Ten rounds.

If we wanted to get into the Elimination Rounds, we had to win as many of these Preliminary Rounds as possible.

Wes and I sat down in front of our first opponents, a pair of boys who clearly looked like best friends.

They had matching D.I.E. T-shirts and badges and did a complicated handshake before they sat down.

Wes and I, meanwhile, sat with both our chairs scooted as far away as possible from each other.

We won our first game easily, and one of the boys burst into tears. I shook hands with the other boy, nodding to his friend sympathetically, while Wes howled with laughter behind me.

I didn’t know why Wes seemed so pleased.

Wes' role in our team was the easiest one, requiring no skill and no planning. I'd coached him to memorize the same opening moves for every game: he would distract the opponents with his supporting Deities while I attempted to set up my Attacking Deities for a sweep.

I had the burden of the win condition. If I could complete my set up, we would win. If my Deities got taken down before I could complete my setup, we’d lose instantly. We were basically a one-trick pony.

And yet, our one-trick pony seemed to work.

We swept cleanly through one round, then another and another.

Wes grinned evilly as we shook hands with another pair of defeated opponents.

But I was starting to feel uneasy. 

It only takes a few well-placed counter Deities to be able to completely destabilize the aggressive sweeping strategy that I had devised... any decent D.I.E. player with a bit of experience under their belts should know that.

But no one seemed to know how to deal with us.

Wes and I completed our ten preliminary rounds, undefeated.