FROM THE FILES OF THE CARD ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

  [The following file is a selection from a primer given to Card Enforcement Officers on assignment to United Nations Card Agency offices located within South Korea; Cascadia is well known in the international community for being a strong supporter of the UNCA, and every year offers roughly 12% of its Card Enforcement Officers to the agency to serve as international peacekeepers. They typically have between 50 and 75 officers stationed in Korea at any given time, spread across 15 different UNCA stations.]

  Of the many things the Imperial State of South Korea is known for, excellence is Competitive Card Casting has become one of the most notable in recent years. South Korea has had a reputation for competitive excellence for many decades prior to the appearance of the cards - a reputation built off of the development programs the nation had built in a variety of competitive disciplines. When the first forms of Competitive Casting were proposed the country quickly applied those same development techniques to Competitive casting. The nation created a specialized Casting Development Program to foster excellence in Card Casting amongst their population, and encourage the growth of casting as a whole. This Development Program has spread to every region of the country, and is likely one you will encounter while stationed there with the UNCA. A working knowledge of this program has therefore been determined to be useful in your ability to conduct Card Enforcement operations, and is being included in this primer.

  The Card Development Program

  The South Korean Card Development Program (SKCDP) was first begun approximately 36 years ago, shortly after the proposal of a Unified Casting Format was proposed by leaders in the international sporting community. This Development Program was based on the programs already in place for other internationally recognized sports within the country, particularly the programs for Archery and Taekwondo. Since initiating this program, South Korea has achieved an incredible amount of success in International Casting Tournaments, having left with a medal at every International Card Casting Federation (ICCF) event for the past 30 years. This reputation for success was created through extensive training programs, rigorous selection processes, and widespread adoption of basic casting education that shapes how casting as a whole is done within the nation. The country is a significant importer of cards from all five major corporate producers, and has treaties with three separate national governments to meet the larger demand in the nation for government issued cards. Like most development programs within the nation, the SKCDP is designed to introduce and promote casting through the entire life of its citizens - with opportunities available for both competitive and recreational forms of casting.

  Casting in Primary Education

  South Koreans begin learning how to cast at a very young age within the South Korean School system, and are given the opportunity to continue casting throughout the entirety of their educational journey. Every elementary school within the nation has a Card Club as a part of its after school program, with similar such clubs in the majority of the middle and high schools within the country. Tournaments are organized at every school level for identifying those with a natural talent for understanding and using the cards, which are free for all students to enter. Cards and casting equipment are provided by the schools to the students, and educational tournaments have no entry fees for students wishing to compete. To manage costs and maintain an equitable tournament environment, elementary students are barred from doing any actual casting - instead competing with “substitute cards” that are printed on old trading card manufacturing machines taken from the ruins of Japan. These cards look similar to true Casting Cards, however lack the magical ability to summon and are incredibly inexpensive to produce. Every school gets a standard set of cards that students are able to use to construct their first decks, and a small collectors market has emerged for the black market sale of formerly school used substitute cards. Elementary school students participating in the development program typically spend 2-3 hours per day practicing as a part of their clubs, with the most competitive students having completed well over 500 mock matches before entering middle school.

  At the end of their elementary school career students interested in continuing in the SKCDP program are assessed on their card casting abilities, and given an overall score that determines their national percentile. This assessment is a combination of multiple factors, including their competitive performance in elementary school, their involvement with their elementary school’s Card Club, and a required end of year Casting Challenge. During the Casting Challenge students are given one of four standard Student Decks, and compete in a local challenge against fellow students where they cast official cards for the first time. This challenge is organized in a round robin format, with winners being determined via the number of successful matches they complete. Winners in each region then compete in a secondary Round Robin event in the capitol of Seoul to determine national level winners - with those national winners being guaranteed admission to the Imperial Primary Academy of Korea (SIDE NOTE: The Imperial Primary Academy of Korea is an all-grades academy located in the same administrative district as the palace grounds in the Korean Capitol, and students there are personally sponsored in their educational endeavors by the Joseon Emperor. It is highly prestigious, and it’s alumni include some of the most successful individuals in the nation. It does not have an equivalent in the Cascadian Education System). Upon the completion of the assessment roughly 15-20% of elementary casters are removed from the development program, and are not granted enrollment slots in a middle school with a casting program.

  During middle school students are given one of two diverging paths in the development program, depending on the resources available to their region and their performance in the elementary casting challenge. Casting clubs in the middle school educational level are divided into “primary” and “secondary” casting teams, which attend different levels of tournament for their region. The top performing elementary casters are immediately placed in their middle school’s “primary” casting team; these teams are the premier representatives of a school and are given access to middle grade School Decks that can actually be used in casting. “Secondary” casting team students are given School Decks with nearly identical cards and effects as their “primary” team colleagues, however these cards are printed on the same printers as Elementary School Decks and cannot be cast like regular cards. Both teams compete regularly in tournaments at various levels throughout the country - ranging from Local to National scale - using an identical rule set and casting order (known as the School Standard turn order; short explanation provided later in the brief). At the end of every year a special tournament is held similar to the casting challenge where each school’s “primary” teams are decided for the upcoming year; this tournament is held at a local level and is mandatory for all teams. Students in the “secondary” level teams are given School Decks identical to those in used by the “primary” teams and participate in a joint competition against the other schools in their region. Students who perform the best in these tournaments are then promoted to be the next year’s “primary” team members. This process is incredibly competitive and continues up to the High School level, when students get a comprehensive assessment on their casting capabilities for high school placement.

  Whereas middle grade casting is a competitive process designed to train excellent competitive casters, high school casting is where competition truly becomes fierce throughout the nation. Spots are even more limited than those in middle grade casting, with only around half of all high schools in the country featuring a competitive casting team. These teams are arranged similarly to teams in other competitive disciplines at schools across the United States, with Junior Varsity and Varsity levels. Students who desire a placement on one of these teams must apply at the end of their final year of middle school, alongside taking a specialized casting examination. Their application is assessed carefully, and considers their testing results, their competitive placement from elementary through middle school tournaments, and an analysis of their usage of card strategy. Teams are significantly smaller at the High School level than casting clubs in middle and elementary school, and only the top 30% of casting students are typically offered slots in a given year. Those that accept are immediately placed in the Junior Varsity level of their schools teams and begin competing with other casters at their grade level in local, regional, and national tournament. They remain at the Junior Varsity level during their freshman and sophomore years, before being advanced to Varsity level in their junior and senior years - if they make the cut. A further 15% of students are cut from High School casting teams in their Junior Year; only the top students get to compete in Varsity level tournaments. Varsity level tournaments have become a minor form of entertainment in South Korea, being broadcast on local and specialized sports broadcasting networks. Interest in the high school level has increased significantly over the past decade, and it is not unlikely that you will be asked to go to one or more watch parties or live tournaments during your time stationed here.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Varsity level tournament is where the majority of casting ends for South Korean citizens, resulting in a citizen base with a greater casting literacy than most other card casting nations in the world. This however is not the final stop for those wishing to continue competing, with several options available for tournament casting in university and beyond.

  The South Korean School Standard Turn Order

  Before continuing on to casting in secondary educational, professional leagues, and recreational leagues, a note must be made on the South Korean School Standard Turn Order - referred to as the “School Standard” by most citizens within the nation. This turn order was designed shortly after the Unified Casting Format was proposed, and was created to help facilitate the learning of each card’s effects and uses more easily for children. The School Standard as adopted by the New Joseon government was nearly identical in ruleset and format as the UCF, with the major difference between the order cards are cast within a tournament. In the School Standard casters conduct their turns in the following phase order: Draw Phase, Equip Phase, Spell Phase, Snare Phase, and Creature Phase. The School Standard separates out the second Draw Phase from the original UCF proposal, while also splitting the Spell Phase into distinct Equip and Spell portions. The Creature Phase is moved to the final phase of casting, but otherwise the format remains mostly identical to the UCF. Card effects are activated immediately - without a special phase - and Snare Cards must be set for a minimum of one turn after being set; these changes ended up heavily influencing the revisions that were made after the fourth Internationals. While seemingly minor in overall difference from regular competitive casting this turn order is critically important to know in your posting with the UNCA as it is the order the majority of the country learned to cast cards in. When conducting operations it’s highly likely you will encounter individuals using this turn order, so prepare accordingly.

  Casting in Secondary Education

  While the majority of South Korean citizens end their competitive casting during their primary education, the government sponsors and encourages a variety of competitive opportunities for citizens interested in continuing casting following their main education.

  For Korean citizens pursuing a secondary education there exists a competitive casting league solely for collegiate casters, with teams at the majority of colleges and universities around the nation. Unlike the teams for middle and high school education the majority of these teams work on a hybrid try-out based system, with slots for both recruited and non-recruited athletes. While the majority of collegiate casters are recruited from the top performing Varsity casting teams each year, every collegiate and university based team is required by Casting regulations to reserve a few slots for athletes who did not have the opportunity to cast as a part of a high school Varsity casting teams. These reserved slots are allocated via try-outs at each individual campus, and while they remain a minority of all competitive casters in the collegiate system many of the most notable casters - such as rising star Ku Do-Yeon - were discovered by this process. Collegiate Teams compete in casting tournaments nearly identical to those professional and national level athletes compete in both within and outside the country, with added divisions for team matches. Students are allowed to participate in collegiate casting competitions for the entirety of their post-secondary education, including at the graduate and doctoral level, so long as they are academically in good standing with their educational institution.

  Casting in Professional and Recreational Leagues

  For citizens who elect not complete secondary education - or who already competed their education - there are two additional options for citizens to continue casting at a competitive level within the country: Professional and Recreational leagues.

  Uniquely amongst other card casting countries, South Korea has promoted and developed a network of companies and Korean Cities which sponsor competitive casting teams to compete in their own professional league. Casters on these teams are formally hired by the companies or cities they represent to cast full time, with the time they are not actively in competitive matches spent studying and practicing the discipline. As of writing this primary there are currently 56 such sponsored teams around the country, with approximately 300 professional casters competing each year. Each team has different methods of selecting its representative casters, as well as a different number of divisions and disciplines represented. Company teams range in size from 2 members to fifteen, and have made competitive casting a viable - albeit extremely selective - career within the country.

  For the first two decades of South Korea’s casting development this remained the only officially designated way to practice competitive casting within the country, outside of illegal casting operations. This system rapidly created an amount of elite level casters within the country unmatched by any other nations, but provided no method for average citizens outside of the Card Development Program to cast. As a response, a loose and unorganized system has grown and developed in South Korea for localized Recreational Leagues that are open to any and all interested citizens to take part. These leagues are often run by local Card Clubs and Card Shops as a part of their regular operation, and have quickly become an incredibly popular past time within the country. Recreational Leagues rarely offer large or desirable prizes and aren’t prestigious, but they have allowed older populations and those without significant resources to access the sport. Within the past ten years there has even arisen several recreational leagues designed to allow elementary and secondary middle School Decks to be used by adults in non-casting matches, creating a vibrant and growing casting environment within the country’s populace. It is incredibly likely during your time stationed in the country that you will be invited to one of these leagues, and it is considered good practice by all UNCA officers to participate in such leagues that do not otherwise interfere with their official duties as a part of the UNCA’s larger outreach efforts.

  National Team Selection Process

  All of these different portions of the Card Development System are designed to culminate in the largest casting event within South Korea: The National Team Trials. These trials are held annually and determine the 5 men and woman who are selected to represent the country at international events in the following calendar year. They are open to any and all interested citizens of the nation who have their own casting deck to participate in, and are a series of matches conducted over the course of the months of November and December to determine the national ranking of every caster who participates. These matches are conducted knockout style, and are televised across the country starting at the 1/64th level. The National Trials finals - where the top 5 are determined - are major events across the country, with citizens and organizations hosting large watch parties to watch the final three matches. These trials are incredibly stressful due to the high number of elite casters within the nation - most of whom participate every year. It is not unusual for the national team roster to fully change after the trials are completed, with many observers both inside and outside the country calling it the most challenging casting tournament on Earth. Making the national team is considered the highlight of any South Korean’s Casting Career, and can almost guarantee the likelihood of multiple offers from professional league teams once their time on the national team has completed. Once on the team, competitive casters are rigorously trained to prepare for competition across the globe, training which is reinforced by significant rewards for those who reach the medal podiums in an international tournament. Depending on the size and type of event the rewards can range from large financial stipends, to permanent pensions and luxury living accommodations.

  Taken together this development program has become an integral part of casting within the Imperial State of South Korea, and has created one of the most highly competitive casting teams in the world. South Korea has developed a strong reputation for casting internationally because of this, dominating medal charts around the world in casting events of every form. It has become an integral part of South Korean culture, and is likely to heavily influence your posting with the UNCA. Remember that at all times you are a representative of both the UNCA and the nation of Cascadia; a symbol of our good relations with the South Korean nation and the international community as a whole.

  Apologies for being a few hours late with this one; life got incredibly busy the past week. It’s not a widely known fact, but for a few years as a college student I represented my university on it’s archery team. I spent roughly 3 years competing in the sport - reaching top 10 in my collegiate division in the US - before an injury forced me to stop competing. South Korea’s archery program is legendary within the broader archery world, and I thought it would be fun to base their casting development program on a modified version of that. Casting Cards are less expensive overall in this world than archery equipment, so it allowed me to broaden the scope of the Korean Development System for archery to make an even bigger and more competitive sport. It isn’t broadened by much however, and a large amount of the elements in this development system are present in Archery in the country. South Korea as it is now has 51 professional archery teams representing cities and companies, has a development program for students at the primary school level at specific schools in the country, and is well known for producing the most elite level athletes in the sport of any nation currently competing. It was a fun Lore Drop to write due to this experience, and it had a lot of small additions to the world that would otherwise be difficult to work into the narrative of book one.

  As always, if you’ve enjoyed this story so far be sure to comment what you want to learn more about, follow the story, favorite the story, and leave a rating or even a review; it really helps! Thank you so much for reading, the next lore drop will be a little shorter and will go out as usual on Wednesday!

  And remember, trust in the cards…