#why would you even split off at that point and again wild fairs don't seem to have more than one adult gold at a time

[misskikuwrites]

Of all People

@kagura-chan-otaku-forever​ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

As a tribute to your amazing Bederia comics, I wrote this fic of two of my favourite scenes in Cauliflower boy, I love you! (The first part is the very first comic of yours I came across, too! 

If you love Bederia/Dressedinpinkshipping, definitely check out @kagura-arts​ for more!! 

-

Cauliflower boy, I love you! Part 3: Galar Mine No.2

The strings of Bede's heart had begun to pull, begun to unravel, long before he had noticed. Unbeknownst to him, a certain someone had wormed their way under his skin. Slipped between the cracks in his walls with that energetic smile.

She always appeared out of nowhere, suddenly and unexpected, getting in his way time and time again. Acting overly friendly, as though there was anything between them. In the depths of Galar Mine No.2, Bede stared in dismay at the country girl before him.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Bede clicked his tongue, a sharp sound of annoyance, as irritation snapped into place. "Why are you here?!"

Gloria didn't react to his biting tone, instead giving him a flat look.

"Hey, relax. I'm searching for Kabu, just like you."

Bede didn't have enough patience or willpower to deal with her today. Not with his pulse spiking in vexation at the mere sight of her, his body stiffening reflexively. He whirled on his heels to march away.

"Alright. Bye, then," he said curtly.

"Bede, wait!"

The call of his name made him pause. Regretfully. His feet slowed to a stop against his will.

"Let's search for him together!"

Too bright. Too cheery, too innocent and happy and-

"No." Barked through clenched teeth, he snapped at her without turning around.

"Why?"

At her insistence, Bede sent a glare over his shoulder. "Why would I stay with you? I told you; we're not friends."

She tilted her head slightly, staring right through him. Unphased by the venom in his tone.

"But we have a greater chance of finding him together," she said. "That has nothing to do with friendship, right?"

Her words hit true. Her point was fair and keener than he'd given her credit for, and he turned away from her with a huff.

"Fine, whatever."

He would put up with her for now - force himself to if needed - if it meant finding Kabu and getting out of here, away from her, sooner rather than later.

He sighed to himself as he walked off, hearing Gloria's footsteps right behind him, and knew without looking that she was smiling. Grinning, even.

"Great… the Gym Leader is missing and now this…" he muttered to himself before speaking to Gloria. "Also, there are a lot of wild Pokemon here disguised as Pokeballs." He turned to face her. "So, we need to be careful-"

"Oh, a Pokeball!"

Her hand descended on a bright, shiny red Pokeball in the dirt, glinting steel teeth encircling the bait. Bede reacted instinctively. A surge of panic burst in his chest, searing up his throat with a cry of-

"-Gloria!"

He grabbed her without thinking. Snatched her hand away from the jaws a split second before they snapped shut around her delicate fingers. A hand snug around her waist, Bede yanked her away from the vicious Stunfisk. He tugged her back with enough force, in his panic, to pull her flush against his chest.

He froze in that instant.

"Wah!" Gloria yelped as Stunfisk snapped at the empty air where her hand had been a second ago. "That was scary!"

She was warm. Warm and soft against him, a sweet smell tickling his nose, and he couldn't move. His body, his brain, had ceased to function. Stunned into silence by his actions, frozen stiff as she glanced over her shoulder to look at him, their eyes meeting inches apart. Too close.

"Thanks, Bede," she said, his name sounding all the more sweeter on her tongue in that moment. "I owe you one!"

It stole the air from his lungs. His eyes widened exiguously, fixed on her breathless smile, the giddy relief on her face, and had she always been this cute?

Rich brown eyes, round cheeks slightly flushed, soft pink lips pulled into a smile, it was as though he'd never seen her - never looked at her - like this before.

Gloria stared back at him blankly. "You can let go of me now," she said, raising an eyebrow. "He's gone."

Bede lurched back, hands thrust in the air, releasing her with a start and a painful thump of his heart against his ribs like a thunderous drum. Distracted by the glow of light from an opening into the cave, Gloria perked up.

"Ah, light!" She trotted away quickly. "Come on, Bede! I think I found him!"

He staggered a step. Clutching at the front of his jacket, fingers winding into the fabric over his heart, Bede stumbled beneath the surging feelings inside his chest. Heat burst and crackled to the tips of his fingers. A blazing blush swept across his cheeks, his heart beating at a dizzying, cantering pace, leaving him winded and unable to think.

What…

What was that…?

He'd been struck by lightning. Struck by her, by Gloria, by something unthinkable and abrupt, and he'd never felt this way before. Insides buzzing and churning, chest fluttering and heart skipping. Unable to comprehend how, or why, he felt like this.

How Gloria, of all people, could do this to him.

-

Cauliflower boy, I love you! Part 5: I’m sorry

It was the look on her face that stayed with him. The hurt in her eyes when he'd snapped at her, stealing his wrist - his watch - away from her grip. Regret cracked over his heart like ice and so, when he saw her lingering outside the Gym on a bench, he knew he couldn't leave it like that. He couldn't leave her like that, swishing a Pokétoy from side to side listlessly for her Yamper.

Two cold drinks in his hands, he approached her, trying to think of something, anything, to say. Gloria straightened, catching sight of movement in the corner of her eyes.

"Hey…" Bede pressed the cold can to the side of her face, his insides churning uncomfortably. Regretfully, once again. "This is for you. Take it."

Gloria winced from the touch of cold metal, before her eyes widened. "Bede?"

She looked between him and the soda can for a moment, her expression softening as she accepted his offer gratefully. The tab flipped open with a hiss and Gloria drank from it with a delighted smile. Bede glanced at her for a moment before casting his gaze elsewhere. He sipped at his drink slowly, still standing by the side of the bench.

"So, I heard you beat Kabu," he said, attempting to sound nonchalant.

Gloria hummed happily. "Yup! I just got my badge."

"I see…"

Silence fell between them, the air awkward and stale. Bede tightened his grip around the bitingly cold can, fumbling over the words on his tongue before managing to speak and break the tense atmosphere.

"Look, I'm sorry," Bede began, making Gloria glance up at him in quiet surprise. "I shouldn't have… yelled at you last time."

The memory was a dagger of ice in his chest. Cold and painful.

"I appreciate the present, but I can't take off my watch." He held up his arm, the too-large watch sliding down his wrist. "This watch is important to me. So, whenever someone tries to touch it, I lose my temper."

"It's fine," Gloria said quietly, her gaze dropping to the can she held in her lap. "Honestly, I owe you an apology."

Her unexpected words drew his eyes back to her, and he caught sight of heavy sadness sweeping behind her eyes.

"I tend to be too friendly to people, so a lot of them seem to think I'm annoying," she continued.

The heavy weight in her voice stunned Bede into silence, his heart sinking.

So, I understand if you don't like me," she said. "Don't worry. I won't bother you anymore."

A breath froze in Bede's lungs. He turned to her with a start, panic spiking his pulse, his mind tossing and fumbling over what to do, and how on earth he'd given her the wrong impression. He dropped onto the bench beside her with a huff, making up his mind.

"Okay, firstly - don't compare me with other people. I hate it."

His voice came out strained. Stiff.

"And secondly…"

Bede turned his face away from her as his cheeks began to burn.

"I don't… dislike you."

His honesty, the words he admitted, hung in the air for a moment where all Bede could hear was his heart pounding in his chest.

"You don't dislike me?" She stared at him, her eyes widening, and she gasped. "Does this mean we're friends?!"

His heart skipped - no, it flopped. It leapt dangerously hard, right into his throat, lodging in place so he couldn't breathe. He couldn't think when Gloria took his hands, when she leant close, her eyes sparkling and dazzling in awe.

"Is that true, Bede?!" she pressed, holding tight to his hands. "Are we friends?!"

A strangled sound escaped Bede's throat as she leant even closer, right into his personal space, and he turned his head to the side. Unable to meet her gaze, to even look at her, when she was this close.

"F-Fine, I guess we are," Bede relented. If only to satisfy her, to get her off his case and away from him.

That's all.

"Really? That's so-"

"-Hey, you there!"

Gloria and Bede turned as a journalist and her cameraman approached. The woman held a microphone in hand, holding it out towards them.

"You two are Gym Challengers, right?" the journalist asked, smiling professionally.

Bede sent the woman a flat look. "Yes, and?"

The microphone was shoved right into his face. "We'd love to do a quick interview so the public can get to know you better!"

Bede's irritation spiked. "And why should I waste my time on you? Us battling is all they need to see anyway." He shoved the microphone back. "Now get this microphone out of my face and shove off."

The journalist and her cameraman blanched before stalking away. Bede huffed. There was no end to the cameras, interviews, nosy people with too much time on their hands.

He turned back to Gloria, to where she had been a moment ago, and found nothing but empty air beside him.

"Where did she…?"

A hand gripped the back of his jacket. Bede glanced over his shoulder to see Gloria cowering behind him, crouching low, an uneasy frown on her face.

"Wh-Why are you behind me?!" Bede barked.

"Sorry…" Her voice was quiet, wobbling. "I just wanted to hide from them."

"Hide?" A realisation clicked into place, and Bede's lips pulled into a teasing smirk. Amusement bubbled in his chest. "Don't tell me, you're afraid of cameras? And you want to be the Champion?"

He leant over to get a better look at her where she shrunk behind him. Her cheeks flushed a bright pink.

"I'm not afraid," she protested, "I just don't like them."

Her defiant mumble, the cute pout of her lips and the sweet blush on her cheeks was too much. Heat coursed up Bede's neck to flood his face, and he straightened, masking his flush with his hand.

"W-Well you need to work on that!" he snapped.

Arceus.

She was so…

He didn't finish that thought. He couldn't, wouldn't, let himself go there. Not now. Not yet, not for a long time, not until he could swallow his pride and admit to himself what this was. What he felt towards her.

That he had fallen in love with her. With Gloria, a simple girl from Postwick, of all people.

One day, he would admit that to himself.

And to her.

[gold3nladybug]

Let's build a Legacy Deck

I do a lot of thinking about magic; you've possibly realised that, since I post long diatribes about what the game means to me on a somewhat regular basis. However, I'm not really very... let's say creative in how I approach the game. I'm not looking to explore new ground, I'm mostly trying to be as good at this game as I possibly can be. I'm pretty competitive, but my motivation isn't really winning - it's more about improving.

Legacy is a beautiful format. Not just the cards themselves, but the complexity, diversity and unbelievable skill ceilings that you can strive to attain playing these cards. I always feel like there is so much more I can learn, so many things I can improve. The level of mastery that could be achieved with these cards is seemingly endless.

So it is only fitting that we start here:

Mercadian Masques is the best Brainstorm. Don't @ me.

Now, beyond that, it's actually not that easy to branch out too far. There is a very real, very challenging financial barrier to playing this amazing format (and indeed all non-rotating formats share this problem to some degree). I own a handful of blue duals, and that unlocks a certain subset of the format for me. I bought them over the course of a year or so, and they were much, much cheaper than they are now. I doubt I'll ever be able to justify buying more, and since I don't have the quantity of duals necessary for some decks, and I own zero Tropical Islands, that subset actually isn't that large. I also don't really own any of the cards to play non-brainstorm decks - no Death & Taxes, no Eldrazipost, no Lands, no Quinn the Eskimo (yup, that's a real deck name. Give it a google, its delightful).

So, I own Tundras. That means that in Legacy, I'm pretty much always playing Miracles. My collection supports that. But that isn't really where I think I wanna be right now

Beautiful.

Stoneblade has had a bit of a renaissance recently, putting up good finishes at a high level because someone recently decided "I think I should play Death's Shadow in Legacy" and almost won the Pro Tour. Decks that play white mana have a pretty solid answer to that, and Stoneblade's ability to switch strategies between defender and aggressor is really valuable. I loved Miracles with Sensei's Divining Top, but the deck was a problem, and without that card it can't always claim inevitably. You need to win the game somehow, and Batterskull is a pretty solid somehow. But it can't do it alone.

Here's the rest of the team.

Snapcaster Mage is a ridiculous magic card. There are a lot of good instants and sorceries, y'all. In a format like legacy, though, playing the full four copies can sometimes be a liability, especially if you don't have cards like Lightning Bolt that can let you convert excess mages into a noncommittal, one size fits all kinda spell. All the cards I have are pretty specialized, and Snapcaster Mage can be all of them. Absolutely wild. I hear Tiago Chan, the winner of the invitational that led to this card, became a professional wrestler.

Wild.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor set the gold standard for what a Planeswalker could be. It feels like a privilege to be able to play with this card sometimes. One thing that I find interesting, is that in my experience I am vastly more willing to +2 Jace as my main plan than others. I get that Brainstorming is awesome and all, but the elevator going up is pretty cool too. It doesn't create numerical advantage, but using Jace's fate seal can create a lot of qualitive advantage and also let's you use an ability that wins the game. I'm a fan.

Vendilion Clique, though, might just be one of my favourite magic cards. It does a whole lot of very cool things, the most important of which to me is create informational asymmetry. This game would be a lot easier if you knew all the cards your opponent had, and usually that means you have to play cards like Thoughtseize. But that card is gross. Also, don't sleep on using Clique to send one of your own cards away, especially if that card is an equipment that you can find with your stoneforge mystic.

Lastly, we have True-Name Nemesis. This card isn't always good, but when it is it's the best card in your deck. If creatures attacking or blocking matters in a game, there is no card that does either that is better for its cost than TNN. My copies are the only cards in my deck that are altered or signed, and I normally like having things be really consistent in my constructed decks, but you can see Zack Stella's beautiful signature. Can you blame me?

So that is how I'm going to win. How am I going to not lose?

Death's Shadow matches up so poorly against Swords to Plowshares, like damn. My pick for the most outrageous removal spell of all time, even with Assassin's Trophy coming down the pipeline, Swords to Plowshares solves so many problems. A lot of this post is just me gushing about these cards, and I understand that might not be the most engaging thing to read, but I really do just love so many of them.

The rest of these spells are broadly about patching holes up. One of the amazing things about Brainstorm is that you get to see a lot of cards each game, so having a few discrete answers to unusual problems can pay a lot of dividends. Council's Judgment and Enginnered Explosives can answer weird permanents that might otherwise beat me, and Supreme Verdict (though sometimes weird in a deck that wants to put creatures on the battlefield) will occasionally just bail you out. And while it might sound funny, it really is relevant that it is blue sometimes.

This is also the best counterspell art. Still don't @ me.

Force of Will is a bit of a weird card, because in a perfect world I wouldn't even want to play it. It is clunky, puts you down cards a lot of the time and is a massive hassle to play for retail. But also, sometimes Force is the only thing standing between you and rampant degeneracy. People play Belcher in this format! It is the glue that holds the format together.

And then we get to this, and I start to question if I actually know what I'm doing. Sometimes I make these really calculated choices, trying to eke out the smallest possible advantage. Other times I think to myself "yeah, that seems right" and this is one of those times. Flusterstorm is a really powerful, versatile piece of interaction that comes with inbuilt protection and scales throughout the turn. Great with Snapcaster Mage, but absolutely worthless some of the time. People play Chalice of the Void in this format!

Spell Snare is hyper specialized, but it does a lot of things that Flusterstorm can't. There are a legion of incredibly powerful, diverse threats that exist at 2cmc in this format; Baleful Strix, Hymn to Tourach, Tarmogoyf, Sylvan Library, enemy Snapcaster Mage, Counterbalance, Exhume, Infernal Tutor, etc, etc. Snare stops them all cold, but only them.

Spell Pierce is the middle ground, the bridge between two entirely different points of view. It's kinda boring, but its pretty okay at standing in for both of the other's jobs. Spell Pierce never wins employee of the month, but I hope it knows I appreciate it.

One last spell in the main deck, and its Search for Azcanta.

X marks the Spot! I play with checklist cards almost exclusively for any DFC cards that I use, even if I'm 100% sure the sleeves I'm using are completely opaque. It is way better to be safe than sorry, and I also like not needing to actually take my card out of the sleeve to flip it when I can have the real card off to the side in an inner to place on the board when I need it.

Once, when I was playing two Azcanta in a standard deck, I asked my teammate if I should have two Azcanta sleeved, one flipped and one not, because I couldn't actually have two in the same state on the battlefield. They looked like they wanted to slap me.

After that is just lands, and you probably don't want to see that...

Who are we kidding, the lands in a legacy deck are beautiful

I'm really proud of my legacy manabase.

This is also one of those examples of those really calculated choices, optimising for the smallest possible advantages. It turns out that you're only allowed to play four Flooded Strand, and after that NONE of the fetches get both basic Island and basic Plains. Normally this means a couple of Scalding Tarns, or whatever other blue fetch you have a few copies of, but why not extract the tiniest, most infinitesimal fraction of an advantage. What if they Pithing Needle Scalding Tarn? What if they're monsters who cast Surgical Extractions on random targets to see if they getcha? Well you're not going to get me, because I have insulated myself by playing three different blue fetches and an Arid Mesa.

Otherwise, Karakas is a lovely tech land against any sort of reanimator strategy, while also unlocking all sorts of fun play patterns with Vendilion Clique. Wasteland is playing in a similar space, being a low investment singleton that can be really good in some matchups, but I don't know if I like it. I might play an extra basic over it, we'll see.

But wait, I hear you asking, why are you playing Volcanic Island. You don't have any red cards!

Entirely fair question.

All the way from the sideboard, red cards.

As you might have gathered, there are some pretty amazing blue cards in legacy. I'm not one to let people just get away with playing blue cards. It's a little weird to have a 2/1 split of red blast effects, but it's just one of those micro optimizations. Sometimes they'll have a meddling mage naming Pyroblast, you know? Also, on my wishlist is a black border red elemental blast of some description. My pyroblasts just look so much prettier.

Also I guess I lied about TNN being the only signed card I play. But again, just look at Franz Vohwinkel's signature. Impossible to turn it down.

The rest of the sideboard is pretty easy to break down. A Hydroblast, because we can't let people get away with playing red cards either. An extra Flusterstorm, because it's just a fantastic card that usually gets better after sideboard. People usually have pretty good spells in their decks, and stopping Flusterstorm from countering those spells can be pretty challenging. Disenchant is a pretty good hedge a lot of the time, for a similar reason. People tend to have some high impact enchantments or artifacts kicking around, so I usually want a cheap way to fight that available to me. Containment Priest and the two Surgical Extractions are a concession to the speed and power of reanimation strategies, that also happen to have some really good splash damage against other really powerful strategies. I kind of want to make room for a Rest in Peace, but for now these will serve. Monastery Mentor is just one of those cards that, in a post sideboard game where a lot of the removal is gone and Pyroblasts imperil the battlefield and stack, can take over a game with extreme speed and quickly end it. It could also be something like a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, but there's value in dodging Spell Pierce.

So the only part of this that might be a bit weird is the Spell Queller, Counterbalance package. My thinking is, coming from Miracles, that Counterbalance is sometimes an exceedingly powerful card. And sometimes it's pretty janky. It's hard to truly cut it from the main deck there, because it helps enable so many of the soft synergies in the deck (revealing for Predict, making all the cantrips that much better, finding spots to crack fetch lands for extra value), even though the times that it's bad it is so bad. But here, I've almost got the same amount of cantripping and deck manipulation as I would in Miracles, but my main proactive gameplan is strong enough that I don't need them in my main deck. It's a perfect card to slide into the sideboard, where I can access it both as a value engine for blue pseudo-mirrors and a desperate tool to fight combo as well.

Spell Queller was a card I considered for Vendilion Clique's spot for a long time. They are approximately as vulnerable as each other in the context of the format, but eventually the inability to profitably play it for value proactively gave Clique the nod. But the other main three drop I play kept me thinking about it. When it matters, TNN is exceptional. But when it's bad, there's nothing you want less; True Name feels like such a brick if your opponent is doing something degenerate. It's an easy swap in those situations for this powerful reactive spirit. Like Mentor, dodging Flusterstorm and Spell Pierce is a huge deal in winning counter wars while also transitioning into an aggressive stance. So many important cards are vulnerable to being quelled, and I'm honestly quite excited to play with it.

So... there you have it. That's my legacy deck. It's not perfect, and I'm sure before too long I'll end up putting Terminus back in here and going back to Miracles. It's hard to change decks in Legacy, and not just because of the price. These cards really do feel special, like you're playing with important pieces in the history of a really great, really important game. I hope I get to keep playing Legacy for a long, long time.