Chapter 103: 103 New card is advantageous for Mount Flower_1
Chen Yunbai made a zipping-his-lips gesture and offered an insincere apology, saying, "Ah, sorry, it slipped my mind."
Dou Yuan was the only one out of the loop.
He didn’t even know that Tang Qian had purchased cards from Guiqing Association and asked Ruan Chunen in surprise, murmuring, "Have we actually bought cards from Guiqing Association?"
Ruan Chunen elbowed him and whispered back, "Yes, the coach mentioned it before, but then the coach didn’t have us train with them."
That was because the Moon Palace Card Set had appeared.
With such a powerful card set available, there naturally was no need for others; and then with the appearance of cards like Mo Liqing, the need for Guiqing’s cards was even less.
The four other players from Guiqing Association’s first team also exchanged smirks upon hearing this. The disdain in their eyes was quite evident; an association so fallen that it needed to purchase cards from others wasn’t worth their respect.
To everyone’s surprise, Wen Jiang looked at Tang Qian and openly asked, "What cards from Guiqing?"
After all, since she was mostly making cards, it was normal for her not to know about this.
Before Tang Qian could respond, the opposing coach, looking astonished and incredulous, asked, "Tang Qian, you can’t mean you *still* haven’t let your new team member practice with the new cards, can you?"
Everyone knows that in competition, new cards have a greater effect than old cards.
Because opponents don’t know how to use your new cards, they can’t find countermeasures, and you can usually gain an early advantage.
The card set Guiqing Association sold to Mount Flower was, at the very least, confidential. Once sold, their own personnel could no longer use it.
However, that batch of cards was initially somewhat ill-suited for Guiqing’s current team members, so the association didn’t hesitate to sell it to Mount Flower as a favor. Of course, when Tang Qian had come to buy the cards, they had ridiculed her.
Now, what was the point of purchasing the cards with such effort if they weren’t going to let the new team member use them?
Oh, it was rumored that Mount Flower had angered A-Level Card Maker Li Xinlu in a fit of insanity not too long ago, which had baffled many. Could it be that after purchasing cards from Guiqing Association, they no longer needed any other new cards?
It was unlikely they had found a better Card Maker than Li Xinlu, was it?
This was what other associations had been speculating about.
Tang Qian twitched the corner of her mouth. She wanted to roll her eyes. But she still said, "We did purchase a card set from Guiqing before, but we don’t have the capacity to train with it right now, so I haven’t had you train with it."
Spirit Card Masters have different areas of emphasis, and it’s impossible to train with all available cards; there has to be some selection. The Moon Palace Card Set and Mo Liqing were enough for them to handle, so naturally, all other cards had to make way.
Wen Jiang was capable of using all cards, but she didn’t train, so the quality of cards didn’t mean much to her.
The smiles on the Guiqing members’ faces indeed stiffened.
Coach Guiqing also found it unbelievable. "Tang Qian, you’ve already bought them, so saying this is pointless. You can’t possibly face us in a competition and claim you haven’t trained, when in fact, you’ve practiced them to perfection."
Tang Qian really wanted to retort. But considering she had bought the card set from their association, she felt she should at least save them some face. So, she just said, "After the appearance of the Moon Palace Card Set, do you think anyone still has the interest to train with those so-called ’new’ cards?"
This remark hit a sore spot for everyone except the Mount Flower Association.
The strength of the Moon Palace Card Set was not in the same league as the A-Rank Cards on the market, including those within the associations. Since the appearance of these three cards, many associations had faced difficult tactical choices, trying desperately to fit these same three cards into various lineups.
Guiqing Association was no exception. Their Card Makers had frantically drawn inspiration from the Moon Palace Card Set, yet they were still unable to create a single card that could compete with it.
Possessing heaven-defying power and being a synergistic card set, it was indeed unbelievable that such a combination could exist.
Some even began to speculate whether the lore behind the Moon Palace was actually true. Could the Card Makers really have drawn their inspiration from the mythical civilization of Yunxia?
Coach Guiqing smiled and said, "Indeed, the appearance of the Moon Palace Card Set has upset the existing balance, but I believe you won’t see it in the tournament."
With those words, everyone understood.
Because it would be banned.
In team matches, a team could ban five cards. Given the current outrageous strength of the publicly available Moon Palace Card Set, it was certain to be banned in tournaments until a better counter could be found. Only in tournaments where card bans weren’t allowed would one witness a Moon Palace Card Set free-for-all.
Just because it wouldn’t appear didn’t mean they could ignore it. Its heaven-defying strength had already predetermined the upcoming shifts in the Card World. You might not train with it, but you had to know it.
Coach Guiqing’s statement also implied that these powerful new cards wouldn’t be seen in the upcoming practice match either.
The members of Guiqing Association weren’t afraid; they all knew Mount Flower had a weakness—a limited card pool.
The two groups didn’t have the most pleasant conversation, and in the end, they each retreated to their respective rest areas to discuss tactics.
「In the rest area」
Tang Qian was explaining the rules about banning cards: "Although the Moon Palace Card Set is strong, making it an almost obligatory ban, unexpected situations can still arise. During the card banning phase, we have to start playing mind games. Everyone wants the Moon Palace Card Set, but having three extra mandatory ban slots isn’t a good thing. Once these three cards are banned, the ace cards seldom seen in previous tournaments from various associations will get their chance to shine."
Every association had a few high-strength ace cards that seldom had the opportunity to be played. The emergence of the Moon Palace Card Set, oddly enough, liberated them.
At least for now, until cards that could rival the Moon Palace Card Set were released, the associations still had to rely on their old cards to get by.
"If we take the initiative to ban the Moon Palace Card Set," Tang Qian continued, "it means we lose a chance to counter the opponent’s core cards, like the Broken Heart Association’s Space Domain. Logically, we wouldn’t consider letting it onto the field. But if we’re the ones to ban the Moon Palace Card Set first, the chances of the Space Mirror being allowed through become particularly high. If we then have no cards to counter it, we’ll also be in a tough spot."
Tang Qian was a coach, after all, and responsible for the ban and pick selections. After her analysis, everyone felt they had rejoiced too soon.
Shi Qi hesitated. "If we reveal Mo Liqing first, then the cards banned against us in the future will become fixed."
Mo Liqing was also an overpowered card, the kind that would definitely not be allowed through the ban phase. In the future, when playing against Mount Flower, everyone would know how to target them.
"But we have five new cards," Tang Qian raised her eyebrows and looked at Wen Jiang. "Together with the Moon Palace Card Set, that makes eight new cards. If we don’t actively ban the Moon Palace Card Set, the opponent will have to free up slots to ban it. No matter how we ban, we’ll still have at least three new cards remaining. What do you think, who has the better chance of winning?"
Tang Qian enunciated each word, "The appearance of new cards is, in fact, the situation most favorable to us."