunately, your realization has come too late. You can't issue a challenge during the Sudden Death round. But maybe you can find some way to turn this cheat on the cheater. You've still got to roll your dice, but now that you know about the weights, maybe you can do something about them.

But what? How are you going to get out of this mess?