After the War: an MTG story

Chapter 1: Skill

"And finally, I'll have my scorch spitter and lightning stormkin attack," declared a boy. The boy had messy blond hair, green eyes, an orange and green T-shirt, grey sweatpants, and looked so confident that he would win, he wasn't paying attention to his opponent's hand, "scorch spitter's ability activates and you take one point of damage."

"For one white and one other I cast Gidion's reproach to kill your lightning stormkin and have my soldier block your scorch spitter, both die and I scrape by with three life points," said the boy's opponent. The boy's opponent was another boy but with black hair and brown eyes, a white T-shirt with jeans, and was known for making winning an art form. "Anything else you want to do?"

"No, I end my turn."

"In that case," the black haired boy said as he drew a card and untaped his lands, "For two red and four others, I summon Lathless Dragon Queen, then for two red and four others again, I summon a Shivan dragon. This activates my dragon queen's ability and creates a 5/5 red dragon token with flying. Then for three of any, I equip each of my dragons with swiftfoot boots, giving them haste. They all attack for a total of 16 in the air, and you don't have any creatures with flying or any cards in your hand."

The blond boy starred in complete shock as in one fell swoop, his 12 life points were reduced to zero and all of the people in the small crowd cheered for the black haired boy.

"Good game Sam, I had fun." the victor said, extending his hand.

"Whatever Nate," Sam said, "you wouldn't be acting so smug if you were the one who lost." Sam proceeded to pick up his cards and returned them to the deck box on his belt. "But a deal's a deal." Sam then got a small box out of his bag, pulled out a single card, and handed it to Nate.

"Finally, Drakuseth, maw of flames, I've been trying to find this card for months." Nate exclaimed as he put the card in a box of his own, "I'm gonna put this in a deck as soon as I get home."

"All right everyone," called a deep and commanding but also gentle voice, "I love a good match as much as the next guy, but it's time for you to go home."

"Yes Mr. Decker." all the highschool students said in unison. Mr. Decker was a younger man in his early 30s. He liked to wear flannel button up shirts, jeans, and grey sneakers, fitting for Iowa, he had short black hair and grey eyes too. Mr. Decker was also one of the three study hall teachers in the school as well as the school's Magic league coach, all the students liked and respected him. All the students packed their cards and other supplies then left to go home.

"Nate, could come here for a second?" Mr. Decker called.

"Yeah, sure," Nate said, he knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but being asked by a teacher to stay after class always makes him uneasy, "what's up?"

"Nate, your skills are phenomenal and you always win," Mr. Decker started. Nate just rolled his eyes, he knew what lecture he was about to get and frankly, he wasn't in the mood. "You should join the league and make a name for yourself."

"I already told you, I only play for fun, I don't want to play just to beat someone."

"I know how you feel about this, but colleges give full ride scholarships for these kinds of things."

"I know, but I'm not going to play just because someone else wants me to."

"Fine, I'll let it go for now, but i'm going to bring this up again."

"And I'll tell you no again." Nate walked to his locker and went home to finish his day in peace, unaware that a certain dragon was watching his match.

"This 'Nate' has some incredible skill but he may be a problem based on the conversation with his teacher." Nicol Bolas said.

"Perhaps," said the hooded figure, "but that Sam boy could be useful and his anger makes him easily manipulable."