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shepherds-of-haven · 3 years

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I was wondering if there was a blest equivalent of zodiac signs existing in the ShoH world. Like is there a star sign or season that alludes to a person’s character? I know that in the game the season in which the mc is born does give some stat boost so I was curious! And if so which characters believe in them, take them with a grain of salt, or just flat out ignore them? I can imagine that mimir would take them very seriously if they do exists!

Also, I’m not sure if you’ve answered this but what are some common fairytales in blest? Is there a general story that is well known and popular like how cinderella is widely known to us?

Hi there, thanks for the great question! As far as I know, there isn't really a 1:1 equivalent to star signs or zodiac signs in Blest! There are, like, certain circumstances and omens that are ascribed to people's birth circumstances, some of which include stars, but it's more explicitly superstitious and descriptive of the course a person's life might take, rather than a description of their overall personality, if that makes any sense?

For example:

Blade - born to new snows and a crescent moon, nighttime, beginning of winter: will be a warrior, thought to portend a long, proud, bloody life full of honorable deeds

Trouble - born in the heat of summer, in the middle of the day: potential to either burn out fast or have extreme resilience and outlive many peers

Tallys - born at dawn to the sounds of birds chirping: not much to be said, pretty normal circumstances, might have a tendency for wisdom and having clarity, but not particularly strong signs

Shery - born in spring on a rainy (but not stormy) day: destined to have a peaceful, quiet life, with likely a happy disposition

Riel - born on a fall day when the Polar Candle is clearly visible even during the day: destined to be blisteringly intelligent but shunned and misunderstood by peers

Chase - born under an autumn harvest moon: potential to have extremely good luck or grave misfortune

Red - born during the day, under the Dayspear constellation (Narthax): destined to be an agent of justice and firm with the lines between right and wrong, can be interpreted as being wise

Ayla - born at a blood-red dawn when the Pelinel constellation still visible in the sky: will have a fighter's life, full of hardship, violence, and survival, but will endure endlessly

Halek and Naolin - born under two blue moons with both moons at their fullest, twins: will lead a life of incredible change and destiny, once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, potential to become legends

Briony: - born in spring, morning, with the Tholjass constellation particularly bright throughout the night before: will be a strong fighter with an important social network - links to others are important, or blessed to be surrounded by important loved ones

Lavinet - born in spring, daytime, within a week of the first apple blossoms appearing: will be blessed with great charisma and charm

As you can see, some of these 'omens' fit, and others don't really! There are whole books that are devoted to figuring some of this stuff out, and a lot of it is sort of "pick-and-choose"--like you can conveniently be like "oh that constellation doesn't look THAT visible" if you don't like your baby's omen gfldggf--so it's not really taken that seriously except by superstitious people, particularly small, insular communities with strong ties to past pagan beliefs or ancestral cultures. In the modern day, and especially in big cities, it's not something that's really noted at a baby's birth unless you already believe in that sort of thing.

It's noteworthy that there are also a LOT of bad omens as well as just neutral/vague ones, and the bad omens tend to be more noticed than the good. So if it's like, "Hey, my baby was born in spring, she's gonna be super charismatic!!" it's like "oh! how cool!" But as soon as a baby is born under a blood moon, everyone in the neighborhood is like "YO. Wasn't Teko's kid coming today? The mom is already in labor?? She better hold it in or that baby is going to be destined to be INSANE or a MURDERER"

The baby's not going to be, like, shunned or actually treated poorly for their birth signs, but it will always be that bit of juicy gossip to be passed around in very insular communities, typically by neighborhood wives who want to shit-talk, but few actually like really believe it, if that makes any sense! "There goes Ylissa... Did you know her first was born under a blood moon? *sip tea*" "😲 you're lying..."

As for how each RO feels about these signs and omens, it's basically:

Blade: neutral/indifferent, does not believe in them but does not care or pay attention at all if others do

Trouble: neutral/indifferent, mildly interested when people talk about them, in the way that you ask each other what fortune cookie you got when you're at a restaurant together

Tallys: believes in them to a certain degree: like if someone's baby was born under a blood moon, she'd be like "hm. that's unfortunate" but she's not going to be like "NO. You can't be wise, you were born under the sign for stupidity!!!" In other words, she's not actively thinking about it much and it's more in a passing, shallow sense!

Shery: she like sort of believes in them, sort of doesn't? It's like a fun little icebreaker and she has cognitive bias to believe the ones that are more positive or seem to fit the person better, like wow Blade's seems pretty accurate! But she doesn't whole-heartedly believe in them in any concrete way!

Riel: despises them, especially his. He's smart because he worked to become smart, not because some stupid moon or whatever foretold it!!! stop taking credit for his decisions, moon!!!

Chase: DESPISES his, actively will not talk about it. automatically dislikes anyone who takes the birth signs even a little seriously. (joking about them is okay, but sincere belief is a turn-off for him)

Red: doesn't believe in them at all and thinks they're all coincidental/conveniently vague enough to fit, but doesn't begrudge others if they believe in them and generally won't try to argue with it. Doesn't think his is accurate like at all

Ayla: has literally never even heard of them or thought of them in any meaningful way

Briony: kind of indifferent, she doesn't really like hers very much (if she knows it), she's interested to hear what others are as a fun conversation starter or an insight into their personalities, but does not believe they actually dictate or foretell anything

Lavinet: thinks they're mostly just superstition and doesn't pay much attention to them, but she'd get a little bit nervous if her baby was born to like a really bad omen before laughing it off

Halek: hates his birth sign and blames it for his position in life (his was taken VERY seriously by the Reach). Dislikes talking about it and checks out when other people talk about theirs. Ironically, he's checked out so much that he's forgotten what his birth sign ACTUALLY is and tells MC "it had something to do with the new moon or something" in the game, which is just... wrong lol

Naolin: more respectful about the birth sign and pretty much believes in it, because it would be a super weird coincidence for the first twins born in the Reach in 100 years or whatever to also be born under two perfect blue moons...

Also, yes, there are lots of famous fairytales in the world of Blest! Ironically, most of them have to do with actual fairies (sometimes/mostly spelled faerie or the Faerie) rather than a lot of our prince/princess/monarch fairytales. Some also circulate around angels, deals with demons, djinn, and--especially as the canon of the One-God became more prevalent--a lot of folk stories about saints, like in a Joan of Arc mythologizing sense!

I could swear I did a write-up on common fairytales--no?? Did I dream that or something?? There was a fox, and berries... or... hm. Anyway, I'll have to go hunting for that, but I hope that answers your questions!

#Shepherds of Haven #worldbuilding #fairytale #fairytales #long #long post #stars #constellations #birth sign #birth signs #zodiac #zodiac signs #omen #omens

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baphomet-media · 3 years

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Sword Art Offline - A CrossCode Review

Genre: Adventure Subgenre: Action RPG Developer: Radical Fish Games Publisher: Deck13 Platform(s): PC, Playstation, Switch, Xbox (Reviewed on Xbox Series X) Release Date: July 9th, 2020 Time Played: 60 hours

CrossCode was a game that I knew next to nothing about going in. I heard some faint praise for the title online, but I really had no idea what to expect. The game’s description bills it as a Zelda-like, but offers little else in the way of explanation. The vibrant pixel art environments convinced me to give it a shot. So is CrossCode a success, or is it just a glitch in the system?

Story

In the distant future, humanity has colonized the galaxy. On one remote moon, a company called Instatainment decides to create something unique. They create a one-of-a-kind MMO where the locations in the game are real physical places, and players can log in and explore them using avatars made of something called “instant matter,” a kind of extremely light and insubstantial matter that can be quickly and cheaply conjured up for all sorts of purposes, but cannot meaningfully interact with the physical environment. This MMO is called CrossWorlds, and has become very popular in the world of CrossCode. Despite the fact that the game features an in-universe MMO, CrossCode is in fact an offline, singleplayer game. The different meta layers can be somewhat difficult to explain at times, but I found it to be a novel and interesting setting.

You take control of Lea, a player of CrossWorlds who has seemingly lost her memory. While being aided by man-at-the-keyboard Sergey, she must infiltrate CrossWorlds from the outside and play the game to recover her memories. But all is not what it seems, as a strange flying blue avatar seems to be pursuing Lea.

Along the way, Lea will participate in the game of CrossWorlds alongside other avatars such as the feisty french Emilie (AKA Emilienator), the nerdy Toby (AKA C’tron), the braggadocious Apollo, and many more. Each character has a vibrant design and personality that make them stand out and feel loveable.

The game’s plot is quite intense at times and drips with intrigue, keeping you playing for hours on end. In one of my play sessions, I played the game for over 7 hours in a single sitting, which is a testament to how hooked I was. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout that keep you guessing, and many different layers to ponder over in between sessions. Unfortunately, I feel like the ending falls a touch flat, as it feels like the game just kind of stops and all the conflicts resolve at once, but it’s a small issue.

There is a bad ending to the game, obtainable by missing or failing a single optional story event, but if you’re paying attention and exploring you’ll have no trouble finding it. There is also a DLC epilogue episode that continues from the true ending, but unfortunately this epilogue is not yet available on console at the time of writing. It is currently slated for a ‘Summer 2021’ release, so perhaps I will be able to review it shortly.

I wish there was more I could say about the story because there’s a LOT going on, but unfortunately it would ruin the experience, so you’ll have to discover it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the story kept me intrigued and hungry for more up until the very end. The writing is often witty and funny, and I noticed various references to other series, such as Kingdom Hearts, Gurren Lagann, and Ace Attorney.

Gameplay

CrossCode at its core is a top-down action RPG. Lea has a number of different moves that can assist her in combat, such as melee attacks, ranged attacks, dodging, guarding, and special attacks. Additionally, once you complete the game’s dungeons, Lea will be able to switch into different elemental modes. Each mode has its own stats, special attacks, and affinities, and it pays to be vigilant about which elements are effective against which enemies. Plus, using elemental modes for too long builds up an overheat meter that, when filled, locks Lea out of elemental modes until it depletes. Due to all this complexity, it pays to think on your feet and be conscientious about how you approach fights.

On top of that, there are different consumables that offer timed buffs, different equipment effects which offer different buffs, as well as the Circuit, a skill tree with different trees for each element. Every time Lea levels up, she gains one Circuit Point for each elemental tree to spend on permanent buffs and unlocking special attacks. Some nodes on the circuits require multiple circuit points to unlock, so you’ll have to weigh which nodes to unlock when. All of this combined makes Lea highly configurable, but versatile enough to where you can completely change her build at any time outside of combat.

As you play the game, you will typically have allied characters fighting alongside Lea, which makes tough groups of enemies much more manageable. However, there are many areas which are “instanced” to where Lea must complete challenges alone. These are some of the game’s toughest challenges, and typically involve puzzle solving and/or combat. There are various dungeons around the Playground of CrossWorlds, the in-universe playable area, and most are quite extensive. These are the moments that the game somewhat feels Zelda-like, though really only in that you have to progress through dungeons with various puzzle and combat rooms in order to unlock a new element. Each dungeon adds new mechanics to master, and many dungeons bring back old mechanics from prior dungeons, requiring you to figure out how multiple mechanics work together. I found these sections a ton of fun, even if some of the puzzles were real head-scratchers.

Where would an RPG be without its sidequests? CrossWorlds, and by extension CrossCode, has plenty of sidequests for Lea to undergo to gain experience, money, and items. Most of the quests are your bog-standard fetch quests, but many have the player find new areas, face unique encounters, or even engage in minigames. Fortunately, a lot of the monotony of questing that you’d expect from any other game is mitigated by the fact that you can teleport back to any discovered landmark at any time for free.

As you explore the world, you’ll find yourself engaging in minor platforming. Essentially, areas of the game map are on different elevation tiers, and there are a ton of chests that are locked behind finding out how exactly to manage the elevation to reach a chest on a high ledge, often traveling on high elevation across multiple maps for a single chest. It can be a bit frustrating for people who constantly see chests that are seemingly out of their reach, but I found it fun to hunt them all down. Additionally, using a charged projectile to ricochet off walls and obstacles are quite common. One downside to the platforming is that it can sometimes be difficult to determine the heights of different stage elements at a glance, as the game doesn’t seem to have any sort of visual indication of the different elevations aside from just looking at the relative vertical distance between the floor and the next level. This often causes you to jump into walls or off cliffs during drawn-out platforming sections, which can be frustrating.

Overall, I don’t really agree that CrossCode is a Zelda-like. To me, it’s more like a 2d hack-n-slash without aerial combat. Still, that isn’t a negative, and I feel like CrossCode manages to create something that feels its own and not heavily derivative. I only wish the marketing had played more to its strengths instead of just bragging about how much the game was like Zelda and how many different genres they think they mashed together. I probably would have given the game a shot a lot sooner.

Presentation

The environments of CrossCode are gorgeous, with high detail pixel art that is hard to believe is based on a tileset. The character designs are bold and emotive, and really give you an idea of what each character is about at first sight. The game’s soundtrack is also a banger, with plenty of different tracks in many different instruments. It’s the kind of soundtrack I’d happily listen to outside of the game, and instantly becomes familiar to you.

Conclusion

Aside from a bit of platforming jank and a slightly underwhelming ending, CrossCode is a real gem of a game that anyone who likes RPGs should check out on their platform of choice, and especially if you have Game Pass. This is a game that deserves the same level of cult following as other indie gems such as Celeste and Stardew Valley. I look forward to the coming DLC, and whatever developer Radical Fish cooks up next (hopefully a sequel!)

Score: 9 / 10

#gaming #review #article #crosscode #Radical Fish Games #Deck13

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voidwerks · 3 years

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Void’s Haphazard Guide to D&D: Character Creation

So, YOU are looking to get into the role-playing craze that’s sweeping the world? Well good on ‘ya, it’s a lot of fun! But if it’s your first time, it can be a lot to take in all at once. SO, I’ll try and break things down a bit to help ya ease yourselves in and start adventuring!

Here we have the default character sheet! This, and the information you include here, will be essential. Why? Because it’s ‘you’. All of the details right here will deal with like, 70% of what you’ll need to know day-to-day as a player. Everything else will either be handled by the DM (Dungeon Master, the person ‘running’ the game), other players, or referencing odd rules that pop up once in a blue moon.

The top bar of the sheet is personal details. What your character’s name is, information about who they are, etc. What class and race you choose will largely influence what kind of ‘build’ you’ll have, as well as what type of playstyle you’ll likely have. However, while certain classes and races have standard ways to play, there are always alternative styles and you’re more than welcome to get creative. I.e. in one campaign I played a Dwarven Druid centered around fire, which while destructive can be vital in renewing life. There are 9 default races and 14 classes as part of the core rules, which can be previewed on the website DnD Beyond. However, there are plenty more, both in supplementary books and those created by fans of the series! While Beyond offers only the basics for free, plenty of people are more than willing to share their books, or help you access the necessary information online.

The column on the far left is arguably the most important part on the entire sheet. These are your core stats. Traditionally, there are two ways of establishing your stats. One is called ‘point buy’. This way, your stats will usually be started at 7 or 8, and you are then given a pool of points (iirc 27) to distribute however you see fit. The other way is to roll for them. Typically this is done by rolling 4d6s and dropping the lowest result for each of your stats. A score of 10 is completely average, below that is ‘poor’ skill, while 20 is the max (before modifiers). Now, each DM handles it differently, and they may have caveats or restrictions on your stats. One may say no starting stats over 18, or that you can roll 6 times and assign them how you want. Check with them during creation, or if you’re jumping in let them take a look at it to make sure it’s all peachy!

Once you have your stats, you’ll be able to determine your ‘ability scores’. Ability scores are a plus (or minus) to your roll any time you perform an action involving one of your stats. Like if you try to pick up a very large rock, you’ll have to roll with strength. A stat score of 10 gives you no benefit, while a score of 11 or 12 gives you a bonus of +1 to your roll. Conversely, a score of 8 or 9 gives you a -1 to your roll. These modifiers increase (or decrease) every two points in the stat, so when you start getting really good (i.e. a stat of 20) you’ll have a +5 to any rolls involving that stat!

The column directly next to it is your skills. These are common skills and abilities that adventurers may have that are a bit more specialized than just being strong or being charismatic. Remember your race and class? Both of those will give you a selection of skills to choose from that you are ‘proficient’ in (listed in each of their profiles). Proficiency is a default score, starting at +2, and increases as you level up (i.e. at lvl 5 it raises to +3). So lets say I’m a Lvl 5 Fighter, and I need to throw that rock we picked up earlier. As a beefy, muscular dude, we’ll say I have a Strength of 18 (which gives me a +4 ability score) and I’m proficient at Athletics. To see if I succeeded or not at throwing the rock, I’d roll a d20, add my Strength ability score of +4, and then add +3 proficiency since I’m Athletic! The DM will then let you know whether the roll passed or failed. The DM will decide themselves how ‘difficult’ any action taken in the game is, usually on a similar scale as your stats. Something that an average person could do reasonably may require a 10, something a child could do may require a 5, and something particularly difficult may require a 15+. If it’s supremely difficult, the requirement may even be over 20, which is where your modifiers become very important! Now, there are two ‘special’ results on a D20, which are 1 and 20. These are ‘critical’ results. How these are handled depends entirely on the DM in question, but usually rolling a 1 results in a failure no matter what, and 20 tends to succeed even if the action was incredibly difficult.

The D20+modifiers roll is the bread and butter of the entire game. For any challenge in the game, the DM has a score, and you’ve gotta beat it. Whether it’s in or out of combat, you’ll quickly start getting used to the motions: “Ok, I’m doing a thing, roll a D20 and apply the relevant modifiers.”

In the next post I’ll get into the other key tabs on the sheet, which are largely centered around combat. But with the core stats and D20+modifiers down, that shouldn’t be any trouble at all!

#d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #roleplay #roleplaying #5e

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shinyacademy · 3 years

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The Ultra Wormhole

Prepare yourselves because this is going to be a long post! Today we’re covering the Ultra Wormhole! Because it’s such a long topic I’m going to break it down into a few different sections. Feel free to skip around as you need.

General Information

The Ultra Wormhole is only accessible in Ultra Sun and Moon so unfortunately if you only have Sun or Moon you can’t participate. While I’m on this note: Folks, if you’re still on the fence about buying Ultra Sun/Moon because of rumors that it’s too similar to Sun/Moon, let me put those rumors to rest. Not only have they changed up the plot (in a good way IMO) but there are features like Ultra Wormhole and the photo booth that are worth buying. Get it now while it’s still in production and a reasonable amount of money, Pokemon games get insanely expensive once they’re out of printl!

Also you will be at least 99% through the main storyline before you get to mess with the Ultra Wormhole.

How to Fly Through Time & Space

First off, you will initially be asked if you would like to ride a Solgaleo or a Lunala. Pick whichever one you want, there is no difference between the two other than aesthetic. Some people will argue otherwise. They are wrong. It has been confirmed multiple times that they have the same hit box. Some people struggle with Lunala because they think that the wings are included in the hit box but they are not.

I would try it at least once the way it is initially set up (and I think the game forces this) with the gyroscopic controls where you need to physically move the DA to move Lunala/Solgaleo (from here on out I’m just going to call them your mount). Once you’ve experienced that, head back to Heahea City on Akala island. There go right from the Pokémon center and you’ll see a pretty nondescript building. This is the Ganefreak building, where you can eventually pick up your oval charm (completing the game) and shiny charm (completing the Pokedex). Go to the floor with a bunch of Aether scientists. The scientist furthest left will allow you to change to directional controls which is much easier!

Now you can steer with the joystick which is infinitely easier.

You are going to encounter two types of circles in the wormhole. One is an orange/gold circle. These are your speed boosts. You should go through them. The other are blue electric looking circles. You want to avoid them as they will slow you down.

Eventually you will start encountering wormholes (more on that below). Initially you will want to avoid them because you’ll be hunting for a high quality wormhole. You can steer away from them or let the joystick snap back to center. As long as you have enough speed you will not get sucked into them. As long as your joystick is in the center you cannot accidentally fly into a wormhole (but you can still get sucked into one of you lose speed). However you can still occasionally hit the orange and blue rings. Flying in the center is important though as when you’re going really fast it can be easy to slip into a wormhole accidentally.

More About Wormholes

Each base color has a meaning, mostly the habitat for where you’re going.

Yellow: Cave (ground, rock types etc)

Blue: Water (Mostly water types)

Green: Fields (Mostly grass types)

Red: Cliffs (Mostly flying types)

White: Ultra Beasts

There are a limited amount of Pokémon you can find in the Ultra Wormhole, meaning this type of hunting is not great if you’re looking for specific Pokémon and also not very precise. However your odds are great so it’s worth a try. Knowing that only some Pokémon appear here a few people use it to grind looking for those specific Pokémon. If you want to know which Pokémon are in the ultra Wormhole check out IGN’s guide here. It’s very dependent on which game you have.

Wormholes can also be sorted into 4 categories:

No rings: Common. Your odds for a shiny or legendary here are not great but also not impossible.

One ring: Uncommon. Your odds for a shiny or legendary are increased here but still not great.

Two rings: Rare. Your odds for encountering a shiny or legendary are decent here.

Two Rings with Alolan flowers pulsing: Super Rare. Your odds for encountering a shiny or legendary are very high here.

That being said, I’ve only seen the pulsing flower ONCE in all of my flights (it did have a legendary though) so most of the time you’re going to aim for double rings unless you see better.

From here it’s a balance between knowing how far you can go and going for the best wormhole you come across. For me, I know that the point where the music starts to loop again is where things start to get difficult so I will try to get that far before looking for wormholes to enter. The one exception is that if you see a super rare wormhole you should just enter it no matter where you are.

In general the further into the Ultra Wormhole the better the small wormholes will be.

Landing

Once you have landed inside a wormhole the best practice is to save your game. That way if the Pokémon is shiny and you accidentally KO it you can reset and the Pokémon will still be shiny. However, you can also use this to SR (soft reset) for specific natures or stats, if these things are important to you. If you plan to port the Pokémon into Sword and Shield however, don’t waste your time when you could just use mints or ability patches!

If you get a pop up message like this one it means that you are about to face a legendary Pokémon. Again, now is a good time to save. This is your SR point if you would like to shiny hunt the legendary. Even if the legendary is not shiny upon approaching it you will be able to SR.

If you don’t get a legendary or shiny, go back through the wormhole and try again.

Benefits of Ultra Wormhole

The biggest benefit to the Ultra Wormhole can also be a disadvantage to some, and that is that your odds increase with skill instead of just pure luck. If you get decently good at the Ultra Wormhole mini game then your chance of encountering shinies and legendaries is quite high! The mini game itself is a bit difficult but with practice it’s easy enough to master to the point where you benefit more often than not.

The “hunts” are also fairly quick. You’ll know if you have a shiny or not within minutes and be able to either KO the Pokémon, run away and try again. The whole time you’re fully engaged with the game so it doesn’t feel like it drags out as much as some of the slower paced methods like egg hatching and overworld hunting.

Lastly, this is also the way to collect Ultra Beasts and shiny Ultra Beasts. While slightly rarer than normal Pokémon, shiny Ultra Beasts do appear in the wormhole.

Disadvantages of Ultra Wormhole

The biggest disadvantage is that your shiny pool is limited. If you’re hopping into the Ultra Wormhole to get a shiny Meowth you’re going to be very disappointed. It’s important to know which Pokémon are available so you’re not wasting your time. It’s also fine if you just want to hunt any shiny without further expectation.

I caught Lombre here while writing this article from a rare blue wormhole! Note that I didn’t need a super rare wormhole to get a shiny.

That’s all I have for the Ultra Wormhole! What have you caught in the Ultra Wormhole? What was the furthest you’ve traveled? For me it was something just short of 4,000 light years!

Until next time, happy hunting! ✨

#pokémon #shiny pokemon #shiny hunting #shinyhunters #shiny pokémon #pokemon #pokémon sun and moon

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ladala99 · 3 years

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Shifting Back to Wolvden - New Features and Pack Orientation

Now that my Lioden king has established himself, I'm shifting back on over to Wolvden. I'll be on Lioden probably once a week to participate in the poll and keep up with the news. That's what I did with Wolvden during my semi-hiatus.

I haven't played Wolvden actively since the end of June, so I'm recapping (mostly for myself) what has happened since then on the site, plus giving a reminder (also mostly for myself) what I'm doing and what my goals are.

News

- Right before I left, Community Updates began happening, including the new Raffle Wolf system. I had enough time to make a new class in my pack - the Emergency Raffle Girls - who just hang out and have staggered heats so I'll always have a wolf in heat if I win a studding.

- Two Lunar Events happened, including the August Seasonal Blue Moon event. I was able to get on for both of them and get what I wanted the most, although I wasn't able to play this last week as much as I had hoped to.

- Adolescent Apprenticeships have been added, ensuring that wolves will never be dead weight in the pack unless I want them to be. This update didn't require any changes to my pack, just that I remember to press the Include Apprentices button.

- Pupsitter interface has changed for the better. It's so much easier to use and doesn't require bouncing around pages doing math anymore.

- The HTML Editor... changed. Which makes my den page where I keep all my info very ugly in the editor area (and I started trying to clean it up myself before noticing the automatic cleanup button so I'm afraid to touch that now). I know how to read and manipulate HTML well enough so I'm not too worried, but it is annoying. Spoiler tags are nice, though.

- Tier III bases have had their rarity adjusted so they're even (Cool used to be more common than others), and they all throw a bigger variety of bases more often rather than the same as the parents . I haven't been breeding for Tier IIIs yet(the ones I have are mostly to throw desired Tier IIs), so this doesn't affect me much.

- Questing Overhaul just happened this week. So far I like it. I spent 10 SB on the Lottery to receive over 50 SB from the Snake, and that was the Easy quest. The Medium and Hard quests are also just encouraging me to play a specific way - completing Hunts of a particular size and submitting fish. It feels good to be rewarded for just going a tiny bit out of my way to use more of the site. The widget on the side's also very nice so I don't have to keep checking the questing page to see my progress.

- Small Herbalist improvements with Foraging times being reduced based on level and proficiency, and a medicine stock list for quick reference.

- New items... everywhere. In the Lunar Events and in regular gameplay.

Whew, that's a lot of improvements in two months!

Interesting Polls

- Flaming Objects were voted to appear in Lunar Events

- Upcoming opponents will include Humans, Condors, Alligators, and American Crocodiles. (Probably regular gameplay opponents?)

- Upcoming features include more Explore content, more minigames, talent trees for lead wolves, more in-depth wolf personalities, and a month-long yearly event.

- Flowers were voted to be the next Raccoon Wares biome-specific decor. (And yet birds happened first)

- Staff appear to be requesting feedback from the playerbase about the theming of the month-long event. Choice options for manipulating the story won the hype poll, and so far all of the options is winning the genre poll (Horror being the second-largest, followed by Fantasy. There go my hopes that Wolvden will remain primarily real-world based for a while. Yes, Lunar Event exists, but it's self-contained and a dream world, and dreams are weird. I also don't like visual horror, so.)

What am I doing?

So that was the news, but what're my plans for the pack?

Breeding

I'm still keeping to my goal of having a Sky-based, Ice-eyed, White Merle male as a mate to a future pack leader. This generation, I'm hoping to get an Ice-eyed, Tier II male with White Merle as the next Breeding Male. And I'm still planning on doing it entirely within my pack. Thus far the best I have is a Tier I with Ice eyes and no Merle.

For stat reasons, I plan for a wolf of Dusty's line to graduate to leader's mate next generation.

I also am keeping extra wolves with White Merle, Sky(/Lavender) base, Tier III, and Selene Ornate Spots around to introduce them(or reintroduce them if I lose something) into the breeding pool in the future. It is getting pretty crowded in the Non-Canon Legacies+Interesting NBWs cave. I may have to make a new cave and rearrange things.

Story

...yeah. I had the beginnings of a story last generation, but I lost motivation to write it and honestly I didn't know where I was going with it anyway. As of now, not much about the game is inspiring me, mainly because unlike on Lioden, there isn't drama going on by way of the Fight Calculator. I have one for Wolvden, but since the canon pack is just the lead wolf's family and I've been hand-selecting the next generation pack lead, there hasn't been much conflict.

I'm going to have to think about what I want to do here. I have a fun game down mechanics-wise, but it doesn't lead to in-pack drama since 'being born with the right traits' or 'striving to have a pup born with the right traits' doesn't make a compelling story. That's eugenics when you put it in story form.

I don't have answers right now for how I'm going to introduce conflict. Perhaps this generation will be pretty chill, and the next one will be where I start to introduce conflict. I hope to get that sorted before then.

How long until next generation?

Assuming I roll every day (which I might? But I might not), Pointer will be Lead Wolf until November 9th. I haven't decided yet if I'll swap back to Lioden in October, though, as the current reign kinda makes me want to stock up on October items. I'll probably decide for sure once we get closer.

Once that day comes, I'll swap back to Lioden and start having to deal with the fact that a villain won. It won't change gameplay much (just go with negative karma), but oh boy the story.

#wolvden #wolvden meta

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kimheecheon · 3 years

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tagged by @miyeoncey thanks love ♡ wow i really forget every media ive ever consumed when im asked about it lmao

MUSIC

fave genre: kpop, edm, folktronica. i ilke songs that are upbeat and bassy and kinda tacky and in a language i don't speak

fave artists: i can go on for days but my current faves are loona, a.c.e, dreamcatcher, orβit, ateez, pinkfantasy. for non-kpop daoko, karma fields, zhu, san holo, mahmood

fave song: kyungri - blue moon. unmatched legend. also red velvet - peekaboo, every topp dogg song

Most listened song recently: its a dating sim song lmao

fun fact this was released 8 days ago and it's already my 11th most listened to song in the past 4 years :) yes i obsessively monitor my spotify stats

song currently stuck in your head: e'last - swear

fave lyrics atm: hey. i don't pay attention to lyrics, like i specifically listen to foreign songs so i don't have to hear the lyrics

radio or your own playlist I solo artists or bands I pop or indie I loud or silent volume I slow or fast songs I music video or lyrics video I speakers or headset I riding a bus in silence or while listening to music I driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

fave book genre: low fantasy, historical fantasy, romance

fave writer: ??

fave book: ??

fave book series: the ONLY book series i've finished in my entire life is ilana tan's seasons serises and i barely remember it. i was in grade school

Comfort book: aristotle & dante, good omens (young me wild for crushing on the embodiedment of pollution)

Perfect book to read to a rainy day: ?? ok so perhaps i can't read. it makes sense i play dating sims because i don't have the time for actual books lmao. society if i actually read books *insert that pic*

hardcover or paperback I buy or rent (pirate too lmao) I standalone novels or book series I ebook or physical copy I reading at night or during the day I reading at home or in nature (hello from tropical country) I listening to music while reading or reading in silence I reading in order or reading the ending first I reliable or unreliable narrator I realism or fantasy I one or multiple POVS I judging by the covers or by the summary I rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

fave tv/movie genre: comedy, fantasy, mystery

Fave movie: lego batman movie. i stand by this choice

Comfort movie: lego batman movie, jennifer's body, the proposal, this indonesian horror movie pengabdi setan/satan's slave (THE school recess/sleepover movie. really not as scary as the reviews make it to be)

Movie you watch every year: nightmare before christmas, coraline

Fave tv show: hannibal, ahs coven

Comfort tv show: any game shows & reality competitions (nailed it, drag race, bake off, taskmaster, etc). hgtv fixer upper shows. also indian & turkish soaps and shitty tv soaps (check out this episode titled, verbatim, corpse of a cruel foreman died buried in cement casting anD STRUCK BY METEOR sdfgjgjk i can't make this up)

Most rewatched tv show: hana kimi, yamato nadeshiko

5 fave characters: all three totally spies, wen ning from mdzs (but not for the normal reasons ppl like a character. i would explain but the margins are too small), yuuko from xxxholic (defined my childhood)

tv shows or movie I short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) I one episode a week or binging I one season or multiple seasons I one part or saga I half hour or one hour long episodes I subtitles on or off I rewatching or watching just once I downloads or watches online

tagging @santir0sales ♡

#yeah i know my tastes are lowbrow. camp if you will. dont leave me i promise i can consume media properly #but rn uni is beating my ass and i prefer to not do extra thinking sfsafjgssfssgk

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gemsona-hq · 4 years

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Gemsona May Prompts

✰ May Flowers ✰ In honor of Gemsona-HQ’s Seven Year Anniversary (yeah, I can’t believe it either), here’s a throwback to one of our first prompts! Draw your gemsona with a flower crown (bonus points if the flower’s meaning represents or relates to your gemsona)! Check out our Language of Flowers resource post to find what flower best suits them!

✰ “Best-Hits” Reruns ✰

Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever. Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time… That is up to you.

As I mentioned last month, our Monthly Gemsona Prompts are being phased out (however, our Monthly Gem Challenges will continue for a while longer). Seven years was a good run, and it left us with quite an inventory of past prompts, not to mention the 30 Day Gemsona Challenge and the Gemsona Stats Sheets. Was there a prompt in particular you enjoyed? Revisit it and show off how much you and your gemsona have both grown!

✰ P.S. (I Love You) ✰ Whether you know it or not, your gemsona has always had a silent fan! Over the years I’ve grown very attached to all the gemsonas I’ve seen in the tag. Whether they frequent it or pop up once in a blue moon, running this blog has legitimately made me feel like a proud grandmother seeing her grandkids’ school photos in the mail every time I check the gemsona tag. In light of that, here’s my final prompt: draw your gemsona! Whether they’re just taking a selfie or hanging out with friends, show a little love to your character. There are so many wonderful gemsonas out there, I hope you’re proud of yours!.

✰ Monthly Gem Challenge: Black Moonstone ✰ Each month, we give you an odd, pretty, or unusual gem and challenge you to design a gemsona based on it! Please check the “Monthly Gem Challenge” tag for more information.

Remember to tag your prompt as #GEMSONA MAY PROMPT, and pop any other fanart in the #Gemsona tag! You can also participate in the 30 Day Gemsona Challenge whenever you want or fill out the new Gemsona Stats Sheet (just remember to tag those accordingly too)!

Remember, if you missed out on participating in the past months’ prompts or if you run out of time to finish your piece, just drop it in the #GEMSONA PAST PROMPT tag! (Though I still recommend finishing the prompts during their month since we don’t check that tag as often).

#Gemsona #Steven Universe #Gemsona May Prompt 2020 #Blog Announcement #Gemsona May Prompt

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unforth · 4 years

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Hi there! I absolutely loooove the destiel fic collection and think that it's a genius way to expose fans to fics that might not always get as much attention on fic recs and when searching on ao3. I was thinking of trying to create a similar collection for another fandom and was wondering if you have any tips? Or if there's anything that you wish you knew when you started it? Thank you!

Hi!! Just for openers, sorry I didn’t reply to this yesterday, my mom’s basement flooded and took with it all my writing time, sigh. ANYWAY. On to the topic at hand. How to make a “faves survey” for another fandom, and have it resemble what I’ve made for Destiel? Well, here’s what I’ve done, hopefully some of it will be applicable to you...

1. This is the most important part: Do NOT let it become or be perceived as a popularity contest. Never release the raw stats (except perhaps to a small number of people who you trust to help you). Never announce a “winner.” Never share a ranked list. Never act as if more votes equals better. Never ever suggest in anyway that your purpose to find “the best.” Treat people and fics who get one vote with just as much fanfare as people and fics who get 50 votes. I do release a “top 20″ list just because so many people asked, but even then, it’s in alphabetical order, and meant more as a snapshot. Encourage people to vote for their favorites that aren’t already in whatever collection you end up making, and encourage people to vote for things they don’t usually see on rec lists. Aim for an expansive range of types of fics being voted for, and make it clear - no ship shaming (or secondary ship shaming, if yours is ship-based like mine, rather than being general to a given fandom) or kink shaming.

2. Keep the survey super simple. People don’t read complex instructions, and they’re not going to want to rank lists or anything like that. You can see the one I use here. Feel free to emulate it, copy it, modify it for your own purposes. I used to just do boxes but people would routinely put in way more than 5/10, and while I didn’t really mind the extras, it greatly increased the amount of work I had to do, and since the survey routinely gets a couple hundred replies that I go through, I decided to make it a little harder for people to go over the limits. Don’t bother asking for people’s names or trying to validate the results. I’ve tried. People don’t want to put their names, and validation encourages people not to submit...AND doesn’t prevent cheating...so is really pointless. Just keep it anonymous, after four rounds I can say...that works best.

3. And, speaking of people going over the limits, and cheating...people will cheat. No matter how clear you are that number of votes don’t matter, no matter how much you insist that whatever data you’re collecting will only be used in so-and-so a way...you will spot people “cheating,” for various definitions of the word cheating. People who vote for their own works. People will submit multiple surveys. People will “ballot box stuff” for their favorite(s). People will list more than the maximums you’ve asked them to. People will submit works from other ships, and - though it’s never happened to me - if you make it fandom-general I’ll lay heavy odds at least one dumbass will submit for some other fandom entirely. It happens in different permutations every time, some more obvious than others, but it happens. And the conclusion I reached is...so fucking what? In the end, since the idea is to highlight as many different great works as possible...screw it. Let people vote for themselves. Let people ballot box stuff. Let people submit multiple surveys, or list more than whatever maximums you’ve set. In the end, since every work is treated as equal and one vote is worth as much as a hundred...if they’re cheating to up the vote count, it’s irrelevant, and if they’re cheating to vote for more works, then yay! more works to include! and basically the only thing I’ve found that reduces cheating is to make it absolutely clear to people that I’d really rather they not but ultimately I can’t stop them, so do their thing I guess? And it does help. I got less cheating each time I do it, or at least less that I’m able to catch lol. (as a side note - the one exceptions is the “works for others ships.” Those you can see listed on the “INELIGIBLE” sheet of the spreadsheet I link below, but I don’t add them to the AO3 collection.)

4. Spreadsheets are your best friend. You’re going to want some way to organize the data you’re collecting. I’ve got a public version of the sheet I use that you can see here. It’s pretty similar to my “private” version, except the private version includes actual vote counts, separated by which time(s) I did the survey that the work in question got votes. I mostly use that data so I can do comparisons over the years (“this year X works were added to the collection that were never in it before!”) and because I like numbers. However, depending on how exactly you plan to use the data, you may not even need to tally vote counts, and you could do one that’s more similar to my public version. Also, if you make an AO3 collection, you’re going to want some way to track which works you’ve invited, which have been added, etc., cause otherwise it’s just a nightmare to keep track of. (a little more on this later).

5. Decide how and where you’re going to share your data - as an AO3 collection? As a public spreadsheet? On social media? Maybe you want to make a side Tumblr just for it? Or a Discord server? etc. etc. Like, I’ve got a pillowfort group (though I hardly use it) and a channel in a Discord server (thanks again to the PB folks for making space for me!) with the AO3 collection being the main portal. You want to make sure that it’s advertised enough that people know it exists, and also be prepared that short term you’ll hear basically no feedback on whether people use it, and even long term it’ll be once in a blue moon and suddenly eight people will be like WAIT YOU’RE THE PERSON BEHIND THAT THING I LOVE THAT THING. In that respect it can feel a little thankless but I’ve definitely found that people do use it, it’s just that there’s no real way for people to let YOU know they’re using it (and, honestly...good? This isn’t really about us, after all, it’s about all these fic writers, the goal is to bring attention to them, not ourselves, we’re just a go-between for the writers and the readers.)

6. For making an AO3 collection, you’ll have to invite every single work individually. Some people have their accounts set to auto-accept invites, but otherwise whether the work actually gets added will depend on the authors. Some people will never accept the invite. Some people won’t know how to accept the invite. Some people will accept the invite and then subsequently remove their work. Some people have left these parts completely and will never even see the invite. That’s why it’s important to track who has added and who hasn’t, and periodically double check it (I double check every six months or so). For the people who don’t accept the invites for whatever reason, you can bookmark the item to the collection. HOWEVER, if you do this with your personal account, every single one of those bookmarks will be listed under your personal AO3, which is why I ultimately made the Faves survey its own account - it’s entirely to facilitate bookmarking. You can also use the “Bookmark External Work” feature to link to works that aren’t on AO3, and to tag them to whatever extent you want to. Here’s some examples of how I chose to bookmark external works.

7. Things will inevitably get complicated. Authors will change their names. People who do the survey will use shorthand you’ve never heard of for some fic you don’t know. People will misspell things and you’ll either recognize it even with the typo...or you won’t. People will vote for things that list eight different ships and you’ll have no idea which one is endgame. People will vote for things that have been deleted, or they’ll tell you it’s definitely on AO3 when it’s not, it’s on some other platform. The list of random things I’ve had to deal with is stupidly long and I’ve probably forgotten even more. Just...roll with it. Do your best. Ask for help (“Someone nominated a fic abbreviated as ABC to the collection and didn’t give the author and I have no idea what it is, help me Tumblr!”). And in the end, if you’ve done everything you can think of and you still don’t know...let it go. It’s just not that worth worrying about. And sometimes if you step away and look again in a few days you’ll figure out another way to search and it’ll pop up. But honestly I’ve got a handful of works I still haven’t been able to track down, and that one work that someone submitted that’s only available in Finnish and is explicit and behind a log-in wall on a small independent Finnish-only fic archive...well, I spoke to the author and confirmed the work exists, but otherwise...whelp, it’s not linked, and I did my best. That’s all you can do.

8. No matter what you do, someone somewhere will probably get upset about it. The first time I did the survey, when it got the most traction, I actually got a little hate, and I got some anons who were like “oooooo did you know that ~x~ is cheating” and I had a little “HOW DARE YOU NOT PLAY FAVORITES WHAT ABOUT MY PERSONAL FAVE?” and just...decide how you’re approaching the survey, and stick to your guns, and if anyone is a douche, hit the block button. And, related...

9. Transparency is most important imo. Not transparency for vote counts obviously, but transparency for what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it, and what you hope to accomplish. Make sure your goals are clear from the start (mine weren’t that first time, hence some of the problems I encountered) - if it’s to highlight as wide a range of works as possible, say that. If it IS to pick a favorite, say that too. Just be clear, and honest, and above board, and it should work out okay.

10. Side note...one of the saddest things about all this is that if you do it over an extended period you’ll see authors deleting their works. As such, I personally chose to download every work that gets a vote, that way it’s at least preserved. I then expanded that into a much larger archive that I’m still adding to all the time, trying to save as much Destiel as possible. But then, I’m an archivist at heart, whether you want to branch out in that kind of direction is up to you.

...okay, that’s everything I can think of. Hopefully I didn’t scare you too bad. I don’t know what fandom/ship you’re looking at but for perspective...first time I did the survey I got about 400 replies, and then the next two times it got about 200, and this most recent time it got about 300. I chose to do mine annually, on the assumption that gives some time for people to come and go for fandom and a lot of new works to get created, and I deliberately timed it for about a month after the biggest fandom event (the DCBB) that generates fics, to give people time to read those fics and consider them in their voting. For me, that means I happen to run the survey starting on January 1st, and I keep it limited to 15 days, since usually it tapers off anyway. But you could try experimenting with different schedules, or leaving it open all the time, etc., it just depends how much time you want to devote to monitoring and updating it. For me, I mostly want to do a big burst of work and then not have to think about it most of the rest of the time, lol.

So...questions? comments? thoughts? wanna tell me I’m dead wrong? I’m all ears, lemme know how I can help!

#destiel favs survey #unforth replies #sorry if this is a mess I've GOT to do some writing so I don't want to take the time to edit it #treatlouwithkindness

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jaybug-jabbers · 3 years

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All-Glitch Pokemon Blue Run Pt9: Controlling Corruption

June,

I’ve just received your report that you have captured a Gengar. I don’t know how you’ve done it, but please allow me to repeat myself: if you’re going after C3 next, please be very careful. Gengar is known for being one of the least predictable and friendly of normal pokemon; Gengar’s glitch hybrid is even worse.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

You can stop worrying now. I’ve just captured C3 successfully. There was no horrible song this time, and he was a lot more coopertive this time around.

I’m actually grateful I got the chance to do this. I think I normally would have been terrified of seeing C3 again, but now that I’ve captured one, he’s really not so bad. He’s quite a musical critter. Sometimes when I take him out of the PC, he trills for a very long time for me. It’s almost sort of sweet. Maybe we misjudged C3 a little.

Oh, but also, hey! While I was out hunting C3, I captured a new glitchmon! My Dex says it’s called C6.

Apparently it’s a hybrid of Poliwrath. It seems to share its stats and starting moves with Poliwrath, too. I named him Azure, because he’s a lot of very pretty shades of blue. I’m starting to get quite a large team of glitchmon by now! I may not have the time to raise them all, but it’s always good to have a choice.

-June

---

June,

Goodness, you’ve been making rapid progress. That new pokemon you captured is indeed C6. You need to be careful while raising him, though; he learns Superglitch upon level up quite a number of times.

Actually, considering the pace of your progress, what would you say to trying out a more advanced technique? If you succeed, you’ll be able to access a very exotic and unique species of glitchmon. The downside, of course, is that it involves some risk. You’d be working with Superglitch directly.

What do you think? I won’t ask you to give it a try unless you truly wish to.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

I’ll need to learn how to handle Superglitch sooner or later. It may as well be now. Besides, I think I’m ready.

-June

---

Very well. You’ll need to follow my instructions exactly.

You must return to Celadon’s Mansion. Go to the same place you taught your C2 to forget Superglitch. You’ll need a fair number of Rare Candies, so I’m afraid you might need to duplicate those by exposing them to Missingno., if necessary. Also, ensure you have a full party of six pokemon before you begin. Be mindful of who you place in your sixth slot. Your new friend will be inheriting some things from that sixth pokemon.

Now, arrange C6′s first three moves like such; Body Slam, Water Gun, Mega Kick. (You may need to teach him Mega Kick yourself, but there’s a large department store in Celadon that I’m sure carries TM05.) Proceed to then feed C6 his Rare Candies. He may try to evolve, so startle him out of evolution if he tries it. Once C6 reaches level 24, he will wish to learn Superglitch. Let him forget his final move to replace it.

Then you must locate a small house in Celadon where an old man lives. I believe his house is right next to a diner. I . . . know this sounds crazy, but trust me, this is very relevent. In his house are a couple sculptures of Diglett. You must go stand right beside them. Then, use your Glitchdex to examine your Pokemon menu. Once you are done, leave the house and do not touch your Glitchdex again for the time being.

Go directly to some tall grass and encounter a wild pokemon. Engage in battle, using your C6. Act as though you are about to issue a battle command for your C6. Then simply flee from battle. You do not need to actually fight. Superglitch is so powerful a move, that even allowing your pokemon to think about the move is enough for it to exert a powerful influence.

Once you had fled . . . well. I think you’ll notice exactly what’s going on. Let me know when you do and I can guide you from there.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

I did exactly as you said. Are you sure this is supposed to happen, though? When I entered battle and called Azure’s name . . .

Uhhh, the wild pokemon turned into a weird glitchy mess. And my Glitchdex’s screen did this funny freak out as you see above. I got the heck out of there in a hurry. Once we’d left the grass, though, I noticed how heavy my belt was.

I have, like, sixteen pokeballs now?! They don’t even all FIT. What’s going on? Where’d they even COME from?

-J̶̨̧̡̢̧̧̛̙̣̹̞̳͕̲̥͎͔͚͕̞̤͕̫̱̗̮͍̟̟̘̪͖̟̭̻̣͚̥͔̞̥̣͔̜̟͓̹͈͕̣̫̍̍͛̽̀́̎̓̾̒̀̀̂̈́̀͌̔̇̋̍̎̃̿͆͗̂͊̀̀̈́̐̈̔̒̏̿̎̀̃̈̓͌̌̽̿̄͐̓͘͘͜͜͝͠ȗ̷̧̧̨̢̘͚̣̝̫̫̟̗̞͚̝͇͕̯̯̺̘̰̟̻̟͖̱̙̪̝̤̠̥͙͓̠͙̣̱̜̫̩͖͔̰̲͍̻̖̠̭̪͈̭̭̂̌́̿́͐̋̽͆̆͌͊͆̋͂̋̑͛̈́̌͌̉́́̌̃̈́̀̌̄̇̈́͆̅̈̓́̕̕̕͝͠͝͝͝ͅn̸̢̨͕̤͎̜̼͙̞̳͈̯̫̟̜͖̘̮̯̭͔͚̺̱͙̗͓̩̱͈͖̬͇͙̓̏̈́̔̊͜ͅͅȩ̶̡͈̱̺̳͍̥̳̝̙͙̺̺̥̰̳̙̟̤̦̜̠̜̙̼̈́̽̃̓͐̌͐͌͂̅́̌̇͌̋́͂̇͌̾̿̀̄́́̇̇̀̈́͊̏̚͠͝͠ͅ

---

June,

Keep a steady head. I know things are a tad strange, but I assure you it’s all according to plan.

Head back to the Pokecenter. Deposit your regular party pokemon first. Then switch boxes and deposit the rest of the lot. It shouldn’t take too long. Once you do, retrieve your original party again.

After that, I need you to go back to Cerulean City. That’s a bit of a walk, I know, but it’s important. Try to avoid any trainers on your way. They might . . . err, look a bit odd to you right now.

Once in Cerulean, you need to stand in the southeast part of town. In particular, the white path just below the treeline for the main part of town. In VERY particular, the lower left corner of the end of that path. Once at that exact spot, open your Pokemon menu. Close it and don’t look at it again for the moment. Head directly to some tall grass and once again encounter a wild pokemon with your C6. Do the same as before, then run.

I promise this isn’t just for the exercise.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

All right, I deposited those weird extra pokemon and then I walked ALL the way back to Cerulean and stood here.

This is the right spot, right? I hope so. Then I encountered a wild pokemon. After we ran away, I have to say I felt . . . a little strange. That happened the first time, too, actually. I dunno, my head felt funny. I thought maybe it was just a headache. You think maybe it’s related to the Superglitch thing?

And another question; do I get to check out the new weird pokemon I got now?

-June

---

Glitchdex #: C6/198

Family: Poliwrath Hybrid

Type(s): Water/Fighting

Species Keyword: SPACESEED

When Poliwrath is exposed to a special Moon Stone that is especially powerful, the resulting pokemon becomes warped and mutated. It may later try to evolve into other Moon Stone pokemon.

---

End Notes

Glitches used/mentioned in this post:

* Making Superglitch useful

Click for the next part of the series!

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Nov 27, 2019.

#pokemon #glitch pokemon #pokemon glitching #glitch run #mycontent #pokemon playthroughs

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commandertheory · 5 years

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War of the Spark Commander Set Review

The Commanders of War of the Spark

In white, there’s not too many ways to build around her. Once you exhaust the suite of self-bouncing creatures you commonly see in Karametra lists (e.g., Kor Skyfisher, Whitemane Lion), the next best cards to run are cheap utility creatures like Stoneforge, Weathered Wayfarer, etc.-- essentially goodstuff.

It’s notable that this card could be very good as part of the 99 in Karametra and Ephara lists. Also, it’s a double striker with a big butt for Doran lists.

I’m not a big fan of commanders that solely care about what your opponents are doing because they don’t give your own deck a lot of direction. If you’ve got a Lord Windgrace deck in your meta, then this might be useful in the 99 of hatebear decks that are good at finding their silver bullets.

The best piece of tech for Fblthp is Proteus Staff. If you run a creatureless Fblthp list, you get to stack your entire deck and then immediately draw two cards, which is great for assembling combos, such as Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. If you have mana rocks that produce three or more mana, Scepter + Reversal will give you infinite mana and then infinite activations of Proteus Staff so you can draw your deck and find a win condition.

Nexus of Fate is another solid combo piece to stack on top of your deck with Fblthp, as you can keep stacking it to the top with Proteus Staff and Fblthp, provided you have the 10 mana required to do so every turn.

I’m a little skeptical that this strategy is going to be significantly stronger than what was already possible in any Commander deck with access to Proteus Staff. Like, if you’re already in Blue, you’re not going to be starved for card draw, and you could be running a different commander that provides additional benefits (or additional colors) instead of an effect that your color identity could easily do anyway.

Seems like a very strong commander for extra turn effects. As long as you can keep Scroll Racking your Time Warps to the top of your library, you get infinite turns; even if you have to rely on one-shot effects like Brainstorm or whatever, you’ll still be taking a lot of extra turns, which will hopefully be enough for your 4-power evasive commander to eliminate some threats.

This deck naturally runs a ton of sac fodder; Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, and Bloodsoaked Champion are all good here. You may also want to run some efficient token generation, as well. I also think it’s a good idea to run some of Black’s strong sac outlets like Attrition and Mind Slash so that you have the option to control your opponents with your sac fodder instead of just exchanging them for random cards via Bontu’s ETB. These sac outlets can also help you more easily reuse Bontu’s ETB trigger, especially if you sacrifice her in response to the trigger so you’ll immediately redraw her.

The most unique thing about this commander is the ability to sacrifice noncreature permanents. This opens up cards like Ugin’s Nexus and Spine of Ish Sah, which get you value when they die.

One interesting idea I’ve heard was to run Endless Whispers with her so that you get all your opponents’ creatures that die to her ETB trigger. Blink effects seem good here and I’d think about running stuff like Undying Evil, Kaya’s Ghostform, Abnormal Endurance, and Supernatural Stamina to both protect her from removal and reuse her trigger.

It may also be a good idea to run random sac fodder to ensure the ball gets rolling; it’d be a shame if the massacre never got started because the board was full of 2+ toughness creatures.

Sample Decklist

Similar to a regular Krenko, Mob Boss deck, but with power-pumping effects in place of the activated ability synergies and some of the token generation.

With Krenko, it was important to be able to get a ton of dudes onto the battlefield early to maximize his gobbo-doubling power. Krenko 2.0 doesn’t need random gobbo bodies unless they do something useful.

Sample Decklist

Neheb is kind of a sidegrade from his previous incarnation. The card filtering makes it so that you’re not quite as likely to run out of gas, but the fact that his mana generation is limited by the number of cards you discard to his trigger prevents some of the truly absurd plays that Neheb 2.0 was known for-- you’re not going to be hardcasting Eldrazi and Blighsteels nearly as often in this deck.

Extra combat step effects are very good here, as they can potentially net you mana and they give you another chance to rummage for good cards. I like that this deck can run situational cards like Ruination and Blood Moon because there’s no such thing as a dead draw in this list-- Neheb hungers for bad cards to discard.

Mass land destruction is great in this deck because, like the first Neheb, the Champion can provide the mana you need to cast your stuff.

The single best card in this deck is Aggravated Assault, which goes infinite with your commander, provided you have five or more cards in hand that you can discard-- just make sure you’ve got one of the original three legendary Eldrazi so you can shuffle your graveyard back in and prevent yourself from milling out.

I wish there were more good madness cards in Red, or in Commander in general. Neheb 3.0 is the perfect commander for madness since he provides both an outlet and mana to cast stuff, but the only madness cards worth running are like Fiery Temper and maaaaybe Avacyn’s Judgment.

Sample Decklist

This seems like an awesome reward for running fat donks like Blightsteel and Malignus.

Although he doesn’t play nicely with attack triggers, you’re on color for some sweet combat damage triggers like Balefire Dragon, Hellkite Tyrant, Dream Pillager, Rapacious One, Neheb 2.0, Steel Hellkite, and Mordant Dragon. Neheb, the Eternal, while not a combat damage trigger, also works pretty well with Ilharg.

Ilharg has some synergy with echo, since you’ll never have to pay the upkeep cost, so cards like Volcano Hellion and Crater Hellion are much better in this list than they normally are.

Having six toughness and an ability that lets you cheat mana costs means that Wildfire and Destructive Force are very good here, as is mass land destruction in general. Keldon Firebombers seems like a great way to repeatedly limit your opponents’ mana.

In addition to the usual suite of mana accelerants and haste granters, Generator Servant is quite good here, and I’d consider running Seething Song, as well.

Sample Decklist

The creatures that benefit most from Rhonas’s ETB trigger are win conditions in their own right; you don’t need to rely on your commander to make canned armies like Rampaging Baloths, Titania, and Avenger of Zendikar into threats.

Maybe this wants to be an infect deck, since doubling the power of cards like Phyrexian Juggernaut and Phyrexian Hydra makes them one-hit KOs.

Muscle Mutt is just a voltron deck, albeit one that uses an unusual subset of cards. I wouldn’t run most cards that solely put counters on Mowu, but I like cards that put counters on him while generating cards, like Ordeal of Nylea, Ancient Animus, or Implement of Ferocity. I also like some of the repeatable counter-generating effects; Retreat to Kazandu, Armory of Iroas, and Invigorating Boon (cards with cycling) seem good. There are also some lands that can get counters on your commander, such as Oran-Rief, the Vastwood; Forge of Heroes; and Opal Palace. Also, don’t forget your Hardened Scales!

There’s been a little bit of controversy about Yanggu and Mowu lately because Yanggu is able to bring Mowu with his when he planeswalks (which is supposed to be impossible, as Huatli’s tamales illustrate; normally, creatures are summoned to a plane). It would be weird if Yanggu could only do this with Mowu, but my headcanon is that Mowu is able to do it with anyone but has so far only attempted it with his dog (or that if he had previously done it, he forgot about it when he came down with amnesia).

I don’t think it’s worth running random wolves as sorcery-speed kill spells, but I might run wolves that get me value in addition to fighting (e.g., Rot Wolf, Skalla Wolf, Pack Guardian). Wolfir Silverheart is too monstrously large to leave out of this deck.

I’d also run repeatable wolf token generators like Sword of Body and Mind, Wolfcaller’s Howl, Master of the Wild Hunt, Kessig Cagebreakers, and Feed the Pack. You can also run some of the wolf token generators that create a bunch at once (such as Howl of the Night Pack, Predator’s Howl, and Wolfbriar Elemental) to build your own Ezuri’s Predation.

I gotta say that it’s very cute that they gave Voja a title so that he wouldn’t legend rule the tokens made by the old Tolsimir.

We all know that BG has a lot of good creatures that are worth recurring (putting your opponents under the Abyss with Fleshbag variants sounds like a barrel of laughs), but it also has a ton of good planeswalkers, especially when you don’t have to care too much about protecting them. Firing off a Sorin Markov or a Vraska 1.0, letting your opponents dogpile on it, and then getting it back again next turn seems like a great way to control the board and divert aggro away from your face.

I would try to fit in some ways to give your commander haste (Greaves, Hall of the Bandit Lord) and protect him (Yavimaya Hollow) since he’s the engine your deck revolves around.

This guy checks some boxes to make use of mana dorks that are too narrow for most decks: he costs four, he’s got 4+ power for Whisperer of the Wilds, and he’s an Elf for Priest of Titania.

This card does not appear to be designed with Commander in mind. Death triggers don’t work very well in this format, especially when you don’t have access to black and white reanimation engines. If you discount the proliferate (as you should), all that’s left is a pile of stats, which has never been particularly strong in Commander.

If this guy was just ETB double proliferate, he would have been waaay more interesting.

I’ve heard about lists that use clones to farm his death and ETB triggers, but I tried it and it was not… great… Proliferating before you add the new counters is pretty lame, and one-shot proliferation without cards attached to it is not worth a card slot, IMO.

The best Boros commander ever, and it’s not close. This deck draws tons of cards thanks to white and red’s many cheap cantrips, it can protect its commander pretty easily thanks to the million 1CMC instants that give things protection or indestructible, and it has some great combo pieces like Aurelia’s Fury and Blinding Beam to allow you to soft lock your opponents.

Plus, if you’d prefer to eschew the controlling playstyle for something more aggressive, you can run a bunch of Fists of the Anvil and Double Cleave variants to beat the hell out of your opponents.

Sample Decklist

This card just encourages you to run the most powerful multicolored cards, which tend to be hyper-efficient removal spells like Assassin’s Trophy and Anguished Unmaking. The only non-goodstuff cards in the list are a handful of blink spells so you can dodge removal and refill your hand. As far as win conditions go, turning Niv sideways seems to be the best one; Civic Saber, Conqueror’s Flail, and Duelist’s Heritage will cut your clock in half.

Sample Decklist

Card Ratings

In this set review, I’ll be using two five-point rating scales to evaluate the nonlegendary cards, one that measures how many decks a card is playable in (we’ll call that “spread”), and one that measures how powerful it is in those decks (”power”). Here’s a brief rundown of what each rank on the two scales means:

Spread

1: This card is effective in one or two decks, but no more (ex: The Gitrog Monster). 2: This card is effective in one deck archetype (ex: self-mill decks). 3: A lot of decks will be able to use this card effectively (ex: decks with graveyard interactions). 4: This card is effective in most decks in this color. 5: Every deck in this color is able to use this card effectively.

Power

1: This card is always going to be on the chopping block. 2: This card is unlikely to consistently perform well. 3: This card provides good utility but is not a powerhouse. 4: This card is good enough to push you ahead of your opponents. 5: This card has a huge impact on the game.

The Planeswalkers of War of the Spark

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I could imagine running this in Odric, Lunarch Marshal, since it’s a cheap way to give all your guys indestructible and lifelink or vigilance. Otherwise, it’s not worth your time.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Might see a little play in Arcades as a way to produce a pair of beaters and draw a couple cards. It’s nice that you can curve Teyo into Arcades to frontload the mana cost but wait to produce your tokens and get your cards until after your commander comes down. The rate is not insane, though, and I could see this getting cut for a better stats-to-cost ratio in the future.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

This is solely for self-mill decks. It’s less vulnerable to removal than Laboratory Maniac but you can’t get it back with Dread Return or something similar if you mill yourself out. Either way, both Jace and Lab Man are worse than Nexus of Fate.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

I could see running this in a deck with a lot of wheel effects (Nekusar and The Locust God being the obvious ones) to act as a Leovold, making your opponents discard their hands and only drawing one card to replace it.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Liliana is a bit expensive, but she might have potential in the few decks that can make use of more than one of her abilities. For example, sacrifice-oriented decks are interested in black token generation and getting value when your creatures die, so both her static effect and +1 will be useful there. Also, it’s worth noting that although planeswalkers are generally pretty fragile in Commander, Liliana makes a chump blocker and she’s going to have 7 loyalty when you pass the turn, which can be difficult for your opponents to beat though, especially if you’ve got Savra, Queen of the Golgari or Teysa, Orzhov Scion to control their boards.

Spread: 4

Power: 1

This card is really similar to Chandra, Pyromaster, and that card sees almost no play.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

For the purposes of the Ur-Dragon, it’s two dragons for the price of one and it can potentially deter attacks. I don’t think there’s anyone else that’s really interested in this, though.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

He’s a second copy of Rishkar for green +1/+1 counter decks.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Omnath, Locus of Mana seems like a natural home for this card. It’s kind of cool that it’s effectively three mana since you can untap a Forest with the +1, but this card is still worse than Vernal Bloom in most ways. Vernal Bloom gets you to the game-winning threshold for mana a lot quicker; you don’t need more than 8 or 9 mana to win a game of Commander so what really matters is hitting that game-winning threshold as early as possible. Casting a turn four Bloom into a turn 5 Tooth and Nail is much stronger than casting a turn 5 Nissa into a turn 6 T&N, especially when you consider the fact that your Vernal Bloom can’t be attacked or Bolted in the intervening turn.

That being said, this is still a powerful card for monogreen ramp.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I like the surprise factor of the -2; it’s cool that they’re finding ways to improve on abilities we’ve seen a thousand times already. Anyway, this card is not good. If you want two random cards out of your deck, you can get it at a better rate than this.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Overall, this card feels very intro pack-y. The plus ability doesn’t affect the board, the -3 is a pretty bad rate, and the ultimate is not very impactful. This doesn’t seem like a great reason to buy a box (unless the price ends up being super high).

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Every element of this card can be done much better somewhere else in these colors. There is something to be said for the power of choices, but I really don’t think this card is good enough to see play.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

This card looks a lot like Ajani Goldmane, although it’s much better in superfriends decks than Goldmane ever was. It’s also worth noting that Ajani will probably draw less aggro than whatever busted planeswalker you’re bumping up, so he’s less fragile than he looks. However, I still think this effect is not worth a card. There are some solid repeatable proliferators in WAR, and I’d much rather use them than rely on a card type that can get attacked to death.

Spread: 3

Power: 1

I really like CMC-based reanimation and I’d really like to see it on a WB commander one day. Anyway, since you’re on color for both white and black reanimation you can do way better than this. If your deck is trying to recur a lot of weenies you can run Return to the Ranks or Dusk/Dawn, and if you want to get back one big thing, you can run Animate Dead or Reanimate or Necromancy or whatever.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

With a little tweaking, this could be an interesting commander, as it rewards you for playing with a subset of cards that normally doesn’t get played in Commander. In the main deck, however, this card seems pretty underwhelming. Even in lists that naturally have a ton of deathtouchers such as Hapatra, this is a pretty slow, small, and fragile anthem. If she had some way to gain loyalty, the -2 could help the card find its way into decks looking for sac fodder, but two tokens over two turns for four mana is not going to turn a lot of heads.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

There’s currently no UG commander that really rewards lots of large dudes, but I’m hopeful we might see something in the future (maybe a Simic or Temur Divine Visitation effect on a commander?).

Between Kiora, Temur Ascendancy, Garruk's Packleader, Kavu Lair, and Elemental Bond, we are getting very close to a critical mass of this type of card.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

Maybe if you’re running a deck with a ton of Twincast variants, this could serve as a potential win condition/storm enabler. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the combo, you cast a Fork variant copying any spell, then cast another Fork variant copying the original Fork variant. The second Fork resolves, putting a new copy of Fork #1 on the stack, which can then target the original Fork #1. Keep going through this loop and netting Ral triggers until your opponents are dead.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Young Pyromancer sees play in 6400 decks on EDHREC, many of them in Izzet color identities. I think Saheeli slots into those same lists pretty easily, especially given the potential power offered by her -2 when copying mana rocks or utility creatures.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

What a brutal mana cost. I’d run this in superfriends since it’s almost a planeswalker clone and killing creatures/drawing cards is not terrible in that deck. I think that mana cost and the general meh-ness of PWs in Commander keep him out of most other decks.

Spread: 5

Power: 0 (no sideboards) / 4 (sideboards)

The playability of this guy hinges on whether your playgroup allows you to get cards from outside of the game. The Rules Committee’s stance is that sideboards are not officially supported and have to be house ruled into the format. If your playgroup follows that bit of dogma and Karn can only search your exile zone, then he’s not really worth playing; Null Rod only sees play in the most cutthroat cEDH lists, and while Karn only affects your opponents, I think that’s more than offset by the fact that he costs 4 and can get attacked to death.

Now, if your playgroup DOES let you have a sideboard or just dig through your binder or whatever, Mycosynth Lattice is one of the best things it can do, as it shuts off your opponents’ lands and all of their activated abilities in combination with Karn. Paradox Engine and Bolas’s Citadel are strong cards that don’t require much set up, but if you’re trying to combo off with those cards, you’d probably rather have them in your maindeck, rather than only accessible via a planeswalker. There are some neat artifact combos that you can search for both halves of if you can ensure that Karn lives long enough to activate twice: Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth gets you infinite mana (although again, these cards may be better in your maindeck), and if Painter’s Servant ever gets unbanned, you can use Karn to grab it and Grindstone to mill your opponents out one by one.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Now, this guy is a Commander-playable planeswalker. I’d run this in any deck currently running Scour from Existence (barring Mizzix), which mostly means colorless, monoblack, and monored decks. The +1 is also solid, offering sacrifice fodder that is likely to be pretty useful in many of the monoblack decks that run it, and colorless cost reduction makes it even more powerful in the colorless decks that run it. I’m a big fan of this card, and I like that it disproportionately helps color identities that were on the weaker side.

It’s great that he’s rare, since I plan on picking up a bunch of these.

Maindeck Cards from War of the Spark

Spread: 3

Power: 3

At low numbers, the ratio of bodies to cost is not great. There are so many good white token generators that I doubt this makes the cut, even though the tokens are better than the ones produced by most of its competitors. Also, you should treat the “10 or more” text on this card like a planeswalker’s ultimate and ignore it.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Seems very good in a Mikaeus, the Lunarch deck and in planeswalker decks that don’t invest heavily in mass removal. It stinks that White got the worst experience counter commanders and never got a poison commander because this card has so much potential, but the support isn’t there.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

This is a lot of mana for a narrow tutor. When you consider the fact that most Superfriends lists are already running Black and have access to cheap unconditional tutors, the Beacon becomes much less appealing.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

It does make a lot of Angels for your Lyra Dawnbringer deck. It’s not worth 8 mana, though.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Hating on multicolor permanents is not that great. Although most commanders are multicolor, most main deck permanents are one or fewer colors. To put this card in perspective, Radiant Purge sees almost no play in Commander.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I think Diving Reckoning is a fair point of comparison for this card. Divine Reckoning sees a fair amount of play; it’s in almost 6000 decks on EDHREC, most of them Voltron. While Single Combat has a few knobs that distinguish it from Reckoning, it’s probably a safe bet that it’ll see similar amounts of play in similar lists.

That being said, I’m not a huge fan of this card. It guarantees that the biggest threats survive and most of the time I’d rather take out the scariest things on my opponents’ side of the field than protect my own things.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Varina is very interested in making multiple Zombie bodies for less than three mana. I’m gonna save a little space in a very long set review and suggest you apply the previous sentence and ratings to every Amass creature and most Amass spells that cost less than four mana.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I like this card a lot. I think it’s much stronger than Steady Progress, and about on the power level of Tezzeret’s Gambit, which sees play in 8500 decks on EDHREC.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Kruphix is very interested in outlets for the absurd amounts of mana he produces, and unlike almost any other commander, he can realistically hit the “10 or more” mode.

Mizzix likes X spells that generate value, so she might also be in the market for this card.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This card could see play in planeswalker decks as another Inexorable Tide. This could also potentially see play in Mizzix decks as an additional way to bump up your experience count or in Noyan Dar as a way to grow your manlands.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

The additional mana relative to Thrummingbird hurts, and this also misses on some of the bird tribal lists (Kangee) that were interested in that card. Still, I could imagine running this in Atraxa, Ezuri 2.0, and Vorel.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

It’s a cheap Sphinx for Unesh, and it can bounce another Sphinx to your hand so you can get another trigger.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Unfortunate that it can only target your own creatures and planeswalkers, but it seems strong in superfriends decks and simic +1/+1 counter lists. It’s also quite good in Estrid, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, and Saheeli, the Gifted, since all of those commanders have mana-generating abilities that make the Double free or cheap to cast.

There are also a ton of commanders that this can break wide open. Double Reaper King, double Atraxa, double Zndrsplt… if you’re in Blue and you’re running Helm of the Host, this card seems like a big upgrade.

Spread: 3

Power: 5

This is the new Paradox Engine. If your deck has a lot of card selection and tutors then this ought to be able to win the game all by itself. Some of the better interactions:

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: This guy was kind of a joke before Citadel got spoiled. His mill effect is really weak and he’s in the bottom half of all Dimir commanders when it comes to popularity. However, he works pretty well with the Citadel because he can mill off excess lands from the top of your library so that you’re less likely to fizzle when comboing off.

Sensei’s Divining Top: Turns the Citadel into a Yawgmoth’s Bargain (thanks to @snarwin for pointing this out).

Mana Severance: Gets rid of all the lands so you won’t fizzle.

Aetherflux Reservoir: Subsidizes the Citadel’s life payments and eventually serves as your win condition.

Spread: 3

Power: 4

It’s interesting that this and Bolas’s Citadel showed up in the same set, since they’re both six mana black rares that offer insane card advantage and mana savings at the cost of a ton of life.

Anyway, I’ve heard people talking about using this in Oloro and other decks that gain life very easily. It could also be good in decks with very low curves so that you’re getting more cards for the life you’re paying.

Interestingly, it deals damage to you rather than makes you lose life, which means that you can prevent the damage, give yourself protection, or give the spell lifelink in order to cheat the life cost.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

The ability to get back noncreature cards is pretty rare in black, and if your deck has a lot of redundancy built into it you can sometimes remove your opponents’ ability to screw you. Plus, there’s a lot to be said for making deals with the opponent in the weakest position to get back the cards that will knock someone else down a peg.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

It provides a steady stream of Skullclamp-compliant sac fodder for decks that need it, as well as a self-recurring threat for Varina Zombie tribal lists.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This card seems like great value for mopping up small utility creatures. 4 mana to kill some combination of Oracle of Mul Daya, Fauna Shaman, Tymna, Edric, Mentor of the Meek, etc. seems pretty strong. I think the easiest point of comparison is probably Black Sun’s Zenith. Black Sun’s sees play in over 15,000 decks, and it’ll cost you the same amount of mana to kill the same creatures. This one is asymmetrical but won’t get the random collateral damage against your opponents’ other creatures. I think they’re about on the same power level, although it’s worth noting that you could conceivably hit the 12 mana in a monoblack deck with Coffers and a bunch of ways to find it.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

This guy requires you to jump through a ton of hoops. In order for him to do his thing, you have to have:

A way to give him haste and/or a way to protect him until your next turn.

A high density of instants and sorceries

Either an extremely low curve on those instants and sorceries or a way to buff the Arcanist’s power.

I can think of commanders that fulfill some of those requirements, but not all of them.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

X spells are great in Mizzix and she has a ton of great targets to choose from. Seems like an easy inclusion in that list. It could also be good in Zada as a way to re-use your token-generating spells and cantrips.

Neheb, the Eternal is one of the few commanders who can reliably get X to 10 or higher, since that deck is desperate for good mana sinks and it runs a fair number of strong instants and sorceries.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This card is awesome. Great in Hapatra decks as a way to get a bunch of Hapatra triggers at once and accelerate the death of your opponents’ dudes. Also seems solid in Thelon of Havenwood for spreading spores, nabbing experience with Meren and Ezuri 2.0, pumping the team in Mazirek, and of course, building loyalty among your planeswalkers.

Spread: 4

Power: 4

I don’t think we needed more cards like this, but whatever. The rich get richer. Other cards in Green that accomplish the same thing:

Tooth and Nail

Green Sun’s Zenith

Survival of the Fittest

Finale of Devastation

Chord of Calling

Worldly Tutor

Natural Order

Fauna Shaman

Note that all of the above are Commander staples.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Useful in Sasaya as a way to get more Forests in hand. Also a solid upgrade over Sylvan Scrying in a Nissa, Vastwood Seer deck.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Unfortunately, none of the Green planeswalkers that you can run as your commander have insane ultimates, so I don’t think it’s worth running in those decks as a means to pop em off really quickly.

It is, however, a slightly more expensive Deepglow Skate for Atraxa, Ezuri 2.0, Vorel, Pir & Toothy, and all those other blue/green counter-based decks.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Over 7500 decks on EDHREC run Naturalize, and this is strictly better, even if it’s not a huge upgrade.

Spread: 2

Power: 1

This card suffers from the Immortal Sun effect, where it does several things, but none of them particularly well. +2/+2 isn’t a huge boost for a one-shot effect, and the lack of trample is frustrating. Also, I don’t like that this card is really bad at punishing pillowfort, since their artifacts and enchantments are what’s preventing you from getting it.

If you’re in need of artifact destruction, you’re probably better off running a tutor to find your Bane of Progress. If you’re in need of an Overrun effect, you’re better off running a tutor to find your Craterhoof Behemoth. Might I suggest Finale of Devastation?

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I really don’t like the idea of pumping mana into this in the hopes of getting something relevant. However, I do like running it in decks that can manipulate their top card (Hua Tuo, Honored Physician comes to mind) and in decks that just like its type line and don’t actually care what it does (such as Reki, the History of Kamigawa, who only cares about running the cheapest legendary cards possible).

Spread: 4

Power: 3

I really like Negate and Countersquall, so I’m happy to run this effect as a 5th or 6th counterspell in all my decks with a blue/white color identity.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

I love asymmetrical board wipes. Note that it doesn’t target the creature it bounces so you can still cast it when you have no targets and it can’t be fizzled by removal. This seems like a pretty easy inclusion in most blue/white lists in the market for sweepers.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

This could be really sweet in any GR deck that runs a lot of mass land destruction-- maybe something like Grand Warlord Radha that isn’t totally reliant on its lands to cast its spells and can generate enough mana early in the game to bounce its lands and still cast a Thoughts of Ruin.

It also might be good in Borborygmos Enraged, as it’s a way to get lands back to your hand that is much less painful than Storm Cauldron.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

While the average CMC of Commander decks has crept down over the years, this is probably still very good. It kills all but 4 of the top 21 commanders of all time and while it’s pretty bad at taking care of mana accelerators and cheap draw engines, it’s great at killing the most terrifying threats in the format (such as Paradox Engine, Gods, Praetors, Titans, etc.). Don’t run it over Anguished Unmaking but consider it in a high-CMC metagame.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

I have not played a lot of Decimates, so I can’t fully judge how strong this card is. I thiiink it’s worse than Windgrace’s Judgment because of the rough mana cost, 6>5, sorcery speed.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

Eldritch Evolution sees a surprising amount of play (almost 9000 decks on EDHREC), but Neoform is worse in three ways, so it’s hard to be bullish about this card. I think I like it in Tishana, since she naturally wants a bunch of creatures on the field and morphs into Craterhoof, but I’m not sure there are many other commanders that would be stoked to run this. Maybe in Ezuri 2.0 as a way to trade mana dorks for Sage of Hours?

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This is the cheapest we’ve ever seen this effect and it can be really devastating to an opponent to have their commander permanently stolen. That being said, there are other cards with similar effects that cost only a little more, such as Legerdemain and Switcheroo, see hardly any play in Commander.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Very unfortunate that the red mana in its cost disqualifies it from being used in the two decks that want it most: Doran and Arcades. There are a bunch of Kynaios and Tiro decks running Wave of Reckoning, so there’s potential for it to be run there (although it’s worth mentioning that Wave of Reckoning was included in their precon, so it may not actually be that great in the deck; maybe people were just too lazy to take it out).

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This seems very good in Lord Windgrace since that deck has a ton of mana to pump into it, a slow clock, and many ways to recur it.

Other slow control decks with lots of mana available will probably be happy to run this card, since it’s a difficult-to-answer counter that doesn’t require a deck slot.

Spread: 5

Power: 1

Even with the restriction to creatures, Winding Canyons is much better than this and doesn’t see a whole lot of play, so I’m skeptical that this will accomplish much. Losing a land is a huge downside.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

This is great! Coming into this set I was hoping to see a lot of proliferate attached to staple effects, and there’s nothing more universally useful than lands. It’ll be tricky to run this in Atraxa and five-color superfriends lists because of the heavy color requirements in those decks, but I’m sure planeswalker decks with fewer colors (the nicer Narset builds, for example) and infect aggro, +1/+1 counter decks, -1/-1 counter decks, and experience counter commanders are all going to find room to run this card.

Wrapping Up

Were there any cards I missed? Do you disagree with any of my ratings? Let me know!

#set review #commander #edh #mtg #magic the gathering

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currebunz · 4 years

Text

Burn The Candle At Both Ends Ch 8

AO3 Link

When you woke this morning, it felt like a dream. You felt like you slept for years and was finally waking up. Not that groggy feeling kind of waking up, like your life just started anew. As cheesy as it sounds, it was because of the other occupant in your bed. Dabi was sound asleep, villains probably don't have work schedules. You carded your fingers through his spiky hair, causing him to stir in his sleep. Dabi opened one of his eyes lazily, almost staring through you. "It's too early to be up yet" he groaned. You lightly tugged on a chunk of his hair. "It's noon" you corrected him. Dabi buried his face into the bed, trying to ignore everything around him. You pulled your hand away from his hair, resting it on the sheets underneath you both.

"I didn't say stop" Dabi muttered into the sheets. A soft smile crawled onto your lips as you resumed playing with his hair. You laid in bed with him a little longer, there was no work today with the building being reconstructed. Once your stomach began to growl, you had to roll out of bed. Dabi lifted himself onto his elbows, the blanket sliding down to the middle of his back. It was then you realized he was nude, brandishing his burns. "Where are you going?" he asked. "Going to eat? You want in?" you asked. Dabi slid out of bed slowly, letting the blanket fall back onto the bed. He looked on the floor for his underwear and his pants. "I could go for a bite" he sauntered over and placed a short kiss on your lips. He nibbled on your bottom lip teasingly.

"I'm not on the menu" you swatted him away playfully. "Shame" Dabi chuckled as he followed you to the kitchen. You reached into your freezer and pulled out a box. "Hope you like frozen waffles" you called out to him. Dabi nodded taking one from you. "Wanna see something cool?" he smirked. You stayed silent, a sign for him to continue. Dabi's hand lit up with blue flame that engulfed the waffle. The flame died out quickly, producing a burning smell. "Ta-dah" Dabi stuck the pastry into his mouth and began eating it. You gave him a slow clap, rolling your eyes. "Wow, you're going to put my toaster out of business" you teased placing two waffles into your toaster. Dabi took another one from you, humming in delight. You watched him burn another one and eat it plain. "No syrup? You monster" you snickered while taking out a bottle of syrup. "Correction, villain, plus that stuff will rot your teeth" Dabi shot back. You held eye contact with him as you drowned your waffles in syrup. "I'll keep that in mind when I get arrested for cavities" your sly grin taunting him.

The morning continued with light banter between you both. Your phone had rung, excusing you from Dabi's company for a moment. "Hello ____? It's Numero, we're having an emergency meeting in the park today in the afternoon" your boss informed you. "If you can make it, please come to hear about the office change, it's easier in person than email" you could hear the distress in his voice. "Sure, I'll be there" you agreed quickly. "Great! It won't take too long, I swear on my abacus!" his voice cheered up quickly before ending the call. You turned back to Dabi, meeting his lazy gaze. "I gotta go to a meeting in the park soon, promise not to burn the place down?" you smirked as you leaned over him. Dabi let out a scoff in disgust. "That was one time, what happened to you being shaken by all that?" he rolled his eyes and pushed your face away. "You're the one who wanted to stay" you placed a soft kiss on his palm. Dabi starred at you before pulling his hand away and kissing you on the lips. "You're the one who didn't want me to leave" he replied. You ignored him and went back to your room to get a change of clothes.

By the time you finished, Dabi was sitting on your couch with a lazy stare. "Well, I'm off" you felt awkward about leaving him here. Both of you realized it was dangerous for him to be out during the day, which meant he'd probably be laying low till nighttime. "I'll be here" Dabi waved you off. As you shut your door, you missed his mischievous smirk.

You made it to the park faster than you wanted to. Your anxious thoughts on leaving Dabi behind made you walk faster. Either way, the sooner you arrived, the sooner you could leave. You recognized the familiar faces of your coworkers, each of them chatting quietly. "Oh Miss ____, I'm glad you made it" Numero's tiny assistant ran up to you with a small stack of papers. "Please take one, I have plenty to go around" she squeaked handing you a copy. You examined the paper carefully, noting the long paragraphs detailing the incident. "We'll be starting shortly, so have a seat nearby" she smiled before scampering off. You glanced around, not finding anyone you were burning to talk to. You plopped onto the grass quietly and waited for the meeting to begin.

Numero stood in the front of the group, twisting his mustache anxiously. "I'm glad you all made it and I'm glad you all seem well" he announced, clearing his throat after. "As you know, our office is under reconstruction, for now, we will be working in a temporary office owned by Sir Nighteye" he continued. A few gasped in awe while others sighed. "Anyways, you've all been forwarded relief money until we can resume work" a few cheers rang out amongst your peers. "However, please remain cautious of villain activity and try to stay in contact with your assigned agency" Numero hushed the crowd with his stern voice. His assistant held up a copy of the paper provided. "Work resumes on the date listed, see that you record your agency's stats on your own time before that date" she explained.

Afterward, everyone slowly dispersed. A few complained about the homework while others appeared over the moon about time off. You felt uneasy about having to meet with Endeavor during a time you wanted to laze about. Speaking of fiery men, you wondered what Dabi was up to. You checked your phone and noted he hadn't texted you. For a moment, you considered texting him that you were done. You decided not to, it would seem clingy. As you walked back home, you checked your bank account and your heart skipped a beat. As stated before, a large amount of money was deposited from Numero. You felt a skip in your step as you neared your apartment. Tonight, you were going to treat yourself and maybe Dabi too. You felt over the moon as you opened your door.

"I'm home!" you announced cheerfully. No reply came, filling you with anxiety. Your apartment hadn't changed, except for the absence of Dabi. You checked your phone again, still no word from Dabi. You took deep breaths, eliminating the worst possible outcome that came to mind. Dabi would most likely return when he wanted to, there was no need for you to know his whereabouts. You walked around your apartment looking for him or a note at least. You returned to your living room with no fruits of your efforts. Giving in, you sent Dabi a text notifying him of your return. Now you waited, wondering what to do with your free time. After a few minutes, your phone dinged with a notification. You quickly opened your phone to read Dabi's reply.

You stared at the text, trying to process what Dabi was planning. Ultimately, you decided to just go with it. Before you left, you put on a touch of makeup. The sun was setting by the time you made it to the park. You walked along looking around for Dabi. A strong had gripped your arm and tugged you behind a tree. A hand covered your mouth before you could scream. On instinct, you dug your elbow into the chest of your captor. He let out a grunt, but his grip didn't loosen on you.

"I-it's me!..."

You paused. It was Dabi.

You relaxed your shoulders and waited for him to release you. "Damn, I thought that was supposed to be romantic..." Dabi scowled still in pain from your attack. "You shouldn't try shady things when villains are on high alert" you nagged him. Dabi rolled his eyes. "Anyways, c'mon" he began walking ahead. You lagged behind a bit, ignorant of what he was planning. "Where are we going?" you asked. Dabi looked back, a small smirk on his face. "A date idiot, you look nice" you weren't sure to be angry or happy by his response. You realized you had stopped and were falling behind. "Hey wait!" you broke a stride to catch up with him.

Dabi took you back around some alleyways. They were lit up with signs for bars and clubs, a few emitting savory food or alcohol. "Isn't it dangerous for you to be out like this?" you asked. Dabi shrugged, stopping at a doorway. "We keep this area safe so people don't snitch on me" he explained. Dabi took your hand and pulled you into a little niche. The stairs traveled downward, causing you to slowly descended into the dimly lit area. The area opened to a fairly tamed club, a band was playing in the corner while everyone mingled. "This is where the people who don't want to be scrutinized under the public eye come, real freaks" Dabi chuckled.

You followed him to a table set up in a secluded corner. Dabi pulled your chair out, chivalry hasn't died after all. A server came by and recognized Dabi. "Well, it's been a while slick" she had said in a sly voice. "Someone has to pay your rent doll" he shot back. You watched the exchange mildly concerned. Dabi took note and cleared his throat. "Don't worry, I just helped Jaguar here when she needed it" he explained. The server sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm not that old, had I still been a man I'd take you outside" she warned. Dabi rolled his eyes and lifted his menu. "After I got those sleaze bag debt collectors off your case? You're the real villain" he chuckled. Suddenly, 'Jaguar' had a change of heart. "Oh Dabi! I would never! You're my knight in flaming armor after all!" she cooed. Dabi gagged a bit, making you laugh.

"Don't call me that, it makes me sound lame" Dabi spat. "Anyways, who is this pretty gal?" 'Jaguar' looked you over with a smile. You introduced yourself with a small wave. "Oh, how precious! I've gotta let the chefs know! Any allergies hun? You won't need these!" 'Jaguar' swiped the menus and gave Dabi a knowing smile. "This one is on the house!" she sang before disappearing behind the doors to the kitchen. You stared at Dabi, watching him lean back in his seat. "So much for a relaxing night" he sighed. "It's okay, I'm having fun" you reassured him. A few minutes passed and Jaguar flew by with water. Dabi began to ask for a drink, but Jaguar gave him an intense glare. "I won't have you getting tipsy on your first date" Jaguar scolded him.

By now, Dabi was regretting life choices as you animately waved at the passing servers. They each had a colorful personality and knew Dabi to some extent. "Shove off you guys" Dabi finally shooed them away like birds flocking to food. One of them left a plate of round fried balls on the table. "What are these?" you asked, taking one and examining it. "Fried cheese curds, try one" Dabi popped one into his mouth without hesitation. You tried one and it felt hot in your mouth. "It's good," you said around the warm cheese. "They must be picking some of my favorites, what losers" Dabi laughed. Jaguar came back around to be nosy, only to run away as Dabi glared at her. "The staff really likes you" Dabi gagged again at your comment.

"I don't need to be liked, but they aren't so bad" despite the irritation in his voice, he was smiling. "So, you just keep this area safe?" you asked. Dabi nodded. "This area is predominately villains, so I keep it in line for those who do petty crimes" he explained. "From heroes?" you continued. Dabi shrugged again. "Heroes and other villains, it doesn't hurt to have some insurance" he glanced around as he spoke. You noticed that everyone in the surrounding area appeared rather eccentric or underdressed. Not something you would see at a cafe or a five-star restaurant. "It's like the slums in a way, but rather friendly" you muttered aloud.

Dinner came and went rather quickly. Jaguar had presented the house special, which had been a dish you weren't familiar with. It tasted amazing, making you wonder how you had been missing out. Jaguar came by after you were finished, with two shot glasses. "And for dessert! Parfait shots" she placed one in front of you and one in front of Dabi. "I gave yours a little hit for being a good boy tonight" she winked at him. She turned to you and crouched down. "Oh, yours was made non-alcoholic dear but if you'd like something don't hesitate to ask" she apologized. "It's no big deal, I'm good" you nodded. "What a sweetheart, Dabi don't fuck this up" Jaguar shot him a strict glare before prancing off. You were practically rolling in your seat.

"That damn queen, let's hurry and leave already" he slammed down a large tip and took his shot in one go. You finished yours in two takes, feeling your tongue spark with sweetness. "I should make these for the club" you hummed in delight. Dabi stood up and took your hand. He pulled you to your feet and hastily exited. From behind, there was a collective "good-bye" from the staff and patrons, no doubt trying to embarrass Dabi. The cool night air brushed up against you, drawing you closer to Dabi. "Let's go this way" he led you down the road. The busy city calmed down and a still quiet filled the emptying street. Dabi pulled you into a seemingly abandoned building. "Where are we going?" you asked. "You'll see" Dabi continued forward.

A broken staircase appeared in your way. "Just a moment" Dabi crouched down and slung his arms under you. He lifted you bridal style, being careful not to let your clothes drag. "Hang on tight" he ordered. You didn't hesitate to wrap your arms around his neck. Dabi went around the staircase and climbed the broken debris skillfully. You weren't sure how many floors you went up, but eventually, he stopped at a floor with the wall broken out. "Close your eyes for a moment," Dabi asked as he placed you back on the ground. You did as he requested, still a bit unsure of the situation. Your nose caught the smell of burning and you hear the crackle of flames.

"Alright, you can look now" Dabi called out. Your eyes opened to the now dimly lit room. Moonlight fell through on one side while a dozen candles lit the other. A sheet was set up to provide coverage, Dabi stood near it with his hand outstretched. "C'mere, I set this all up for you after all" he beckoned. You approached him slowly, still shocked by this display. Your hands fell into Dabi's, allowing him to pull you closer to him. Now, standing chest to chest, you could see Dabi's blue eyes shining through the darkness. "You said you wanted a date, so here we are" he pulled you to sit down next to him. Dabi looked up, prompting you to follow his gaze.

The giant hole in the wall made it easy to see the starry sky above. "This is the best place to watch the stars, the city lights make it too difficult" Dabi muttered aloud. "It's an amazing view..." you felt a breeze blow by and it felt cold against your skin. "Here," Dabi shrugged off his coat and draped it over your shoulders. His arm slid around your waist, providing heat as well. "Thank you" a slight flush blossomed on your cheeks. Dabi was sitting so close to you, it was all so romantic. "Hey, you're missing the view" Dabi tilted his head into your line of vision. You perked up, embarrassed from being caught in a daze. "Sorry, it's just all so sudden" you apologized.

"I can be sentimental sometimes" Dabi leaned his head on top of yours. A tender moment passed by, you in Dabi's arms as you both watched the stars. A shooting star flew by, earning a gasp from you. "Make a wish! Make a wish!" you excitedly patted Dabi on the chest. "Alright, alright" he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. "Did you make one?" he asked. "Of course, but we can't share our wishes or they won't come true" you zipped your lips to emphasize your superstitious beliefs. Dabi obeyed, going back to watching silently. Your eyes flickered to Dabi's side profile occasionally. Your wish playing over and over in your head.

"I wish we could be together forever"

#dabi bnha #bnha #mha dabi #dabi x reader #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #burn the candle at both ends

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1358456 · 5 years

Text

Lack of Updates?

So... let’s take a look at all the active stories and their last update date.

DE: July 6 (3 months) SC: Sept 7 (1 month... already?!) Legacy: May 25 (4.5 months) Heart: May 11 (5 months) Wings: Sept 7 (1 month) SoS: “5 months ago” (5.0 - 5.9 months)

It’s somehow been a month already since Wings and SC were updated, and much longer for the others. ... And updating the stuff on Ao3, which I haven’t done since... March 7. Hm.

Honesty time!! As usual for these kinds of posts, TL;DR version is down in the bottom, before the “keep reading” thingy.

For Ao3, I stopped updating SE there because an upcoming chapter requires SA to end first, and SA is nowhere near the end there. And for whatever reason, updating the other stories’ existing chapters once every 2 weeks was so annoying that I just stopped. So... I think what I’m going to do TOMORROW (note to self) is update all that remains for SA at once. And once that’s done, I can update everything in SE (so far) a week* or so later. *6 to 8 months

SoS... I’m working on it. I THINK I can have it finished soon. MAYBE this week?

SC and Wings were “just” updated, so they won’t be seeing an update for a bit. ... SC might because I want to work on it, but Wings will not be seeing an update until 2020. Triple the review count for the last chapter, and THEN we’ll see. Shouldn’t be too hard, since that’s just +4.

DE... I forgot what I was going to do for it. And it’s not my immediate priority anyways, so... it shall remain forgotten for now.

Heart... I don’t know what happened to it. I forgot everything about it. Whoops.

Legacy... it’s wedged. Like, the story progression events kind of conflict with each other. The details will be given in the bottom of this post, after the whole “keep reading” thingy. IF that decides to show this time around. I noticed that some posts that I make ignore the “keep reading” thing I put in, and show everything at once. Well, in the event of that, I’ll just have to put like a double manual line break to signify spoilers ahead.

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(This was a SINGLE manual line break)

Now, one BIG reason why the updates are slow and no progress has been made in the past month or so is because my current interest in Pokemon Special (and all of Pokemon entirely) is at a flat 0. It was declining pretty fast for a while before that point, and now it’s at a flat 0. Hell, after that fallout, I haven’t checked or seen anything from Pokemon Special. BW2 probably updated twice since the last time I checked. So... two updates would be one full chapter? What happened in it? I don’t know. The greatest thing in the manga could’ve happened. Or the absolute dumbest thing could’ve happened, and I don’t have a clue, nor do I care. Has SM/USM updated? Probably at least once. I have no idea what happened in it. And I also don’t remember where it left off. Has SS arc started? ... Have those games come out yet? No idea. What little interest I have for the arcs, I have even less for the games. 0 < 0??

Hell, I don’t even know where my 3DS is right now. My friend gave it to me for free, and I used it ONLY for the Generation VI/VII Pokemon games, and I put it away somewhere because I wasn’t going to be using it any time soon, and now I don’t know where that is. Not that I actually tried to look for it, but that’s besides the point.

Anyways, the point is... me trying to write up the update chapters is me trying to write about a series I don’t really care that much about anymore, with characters I’ve moved on from. I’m trying to force myself back into things, but the progress is slow. The whole headcanon chronology and the random X & Y tidbit were a part of me trying to force the interest back. In that regard, I’m compiling the full headcanon chronology, including the headcanons for EVERYONE instead of just Red and Blue (and a bit from Platinum). That will take a while, and in order to make such a thing, I’ll have to look at my own stories pretty closely which should hopefully force some interest back.

Now, why am I holding on instead of letting go? Well... I’ll have to return to Pokemon Special in a little while anyways, albeit briefly, so... letting go now is meaningless. And I’ll be checking out the manga again only to see Sword and Shield and their personalities, abilities, stats, etc. Stats??

And hey, maybe if Sword and Shield are interesting enough, it might just rekindle my interest altogether! ... I kind of doubt it but it’s certainly possible!

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So, TL;DR version... updates are taking a while because of the lack of interest in the series as a whole, so have patience, s’il vous plait. Updates will come. The time will come! The period of update-hiatus will end! 苦盡甘來, 捲土重來! ... Okay, neither saying particularly fits well with the current situation, but the two put together KIND of works in painting the right picture, so hey.

Okay. Now time to see why Legacy update is wedged, how it’s wedged, and what the possible solutions are. Spoiler time. Why spoil the story stuff? Because why not. I think there are exactly two people who read my stories AND my Tumblr posts. Maybe three. So I’m not spoiling a lot of people (nor am I spoiling a lot because most of what I’m going to write has already been discussed in the story). So for you two (or three), proceed at your own discretion. You know who you are. And no, I’m talking about YOU, who stopped a bit after 1/3rd of Destiny over two months ago. YOU know who you are as well.

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(Double manual line breaks)

So, why is the Legacy update stuck?! Let’s look at the plot thus far, and in particular, the unnamed enemy’s plans. The enemy does have a name, but it will be hidden for now to avoid the major reveal later on. MUCH later on. So we’re talking like 7 years at this rate (...).

The enemy is trying to progress with a project called K3, which seems to be a part of a K-series of projects, given how “there will not be a K4″ (Legacy #001: Rendezvous), and K2 already existing (Legacy #004: Derailed). Given how K2 talks in an automated voice and gives VERY accurate data like time in 1/100th of a second, it’s safe to assume that this K2 is an AI. So then K3 is assumed to be the next version in a line of AI projects that requires money, the Rotom Dex, and Blue for whatever reason. Given what they said about Platinum’s mental capacity during her kidnapping, it’s likely that they’re trying to use particularly brilliant individuals’ brain scans (Legacy #004: Derailed) as a base for the AI memory matrices. Blue is canonically quite ingenious with technical stuff, which would make her quite suitable. ... Cortana, much? ... Remember all those Cortana quotes Blue used back in SA? (”Could you sacrifice me to complete your mission? Could you watch me die?”) Heh... Anyways. The enemy currently has money and the Rotom Dex. So all they need now is Blue. And that is where the wedging occurs.

In order for the enemy to snatch Blue and proceed with their final “ingredient” in K3, the Dex Holders need to NOT be on alert. Currently, they ARE on alert because Platinum and Y were briefly kidnapped. The Dex Holders’ discussions led to the conclusion that no more Dex Holders may be targeted from this point, so if that continues, then they will no longer be on alert, which is good. BUT the latest chapter also had Moon being attacked, and set on fire, while her Rotom Dex was stolen. If the others find out, they are going to stay on alert for a long, long time.

From here, I have 3 possible solutions, each with their own logical issues and requirement problems.

1) Moon does NOT tell the others what happened. This gets the other Dex Holders in the Kanto-Johto area to relax pretty shortly, thus allowing the rest of the plot to go ahead. The problem is... why would Moon not tell anyone, and what would happen when Moon meets up with the others? She’ll be covered in bandages, so everyone is going to ask what the hell happened. “I... um... fell down some stairs? ... That magically gave me burn wounds?”

2) Moon tells the others what happened, and moves to regroup with everyone else. At this point, Moon and Sun will move to the nearest region of Hoenn, gather the Dex Holders there, and then move to Kanto/Johto to regroup. Which means everyone will be gathered at the same time. And I don’t want everyone gathered up into a giant deathball. But from here, there are two different solutions.

2a) The enemy lures the Dex Holders into their fake HQ, and then fakes defeat, thus getting them to think that the crisis is over. ... The problem with this is that... well... this kind of thing is very hard to go unnoticed by a certain group who really should not be made aware of this yet. And the Dex Holders already know that their enemy is quite sophisticated. So if their HQ seems like... real shitty, they’re going to know something’s up.

2b) The enemy goes into hiding, so the Dex Holders slowly lower their guard after a long period of time. The enemy also happens to need some time to get their project underway until they need their final piece, but... they’re not going to need that long. And if things take too long to progress, Moon’s injuries would fully heal, but the rest of Legacy requires her burn wounds to remain. Healing, but not healed. That said, it’s not mandatory, but... it’s a decently big deal.

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So that’s where Legacy stands. I haven’t figured out a 4th solution that avoids all conflicts and still gets everything rolling.

... Hmm... I think I’m just now getting a possible solution. Maybe. This will require some thought...

Now, this dilemma caused the wedge right now because depending on which solution I go for, the next chapter will vary. So I can’t actually write the next chapter until I decide on the solution and then work things out from there. So... yep. Just have patience ㅠ.ㅜ...

#rambling #legacy

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burlybanner · 5 years

Text

Syzygy

Notes: New story. Will be putting it in installments, probably once/week. This is more or less to keep me honest with writing it. If I don’t, I won’t finish. I know me far too well. It’s a monster, probably close to NaNoWriMo levels if I’m honest. But it’s a nice monster. Note the tags.

Syzygy

Rating: M (themes/language mostly)

Pairing: Stark Spangled Banner

Special note: an AU of Infundo (post-Infundo Chronicles).

Summary: They’d always been a triad - sun and moon, encircling a heavenly body...

***

The question was so out of the blue, so perplexing, so - fuck no, he must be losing his hearing - insane that Tony dropped the spanner. It bounced and clanged angrily across the lab's cement floor causing one bot - U - to chirp softly and pick it up. U tried returning it to its creator by repeating bumping against his leg, but Tony focused on one thing right now. One person.

"Run that by me again?"

"You heard me." Bruce Banner stared at an oil smudge between their feet. It was twisted in an odd shape, reminiscent of pancake-shaped licorice. "I don't think I need to repeat myself."

"Oh hell, no. No." Tony yanked the spanner from U's grip and tapped his shoulder with it while pacing the floor. "You don't drop a bombshell like that without giving a guy a hint. What brought this on?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah, honestly."

"It looks comfortably soothing, I’m tired of running, I like who I am...and." He bit down his response, holding it between his teeth, but Tony could see Bruce mentally shifting gears - frustratingly choosing to conceal a portion of truth. A skill Bruce was, unfortunately, still good at doing.

Bruce sighed. "Maybe I'm warming up to full-on pampering from you and Steve. Do I really need to explain myself?"

"All right, fine. I...get it. Sort of." Tony paused mid-pace and gave Bruce the side-eye, but not without sauntering over to his extremely significant other while poking him in his gut (and Tony's finger sunk in a good five inches, before Bruce swatted his hand away).

Like diving into fresh dough, Tony thought wickedly.

“Stop that.”

"Whatever. I'm just saying, you're what. Three-sixty? Three-seventy?"

"Three-ninety."

Tony tutted his tongue against his teeth, his eyes scanning Bruce from head to toe. He'd overlooked how round and jowly Bruce's cheeks had become and how much more his heavy belly wobbled over his belt like an over-inflated water balloon.

Tony slowly scraped his lower lip with his teeth and let his libido drink in Bruce's delicious form. His fat had dissolved all his chiseled edges, smoothing them like candle wax, dimpling him in places Tony never expected to notice. Arms, legs, face, chin, chest, neck - even elbows and fingers Pillsburied up into scrumptious fat. Bruce'd blown up like a county fair attraction and Tony couldn't tell where he'd even put on the extra twenty; Bruce’s fat had settled into all his body’s spare nooks and crannies. All that lovely jiggling Jell-o. Waiting for touches, prods, tickles, and gropes—

"Earth to Tony," Bruce muttered, snapping his fingers in Tony's slackened face.

Tony snorted, pretending Bruce hadn't mesmerized him and turned him so the fuck on. Was he becoming more like Cap these days? Wouldn't doubt it. "ANY-hoo," Tony said, grabbing a rolling chair. He took inventory of Bruce more thoroughly by rolling around the scientist, taking a good 360-look while Bruce stared at his circular pattern.

"Are you trying to orbit me?"

Tony laughed. "No. Although that could be an experiment for another day." Tony poked and prodded Bruce’s flab, freely grabbing fistfuls of his favorite butterball and fluffing his ample butt cheeks.

"Tony," Bruce cautioned.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"What are you plotting?"

"Me, plotting? Perish the thought. I'm planning, Banner. I have ideas, I have a million ideas. But we're gonna have to get Cap involved. He'll want to know."

Bruce fidgeted somewhat, which surprised Tony. Didn't seem like something Bruce would be shy about.

"So soon?"

"Well, yah, the sooner the better." Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "What's bugging you, Care Bear?"

"Nothing," Bruce said, but Tony didn't believe him. He let it slide as he rolled back to his desk.

" 'Nothing' for now, babe, but I'll challenge that declaration later." He did a quick calculation in his head and pulled up Jarvis' keyboard. "J, open a new file for me. Call it, 'Operation Supermax.' "

"Seriously?"

"Don't mock the name, Brucie Bear. It's not like I had time to come up with something better."

"New file created," Jarvis intoned, flooding the room with his soothing AI voice. "Would you like to add to it now, sir?"

Tony grinned at Bruce. "Scan Brucie for me, Jarvis. Put all his current vitals in there. Show us what we're working with."

Jarvis threw up a 3D image of Bruce‘s body and stats. “I will say, I'm quite curious, sirs."

"So‘re we, J. Especially interested in what'll happen after we tell Cap."

Bruce looked less enthused at telling Steve, but whatever. Steve was their partner; not telling him would be ridiculous. "Sure you don't wanna say why you're lookin' grim?"

"I'm not grim," Bruce stated, and Tony waggled his finger at Bruce's lie.

"Not my monkeys, not my circus. But you know Steve'll get it out of you if I can't, Pooh."

"I know."

"Easier to rip off the band-aid."

"I said I knew, didn't I?"

"Fine, fine." Tony toggled a few buttons on his keyboard. "J, call Steve down. We're gonna have a family meeting."

But Steve relayed a message through Jarvis saying he'd meet up after he'd finished his workout. Bruce had grabbed five pounds' worth of snacks and wanted to wait for Steve in the media room, but Tony cajoled and wheedled him until he caved. Which was why he ended up joining Tony in the exercise room instead, ogling Steve's lifting routine. Well, “cajoling and wheedling” wasn’t exactly right, to be fair. Watching Steve work out was a damn privilege.

"I feel like a stalker," Bruce muttered, unwrapping one of his remaining chocolate bars. He wasn't not staring, though.

"He probably knows we're here. He says he doesn't, but I think he does. I'm just obeyin' my thirst."

"Quit watching those dumb commercials." Bruce scarfed down his jumbo Snickers bar with two or three grateful grunts and gulped down his soda. And no, Bruce's Adam's Apple bobbing so deliciously up and down did not mesmerize Tony. Certainly not.

Nope.

"Mmf--and/or, get off social media. Sounds like you’re trying too hard to fit in with the cool kids."

"Heh. You can't tell me Steve doesn't like teasing us right back." Tony pointed his chin at Steve powerlifting weights rivaling Thor's class. "Look at 'im, you can't tell me he's not a thirst trap."

Bruce made a face as he tossed his wrapper and soda can in the trash. "Definitely too much social media."

Tony's eye lingered over Bruce's dwindling dragon hoard of snacks, which teased a lecherous smile from his lips. "You startin' early, or what?"

"Gotta keep up my strength."

"Mhm." Tony went into his head, thinking about how Steve'd go bonkers. In a good way. Probably in a good way. "You know Steve'll have his own ideas. You gonna let him go hog wild?"

"Oh, hardy-har." Bruce tore into a packet of mini donuts. "Yeah, okay, fine," he grunted. A smattering of donut crumbs sprayed from his full mouth before he put a hand to his lips to stop them. "You figured out why I'm apprehensive. Don't rub it in."

"I'm not tryin' to, Brucie. In fact, I think you're blowing this up way out of proportion." And don't think Tony didn't recognize the pun, even if Bruce didn't. He casually watched Bruce scrape crumbs from his shirt. "Don't you think he cares enough that h--"

"Oh, hey, fellas!"

Steve finally noticed them salivating in front of the spy window. Which was what Tony called it. Really, it was a breezeway with a window to the exercise rooms so folks could check for occupied training floors. But Tony mostly used it to indulge his naturally nosy nature.

Steve grabbed a fresh towel and wrapped it around his neck while Tony bit his tongue. Making lewd comments was tempting and although Steve wouldn't have minded, Bruce would get skittish if he ramped up the tension now. And if Bruce bolted, well...kinda made what he was about to do moot.

"What's up?" Steve dabbed sweat from his forehead and plunked next to Bruce on the thirst trap bench. His cheeks reddened when he noticed the mound of opened goodies. "Is it an emergency? Fury call us in?"

"Oh, nothing like that," Tony said. He propped his feet beneath the breezeway window. "Bruce has something he wants to say."

Bruce wiped powdered sugar off his lips while swallowing thickly. "Well, not...exactly."

"Yeah, ya do, exactly," Tony said, nudging Bruce's shoulder. "Boy Scout," he said, calling to Steve. "D'you think you could steel yourself enough to not act like a kid in a candy store?"

"Tony..."

"Bruce, hon', it's all good. Steve," he started again. Poor guy already looked five kinds of confused. "It's something that'll affect the three of us but unless Bruce explains with his big boy words I'm not gonna help him."

"Traitor," Bruce huffed.

"Only way to kick you out of the nest."

"What," Steve said, finally getting a word in edgewise, "the hell. Are you two talking about?"

Bruce shot Tony a narrow look before turning to Steve. "It's...it's not enough," he began slowly. "I-I mean, we're fine," he stuttered, gesturing to each of them. "We're great. But I want. I want more. And I'm not sure how you'll take it."

"Just know," Tony interrupted, "I'm on board 100% if you are. But I'm looking at this from a scientific perspective more than--"

"I thought you said I should tell him."

"Well, you're taking too long, Banner. Cut to the chase!"

Steve held up a hand, motioning both to shut their traps. "Thank you," he said once they quieted. "Now. Bruce. Muffin." He stroked Bruce's chubby cheek and Bruce melted like butter in his hand. "Gimme the specifics. Let me decide if I'll be okay or not with whatever it is."

But Tony could see the small trembling smile on Cap's features; Steve was noticeably scared. He made a face, hoping Bruce hurried it up before causing irreparable damage.

"I want," Bruce sighed heavily. His glance went back and forth at the men in his life, then to his hands. "I'm not exactly happy at my current weight."

Steve's lips thinned. He looked like someone had taken his favorite toy away, but the expression fled before Bruce caught it.

Tony noticed, though.

"So you want to lose weight," Steve sighed. He kept his voice level but Tony detected his disappointment. "Well, I understand. It's not like we expected it forever and--"

"No," Bruce interrupted, quieter than before. He wrapped his hand around Steve's, stilling the man's jitters. "You've misunderstood. It's...ah. It's the opposite."

Steve's cheeks flared while Tony choked back laughter from Steve's startled expression.

"W-what? You wanna gain more?"

Bruce slowly nodded. "I know you've always been encouraging, and you seemed satisfied when I tapered off. But I really like it when you and Tony feed me." Bruce reached for Tony's hand and rubbed his thumb across their knuckles. "I like breakfasts in bed, lazy nights watching B movies, and eating crappy takeout. I like feeling overstuffed, and the headiness the feeling brings me. I think I've gotten as large as I can on my own. So I'll need help from you and Tony to get...um. Larger."

Steve visibly gulped. "Um. H...how much larger are we talkin'--?"

Bruce glanced Tony's way, and Tony encouraged him with a nod. "Um. To a point where I can stay sedentary. I'm happy at home - I'm happy here. With us. I don't want to run anymore, and I want to feel grounded. Literally. So--"

"He wants to become immobile," Tony explained, butting in again. "Which is no mean feat, with his metabolism. Even with Bed, even with all the snacking and meals he gets, he's probably leveled off. But if we're talkin' immobility, we're probably addin' another three hundred to him, more or less."

Cap let out a shaky sigh. "Whoa..."

Tony shrugged. "Again, more or less. Depends on what 'immobile' means to a guy like Bruce. 'Course you know," Tony said, sobering. "He's wouldn't be totally immobile, not really." His dark eyes roamed Bruce, emphasizing the seriousness of his next words. "The only way that would happen is if we separated him from the Hulk."

"Which I'm not asking for," Bruce quickly piped. "That's not my goal."

"Good. 'Cause that's more than my paygrade. What'dya think, Spangles?" Tony turned to Steve. "You in, or what?"

"I...I'm not even sure." His expression remained pensive before hovering between Tony and Bruce. "I think I want to understand what that means before I agree to it. It'll change our 'rules,' our dynamics, the team--"

"Absolutely," Bruce agreed. "But I guess...I'd like to retire, if that's okay. From the team. I've already spoken with the university--"

"What?"

"You have?"

Bruce motioned for his boyfriends to calm down. "I'm not giving up teaching, I'm just switching to an online format. I'll still be an adjunct but I won't teach in person or in front of a classroom. And besides..." He sighed, but a small smile teased his lips. "I won't be mobile enough for a classroom. At least that's what I'm hoping."

Tony shared a look with Steve who looked both mesmerized and stunned. But then Tony noticed something else a sly, (dare he say it), evil mastermind grin on Steve's face rivaling their greatest enemies.

"Steve. Your bad boy expression is showing," Tony muttered.

"I know, I know," Steve breathed. "But I kinda I wanna know how soon we can start."

Part two: https://burlybanner.tumblr.com/post/185854349769/syzygy-2

#syzygy #bruce banner #tony stark #steve rogers #chubby bruce banner #more warnings to come as story progresses #has some dark elements to it #magnum opus piece #stark spangled banner #infundo #infundo au #chapter 1 #starkspangledbanner syzygy

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