#this is the first time ive posted an adopt in my server and to the public at the same time cos i didnt want anyone to preclaim him

[whonsper]

the posts you put on my dash combined with talking with a friend in the common room have convinced me to check out qsmp. i Have to have the context

SCREAMING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

TL;DR yaoi island. everyone is gay, they have eggs, some of them die, theres so much drama, i swear everyones out to kill quackity.

alright disclaimer! i have not watched many vods! most if not all of my information comes from livebloggers, clips, various things i see on my dash, as well as a couple discord servers im in. another disclaimer! i only speak english so I don't follow the spanish streamers as much, and ive only watched three streams (one of quackitys, one of slimecicles, and one of wilburs) so my info is skewed off of those

so! qsmp is an smp made by quackity originally containing 7 english speaking streamers and 7 spanish speaking streamers (+quackity who is bilingual), a place they could meet and play together.

they arrive on trains to the luxury vacation destination, Quesadilla Island, where they've been split into two random teams, and noticeably there is a huge wall separating the teams. each team, consisting of both english and spanish speakers, must work together and solve puzzles before the sun rises, they get a message from a mysterious duck telling them what they can and cannot do, such as push the big red button on the wall, which they obviously do. The chunk of wall explodes, and everyone can now meet and mingle!

Everyone breaks off into groups, houses get built and people are starting to Minecraft! A community forms by the name of Ciudad de Sacapuntas (city of pencil sharpeners (wilbur really likes the word sacapuntas)), and is built into the wall, where the explosion went off. Another neighborhood is built north of that, on a river front, and theres a whole battle over the english vs spanish side, whos where, its all very funny and theres so many deaths. Other things happen, such as the terrorization from Osito Bimbo who keeps jump scaring people to take their survey

time skip cuz i stopped following for a couple days but they got eggs! everyone went to the adoption center and were paired off (one english, one spanish) to adopt a "kid" together which was just a dragon egg. the pairings were elmariana and slimecicle, philza and missa sinfonia, jaiden animations and roier, foolish and vegetta777, dantdm and maximus, fitmc and spreen, with single parents badboyhalo and quackity.

along with these eggs, the new parents now have daily tasks to do with their egg, such as giving them a new food to try, or going fishing together. as the smp goes on these get harder and more dangerous, such as exploring a dungeon together or slaying mobs.

the first egg death is when mariana misclicks his daughter, juanaflippa. literally, stepped away from his computer irl, sat back down and accidentally clicked on her bed after she had been put to sleep, the bed disappears due to a glitch. BOOM first death. slimecicle goes on a rage induced murderous rampage (doesn't kill any eggs).

a trial is arranged, mariana thinks its both of them appealing to get their daughter back. slime is trying to gain custody of juanaflippa and divorce mariana. by the end theyre sentenced to ten minutes in jail (which they escape) and court mandated couples therapy, and get juanaflippa back. all is good!

slime takes juanaflippa out to spend time with her, they go pick up tilin and slime tries his best to make the day enjoyable for both tilin and juanaflippa. while fighting mobs, he accidentally hits tilin with sweeping edge, killing her. roier is there immediately, saying he's going to jail forever and this was unforgivable. charlie exiles himself after saying goodbye to juanaflippa, saying he wont come back until he makes it right. later that same day, mariana took juanaflippa to a dungeon as part of a mission, and while fighting mobs, also hit her with sweeping edge and killed her.

quackity mourns the death of his child, vowing to kill slimecicle for killing his child, and resents wilbur for not being there for his child (wilbur and quackity were supposed to be paired). he buries himself next to tilins bed inside the grave.

there's a funeral for all the dead eggs, slimecicle climbs out of the ground to attack lil j (the devil who promised him the life of tilin or juanaflippa back, cant remember sorry). the parents of the dead eggs get to see their children one last time, its very heartfelt and wholesome

wilbur shows up on the qsmp, after being away for touring (irl, first time back in nearly a month). he finds and begrudgingly adopts his own egg which he names tallulah. they build a house and bond until wilbur sees quackity, they talk and quackity angrily and chaotically takes wilbur on a tour of the island to see what he's missed. they end at tilin's grave, with wilbur trying to console quackity and say it wasn't his fault tilin was dead. quackity gets wilbur to agree to help him kill slimecicle (without him realizing it was slimecicle). tallulah goes to stay with phil and chayanne when wilbur is offline.

quackity opens a school for the eggs, and its suspected to be a ploy to murder them without their parents presence, but a couple parents show up, as well as chayanne threatens to kill him, and also someone disguised themselves as an egg? not sure about that one, but the lessons were math and art, with all the eggs drawing pictures that were very cute and i loved them. no eggs were harmed, quackity held tallulah back at the end of class and made sure nothing was bothering her, telling her he'd take care of her.

quackity is seen spying on wilbur and tallulah's home, which he says is because he wants to learn from them how to be a better parent because he had obviously failed with tilin (he's also wearing booty shorts but thats irrelevant, just funny). wilbur accepts he's grieving and tallulah helps console him.

slimecicle, grieving, disguises himself as an egg and adopts quackity as his dad, and the two go about with the mission to rob other people. quackity ends up abandoning the new egg, whose name is gegg, gegg tries to get wilbur to adopt him, then has a nice heartwrenching conversation with chayanne

the daily missions get more dangerous as time goes on, chayanne and tallulah lose a life (which gets reversed and written off as a nightmare due to unfair buffs to the mobs) as well as dapper (i believe also written off as a nightmare?). leo got killed by a whale at some point, taking her down to one life as well, after being pardoned for a similar "nightmare" (what is it with these fucking scaling issues man??)

the streamers are told the eggs have six days left, and the countdown begins to sunday, today! (yesterday? its like 1am lol) the streamers wake up to their eggs gone, beds disappeared. they worry, theres something about a strip club, the newest batch of streamers, the Greater Brazilian Polycule, come in, and eventually the streamers are reunited with their eggs. the eggs now have cracks in their shells, can no longer wear armor, and seem heavily traumatized.

also as a little side note: slimecicle and mariana had gay sex i believe 4 times? canonical gay sex to clocks by coldplay, twice being after each time their daughter died. truly The cringefail husbands of all times <3

also the brazilians were given their own egg to share. who died within an hour and is now down to one life.

[gg-selvish]

Hi um... I'm a new author and I was wondering how you get the confidence to like... uh... promote your works and stuff? like I love what I made but I'm also somehow deeply ashamed of it and i fear sharing it with people because they might think I'm weird or cringy (especially as a multishipper - because I like a lot of different ships and I'm worried people will be mad if I don't just write/like DNF) How do you get the confidence to be proud of what you've made? How do you get over the embaressment of having made it at all? (thanks in advance for any help)

my pipeline was pretty good i really was lucky in the way i got to the place i am. i posted my first dtao3 fic in dec 2020 and just posted a few fics until i decided to make a twitter (twitter is a cesspool but if ur looking for interaction ur more likely to get it on twitter imo. tumblr more circulates from existing mutuals than meeting new people that ive seen) and i followed writers who had similar vibes to me (at the time it was mostly other dnf smut writers but i followed some multishippers too) and when they saw i was posting fic some of them followed back! and thats how u start circulating, through making connections. its like networking sort of! but like, way lower stakes. i kept posting and eventually got added to a writers server which is a big reason i got as close as i did to my mutuals. im very lucky i was quite literally placed into a server of some of the most popular dtao3 writers in early 21 and they adopted me loooooool i owe it all to them!

in terms of fic, ur more than welcome to send it to me if u wanna post it on ao3! i'm always up for fic recs, especially if theyre from the author themself. dont be afraid of putting urself out there, the hate u may receive can never match the euphoria of finding community and receiving positive feedback on ur art :)

[thescentoflavender]

Guide to the [Candlelit Night] SP Event

Someone sent me an ask on this (see the bottom of this guide for the actual ask), and because my answer to it grew so long, I decided to write it as a formal guide instead. 

Event Format

I had a read through MLQC EN’s FB posts but I don’t think they’ve announced the specific format of the upcoming event. Assuming that the event style in the EN server is similar to the CN server, there are a few unique things about this event to consider:

There’s a 20% “cashback discount” of sorts. You’ll get 20% of the Galaxy Wish Coupons you spend back in the form of Limited Time Coupons. (Note: you don’t get any discount if you use Limited Time Coupons.)

There are also Limited Time Coupons you can get by logging in daily and through doing a certain number of pulls.

Note: Limited Time Coupons cannot be saved. When the event ends, each Limited Time Coupon will be converted to 1000 coins.

Above: Example of event rewards. I didn’t have screenshots for last year’s CNY event, so I’ve used my screenshot from this year’s event here. The event format is similar so it’s still a good reference. 

---

How does this affect the advice I previously gave regarding Wish Tree/SP events?

1. It is still recommended that you do pulls in multiples of 144. But there may be reason to deviate from this rule.

If your objectives are to:

maximise your chances of getting an SP;

get your SP to competent stats; and

collect SPs in the long term only

Then you might consider going all in and doing as many pulls as you can, regardless of whether you hit a multiple of 144.

Why?

The 20% discount will only be in effect the first time this event runs, and will not be available in the rerun. This will allow you to maximise your chances of getting an SP at minimal cost.

Above: Example of the Limited Time Coupons vs Galaxy Wish Coupons. These will be exhausted before your Galaxy Wish Coupons are used. 

Even if you fail to do a multiple of 144 pulls, the unused candle lights will be turned into Heart Flowers. You can use these Heart Flowers to exchange for purple shards. (The number of free Heart Flowers you get each week is the limiting factor here so the 6 purple shard/week limit isn’t a concern if you’re looking at this long term.)

Lastly, the main reason why you would want to do only multiples of 144 pulls is to conserve your resources for other events. But if you’re only interested in SPs, this wouldn’t be too much of a concern. The next SP event will only be released next year so you have time to pool your resources between now and then.

N.B. The one exception is if Papergames releases a collab SP event across all servers in the later half of this year. Should this happen, you may not have enough for Galaxy Wish Coupons and/or gems saved up if you go all in now. But I will note that a collab SP event is very unlikely.

2. Draw over a period of time, not all at once.

No changes to my advice here. My preferred times are midnight and when the server refreshes at 5 a.m.. Sadly, though, I haven’t been able to do 5 a.m. pulls since leaving the UK. The time difference really did work to my advantage!

3. Enter the event knowing how many pulls you want to do. Remember to factor in the Limited Time Coupons when calculating how many Galaxy Wish Coupons you need to use.

Important if you’re aiming to do multiples of 144 pulls (which I generally advocate; see point 1).

I’ve written this as a formula here:

So, for example, if I wanted to do 288 pulls, would get 30 free Limited Time Coupons from event rewards and do 4 free pulls over the course of the event, 

I would need (288-34)/1.2 = 211 Galaxy Wish Coupons 

*If I remember correctly, they round up for the number of LTC you’ll get back, so the number of coupons you’ll need to use is 211 rather than 212.

---

Should you exchange for a new SP karma or a duplicate SP after reaching a multiple of 144 pulls?

A good question, to which my answer is the dreaded “It depends”. 

Just to be clear, we’re working with the assumption that you got at least one SP karma, but not the full set of SP karmas by doing regular pulls. So, if you’re lucky or resource-rich enough, this question might not even be one that you need worry about in the first place. 

Also remember to only exchange your karmas at the end of the event, after you’ve done all your free pulls.

There are far too many scenarios for me to list down every one, but I thought I’d go through a few.

Here are some examples:

You were unlucky (or lucky, depending on your perspective) enough to draw a repeated SP karma. In this case, I would probably exchange for a new SP karma. 

You really need the stats for an SP karma of a particular attribute, e.g. if you could get to the next tier in the Heart Trials with your Evolved SP. In this case, I would exchange for a repeated SP karma.

You're only interested in reading a single suitor’s dates and have only 1 or 2 of his SPs. In this case, I would exchange for a repeated SP karma.  

You’re a karma collector and don’t really care about the karma stats. You’re okay with your SPs being at mediocre levels, but you want as many SPs as possible. In this case, I would exchange for a new SP karma.

There are also rewards you get based on the karmas you pull and whether you can Evolve them to Lvl IV/Ascend them. This is something to consider too, if you value these rewards highly enough. 

A non-exhaustive list, because the answer really depends on your objectives in the game. I hope this will help you in deciding the strategy you want to adopt though! 

---

Afterword and some other comments on the actual ask 

If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations!

There will be a rerun for this event, which I will elaborate on as a reply to another ask. Everything I’ve said above has taken into account this rerun, so this guide still stands (clearly... I wouldn’t have written it otherwise!)

The ask:

My comments: Thanks anon! I do appreciate the fact that you read through all my posts regarding SP karmas!

[yourclownpal]

A comprehensive list of all my Ghost au's

this post will be talking about all of the ghost au's ive created or co-created including talking about ghost au's from old fandom's that i am no longer in. if you want to ask about any of my au's my ask box and dm's are always open this includes the hermitcraft au but keep it to a minimum please also if any of the creator's of the characters have said that they arent comfortable with what im making ( with proof ofc) i will edit or delete what is needed to fit in the boundaries also another thing this is a long post if you just want the art go under the cut! this post will discuss how each au works and basic plot stuff about them the fandoms in this post are hermitcraft, epithet erased, and dsmp okay first things first-

my hermitcraft au (what a pity)-

On my old tumblr account I made a few posts about it along with a fanfic which never got finished due to me not wanting to interact with the fandom any more due to personal reasons and also I'm not very good at writing imo but I think I'm ready to talk about it again. Just keep in mind i will most likely not talk about this fandom ever again at least not on here again for personal preference : -) it was about season 6 Grian since he was who i was hyperfixating on at the time, being haunted by the ghosts of Sam and Taurtis, both of them from the old roleplay series' Yandere High School, and Tokyo Soul, and taurtis from Grians old-ish smp Evo. Since I never finished the fanfiction nobody but me and close friends ever got to hear the full story i had planned but now you will i guess. It was mainly just grian stressing about Sam and Taurtis being ghosts and him worrying about being crazy, though he would still join the hippies during the area 77 war he would be significantly more stressed especially when finding out that Sam and Taurtis have been possessing his body during the night, he’s more worried about Sam though because of his track record back in the other servers( yhs and ts) it was going to be that Sam (although death isn't permanent) would go on a killing spree in Grians body which would cause the area 77 guys to put him in the facility to see what's going on with him, and it didn't get further then that. My favorite part of this au much like all of my au’s were the design elements i had for it which i'll have under the cut with the other designs. Now for a rundown of how the ghost physics work in this world, in typical ghost fashion Sam and Taurtis were not able to touch or move anything, but they were able to interact with Grian, him being the only person who could see/hear/or touch them. Their only super natural abilities is being able to possess Grian.

Okay! Time for my Epithet Erased au!: Unlike what a pity this one doesn't have a name or a fanfic to go with it as said before i'm not exactly a writer but i have talked about it a bit before on this account along with posting the designs and general concept but i'll go more in depth here! As said in my original post this au was a co-creation with my best friend and sibling @brocolibean so go check bun out ^^ Unlike ‘What a Pity’ it was more lighthearted and comedy centric because it dealt with a bit more and also the original show is a comedy. This au didn't include the character’s epithets so they are all humans. This will also include talking about house each ghost died so if your uncomfortable hearing about that you might want to skip the ghosts portion Just like the original post I'll separate the story summary into 3 parts with intervals in between to talk about the ghosts. First we have the Banzai boys part of the story. Giovanni, Spike, Dark Star, Crusher, Flame Thrower, Car Crash, and Ben all decide to move into a house together so they could all easily split the rent since its close to their collage, the house, which they get for cheap, is aa very old house with sketchy history. But it's a huge house for cheap so they don't complain they encounter the ghosts very early on living in the house and they swear to figure out how they died so they can get their memory back! The ghosts, Molly, Sylvie, Trixie, and Pheonica have no memory! All they know is that there are ghosts! They are connected to the property of this house but if you where to get something- like perhaps a stone from the property the ghost is still technically attached to it therefore the ghost can go with you anywhere Speaking of- -Phoenicia Fleecity is one of the last ghosts to show herself, her body is found in the overgrown garden flowers growing over her skeleton, she is from the victorian era making her the oldest out of the ghosts though he death is the most mysterious -Molly Blindeff is the first ghost the group meets her decomposed body is found buried in the floorboards of the living room, found when gio decided that the house needed renovation and taking matters into his own hands, she died via blunt force trauma i will not be going into detail here because i'm still thinking of doing something with this au she died in the early 2000’s -Sylvester Ashling is the second ghost to show himself though he didn't want to, his body was found in the bottom of the pond in the backyard of the house in the garden. His body while it was decomposing and falling apart was still intact, bloated from drowning. Again i wont go into detail but this wasn't an accident time of death is unknown -Trixie Roughhouse is the third person to show themselves to the Banzai Blasters she is found in the bushes in the backyard her face disfigured from some sort of explosion unlike the others it seems like it was purely an accident, like sylvie their time of death is unknown Mera Salamin is the collages part time librarian nicknamed “the library witch” she started seeing her ghost after obtaining a neck bow with a blue pendant from a pawnshop she got it cause it was pretty and didn't expect a himbo to come along with it -Indus Tarbella is a ghost who is attached to the pendant and bow Mera wear it used to be his own until he was decapitated wearing it through he was properly buried he has no troublesome memories about what happened even after seeing his body he’s just happy to be with Mera Percival King is a security guard at the college and one of the best at that, she wields a story she got from a pawn shop as its her preferred weapon she takes her job very seriously -Ramsey and Zora both died by the same sword while fighting neither remember who wielded the sword, even after death they hate each other and hate being bound together even more Everyone ends up meeting and finding out they all have ghost hijinks ensue. The way ghosts work in this world is a bit strange I'll admit but it's one of my favorites. The ghosts can interact with the human world(menma style) but

they can only talk to the others who can see them (the Banzai Blasters, mera and percy) and the ghosts can interact with each other ghosts in this au attach themselves to an item or property that has someway to do with their death, the kids in the property, Indus it's the bow, and the sword duo is well, the sword Percy carries. As alluded to from before Gio and the rest of the boys end up carrying a bit of the property with them in the form of friendship bracelets four for each of them which makes 28 different bracelets so the kids can decide who to follow around for the day.i talked about how percy and Mera’s items work enough but i would like to mention that Indus does most of the heavy lifting around the library but becaus enoone else can see indus they assume she’s magical, the glowing pendant doesn't help.

The last two au’s i want to talk about are both dream smp au’s

though i've never talked about them online until now, again thanks to @brocolibean for letting me brain vomit my way through these au’s and helping me out with things i love them please check him out I'll be honest i'm so scared of this fandom so i'm afraid to talk about my au’s please be nice to me Also this is all roleplay and fiction!<3 The first one i'll talking about is the dsmp ghost hunters au Sam runs a company where groups of people hunt ghosts for money! Those groups being Phil, Technoblade, Wilbur,Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo Dream, George, Sapnap, Quackity, Karl Bad, ant, Skeppy, and Puffy There’s most likely more but there the only people i can think of at this moment The only canonical ghost being Schlatt This au doesn't have a proper story perse it's more about gags and stuff about the different character fighting over ghosts for money but the story stuff i do have- Sbi family dynamic is real here you can rejoice, Phil adopts Tubbo after his dad (Schlatt) kicks the bucket and fucking dies , Tubbo befriend’s Ranboo some mysterious teen who just desperately needs a job so he- and the rest of the Minecraft family help him get one- though they find out Ranboo isnt as human as he was made out to be and he finds out he’s this worlds version of angels called ender’s and he’s there to protect Tubbo and Tommy which explains why the more violent ghosts start being less violent at the arrival of Ranboo joining their team. Bad isn't human either being a demon his entire group know’s plus quackity. Quackity found out but squirting him with holy water through a water gun but don't worry he promised not to tell anyone; -) Bad and Ranboo know about each other because they see each other as their true forms The minecraft fam found out about Schlatt being a ghost through Tommy- despite Tubbo telling him not to- telling them from calling up and paying for them to investigate their own house saying “technically i didn't tell them” they ended up not getting rid of Schlatt though I'm not going to talk about how the ghosts here work because it's not super important to the plot

The second au is another ghost au where the main characters are ghosts themselves,

like the others its mainly lighthearted and comedic with dark attributes The plot surrounds the sbi family moving into a new house and Tommy finding out it's being haunted by two ghost’s. Those ghosts being Tubbo and Ranboo This au isn't fully figured out but I know that he found out he was haunted by sending a selfie to someone(possibly Drista and Purpled? Since there are only other minors who were part of the dsmp lore? But ultimately idk) and them being like “yo i didn't know you had friends” and him being like “?????” Tubbo died from a boiler exploding and Ranboo died from drowning (which are apparently my two favorite deaths) this also doesn't have an official story? It was just an excuse to make ghost designs with a bit of a story without the commitment As said before it's a sbi au but also a Dadschlatt au cuz I like Dadschlatt au’s. The main story bits i have are background stuff for Tubbo and Ranboo which ill elaborate now The house was originally meant to be just a summer home because it had a large lake in the backyard Ranboo’s family would go there often but that doesn't mean his family liked him very much because of his heterochromia, Vitiligo, and his height his family thought he was strayed from god and drowned him Tubbo died during sleep while Schlatt wasn't home either out drinking or just at work he came home to the house being partially blown up and his son nowhere to be seen he calls Puffy out of fear and she calls the cops. He moves away and most likely starts drinking a bit more. The house gets rebuilt and now the sbi live there hijinks ensue! The ghosts in this au work in a simpler manor only Tommy can see them unless a photo is taken but even then they are blurred, they can float and go through walls and their ability to touch things is limited Ranboo’s memory is worse then Tubbo’s but Tubbo’s isn’t much better.

below the cut will be designs and stuff be safe pal's- there will be minor/cartoony blood-

rip me exposing my old art on this account also i'm ripping these from my fucking amino account that i don't use but still have the password too

gonna do the original what a pity drawins first them ill show a more recent rendition because i hate the old drawings

these are the old drawins i hate them

then,,, i just drew them,,,,, fuck these guys/j

thses are the old sprite edits of these four! trixies design is the only one that really changed

the ded;-; i couldnt fit him on the page

there he is! ft indus and very much alive mera(who i cant figure out how to FUCKING DRAW-)

gay's get wilbur'd/j

they lookin for ghosts

the whole fmaily is here but its quality is shit

these bitches dead! good for them,,, good for them,,,,,,/j/rp

[luminous-shifting-vibes]

*sequel* to actual fucking quotes from the shiftblr coffeehouse discord server

once again, it's out of context because x1000 funnier

also x1000 longer than previous post

"ur satan is gnc af"

"Bestie I’m already having gender envy over a fucking demon please"

"O_O ODEPIJHFbavevisdpvfhzdcnjawedsidjksjdkoeirjfmkdsoeirujdksodifjndmksoidfjdksidfj ITS" NOT IN MY FRAFTS IS SPEDNT 1 hour PN THAT SHIT"

"AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"ohoho sexy"

"I am very proud of myself"

"himbo x edgy fuck"

"YOU COULD SQUISH HES CHEECKS"

"he has teefs"

"SQUASH"

"good for biting 📷"

"he's a himbo basically"

"B͂̒̄iͫ̍̈tͧ̓ͯè̄̇"

"bifth"

"i havent watched blue exorcist in years but mr okumura my beloved </3"

"MY LIFE QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED"

"is it important information to mention that the person i put up for my turn is the son of satan" "I know like 1 thing about everyone who isnt ranboo lmfao"

"crimes"

"tumblr sexyman"

"idk why but my first thought was cowboy onceler"

"I vibe with him but he is very long and twisty"

"steampunk e-girl"

"steampunk tumblr sexyman"

"Canonically bi crimelord I agree!!"

"OOO FRIEND SHAPED"

"ARTIST SIGHTED"

"they look like someone i would want to be friends with but is way cooler than me so i'd never actually talk to them"

"babby..... would die for him"

"honestly i probably kin him"

"i'm sure he's lovely but he looks way too much like my ex i'm sorry-"

"i'd be down for another rotation! i have another twink to show y'all"

"Also :00 blonde friend"

"Let us all infodhmo"

"Hsjagdvbs shhh im on phone"

"Nix woukd you like to joon?

"skitters away"

"I have two braincells and they both drink dumb bitch juice"

"oof wait whats the order again i have 0 memory"

"i want to bond with him over cosplay-"

"Awkwardly watches in band kid"

"One day I'm gonna a broadway star"

"which isnt to say they were bad. they were just fortnite dancing during rehersals"

"I threw it so hard my glasses flew off and slid under the stage right divider"

"anyway heres my boi"

"emo"

"haha emo"

"virgil sanders kinnie"

"he looks like he listens to my chemical panic at the fallout boy"

"Bro I bet he'd kick my ass with his deck"

"bird man my beloved"

"fuck i had so much to say and then i forgot it all"

"Birds!!"

"guiguhuh"

"crabrave"

"She sounds like someone I would end up stealing her personality"

"yess name collector gang"

"alias glass aiden haven absinthe fish brick rice"

"But I have Cypress, Remure, Genesis, Lemres, and Comet"

"And she's named after a mars candy bar bc alien"

"Hey, if plato went by plato, you can be king thief"

"im not dissing my gramma like that shfojd"

"My dad has seven legal names" "bitches be like *looks at fictional character* *steals their name* it's us we're bithces"

"coraline lowkey traumatized me but i adore it regardless"

"mmmmmm magic man :]"

"°0° green man"

"criminal (affectionate)"

"he would shoplift a candy bar from walmart and then brag to all of his friends about the sick stealing he did"

"despite the fact he's canonically been capable of overpowering a minor deity"

"i would commit so many crimes for him"

"Very babey"

"Yes please tell green man he is very pog"

"he also keeps a lot of dumb secrets"

"but I will sorely miss the chaos and energy of this here chat until I wake again" (by request XD)

"i just say words and if they're funny then they're funny"

"* or extremly chaotic either works"

"at this point we are just taking turns rambling"

"oH--"

"bc my brain has a schedule"

"Hopefully they have gyoza there or I will lose my mind"

"hehe yes spooky man"

"my ghost glucose guardian"

"the head of the undead group that lives there, and we end up dating. (yes I date a ghost, no I will not be taking constructive criticism /lh)"

"ghosts r just inherently sexy"

"i mean im becoming a squid thing so"

"Raven quirk raven quirk!!"

"ł â m p"

"łæmp"

"mothman: ooh lamp you look very nice today! do you come here often? mothman: wait shit no"

"I'd date a ghost"

"mine is still accurate, i am still sobbing (/j)"

"p e e p e e"

""@nick wilde is a tumblr sexyman" is the best thing i have ever seen"

"im sorry im cackling like a dying hyena"

"you're all 12 year olds"

"PEENIE"

"He once caused global warming on accident so he could get a tan"

"god, what a himbo. i love him"

"that reminds me of my friends kin assigned me jesus"

"Man outside of battle be like: princely crying but then in battle hes like: "CATACLYSM! DISASTER! DEVASTATION!" Chill out man"

"Every time I talk about satan it never fails to shock people it's my favorite thing to do"

"im kin assigning him roman sanders" ""Oh yeah he caused global warming because he wanted to get girls" "he what""

"oh damn i forgot satan was straight"

"twink appreciation club"

"give us the twinks"

"my first thought was bottom-"

"so many people to try and get his dad to love him"

"daddy issued"

"OH MY GOD ITS WILBUR"

"Big boy but"

"anyways janus is swagggg"

"........................."

"gib twink"

"give twink then i will share"

"holds him gentle like hamburger"

"This dumb bitch opened a book that said "do not open" and got possessed by a little bastard"

"he is. fragile creachur"

"klug is beauty klug is grace i would let him step on my face"

"If I'm playing swap and I have to hear one more "Pwanet Powew" Im gonna lose it"

"Who is to blame? Pandora or the box?"

"Bakugo isnt my type but I respect the drip"

"i say like my type isnt long-haired pretty boys and girls that look so gnc that people have a history of confusing them for men"

"hes a gremlin and i can appreciate a pretty gremlin"

"that is to say i am attracted to VFlower vocaloid. This is a confession."

"note i am a lesbian"

"You may like Schezo wegey"

"why does he have one single expression"

"soul soul eater passes the vibe check"

"magic wand"

"I Want To Hold His Hand"

"i would commit a war crime for him any war crime idc which one"

"my favorite one is when he sounded rlly gay because he said "Muscular bodies keep me satisfied""

"p e a n u t"

"Klug is a homophobic homosexual its just facts"

"grug from the croods is peak male performance"

"jaw drops to floor, eyes pop out of sockets accompanied by trumpets, heart beats out of chest, awooga awooga sound effect, pulls chain on train whistle that has appeared next to head as steam blows out, slams fists on table, rattling any plates, bowls or silverware, whistles loudly, fireworks shoot from top of head, pants loudly as tongue hangs out of mouth, wipes comically large bead of sweat from forehead, clears throat, straightens tie, combs hair Ahem, you look very lovely."

"tag yourself im the fireworks shooting from the top of the head"

"i like essays"

"central time gang"

"11:11 pog-" (wait... is that a suprise angel number?? yes it is lovelies just for you <3)

"Then again im also a dumbass bitch who wonders what the souls in soul eater taste like. SERIOUSLY THOUGH. THEY LOOK TASTY AS HELL!!!! LIKE GODDAMN BRO YOU'RE MAKING ME FUCKING HUNGRY. Like. that shit- it's Bone Apple motherfucking Teeth. hell yea my guy. Im hongy now.... shlorp I'm seriously considering this. Like. They seem kinda like a liquid? But a solid? Are they like jello? The fuck they taste like my guy???? I keep imagining they're like sour, like sour candy maybe? Or do they taste salty? Sweet? Maybe some combo of two? Do they even have a taste or is it about the texture? The sensation? God my mouth is watering what the hell. I am starving. I think I need to go get a cookie. I'm gonna go get a cookie. Brb. I'm better. I'm still craving souls though. Which is a weird-ass cringey thing to say but I'm being dead-ass rn. They just.... look tasty???? And I wanna eat one. Thus. I am shifting to Soul Eater for the express purpose of satisfying my fucking cravings. enjoy"

"points were made"

"jello? more like helloooo schloooAHFJDSDAIDWNALDHSJKDAIDANDM"

"WAIT I THINK I HAVE AN ANIME GIRL BITING VIDEO TOO"

"anime girl voice: mmm! mm... ahhhhmp!! mmm, mmm... aaahmp!"

"i think it sounds great i'm going to start eating like that"

"several people are typing"

"do these look edible to you"

"forbidden gummies"

"when I was on lsd I couldn't eat my fruit gummies because I thought they were alive because they had little faces on them"

"oh shit yeah don't do drugs"

"anyways general consensus is puyos are edible, ty for your input everyone"

"everypony is a word so powerful it can bring nations to its knees"

"pls the self control it's taking me not to say "hewwo everypony" in gen chat when someone new joins-"

"hewwo evewrypony uwu deaw cewestia i hopwe it doewsnt wain owo"

"ive cooked up a sowution wiwth the knowwege ive acwued. they say a kitcwen time saves niwne, but im just savwing two. Ive gathewwed the inwedients to make a time sowbet. Thewe's hawdly woom fow seconds when the seconds mewt away."

"I had a ten year old sister... you know what happened to her??? very sad, very tragic... she turned eleven....."

"NIIICE"

"Guts dont say the secks word :( /j"

"watch your fucking language in front of the president"

"im so sorry lumi"

"i think you're like ehhhh 8/10 funny"

"now me???? 10/10. Hilarious"

"sometimes i have to take a step back and remember that this is the same guts i follow on tumblr /lh"

""ok every here's some good shifting advice!!! uwu have a good day" "yeah i did lsd and ate fruit gummies""

"i have one setting and it's whatever this is"

"my bitch ass cat just pushed the door open with his fuzzy face and now my sleeping dad is being lulled into dreams by Cosmo Sheldrake's 'Pliocine'."

"me on discord: nick wilde"

"me on tumblr: shifting water! haha funne! me on here: my hermit crabs are cannibals also i want to eat souls."

"im sorry yOUR VIBESA RE JUST SO DIFFERNT"

"u give off older cousin ive never spoken to but always admire at the family gatherings vibes"

"what the fuck"

"BC I HAVE LIBERTU"

"If you adopt me then yes"

"am I qualified for dad jokes???"

"we're all a lot smarter on tumblr"

"I'm like "awww... sweet... sweet little shiftlings... posting such sweet shiftling content... so pure, so wholesome... does not even know abcs....""

"can't think before you speak if you never think B)"

"I'm not responsible enough to be a mom"

"cat pet"

"show us pictures of the cat or i will do Crime"

"maybe thats me being a coward tho"

"MOTH!!!! MOTH MY BELOVED"

if y'all want I can make this a series bc shiftblr keeps giving me more content

[miiilowo]

I. Im very curious about the pink haired enderman oc 👉👈 where are they from?? What do they doo?? This is a ramble as much as you want to ask :D

RUBBING MY LITTLE GREMLIN HANDS TOGETHER (also sorry about the late answer, my internet went out as i was writing this)

he’s for an smp im on! :D we decided that we wanted to do rp stuff for fun (hasnt really happened but some characters exist) and i decided to make an enderman character because i just. love them so much

the idea is that one of the smp members went to the end and made an enderman grinder. for whatever reason (havent figured out what the reason is yet) she decided that my funky little guy was special and decided to keep him. kind of like adopting them.

Afterward she made him king of the end because shes a human who thinks she has power over just about everything. for that reason i spent like 3 days building a castle on the server.  He does not take his role as a king seriously whatsoever, and never goes to the end. Why, you may be asking?

When you kill the ender dragon you get the achievement ‘free the end’, which doesnt Sound Like Endermen Had A Fun Time, so im just going to assume he has very bad memories associated with that place

since you mentioned it, his hair is not Actually pink, in fact, he’s bald, but he likes color a lot and so he made a wig (plus he wants to fit in with his mom and other people more) ((also my hair is just pink and he’s an adaptation of another persona i have but we can ignore that)). colors and flowers and stuff are something he enjoys because its a nice difference in comparison to the end which is mostly just . beige and black and purple sometimes 

He’s relatively good at english, and really loves writing and stories and books!!! i have a groovy lil library in my castle and a notebook/journal i track events of the smp in. im THIS CLOSE to copying the personal poems ive done into a bunch of books and selling them on the server for shits and giggles

My castle is one of the cooler builds on the server so new members stop by and stay there for a while before they head off on their own. so, i decided to turn that into him really wanting people to hang around, but they keep leaving and he gets kinda sad about that. id hate living in a big fucky castle and then peepo just stop by then exit after like 4 days. as a result he now has one crazed little clown friend who he is overly attached to despite her probably not being good for his mental health. theyre. working on that. though. i think. that character belongs to my friend loserchips, aka my best friend and the gal who drew my icon, which is also the enderboy!!!!!!

he has a big pile of gems in his throne room that he is absolutely Not willing to share because ive decided he loves shiny things. He also does have some enderman behavior that ive incorporated into how i play:

- cant go in water unless wearing full armor

- cant be in rain without a hat on at LEAST

- afraid of eye contact/doesnt look people in the eye

- climbs on shit and up the vines all over the castle. this scares people occasionally because hes already tall

- he isnt very good at teleporting and when he does he kind of zaps all over the place. due to chorus fruit i have ended up in countless ravines, creeper holes, roofs, tunnels, and houses against my will. it only worked out ONCE, where i was in a friends bakery, and she said to come upstairs. i ate a chorus fruit absentmindedly and teleported right in front of her. im counting this as him getting better at it

- i also am located in a savannah thats right next to a desert because it never rains there and he likes dry places for obvious reasons

- this was mildly inspired by endermen behavior. hes incredibly docile and friendly, but when he’s pushed a little too far he fucking snaps. the best example of this happening on the smp so far was when someone he was planning to live with forever left the castle, took some of his shit, then proceeded to fuck with him by showing him multiple double chests full of ender pearls. i then set fire to his house. (this character was also just genuinely scary and threatened him and killed him multiple times so i think that counts too. i now have his armor set)

theres a grave in my yard thats just a chest full of ender pearls people have given me because they think itd be funny. i am the main character i do not care

i put a little bit of Me into him, which means he loves to collect a bunch of items. anything he finds even a little cool he keeps. i have so many chests and theyre all so cluttered god help me

once bundles are added im absolutely going to have him carry around a sack of flowers that he gives to people

He has a really pretty royal outfit, and just casually wears it around the castle because he thinks he looks good in it

Also! he has three ‘sons’ which are just endermen i captured and put in boats. two of them i got before i had the enderman character idea. their names are ranboo and ran2. i think that is kind of funny

the third one is named hubert. hes bad at his job of guarding the villager cages

im very tempted to get him an enderman husband that sits in the bedroom or throne room. how the FUCK will i get him up there? i genuinely have no idea, but i know i wanna do it really bad

and some just. random stuff about him. ive been searching for a zombified hoglin named benjamin that i was introduced to on the first day of the server. I Know he exists. Hes in a sewer pipe behind spawn. im one of the few people who knows about his existence, and for the love of all that is holy i CANNOT FIND THE FUCKING HOGLIN and its driving me insane. if we translate this to my character, the only time hes left his castle in like a month is to find a hostile pig creature nobody knows exists and hes been rambling about it searching a swamp for days on end

also if he were living in this world and time, he’d listen to hyperpop and be put into a fucking trance by it because its just So Much on his little enderman brain. so much. i dont like hyperpop really but he Absolutely would

also!!!!!!!!!!! hes very good at knitting! very good! at knitting! the castle was super dull and gray so he decided to spice it up one day and now theres plants and flowers everywhere-alongside a giant carpet of his face. yes this actually exists. i have a rug of my skins face on the floor of one of my rooms. in this room is a bunch of wool and sewing stuff. i like to think he makes his own clothes.

something i forgot to mention is that hes somewhat wary of people, and doesnt like to kill mobs. The clown character i mentioned is a human, but she kind of died and came back to life (totems of undying you know) and as a result he likes her more because in a sense she is somewhat undead. just a cool little character bit i thought was neat :]

i feel like he wants to play an instrument but he cant because his hands are too clunky and big and long

but! anyway, thank you for letting me ramble about my beloved son!!!!!! im thinking of naming him finn, but i might just keep it as milo for simplicities sake. since thats my name. also i thought i should tell you that i had you in mind when i made the ‘if yall wanna talk to me’ post. very poggers

endermen are friend shaped and so is he i promise <3

[fueledbysprite]

abandoned wips masterlist

so not too long ago i did an insta poll asking if i should expose all my abandoned fic drafts cause i mean it’s not like theyre ever gonna see the light of day otherwise. i was going to do it when i hit 3k kudos on ao3 and i did so i suppose it has come time for me to expose my mistakes

for obvious reasons, don’t repost these (idk why anyone would lol) but if you really like one of these and want to see it continued, just hit up my ask box and i may or may not consider~

Miscellaneous Fandoms:

Ninjago: Zephyr - a Morro backstory fic bc the hageman bros refuse to feed me more content of my son. barely started it but yknow its there

Miraculous Ladybug/BoBoiBoy: this failed attempt at a fanginette fic bc @secretagentspydetectiveninja got me invested even tho writers block is a binch hahshs

BoBoiBoy:

kokotiam gang angst that reminded me i cannot for the life of me write emotional angst (or any angst for that matter oop)

ramenzo (and kaifang) angst that i churned out on a saturday afternoon on a writing spike instead of doing homework bc I Do Not Control the Writing Juice

au where bbb is a forest guardian(?) and fang just wants away from Society (same fang same) i will probably be yearning for woodland aus till the day i die bc who *doesnt* wanna ditch everything and go live in the middle of the woods amirite?

ramenzo n boifang water fight bc you cant convince me these idiots dont get up to ridiculous shenanigans on their downtime

abandoned draft for the sequel to the og ramenzo fic (dont bother reading it literally nothing happens i swear)

i literally don’t remember where i was going with this i think it was supposed to be fang introspection but idk??

uhh kaifang with ramenzo vibes i think this was gonna be? i genuinely don’t remember anymore oop-

RAMENZO IN QUARANTINE yes this one was regular au (i mean duh) and it’s a shame i never ended up finishing it-

i am actually goboifang t r a s h...until i realized im going to have to make all the food by myself and i never learned to make food :’)) (fr if anyone provides me with any kind of fanon gbf content i will love you forever pls)

this...exists even tho i honestly prefer it didnt but ramenzo is ramenzo n ramen has freckles i will fite u on this (dont read it pls)

if anyone wants ramenzo crumbs (and i mean that quite practically) then feel free to consume the Specks

dont read this pls im begging just dont lets yeet it into the void it doesnt exist~ I Do Not See It

update: i discovered this uhh kaifang post-bora ra incident thing in my other drive

Miraculous Ladybug:

okay forewarning there are wayyyy too many of these so im skipping the ones that are sequels/dependent on other fics for context just to spare myself from having to sort through this mountain

i was planning to participate in chlonath week 2k19 (unfortunately for chlonath nation I Do Not Control the Hyperfixation oop) if you want context then ask

marcnath crumbs thats it thats the doc

oh look allya is self projecting again (writing is still pain) (marcnath)

for the one who requested chloenette with the dialogue prompt i am so sorry

idk why this feels like something ive posted before but then again all lovesquare is the same to me (dead) so who knows im not gonna bother checking hshsh (marichat)

chlonath go to comic con or sth idk chloe is tsundere as always (or would have been anyway if i ever ended up Finishing this)

i *think* this was based on a @terrible-miraculous-ladybug-aus post but heck if i remember now- (lukanette??)

i have absolutely no recollection as to where i was going with this but if anyone finds the concept interesting then by all means go ahead n snatch it- (manon finds the miraculous i guess?)

this is a great. opening. to a chloe fic. that doesnt exist. oof :,)

caline bustier’s home for orphans amirite (i mean she basically already adopted the whole class so)

im genuinely not a fan of the jealous!lover trope but someone in the marcnath server wanted some at one point so i. attempted. and failed but you know thats to be expected at this point :’3

oh look allya is projecting her writing struggles onto marc again is anyone surprised?

theres probably a museum brotp story in here but it doesnt exist and at this point it never will rip

oh good lord not this again i genuinely managed to forget about it for a while until now-

i just read the first line and im already reeling what the heck is this nathanette(??)

WHY IS THERE MARICHAT IN MY WIP FOLDER WHAT

allya stop projecting onto emo weebs challenge failed

i really wanna know where the context for chlonath skiing trip came from i literally have 0 recollection of this at all??

YO I ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE CONTEXT FOR THIS ONE anyway nath n aroace!alix arranged marriage au anyone?? well too bad cause i abandoned it oop-

ahahahahahahaha wdym i wrote 7k of chlonath and then ditched it i would never do that lmao-

i think this was a hunger games au uh

something something marcnath

marcnath angst i guess? *allya pls stop trying to write angst we’ve already established that is not a thing you can do*

something something chlonath

im never gonna forgive @powerdragonmoon for the fact that i thought “beecock” while glancing over this to figure out wth was going on. cholaon works here too tho so that is what i shall call it //sideways glare at moon

take your otp. now put them on a trampoline. but heaven forbid you ever finish the fic- (chlonath if it wasnt obvious)

nathanette doll au from forever ago with @lotus-duckies that was a real concept its a shame i have 0 commitment

i wanna call this lukanathanette but i honestly don’t remember where i was going with it so idk

hi uhm what is this and why is it so depressing allya fr quit self projecting on emo tomatoes oml

chlonath established relationship i guess??

museum brotp go skating?? is that what this is?

how much chlonath do i hAVE also chloe u tsundere

nathaniel is Yearning n tbh i dont blame him cause same (ft. marc)

i could swear this was gonna be luklonath (chlolukanath??) but i wouldnt be able to remember-

if anyone can figure out what’s going on with marc pls tell me bc i dont-

cholaon but theres no context

Oh god im finally done good lord that’s all of em i hope i never have to look at a mlb doc again in my life anyway pls be grateful n enjoy the crumbs n stuff thanks i sacrificed my sanity for this-

[supersecure-blog]

Week 6 Lectures

Never would I have thought that I would receive a lecture via a skype call... however this course continues to surprise me. Notes for this week’s lectures as per usual :) This week notes will be in their purest form: brain dribble.

Morning Lecture

WEP:

Needed a 64 bit key, but how do we get users to generate a 64 bit key. Was a lot to ask users to generate. Designers decided to generate the last 24 bits by themselves, using an IV.

Seed was different for each packet, 40 bit key that was shared and everyone used, and then the 24 bit value that was generated. 

To decrypt, you get the 24 bit thing sent in the clear - (IV) and combine with the secret to get the 64 bit 

Danger when someone transmits the same data under the same key - data is replicated in the same frame

Collision for IV - square root of 2^24  = 2^12 ~= 4000

Relatively small amount of packets needed to be sent before collision

Mixing data and control (key characteristic of attacks):

WEP attack - carrying out the normal function, can be abused by users to gain more control

I.e. Richard smuggling expensive express envelopes by hiding them in a satchel, posting them to himself 

If there is a potential ambiguity in the channel and you are able to control how that is resolved - you gain control of the channel

Buffer Overflow:

Computer rapidly switches between jobs - “context switching” rather than concurrencyModern cpu’s use the notion of interruption Stack keeps track of what is being used

Latest process - top of the stack. When it’s finished, the information about the process gets thrown out, stack pointer gets moved down

After process have been re-awakened, need information about what the process is currently doing. This is stored in the disk, because RAM is expensive

Stack is also used to store local data about the program - much faster 

Running program data is in the stack, as well as other frozen processes

Stack is stored backwards -> grows down

If can persuade the  buffer you are writing to is bigger than it is - then you can be writing to other memory of the person that is asleep

Pointer to the next instruction about to be executed -> control

Contains other information

Write to the return address, overwrite the current thing

Proof of work:

Bitcoin - can’t counterfeit easily (work ratio)

No matter how good something is, every 18 months your attacker gains 1 bit of work due to Moore’s law i.e. lose one bit of security

Number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since the integrated circuit was invented. 

Disk encryption:

Thread model - attacker has physical access to the disk, assume full control of the hard drive 

Generate random key, encrypted version of the key stored in the disk

Evening Lecture:

Web Seminar

HTTP:

Application layer protocol used to send messages between browsers and web servers. HTTP requests go from the browser to the server. 

Databases / SQL - browser sending an HTTP get request from the server with the username and password as data

Server queries database with “SELECT password FROM users WHERE match”

HTTP Cookies/Sessions

An HTTP cookie is a small piece of data sent in a response from a web server and stored on the user’s computer by the browser

A session cookies is a unique ID generated by the server and sent to the user when they first connect or login

Browser sends it with all HTTP requests

XSS - cross-site scripting is an attack in which an attacker injects data, such as a malicious program

Reflected XSS - occurs when user input is immediately returned by a web application. 

Stored - you enter data which is stored within the application and then returned later

xss.game.appstop.com

SQL injection is a code injection technique in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution.

Goal behind an SQL query is to gain access

‘ or 1 == 1 --

Blind SQL injections are identical to normal SQL Injection except that when an attacker attempts to exploit an application rather than getting a useful error message

Cross Site Request Forgery:

Attack on an authenticated user i,.e. Already logged in

When you log in to a website it sends you a cookie to your browser to keep you logged in.

Bank attack:

If attacker knows the format of the bank request, they can hide a transfer request inside an img using html

Cross Site Request Forgery Defences:

Primary mitigation is with tokens

Generate a suitably random token, store value server-side

Sent token to user, expect this token back as part of any user requests

In a GET request, this token will be appended to the URL

If a website has XSS vulnerabilities, CSRF mitigations are pointless

Crypto Seminar

Payment Process: Current versus Bitcoin:

Current payment systems require third-party intermediaries that often charge high processing fees

Machine-to-machine payment using the Bitcoin protocol allows for direct payment between individuals, as well as support micropayments -> reduce transaction costs

Crypto:

Built using cryptographic principles i.e. blockchain and hashing

Difficult to fake transactions - too many bits so it isn’t worth

Blockchain:

Method of storing data

A chain of chronologically linked blocks where each block is linked to the previous block

Blocks are unique - no two blocks will have the same hash

Data:

Consists of hundreds of transactions

Put around 2000 transactions in one block

Hashes:

Block’s  hash summarises the data into a combination of letters and numbers

SHA-256 hashing algorithm

If a transaction in the block is changed, the hash is changed

This is important because each block has the hash of the previous block -> need to check against all previous blocks

Tamper evident

When a transaction is mine, it isn’t immediately added but placed in a transaction pool

The miner gathers enough to form a block - called a candidate block

Hash the block header along with a nonce

When we hash we hope the block hash value is below a certain target value

The nonce is a random number brute forced by miners to try and create the correct hash

When nonce is found, it is broadcast and the block is added to the existing chain

Proof of Stake:

Growth of mining pools could eventually lead back to a centralised system

PoW mining uses excessive amounts of electricity

PoS algorithm attributes mining power to proportion of total bitcoins held, rather than computing power

Rewards are transaction fees rather than new cryptocurrency

Types of crypto currencies:

Bitcoin 

Uses the SHA-256 algorithm - very processor intensive and complex requires lots of dedicated hardware

Litecoin

More accessible for normal uses to mine on their CPUs as the algorithm used is less CPU intensive, but more memory intensive

Facebook Libra

Centralised architecture - libra will be managed by the Libra Association, having more control over the blockchain

There is no ‘mining” - to set up a node on Libra, need $10000

Privacy:

Blockchain doesn’t have a strong concept of identity (public, private) key pairing

Doesn’t exempt transaction from tracing

Two main ways:

Relations between address - inferring identity

Interactions between nodes and users

Monero:

Unlinkability -> stealth addresses with view keys

Transaction mixing -> ring signatures

Concealing transaction amounts -> RingCt signatures

Historical flaws:

51% attack: 

Double-spend

Purpose might also be to discredit a crypto instead of money

Credibility decided on the majority

Off-springs created one’s solution for a hash is not added into their own spin-off

Motive might be to discredit the cryptocurrency

Past Attacks:

Usually happened on small networks

Verge 51% attack, on April 2018

Groups of hackers found two main flaws in the system:

Bug which lowered the hashing difficulty for a hashing algo (Scrypt)

Verge allowed 5 different hashing algorithms, and only the difficulty for Scrypt is lowered

Hacked 3 times over 2 weeks

Cryptocurrency exchanges:

Mt.Gox - bitcoin exchange that was launched in 2010. Handled over 70% of all Bitcoin transactions in 2013

Previous owner retained admin level user account when MtGox was sold in 2011

Attacker logged in to the account

Assigned himself a large number of BTC which he sold on the exchange

Price dropped immediately

Obtained private keys of MtGox clients

Created selling orders on these accounts and bought the BTC he stole 

SQL Injection vulnerability was found

MtGox user database began circulating online and included:

Plain text email addresses

Usernames

MD5 Hashed passwords, with some unsalted

Future of Cryptocurrency:

Adoption

Overcoming resistance from:

People

Established finance institutes (eg banks)

Governments (they don’t like that you don’t pay tax by concurrency)

Ease of use

Volatility

Threats

Blockchain its laek

Quantum computers

To the sft that utilises cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency wallet/exchange/

Strong private keys

Symmetric Ciphers

Two sorts of ciphers, symmetric and asymmetric -> regards the keys

If you know the key

For a symmetric: you can decrypt and encrypt

For an asymmetric: you have separate private and public keys to decrypt and encrypt (RSA)

Earthquakes:

How would I cope, how would my business cope? -> ‘gobag’

Home Study - read up about the “block modes” - only need to learn/understand ECB, CBC, CTR

Authentication:

Identifying for who? Computer/human?

Facebook. Police, baggage screening

Authentication and identification - what is the difference?

What decisions?

Computerised authentication system -> needs to make a decision about whether it is you or not

Factors:

Something that you have

Something that you know - i.e a password. Easy way of doing authentication

How do you know that you share the same secret?

Something that you are - Unfakeable 

Two factor authentication:

Something that you have AND something that you know i.e. and password

All of these things seem different, but ultimately they are all just things that you know, and are all secrets

Something that you are can be replicated

Serious problem -> authenticating bombs, missiles etc

Biometrics - not real authentication, collecting another shared secret from a person, and can be bypassed

[galwednesday]

I wish you would write wholesome Shrinkyclinks! Modern AU or WS!Bucky or anything :) especially anything where people take Bucky as super intimidating and seemingly Not For Steve but he's actually soft-spoken and embarrassingly in love with his bf. Also inspiration art, take out the parentheses: coldcigarettes(.)tumblr(.)com/post/155362763256/you-know-how-i-never-do-comics-well-ive-done-one

What I ended up with is a little askew from the prompt, but it is Shrinkyclinks with besotted WS!Bucky and people being surprised Steve is his boyfriend, just with the surprise going the other direction.

Sam did one more circuit in the air just to confirm that everything was under control. The wannabe-despot of the week was being loaded into the back of a SHIELD van in handcuffs, and the three bioengineered chimeras she’d released in Central Park were all safely contained. They were part hyena, part cat, and part…actually, Sam had no idea what the hell was making them glow faintly purple, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t normal cat or hyena behavior.

Fortunately, the chimeras weren’t nearly as aggressive as their creator had hoped. Once the Avengers had herded them into a sunny area by a fountain, the chimeras had settled down to bask on the warm stone, ignoring their creator’s increasingly frustrated commands to make with the rampaging already.

“Can we keep them?” Clint was shooting boomerang arrows from the top of the fountain. One of the chimeras was lying on its back, batting lazily at the arrows passing overhead. “I’ll feed them and walk them and not let them maul any civilians, can we keep them, sir, pretty please with a cherry on top?”

“No,” Coulson said. Sam could see him standing by the SHIELD van, arms folded as he watched Clint.

“I want this one.” Natasha sat on the ground by the fountain, posture relaxed, apparently ignoring the chimera five feet to her left. The chimera ignored her back, except to twitch an ear in her direction.

“No,” Coulson repeated, but only after a pause long enough signal defeat.

Natasha rolled slowly onto her side. The chimera tracked the movement, then put its head down on its paws and half-closed its eyes. “I’m naming her Boadicea.”

“So we’re done here? We’re done here,” Sam said, and turned his comm off before he could get sucked into the argument.

He touched down outside the SHIELD perimeter, where Tony was shedding his suit like a lobster shucking off its shell one segment at a time. Each piece folded up neatly into the briefcase at his feet. The Winter Soldier was standing next to him, his face blank but calm.

The Soldier had been an official part of the team for a few months now. Sam still didn’t have much of a read on him. The Soldier had been invaluable during the whole Hydra/SHIELD clusterfuck, and that was enough to earn him a lot of goodwill, but just about the only things Sam knew about the Soldier were his fighting style and his call sign.

“Hey, Cap,” Tony greeted him. “Where are the spy kids? Let’s do post-battle brunch, I’m starving.”

“They’re trying to convince Coulson to let the mad science experiments follow them home.”

“Good luck to them, but God help them if they try to keep them in the Tower, Pepper put her foot down about pets. You buy out one animal shelter because the cages are too small and all the animals look sad and suddenly everyone thinks you’re a hoarder. I don’t get what the big deal was, we weren’t using that floor of the Tower for anything important anyway. Tacos?” Tony suggested. “I’m thinking that place by Fordham. BattleBot, you in?”

“Can’t,” the Soldier said, typing something into his phone. “I have a date.”

Tony stopped talking for an entire three seconds. “You. Have a date.”

The Soldier looked up and blinked, clearly nonplussed to find Sam and Tony both staring at him. “Yes.”

“With who?”

“My boyfriend.”

“You have a boyfriend. You have a boyfriend?” Tony looked like he’d just walked into a lamppost, and then the lamppost had handed him a birthday present.

The Soldier’s brow furrowed. “Is that a problem?”

“Hey, this isn’t disapproval on my face, this is flabbergast. Flabbergastness? Flabbergosity?” Tony waved a dismissive hand. “I’m just a teeny bit surprised, no need to do that thing with your face where your eyebrows try to merge with your nose. Details! I need details!”

“Tony,” Sam tried.

Tony ignored him. “Is your boyfriend also a former brainwashed Soviet assassin?”

“No.” The Soldier’s stance eased. His phone chirped and he went back to typing.

“I guess that was a longshot. Is he a Marine?”

“No.”

“A fireman?”

“No.”

“Mixed martial-arts instructor?”

“He’s a painter.”

“Pics or it didn’t happen,” Tony demanded.

“Tony,” Sam sighed, but the Soldier was already holding out his phone. Tony barely resisted grabbing it. (People who grabbed things from the Soldier had a tendency to break fingers; granted, they were usually bad guys going for the Soldier’s weapons, but there was no telling exactly how the Soldier would react to a grab in a non-combat situation, and Sam for one would not want to be the first person to test it).

“That’s your boyfriend?” Tony said incredulously. “Him? No way. I don’t believe it.”

The Soldier’s eyebrows were advancing south again. “Why not?”

“Why not? Look at him, he’s adorable.”

“Yes,” the Soldier agreed, mollified.

Sam gave up on resisting his own curiosity and leaned over Tony’s shoulder. The Soldier obligingly held out his phone, which displayed a picture of a short, skinny guy with a neat blond crew cut. He was wearing a plaid flannel shirt and giving the camera a grin and a dorky peace sign.

“When are we meeting him?” Tony said. “Is it now? Can we meet him now? Does he like tacos?”

The Soldier gave them both an evaluating look. Sam tried to radiate friendly acceptance and not show that he was dying of curiosity almost as badly as Tony was.

“Yes,” the Soldier said eventually.

“Yes, he likes tacos, or yes, we can meet him now?”

“Yes.” The Soldier’s phone chirped again. He glanced at it and said, “He’s nearby. He’ll meet us there.”

The Soldier started walking. Tony and Sam fell in beside him, Tony throwing new questions at the Soldier with every step.

“Where did you meet?”

“JDate.”

“Seriously?”

“No.”

“Are you actually Jewish, though?”

The Soldier shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“Same.” Tony held out a fist. The Soldier bumped it without looking up from his phone. “How long have you been dating?”

“Five months.”

“Five months! You need to tell me these things, this is information I needed to know, I thought we were friends.”

“Why would you think that,” the Soldier said, so flatly that Sam was almost entirely sure he was joking.

“I’m hurt, Ice-T, I’m wounded and distraught. If I ask you about your sex life are you going to punch me?”

“Yes.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed in calculation. “With which arm?”

“You guys hear that?” Sam interrupted. Angry shouts were echoing down the street ahead of them. He put a hand down to the shield at his side to check its position, his wingpack a reassuring weight on his back. A particularly loud yell was followed by a loud thud and the sound of glass breaking, like a waiter dropping a tray of glasses. “What is that?”

A beatific smile spread across the Soldier’s face. “That’s Steve.”

“What?” Sam said, but the Soldier had already broken into a run.

The commotion was coming from the taco place. Sam rounded the corner at a jog just in time to see a tiny guy pick himself up from the ground and hurtle forward into a much bigger man’s kneecaps, tackling him to the sidewalk. The contents of a knocked-over recycling bin were spilling into the street, sprays of glass marking bottles that had broken on impact.

The Soldier dove swiftly into the tangle of bodies and hauled the big guy up by his collar. “What did he do?” he asked the other man.

“Got handsy with a server,” the man replied. His nose was bleeding, but he didn’t seem to notice. He grinned at the Soldier, and suddenly Sam recognized him. This was Steve? “You want to sit on him until the cops come?”

The Soldier put the man in an armlock and didn’t move an inch, no matter how much the man struggled, until the NYPD showed up. Sam adopted his most Captain America voice and reassured the bystanders that everything was under control. The crowd petered out once the fighting was over, not even the spectacle of three Avengers helping with a citizen’s arrest enough to meet New Yorkers’ jaded standards for a free show.

Once the cops had loaded the still-protesting brawler into the back of their car, the Soldier gave Steve a thorough once-over, eyes lingering on the smear of blood under his nose. He pulled Steve into a careful hug. Sam tried not to stare at the novel sight of the Soldier initiating non-violent physical contact. “Ribs?”

“Totally fine.” Steve gave the Soldier an extra squeeze before letting go. “What about you, did you get hurt at all?”

“Strained knee. Your nose is bleeding.”

“Shit.” Steve swiped at the blood under his nose, made a face at his messy hand, and gave Sam and Tony a little wave instead of trying to shake hands. The Soldier dug into one of his belt pouches and handed Steve a wet wipe. “Hey, you must be Bucky’s coworkers. Nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Tony said. It was more of a question than a statement. “Who the hell is Bucky?”

“Me,” the Soldier said.

Tony and Sam exchanged a look. Steve just cleaned his hands and threw the wet wipe away.

“Is that something we should call you, too?” Sam asked.

The Soldier shrugged. “Sure.”

“And hey, you should’ve said your knee was hurt,” Sam told the Soldier as they filed into the taco place–told Bucky, and that was going to be a weird adjustment. “We could’ve given you a lift.”

“It’ll heal,” Bucky said, entirely unconcerned.

“You guys shouldn’t rely on air support so much,” Steve said, eyes wandering over the menu. “Your team has so many fliers that it’s weakening your ground game.”

“Excuse me?” Tony said.

“You almost lost the third chimera when it went under tree cover because Iron Man and Captain America were both in the air, and Hawkeye and the Soldier were in elevated sniper stands. If the Black Widow hadn’t been in that quadrant already, the chimera would’ve made it past the SHIELD perimeter. Hey, Bucky, have you ever had mole?”

“No,” Bucky said. He was standing sideways in line, his back to the wall–and to Steve, Sam noted, who was apparently allowed inside his blind spot. “Is it good?”

“Yeah, I think you’ll like it. Want to split mole and pulled pork?”

“Yes.” Bucky slipped out of the line and went to stake out a booth.

“I know we make it look easy,” Tony said, “but saving the world on a weekly basis is actually kind of difficult, and we’re pretty good at it by now.”

“Oh, sure. All of you are brilliantly effective at what you do, but that means you’re not working as a group as well as you could. You’re all playing to your individual strengths instead of cohering as a unit. Hi, could I get one order of mole tacos and one of pulled pork?” Steve asked the cashier, his voice abruptly polite.

Sam distracted Tony with questions about Pepper’s latest gallery opening until they got their food and sat down. Bucky had managed to claim a corner booth by the kitchen and was sitting on the bench that faced the front doors. Steve climbed over his lap to get into the corner seat. Bucky slid a little further in after Steve sat down, in a move that Sam interpreted as 30% doting boyfriend seeking closeness, 70% bodyguard blocking potential lines of fire.

“Okay, so you think our ground game is weak.” Tony steepled his fingers over his plate and narrowly avoided putting an elbow in the guacamole cup. “Elaborate.”

“You don’t need two fliers and two snipers on a five-person team. The Iron Man suit is a walking tank, Captain America’s shield is a perfect melee weapon, and Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier are both hand-to-hand combat experts. There’s no reason any one of you couldn’t fight in close quarters. You need to vary your approach before the people you’re fighting catch on and start staging battles in places where long-distance engagement is impossible.” Steve dragged the wadded-up tortilla end of his taco through a smear of sour cream on his plate and passed it to Bucky, who stuffed it into his mouth without comment. “Any time you can’t fight from the air, you’re at a real disadvantage. Bucky told me about what happened in the sewers last August.”

Sam’s face wrinkled at the memory. Clint had almost gotten eaten by an alligator-dinosaur-thing, and the smell had clung to Sam’s costume for weeks.

“Oh, you heard all about it?” Tony said. “Fine, bantamweight, lay it on me. What would you have done instead?”

Steve’s smile went sharp. “Well,” he said, and shoved everything out of the middle of the table. “For starters–”

Sam pulled his taco plate into his lap to keep it out of the way of the rapidly unfolding model of the sewers, which Steve assembled out of straws and sugar packets. Steve moved the salt and pepper shakers (Iron Man and the Winter Soldier) through the grid, while the straw wrapper (Black Widow) slipped ahead to provide recon and a plastic knife and spoon (Hawkeye and Captain America) guarded the exits. Tony challenged every call he made, and Steve pushed right back, questioning Tony’s assumptions and demonstrating his own reasoning. Sam ate his tacos and put in his own two cents whenever he could get a word in edgewise.

Sam’s attention was split between the conversation and surreptitiously watching Bucky. Bucky didn’t react to anything that was said, although Sam was sure he heard every word. He looked more relaxed than Sam had ever seen him, like the sound of Steve and Tony bickering was a zen meditation podcast.

“Huh,” Tony said, halfway through their fifth iteration. “You have a point.”

“Yep.” Steve sat back in his seat and stretched out his back, all that startlingly intense focus draining from his posture. It was amazing how quickly he went back to looking like a nerdy grad student. Sam might have been fooled, if he hadn’t just heard Steve argue Tony Stark to a standstill, and if Steve didn’t have dried blood ringing his nostrils.

“You said he was a painter,” Tony told Bucky accusingly.

“He is,” Bucky said. “He also has a PhD in history with a specialty in wartime tactics and strategy.”

“Seriously, how did you two meet?” Tony asked.

“I saved him from a mugger,” Steve said.

Tony stared at them. “I honestly can’t tell whether you guys are fucking with me right now.”

“I know,” Bucky said serenely.

“Hey, Steve, you want a job?” Sam asked, because unlike some people, he had his priorities straight.

“I already have a job.”

“Come on, don’t tell me you just pulled that analysis out of your ass, you’ve been thinking about this,” Tony said.

“How would you feel about working freelance?” Sam asked. “You could do strategy consulting, be our eye in the sky on missions–”

“Help keep your Bucky-boo-boo safe,” Tony interrupted.

Steve gave him a level look, then turned to Bucky. “I see what you mean.”

“I’m choosing to interpret that as a compliment,” Tony said.

“Yeah, okay, let’s talk terms. Churros first, though. You want churros?” Steve asked Bucky, who nodded.

“I could–” Bucky started, but Steve was already climbing over his legs to get out of the booth.

“I got it.” Steve leaned over the back of the booth and kissed the top of Bucky’s head. He didn’t have to lean down very far. “You take a load off, rest that knee.”

Tony watched Steve go up to the counter, then turned to Bucky. “Okay, nevermind,” he said. “I get it. He’s scrappy, huh?”

“Buddy, you got no idea,” Bucky said, and stole the half-eaten taco right off of Tony’s plate.

[viralhottopics]

As coaches take a step back in ‘Counter-Strike,’ team leaders rise to the challenge

Astralis celebrates after winning the ELeague Major in Atlanta, Jan. 29, 2017.

Image: matt kline/mashable

Astralis and Virtus.pro were tied 14-14 when Virtus.pro used their last remaining timeout to figure out exactly how to turn the tide to take the next two rounds.

A tactical timeout gave teams 30 seconds to convene and was the only time coaches are allowed to speak outside of warm-ups and halftime.

Seconds ticked away. The crowd of thousands grew louder at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“Let’s go Astralis!”

“Let’s go VP!”

The fans’ dueling chants filled the historic theatre as the two teams deliberated.

The coaches, breaking their silence, had half a minute to dish out everything they’d kept pent up.

Virtus.pro’s Wiktor “Taz” Wojtas likened his coach’s timeout speeches to a beatless rap that Jakub “Kuben” Gurczynski dished out as he paced back and forth behind the five Polish players.

Astralis put its faith in its in-game leader, Gla1ve, and it paid off.

On the other side of the stage, Astralis coach Danny “Zonic” Srensen talked strategy with his Danish team, but letting the players do most of the talking.

Once the 30 seconds were up, it all came down to the players and the designated in-game leader. For Virtus.pro, it was Filip “Neo” Kubski, a 29-year-old Polish veteran who has been rolling with the same lineup since 2013. For Astralis, it was Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander, a 21-year-old Danish star who only just joined the squad three month ago in October.

The round started. Virtus.pro ran in to set up a defense with a weakened economy. Astralis moved toward bomb site A, reversing the last round’s rush on B.

Gla1ve was sure that VP didn’t have enough money for an AWP sniper rifle, and he knew that VP’s designated AWPer Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski would probably be posted up behind the bomb site on A, so he told teammate Nicolai “Dev1ce” Reedtz to line up the shot. He hit Snax in the leg, hurting him badly but not killing him.

That was enough information, though, to encourage Gla1ve to tell the whole team to rush in. With a flurry of bullets and grenades, the five Astralis players overwhelmed the three VP players defending A, quickly putting Astralis at a 4-2 man advantage and forcing Virtus.pro’s two remaining players to hide in hopes of saving their weapons for the next round.

Astralis found them anyway and took them out, debilitating VP before match point and securing a thrilling 16-14 victory.

A major moment . . . #ELEAGUEMajor http://pic.twitter.com/H31nwo0DbD

Astralis (@astralisgg) January 30, 2017

Astralis put its faith in its in-game leader, Gla1ve, and it paid off.

Since making the top eight of every single Major since the first event in 2013, the Astralis squad took home its first Major championship, the first Major championship since Valve banned coaches from speaking during CS:GO games in August 2016.

The coach ban

Valve’s ban on coach communication came without warning and applied to all Valve-sponsored CS:GO events, which includes Majors the most prestigious and important tournaments in CS:GO. Third party tournament organizers adopted the rule quickly, with ESL One New York in early October being the first premier tournament to institute the new rule.

Valve explained in its announcement that it wanted CS:GO competitions to be about the players in the server.

“Since the goal of our events is to identify the best five-player CS teams that exhibit the best combination of all CS skills, the current participation of coaches in the game is not compatible with that goal,” Valve said.

Coach-reliant teams were forced to adjust. Coaches were forced to adjust.

Before the ban, several top-tier teams had coaches standing behind players during matches acting as in-game leaders. With a sixth person focusing on opponents’ movements, the game’s economy and team positioning, players were freed of that responsibility and allowed to focus primarily on their own movement and crosshair placement.

Teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Na’Vi relied on their coaches to provide this up-to-the-second game analysis, and Valve’s new limitations prompted outrage across the board. Players, analysts and coaches voiced their opposition online, even those on teams who had a player in-game leader like SK Gaming’s Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo.

Tomorrow we will discuss between players about many subjects. I see progress happening between ourselves. Important for everyone involved

Gabriel Toledo (@FalleNCS) August 17, 2016

Valve wasn’t going to budge.

On the organization side of things, Team Liquid’s general manager Steve “Joka” Perino was equally unhappy with the rule.

“My mindset was, ‘What is Valve doing?'” he said. “[Having a coach] was great for us because we had all this firepower and when we could just have this guy be the conductor it made perfect sense. So when [the ban] happened it was quite the blow.”

Coach-reliant teams were forced to adjust. Coaches were forced to adjust.

Five months after the coach restrictions were announced, the first Major of 2017 was kicking off in Atlanta. By that points, teams had enough time to adjust, CS:GO commentator James Bardolph said.

“I think that the biggest issue that teams had was [that] when Valve first came out with that ruling, a lot of organizations had a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “They gave the teams no warning, no transition time. They said, ‘You gotta follow this rule immediately, this is the rule now,’ which is not an intelligent way to do things, and not really fair for the teams, so we saw some struggle with that. But, again, theyve had time to adjust now.”

Coaching outside of games

Despite the tempered role of coaches, every team at the top level has kept a coach on the team because of the value they bring to organizations. CS:GO analyst and ELeague host Richard Lewis said he thinks coaches are absolutely necessary in pro-level Counter-Strike.

“The coaches are still there, just not [standing] behind [their players],” he said. “Theyre still there to talk in between rounds, talk in time outs, talk backstage before the games, after the games. They can still travel with teams. I think any organization worth its salt should have a coach.”

Astralis’s coach Danny “Zonic” Srensen has been with the team since 2015 and has successfully survived the new ruling.

“We pretty much adapted to the change instantly when Valve put it through,” Zonic said after the team’s quarterfinals win against Na’Vi. “Obviously right now it works.”

“Its more clear what my actual job inside and outside the game is.” – North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due

That doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult though.

“It can be really tough standing behind the team and sometimes I see stuff that I want to communicate to the team,” he said.

On the other side of the coin, Zonic’s job is also a bit easier, in a way.

“You have to also remember that it can be really stressful to have six guys talking in teamspeak,” he said. “And this kind of crowd, as well it can get [noisy] in the communication so Ive been helping them and being with them in every practice weve had at home, trying to fix communication and fix small mistakes that we make so that they can pretty much play themselves and dont rely on a coach.”

North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due echoed that sentiment a day before the team’s quarterfinals match against Virtus.pro.

“Im very limited in what I can do but I think its also helping out my role because before I could be wearing 10 different hats for things I needed to do during and before games,” Ruggah said. “Now its more clear what my actual job inside and outside the game is.”

North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Jan. 26, 2017.

Image: Dave vagts/mashable

Coaches are more like analysts now, watching what players and opponents are doing and giving feedback after the action happens instead of controlling every move at every moment possible.

“Of course, it would be easier for me to help out during the round if I have a good read on what [opponents] are doing, but thats also why I need to be more on point during my preparations and during the time outs,” Ruggah said.

Players have to do their own reading, which usually falls on the shoulders of the in-game leader.

The rise of the in-game leader

Even before the coach restrictions, SK Gaming’s Fallen acted as the in-game leader to the Brazilian team, leading them to win two back-to-back Majors in 2016. The coach ban didn’t have a huge impact on SK Gaming.

“I think there are coaches that act as in-game leaders for their teams for example [Sergey “Starix” Ischuk of Na’Vi] and [Wilton “Zews” Prado of Team Liquid] but for us, I have always been in-game leader so we dont suffer too much for that,” he said.

In-game leaders have a unique job. Fallen keeps the players motivated during games and makes calls on where they should move to and what areas to cover while SK’s coach, Ricardo “Dead” Sinigaglia, focuses on helping the team with their own individual strengths and struggles rather than analyzing what the other team is doing.

The coach ban dialed back the role of coaches who acted as in-game leaders, but it also put smart, yet oftentimes underperforming players back on the map.

“When you make that decision, you cap the level that Counter-Strike can get to because its not being coordinated,” Lewis said about the coach ban. “But, equally, it adds this fascinating little mini drama because players like [Godsent’s Markus “Pronax” Wallsten] and [North’s Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen] are statistically terrible. Pronax especially…is one of the lowest level performing pros if we just go on kills. But hes a great in-game leader, hes a great tactician, he knows how to activate players and [how to] use them. So, suddenly, this rule has effectively prolonged his career and players like him.”

The coach ban dialed back the role of coaches who acted as in-game leaders, but it also put smart, yet oftentimes underperforming players back on the map.

You won’t see many of these players who have in-game leader roles at the top of stats charts, but they’ve become vital to their teams over the past few months regardless.

“If we dont have the coaching rule, why would you keep Pronax?” Lewis said. “‘I dont need him, I dont need his skillset.’ So you effectively kill a generation of in-game leaders. MSL wouldnt be on a team, Pronax wouldnt be on a team. What would they do? Who would pick them up? I think CS would lose something if we marginalized guys with those skill sets.”

This points back to Valve’s original reasoning behind the coach ruling. The competition at these events is about the five players in the server, and part of what’s needed of those players is a deep understanding of the game, something that takes years of practice and studying to develop.

That in-game leadership is what led Astralis to hold up the ELeague Major trophy in January. Gla1ve read his opponents and made a call, and the team trusted him and went for it, solidifying the Danish team’s lead and leading to its victory.

The Astralis players pulled off something crazy and Virtus.pro’s coach stood behind his team with clenched fists.

The Major came down to the players.

BONUS: Astralis crowned ‘Counter-Strike’ champions at the ELEAGUE Major

Read more: http://on.mash.to/2l91ms4

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