64: Strange poker game

Dragonkin Robber

Breaker, 30 points, Two-star

Attack 30, 100/100, 0/30

Bullying the Weak - Passive: When the Dragonkin Robber attacks a target with a lower star rating than itself, its Attack increases by 10.

Robbery - 30 Energy: The Dragonkin Robber attacks 1 target and gains 100% Lifesteal (T5).

Lifesteal: Gains the corresponding amount of Healing.

This card, true to its name, is a bandit.

It has a special attack against low-star units, which triggers perfectly when attacking a one-star Jumping Guardian.

It also possesses an active skill that combines both offense and recovery.

Its focused fire with Ugly Man alone can deal 30 + 40 = 70 damage to the Jumping Guardian.

So, just as Shi Li expected, it was fortunate that he chose to attack in the first round and did not allow the Jumping Guardian to use Defense.

Otherwise, if it had used Defense in the first round, its HP would have been 35/50.

Even with Defense in the second round, 35 HP would still be exactly wiped out.

Looking at this Dragonkin Robber card, Shi Li had an idea.

The opponent clearly had three card slots open, indicating he was at least a Platinum 8 expert.

Why did he only reveal one card in the front row and then consecutively draw one-star and two-star cards?

This made him feel as if the opponent was deliberately 'accommodating' the strength of his own deck.

But regardless, the card game had to continue.

Both sides finished revealing their cards, and the action phase began.

"Damn!"

Shi Li did not play any cards from his hand, while the Straw Man played a LV1 hand card, Healing.

Thus, after the round ended, the HP of both front-row cards took a hit.

Jumping Guardian: 0/50 + 50/50

Ugly Man: 60/100

In the third round, the card Shi Li revealed was the Stone Demon.

Stone Demon

Steadfast, 20 points, Two-star

Attack 20, 100/100, 0/40

Sturdy - Passive: When the Stone Demon uses Defense, damage taken is reduced by 10.

Defense - 30 Energy: The Stone Demon enters Defense mode this round (T1).

He played this card to accumulate points for the subsequent Red Blade Maiden.

"Damn!"

The card the Straw Man revealed was also a two-star character card.

It even had the same 20 points.

Clang! Clang!

Its projection was quite peculiar, surprisingly just an ordinary stick.

It belonged to the relatively rare category of equipment-type character cards.

Iron Rod

Breaker, 20 points, Two-star

Attack 30, 100/100, 0/2

Iron Product - Passive: The Iron Rod's Attack increases by 5.

Iron Product - Passive: The Iron Rod's Attack increases by 5.

"This..."

This card made Shi Li feel very strange.

Because its structure completely violated the common knowledge of Cube Cards he knew.

Firstly, for numerical enhancement effects, only the highest value should trigger.

That is, if a character card carries two passive Characteristics that increase Attack, then when triggered, only the Characteristic with the higher value will take effect.

Generally, character cards cannot carry two identical Characteristics.

But both of these common understandings were invalid on the Iron Rod.

This was very confusing.

He had heard that some individual alien race (non-human races) possessed character cards that were quite unique, but he had never imagined this kind of uniqueness.

Moreover, the revelation of this Iron Rod card made Shi Li even more certain.

The opponent was deliberately 'letting' him win.

However, no matter the reason, he would not let his guard down.

After all, the opponent initiating the card game already represented a form of hostility.

Both sides finished revealing their cards, and a new action round began.

"Damn!"

Shi Li still did not play any cards this round, but the Straw Man played another card.

LV1 Shield: Negates 30 damage for 1 card this round (T1).

Originally, Shi Li's 30 + 30 + 20 = 80 Attack power would have been enough to instantly kill Ugly Man, but with a 30-point Shield, it could not be instantly killed.

I'm So Ugly Man!

And Ugly Man also took action, letting out a cry towards Tiao Tiao.

Taunt

Tiao Tiao's eyes immediately turned red, and a controlled effect popped up above its head.

This way, Ugly Man's damage reduction Characteristic would also trigger again.

Seeing this, Shi Li secretly sighed.

Although he hadn't anticipated the opponent's Shield card, he had anticipated the opponent would activate Taunt.

The reason he didn't play Defense was because he was afraid of wasting it.

At the same time, he also didn't let the Crow Warrior use Stun.

Because both Stun and Taunt take effect at T2 priority.

Even if Stun was played, it couldn't prevent Ugly Man's Taunt; at most, it could only prevent it from attacking at T4, which was actually not very significant.

This phenomenon where hard controls cannot affect each other is called control offset.

After both sides exchanged damage, the HP of the front-row cards was as follows:

Jumping Guardian: Stasis for 1 round.

Ugly Man: 20/100

The fourth round arrived, and the Straw Man did not continue to reveal cards.

With only 20 HP left, Ugly Man could not survive against three cards' focused fire, no matter what.

The front-row cards of both sides were exchanged.

The fifth round arrived, and Shi Li finally played his first hand card.

"This round, I will play this hand card.

LV1 Charge: Restores 10 energy to 1 card (T1)."

He even announced it in advance during the hand card confirmation phase.

After several rounds, the Crow Warrior's energy was actually already fully charged.

If he wanted to play Charge, the target could only be the steadfast card, the Stone Demon.

However, when the hand card was actually played, it was not Charge.

But... LV1 Isolation.

"Damn!"

The Straw Man didn't expect the opponent's tactics to be so wild.

He actually believed him when that guy announced it earlier!

The Dragonkin Robber's advantage lies in attacking to restore health.

Now being Isolated for 2 rounds means its skill is directly wasted for 2 rounds; using it would be ineffective!

And because it was wary of the opponent's Stun, it didn't dare to directly let the Dragonkin Robber activate Lifesteal.

It originally wanted to use it when the opponent had used a skill and was in its cooldown period, but now this happened.

After both sides played their hand cards, it was time for close combat.

Even with Isolation, to prevent the opponent from using Defense, Shi Li still had the Crow Warrior use Stun.

After the round ended, the status of both sides' outer cards was as follows:

Crow Warrior: 70/100, 10/30

Dragonkin Robber: 50/100, 30/30

The sixth round arrived, and Shi Li still focused all his fire.

And this time, he really gave the Crow Warrior a Charge.

In contrast, the Straw Man did not play any more hand cards, which directly led to the Dragonkin Robber being eliminated by the focused fire of the Crow Warrior and Stone Demon.

The status of both sides' outer cards was as follows:

Crow Warrior: 10/100, 30/30

Iron Rod: 100/100, 30/30

This way, Shi Li's advantage became quite obvious.

The opponent not using hand cards for two consecutive rounds made him generate new conjectures.

But could it be that the number of hand cards the opponent used also had to be equal to his own?

What exactly was going on? This alien race (non-human race) was so strange.

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