#actually all their stats might be just a little lower than average…?

[camping-with-monsters]

I don’t think I ever posted them but :)) I made this DST oc a while back and absolutely adore these two so much :)) but uhhhhh rant incoming—

They’re sorta meant to be like. A revisiting of a lot of other old Don’t Starve OCs I made when I was way younger (we’re talking maybe 10-12, can barely remember) and just took various concepts and twisted them into one— or two— existing characters! I don’t have a lot on what their play style would be and frankly I sorta created them more for fun anyway :)

Willabelle is the name of the parasitic mushroom that has taken over the body. The host’s name is Warna. She’s pretty much mostly sickly and drools a lot from the parasite, but they’d sort of accidentally came into contact not meant to be like how Webber’s backstory is. Admittedly, Willabelle was basically born from Warna’s body before they’d even entered the constant (likely pulled in by Charlie due to the stir it would have caused in the outside world), but the parasite’s intentions were never malicious as she didn’t have much of a say in the host she would become attached to (her form was probably just made completely of infected spores that somehow got into the real world by unknown means).

In the end, despite Warna’s incredibly sickly form due to this all, she still retained some sense of self and still proves to have a mind of her own and can even move freely when she has the strength. Sometimes Willabelle has to take over for that and move the body for her, as they basically share the same system now and both are capable of correlating the body whenever they need to. Willabelle and Warna have grown a sisterly bond, as being forced into this mess together has allowed them to learn more about each other and the Constant they’re now inhabiting. Despite the consequences, they’ve learned to make the most of a terrible start and found some positivity in having a comforting hand that’s always at the ready to hold.

Willabelle probably does most of the talking— I think Warna’s voice box is a little shot but she can probably get some words or sentences out when she feels like it. Even if Willabelle is technically a burden to her, Warna’s body managed to get used to it way easier in the Constant where things are always weird and there’s probably a little magic keeping everyone from just instantly dying to anything that would probably kill you in the real world. Perhaps that’s to the duo’s benefit.

there’s a bit more stuff in the tags but that’s all I got for now~

[arshipweek]

AR Ship Week - Shipping in 2023

This is the first weekly post in the lead up to Alex Rider Ship Week. There's a little over 4 weeks to go!

This week we’re going to look at Alex Rider shipping fandom again, one year after our previous meta on Shipping in 2022.

Another year and a frankly spectacular amount of shipfics later, here we are again, about to look at the state of Alex Rider ship fics.

So what's new in the top five ships this year? Nothing, actually. As expected, the undisputed top ship is Yassen/Alex (1), but the entire top five remains the same, though Yalex is dominating shipping fandom more and more. Yalex now has 10 times more fics than the second most popular ship, up from 7.7 times last year. 

Yalex has added an impressive 192 fics to the count (an increase of 52 percent!), while Yassen/Ian (Yian) has almost overtaken Tom/Alex (Tomlex) for the second ship on the list. Last year, Tomlex was at 48 fics and Yian at 41. Now the count is 56 and 55, which means Yian might overtake Tomlex's spot as the second ship on the list by next year.

Since the rankings remain the same, we decided to dig a little into ratings and tags instead and take a look at what characterises the three most popular ships (also the only ships with more than 50 fics each).

For all three pairings, two of the three most popular tags are 'Hurt/Comfort' and 'Fluff' (2). For Yalex, the third tag - to no one's surprise, presumably - is 'Yassen Gregorovich Lives'. For Tomlex, it's 'Angst', and for Yian, it's an equally unsurprising 'Ian Rider Lives' as the most popular tag for the pairing - a tag that exploded in popularity with the TV show's arrival. The AR ship fandom lives by the motto of 'I reject your reality and substitute my own' and will embrace it to its fullest (3).

The real differences begin to show when we look at the ratings:

Just as Yalex is hands-down the most popular pairing, it's also the horniest. 39 percent of the fics are rated 'Explicit' (4) and another 26 percent are rated 'Mature'. 'Teen And Up Audience' and 'General Audiences' together make up 32 percent.

For Tomlex, 'Teen And Up Audience' is the most popular rating (55 percent) and 'General Audiences' is a distant second at 22 percent, probably as a result of the age of both characters (5).

For Yian, 'Teen And Up Audience' is also the most popular rating (53 percent) but this time followed by 'Mature' and 'Explicit', which makes up a combined 29 percent.

In terms of general stats, there are also noticeable differences:

The average Yalex fic has around 6.6k words, 136 kudos, and just under 1700 hits. This is helped along by a number of multichapter, 50k+ fics as well as the general popularity of the pairing.

The average Tomlex fic is just under 3.2k words, has 91 kudos and around 950 hits. In contrast to Yalex, the pairing has no fics with more than 25k words, which results in the much lower mean wordcount.

The average Yian fic is just under 3.9k words, has 94 kudos, and around 750 hits. Like the Tomlex pairing, there are not yet any longfics with the pairing (the longest is around 15k), but a smaller percentage of fics below 1k words means that the average fic is longer than for Tomlex. Yian also has fewer hits but a slightly higher kudos-count.

Other fun observations:

Yalex, like all three of the most popular pairings, is generally a solo pairing. Out of 563 fics, only 9 of them have Yassen/John as a pairing as well, along with 7 fics that have Alex/OMC. Tom is tagged in 44 fics, Tulip Jones in 39, and Jack in 31.

For Tomlex, the only other pairing of note is Yian (which shows up in 6 of the 56 fics), and Jack is tagged in 11 of the fics.

For Yian, the same 6 fics Tomlex appear. The only other character of note is Alex, who appears in 23 of the 55 fics - almost half of them.

Alexmis fics are generally much more centred in the Artemis universe than the AR universe. No other AR ships commonly occur with Alexmis, and of the top ten characters, all are from the Artemis series, except Jack in 3 fics.

For Helen/John, Alex appears in 30 of the 43 fics, more than two-thirds. That can either be because of the family relation (as Alex is also commonly tagged in Yian fics) or because the tag appears as a background or past pairing in some Alex-focused fics.

There you have it: A brief overview of shipping in the AR fandom in 2023. Next week we will be back with a fresh bunch of shipping recs!

______ 

Notes:

(1) On an impressive note, 89 of the Yalex fics are written by Suzie_Shooter over the course of eleven years. That's 16 percent of the total amount of Yalex fics and includes 6 of the ten most-kudosed fics of the pairing as well as a number of beloved classics.

(2) Definitions of 'fluff' and the 'comfort' part may vary between pairings, so someone looking for delicious, tooth-rotting fluff would probably want to check the rest of the tags on the fics.

(3) Though to be fair, with Ahorz's grasp on continuity and the addition of the TV show, the concept of 'reality' is probably debateable.

(4) This admittedly also covers graphic violence and similar beyond just graphic smut - or in the case of Yalex, sometimes both at the same time - but a glance at the AO3 page will reveal that yes, the fandom is, indeed, horny.

(5) That, or TV!Tom's beanie is just that much of a mood killer. The jury is still out on that.

Disclaimer: All AR-specific data was current as of the writing of this post (February 11th, 2023).

[ddwcaph-game]

Hey....so i'm back again (i'm anon who ask you about MC carry Rosie at the end) sorry if i being grumpy

So this time my other MC who is tall and average build try to run after Rosie at the end but she don't be there just in time. I try so hard to play MC but she still can't run after Rosie and for some reason her grace just 26% and ber grace and knowledge just random lower for no reason i don't know what to do anymore and i going to cry now (sorry for being dramatic)

Also it that option for MC to wear a hat? I want my little guy (my small MC) to wear his hat, i headcanon his big sister (star twin) buy it for him so he wear it anytime.

Hi, hello again!

Sorry if you're having trouble with it, but the achievement for saving Roselyna is supposed to be hard to get, as you're not actually supposed to save her. Even if you do manage to save her, you still get the bus choice (as the bus will now head towards Wayne and Paddy instead).

Like I said, it might be a little easier to save Rosie in the next update because of the new traits. And if you've finished a playthrough, please send me your playthrough codes via the survey! The game is still a work-in-progress, and the codes you send will help me balance and determine the appropriate difficulty for the stat checks.

Anyway, that seems like a fun thing to headcanon! Unfortunately, I can't promise I'll add anything like that, especially because I will be turning DDWCaPH! into a visual novel. There is a TON of customization stuff to draw already, and if I add one hat, I also need to include other types of hats, and then I'll have to comb through and edit all the chapters just to include that one line where the hat gets mentioned.

I could simply just add it to the list of accessories, but there's a lot of other things to consider: Does MC take it off whenever they go indoors? What would the characters say when they see it? Does it get blown off by the wind? What happens to the hat in the scene where MC faints? It's a whole new layer of customization that I am not willing to deal with.

I'm sorry for the ramble, but I'd rather not add an option, than add it but never mention it again. I hope you understand. 😅

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 20

I'm nearly finished part 1, so it's time for me to look at my Dawn Brigade babies and see how they're progressing. As before, I put an upwards green arrow next to any stat that is above their average at their current level, a downwards red arrow to any stat that is below their average, and a yellow star to any stat that is equal to their average.

Let's go!

Let's start with Micaiah! She's... a fairly average Micaiah. Somehow her speed is lower than average, and she's known for not having great speed in the first place. Oh, well. She still one-shots armored units, and that's all I really need her to do.

Sothe has only gotten two level ups so far, and yet he's already behind on speed and luck. His magic is higher than average, though! I know Sothe falls behind no matter what you do, so I'm not too worried. He's just here to steal stuff and give support bonuses to Micaiah.

I rolled a good Nolan, though! Somehow, he has already capped his magic? Strange. Then again, his cap is really low. Otherwise, he seems to be doing well. I hope this continues in part 3. I'm going to be counting on you, Nolan! Don't let me down.

I had put a lot of hope into Meg turning out good (I even gave her a sword named Hope in hopes that the universe might grant me a good Meg), but unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. Sorry, Meg. It looks like you're going to be benched.

Yay, Ilyana! Ignore the mountain of random items I gave to her. I am thinking ahead so that she can deliver the goods to the Greil Mercs for me in part 3. That Spirit Dust has Soren's name on it, after all. And Reyson will need that extra movement.

In any case, it's a bit of a shame that Ilyana is doing so well, since I don't really plan on using her much after part 1 is over. By the time she reunites with the Greil Mercs, she'll be just a little too far behind in terms of her level.

Aran is doing pretty well. He's a bit behind in skill, but above average in strength and defense, which is what really matters. Having a high-defense Aran will help me a lot in part 3.

Also, idk if I've said this before, but I'm actually kind of fond of Aran as a character. His personality is literally just the ¯_(ツ)_/¯ shrug emoticon. Hence why I gave him a weapon named "Oh Bother..." I imagine him just muttering that to himself every time he enters into combat with an enemy unit.

Hey, a good Edward! With higher than average defense, to boot. Between him, Nolan, and Aran, maybe I will be able to survive part 3.

Meanwhile, Leonardo is a bit of a mixed bag. He's got good strength, but man is he squishy. This man is the definition of a glass canon. I cannot allow any enemy to attack him, because chances are, they will double him, and he will die immediately.

Jill! I was worried about Jill because she wasn't doing so good at the beginning, but now look at her! I put a lot of effort into feeding her exp (esp on the prison break map) and look how it paid off. She's above or equal to her average in every stat. I still wish that I could have gotten her some transfer bonuses, but overall, she's not doing bad at all.

Last is Laura. Oh, poor Laura. Look at all those red arrows. But whatever. At least she's good for giving Aran those nice support bonuses.

And that's it! That's how my Dawn Brigade is faring. Overall, it's not the worst. I mean, of course it could be better, but as is, I'm not complaining. And I am happy that I've already managed to get Nolan, Jill, Leonardo, and Edward to tier 2.

Next map is the finale of part 1. I am very excited to finally put an end to Jarod.

[unforth]

Super-Quick Art Sideblog Stats

Cause I've been meaning to do this anyway and I'm procrastinating more important work. Note that I set the queue to a rate where it'll empty in 7 days, so my current queue rate can be interpreted as "the average number of newly queued posts/new art pieces added to the main tags in the previous week" so I thought that might be interesting for folks to see as a measure of how active the fandoms are.

@mdzsartreblogs: Total Posts: 36,245 Total Followers: 2,588 Current Queue Rate: 31/day

@tgcfartreblogs Total Posts: 17,727 Total Followers: 2,066 Current Queue Rate: 21/day

@svsssartreblogs Total Posts: 10,689 Total Followers: 1,634 Current Queue Rate: 21/day

@cnovelartreblogs Total Posts: 5,254 Total Followers: 411 Current Queue Rate: 6/day (so that includes all posts in the tags I'm currently checking regularly - I've been working to grow how many that is, currently it's around 10 - and also my own screen cap posting)

@erhaartreblogs Total Posts: 2,346 Total Followers: 536 Current Queue Rate: 6/day (this is still inflated from Chu Wanning's birthday last week, it's usually more like 3 or 4 per day)

@tykartreblogs Total Posts: 3,234 Total Followers: 461 Current Queue Rate: 2/day (TYK/SHL/Qiye are in an art slump right now, this is a little lower than usual, it's also usually more like 3 or 4 per day)

Discontinued blogs: I no longer update these two, so queue rates are zero (art for these fandoms is now in the cnovelartreblogs queue) and I've sloooowly been reblogging the content to cnovelartreblogs and deleting it from these, so the total number of posts on these two is actually going slowly but surely down.

dmbjartreblogs Total Posts: 1,414 Total Followers: 144

zhenhunartreblogs Total Posts: 1,714 Followers: 218

Some quick notes on overall trends

So I started the MXTX sideblogs in the fall of 2020 (mdzs that September, the other two in (iirc) early November. At the time, MDZS was by far the most popular, followed by TGCF, with SVSSS in a distant third. Over the last couple years, SVSSS has grown MUCH more popular in Tumblr fandom; as recently as a year ago I often had the queue rate for SVSSS under 10 per day, but now it and TGCF are often comparable (as they are now) and sometimes SVSSS is actually more art than TGCF. Also, it's pretty consistently the second-most interacted with account (after mdzs). I make no conjectures as to why, but there we are.

I started most of the other sideblogs about a year later, in 2021 (I think? I don't even remember lmao). cnovelartreblogs started as qianqiuartreblogs, but there wasn't enough Thousand Autumns art to sustain a queue (I aim for 1 post a day on all the blogs, and when I can't hit that I start to look at consolidating/changing things because it starts to not be worth it to maintain it separately). When I started these blogs, Word of Honor and Tian Ya Ke were more popular, and it was often hard to get enough to keep the 2ha queue active. It's been interesting to watch the growing popularity of 2ha on Tumblr, and to watch the excitement that accompanied Word of Honor's release in March 2021 slowly ebbing and the fandom growing quieter. Notes on tykartreblogs have also plummeted, especially over the past couple months. I'm wondering if there's drama happening elsewhere that I'm unfamiliar with, either cause it's not on Tumblr or cause I have the right people blocked (I'm especially wondering in light of the Light On You zine's announcement today - tl:dr is the mods canceled a zine that was in recruitment because people were being horrible to them).

Idk, just. Thoughts and feels about how all my blorbos are faring in fandom/fanart interaction.

[chaoshaven]

Chaotic Card 14- Maglax

Crafted by the mad scientist Mommark, and drawn by Adrian Barrios, Etienne St.Laurent, Maglax is a Powerful front liner who could be a bit bulkier Energy wise, but isn’t bas as long as you can heal him up with Mugic or Card abilities.

Stat Spread:

Courage: 60-80

Power:50-70

Wisdom:15-35

Speed:20-40

Energy:35-45

Mugic Counters: 0

Elements:

Fire

Air

Earth

Water

Ability:

Earth 5 let’s Maglax deal extra damage in an Earth focused attack deck, so pair in him with Crawsectus.

Playstyle:

His energy is a little concerning. Average in DoP it’s now low, but a Battlegear to boost it up would be helpful. As well his Wisdom is incredibly low. So maybe a Battlegear to boost that as well. But what does it matter, increasing a Discipline? He has 2 good ones and you’re not putting him into a Wisdom based deck. While that is true you might be playing against a Wisdom based deck, and will take more damage from their Attacks.

There are different kinds of attacks, and the Elemental attacks are straightforward; if you have x element, you deal x more damage. if your Creature has x element five, then you deal even more damage.

Then there is Discipline focused Attack decks, where all of your creatures have a high number in the Discipline. Know that no Discipline is better than another, but for the purposes of his post I’ll stick with Wisdom, as it is Maglax’s weak point. 

There is the base damage that every Attack does. You play the Attack, you deal the base damage.

Then, for a Wisom Attack deck, you have Wisdom Checks, Wisdom CHallenges, and Wisdom Failures. 

A Wisdom Check is seeing if the Creature playing that attack has that score or higher. If they do, they deal damage. Stat Check Wisdom 50: deal 5 damage, means your wisdom needs to be 50 or higher.

A Wisdom Challenge is when you look at the Wisdom of the Creature playing the Attack, and the Wisdom of the Creature getting attacked. If your Creature’s Wisdom is higher than theirs by the amount stated, you deal damage. Challenge: Wisdom 15 means that the attacking creature needs to have 15 more Wisdom than Maglax. whose Wisdom is already incredibly low.

A Wisdom Fail is when you look at the opponent’s Creature only. If their Wisdom is below the amount on the card, they take damage. Typically there is 3 on the Stat Fail cards, so that the lower the Wisdom, the more damage is taken. 

Wisdom Fail 100: deal 5 damage

Wisdom Fail 50: deal 5 damage

Wisdom Fail 25: deal 5 damage

In the case of Maglax, all Wisdom Challenges done to him will pass and he takes damage, and he will take all the damage (15 total plus the base damage) from Wisdom fail cards. If you have an average number in a stat, it’s fine. But a low Wisdom like Maglax or low Courage like Attacat leaves them vulnerable to that kind of team matchup.

So, while overall Energy does seem nice, giving Maglax a Battlegear that boosts his Wisdom means he is more durable in the long run. Just heal him to keep him up longer.

Biography:

Not much is known. He was created by a Overworld Scientist, Mommark. One of the few creations (yes there is multiple) that didn’t run away and actually protect the other experiments at Castle Mommark. However, with his low Wisdom, he is easily duped into letting trespassers in. So...kind of like Igor, if Dr. Frankenstein made his assistant.

[asssologyy]

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By making your bush bet larger or smaller sized you can have fun with just how much threat and reward you wish to take. As an expert on your group you will certainly be in-the-know in regards to any type of essential information and also if you are able to detect something prior to bookies can transform lines you can acquire value. Wager the underdog-- Among one of the most usual edges you can locate is when a preferred group is https://medium.com/@casinohowtowin/a-comprehensive-comparison-of-major-gambling-and-betting-strategies-74099f8fd8bc overhyped. Avoid longshots and also parlays-- When you get a larger money it's okay to make a couple of longshot bets however when you're starting they'll be a big drainpipe.

What is one of the most successful wagering technique?

An over or under bet.Over or under wagers per team.Handicap triumphes, i.e. triumphes with

a difference of a number of goals.Low winning odds.Half-time bets.Early or late objectives.

We understand that this group has a 66% chance of winning, so if we are positioning a great deal of these wrong chances, over time, we will wind up with a good revenue. Football betting approaches based upon experience as well as stats can additionally pay, however the most effective ones are based upon good odds at bookies. You need to be able to study and analyze data to make informed choices. There is a significant amount of cost-free information readily available online that will certainly enable you to do this. You're normally mosting likely to need to make use of numerous wagering websites for this strategy or you're mosting likely to require lines to move considerably to earn a profit.

Find Modifying Lines

This might include the types of scoring plays that took place, the gamers that were playing well, the type of resistance, or perhaps home-field benefit. The NFL is one of the most affordable sport when it comes to betting. Bookmakers have a 50.3% rate when it comes to covering the spread, which is extraordinary and also shows that for this market, it's a plain coin turn most of the moment.

If the last rating landed exactly on 7 factors, the client would get their wager back.

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Rather, I'm going for an enormous floor to help catapult me right into the top half-- for instance, two 12 touch RBs on a run-heavy team that commonly runs it in near the goal line.

After you have actually made your bet, you see the point spread transfer to -10 on video game day. This can take place for a couple of different factors including excessive action being put on the underdog by the wagering public or by things like injuries or other gamer elements. Hedging additionally functions similarly when you've made a several bet parlay as well as you have actually won a lot of your wagers. With parlays one loss is all it requires to shed the whole parlay. If there's just one game to go, think about hedging by betting against your initial parlay wager to lock in an earnings. There are chances in sports wagering where a punter can make a. bet that is contrary to his original wager.

Betting With An Analytical Version

Various other times it's far better to go with the boom at the threat of a much lower floor. So both groups fell a little short of their period average, incorporating for nearly one TD much less than they generally secured. But still, this was close to a "normal" result for these groups. Using this details, we may reason that the starting RB on the 2-13 team has a low chance of growing, as the likeliest game scripts may force his team to throw more in catch-up mode. If, instead, you prepare for that the RB will certainly be leaned on heavily throughout the game, excellent.

This is why it's always a great suggestion to obtain some aid, and this overview is below to show you exactly how you can win much more wagers. Read more about outright betting on our betting chances page, where you can also discover the most effective bookies for esports probabilities. It's likewise worth mentioning concerning straight-out betting, where you choose a group to win a competitors-- a market offered across a variety of sports and also esports.

Did This Short Article Help You?

By doing this, it aids you to stay clear of catastrophe when that unanticipated showing off distress comes around as your whole spending plan will not be erased. Nevertheless, upsets take place all of the time as well as every person is bound to shed eventually. Now is not the moment to fret - take a look at our example to see just how handicap betting appearances. You can likewise check my Tipstrr Testimonial or my article about the very best informant with the top football tipsters included.

Spread Betting Tips and Tricks for Tennis Bettors How to Win Big - Tennishead

Spread Betting Tips and Tricks for Tennis Bettors How to Win Big.

Posted: Wed, 05 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The company safeguards players' civil liberties and also aims to preserve high standards in the sector. The MGA is a pillar of fairness as well as openness for players and also operators alike. If you think the only method a team wins is if they win the pace battle and they are a slow-down team, you can parlay that group as well as the under. Lines on these games aren't constantly supplied as a result of the strange nature, but this is an instance of an actionable method. If you captured wind of that early in the period, you might have made some money on it.

[ohthehypocrisy]

Alolan Exeggutor for Pokemon Unite!

The human spirit is defined by its one and only desire, to be tall. And also to have multiple heads and sustain ourselves on sunshine. Being part dragon is also up there, but not the most important thing. For that reason, we all envy Exeggutor and its Alolan form and have subjected ourselves to all manner of reverence, from memes to artificially extending its visage to be even taller.

But perhaps the closest we'll ever get to reaching that all new high is by playing as an Alolan Exeggutor in Pokemon Unite. For the sake of fulfilling our dreams, let us witness the theoretical might of this palm dragon.

-

Now, these stats, for a giant tree dragon, are pretty OK. The HP is actually on the more average side, but the lower Defense and Sp. Defense makes it feel less than average. Alolan Exeggutor does have very high Sp. Attack but it's not as effective with its low Speed. It's not fast enough to get the jump on most of its enemies, but it makes up for that with its very high Sp. Attack and slightly weaker Attack. With a proficiency in dishing out heavy hits from a high vantage point, Alolan Exeggutor is well suited for the role of an...

Supporter

-

Basic Attack - Melee/Attack

The pokemon brings down its entire body to attack, damaging all enemies in range. Don't do this too many times, because the heads will start to get dizzy.

Not having a boosted basic attack means that the pokemon itself depends on a gimmick to support itself and the team. Being able to bring the hammer down from any distance not only makes you pretty good at defending an area, but also allows you to provide physical backup to your team from afar. Granted, without any special effects tied to it, you'd have to rely on items like Razor Claw or Choice Band to spread any effects, but since the attack is disjointed, you aren't in any danger of putting yourself in harm's way.

That's thanks to your ability.

Ability: Frisk

The pokemon is too tall to hide in tall grass. However, its height causes the camera to zoom further out, allowing you to see more of the map.

Because Alolan Exeggutor stands at over 30 meters tall, it cannot physically hide in tall grass. I mean, imagine if it could. Imagine being on the opposing team and you walk into a bush just to meet with Alolan Exeggutor waiting within.

There is a certain level of disbelief players expect when it comes to video games, especially Pokemon Unite. That's why there's a Type Chart and Critical Hits on every single attack. Though Alolan Exeggutor cannot hide in tall grass, its height forces the camera to zoom further out, which works to the player's advantage. Being able to see enemies before they see you is a great advantage no matter where on the map this occurs.

For one, you can see which enemies need to be pounded with your basic attack, as you can see them but they cannot see you. Though your basic attack is weak, with a 167 Base Attack stat, the enemy will have little counterplay to your defense. Trying to approach means walking into a potential trap, and retreating means you can give chase and pummel them before they make it to their side of the map.

It's a very useful Supporter Ability.

At the start of the game, you can choose between Barrage and Psyshock as your first move. By Level 3, you'll have learned both. Also it doesn't evolve, so it starts out the game looking like this.

Move 1: Barrage

Drop coconuts down at the designated area. A direct hit stuns enemies briefly. Two direct hits are twice as damaging and twice as funny. 4s cooldown.

Because your attacks are launched from the pokemon's head, the enemy won't be able to see a projectile attack coming. As such, Barrage is an excellent move to get the drop on your enemies, especially given its ability to Stun enemies with its low cooldown.

You launch 2 to 5 coconuts with the move, but where they land is random. It is possible for two coconuts to hit an enemy, which racks up the damage, but the main draw of the move is for defense. As stated before, Frisk lets you use your high vantage point to get the first hit on far away enemies, which makes Barrage a great opener for an ambush or an attack rush.

It's a great Supporter move.

Move 2: Psyshock

The user creates a hammer made of psychic energy, then brings it down. The user can move about while the attack is active, allowing it to do something free like, I don't know, score a goal or have a snack. 17s cooldown.

Alolan Exeggutor creates a psychic copy of itself using Psyshock, then proceeds to slam down on the designated area multiple times like an impatient carpenter trying to hit the last nail of the job. It's not any stronger than your basic attack, but it lets you cover more of an area with damage. You can even double up and bring the hammer down twice with your basic attack and Psyshock together.

The defensive applications speak for themselves. You could control the middle of the lane with constant damage or zone off an area to keep enemies from crossing through. Doubling up with your basic attack is also a great way to secure the KO against objectives like Regieleki or Drednaw.

It's a great Supporter move.

At Level 5.5, Barrage becomes either Egg Bomb or Seed Bomb.

Move 1a: Egg Bomb

The pokemon launches its coconut heads at the enemy, which then say mean things to all enemies in range, demoralizing them. The heads grow back, by the way. $2 cooldown.

Once you Level Up enough, Barrage can become Egg Bomb, which is a misnomer, as Exeggutor launches coconuts shaped like eggs. These coconuts are also one of its heads that get ejected by the body, dealing damage as they land but take their aggression out on the enemy team.

From where they land, they start to say mean and slanderous things to the enemy, like 'Having fun pressing one button?' or 'Holowear does not equal skill!' or even 'Scoring cheapens the MVP award!'. That last one is especially scathing as it causes the scoring speed of the enemy team to slow down if they try to score near one of these eggs.

Oh, it also reduces their defenses and increases the cooldown of their moves when the eggs are nearby. You know, classic Supporter move.

Move 1b: Seed Bomb

Launches a large coconut that's actually been hollowed out and rigged to explode after a few seconds. This is how all versions of this move works, in game and in all the spin-offs. -4s cooldown.

Playing as a Supporter is one of the most spiritually demanding things in Pokemon Unite. Sometimes you can't support everyone, but other times your teammates make it hard to be supported. When you've had enough, just make them freaking explode with Seed Bomb.

The Seed Bomb runs off of a short timer, but the explosion is big and damaging. It hits really hard and is a threat to both the enemy and your teammates. Now, you might be thinking, why would a Supporter have a move that can damage or KO their own teammate? Well, if you have to ask that question, it just means you don't understand the struggle and have likely never played as a Supporter. In which case, don't question it. Just take the L when an Alolan Exeggutor decides you need to go on time out.

It's a very good Supporter move.

At Level 420x69/3500, Psyshock becomes either Dragon Hammer or Wood Hammer or Dynamax Cannon, I think. One of those two.

Move 2a: Dragon Hammer

Just smash the ground with your face like you're a woodpecker, but for dirt. No cooldown, by the way, just mash the button like you're a Tsareena main.

When you level up enough, you'll forget Psyshock but learn Dragon Hammer. You'll be giving up the ability to create a psychic hammer to cover a large area, but you'll be getting Dragon Hammer in exchange, which is, like 4 times more powerful.

You can aim your attack with Dragon Hammer, which looks funny as if you're trying to squash some roaches on the floor. But since you're playing as Alolan Exeggutor, that's what the entire enemy team might as well be.

Also this move is functionally identical to your basic attack, except it deals more damage and counts as a move. I really didn't think this move through...

Move 2b: Wood Hammer

Same as Dragon Hammer, except green. (Dragon Hammer isn't a good move. Don't forget to rewrite this portion before posting)

So, since Dragon Hammer is a poorly designed attack on my part, I'm going to make Wood Hammer act more like a sentry attack instead.

Wood Hammer summons a big palm tree at your location, which you can control by using Wood Hammer. Alolan Exeggutor brings down its body for the attack, during which time the palm tree also mimics. While Wood Hammer is active, you and the big palm tree both attack at the same time you use the move. The palm tree cannot change direction, but you are free to reposition yourself.

Wood Hammer fulfills the same function as Psyshock, except it can be activated from afar and at your leisure. This makes you very efficient at defending the area, like a good Supporter should.

(This is better. Remember to rewrite the Dragon Hammer portion of the post before publishing)

Unite Move: Dragon Laser Beam

The big tree fires a laser beam from all of its eyes. I didn't even know it could do that! Even the tail shoots lasers! This move instantly wins the game if your enemies haven't already forfeited at the 5 minute mark.

Thanks to the very high vantage point, Alolan Exeggutor can see further out on the map than other pokemon. As such, it can use its dragon powers to unleash freaking laser beams from its eyes to deal heavy damage to all enemies it can see.

And don't worry about your blind spot. The head on the tail has eyes that can also shoot laser beams, which is very good at thwarting a surprise back stab from the enemy team.

The laser beams deal insane damage and can even instantly KO enemies if their HP is low enough. It only works on enemies at a lower level than you. Also on enemies at an equal level. And I guess it can work on enemies of a higher level. Those are its only limitations.

The only counterplay to this Unite Move is if the enemy team had forfeited before you are able to use this move. This prevents you from winning with the move and reduces the potential damage you can deal to 0. If the enemy forfeits, you're in big trouble as you cannot use this Unite Move anymore.

Other than that, it's a very good Supporter Move.

Holowear

Because of Alolan Exeggutor's large body, it is prime for decorations and clothing styles and can wear just about anything we throw at it. Starting off, Princess Style puts the big tree in a fancy dress and crown. You'll make the enemies really jealous as you beat them to death with your head covered in bling. Exeggutor looks like a good swimmer, so Swim Style gives it a scuba suit with an oxygen tank strapped to its back. It's also got a snorkel set on its head, to keep it from drowning. With Cute Style, it wears a full body cat suit and collared bell and even comes with a set of cat ears to wear on its head. Camo Style puts a set of desert camo colored shirts and shorts and a backpack as well as one of those combat helmets on its head, to really help this pokemon hide in the desert. And lastly, Clown Style holowear, because I've run out of ideas for holowear.

Strategy

LMAO what strategy? Just foot the $20 bill for its Unite License and destroy matchmaking, you talentless shill.

-

APRIL FOOL'S EVERYONE! Sorry to disappoint you if you actually wanted Alolan Exeggutor in Pokemon Unite, but it's very clear that this pokemon would be a little too tall for the game. Maybe if they shrunk them down or something?

To that end, I actually put in a bit of effort to make this post somewhat believable, crazy as it may sound. I mean, being able to see further out at the cost of not being able to use tall grass as cover has its ups and downs, but being able to attack first in any situation made it a pretty good moveset.

Also, why Alolan Exeggutor? Well, I wanted something silly to post for April Fool's, but I didn't really have a lot of time to make something elaborate. I was gonna go with something like 'Groudon for Pokemon Unite!' or 'Wailord for Pokemon Unite!' and play it completely straight, aside from mentioning the pokemon's size at every occasion or something silly like that. I figured it'd be better to make a moveset for a pokemon that's way too tall to play and fill the moveset with nonsensical stuff.

Anyway, this post has nothing to do with Season 2. The actual Season Finale will be posted tomorrow, when the poll I've got running expires. See you guys later, and don't get trolled.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #189

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making the royal hikkikoneet of Himeji Castle, Osakabehime! This giant nerd is a Lore Bard, because it’s hard to stay in your room all day and not read things, as well as a Trickery Domain Cleric to fill your castle to the brim with ghostly defenses (and run away to your kotatsu when things get scary).

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Prepare for trouble, and make it double!

Race and Background

Going by Fate’s official lore, Osakabehime is a kitsune like Tamamo. But, since Tamamo’s pretty insistent on No Doubles, O-heems here had to change her race, and so do we. So we’re making her a Hexblood to get some castle magic right off the bat. This makes Batty Fey and Humanoid, and she gets +1 Wisdom and +2 Charisma. She keeps the standard Medium size, but she still gets Darkvision, Fey Resilience against the charmed condition, Hex Magic which lets her cast Disguise Self and Hex using her Charisma. You can cast one of these spells for free each day, or by using spell slots.

She can also make Magic Tokens out of her hair (and other things, but those are gross), letting her send a message to the creature holding it. Also, while she’s within 10 miles of the token, she can enter a trance to see and hear through the token for 1 minute, after which the token is destroyed. She can make a token once per long rest, and they only last until her next long rest anyway, so don’t get excited about stockpiling them like I just did before reading that part.

Castle Guardian Spirit isn’t an official D&D background, but fortunately Mangaka is! Or at least, Guild Artisan has the same sort of ring to it. This gives Batty proficiency in Insight and Persuasion.

Ability Scores

Batty’s Wisdom should be her highest stat. Making good art requires good eyes to figure out how to improve your technique. Second best is her Charisma. She’s got that awkward underdog style going for her, despite how much she overthinks things. Her Dexterity is also pretty high. She might not move around much, but she’s an expert at hiding from responsibilities! Batty’s Intelligence is above average, it’s hard to spend that much time on the internet and not learn something. Her Constitution isn’t great, I blame staying inside all day, but we’re dumping Strength for pretty much the same reason. There’s nothing saying a NEET can’t be a gym rat, but that’s def not Batty.

Class Levels

Bard 1: Starting off as a bard gives Batty all sorts of proficiencies, like Dexterity and Charisma saves, Sleight of Hand and Performance to master her brushstrokes, History for living for so long, and Stealth to slip away from crowds. If she does end up next to people though, she can use her Bardic Inspiration to give them a d6 for one of their checks, saves, or attack rolls Charisma Bonus times per long rest. Batty can also use her Charisma to cast Spells! Minor Illusion and Silent Image will create the first soldiers in her origami army (they can’t touch people, but they can be distracting!). She also gets Feather Fall for some bat parachuting, Blade Ward to hide from physical attacks in her kotatsu dimension, Charm Person to avoid fights altogether, and Distort Value to make even a neck guard look like a proof of courage.

Cleric 1: Bouncing over to cleric real quick will give us all sorts of goodies. Since Batty is a Trickery cleric, she gets a Blessing of the Trickster, giving another creature advantage on stealth checks for an hour. Don’t you know heavy armor is uruso noisy? Keep it quiet! She also learns another set of spells (since we’re multiclassing you’ll have to use the special table to figure out how many slots you have now.) that use her Wisdom to cast and prepare them. She gets Charm Person and Disguise Self for free, which... she already had from level one... But, she also gets cantrips! Guidance and Resistance will make you a little more knowledgeable than everyone else about everything, and Thaumaturgy will help you get your spooky castle ghost thing going. You can also prepare spells like Bane to dull the senses of intruders, and Purify Food and Drink and Sanctuary to protect yourself and guests.

Bard 2: Second level bards are even better at everything since they’re Jacks of All Trades, adding half their proficiency to all skill checks. They also learn a Song of Rest, so anyone brave enough to spend a short rest in Himeji Castle will heal an extra d6 when they use hit dice. Your Magical Inspiration makes your bardic inspiration dice even better, letting your allies add the d6 to the damage or healing of a spell! Batty can also cast Speak with Animals now! Turns out she has an army of like 800 animal spirits helping out, which certainly explains all the origami.

Bard 3: As a Lore bard, Batty gets even more proficiencies, making her really good with Deception, Arcana, and Religion. I mean, she is kind of a god already. She can also turn her bardic inspiration into Cutting Words, reducing a creature’s check, attack roll, or damage by that amount instead of adding to it. She means well, but her cringey moments can get pretty uramessy. She also get Expertise in Performance and Stealth, doubling her jozu modifier. She can also cast Animal Messenger to make her first origami animal that can actually help you, delivering a message to a creature you specify in a location you’ve been before.

Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma for more inspiration and confidence, meaning more helpful hints and more cringey cutting words per long rest. This also makes your spells better! Speaking of, you get Prestidigitation to make real origami at will, and Phantasmal Force to make an origami horse that can really trample people. Well, kind of. It’s still an illusion, but the damage is real.

Bard 5: Fifth level bards get stronger Bardic Inspiration, their dice turning into d8s. They also become a Font of Inspiration, thanks to their inspiration dice refilling on short rests instead of long ones. You can also use third level spells now, like using a Glyph of Warding to hide Phantasmal Forces all around your castle. You can use these glyphs to create Explosive Runes for straight damage, or Spell Glyphs to store spells of the level you cast the glyph at or lower, which will target whatever activated the glyph in the first place. It takes an hour and 200 gold to cast, but it also lets you ignore concentration, so... actually this would be a great way to summon creatures. Just stick a glyph in a book, throw it at a creature’s head, boom, summons without concentration. You’re welcome.

Bard 6: Sixth level bards can waste their turn using Countercharm to give allies advantage on saves against being frightened or charmed. You already get half of that for free, so why bother. More importantly, you get Additional Magical Secrets, giving you two spells from any class. For your normal spell, grab Nondetection to prevent yourself from getting found through magic, then use magical secrets to pick up Leomund’s Tiny Hut to hide in a proper kotatsu of protection, and Conjure Animals for some slightly fleshier origami animals. We’ll get the real deal later, but this works just as well, yo-i.

Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like Hallucinatory Terrain. Changing up the whole castle grounds is a good way to get people lost, and if they’re lost they’re less likely to find you.

Bard 8: Max out your Charisma with this ASI for better spells and more cringe. You can also use Greater Invisibility to keep yourself hidden, even while making more origami.

Bard 9: Your last level of bard makes your Song of Rest a d8 too, but more importantly, you also get fifth level spells, meaning you can finally cast Animate Objects to make real origami animals of variable sizes. You can create up to 10 animals this way, with medium pieces of paper counting as two, large pieces as four, and huge objects as eight. You can also upcast this spell for more objects at once. Rise, my mighty karmy!

Cleric 2: Now that we have your origarmy ready to go, we can finally dip back into cleric! Second level clerics can Channel Divinity once per short rest, either Turning Undead with a wisdom save, or Invoking Duplicity to create an illusory copy of yourself for a minute. The illusion has to stay within 120 feet of you, but you can cast spells as though you were standing in its space. Perfect for when you have to fight but you want to stay in your tiny hut at the same time.

Cleric 3: Third level clerics get second level spells, like Mirror Image and Pass without Trace. Finally, you can make yourself sneaky! You also get access to a bunch of other spells that will make yourself more protected- Aid increases your and up to two other creature’s max HP for 8 hours, Protection from Poison protects you... from poison, and Zone of Truth makes sure nobody can hide their plans from you.

Cleric 4: With your bard stuff taken care of, you can use this ASI to bump up your Wisdom for stronger cleric spells. You also learn Mending. Your army is made of paper, they’re going to get torn eventually.

Cleric 5: Fifth level clerics can Destroy Undead of CR 1/2 or lower when they’re turned, and they also get third level spells, like Blink and Dispel Magic. Bringing your own magic into someone’s house is shitsurei manners, don’t you think? You can also Bestow Curses on particularly rude guests, Meld into Stone to hide away without a trace, and create Spirit Guardians to protect yourself from melee attacks.

Cleric 6: As a sixth level cleric, you can Channel Divinity twice per rest, and you can use it to put on a Cloak of Shadows, becoming invisible until the end of next turn, or until you attack or cast a spell.

Cleric 7: Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells, like Dimension Door to pop straight into your kotatsu from 500 feet away. You can also cast Polymorph to reclaim your foxy glory! Or turn into a T Rex, if you want to powergame. Your choice. You also get access to Guardians of Faith, which are like Spirit Guardians, but they don’t stick near you- perfect for when you want to avoid being in a fight entirely. You can also use an Aura of Life and/or Aura of Purity to make your hikkolife a bit easier. The former gives nearby allies resistance to necrotic damage, immunity to max HP reduction, and autoheals creatures when they start their turn with 0 hit points. Hey, another spell that would be really good to keep around in a glyph of warding! The latter prevents disease, gives creatures in it resistance against poison damage, and has advantage on saves against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, and stunned.

Cleric 8: Use your last ASI to max out your Wisdom for the best cleric spells possible. Your Destroy Undead grows to affect creatures of CR 1 or lower, and you also get a Divine Strike, causing all your weapon attacks to deal an extra 1d8 poison damage. I mean... no reason to turn down a free gift, right?

Cleric 9: Ninth level clerics get fifth level spells, like Dominate Person and Modify Memory to sculpt the minds of those foolish enough to enter your castle without permission. You can also use Insect Plague to create a massive swarm of tiny origami bats, dealing piercing damage to creatures stuck in them. Alternatively, use Hallow to make your castle a more liminal space, adding a bunch of effects against celestials, elementals, fey (probably should just not include that one.), fiends, and undead, preventing them from entering the area and messing with their magic and mental effects. There’s also a ton of other effects you can add, just take a look at the spell, we’re not writing them all out here.

Cleric 10: Tenth level clerics get Divine Intervention, letting you pray to your god for a roya-l get out of jail free card once a day, with a week’s break after it actually works. You have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of it working each time you use it, based on your cleric level. If it works, you can get whatever your DM thinks is appropriate- maybe a couple robots show up to help out your plan to be lazy forever? Nah, that’d be silly. You can also cast Sacred Flame this level. I was running out of good cantrips to give you, and kitsune are known for will of wisps and the like, so it’s sort of on theme.

Cleric 11: Your capstone level makes Destroy Undead affect creatures of CR 2 or lower, and you get sixth level spells! Forbiddance locks magical travel out of an area for up to a day- if you cast the spell every day for a month, it’ll last until dispelled. You can also force extraplanar creatures to take a bunch of damage every turn they’re in the area without a save, so Tamamo will finally leave you alone. You can use Word of Recall to teleport back to your kotatsu from anywhere, no restrictions. (Technically you have to pick a spot that is involved with your god, but aside from that.) Or, you can use a Heroes’ Feast to make the rest of your party stronger so you won’t feel as bad when you leave the fighting to them. This cures creatures of all disease and poison, makes them immune to poison and being frightened, gives them advantage on wisdom saves, and increases their max HP, all for 24 hours.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Glyph of Warding lets you set up tons of traps and store spells away for later, all without using concentration. That is huge for a build whose main source of damage comes from summon spells. Not only does it let you cast more of them, it also means the ones you have up won’t disappear because you get hit.

Speaking of, it’s really easy for you to avoid combat entirely. Go invisible, hide in a tiny hut and let your duplicity do the fighting for you, throw gobs of paper at enemies then run the other way, whatever they do doesn’t matter because you won’t be around to get hit anyway!

If an enemy does try to chase you down, they’ll have to pass through your massive army of summons first-with an upcasted Animate Objects, that means they’ll be taking 18 attacks of opportunity before they even walk through them all, and that’s before factoring nonsense from your glyphs.

Cons:

You are terrible at fighting directly. You have very few spells that deal damage directly, you have barely over 100 HP, and your AC is 11 if you’re playing to character. Once somebody does make it past your paper, you’d better have a word of recall ready.

Multiclassing really hurts spellcasters. It means you don’t get 7th level or higher spells, you have to spend all your ASIs on casting modifiers to make them both good, and you don’t get the guaranteed intervention from only being a cleric.

You have a big army, but they’re still made of paper. If you go the tiny bat route, all your summons will only have 20 hp, which means one fireball will tear through all of them in a single blow.

[voltimer]

'The Magic of Johto's Level Curve'

(or, 'a leisurely analysis of the singleplayer balance of Pokemon GSC and HGSS')

The Johto games - especially HeartGold and SoulSilver - seem to have a very good reputation. Some often put the aforementioned HGSS into their top 3 or describe it as the core Pokemon experience. I personally agree with this sentiment and HGSS is either #2 or #1 depending on my mood (it usually competes with Black 2 and White 2).

Despite all its praise though, there seems to be an incredibly consistent point raised against it: the level curve. I see it described as unbalanced, janky, and generally bad.

There are two main problems people tend to cite. First is the level progression in Johto itself, with Gyms 5, 6, and 7 not exactly being a smooth progression upwards and then Team Rocket's Archer and the 8th Gym having a notable level spike compared to those last three. Wild Pokemon levels are also usually a lot lower than the major boss fights they are ahead of, making raising new 'mons harder and grinding for boss fights longer. The other problem is Kanto, whose problems can essentially be said to take Johto's levelling issues and ramp them up. The jump from fighting Blue to the Elite Four rematches and Red is also very significant.

What I'm not going to do here is refute that the above isn't true - these level scaling inconsistencies are certainly present. It's also very different to the vast majority of main series entries, whose level curves are more linear and gradual. Gens 5 and 7 even have a feature which multiplies exp gain based on how much lower or higher you are than the Pokemon you defeat which in a way acts like a rubber band around each game's level curve, ensuring you can catch up easily but not go too overlevelled either. Playing GSC and HGSS when the rest of those entries are like that is a bit jarring. Pokemon is so well-known for having quite a formulaic design across its main series and when compared to that formula with regards to level progression and the like, the Johto games do seem a bit off-colour.

What I am going to do though is try to explain why this so-called bad level curve is at the very least not actually that bad, or, if I can convince you well enough, that the Johto games actually have a unique and (what I call) magical singleplayer game design not properly replicated in any other entry. It goes to the core essence of Pokemon's theming, and it fits with the fact that Johto's narrative also happens to put the most focus on those themes than the rest of the series.

When I say the core essence of theming, I mean the very basics of every Pokemon adventure: you, the player, leave home to go on a journey around your region, meeting various people and overcoming various challenges along the way together with your partner Pokemon. Challenges you overcome are all thanks to the bonds you share with your partners and how you raise them with love and care. As you get older, this is the sort of thing in Pokemon that you probably end up taking for granted. It's typical "power of friendship" stuff, and most people will tend to come to conclude through learning about the game mechanics that this sort of thing is superficial and that stats are all that matter in the end. The more modern Pokemon games also have such a big focus on larger-than-life stories with big climaxes featuring the box Legendaries that it's easy to lose this basic level, down-to-earth narrative theming.

Johto is significant for not having any larger-than-life aspects overshadowing its core. Instead, the core takes centre stage. There is no real overarching story besides your adventure. Team Rocket's antics take a sub-plot role but in the end act as a foil to your story, being one of the more major obstacles you overcome. Catching Ho-oh or Lugia is no cataclysm either, but rather a reward for your achievements throughout the game and thanks to your good and pure heart - recognised by the Legendary in question. Moments throughout the game like how you deal with the situation at the Lake of Rage, or the Dragon's Den trial where you're asked questions to test your ideals as a trainer (which, of course, you pass with flying colours) all contribute to this core as well.

The way Professor Oak congratulates you after defeating Lance ties the knot perfectly on the main campaign:

"Ah, <player>! It's been a long while. You certainly look more impressive. Your conquest of the League is just fantastic! Your dedication, love, and trust for your Pokémon made this happen. Your Pokémon were outstanding, too. Because they believed in you as a Trainer, they persevered. Congratulations, <player>!"

These are just examples of the main story events, though,and Johto has a lot more than that. The region is filled with things to do beside the main campaign - Berries/Apricorns, Pokegear calls, the Ruins of Alph and other optional caves, the Bug Catching Contest, and (in HGSS) the Pokeathlon and Safari Zone, just to name a few of the more notable ones. Tama Hero's review of Pokemon GSC talks a lot about this and it's well-worth a watch even beyond the section describing the games' breadth of side content.

Tama Hero also touches upon the supposed level scaling issue, and her response to the complaints is that there is a "sprinkling" of opportunities for small bits of exp gain throughout the game which should help you stay on track in most cases, and where you can't match levels, you can outplay your opponent.

I certainly agree with the latter. It always feels entirely possible to beat bosses at a level deficit throughout Johto. The Johto League is one of the key cases where you'll probably end up at level disadvantage, but I've consistently been able to defeat it with a team of lv 40s on average (so nearly 10 levels behind Lance's peak), and I'm pretty certain that my not-even-10-year-old self did so as well, even though it took me many, many attempts. From various people I've talked to and bits of let's plays I've seen over the years, this seems to be the common experience too. I think only a minority of people have had to grind to match Lance's levels in order to beat him at all. Granted, it might take you a couple of tries at that level disadvantage (or a great couple of tries more, like little ol' me), but that's surely not an unreasonable expectation. The concept of getting stuck at a difficult stage in a game could be called a universal one, and I think most people agree that it's always pretty satisfying to finally surmount a challenge like that. This can even be said about other Pokemon games - Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh also all have large level spikes at the end. In fact, at least when it comes to the end of the maingame, I'd argue Hoenn and Sinnoh have a larger level spike than Johto, but they're not considered impossible or anything

Regardless, though: it's certainly possible to win difficult battles in Pokemon at a level disadvantage. Tama Hero argues that the strategy required to do so isn't something the game teaches you very well, but I think this is a tad pessimistic. In the end I think that most wins will just come down to understanding of more fundamental skills that you've probably learned through the course of the game naturally - using type matchups (gyms are all type themed), using moves with stat changes (the earlygame is full of moves like Growl and Tail Whip), using status moves (no doubt you're going to see the effects of Paralysis and Burns throughout the game at least), and apt use of items (bosses always use potions and often use held items). Players also have more control over the battle than the enemy, with the default Switch mode and a huge amount more items available. It's true that the games don't teach you the deeper, untold mechanics very well, but learning about those only unlock even more ways to succeed for the numbers-minded veterans.

On the topic of those deeper, untold mechanics I also want to talk about something which Tama Hero doesn't mention at all - Effort Values, or EVs. Most of you reading will probably know about these by now, but for those who don't, EVs are hidden values which can increase a Pokemon's raw stats by a certain amount based on the other Pokemon they defeat. They were present in a slightly different form in Gens 1 and 2 in the form of "stat exp" but the premise was the same: your Pokemon grow twofold when you defeat Pokemon, by gaining visible exp for levelling up and visibly gaining stats every time that exp bar fills, but also by gaining stats little by little every time they defeat any Pokemon. Your Pokemon's EVs weren't visible to you in-game until Gen 6 with the Super Training graphic, and numerically weren't until Gen 7 where you can press X on the Pokemon's stat screen to show what are called "base stats".

EV optimisation is crucial to competitive play because the stat boosts they give are quite significant. Competitive players will "min-max" spreads, putting as much as possible into 2 stats to maximise strengths and not wasting any on stats they aren't making use of. In maingame playthroughs, though, EVs will usually end up being a balanced spread because you'll invetivably be facing a variety of Pokemon with different EV yields throughout the game. EVs can also be increased with the Vitamin items (Protein, Calcium, etc.) which you find a handful of throughout the game (and can buy at a premium) and can be used to manually raise EVs, though only to a certain point.

In Gens 3 and onward, a Pokemon can have up to 252 EVs in 1 stat, and 510 in total. At Lv 100, 4 EVs in a stat grant 1 point extra to it. For the singleplayer campaign the conditions are a bit different, but if we assume as a standard that by the Elite Four your EV total is maxed out and you have an even spread, your stats will all be up to 10 points higher than they would be without EVs. In Gens 1 and 2, you can actually max out all of a Pokemon's stat exp values but you're unlikely to cap them all for a good while beyond the maingame so we can consider them about the same as in the later gens for this.

But why is this important?

Firstly, the difference EVs make in the above scenario account for what is usually about 5 levels' worth of stats. Depending on your exact distribution, it could be a couple more or less levels' worth in each stat but the bottom line is that they make your Pokemon's strength higher than it may seem based on level alone.

This means that the wild Pokemon grinding that is criticised for being too tedious in Johto as a result of low levels is also better than it seems because even when you don't level up, you're gaining EVs for every one of those you defeat. The stagnant levels in the midgame of Johto also contribute more to your Pokemon's growth than it may seem from the slow level gain. The Pokegear rematches which you gain access to after defeating Team Rocket before Gym 8 may also be a little infrequent, but they also very often give you Vitamins afterwards to add to all of this.

Secondly is what seems to be a fairly unknown fact: in-game trainers do not have any EV spreads. Thanks to the work of speedrunners, we have exact data of enemy trainers' Pokemon to show this. Trainers do have IV spreads based on their "AI level" (more 'advanced' AI levels will have up to 30 IVs across the board) but the difference near-perfect IVs will have on their Pokemon is not as great as the combination of random IV spreads and relatively balanced EV spreads yours.

That 10 level deficit vs Lance is suddenly more like 5 in practice. Some of his Pokemon also happen to have pretty high stats naturally in Gyarados and the Dragonites, and the level deficit will still be slightly present, but once we factor in strategy again, you can abuse their type weaknesses and make good use of items, status and whatever else have you to swing the odds in your favour.

The only way you can find out anything about EVs in Johto is from a NPC in Blackthorn City who gives your Pokemon the Effort Ribbon if they have reached their total of 510, and the only practical way for a player without the technical knowledge to have achieved this is to have spent time throughout the game doing lots of little bits of training - in other words, putting in the effort - to have incidentally capped their Pokemon's EV total. It's only fitting that you find this NPC towards the end of the Johto campaign because it's likely that by this point a couple of your team members will be eligible for the ribbon.

This finally ties back to the point of core theming. EVs are an invisible stat giving your Pokemon an extra edge over their in-game opponents, or, at worst, one closing a gap in strength between them, as a result of all of the time you've spent raising those Pokemon throughout the game. In other words, EVs are essentially the statistical representation of the "dedication, love, and trust" you have for your Pokemon which gets you through seemingly difficult challenges. Levels, then, are only a surface representation of your Pokemon's strength: they create the feeling of an uphill battle, but you can win against the odds by believing in yourself and your partners. It's probably exactly what you thought as the naive and uncynical child playing through a Pokemon game for the first time, and probably one of the ways you made such fond memories of it. In hindsight, this is definitely how it was for me. It is a sort of magic, really.

There is still a big Red elephant in the room, and I do think that the level gap between the end of the Kanto Gyms and Red is maybe too hard to go and beat immediately after even with the power of EVs and such, but Red is by all means a superboss and final challenge of the Johto games, and I don't think it's unreasonable to have to grind for a while to build up for and to finally be able to take his team of Lv 80s on. The same can be said about the Elite Four Rematches in this game and others, Steven in Emerald, or that one Barry fight in Platinum if you do decide to beat the E4 rematches 20 times to make his levels nearly match Red's. If you're setting out to fight a superboss like this, the grind is part of the prerequesites. It's definitely still possible to beat someone like Red with a 10 or even 20 level deficit if you play well, though. I admit, I haven't beaten Red in a long time, but I have beaten Emerald Steven with a ~15 level gap before. Tama Hero also said she has beaten Red with a team of level 50s in Crystal in the review.

I said before that the other games in the series haven't replicated this sort of thing as well. Gen 5 was the beginning of a marked shift away from this design, with its overarching story-driven style and a change to exp gain which would honestly be incompatible with the level curve in Johto. Gen 6, whilst returning to the exp system without level deficit multipliers, saw different means of statistical representations of the 'dedication, love and trust' trio in Pokemon Amie, which can break the game almost as much as the Exp Share when enough Affection is built up. Gen 7 brings back Gen 5's exp system whilst retaining the Exp Share and Affection systems, and actually ends up even diverging from the EV design which went before by having in-game trainers and Totem Pokemon with competitive, min-maxed EV spreads from as early as the Trainer's School. Whilst I am yet to play Let's Go and Sword and Shield, their Exp system with a 'permanent Exp Share' of sorts makes it a huge amount different and from what I've seen and heard, overlevelling is quite easy despite the game being designed around the feature. I really hope that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl at least return to Gen 6's exp mechanics, or better, reunite us with the held-item version of the Exp Share which doesn't make me feel like I'm cheating whenever I use it.

Before I go too off-topic, though, I should probably return to the original thread of this post to make some concluding remarks. What can't be denied that the way GSC and HGSS are designed may not be for everyone. I know for sure that a lot of people prefer to be able to breeze through a Pokemon game at a brisk pace without many roadblocks, but as someone who in recent years has come to appreciate much slower-paced and immersive singleplayer Pokemon playthroughs, I can't help but love the way GSC and HGSS are designed in the way I've explained, or appreciate their unique identity amongst the rest of the series. Coming to think about this has also shed light on why I adored HeartGold as much as I did when I first played it way back 11 years ago. I poured hours and hours into the game, and as a result, its magical design put me under its spell.

_____________________________________________________________

Though I linked to the references I did use when they appeared, here they are again. Do check them out if they're of interest to you!

Tama Hero's GSC review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgtMVKP2T6Y

speedrun.com trainer data for HGSS: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgss/guide/k2zij

speedrun.com trainer data for SuMo: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnsunmoon/guide/d2683

Tama Hero (YT) is one of the few people I know who actually makes longer-form Pokemon analysis content besides Aleczandxr (also YT), who whilst not being a 'PokeTuber' has made some brilliant analyses of storytelling through setting in Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto, and just recently, Unova. I did not refer to them here but I can highly recommend their content, at least.

Thank you very much for reading to the very bottom here. This is my first time writing something like this and I appreciate it.

[athenasbloodyspear]

The Viper: Chapter One

What happens when an agent of the Red Room falls into  the hands of Hydra? What happens when Hydra puts out a hit on their  favorite assassin? Who is the mysterious woman with a twisted history  and an even more twisted mind?

The team wants to know. They want to know what you know. Nat and Bucky want to know if there’s any light left in you.

They want to know you.

Bucky x Female Reader

The Viper Master List | My Writing Master List

The sounds of car horns are loud around you. The blaring, beeping and  bustle of pedestrians creating layers and layers of sound. You’re  trained well enough to sift through the sounds, listening to pieces of  conversation and various sounds of your environment to orient yourself.

You can feel the smallest shift of every person who’s moving in the  space around you. Your senses are so focused you can practically hear  the blood rushing through the people closest to you. Your prey is about a  block up, completely oblivious to where you followed.

The streets around you were loud and the sounds were strong, but nothing could keep your focus off your mission.

Underneath your hood and the rim of your baseball hat, your face was  hidden in shadow. If anyone would have seen or marked it, they would  have seen the wicked gleam of a grin.

--

“What’s got you all in a tizzy, Tony?” Nat asks from Bucky’s right.  The whole team was gathered around a conference table in Avengers tower  looking kinda bored. Tony had called everyone here this morning, much to  everyone’s chagrin because he had promised a week off and then  apparently changed his mind a mere three days later.

Bucky sighed and rolled his shoulders, leaning back in the office  chair he currently sat in, lifting the two front feet off the floor. All  he really wanted was to go back downstairs and into the city with Nat  and finish looking for a birthday gift for Steve. That’s what they were  doing this morning before they were quickly called back to the tower.  He’d procrastinated too long and really had zero idea of what to get the  man.

“I’m confused about something and I don’t like being confused.” Tony retorted.

“Oooo” Sam piped up from across the table. “The great Tony Stark  admits to not knowing something. I’m surprised there isn’t steam coming  out of those ears.”

Bucky smirks at his friend. God he loved Sam and his remarks. He  would say something similar, but his relationship with Tony still wasn’t  perfect and he didn’t want to push his luck at the moment.

“What is so confusing, Iron Man? Don’t know what to get Pepper for  your anniversary? Or did you say something stupid again and your giant  brain can’t figure out exactly which asshole statement pushed her over  the edge this time?” Nat chimed in with a mocking smirk.

Tony pointed a single finger at Nat. “I have had our anniversary  present for two months already and I’m actually getting better at  figuring out which one of my snarky comments goes too far, just so you  know.” He sighs and presses a few buttons on the large screen under the  glass conference table, whipping up a bundle of information to appear on  the screen behind him. “What I’m confused about is why Hydra put out a  public hit on one of their top agents.”

At that, Bucky’s chair drops back to all four legs abruptly. The  confusing piece of information startled him into finally giving his full  attention to the conversation. His heart rate picked up a bit.

“They did  what ?” Steve asks from the end of the conference table opposite Tony, voicing the question on all their minds.

“This morning Hydra posted a bounty on a known dark web forum. It’s  not unheard of for them to post some of their lower enemies on this  anonymously for unaffiliated assassins and bounty hunters to take down.  What’s different this time is they made it very clear that  Hydra  was posting.” He whipped up what looked eerily similar to a reddit post up on the screen. “And what makes even  less sense is I know for a fact that the person they called a hit on has been their little secret weapon for over ten years.”

Bucky scanned the post up on the screen. Sure enough, it said that  Hydra had a hit out on a well known assassin and was offering 50 million  along with diplomatic immunity in a country of their choosing for the  head of the operative.

“Who’s the target?” Nat murmured.

“So, this is the fun part. Especially for you two.” Tony continued, pointing at Nat and Bucky.

“What?” Bucky grumbled. Fun for him? What the hell? What could  possibly be in Tony’s twisted brain to think anything to do with Hydra  would be  fun for him?

“Here’s the mark.” Tony pulled up a blurry photo of a figure wrapped  in muted colors clearly captured on some sort of security camera  somewhere on a bustling street. If Bucky was tracking the cobblestones  and architecture of the buildings correctly he’d guess it was taken  somewhere in Cairo.

“Is that the best fucking picture you can get us, Stark? You can  barely see their face.” Sam quipped, leaning forward in his seat to  squint at the screen.

“This is the clearest photo of her face, yes.”

“Her?” Nat snapped, popping her eyes to Tony.

“Yes. Her.  The Viper .” He smirked back at Nat. Bucky heard a quick intake of breath from his right. Nat.

“No…” She whispered, and trailed off.

“Oh yes, Natasha. Oh yes.” Tony flicked his fingers across the table  again and all the known stats on the Viper pulled up on the screen.  “This is where the fun begins for us. This is what we know about the  Viper. She was “found” at a young age somewhere in middle America. It’s a  little unclear where, but from where I tracked it must have been  somewhere in the Midwest.”

“They stole a kid from Wisconsin? Why would Hydra bother when they  had their fingers in so many other countries?” This was from Steve.

“It wasn’t Hydra…” Nat murmured.

“ What? ” Bucky piped up again. He felt like his brain was  spinning. A top Hydra assassin? Did he know her? He would have to spiral  into his memory to find out if he ever met this Viper…

“It was the Red Room.” Nat whispered then. Her eyes staring directly at the table.

“Yes indeed!” Tony quipped. “Remind me Nat, were you still there when  they dragged in the little girl kicking and screaming or not?”

“Tony!” Steve seethed from his end of the table.

“I wasn’t living there anymore, no. I had just graduated. She was a  couple years younger than me. They said she caused quite a nuisance  during the assassination of a target. Instead of killing her they decided  to bring her back. I saw her maybe twice. They had always referred to  her as the snake. She was less refined than the other girls, she started  her training a little too old, but she was… desperate to make up the  difference.” Nat shuddered a bit then and Bucky felt compelled to reach  out and place a hand on her shoulder. “She reminded me of… me.”

There was a small moment of pause before Tony started again. “So our  little snake graduated from The Red Room and spent a few years as an  agent for them before falling in with our buddies at Hydra.” Tony looked  at Bucky then, “Where she was trained and conditioned to fill a missing  position in their ranks after they unfortunately lost control of a very  important  asset. ”

“You’re a prick Tony.” Steve muttered, his eyes falling on Bucky.  Bucky waved him off. He was fine, really. He’d started making peace with  his history when he was on Wakanda and though he still had a long way  to go, he wasn’t going to fall to pieces at the mere mention of the  Winter Soldier.

“You’re telling me that they…” He trailed off, his mind spinning in  circles. This poor woman he didn’t even know subjected to what he went  through, simply because he had left. He knew it wasn’t his fault, but he  still felt responsible that someone else had to fill a hole he had  created.

“Yes they trained this little spitfire to be their top assassin and  she has been in their top ranks since about 2010, only stepping into the  role of top assassin after the events in 2016 finally severed you  completely from the organization. She’s been racking up kills ever  since. Much like you my dear metal armed friend, she’s nearly impossible  to catch on camera, let alone see with your own eyes.”

From the corner of the room, where he sat in a chair separate from  the table, Bruce finally spoke. “I always thought The Viper was a  myth.”

“Yeah and you thought the Winter Soldier was a myth. Hell I always  thought Thor and Loki were just some folklore.” Sam remarked. “I believe  almost everything nowadays.”

“Wait so, this woman was a trained Red Room assassin, then a top  Hydra operative and now they’re asking the internet to kill her? Why  didn’t they just take care of her themselves? Surely they had her locked  up or brainwashed somehow.” Bruce said.

“You guys are seriously just assholes sometimes.” Steve murmurs.

“I’m fine, Steve.” Bucky says. “It’s a valid question. Even when they  wanted me eliminated, they only worked with people inside.”

“Exactly.” Tony said. “My theory is, they want us to know that they  want her dead. In fact, my more specific theory is that this is bait in  order to get us to hunt and eliminate her. I want to know why.”

“She must have slipped away from them.” Nat said then. “Even if no  average internet bounty hunter could ever touch her, surely they’d at  least keep her a little busy. Busy enough that we might be able to get a  jump on her. She must know something.”

“Exactly. What does she know? And why don’t they want her to utilize whatever information she knows?”

“So we’re going to find her then.” Steve said. “What if this is a  trap? Specifically set up to intrigue us into bringing their very own  top operative into our facilities.”

“It could be.” Nat responded. “But it seems a little weird to send a  bunch of people they don’t control after her unless they genuinely  didn’t care about what happened to her. It seems unlikely she’s still an  asset to them if they’re willing to risk her actually being caught off  guard, no matter how unlikely that is.”  

“See, this is what I meant by being confused.” Tony quips then,  heading for the door. “I’ve sent everything I know about the woman to  each of you. Study it. See what conclusions you come to on your own.  We’ll reconvene here tonight to discuss an action plan.”

--

You sat in a corner booth at a tiny cafe, facing the door. There was a  swinging door into the kitchen to your left, which led to three back  exits. Directly in front of you was the only door facing a main street.  The whole front of the coffee shop was glass, giving you a clear view of  the two targets you’d been tracking all morning, who had stopped to  grab breakfast at a restaurant across the street.

You were twirling a long since lukewarm cup of coffee in your hands,  your eyes flicking back and forth between your marks and the swinging  kitchen door at your shoulder.

You watched as your marks both stretched and stood up. The woman hailed a cab. They seemed disgruntled.

 Interesting.  

While the woman tried to snag the attention of a cabbie, you threw a  few crumpled bills on the counter of your table and slipped through the  swinging kitchen door. There were a few shouts of alarm as a stranger  wandered into the bustling diner kitchen, but you quickly weaved through  the crowded kitchen and out a back door. You jumped on the sleek black  Kawasaki bike you’d stashed behind a dumpster in an alley.

You pushed the bike out and around the corner before turning it on,  waiting to confirm that they had both piled into a cab. You revved the  engine and punched the accelerator, weaving quickly   between the piled  up traffic, causing lots of horn honking and a few near rear-end  accidents.

Your heart was hammering in your chest, the adrenaline coursing through your veins as you tore after that cab.

The grin still plastered on your face.

--

Bucky’s head was reeling as he read through the intel, albeit a small amount, that Tony had managed to dig up.

There were a total of 3 videos captured on a security camera of the Viper on a job. He watched them all multiple times.

The Viper was ruthless and unnervingly calm. It reminded him of  himself, what he saw in the footage of the Winter Soldier. It made the  bile in his stomach churn. He knew that feeling of uncontrollable calm  very well and it made him break out in a cold sweat.

The first video showed her walking calmly up to a high security  warehouse, putting bullets between the brows of every operative in  sight, barely even looking in their direction before pulling the  trigger. She walked directly with purpose toward the door that was  clearly her mission. Once every operative in view of the camera had  fallen she reached for the door handle. Before she slipped inside, she  lifted her pistol without looking and fired one round into the camera,  cutting the feed. With the hood on her jacket, there was no clear  footage of her face. Bucky wondered how they were even sure it was her.  Her murderous calm must have been enough evidence.

The second was a terribly grainy video taken in some basement  somewhere. There was someone strapped to a chair and he watched as the  Vipers fists slammed into the man repeatedly. A choppy, distorted, and  heavily accented voice spoke about 40 seconds in. “Good, Viper. You may  play now. Make sure there’s something left of him to interview  tomorrow.” Bucky flinched as he saw the woman stride toward a table,  likely filled with instruments of torture. The man strapped to the chair  began to scream, pleading in Russian that he’d say anything they wanted  him to. He heard a low woman’s voice come through the video, murmuring  “Too late.”

The third was a more recent video according to the time stamp. It was  less than six months ago off a security cam in Maracaibo. It was about a  9 second video, just watching the woman cross a bustling street in  Venezuela. Bucky remembered that some hot shot Hydra agent had been  found dead in Venezuela this year. Could it have been the Viper taking  down one of their own? Is that why they were mad?

There were about 5 other attachments of images. The only photographs  that Friday could find of this enigma apparently. 4 were blurry security  camera footage from various places. The one Tony had shown this morning  was truly the only one that even sort of showed the woman’s face. Well,  except the 5th.

The 5th made Bucky even more sick than the footage of brutal  violence. It was a Polaroid image of what appeared to be a 16 or 17 year  old girl in ballet clothes, standing in the middle of what he assumed  was a dance studio. It would have been normal, a young woman after a  dance class, if it wasn’t for the red blood splattered up her pink  tights, dripping off her knuckles and smeared on her jaw. The subject  wasn’t looking at the camera, but rather seemed to be standing at  attention with her focus to the right of the photographer. Written in  sloppy Russian at the bottom corner of the Polaroid was “Option 4.”

What does that mean?  Bucky thought to himself.  Option for what?  

It made him sick staring at that photo. If the blood wasn’t there, it  would just look like a young woman preparing for a ballet class, or  perhaps being photographed so a costume designer could see her figure  while they created dazzling outfits for a production. It was so wrong  for someone so young, whose face was filled with innocence, to be  covered in blood. He felt so protective over her, this young woman he  didn’t even know. This young woman who he knew grew up to be a murderer  with a kill list almost as long as his.

He knew, looking at that photo, that this woman had never wanted  this. He didn’t know how he got such a gut reaction to the image, but he  saw himself in it. A young person who was given the worst hand of cards  to ever be dealt, and was simply trying to stay alive. He stared at her  thin frame, the hollow look in her eyes and nearly wept.

He needed to find her. He needed it more than he’d needed anything in  a long time. He needed to find out how far she had fallen from this  image, and if he could pull her back.

He needed to do it, because he’d always be grateful that someone did it for him.

--

Your marks had gone into the tall skyscraper a few hours ago. You  were too antsy to sit around and wait to see if they’d venture back out  into the city.

You prowled the sidewalk like a caged animal. Tracing patterns through the busiest blocks. Keeping track of nearby cameras.

Everything smelled like garbage and piss. You hated it. You loved it. It was such an easy city to get lost in.

An even easier city to be found in.

--

When Bucky finally dragged himself back to the conference room that  evening, he felt like a wreck. He had worked himself up considerably  throughout the afternoon. He was antsy and apprehensive.

He really didn’t know what was wrong with him. It was just some random assassin, why was he so worked up?

Steve noticed his touchy mood as soon as he walked in and raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m fine.” Bucky grumbled. “Just want to figure this out. It’s bothering me for some reason.”

“Maybe because it’s a little too personal, Buck.” Steve said quietly.

“Yeah maybe.” Bucky coughed out. His chest felt tight with someone who knew him so well staring at him like this.

Before Steve could rib Bucky more, Tony sauntered into the room with  Nat behind him. “So what’s everyone’s thoughts on our little snake in  the grass?”

“I think the woman is damn fucking scary.” Sam piped up from the same  chair he’d been in this morning. “And really good at her job. Reminds  me of robocop over there a little too much if you know what I mean.”

“That’s what I find so interesting.” Steve says. “Because obviously  we know that Bucky wanted out, and was not the person that the camera  showed. I wanna know what’s really going on in her brain.”

“Banner, question for you, if we managed to set a little trap for our  snake and actually got her in here, would you be able to scan her brain  and see how much of it was under her actual control?” Tony said as he  dropped into a chair at the head of the table.

Banner responded from where he sat in his normal chair in the corner.  “I could compare a brain scan to early scans of Barnes’s brain. See how  similar they look. Then compare to his post-Wakanda scans. In a sense,  yes. But the brain is complicated as you know.”

“Can’t we just talk to her?” Bucky pipes up. “I mean, if it makes you  feel more comfortable to hook her up to a lie detector whatever, but I  just… I know what they do to people there and let me tell you there’s no  way she’s in control.”

“What makes you so sure?” Tony questions. “I mean, I was wrong about  you. I’ll admit that. I’m a bigger man now. But not everyone is Cap's  former BFF brought back from the dead with a heart of gold trapped in a  twisted hydra web. She could have gone willingly. In fact, I have a hard  time believing that a Red Room agent was accidentally captured by  Hydra. What if she went to them willingly?”  

“But then why did she leave?” Natasha counters. “Who’s to say that  she ended up in all this willingly. I don’t know the whole story of how  the Red Room got her, but it’s rare that people join without coercion.  There’s more to this story, I can feel it.”

“Me too.” Bucky whispered. There had to be so much more to that 17 year old girl than a brutal murderer.

“Nat, can you explain this image to me?” Tony says, pulling up the  very polaroid that was going to haunt Bucky for weeks. “This looks like a  pretty willing agent to me.”

Bucky cringed at Tony’s short sighted assessment. Sure, the subject looked relaxed but that didn’t mean willing. Nat sneered.

“Well Tony, when every week your instructors challenge two students  to spar and the loser is killed however the classmate prefers, you too  would willingly fight back, to the death if necessary.”

Steve flinched, and looked at Nat with eyes full of grief. “They made you kill each other?”

“Kept us from attaching to each other.” Nat said simply.

Steve just shook his head, placing his face in his palms. This was  one of the reasons Bucky and Nat had gotten along pretty quickly. They’d  come to terms with their trauma, and the others sometimes had a hard  time brushing past the torture that the two of them had simply moved on  from.

“Touche.” Tony shrugged. “So why does this image say option 4?”

“That I don’t know.” Nat sighs. “No photos were ever allowed to be  taken of us, but the fact that this was clearly taken by an instructor  confuses me.”

“So we have no answers.” Sam quips. “Do I need to go stand on the  street with a sign that says “Viper take a crack at me” so we can maybe  get a glimpse of her? I’m only doing it if I can wear the suit Tony.”

“That’s the thing, there have been no sightings of the woman for  years, and the one tiny glimpse in that surveillance shot from Venezuela  6 months ago was a blip. There was no record of anyone matching that  description entering or leaving that country or any near it. We have no  idea where she is.” Tony muttered. “I have Friday combing every single  camera we can get access to, and hacking into those we don’t. The tip  line on that forum is blank. No one seems to have seen her.”

There was silence for a moment, as everyone sunk into their own minds. Letting the gears turn.

“Mr. Stark.” Friday’s voice came lilting out of the ceiling. “I have a hit.”

Everyone jumped a bit, leaning forward in their seats.

“Put it on the screen.” Tony snapped. Suddenly the whole blank wall  of the room was filled with various camera angles showing crowds of  people wandering on the sidewalk. In the middle of a cluster of  pedestrians was a figure draped in black, a baseball hat on their head  and a hood pulled up over it. As the person moves, the different  security camera’s flip past on the screen, keeping up with their  movement.

Instantly, Bucky’s blood ran cold.

“Where is this?” Sam whispers.

“Queens.” Bucky, Steve and Tony answer in unison.

“Very close to Parker’s apartment…” Tony whispers.

“It’s empty.” Steve mentions. “Happy and May are on vacation and Peter is staying with his friend. That Ned kid.”

“I know.” Tony says. “Doesn’t mean I like her being around the corner from his place regardless.”

The room goes quiet for a few moments as they all watch the Vipers  progress through the streets of Queens. She never picks up her head,  seeming to be watching the sidewalk in front of her. She slips easily  between groups of people, never bumping into anyone even though she  doesn’t seem to be looking at anyone.

“What are we doing?” Sam says then. “We know exactly where she is. She’s so close. Let’s go suit up.”

“There’s no way she’s here by accident.” Nat says quietly. “It’s like she wants us to find her…”

“Another layer of intrigue.” Tony snarks.

“She wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up in this city unless she  actually wants us to find her.” Nat continues. “Either they sent her  here as a trap and finally had her look into a security camera long  enough for us to track her, or she’s doing this on her own. Either way, I  don’t understand the motive.”

There’s another moment of silence as they all watch the cameras track the target.

Abruptly, the Viper stops in the middle of the sidewalk. The  pedestrians continue to flow around her, many seem to be grumbling and  some throw rude gestures in her direction.

There’s now only a single security camera in the area able to capture her image, she stands right in the center of the frame.

“What is she doing?” Steve whispers.

Through the grainy camera footage, the whole team watches as it looks  almost like her shoulders shake slightly. She seems to be looking at  her feet.

No one breathes as the woman in the center of the video lifts her  head slowly. Her eyes land directly on the lens, as if she’s peering  straight through the shitty security camera and into Avengers tower.

There’s a huge grin on her face.

Then, from the pocket of her hoodie, she pulls a pistol and calmly points the barrel at the camera.

The last thing the camera sees in her head dropping back as she begins to cackle. Then she pulls the trigger, ending the feed.

“Holy shit.” Sam whispers.

Bucky is speechless. His heart is pounding in his chest. He felt like  her eyes seared through the camera and right into his chest. He can  barely breathe.

“Friday, show us the other cameras in the area.” Tony barks.

Friday pulls up tons of camera angles of the street the Viper was  just standing on. The crowds are screaming, attempting to run away from  the spot that the Viper had clearly just been standing. However, there  are no further gun shots and no one looks injured.

“What the  hell? ” Bucky says under his breath. She just shot out a camera in the middle of a busy street in Queens? For what?

“Are there any figures matching her description on any of these feeds?” Tony snaps again.

“No sir.” Friday replies. “I’ve scanned every camera in the borough and I can’t see her on any of them.”

Everyone sits in shocked silence as the security footage continues to  roll. The NYPD show up, helping to calm the pedestrians. They watch  quietly as they start to tape off the area. Everyone knows however that  if no one was hurt, it’s unlikely that the cops will pursue the incident  further. They have much bigger fish to fry in this town.

“Well goddamn.” Sam finally breaks the silence. “That was quite a little performance.”

“She really wants us to find her then.” Nat mutters.

Around the room everyone mutters their agreement.

Bucky finds his voice finally.

“So let’s find her.”

--

There’s unending adrenaline in you now. It was reckless you knew  that. It was also so obvious what game you were playing with them at  this point, but you didn’t care.

They clearly weren’t going to make a move, so you had to play your hand first.

For better or worse, it was their move now.

[kendrixtermina]

Appreciating the Range of Type 6, or, one stereotypical example, and three that aren’t.

I want to tell you about some type 6 ppl that I know in my personal life.

Exemplar #1: F. B.

Complete Stats

Wing: 5 p or cp: largely phobic – lots of safety worries, outright authoritarian follower personality Instinct: sp/soc Trifix: 613  - 6w5 1w2 3w2 (“The Taskmaster” or “The Middle Manager”) jungian: ISTJ / SLI-Te oldham: Conscientious & Aggressive Essence Type: Mars Temperament: Pure Choleric

What he’s like:

Not pleasant.

Every “strict conservative middle aged guy” stereotype in the book. Control freak, makes a mountain out of every molehill, sees the world as full of axe murderers, judgemental as fuck, horrible temper and yet completely impersonable, all his opinions are copypasted from right-wing news sites. When they say war is good he’s for war, and when they say war is bad he’ll be like “At least Trump did not start any more wars” without perceiving a contradiction. Despite this, he believes is very hot, principled and funny. He is none of these things. He puts people down nonstop. My knowledge of neurochemistry tells me that he must have emotions somewhere or he couldn’t function, but I ain’t ever seen a single one of those emotions. They’re all for his job and a few trusted mentor figures. And his mom. At least he loved her.

If you say anything he doesn’t like, he “throws the sofa out the window” as his wife once put it.

How he’s a Type 6:

Well, he’s pretty much every negative stereotype in a nutshell… other than distrusting his partner. But that might be cause hes sx blind, or cause the wife is big on monogamy & wouldn’t ever cheat.

The one positive trait of 6 that he has is that he does his research. Before moving anywhere he googles the crime rates and if you need a doctor he might find you the best one. But even that can be overriden by ideology (hydroxychloroquine!). And if you don’t take his exact advice, there goes the sofa out the window again…

And I guess the work ethic from all 3 parts of the trifix really comes through – he hasn’t had a single bad grade in his life and always keeps collecting new certifications, and will make sure you hear about it...

Exemplar #2: I.

Complete Stats

Wing: 5 P or cp: pretty much an even mix of phobic and counterphobic Instinct: sp/soc Trifix: 614 - 6w5 1w2 4w3 (Would prolly call herself “The Big Pain” rather than “The Philosopher” ^^°) jungian: INTJ / ILI-Ni oldham: Serious & Conscientious Essence Type: Saturn Temperament: Chlor-Mel

What she’s like:

I’d describe her as serious, mature, discerning, focused and passionate about her friendships, if perhaps somewhat forceful at times, with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor.

Comes across like someone who knows what she’s talking about, with well-articulated points.

Often the Responsible Sibling, Designated Sanity Checker or Bullshit Detector.

Prefers to plan everything in advance in typical Ni dom fashion, even amusement part trips. Gets somewhat anxious without a future plan or shedule.

Often mistaken for a whole lot more sociable and confident that she really feels inside. (even I kinda bought it and got her whole darn trifix wrong on my first typing attempt, though that was when I was new to typology) She can act the boss act temporarily to get the situation over with, but she actually hates making decisions.

She does however have the occasional cute/pure moment where that lower function block comes out.

How she’s a Type 6:

She has saved our family from many a terrible restaurant by making sure to check the reviews. The preparing for all possible dangers is very 6, the acting tough outwardly when youre inwardly anxious, the intellectual problem solving & some tendency towards organization/responsibility/ “logistic” intelligence.

One online test she took gave her 5w6 instead of 6w5 but that’s probably just the ITxx-ness leaking in. I remember this one time we were discussing this artsy-fartsy theater play to which we’d had fascinatingly different reactions, and at one point I half-jokingly said something like “But does anyone ever really feel connected to others, or is that a myth?” to which she wrote, “[Name], what the fuck? Yes I do.” and then immediately deleted it. That’s more of a 6 reaction innit?

Nonetheless the wing does feature in significantly – for example she got very well informed about a lot of topics because she researched them to assuage a random survival-related fear, like, “How to make sure I have enough retirement money”

Exemplar #3: M.

Complete Stats

Wing: 7 p or cp: largely phobic Instinct: sp/sx Trifix: 692 - 6w7 9w1 2w1 (Fortunately very much a “Good Samaritan” rather than “The Stockholm”) jungian: ISFP / SEI-Fi oldham: Sensitive & Devoted Essence Type: Lunar-Venus Temperament: Pure Supine

What she’s like:

Precious! Sweet, nice, good listener, friendly, gives all the best gifts. But also perceptive and good at understanding people, eg. mediating to the parents when one of the younger sisters is having An Emotion™ or winning the trust of problem children.

Unlike I. Who has some soc that helps her keep track of a larger circle of friends despite her introversion, M. tends to enjoy the closeness with her family and have just a few very close friends. Excellent friend material all around! The sx and Se also come out in enjoying art forms involving the body like theatre or dance.

She can be a bit shy, conflict-avoidant and occasionally a lil bit panicky though.

As a small kid she used to be super duper shy but then a wise english teacher encouraged her to play a big role in a play, and since then she’s a lot more confident and doesn’t let ppl push her around without limit, though she’s still a quiet, helpful person. There you see the difference that a good teacher can make.

How she’s a Type 6:

For one thing she moves and emotes faster than a core 9 would, and she fits the body language – big eyes that move around a lot, stands a bit lopsided, talks in a shrill voice on the rare occasions where we exhaust her patience etc. As a xSFx and a w7 she shows mostly the “warm, friendly, likeable” side of type 6. She also has a very 6-ish tendency to very frequently ask people’s opinions & feedback before making decisions. (the other fixes probably add to this)

Alas, she also has a little bit of of the fear/insecurity.

Also she has a social/care job which might be seen as 6-ish desire to serve the community.

Exemplar #4: J.

Complete Stats

Wing: 7 P or cp: largely counterphobic Instinct: sx/soc ?? definitely not sp first. Trifix: 638 - 6w7 3w4 8w9(?) (Shall she be a “Justice Fighter” or a “Kyle”? Only time will tell.) jungian: ISTP / LSI-Se ?? Oldham: ? some Dramatic & Serious, perhaps ? Essence Type: Definitely Mercury Temperament: San-Mel

What she’s like:

The first adjective that usually comes to my mind is ‘cool’. Sassy, energetic & a little bit tough, but also affectionate when she wants to be. (though in admiring way rather than a mushy one)

She says the coolest things, has a certain sly sort of cleverness, and an astonishly good poker face. Bit of an occasional prankster. Hilarious. Knows all sort of cool science facts. Avid gamer. 

Not especially popular or over the top sociable, but she gets sad if no one pays attention to her a while. Will act visibly moody where ppl can see sad or worried and can catastrophize a bit in such situations.

How she’s a Type 6:

I first though we might be getting an ExxP type 7 since she was a pretty energetic child, but once puberty hit and independent thought manifested, she turned out a whole lot too reactive and ‘edgy’ for this, and more on the ‘moderate introvert’ side of things.

Since then the sisterly dynamic has been like one fluffy golden dog and 3 hissing black cats. Hissing Cats #1 and #2 are very proud of her, but cat #1 was forced to conclude that she’s probably not a positive outlook type.

Out of all the reactive types 6 fits best because she does broadcast group identity (like wearing merchandise of her favorite media and wearing buttons in solidarity with ppl she likes.) & has a big case of Big Sibling worship for M, I, and someone else who isn’t on this list due to being a 9. (a 4 or 8 might like their older siblings but probably wouldn’t constantly stress the admiration.), but she can also show lasting, pouty displeasure with authority figures who have slighted her. (Like that one time I went too far in teasing her...)

I’m just assuming the 8 fix because that tends to make 6s more bold, louder & more shameless.

Basically she is the “punk teen” type of 6. She can be a bit dramatic & over-the top but still come to her family on advice (even advice on pranks!) in ways that xSTPs of other enneagrams prolly wouldn’t.

She also tends to use self-deprecating humor in tough situations and deflects compliments to present herself as ‘ordinary’.

...

This may sound like I’m really getting down on my first example (I won’t pretend that I’m not) but the point in bringing him up is that the reason he’s like this is: He was subject to really bad parenting that put a lot of fear into him, there was no good parenting to teach him broader coping strategies, he lived in a crappy environment that crushed his dreams, in a sense ‘confirming’ those fears and making him double down, resulting in a person who is just always rigidly following the same predictable pattern or jumping from one automatic reaction to the next with very little pausing and thinking. That goes for the other types too: A ‘stereotypical’ person is a desperate person ruled by fear, who cant stop or soften up even for an instant cause they constantly feel this fire of threat under their arse.

A lot of descriptions say that 6s ‘Follow authority’ but most would balk at the notion – ‘I do the research!’ they might argue ‘I don’t just trust anyone’ or ‘I’m actually a rebel’. There is of course such a thing as denial  that’s more like the extreme case.

But with a more average, functional 6 it’s not so much ‘obedience’ as that they just like to bounce their ideas off of others to get feedback, or that they feature in other’s viewpoints. So you might get someone who can naturally use feedback (something other ppl may have to learn first) or who is very considerate of others (which others might have to consciously remind themselves to do.)

Those are sometimes pretty good traits actually.

On the other hand this is probably part of what makes decisions hard cause they consider all these possible scenarios of how things might displease or cause harm to everyone involved.

Being able to naturally snap into Action Mode under stress looks a bit enviable from the outside, but I. assures me that it’s actually super stressful & exhausting, even for someone who doesn’t get to a point of just being unreasonably aggro at you.

Though even an extreme case like F.B. would probably claim that he ‘did the research’ even as he’s 1:1 quoting the Pope at you, and then saying that you ‘have to be respectful’ even if you don’t even believe in Christianity. Hence why you get a lot of authoritarians talking about “disrespect”. You didn’t “fail to obey”, you “disrespected the flag” or  “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”. Because they’re still trying or inwardly thinking that they’re doing the consideritation & considering other’s PoV thing when they’ve long since crossed from respect and consideration into mindless obedience, all while still thinking that they’re very sceptical and discerning cause after all they really distrust the other political party or whatever.  

In a way you get this obsession with ‘mind control’ cause they’re not unaware of & very much looking to guard the blind spot. They’re adults trying to do adult things.

For example, if I voiced an opinion to F. B. which he didn’t like, his reaction was often to ask “who told you that”

That’s just how he seems to think opinions work, somebody tells them to you.

Makes one wonder how he thinks new opinions start.

Yeah - Nobody told me that. I concocted it myself in some corner of my head. And in the interest of objectivity, I should stress that you can also end talking out of your ass that way, if you’re not basing it on enough outside data. Making up new shit has more of a quadratic than a linear learning curve – at least with copying you get something semi-useful right away. In making up your own you might be really off a long time before you stumble on something useful.

Also, I was young at the time and it’s not wholly unreasobale to think that an inexperienced person might be duped. I reacted really badly in part cause he hit my own ego buttons cause I was of course proud of this epiphany that I had concocted by myself, and now he says (or so I perceived it, being sensitive to accusations of incompetence) that I’m too dumb to form an opinion, so of course I launched into full Obnoxious Reddit Dude Mode.

In I. It manifests more on a reasonable useful level like “Oh wait, should [young cousin] be on TikTok? I don’t want him to get sucked into some cultish BS.” which is at least something the parents should have on the radar/ warn him about even if they do let him use TikTok, because for all that it is vital for him to get his experience with independent socializing & experimentig with sel-presentation, people do sometimes get suckered into cults or goaded into unsafe tests of courage.

And in a sense… maybe they overamphasize it but to some extent they’re also simply consciously aware/ mindful of it. The rest of us are not immune to propaganda after all, solong as it’s presented in a way pleasing to our egos. Any type structure can become a ‘hook’ if you’re not careful.

[kfpaddle]

How To Come Up With Excellent Invention Ideas

Learning how to come up with good invention concepts that are within your budget plan to prototype and maker is not constantly a very easy job.

The reality is that I have actually been an inventor for greater than twenty years and even I in some cases do not know exactly how to come up with excellent invention ideas. It is a matter of trial and error integrated with little expertise in the prospective market.

Product Ideas You Can Invent

Family Pet Related Products

Camera Accessories

Automotive Add-on

High Priced Innovation Products

Searching Equipment

Diving related items

Boating Devices

Golf Products

Sporting Item

Outdoor camping Equipment

High-End Home Items

Motorcycle Accessories

Bicycle Tools

Exercise Devices

Construction Devices

ToolsAnd there are hundreds of even more categories you can discover.

Find Markets With Money

Just bear in mind to choose a specific niche market for your invention that has a customer base of people prepared to invest cash. This video clip aids discuss just how you have to think about the market first and also at what rate you can market your inventions.

Determine The Market

That's right, you find the marketplace where individuals are willing to invest real money on each item. That's typically somewhere between $150-$ 300 per thing in my experience and afterward, you invent products for those consumers.

You can find lower list price items to invent but keep in mind that you will certainly need to market two times as numerous $50 products as $100 products and four times as numerous $25.00 retail items. If you sell items with an average list price of $300.00 it won't take numerous sales to get to a million dollars in earnings. That is if you leave on your own enough earnings margin on each product you invent.

As an example, below is a $149.00 retail science task that I designed. The Sonic Levitation Equipment is a basic digital gadget that only took me a couple of weeks to create a construct.

This is a brand-new method of believing when you learn exactly how to come up with good invention ideas and not everyone will certainly concur with me. Just make sure you ask individuals that have created items as well as made cash like me before you comb off these recommendations. Certain you may have a wonderful idea for some brand-new clothespin or potato chip bag better but keep in mind that those products are very easy to copy, the market for dimes and leave little area for profit even when you might have the potential to market millions of units of the product you designed.

Also read: how does inventhelp work

Invention Truths

Obtaining your idea out of your head and also right into your hands is just the first in a lengthy set of actions towards ending up being a successful inventor.

Exactly how ahead up with great invention ideas is a bit more challenging than merely having a concept and also declare a patent if you intend to make any money with your invention. DO NOT get fooled by all those people and also invention business telling you that they will certainly aid certify your concept to the sector. In most cases, it will certainly never take place and also they will certainly simply take your money and also leave you with what you started with ... just an invention suggestion and also no final product or model.

We all have concepts that we believe are the following billion-dollar chance, yet the trouble is you require to make that idea a truth. The best suggestions for inventions are the ones that people will certainly want to purchase so that as inventors, we can continue to come up with more wonderful concepts.

The only good ideas are the ones that we get out of our heads and also develop into products. Transforming a suggestion into a tangle product is not easy for a lot of us. It's not because we do not have the abilities however even more from the anxiety of trying. Many people obtain hung up on this idea that someone is mosting likely to come and duplicate it before they even attempt to produce it. The weird reality about this is that you have already failed if you don't at least attempt to begin dealing with the invention suggestion. This adverse way of thinking is so impractical, and also I can not tell you the number of times I have heard it, as well as I see it as an excuse for you not to begin working.

File for a patent if you must

The next problem that emerges is an inventor assuming that they require a patent. While patents do play a crucial role in the invention process, most of us can not manage the costs associated with both submitting a utility patent and then safeguarding it ought to any person attempt to infringe on our idea. Often, it would certainly be less expensive as well as less dangerous if you just constructed your item and began selling it to customers online. The option is up to you and it is best to ask a patent lawyer what it will set you back to patent your invention before choosing.

If it makes you feel much better, head out as well as get an energy patent or whatever shields your invention best. You will certainly require to see a patent attorney, so be prepared to invest some money. After you pay all the fees as well as get your patent authorized, you possibly will be no better you earning money with your suggestion. The stats aren't in your support because a couple of licenses recover also their declaring fees.

Pretty much every one of my ideas has been duplicated. The trick is that by the time this happens, I have currently made my cash and moved onto something new. And that's the means you need to consider protecting your inventions. Become the leader in the marketplace by producing initial items and then maintain introducing more concepts.

Also read: InventHelp inventions

Offer your product worldwide over the internet

The web has altered the way the globe operates. When you're thinking of your suggestions, they must be things that we can sell on the web. That's the only location where we will certainly have the ability to be competitive initially.

As we expand, we may attempt to sell through stores, however, we ought to set up our business to make sure that distributors can do all that part of the job for us. We do this by supplying a rate structure that motivates firms to intend to market our items.

What's interesting is all the unrestricted possibilities of the ideas that you can dream up. I have discussed this a million times. You need to research the market first to see what other items are out there, how much they're costing, their quality, and also, most notably, just how much you believe they will cost to make. The truth is that you can develop an endless number of suggestions. For you to produce the prototype and afterward make your first one hundred items of the item is another story.

Keep in mind, we constantly discuss the reality that you should just make one hundred pieces the very first time out. This way, if nothing takes place, despite just how tough you try to market them, you haven't lost that much money. I am not attempting to crush your desires. By only constructing one hundred pieces, we are lowering our danger to almost nothing. In the probability that your item achieves success, you can get even more stock very rapidly.

I assure you that even if you stop working on your very first invention, you will find out a lot that even the 2nd, the third, the fourth, or perhaps the fifth will become your big idea, your great invention. I understand that's discouraging to hear that it might not take place out the gate, however that's life

and also think of all the important things that you'll find out in the process. Even if you shed a few thousand bucks, it won't be enough to make you wish to give up your occupation as an inventor. It must inspire you to try once again!

Follow: InventHelp Instagram

The most effective concepts for inventors

You may be surprised to uncover that as an inventor, I do not come up with my suggestions first. I generally see the chance in a market where there are individuals with money to spend as well as not enough exciting items offered in that particular niche. If you do think of a concept initially, you require to dig much deeper and also ensure that there will be enough passion in your invention to ensure that it deserves investing your money and time into the concept. Without the potential for sales as well as a profit, there will be a little factor to introduce your item right into the market.

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Poliwag Line

Ah, Poliwhirl, the main character of Pokemon.

...What, you thought it was Pikachu?

Well, sure, Pikachu became it, because people didn’t like Poliwag, Poliwhirl, and Poliwrath enough, but if you go back and look at the earliest Pokemon promotional material, you’ll find the Poliwag line everywhere, because Satoshi Tajiri himself wanted to push it as the big symbol of Pokemon and Evolution- the tadpole turning into a frog.

Back in the day, Poliwag’s line was inexplicably everywhere. There’d be toy lines of “Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, PIkachu, Meowth, and Poliwhirl.” Poliwhirl was on all the promotional material. Hell, when Pokemon was on the cover of Time Magazine, guess who was front and center.

But nobody actually liked Poliwhirl all that much so eventually the Pokemon company stopped putting it in everything. Eh, they can’t all be winners. DESIGN:  Poliwag is actually super cute. It’s a tadpole with a spiral reminiscent of real tadpole intestines (visible through translucent skin) but not gross at all. Feel free to google that on your own time. I’ve decided not to share the picture here. The little feet show it’s just starting to turn into not-a-tadpole and it’s got a cute little mouth for blowing bubbles. I love Poliwag. Poliwhirl is... fine. Trading the tail for arms makes sense, but what I don’t really get is losing any semblance of a mouth. It just looks weird. Incomplete maybe. There’s something inherently offputting about Poliwhirl’s appearance and I honestly think it’s that it has no mouth, so it’s not clear that that big swirly thing is supposed to be its tummy. 

Poliwrath is just a design I don’t like. It’s just Angry Poliwhirl.   It’s thicker and has bicep, but it still suffers from the weird mouth issue that Poliwhirl does, and it doesn’t actually look like a different creature. It might just be the least noticeable change in an evolution in all of Pokemon. Seriously, look back and forth between Poliwhirl and Poliwrath quickly and tell me those are two different Pokemon and not just, like, the male and female variant of one. At least with Poliwrath I think I see where its mouth is sort of SUPPOSED to be, but with it closed so tight I can’t really tell.  Its made even more confusing because Poliwag shoots “Water Gun” out of its mouth, but Poliwhirl shoots it out of its belly.

And then there’s Politoed. Politoed has a mouth! I approve.  Unfortunately, I feel like Politoed diverges too much from Poliwag and Poliwhirl. 

The coloration is entirely different, which would be fine if Poliwhirl wasn’t the exact same color as Poliwag, there’s suddenly a huge mouth, the hands and feet are three-fingered instead of whatever’s going on with Poliwhirl, and while there’s still a stomach swirl it’s not only less pronounced, it’s a different color. Now, I will say that overall I do like Politoed’s design. I think it’s a cool frog monster that’s clearly a frog but also has enough unique traits to be interesting. I just don’t feel that it looks like the frog Poliwag was destined to become.

Now, Shiny Politoed actually goes a long way to fix this just by being the same colors as Poliwhirl, but my general feeling here is that if Poliwag to Poliwhirl’s transformation involves big gloved hands and raised eyes, then the Poliwhirl to Politoed evolution should’ve kept those.   Also, I don’t get why it has a single long hair. The Pokedex says that hair is proof of its status as a King, and it does evolve via King’s Rock, so maybe there’s some Frog Prince shenanigans going on there, but I just don’t see it. EVOLUTIONS:  I love Branching Evolutions, generally, especially ones where you just get a choice.  Poliwag to Poliwhirl is a normal level 25, and Poliwhirl to Wrath or Toed is Water Stone or Traded With King’s Rock... And I gotta say, I kind of hate “Trade with King’s Rock.” I don’t think I’ve gone into this yet but I’ll definitely say it a lot in the future: Trade evolutions that require additional items are a pain in the butt, a waste of everyone’s time, and there’s too many different items for them. Also, Trading is already a bit of a thing. Why not just make Poliwhirl evolve into Poliwag by using the King’s Rock like an evolution stone?  You know there’s like 40 evolution items and most of them only apply to one Pokemon?  And King’s Rock only applies to two. 

Look, I understand and begrudgingly respect that, until they came to their senses in Sword and Shield, Pokemon didn’t want to include evolution methods that were attemptable and failable in an earlier game, like using a Leaf Stone on Eevee, but I will never understand while Sneasel needs a Razor Claw but Gligar needs a Razor Fang even though both work by being held items that trigger evolution on level up. And King’s Rock, Metal Coat, Upgrade, and Dragon Scale were what started this mess.  And why the devil can’t Seadra become Kingdra with a KING’S Rock? Somehow Politoed is more king than Kingdra? Anyway, split evolutions are cool when they’re sufficiently different. Though Politoed and Poliwrath seem similar, they have a decently different move list and, most importantly, Poliwrath leans Physical while Politoed leans Special. TYPING:  Poliwrath is a rather unique Water/Fighting combo which gives it a whopping seven resistances. Sure, this comes with five weaknesses, but if you play smart it means you can switch Poliwrath into a lot of attacks.  Also, a Water/Fighting combo gives super effective coverage against seven types, and nothing resists both types.  This is a really comfortable place to be. Politoed is pure water, which is fine defensively with four resistances and only two weaknesses, but with only three types of STAB coverage and three types that resist all its STAB attacks it’s going to have a much harder time putting out damage.

STATS: You know what’s weird? Poliwhirl has speed 90. Both Poliwrath and Politoed have speed 70. While it’s not unheard of for a Pokemon to have a stat decrease, especially a speed decrease, on evolution, Poliwhirl is the only Gen One pokemon to have this issue, other than Caterpie and Weedle who lose Attack and Speed upon cocooning but got it back in their final forms. Some Gen One Pokemon retroactively got it later, like Onix and Scyther both losing speed when they become Steel types, but Poliwhirl was the first. Anyway, actual stats. Both Poliwrath and Politoed have above average HP and below average speed. Poliwrath has comfortable defenses at 95 and 90, and a decent 95 attack. It’s not exactly a heavy hitter, but it’s good all around.  Politoed has 75 Attack and Defense, just a bit below average, but a Special Defense of a good 100. Its Special attack at 90 is just a smidge lower than Poliwrath’s attack, but it’s still fine.

ABILITIES: For main abilities, both Poliwrath and Politoed have Water Absorb and Damp. Damp, as mentioned for Psyduck, is basically useless. It shuts off self-destructing moves, but those don’t really come up enough to matter. Water Absorb is just good. Water Absorb replaces their Water Resistance not with Immunity, but the ability to heal any time they’re hit by a water attack. In a normal battle, this lets them catch Water attacks even better than they’d be able to otherwise, and jump into them late game to heal. In a 2v2, this allows your ally to spam Surf, healing your Poliwhatever while also damaging both enemies. We’re going to see Water Absorb a lot in the future, and it’s always an entirely solid ability.... but both hidden abilities are worth talking about. Poliwrath’s Hidden Ability is Swift Swim, which doubles it speed in the rain, and it’s another ability a lot of water Pokemon have. Obviously this takes some setup to use, but Poliwrath’s speed is right at the level where it’s poor normally but suddenly really good with Swift Swim up. If your team can reliably trigger it, it’s a serious boost to Poliwrath’s overall effectiveness. Whether this is better than Water Absorb absolutely depends on your team. Politoed... gets one of the greatest abilities in the game. I said this when Ninetails came up, but if a has Drought, Snow Warning, Drizzle, or Sand Stream it’s automatically useful.  Politoed is one of only three Pokemon with Drizzle, and while Kyogre is the Obvious Best of the three, it’s a Legendary that’s banned in many tournaments, so the competition is just Politoed and Pelipper- and honestly, they’re both entirely reasonable options. Drizzle is a free action Rain Dance. That’s it. And that’s all you need. Politoed comes out and oh look it’s raining.  Now water attacks do more damage, fire attacks do less, and all those other fun rain abilities are triggered. Politoed is a strategy in himself, and even if his stats were much worse, Drizzle would still be reason to use him.

Unless you’re in a format where Kyogre’s legal in which case, to hell with the little frog.

MOVES: As always we start with our attacks.  Poliwrath has two main fighting options, the defensive Drain Punch or the offensive Close Combat.  As Poliwrath is a bit on the bulky side and not really strong enough to reliably one-shot things with Close Combat, I’d lean toward Drain Punch.  For Water, Poliwrath gets.... Liquidation. It’s not impressive, but it’s STAB Physical.  Poliwrath actually has a serious move problem in that many of its best moves are Special rather than Physical, but it’s physical attack stat is much higher.   With a Swift Swim Poliwrath, Waterfall becomes a lot more desirable than Liquidation, as it’s likely to outspeed its foes, but if your Poliwrath isn’t built for speed, that Flinch is unlikely to happen. Politoed has this question a lot easier. It can learn Surf, Hydro Pump, and Scald, depending on which better fits your tactics.

Poliwrath’s coverage options are Darkest Lariat, Earthquake, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, and Poison Jab.  Of these, Darkest Lariat works against Ghost and Fairy, Earthquake against Poison and Electric, Ice Punch against Flying, Grass, and Dragon, Rock Slide against Flying and Bug, and Poison Jab against  Grass and Fairy.  Obviously there’s no way to win them all, but Poliwrath can reasonably threaten a lot of types.  

Politoed’s coverage options are Ice Beam, Psychic, Earth Power, and Focus Blast... But with guaranteed Rain Dance and STAB, it’s better off using Water against anything that isn’t Dragon, Grass, or Water. Nothing it has hits water, so Ice Beam is the only secondary attack it needs to pick up. (Politoed would be utterly busted if it could learn Thunder, but it can’t so... Ice Beam it is.) And then there’s the question of utility, and Poliwrath has a lot of it. Option A is Belly Drum. Belly Drum punches your pokemon in the gut, hard, dropping their HP in half... and raises their Attack by six stages.  It’s a dangerous gambit, but Poliwrath is bulky enough and has enough resistances to give it a shot.  Option B: Rest.  Poliwrath can take a nap and heal to full. Lots of Pokemon can learn rest, but most Pokemon don’t have above-average defenses and seven resistances. Poliwrath can combine Rest with Sleep Talk (but don’t combine Sleep Talk with Belly Drum or you’ll just kill yourself,) in order to keep performing moves while asleep. Of particular note, Circle Throw changes from -6 Priority off of Sleep Talk to using Sleep Talk’s priority, making it a solid option that keeps your opponent from properly fighting back against your sleepy frog.  With this strategy, using Scald over Waterfall or Liquidation becomes reasonable. The damage is much less, but Burning an opponent cuts their Attack and deals damage over time. Option C: Bulk Up. If you’re worried about the HP loss of Belly Drum, just Bulk Up instead. It’s weaker, but it raises Defense too, and then you can get back to Drain Punching.  Politoed doesn’t have that much for utility options (though Perish Song, Protect, and Encore all have their uses) but that’s fine because the goal here is to just set up rain and then blast enemies with a water attack and  Ice Beam or switch out into something that can better take advantage of the rain. You don’t need other utility when you have Drizzle.  Take Splash for all I care. It doesn’t matter: Hydro Pump, Surf or Scald Ice Beam Whatever. Maybe take Rest and Sleep Talk, too. Politoed’s pretty bulky.  It doesn’t really matter. Drizzle means that Politoed is secretly one of the strongest Special Attackers in the game. Just make sure you have a Ground type on the team so you can safely switch when you’re staring down an Electric type, because you do not want to eat a Thunder. OVERALL:  Poliwrath and Politoed, despite being counterparts, are very different pokemon. Poliwrath’s near-unique typing, shared only with Legendaries, and solid bulk gives it an interesting defensive position, with a wide range of attack coverage. Meanwhile, Politoed has Drizzle, which makes a pokemon on its own. Everything else is just gravy.  And I seriously wasn’t kidding about Poliwhirl being on EVERYTHING.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Mata Hari Analysis: Because I LOVE HER

By god if there’s any of my analyses that get numbers please let it be this one, I’m very passionate about my appeals that Mata Hari is actually a very usable Servant, especially comparatively to other 1-stars.

Mata Hari Assassin Max HP: 6,565 Max ATK: 5,377 (Effective ATK: 4,839) Attribute: Man Star Absorption: 98 Star Generation: 24.6% NP Charge ATK: 2.1% NP Charge DEF: 4% Death Rate: 55% Traits: Female, Humanoid, Servant, Weak to Enuma Elish

QQQAB Quick = 2 hits, Arts = 1 hit, Buster = 1 hit, Extra = 3 hits Quick: 4.2%, Arts: 2.1%, Extra: 6.3%

Espionage A++: Increases own critical star generation rate for 3 turns. (10 -> 30%) Cooldown: 7 -> 5 turns

Pheromone B: Chance to Charm all Male enemies for 1 turn. (30 -> 60%) Reduces all enemies' defense for 3 turns. (10 -> 20%) Cooldown: 8 -> 6 turns

Double Cross B: Seals one enemy's skills for 1 turn. Reduces their defense for 3 turns. (10 -> 20%) Cooldown: 8 -> 6 turns

Mata Hari Arts Chance to Charm All enemies (40 -> 60%, NP Level) Reduces their attack for 1 turn. (20 -> 40%, OC) Reduces their defense for 1 turn. (20 -> 40%, OC)

Primary Role: DPS Support, Debuffer Secondary Role: Disabler

Mata Hari is one of my favorite Servants in the entire game, and not just because she's beautiful and I love her, but because she's a pretty competent Servant when used correctly. The key word there is correctly, and a lot of new players will end up overlooking Mata Hari because she doesn't play as simply as other Assassins do. She's not going to be as effortless to use as your Sasaki Kojirou and your Cursed Arm Hassans, but to a certain extent, it is understandable because DW has given her very little love. But that's okay, that's what we're here for.

Starting with her fundamentals, the first thing that will probably standout is her stats, which are pretty atrocious. Her HP is OK for a 1-star Servant, but she's not going to function as a tank any time soon, and her ATK is so low, especially with the Assassin ATK modifier, that she will struggle to deal any damage. Fortunately, Mata Hari is not really suited to tanking or attacking, and so largely her stats are mostly irrelevant. Her NP generation is actually quite standout, however, because of her very high base NP gain per hit. Her AQQ chain will generate on average about 44% of her NP gauge, which is quite standout, especially for a launch Servant. Even her QQQ chain has rather decent NP gain at 25%, especially since there are no Arts cards involved. However, when it comes to star generation, Mata Hari has a ton of problems. Her Quicks only have 2 hits which drastically limits her star generation potential. Her QQQ chain will generate 15 stars on average, and 25 with the Quick bonus, and with her 1st skill, she'll generate...18 stars on average. Without any star bombs like Sasaki Kojirou or Cursed Arm Hassan, she has no way to patch up her star generation. Even with maximum star generation though, she only has a potential maximum of 27 crit stars (6 + 6 + 6 + 9), or 37 with the Quick bonus. Low hit counts really suck kids.

Moving onto her skills, we first have Espionage, which is a borderline garbage skill. Star Generation buffs are nice, but 30% hardly moves the needle. All it does is give an extra 30% chance for a crit star. This is why the actually good star generation bonuses are much more often 50% or 100%. For Mata Hari's best chain this results in just a measly 3 extra crit stars, so this skill is only worth leveling if having a Servant at 1/10/10 gives you anxiety. Pheromones however is actually a pretty decent skill, having a moderate chance to Charm any Male enemies as well as reducing the defense of all enemies by 20%. The Charm chance is more of an added bonus, but the Defense down is what you're looking for the most here. This can be combined with Double Cross, which inflicts Skill Seal for 1 turn and reduces their defense by an additional 20%, and the gameplay strategy of Mata Hari might start to become clear. She's a Defense debuff stacker, and really more of a support Servant over anything else.

Mata Hari's NP is largely an optional bonus. It presents another moderate chance to charm, but this time its not gender locked, and she'll inflict an Attack and Defense down debuff to all enemies. This can be as strong as 40% with maximum OC, but it is extremely rare to get to that point or make it worthwhile, since the debuffs only last for 1 turn. Mata Hari doesn't need to use her NP to make an impact, but incorporating it into your strategies can be pretty helpful.

Mata Hari's role is to boost the damage of the team, and do largely little else. Due to this, her low stats don't really impact her, and in some cases, can be even beneficial. Since she's not going to do any DPS or real damage and she's not really meant to stick around for a long time, low HP and ATK will end up being okay. Of course, this also means that Mata Hari is a fairly inflexible Servant since she only does one thing really well.

Grails: Grails for a 1 star can be really important to cementing them amongnst competition. For Mata Hari however, this is largely just for love. It'll put her Max HP to 10,120 if you grail her all the way to Level 100, and her Max ATK to 8,355, or 7,520 effective ATK. Essentially, it allows her to stick along longer and have passable ATK.

Support Options: Supporting Mata Hari is...a choice, to be certain, but I salute you brave person for wishing to make a Mata Hari team actually work. You might want to grail Mata Hari just to make her a bit safer to use though. Since her NP generation is already pretty good, and her Defense debuffs will help sustain her damage enough, all she would really need is extra stars and added consistency to her Charms. Caster Gilgamesh can provide both of those, along with additional defense down and a source of DPS. Phantom of the Opera can also be used here, providing a massive, long lasting Debuff resistance down, Crit star regen for more crit consistency, and his own Charm with buff removal.

In reality, just use Mata Hari to boost the damage of your DPS.

Command Code: Since Mata Hari is mostly meant to be used asd a support, you can use some of the more supportive Command Codes like Bridge of White Rose or Jeweled Birds Coat of Arms. Command Codes that can generate critical stars ca be used to help out her star gen, and Command Codes that increase star absorption can be used to give her some extra help with NP. Command Codes that remove buffs from the opponent can also be useful, especially since they can be difficult to field on DPS with the large number of good DPS Command Codes.

Craft Essences: The biggest one out of the gate is GUDAGUDA Poster Girl, which will give Mata Hari 3 turns of taunt. This allows her to use her skills, tank a couple of hits and then make room for another Servant to continue the job. If you don't want her to just be a sacrifical pawn, you can use CEs such as Kaleidoscope or Demonic Bodhisvatta to abuse her NP. Even her Bond CE is pretty okay, since it'll boost the NP generation of allies as well. Fragments of 2030 can be used to provide an extra 8-10 crit stars, helping to even out her crit star generation for the team.

Competition: While Mata Hari is definitely not a DPS support on the likes of Waver, Merlin, Tamamo, or Skadi, the Servant she most faces competition with is Shuten Douji. Not only is Shuten of the same class, but her kit is extremely similar, just largely better. Howver, Mata Hari has a couple of things going for her. She fits much better into the support role than Shuten does, since Shuten not only has much better stats but also a hard defensive option, which means that playing Shuten as dedicated support means you're missing out. Shuten has the highest ATK of any Assassin currently in the game, and that shouldn't be neglected. But the biggest benefit of Mata Hari is cost, since she only costs 3 in comparison to Shuten's 16. Support Servants are overwhelmingly benefited by being in lower rarities if they aren't meant to also be defensive some way, and Mata Hari fits that bill extremely. Her low Cost means you can run more expensive Servants around her comapred to Shuten.

Pros: -While having a somewhat flawed kit, it is surprisingly synergistic and will allow her to pull her weight -NP generation is quite good, meaning that her NP is never too hard to access if desired -Low HP makes her a fantastic Poster Girl option -Low cost on a support Servant is amazing

Cons: -Very inflexible. She's only really useful as a support Servant without extensive help -Low stats mean she will struggle doing anything else, even if it makes her very good in her support role -Crit star generation is really bad for a triple Q deck -Charm chances are pretty bad, maxing out at only 60% -DW didn't give her an animation update for either Salem or Ooku or Ooku re-run so she still has magic orbs

I'm biased a bit towards low-rarity support Servants since they are the least hampered by their stats. Using Kojirou as DPS, Bartholomew to farm, or Spartacus to tank will always run into problems with their low stats: low ATK reduces their ceiling on their damage and low HP means they simply cannot take many hits. But for a Servant who can be considered "fire and forget" neither stat matters and its much more about kit and cost, which Mata Hari delivers.

This all being said, Mata Hari getting a buff would really not be a bad thing in the long run. Espionage is a terrible skill, Pheromones is not only outclassed by Shuten's 1st skill, it's also outclassed by Europa's version which also outclasses Shuten. Her NP could also use an upgrade, at the very minimum to extend the duration of her debuffs although it could also boost her Charm chance, similar to D'Eon.

You will love Mata Hari though, this is non-negotiable.

[inventors-fair]

Free Sample Group Commentary

Open doors only for today!

@scavenger98 I didn’t do runner ups this time but this entitled boy had serious potential, though I don’t understand the when cast part of the card. Anyway, great overall flavor, 0 actual impact like its cost, which is a good thing for this challenge. It can have serious uses in monarch matters environments, in decks that skip their draw phase for one reason or another (mad pair with Solitary Confinement ) and there can be interesting kitchen table politics since you get to decide who’s the next monarch!

@machine-elf-paladin Pretty smart flavor text and a deceptively innocent 0 drop which could warp the game around it, especially in limited formats, where it would feast on every blocker or removal target until it becomes a threat in its own right. Considering this, maybe haste is a bit too much.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path making a statement for the peculiar times we live in right now with their design! The cards reads fun, but I’m concerned about the impact it will have on the game it’s played. The back and forth of the Plaguebearer might feel too much in the long run. I would like it more if it had limited uses like in the peculiar case of Leech Bonder.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes one can’t go wrong with egg designs! Unlike other egg cards, this one has to “hatch” and not just break/die to get your birb, which is a neat flavor win!

@kavinika Not gonna lie, this lil robo put a smile on my face. It has the essential amount of usefulness for a 0 drop and later on, be it equipment or counters, you can make combat difficult for the opponents. I can’t wait to see more of Soscarus’ creations!

@askkrenko One major concern when designing 0 drops is what if the player gets to have two of them in the first hand? Will it be too much? The all-wise goblin lord of Ravnica tackled this problem with the introduction of the “basic creature” concept and I dig it. Yes, this goblin is stronger than the standard 0 drop, memnite, but at least you can play only one on your first turn. People with experience with affinity decks will know this matters quite a lot.

@aethernalstars Before the commentary, I’m pretty sure this hydra can enter the battlefield without counters but I don’t remember the method. Everyone please comment below to remind me of the card, it really bothers me that I can’t remember it XD Now on to the commentary, I like you used the trend in the flavor texts where Vivien describes animals from different planes! On the battlefield, a 0/1 will do what 0/1s do, but the “printed power” is the selling point of the card, be it revealing on exiling with Varolz.

@dimestoretajic This this the first of the three o drop gods we received! The art chosen for this is great, mighty yet hilarious XD The fury of Om rains down on infidels that mess with your creatures, and that damage can really make a difference. The threat of damage also “protects” your creatures so its a tad easier to actually flip Om’s switch!

@morbidlyqueerious The second god design comes in the form of a land creature. Technically lands aren’t qualified for this challenge since they don’t have costs at all but the problem of the design is that it’s very easy for Anagatha to start counting as a creature, and a 5/5 creature that is. If this was a regular god design for like 2 to 4 mana, it would be great, it has both a good straightforward condition and payoff.

@naban-dean-of-irritation Atropos has a very subtle impact on the game at any time, and its power level is lower than other graveyard hate cards, so I think it being a God creature evens things out. The creature awakening condition feels fair too. I believe it could see play in decks with some artifacts and/or morph shenanigans!

@emmypupcake If you frequent to mythic spoiler, you might have come across the ongoing meme of “Looks like dredge got a new toy”. I feel this can be said the wisps but for Arcades decks or defender heavy theme in general. However it being defender isn’t that much of a drawback for it to have more toughness than ornithopter, and I feel it would be really frustrating if your opponents could wall you with a 3 toughness flyer with 0 effort.

@evscfa1 Zuthfangg is a really interesting design in regards of using a drawback to justify the 0 cost of the card. And in our case the drawback/ the spice of the card is that the opponents have a say on what it can or can’t do. With that in mind, I think being a 1/1 would be okay. Yes, it would surpass memnite for sure, but it’s a legendary creatures so it makes sense!

@nine-effing-hells First of all, I got to praise your effort for writing two flavor texts, and the second in the broken message form! On to the actual card, I think it would look better if the specimen had counters and it loses them in order to transform. That would save some text and complexity. As for the power level, I think by the time you get this to transform, your opponent will be able to handle a 4/4 menace creature.

@whackycrack It’s so cute!!! And while innocent it plays pretty well especially with combined blocks and/or more tiny screamers!

@hypexion I really dig the design idea and the overall flavor but being either a 0/1 or a 4/4 flyer for 0 mana feels overwhelming. The optimal stats are debatable but my call would be either 2/1 or 3/1. I feels its ok to hit harder if you are the monarch, but the high toughness gives it more longevity than other more expensive creatures. What do you guys think?

@starch255 This design is meant for edh, where life totals and creatures are usually larger but gifting a 5/5 0 drop to an opponent so they kill all the other plays is surely undercosted, plus EDH has a lot of tutors so the threat is very real, even in a 99 card deck. A smaller body with some slight evasion would feel less oppressive?

@thedirtside Leyline of Anticipation’s best friend!! Buy yours while supplies last XD It also works well with blink effects. So this little kitty is either an innocent creature or an demon straight out of the Hellvault. Are cats allowed to have such power?

@snugz Fleeting Flame is strictly more fair than the spirit guides cards, and that says a lot. The elemental tag might also come in handy! What’s not to like?

@Danny Death triggers fit 0 cost designs because even if they do have an impact, it happens later in the game, so in this regard, Exploited Muse gets a passing grade! There’s like a lot of room in the card, so I kinda expected some sort of flavor text to explain the muse’s hardships etc

@whuh-oh a 0 mana sliver? You sir, like to play with fire! The average sliver deck appreciates all the ramp it can get but at some point the enters tapped clause will be a hindrance. Ι doubt this passes the 0 cost test, but I’m curious to see how different a Sliver deck would be with a playset of this in it.

@shootingstarhunter Another good strategy for designs with stats higher than the average of the mana cost is the group hug way! The design is also a nice throwback to the recent Generous Gift.

@misterstingyjack and @antediluvian-microchip​ With the innovation of Lithoform Engine, we can now have copies of creature spells, and two people jumped on the hype train to explore this design space. Ludevic’s Reject provides semi-useful bodies with a steep life cost, and Motes of dust, being true to their name, do.. a lot of etb and death triggers. However, there’s a reason MaRo named the storm scale after this wild mechanic, so for once, maybe we should trust Ludevic XD

@shakesZX Typical humans, they cry about being oppressed while they can enter the battlefield as a 3/3 for 0 mana and minimum effort. May Avacyn purge them! Also, it can somehow count the opponent creatures that enter the battlefield on your turn with flash or deathtriggers.

@wolkemesser​ Not gonna lie, didn’t expect to see a germ in a not-token card! The ability is really sweet, it obviously synergizes with living weapon and one scry every couple turns feels ok for a 0 cost card! Glory to Phyrexia!

@deafeningsandwichpeach​ I like that this card uses a condition to justify its power and cost but getting to ten Scute Swarms is a small miracle in itself, even with the built-in replication ability.

@milkandraspberry​ Symmetric effects are fair game in any mana cost, but the scale of this goblin is extreme. 5 damage swings can close the game very abruptly and sudden ends usually don’t provide fun or closure.

@teaxch​ The suicide recipe is never off the menu no matter the mana cost! I think this works well as a 2/1 0 drop. But I can’t help but wonder what evil acts a leech must do to return as a spirit horror XD

@ignorantturtlegaming​ Closing with a very interesting design that cares about multicolored cards. It would be bold to say this is a “build around me card” but I can see it being prime target for auras and other buffs while being supported by multicolored instants for protection. Also pearlescent dragon is all colors, which elevate it to high draft pick in environments like shadowmoor/eventide with their color matters theme.