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OST - Distortion World (The version in game is slowed down to about 0.75x speed)
Displayed on the walls of the office are all the player, cardified.
In the end, it seems as though Archibald was the one who was ultimately conned.
Not even Lara could escape her fate.
: Such crude players they were. Their decks were focused on single elements. Unable to adapt. Only Lara possessed the skill to capture souls of a great many elements.
: Until you, of course.
: The Queen is Dead. Long live the Queen.
Given what happened to the last Queen, I don't know if I want to be the new one.
...That said, I would love to play a game with you, mister "I turned all my co-players into cards for not being good enough"! haha. ha.
: At last...
: There will be no wagers this time, worthy opponent. I hope to play with you for a very, very long time.
: Far past the end of this ruined world.
: But first, a little warm-up. I'll even show you my hand as we play.
Oh lord what are those cards.
In spite of those scary looking cards, we do have the advantage of knowing exactly what his remaining cards weaknesses are.
For example, knowing that his Stakataka won't be capturing anything on the right side and thus we can safely play Moltres above where it'll be played. So we win these! Even though it was just a warmup skewed in our favor.
: Marvelous!
: Waiting for you to make a move, it's the sweetest anticipation.
As someone who's an on and off Chess addict, I fully understand. Less anticipating when I'm suddenly losing cause I'm a dumb 700, but you know.
: I confess, you've only been playing the Beginner's version of Shadow Cards.
...Well there goes all my confidence at just beating you.
: This next game will use an Advanced Rule.
Please don't talk to me about treachery after turning all your members into cards 
: The Rule of Treachery makes cards eager to betray their allies. When a card is captured, it also attempts to capture all the OTHER cards around it. Due to their eagerness to betray, it is also possible to capture an opponent by MATCHING their number.
Oh boy.
: Let us begin our Treacherous Game.
Okay so this, in my opinion, is the hardest form of Shadow Cards. We see that I've already captured Suit's card, and normally that would mean that I'm already off to a good start. However.
Cards can chain capture, and cards are far weaker than they usually are because of the matching rule. This means that it doesn't matter how good of a lead I get, because Suit always gets the last move, and any move can just turn the entire board to your side because of chain captures. So in order to win this, we need to set up the board so that the last move doesn't allow Suit to just flip the whole board over.
In general, I think it's a good idea to divide the board; I don't have any good science for this other than it feels like it gives me more control over where I can get chain captured from.
I want to save my Moltres for later to sweep the board from the left of Celesteela, so I don't try to capture any cards.
This seemingly backfires when Suit pulls a Yellow Eyes Ice Dragon out of nowhere and blocks the place I wanted to put Moltres. However, if you notice, Kyurem is equalling Celesteela on that side, and has also bridged the gap to Stakataka's weak point. Which means...
We win these 
: I didn't expect that. You have an admirable understanding of treachery.
...That's, uh, that's not a compliment, but I'll take it?
: Now, for the final game.
Oh of course there's more.
: Oh, don't make that face. I will honor my debt. But you must defeat me in both high forms of the game to earn your prize.
Okay, at least you're calling it something reasonable like Infinity and not "The Rule of Unending Despair" or some such.
: The Rule of Infinity bends space around on itself. The board wraps around on itself in all directions, so there are no edges. For example, the top of a card placed in the top left corner will touch the bottom of a card in the bottom left corner. Thus, cards on the edge of the board can capture cards on the opposite edge.
Basically, every card will always touch 4 other cards; edges don't matter, the board loops. IMO, this is much easier than treachery.
: Let us begin our Infinite Game.
Shuckle is really good here with smart usage, cause it has a lot more opportunities to attack cause of looping. It also is much more risky cause of looping putting it at risk of being taken off the screen edge.
We have a really good opportunity to play Shuckle right here, as I can attack both Necrozma and Magearna with the strong sides of Shuckle.
Yveltal of course takes both Shuckle and Necrozma, undoing the lead I just gained.
RIP.
: Here, a prize for your efforts.
<Obtained 2 Blank Cards>
: Fill these cards with the untapped potential of Pokémon! I look forward to our next game.
We don't lose anything for losing. There's no penalty.
As Suit said: he hopes to play against us for eternity. Far past the outside apocalypse.
Let's try that again.
First round goes pretty good; it's not a very hard round.
Another example of Treachery being a very swingy game. This would be a bad position in a normal game but Treachery lets us capture the entire board.
Somehow win that a second time in a row.
: Time for the final game. Let us begin our Infinite Game.
Alright, time to do thi-
Nevermind, I'm bad.
Third time's the charm?
So Dan Felder actually has a strategy they recommend with the Infinity game that's really good that I kept ignoring because I'm stubborn and "Infinity is Easy!"; I still opted not to use it here but I recommend it if you're trying it yourself. The strategy is the "Knight's Move"; where you place your first card a knight's move away from Suit's first move; positioning you to capture all 3 cards no matter what Suit's next move is.
Instead, what I do is try to close off as many rows as possible; an unfilled row or column is a dangerous thing in this game.
Okay, now it's time for Shuckle to shine. See, normally that 1 side is useless, but if you've been paying attention to the type chart and the numbers...
Boom! We win these! I'm the best!
: I...
: I never expected this. How could you beat me thrice in a row?
: But a debt must be honored.
: Even my own.
The screen flashes white, and a familiar Pokémon cry plays out.
We get an opportunity to save, just in case you need time to think on the choice.
I have already made my choice, but what would you have picked here?
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