#would love to play around w its stats and see how it could balance out. i should look into how infinite fusion handles stats.....

[ajdrawshq]

i am so very thankful to my professor for making my presentation due the second day we're doing those bc she knows me so well.. now if i could actually get myself to use my extra time to work on it that would be nice

[shoichee]

GoMs + Kagami, Hanamiya, Teppei as Pokémon Trainers

Pokémon x Kuroko no Basket Crossover

Headcanons on KNB characters if they were trainers

For only the “Generation of Miracles” (plus Kagami), I wanted to show that they are prodigies in the pokémon universe by each giving them the appropriate specialty legendary/mythical pokémon respective to their anime counterpart abilities/personalities.

Also, as GoMs in the pokémon universe, I was careful to also choose some of their respective pokémon based on base stats and the consideration of type variety, unless a team had most pokémon sharing a type for a reason, in addition to already choosing pokémon based on their pokédex entries.

I have also given pictures of said pokémon suited to each KNB character below the cut.

Warning: spoilers on KNB characters, it’s a given

Kuroko Tetsuya 

his lack of presence would directly translate into the pokémon world pretty nicely and would make him pretty attuned to ghost pokémon floating about, but that won’t necessarily mean he’ll have a full team of ghosts

I feel like he would accidentally just pick up the mythical pokémon, Marshadow as a kid without knowing its reputation and would just let it follow him around like a buddy… and then they would become an official trainer-pokémon relationship later on // they’re both tiny and usually unnoticeable; they’d be best friends

he’d definitely have a Zoroark, since these pokémon require very strong bonds with their trainers, and they’re infamously known for their illusions and trickery; for Kuroko, he probably saw right through a Zorua’s (pre-evolution) tricks back in the day and then it became intrigued by him and joined him along the way before evolving into the Zoroark we see present day // this is a tribute to Nigou as well, since they’re both dog-like/fox?????

surprisingly, he’d have a Hatterene just trailing behind recently; Hatterenes hate extreme emotions emitted from humans and I’d feel like it would just be lured in by his dry personality

Hatterene’s color scheme is literally the same blue and pink like Kuroko and Momoi, so Hatterene is very much a Momoi who chases Kuroko around while he doesn’t mind it at all

his 4th pokémon, Vanilluxe, came to be when he spent hours hiding in the tall grass for a Vanillite (pre-evolution) to show up; he was willing to go out of his way to catch one because he wanted an ode to his love for vanilla milkshakes

all in all, he would be the trainer who is able to instantly connect and make friends with other pokémon around without even trying; ironically, he would have the most variety of typings in his team because of that

he’s the protagonist trainer who would always be the first to openly stand up against the villain teams and foiling their plans, but he would need the support of the other GoMs (cough) to take down the team bosses

he would definitely be friends with N (BEST franchise character)

he’s a “youngster” trainer like a “youngster joey” vibe KDJWORKWKW but like he’s pretty OP by the end of his journey

Kise Ryota

Cinderace with its hidden ability Libero is perfect for our blondie; Libero is an ability that allows the user to become that type of the move it just used until it uses a move of a different type, and then it’ll switch to that next type (I thought about Greninja with its Protean ability at first because it’s the OG ability and it's the exact effect just a diff name; but Cinderace’s design is a soccer motif and it reminded me of Kise in the old Teiko days)

Kise would very much be a renown model in the pokémon universe, and he’d idolize Elesa (from Pokémon B/W and B2/W2); both are blonde models too LOL (except she dyed her hair black in B2/W2)

so he’d have a Luxray (non shiny OR shiny, both suit him), because since he looks up to her so much and she’s an electric-type gym leader, he’d probably have an electric-type of his own

I would think he’d have a dragon-type pokémon like Haxorus to connect him with Aomine (a dragon-type trainer) since in the anime, Aomine was Kise’s mentor and role model in basketball; it would give him a fighting chance with Aomine if they ever faced each other in a pokémon battle

he would have a shiny Sylveon, and he would love to dote the ever living fuck out of it and feed it poképuffs (maybe from Murasakibara’s café LOL) and sing with it, and every time it sweeps someone’s team with its Moonblasts, he’ll cheer it on so much BDHWIRWI it also adds a certain connotation to his idol reputation as this “approachable guy” with his adorable Sylveon too

this guy has an idol status not just in the beauty/fashion industry, but also in the sports world (especially in Unova’s sports stadium in Nimbasa city)

he’d meet tons of other models and fashion icons like gym leader Nessa, champion Diantha, etc. WHEW JUST SAYIN

he would have his face plastered everywhere on trainer PR videos and even getting offers for some minor acting roles in Pokéstar Studios

one day, while he’d be at the studio, there was a whole commotion how the studio and the museum had their deliveries mixed up because the studio had the real meteorite while the museum had the well-made prop of a meteorite; and uh, it turns out this meteorite had the alien virus that pretty much had its DNA mutated into a Deoxys

long story short, being a very experienced trainer, Kise would manage to catch it after hours of chasing it in the wild areas nearby

over time, he and this particular Deoxys would come to have enough mutual respect for each other to be able to battle as a proper trainer-pokémon duo

that being said, he won’t resort to using it unless it’s life-threatening; note: he changes its Formes using a chunk from the meteorite in the studios he broke off (Deoxys [and its many forms] is further reference to his versatility as a basketball player)

Midorima Shintarou

as a man who seeks for good luck and fortunes he’d stack up on a Chimecho for sure and… 

Togekiss; he used to have its pre-evolution Togepi to solely to try to make it stand up while sleeping for good luck (according to the pokédex), and the more he kept trying, the more he made it attached to him and before he knew it, he had a fully evolved Togekiss // he’ll NEVER admit that he loves it to bits, though

this might be unexpected at first glance, but he’d have a Mega Absol; hear me out, it’s called the “disaster pokémon” according to its pokédex, however it is only named so because it warns others of disasters when it appears SO IT WOULD WARN MIDORIMA OF INCOMING BAD LUCK

he’d probably receive a Rowlet from Momoi as a gift from her laboratory, and he didn’t have the heart to abandon it; he’d evolve it to a Decidueye… and just… keep it (this pokémon is a reference to his no-miss shots)

ultimate good luck bringer: Ho-Oh ✨

would have the most “balanced” team out of everyone in terms of type-coverage (reference to him having the most coverage in skills for basketball, from shooting to absolute defense to having ball-handling skills)

he’d totally avoid Akashi’s Kadabra (pre-evolution of Alakazam)—who will be mentioned later down in the list—because it’s said to bring bad luck, as well as avoiding all the Ninetales because he doesn’t want to risk accidentally pulling off one of their tails and be cursed

he’ll avoid caverns as much as possible (but it’s impossible to avoid them all) because those are the habitats of Golbats (who will supposedly give bad luck if one bites you) but if there wasn’t a leeway for him, he will literally LATCH onto his Chimeco and keep his Togekiss and Absol out of their pokéballs to guard him LMAOOO

I would feel he would constantly strive to fill up his entire pokédex, so he’d be a pokémon master in training in a sense; he’s someone who wants to prepare himself for any situation and opportunity, so being a pokédex filler would always provide him an encyclopedia on potential pokémon to either stay away from or catch more of because of certain luck factors

make no mistake though, he’s a seasoned pokémon battler, don’t fuck with him

Aomine Daiki

an intimidating Garchomp would be his ace™️ pokémon, ummmm have you SEEN its base SPEED stat??? it’s a monster

we’re gonna go overkill and give this man a Mega Rayquaza just for the sole fact that he’d be the “ace” trainer of ALL ace trainers and veterans alike

however, because of his “lack of practice/training” like in the anime, he’d probably just stick with these two pokémon, since usually Garchomp already sweeps everyone’s teams without a sweat

homie is probably napping on top of one of the laboratory roofs (probably the one Momoi works in) or escaping to a nearby cliff or hill to relax and keep a lookout for any promising trainers that pass by him

is a trainer who pretty much kept one-shotting all the trainers throughout his journey in the region (aka that’s us protagonists when we play against NPCs)

he would also be that trainer who wiped the floor with the current champion so badly that he felt that all his “training” leading up to that moment didn’t even feel rewarding (plus there’s those countless trainer battles before where it didn’t feel thrilling), and so, he just left the league after, waiting for the day a sufficient rival could show up in his life

he’s definitely cleared the challenging battle systems of each region (probably back when he still had some passion for battling and had a good full team): Battle Frontier, Battle Tree, PWT tournament, Battle Manson, Battle Tower… you name it, he’d probably be done with most of them, if not, all

Murasakibara Atsushi

he’d have a Bewear, Appletun, and lots of variants of Alcremie’s just hanging around him

note: you should search up all the variations of Alcremies yourself, hint cough, it’s 60 variations total

maybe he’d have a Snorlax chilling nearby because it’s so huge

Murasakibara would be a Pokécafé owner AND HE’D HAVE HIS BULKY BEWEAR AND HIS SNORLAX GUARD THE SHOP, YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH ME 

or he would UNLEASH his G-MAX forms of Alcremie’s

and he’ll just use his pokémon to make the tastiest poffins, poképuffs, and pokécurry

he’ll never bring out his final pokémon, Melmetal, unless it’s an absolute emergency and his shop is in danger

he would love Kuroko’s Vanilluxe, in a sense where he would always impassively joke about eating the ice-cream pokémon and Kuroko would just constantly hope he’s not being for real

he wouldn’t be motivated by ambitions like other trainers would have, he just wants to chill and loaf around all day; if someone pissed him off about he was a “weak” trainer or how they were becoming overly cocky when talking about their goals, he’d be right there smiling and ready to annihilate them | (• ◡•)|

Akashi Seijuro

Espeon would totally fit him as his first pokémon; its eyes are very reminiscent of his feline irises, and it’s tiny in size but a very powerful sweeper when set up right AND THEY’re ~calm~ while being capable of either sweet or very calculating later on / LIKE PET, LIKE OWNER

Tsareena; this one has a literal attitude of a queen and its pokédex is pretty terrifying in which one kick from its legs “leaves a wound in the opponent's body and soul that will never heal”... sound familiar?

Nidoking, cough I wonder why I picked this guy he’s a king, but jokes aside, it’s here to add more type variety to his team, and it’s mostly there to be a status inflictor (aka poisoning) and hazard setter with traps for his opponents… sound familiar with how he initiates his shogi strategies?

Mega Alakazam. that’s it. this pokémon has 5000 IQ like ?? would totally wipe the floor with Akashi in shogi if it tried

you thought Aomine had an overkill legendary, but Akashi has Hoopa, who’s capable of a Confined form and Unbound form, representative of his two contrasting personalities 

he’s an ambitious trainer aiming to become a Pokémon Master, and he’s one of those feared prodigies that all the region champions just lowkey sweat hearing about him coming to wreck their leagues apart

his pokédex would be damn near completed

he looks more into a pokémon’s utility and how it can fit into his strategies; it just turns out that most of the capable/eligible pokémon he ends up picking are psychic-types because they all tend to have extremely high intelligence to pull them off

Momoi Satsuki

Mega Altaria fits Momoi’s aesthetic of being cute, but very dangerous if you underestimate it, and I wanted a cute connection to Aomine who I primarily headcanoned to be a dragon-type trainer, so Altaria is a dragon-type pokemon that I picked out (perfect alternative would be Mega Gardevoir if she never met Aomine)

Blissey is a pokemon that brings happiness to anyone that eats their eggs, and it very much fits Momoi’s personality

Tapu Lele is a totem pokemon that has incredible knowledge, and is known to be able to outsmart any opponent during battle, referencing her pre-cognitive defense research abilities

she would definitely be constantly mistaken as a pokémon “Beauty” (yes that’s a trainer title), but in actuality, she’s training to become a pokémon professor as an assistant 

Momoi’s “professor specialty” would definitely be her researching about a pokémon’s current stats (plus their EVs and IVs) and would pinpoint their level of potential and thus, predict their growth (and the steps taken for a certain type of growth) // she’d probably become really famous in the world of competitive battling because a lot of trainers would try to approach her to help “train their teams”

Kagami Taiga

I think he would ironically have a Lopunny because it used to be Alex’s but she just left it in his care and now he has this prankster bunny that’s basically an Alex 2.0 to other pokémon in its vicinity ?? but it has hops like Kagami so

a hotheaded, short-tempered guy like Kagami would have an Incineroar (they… kinda look the same) 

Krookodile would be very much up his alley… its offensive stats are also not something to take lightly, especially when paired with moves like Earthquake and Foul Play

Kommo-o would be a pokémon that embodies Kagami’s personality very well: it seeks to battle only strong opponents for the reason to defeat the “darkness,” and its presence is more than enough to scare the weaker opponents away; Kagami has been mentioned as the “light” many times throughout the series, and his piercing gaze on the courts generate suffocating pressure on the opposing teams // it’s also a pseudo-legendary pokémon on the same base-stat caliber as Aomine’s Garchomp (hinting at their game against each other) ( ᐛ )

last one I’d find really amusing to give for Kagami would be Victini, the adorable mythical pokémon said to bring only victories for its trainer… and it’s a reference to his ascendance to the top of the Winter Cup after defeating all the GoM’s teams

oh yeah, I forgot Mega Lopunny existed so I’ll just attached that right below

anywho, so he’s a rising pokémon trainer who wants to become a pokémon master… but only for the battling part LOL like he doesn’t believe in “catching ‘em all” so to speak because he’d be someone who would believe in winning battles with the pokémon you truly bonded with; in other words, he’d probably only catch new pokémon if he feels a certain connection with them

but because of that, he doesn’t have much info on other pokémon besides his own, and it bites him in the ass when he has to try to figure out ways to take down opposing teams

reluctantly would team up with Kuroko after finding out many of the competitions require double battling but he doesn’t have a single strategy for it, and then Kuroko would pop out of nowhere and offered a hand to be his double battle partner until he learned how to double-battle on his own

spoiler alert, they totally start becoming travel companions in exploring the world together

of course Kagami would have battle strategies, but he isn’t like Akashi where he would actively look for the appropriate strong pokémon for his strategies; he makes strategies to accommodate his existing team

Kiyoshi Teppei

HE HAS A LUCARIO, NOT ONLY THAT A MEGA LUCARIO; they both seek for justice and they’re extremely loyal, and they both are able to read their opponents very easily 

HE ISN’T CALLED THE “IRON HEART” FOR NOTHING, I CAN SEE HIM WITH A SHINY METAGROSS JUST BEING AN OFFENSIVE TANK YET BEING ABLE TO SWEEP, JUST LIKE AN ACE WOULD

he would live a double life: a shopkeeper of his grandparents’ pokémon item/antique store by day, pokémon ranger and patroller by night

he would keep his local area safe (ง'̀-'́)ง

yes, I only see him as a steel-type trainer

he’d be so precious with his pokémon and meticulous in his care for them: he’d probably shine his Metagross everyday or brush out his Lucario’s fur, just because !!

and his pokémon would be fiercely protective of Teppei in return, mostly because they noticed he has bad knees and they don’t want him to strain them any further(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)

Hanamiya Makoto

no debate, he’d have a shiny Hydreigon… dude that pokémon is an absolute nightmare to level up and evolve, let alone tame, but back when it debuted in Pokémon B/W, it was the most OP pokémon out there // shiny variant of it because it has a similar color scheme to the Kirisaki Daiichi basketball team, and he’d probably have a shiny version just to flaunt it off and piss people off

Salazzle with a hidden ability Corruption, where it allows it to poison any pokémon regardless of type or ability; again, it’s to piss the trainers off in battle

and finally, a Dracovish; a person like him would totally have this inherently fucked up pokémon just for the sole purpose to disturb the hell out of his opponent trainers, but make no mistake: it’s an underdog sweeper 

look, he’s an admin of some sinister villain team and he has his other Kirisaki Daiichi starter players as his personalized grunts (they’re like a specific sect of the villain team; e.g. Shadow Triad or the Seven Sages of Team Plasma)

you might wonder, why don’t I give him a “spider” pokémon, since the webs are the analogy used to compare to his strategies in basketball? too many villains have Ariados in their teams and Galvantula is a friendly, fuzzy tarantula soooo it wouldn’t fit Hanamiya at all

I don’t think he would have any deep motive to be villainous other than to just enjoy people getting fucked over by his own deeds and actions; sometimes, it isn’t so deep

“it’s your boy, Guzma Hanamiya” if you get this reference I love you

End Note: “Mega” forms and “G-MAX” forms are not separate pokémon, but rather, temporary power-ups during battles; they are just shown to show the differences in appearances compared to their original forms when they transform.

[unknowncountrygirl]

The New Chaser Pt.4

Iris walked into the common room and Murphy spotted her immediately. Wearing high waisted denim jeans, and he had never been so happy to be ass level with the world. What made his brain almost shut down was an all too familiar hand knitted sweater, with a predominant W on it.

Freaking Weasley.

He didn't even care which one, Charlie or Bill. Most likely freaking Bill. Stupid, brave, and stupidly handsome Bill. He knew they were close, but he wondered the situation that would arise for Bill to give her his sweater.

Iris spotted them all gathered in a corner and made her way over, looking a bit sheepish.

“I thought I was meeting just Skye, about the Quidditch tryouts.” She admitted.

“Right, about that-” Skye started.

“Not all who aspire to play Quidditch make their House team on their first try.” Orion cut her off in his firm, yet still dreamy and far off tone. Iris's whole posture fell.

“I see.”

Murphy couldn't stand it. “But you did!” He yelled excitedly.

“I did! I made the team!?” Iris asked, her eyes bright and a smile upon her lips.

“Congratulations. You are our new chaser, Iris Rosewood.” Orion conformed for her.

“Smashin, right?” Skye punched her shoulder.

“If you could see your face, Iris. Did we fool you into thinking you hadn't made the team?” Murphy asked her, hoping she wouldn't take the tease personally. She placed a hand over her chest and let out a long breath.

“It was hard to tell,” she admitted honestly. “But I was holding onto hope that I'd made the team.”

“Hope won't get you anywhere in Quidditch, Iris, your hard work got you the chaser position.” Skye told her.

“Well I was 81% sure we had you fooled.”

“Numbers aren't worth much unless they're on a scoreboard McNully.” Skye retorted to him, earning her a glare.”

“Quidditch is not about keeping score.” Orion mentioned offhanded. That earned a odd look from the other three in the circle.

“It literally is, if we're going to win the House cup.” Skye explained as if she was talking to a child. “And those chances just got better with you playing Chaser alongside us, Iris.”

“Well it's brilliant news to me! Thank you, I couldn't have done it without you.” The blonde smiled at each of them warmly.

“No problem!” Skye chirped.

“I know!” Murphy could have slapped himself.

“You are welcome.” Orion said, smoothly as fine silk. Murphy, Orion, and Skye all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

“Hold on,” Skye held up a finger, “which one of us do you mean, Iris?”

“Couldn't I have been talking to all of you?” Iris asked innocently.

“Indeed. We are all of us. And all of us are one.”

“How do you not drive yourself absolutely bonkers, Orion?” Skye retorted in her typically crass way.

“How does anyone find mental clarity amid chaos?”

“Knew you'd answer my question with a question...” She huffed and blew a piece of her blue hair out of her eye.

“Was it not a hypothetical question?”

“Well, let's see... Skye asked, how do you not drive yourself absolutely bonkers, and then Orion asked, how is it that anyone finds mental clarity amid chaos. Then Skye said, knew you'd answer my question with a question. And then-”

“You're an interesting one McNully.” Skye cut him off with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Shall we get back to celebrating Iris joining our Quidditch team?” Orion asked.

“Yeah, it's funny, I just realized that this is the first time I've seen you three together in one place at one time.” Iris smiled, trying to redirect the conversation. Even though there was obvious DO NOT ASK and blinking red lights in his minds eye, Murphy opened his mouth and immediately regretted it.

“And what do you think about that?” What if she answers and says its rotten, smooth move.

But in typical Iris fashion, “I think it's wonderful having all my new Quidditch mates together.”

“Quidditch brings together witches and wizards of all kinds.” Orion told her with a smile that made Murphy want to punch him right in the groin. He was beginning to get a very uncomfortable feeling that perhaps Iris's kind nature and beauty had allured more then just him.

“All kinds for sure.” Skye agreed.

“So we're Quidditch mates. Does this mean you're going to start calling me McNully now?” Murphy asked. Iris completely ignored him and asked,

“So what now? How should we celebrate?”

“With Quidditch of course!” Skye said with a murderous glint in her eye that would strike fear into most people.

“Let us head to the Pitch. It's time for your first official team practice as a chaser at Hogwarts.” Orion told Iris, placing a hand on her shoulder, turning her towards the door. Again the flame of jealous rage burned in Murphy's stomach as he watched Orion snake his arm around her shoulder's.  

He had never had a bad thought or feeling towards Orion, but in that instant he did. What he really wanted to do was reach up, rip Orion's arm off and slap him with his own hand and maybe punch him in the crotch while he was at it so that he doubled over, making them eye level so he could hit him again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Murphy made himself at home in the commentators booth with some books and a notepads, he knew this was going to be a long 'special' practice and what Orion had in store. See who could balance on a broom and break the record. He had no idea what good it would do, but he was ready with a stopwatch.

Iris and Skye were both easy to spot on their brooms, Iris's white blonde hair all piled on top of her head in a huge knot and Skye's bright blue hair made the two girls hard to miss. There must have been a joke passed because the high giggling of the two girls picked up on the wind and blew the noise his way.

He looked up and saw they were both still standing on their brooms. He had to admit, it seemed that the two girls were genuinely getting along not just as a mentor and student but as two people who enjoyed one another's company. He smiled as he scratched something down, he felt that Iris would be a good for Skye in the way that perhaps the blonde's less volatile nature could rub off on Skye. He honestly had no idea how Skye was sorted into Gryffindor, she had Slytherin written all over her.

Iris was very easy going, but he had seen her fired up before and he had loved that little wild spark in her. There wasn't much he disliked about her, he knew that eventually something would arise that would make her seem more human to him, something that would grate on his nerves but as it stood she was in his eyes the perfect female.

One thing he had grown to truly admire is that she saw people it seemed by their heart before she saw what they looked like, most people saw the chair before they actually saw Murphy. He also noted that her friend group was very much like a patchwork quilt, full of clashing patterns and colors that somehow all melded together to make something warm and comforting. He knew that Rowan Khana, the girl who wore hand me down clothing, oversized glasses, and always had her nose in a book was her absolute best friend and closest confidant. She was also exceptionally close to Ben Copper, who he knew because they roomed together, a muggleborn who had been afraid of the world had befriended her and she had helped him navigate the world of Wizardry. She had befriended the eldest Weasley, Bill, and every Weasley since, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, which made him wonder if she knew the family and subsequently the other younger Weasley's. She was also friends with the ever popular Penny Haywood, and the trickster twins Tulip and Tonks.

Then there was Barnaby Lee, while he seemed a decent fellow he was awfully dense and Iris had nothing but patience and kindness when it came to him. Andre who he had talked with about quidditch also had nothing but dazzling things to say about the girl, admitting also to Murphy that if he was straight, he would 100% be chasing Iris's skirt. Then there were her friends he knew less about, such as Jae Kim, Badeea Ali, Liz Tuttle, Diego Caplan, Cedric Diggory, Talbot Winger, and Chiara Lobosca. He knew that Liz, Talbot, and Chiara were exceptionally quiet and reserved people and somehow, someway Iris had used that gravitational charm of hers to even pull them out of the rock they had been living under.

These were all people that under normal circumstances would not be friendly with one another let alone actually call themselves friends. The only thing they had in common was the shared friendship and subsequent philia form of love that Iris had flourished in all of them. She was the gravitational center that held them together and she had no idea just how valuable and loved she was. That was what he admired the most about her, he had been charmed by her looks but had fallen for the heart she had. She put everyone else before herself and he knew there were few people that were so self sacrificing as she was.

He was falling in love with the girl, and it was terrifying.

He had nearly worried his lip bloody when he checked the watch and seen they were closing in on nearly 3 hours. It was no surprise that Iris and Skye were the last two left on their brooms.

Iris was the last to loose her footing on the broom and fall, clocking in at 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 4.9 seconds. Perhaps now he could focus on his notes and stats.

Unfortunately, all thought cleared the room when a little enchanted paper bird flew into his commentators box. A note, from Iris, asking for him to meet her in the changing tent in a few minutes.  

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Iris entered the tent after the unorthodox practice session and cracked her neck.

“And now entering the changing room, the new record holder of the broom balancing challenge! Clocking an impressive 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 4.9 seconds... Gryffindor's newest Chaser, Iris Rosewood!” Murphy shouted, and she smiled over at him.

“That's quite the Quidditch introduction to live up to, no pressure.”

“You're on the Quidditch Team, it'll be nothing but pressure from now on.” He joked, “so, what did you want to see me about?”

“I've learned our first house match will be against Slytherin. We've been practicing plenty, but I thought you'd know how to strategise against their team best.”

“I always know best! Direct your attention to my blackboard dearest Iris.” He wanted to slap himself. Dearest Iris, it sounded even cornier then he thought it would.

“There's nothing on it.” Her gentle voice stated.

“Yet. You know how this works, Iris” He picked up his wand and flicked it at the blackboard, drawings, numbers, and patterns coming to life on the black surface. “This is how you defeat Slytherin, but you didn't hear it from me. I'm just the impartial commentator.”

“Oh come on now Murphy,” Iris drawled with a sly grin. “We both know how impartial you are not.” Was she... Was she teasing him? “But, all right, talk me through it.”

“Talk? Perhaps my favorite thing to do!”

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“And so, now you know... That is how you crush Slytherin in the first match.” Iris looked incredibly perplexed as she studied the blackboard.

“Murphy... This is... This is just the Thimblerig Shuffle. You already taught this to me. You watched me try it at practice.” She stated with a pout.

“Right,” he affirmed. “But you haven't tried it in a house match yet. That's where it matters! That's when it will count! That's your true test-”

“The true test of your Thimblerig Shuffle strategy? Or are you testing me personally?” There was a firmness in her voice that alerted him that she was put off by this. He felt a bit sheepish and rubbed his neck.

“Perhaps both? No Pixies will be released, if that helps.”

“I thought I was done being tested once I made the team.”

“You were tested so that you could make the team. But you'll be tested again and again.” he informed her. “Navigating the house alliances and rivalries, the team politics and policies. Just the clash of wills between Skye and Orion alone.”

Iris rolled her eyes and let out a huff as she plopped onto the bench nearby.

“Yeah. I'm starting to see some of that already.”

“Sometimes I'm their mediator... Sometimes the instigator.” He winked.

“That shouldn't surprise anyone.” She rubbed her forehead.

“Listen, Iris, do I believe the Thimblerig Shuffle will throw off Slytherin's defense? Yes. Would I like to see my strategy put to the test? Also yes.” He admitted honestly.

“I came to you for some insight into the competition, Murphy. But to pul off your original strategy in a House match... I'm brand new to the team, I won't be calling the shots.”

“Bingo! That's your test: convincing Orion to give the Thimblerig Shuffle a chance in a house match.” He exclaimed.

“I could give it a try, but Orion could say no.”

“And then you could go rogue and try the strategy anyway. Think of our house!”

“Uhuh.” She gave him an unimpressed look. “I'll go and talk to Orion. You do know you're perhaps the most partial impartial commentator ever.”

“That's what my mum says.” He gave her a wink but he could tell she was stressed and not as receptive to the flirtatious banter.

[onesmallbunny]

Haechan x Reader

Request by a sweet anon (with brilliant ideas): “can you pls write about haechan falling in love w another apocalypse survivor? lots of fluff but maybe a little angst? thanks ✌️”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS SCENARIO IT IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!! I hope you’ll like it tho :3

Genre: fluff; angsty

Words: 2,2k

It’s been almost a year. Almost a year you were traveling by yourself, trying to find some safe place to live it. Almost a year you were all alone. Almost a year since… this happened.

A year ago, a disaster happened. An apocalypse. I know what your thinking. This only happened in movies of books… Well at least, it was what you thought back in the days. But it happened for real.

You remembered everything about the day when everything fell down. You remembered you studying at school quietly. You, imagining yourself out of this school, travelling. Well, karma can be a bitch sometimes…

You also remembered the screams of this one teacher getting eaten in the playground, and you, watching everything through the window. You remembered this creature of evil, crawling on the grown, and this other one walking to you, his hands trying to reach your face. You remembered all the screams, the despair, the blood, death… Everything.

And yet, you were doing your best to forget.

It’s been years since you stopped counting the days, now. You were always alone and realizing how many days had past could make you go crazy. So, you were just walking. Walking as if you were hoping something will happened, as if you were thinking someone could save you.

At this point, you didn’t even know why you were fighting back when those creatures were attacking you. What was the point to survive when you were alone?

You woke up on a new day, after sleeping on this mattress you made by yourself with things you’ve found here and there, on abandoned houses. You took some berries to eat as a breakfast, put everything you had on your back and continued your long journey.

“Alright.” You said to yourself. “Where should I go now…” you sighed and looked at on a side of the forest you never explored. “Well I guess I’ll go there.”

You started walking, following a little road in the middle of the trees and flowers. You could hear the birds singing, some animals waking up after a long night of sleep… Oh yes, you were so jealous of their ignorance, their innocence…You wish you could be a butterfly sometimes… Or a bird. Or even a flower, a tree or some grass… Everything but this desperate girl you were at the moment.

An hour passed, maybe two or three. Perhaps more… You totally lost the notion of time. The more you were waking, the less you could hear the noises of the forest around you. And suddenly, everything was quiet. Abruptly, you stopped moving, listening around you, trying to catch any sound. This situation wasn’t normal…

Not even a second after, you heard this noise. The sound you feared and hated the most in the world : the sound of those creatures, running to you. You analyzed the situation as quickly as possible, detected where the noises came from and started running in the opposite direction. You didn’t know where you were going. The road was full of trees and mud, almost impassable. But if you were struggling, at least the creatures following you will as well.

And you were running and running and running. You were used to it now. But the more you were running, the more you realized something was wrong with the situation. The creatures behind you were closer and they wouldn’t stop. The path in front of you was more and more difficult, and you were exhausted. Wait. What was happening. You thought about it for a second and then realized… what it the end, already? You survived all this time for nothing? No… this couldn’t be…

A second of inattention, a branch of a tree on the ground and with a loud noise, you fell in the grass screaming of pain. Out of breath and with a painful ankle, you took you stick in you bag, stood up and tried to calm down. They were approaching. You could hear their horrible moaning, their feet crushing everything on their way, and a second later, you saw their terrorizing and empty eyes looking at you.

“Alright, monsters…” you whispered, getting ready. “Let the show begging…”

One of these hideous creatures jumped to you, screaming, drool mixed with blood falling from its mouth. You hit him violently with your stick and its body in decomposition touched the ground with a loud noise. You didn’t even have time to relish your victory that another one ran to you, its teeth trying to cut your arm. You ferocity stuck your sword of fortune in his left eyes and pulled it back with force, almost loosing your balance.

This wasn’t good. You were already out of breath, and they were so many left. You neutralized one more, and another… But you won’t survive much more. You were exhausted, helpless, alone…

Suddenly, one of these creatures pushed you on the grass and broke your stick with his own teeth. Laying on the ground, you stared at this horror with tears on your red eyes, shaking of fear. The monster was slowly approaching, as if he was playing with you.

You closed your eyes, feeling all your strength living your body, your soul. So this was the end… You survived all this time for nothing after all. How pathetic…

“Move your head!”

Hearing this voice was like a call from heaven. You looked at your left and saw a young man, holding a gun in his hands, running to you.

“I said move!” he shouted, pointing the gun toward the monster.

In a second, you moved your head, closed your eyes and heard the sound of a bullet going through the creature’s head. You finally opened your eyes, and saw something that looked like heaven. Tens of people, men and woman killing those creatures one by one, right in front of your eyes, saving you. How long has it been since you so real people…

“Are you alright?”

You looked up and saw the young man who saved you. He has soft and deep brown eyes, brown hair and a nice and warm skin color, like honey.

“Are you alright, miss?” he repeated.

“Oh, yes…”

“Okay, can you stand up? We have to go. Others are coming…”

As he was helping you to stood up, you felt your head getting heavier, and your eyes closing.

“Hey, stat with us, okay!”

“I think i’m going to…”

And then, total blackout. All you could remember was the sound of the young boy’s voice, telling you to wake up.

…

…

…

You slowly opened your eyes, awaken by the sunrise, softly touching your skin. You were laying on a very comfortable bed, in what looked like a tent to you. You checked around you, still a little sleepy and saw an old lady, showing her back to you.

You tried to stood up, confused and dizzy.

“Where am I…?” you whispered.

“Oh welcome back, sleepy head- No, no, no please young lady, lay down. You must be so tired.”

“Where am I? and? And are you?”

The young lady was about to reply, but someone walked into the tent, loudly. It was the young boy who saved you the other day.

“You’re finally awake!” he said with the happiest smile.

“Don’t scream, Haechan, she’s still weak!”

So, Haechan was his name…

“Sorry miss Lee… I’m so relived she’s okay.”

“Yeah I can see that…”

Miss Lee raised an eyebrow, surprised of the young man reaction. Haechan finally walked to you with a soft smile, and sat on a chair next to your bed.

“Hello, I’m Haechan. Do you remember me? I saved you, the other day!”

“Yeah, I remember. Thank you about that by the way… I thought I was already dead…”

“Well you would be now, if we weren’t here!”

“Yeah, I guess I would…”

A silence took place in the tent. Miss Lee left the two of you alone a while ago, and you didn’t have anything to say to Haechan.

“Anyway hmm… Can you stood up?”

“I guess I can. But Miss Lee said-“

“It’s fine, come with me. I have to show you something. Put some clothes on. We prepared this for you!”

You changed your clothes somewhere no one could see you and came back next to Haechan.

“Where are we going?”

Haechan just smile and opened the tent. At this very moment, as the sun was almost blinding you, what you saw amazed you. Even more than this day when Haechan and his friends saved you.

It was like a little village, with so many people. Nice trees, cute flowers, children playing together innocently, pregnant woman walking around, old man feeding birds, teenagers chatting together…

“Am I dead?” you asked. “Is this heaven?”

Haechan laughed, surprised.

“No it’s not, and you’re perfectly alive. Welcome to the Village! One of the last real town on hearth. We live all by ourself, with agriculture, hunting and stuff… And we can be happier! The village is not that big, though. Everyone knows everyone! That’s pretty cool. Oh, and look here…”

You followed him, but couldn’t really listening to what he was saying. After all these years of survival alone in the woods, you finally discovered civilization. A place where people are happy and where they don’t need to fight all the time to survive…

“And there, it’s a little library-“

“Can I stay here?”

Haechan turned his head and looked at you, surprised. Realizing what you just asked, you blushed, and looked away, embarrassed.

“I mean, I don’t want to be a burned or anything…”

“Of course you can stay! I mean, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to so…

“Really?”

“Of course! You really thought we would leave you all alone in the wild?”

You stared at him for a while, unable to say anything. Your dream was about to come true...

“Thank you so much...” you whispered, feeling your eyes getting wet.

“Hey you don’t have to cry, everything is fine!”

You nodded, laughing and whipping your tears off. You couldn’t believe it. Today was probably the best day of your life.

“I didn’t have time to ask you but... What’s your name?”

“My name is Y/N.”

“Y/N... That’s a pretty name. Well, you probably heard it but my name is Haechan!”

...

...

...

Days passed since Haechan rescued you from hell. You were now living a peaceful life, in a very small (but cute) house next to Haechan’s, in the village. You guys were always together, you were so attached to him, so much that you decided to join the Night Watch with him and some of his friends, so you can be with him a little more...

“Are you going out with Haechan tonight?” asked Jeno, one of Haechan’s bestfriend.

“Yes! We both going into the woods tonight, to see what’s going on there!” you replied with a smile, whilst fixing your gun on your belt.

“You seem pretty exited about it, Y/N...” Jeno laughed a little seeing your red cheeks. “Dont worry, he was as exited as you!”

Jeno winked and left the room, just like that, leaving you blushing and confused. He was actually right; you were so happy to go in the wood by night to face those monsters and all these horrific places... because you just wanted to be with Haechan.

“Y/N, are you ready? It’s our turn already.” Haechan’s cute head penetrated the room, making you blush even more. “Are you okay? You look...red?”

“I am! I’m fine! Let’s go...”

You almost run out of the room, extremely embarrassed, leaving Haechan behind you, confused.

“Okay then...” he said. “Let’s go!”

It was already a very dark night. The moon as your only source of light, and you could have been very scared, but feeling Haechan next to you while you walk into the woods made you feel better.

“So hum...” he finally said while walking next to you, after a silence. “Do you like your new life there?”

“I couldn’t imagine a better way to live to be honest... And it’s manly thanks to you, Haechan. Thank you so much for everything, really. You saved my life.”

Haechan blushed, embarrassed and tried to cover it by playing with his back hair.

“Well I didn’t do much... I mean- I wasn’t alone. I was with Jeno, Jaemin and all the others...”

“Yes but you were the one who killed the creature that was about to eat me.”

“That’s true...”

“So you saved my life.”

“Yeah... apparently...”

The young man was all red and couldn’t meet your eyes. He was so adorable, you couldn’t stop smiling. You came closer to him, get on your tiptoes and put your lips on his cheek, softly, closing your eyes. Surprised, Haechan stopped moving, breathless.

“A little gift for you.” you whispered. Embarrassed, you ran away, leaving your friend behind you, still in shock. Haechan put his hand on his cheek, and suddenly blushed, realizing what just happened.

“I would save her everyday just to have this gift once more...” he whispered to himself.

Tonight was the best night you’ve ever had. No monsters, no fight, nothing but cuteness and... love? You didn’t really know if it was love, but at least, you knew one thing. You wanted to be with Haechan.

Forever.

[modernlcve]

*  —  stats —   spencer meyers !

* — basics !

full name:   spencer burke meyers. nickname(s):   prefers none. age:   twenty - two date of birth:   august seventh. place of birth:   san francisco,   california. gender:   male. pronouns:   he / him. sexual orientation:   gay. level of education:   high school graduate. recipient of a bachelor’s degree in urban sustainability.

* — physical !

tattoos:  none. piercings:   none. notable features:   he really is the blandest mother fucker huh.. weakness(es):   he just gets worked up. scar(s):   none.

* — domestic !

occupation:   intern for parks & recreation.   waits tables at a theme restaurant to pay the bills. residence:  he has a room to himself at the fold. social class:   well off. parents:   richard meyers,   age 56,   can lick my balls.   he puts up with spencer to the best of his abilities  ( poorly ).   sheila meyers,   passed away when spencer was 13 and she was 40.   wendy meyers,   age 43,   his step-mother he surprisingly fucks with.   not enough to get him to come home  a lot,   but enough. siblings:   ian meyers,   age 25,   a young republican whom spencer will unfortunately have to battle one day. zach and cora newman,   his step-siblings who,   again, seem to get his whole Deal more than his blood family. extended family:   notable members of the meyers Brood are their grandparents,   two overbearing old white people always ready to let you know what bullshit they’re on,   and grahams Sect of the family:   spencer’s paternal uncle and cousins,   who all meet up together for big family dinners.

* — personality !

positive traits:   staunch.   fervent.   altruistic. negative traits:   melodramatic.   one-track.   rude. myers-briggs ( x ):   estj;   the executive. temperament:   choleric. moral alignment:   neutral good. horoscope:   leo;   the lion. hogwarts house:   ravenclaw.

* — favorites !

movie:    almost famous. tv show:   chopped. book:   let’s explore diabetes with owls by david sedaris. drink:   he fucks w a good ipa. food:   ravioli from a Very specific restaurant. animal:   turtles. color:   light blue. song:   never tear us apart by inxs artist:   the cure. celebrity crush:   zac efron.

* — impressions !

first impression:  he’s a lot.   he doesn’t really take it down a notch for anyone,   not even for a first impression,   so a lot of people are rightfully overwhelmed by him.   he’s nice enough,   but he always seems like he has eighty other things that he’d rather be doing and they all make him want to die. self impression:   he doesn’t think poorly of himself,   but he does strive to always be changing and growing and doing his Best to better himself everyday.   he wants to leave the world a better place than he found it,   even if in minuscule ways. lover impression:   in generally,   i guess he’d be a Needy boyfriend if only because he has a goal with a partner.   he looks for someone who could balance out his Manic energy.   he’s always going and always trying to move on to the next thing and its romantic 2 think that maybe there’s someone out there that could teach him how  to stop and smell the roses.

* — et cetera !

turn ons:   passion.   confidence.   a strong jawline. turn offs:   passivity.   a man that doesn’t know how to recycle. drink/drugs/smoke:   yes/no/no. dominant hand:   right. clean or messy:   clean. early bird or night owl:   night owl. hobbies or special talents:   he gets into karaoke.   he’s not good at singing,   he just really commits in an admirable way.   he was a competitive swimmer all through high school and college.

* — QUESTIONNAIRE !

01. where was your character born? what brought them to los angeles? what do they like most about the town?

spencer was born in san francisco and,   if he had it his way,   he would still be there.   he thinks it’s the Greatest City In The World,   but he moved away from it when his mom was sick,   and then moved again for school,   and has settled in los angeles for the time being because it’s where he was able to get a job.   he does see himself going back to san francisco one day,   but he doesn’t mind la for the time being.   he likes that he’s out of his element in la,   he thinks it adds a fun challenge to things.

02. who are your character’s friends and family? who do they surround themselves with? who are the people your character is closest to?

spencer’s family mostly consists of his dad and brother and then his dad’s side of the family.   he still sees his mom’s family from time to time,   but they live further upstate and without his mom tethering them together,   it’s just become less frequent that they see eachother.   his dad’s family is close though,   in a weird family dynasty kind of way.   spencer doesn’t fit into the grand scheme of things with them,   and if anything,   plays that up at big family dinners,   so his closer family would be his step-mom and step-siblings,   who don’t play into that bullshit as much.   he surrounds himself with people that treat him well,   he has to put up with enough that don’t already.   i don’t think he has a best friend though,   partly because he’s convinced himself he’s too busy and partly because he just doesn’t take the time with people that he should.

03. what is your character’s biggest fear? who have they told this to? who would they never tell this to? why?

spencer gets freaked out thinking about time and the inevitable end of it all.   he’s got a lot he wants to get done,   big goals and big plans to accomplish them,   but as someone who’s so ambitious,   it freaks him out to think that his time rollin’ around is finite.   how is he supposed to squeeze the Human Experience in with his Professional Ambitions to Save Mother Gaia with such a big chunk of his life already over and done with?   he’s not bashful to talk about this,   so anyone who’ll listen has probably heard it by now.

04. has your character ever been in love? had a broken heart?

i don’t think he’s ever been in love.   i think he has a lot of crushes and little infatuations,   just to get him through the day and give him someone to plot a big grand love story with to fill the void of not having a real relationship,   but no real relationships or connections that got to the point where u could call it love.   in the same way,   i don’t think his heart has ever been broken Like That,   he gets bummed when he gets big crushes on straight guys who won’t look at him but it’s not that deep,   he just finds another unsuspecting man of his dreams.

06. it’s saturday at noon. what is your character doing? give details.

he’s working.   the man is nonstop.   whenever he can be,   he likes to be elbows deep in whatever parks and rec has to give him:   he’s trying really hard to make a good impression and get some Real Experience under his belt.   at noon on a saturday,   he’s harassing whoever’s in the office for some kind of task or project,   just hoping to wear someone down.

07. what is one strong memory that has stuck with your character since childhood?

well , there was one when he was little and he kept telling graham that spiderman and the hulk were boyfriends and they had a son named americus.   that was a hoot.   all jokes aside,   he remembers a trip he took to the beach with his family when he was little,   and night after dinner everyone going out to play frisbee or some Nonsense by the ocean.   it was one of the first times he felt like a passive observer more than a member of the Gang:   he was so bad at both catching and throwing and not getting mad about being bad that he just rolled himself up in a towel and sat there while everyone else played.

09. what is something that upsets your character? where do they go when they’re upset?

he likes being busy,   make no mistake.   it would drive him crazy to not have a full agenda in front of him,   to not have something he was always working on.   but he still gets overwhelmed from time to time,   he toes a thin line of blissfully busy and biting off more than he can chew.   when he gets upset,   he likes to just take a couple laps around the block,   listen to some music,   and then come back and try to re-calibrate.   he doesn’t have too much time to spend on self soothing,   but when he needs to cool down,   he can at least make it multipurpose  ( get a lil exercise,   hit up the grocery,  etc ).

10. when your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? why?

his mom used to make spice cake cupcakes for family Hooplahs.   spencer didn’t even like them,   because it’s rare to find a kid that does  ( especially when the cream cheese frosting bomb is Dropped ),   but he remembers the smell distinctly.   he’s tried to make them since she died,   but he knows when they’re baking that he fucked them up,   because the smell just isn’t half as enticing.

[karenuse54-blog]

Talking baseball with John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball and coauthor of The Hidden Game

(John Thorn, photo by Alison Richards; Bill Savage, photo by Rich Lalich.)

In 1984, John Thorn and Pete Palmer helped launch what would become the sabermetric revolution in baseball by publishing The Hidden Game of Baseball: A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and Its Statistics. More than thirty years later, we have seen the game of baseball absorb the insights of Thorn, Palmer, and those who came in their wake in a way that no one could ever have predicted back in the days when RBI, batting averages, and pitcher wins were king.

In 2015, we were proud to bring The Hidden Game back into print. To kick off the baseball playoff season, we hooked up our old friend Bill Savage, lit prof and Cubs fan, with John Thorn to talk about the book and the game.

In The Hidden Game, you and Pete Palmer helped explain new forms of baseball statistics to fans (and the powers-that-be in The Game).   Many of these stats have come to be widely accepted, despite the stubborn adherence to BA/HR/RBI and W/L records among the more retrograde fans. Which of the even more recent statistical categories do you think most add to our understanding and enjoyment of players’ accomplishments?

I admire the work of modern statistical analysts even as, over the years, my interests have drifted more to the history of the game, particularly its earliest period—even before statistics entered the discussion of which player was better than another. Voros McCracken’s FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) has seemed to me to be a great breakthrough in the way we look at the game, and how we measure it. BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) is also a solid new stat, as it reveals the good luck or bad that may inform short-term outcomes. WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is a refinement of Pete Palmer’s Linear Weights System, with the principal difference being its baseline of a mythical replacement player (available via callup from Triple-A) rather than the LWTS baseline of zero. The latter still seems to me more elegant mathematically and philosophically, as an average team will go 81-81 and thus provide no extra wins above a team that is 0-0 on Opening Day.

What’s your take on the new measurements of hitters (launch angle and exit velocity) that are based primarily on technological advances rather than new mathematical ways of framing the game’s data points? Back in the day, people might have seen such things but not have been able to quantify them.

Interesting . . . which is to say that I am interested in their likely assistance in evaluating hitters’ future chances and perhaps their suitability in certain trade ruminations. I am not, however, impressed by these measures’ in-game or in-season utility. They seem to me to be the shiny tinsel on the otherwise perfect tree.

The powers-that-be in MLB are concerned with how long a game takes—but recent research by Grant Bisbee of SBNation.com (comparing two games with strong statistical parallels, from 1984 and 2014 https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length) suggests that the difference between today’s game and the game of a generation ago is simply how long pitchers take to throw the ball.  Why not just have a 20-second pitch clock, as some minor leagues do?

As it has turned out, few pitchers exceed the 20-second mark with any regularity, so this argument may be moot, or at least window dressing, compared to other problems of pace/length, e.g., number of relief pitchers used, number of pitches thrown (deep counts), time between balls put into play (“Three True Outcomes”), and so on.

The powers-that-be in MLB are also worried about their aging fan base, and blame pace-of-play and length of games for a potentially lost generation of young fans.  But my experience is that some young people (many of my students at Northwestern, for instance) love baseball, and the pauses inherent in the game fit with their constant fiddling with phones, Tweeting and texting.  (Ahem.  I have been known to tweet between innings as well.) If you could mandate anything to get younger fans into baseball, what would it be?

This is above my pay grade, of course—I work for the Commissioner but do not presume to mandate anything. As an advanced fan, however, I might speculate that more balls in play, fewer strikeouts, and fewer situational relievers might well make the game more appealing to fans of any age.

Part of baseball’s historic continuity is the relative stability of the rules, with the lowered pitcher’s mound and the DH being prominent counter-examples.  Is it worth changing fundamental rules to speed up the game?  The gesture for an intentional walk, starting extra innings with a runner on second, and so forth?  Some sports chatterers are even suggesting making the game 7 innings long.  I’d (unseriously) suggest just starting every batter with a 1-1 count, like in park district softball.  How should baseball balance historical continuity with modern demands?

I think most fans do not appreciate the fairly violent gyrations in the rules that characterized the game into the twentieth century, and those that characterized the 1960s and early ’70s. Baseball has always had an experimental quality—just as one might say of the America’s evolving adventure into democracy. Both the nation and its pastime may be viewed as solid, inert institutions, inhospitable to change, yet that is not the way I see either. Continuity, yes; obdurate resistance, no. Traditionalists will tend to be older and bound to affirm their life’s experience of baseball (or America). But older fans, while they may dominate today’s marketplace of ideas, do not represent the economic marketplace of tomorrow.

Baseball is America’s most ancient and historic game—yet many people think MLB doesn’t do enough to teach its history to current or potential fans.  As MLB’s official historian, how would you like to see teams in MLB (and the minors) use the game’s history to enrich the fan experience?

My dear departed friend Larry Ritter, author of The Glory of Their Times (1966), liked to say that the best part of baseball today is its yesterdays. For older fans, certainly that is true. But I think baseball’s past enriches the experience of younger fans, too, and when a seemingly unique event resonates across the canyons of time to recall another, similar happenstance, the effect is warming, enriching, beautiful. I believe that my mission as MLB’s official historian is to share the pleasure I experience in making such connections, and perhaps to inspire a new generation to explore the depths of this endlessly fascinating game. No sport connects with its past on a daily basis the way that baseball does. Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson—these are names that all baseball fans know and revere. Can the same be said of our other team sports—say, for Red Grange (football), or George Mikan (basketball), or Howie Morenz (hockey)?

One huge issue lately is cultural differences between “old school” baseball people and younger players, especially stars from Latin America, who play with more overt emotion and exuberance.  This moment parallels the reaction of many players, coaches, and executives to how Negro League players brought their style of play to the Bigs after Jack Robinson’s debut.  It seems ironic that MLB can simultaneously worry about not appealing to young fans, and criticize players whose style might very well appeal to such young fans, accustomed as they are to the more emotionally-charged behavior on basketball courts and football fields.  The term often used in this conversation is about “respecting the game.”  What does it mean, to you, to “respect the game”?

Respecting the game has meant different things in different eras. The ungovernably rowdy 1890s nearly placed baseball permanently in the shade, trailing college football, cycling, golf, and automobile races. When decorum returned to the game, female fans did too. In the 1950s, Mickey Mantle ran around the bases with his head down after a home run, so as not to show up the pitcher. Given its roots in sublimated martial activity, baseball has sometimes struggled to strike a balance between chivalry and bravado. I am utterly confident that it will do so again, embracing Hispanic conventions while not abandoning North American reserve.

Electronic strike zone: Yes or No? If yes, how?

It may come. Certainly cricket and tennis have accommodated it. I  have always accepted mistakes as an inevitable feature of human endeavor, and almost miss the vanishing error in the field as much as I miss the triple. But it is hard to deny the appeal of greater accuracy.

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is not directly run by MLB.  Right now, while executives from the PEDs Era are being inducted (Selig, Cox, LaRussa, Torre), the writers who vote on players seem pretty set on excluding Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and other players whose records they call “tainted.”  If you could mandate how players are selected for the Hall, what system would you enact?

I do mandate how players are selected for the Hall of Fame between my ears, but not for the one in Cooperstown. It is a grand institution, and part of its enduring vitality may be accounted to its annual controversy, stirring fan interest and sometime outrage.

  Source: http://pressblog.uchicago.edu/2018/10/01/talking-baseball-with-john-thorn-official-historian-of-major-league-baseball-and-coauthor-of-the-hidden-game.html

[bub-the-voidling]

Custom Card Competition wk 16: Colored Equipment

(This is a post about a private Card Brewing competition. Entries were not open to the public)

Welcome one, welcome all to this new week of Custom Card Challenge! This week our prompt was to make a colorful armory~~

“This week we shall be doing equipment! But not just any equipment, colored equipment~~ Some examples of this is [Godsend], [Mage Slayer], and even [Unscythe, Killer of Kings] if you want to go crazy on us 😉”

Also, I was promised a 5C sword, so you better give it to me or heads will roll >:c

Starting off the week we have...

[Gonti]. It’s Gonti again. I can’t say it’s not interesting with the menace and with combat [synergies], but it’s Gonti again. Yes, we all love Gonti and the effect is fun, but it’s [Gonti] again x3

Anyway, the effect is [Thief of Sanity]/[Nightveil Specter] for any creature. Closer to Nightveil but with the mana fixing but minus playing lands. Which means sometimes this thing doesn’t really do a lot, or anything if you’re unlucky. I would’ve preferred that it was either Thief of Sanity or that it’d allow you to play lands, but some people don’t think playing lands are fun smh.

 8/10, Just a good on flavor black equipment. Not much to say. [Gontiiiiiiiii]

So, this is a legendary version of [Scythe of the Wretched], it’s even a Scythe! :D But, what does this do differently from it? Well for one it actually has deathtouch and doesn’t force you to reequip it on someone you might not want it on.

So, what makes this the Sultai weapon of choice? The green would be for reach and black would be for deathtouch and maybe the resurrection. But what is blue in this card? Sadly, that’s the miss in this card, the challenge was to make colored equipment so you want to capture the color identity in the weapon.

I would suggest swapping out the U for its other control friend, W. With white you could argue that both the caring about legendaries (aristocratic fuqs >:c) and the resurrection part are on flavor for the color. And if you’d want to make this equipment really bonkers, you’d make it give vigilance as well. Then you probably have to make the equipment cost higher, since we probably all agree that only having mana symbols in the casting cost is beautiful.

7/10 Good first entry friendo ^^ And thanks for the new artist to follow :P

Next up we have a new little blade from Kamigawa, a blade that takes after the [Myojin of Night's Reach] itself!

Just like a blade from the legendary spirit should, it makes people discard, and discard haaaaard. A [Wit’s End] on a stick! How is that balanced when Wit’s End costs 7 to cast? A handful of reasons actually, one is that this costs a total of 8 mana, 6 of which must be black. The cost is separated into two bits, so you can pay half of it at one point and the other at another, that’s the strange thing with equipment. It costs more but they’re still cheaper since you can curve. Oh yeah and the second reason why this is balanced, it has to smack someone in the face.

With the deathtouch on the blade it makes it a bit more tempting to let it through. But people will just [chump block] at this point, unless they have so few cards in hand that they don’t care about discarding. Same problem Wit’s End faces actually.

So, it’s clearly not busted even though its ability appears so ridiculously strong, that’s amazing design right there. Sadly, I can’t really judge it on the lore all too much, I know this was made because the creator loves the Kamigawa lore but I simply haven’t read it. Sorry.

Oh yeah, pet peeve, this equipment doesn’t give stats, but maybe that’s for the best as it gives deathtouch and you want it for the effect. So… ignore my pet peeve?

Funnily this was the only card with color requirement to equip. Also the reason how this can be balanced :P

9/10, You could technically nut this at T4 with unblockable. Can you figure it out?

Next to the chopping block~~

Cardsmith? DISQUALIFIED! THOSE CARDS LOOK BAD D:< Rawr, rawr, rawr! Rabble, rabble! >:c

Cough. But if we would look past the exterior and try to see the card on the inside… Not that we would. Maybe it is, kind of nice? Let’s see here, creating things when hurt… Yes, that’s definitely a green thing with cards like [BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE] nest. Little things that deal damage, yes that’s red. Vigilance? That has to be wh- No wait, that’s a green’s secondary, and it synergizes with the rest of the weapon.

Okay, we have an interesting unique card that’s not busted with a good cost and fits its colors… Maybe the infinite is overpowered? >:D

The most efficient so you need the least amount of cards. [Darksteel Myr] + [Goblin Bombarment] + Well… this card… That’s a total of 9 mana plus 2 for equipping and you need to hurt the Darksteel the first time somehow as well. Okay, honestly that doesn’t sound anywhere near as effective/degenerate as [Storm] or [Hollowed One]. I encourage you all to click those links.

So… The card isn’t broken and the one way you would break it has [counter] [play] and is really slow.

What?! I can’t just judge the card on how the text formating looks?! The Cardsmith card isn’t just good, it’s great! How could this be?!

The only thing I can criticize is that the rose is a 0/2 instead of 0/1. I don’t think the rose should ever survive being [pinged] without buffs. The legendary clause makes it so you (sadly) can’t stack its effect, otherwise you’d have literally infinite chump blockers as with two blades one block creates two Roses. The equipping to Roses and always having a blocker might be enough reason to increase the equipment cost, but equipping costs 2 mana and is sorcery speed luckily, so the enemy can just play around it by having more creatures or killing the token before it equips. Unless they have no interaction, in which case you kind of deserve being blocked by a single Sword wielding Rose forever.

Also… Since the Rose token DOESN’T have defender…

<u<

I had to commission [Azura] to draw this. Too worth it.

There’s nothing I can give this card but the big W in for this challenge. Congratulations :D

10/10, Rose with a sword.

(I noticed that it didn’t say creature token, check for such things next time.)

Congratulations to The Wandering Nightstalker for bringing us a Rose wielding a sword! (That phrase made me and Azura laugh so much)

But before I thank you all for entering and wishing you good luck we have three Ineligible entries to judge and stare angrily at. So let’s greet these three lovely cards. Always fun to see the person who made the prompt join ^^

Starting off, the Vampires are starting a cult! Again!

Hey, DrKungFu. Tell your friend to just join the damn discord. This is 10/10 (9.5 rounded up to 10. Maybe I should start showing the half points as not rounded up…)

Yes, it’s a bit too strong, but it’s on flavor, on color, and just a damn fun card.

Also, flavor text. I love flavor text

Weak actual equipment with a reward if you complete its objective. Just how it should be when making these sort of flip cards. Maybe the objective should be slightly harder or the casting slightly higher (I’d say no because 2 symbols are beautiful), but hot damn this is a good card.

10/10, I want the against the odds where you have smol dudes to sac and big creatures to reanimate.

We will never ever beat this card.

Only complaint is that the stick is hard to see, if that even is a complaint.

20/16, trample at least. Better than 30 Emrakuls.

(I forgot that this last card was an IE, so they got a full on write up. Incase you wonder why this will be long.)

Oh my lordie, this was the first submission of this week and my first thought was “This will be a good week.” Needless to say, I was right. Flash with instant equip? Fuck yeah that’s some unique and interesting design, just what I wanted. I mean once I did some more research, I found out that [Grifter’s Blade] exists. But did anyone of you honestly know that it existed?

So, we know that I like the first two lines here and they’re really fitting for the colors you chose. Yeah, I know white isn’t supposed to be known for flash, but we’re all from a D&T lover’s discord. White flashing is nice. So, what do I think about the actual effects of the equipment? First strike and tapping a dude is nice and once again spot on for the color pairing you have. But indestructible? This makes the card a better version of [Indestructibility]. That saddens me as power creep isn’t really my forte. I really wish you chose something like Vigilance instead, that would even go nicely with the tap ability and annoy non-UW players in limited, and isn’t that what magic is all about?

Oh yeah, pet peeve, this equipment doesn’t give stats, but maybe that’s for the best as it has flash and first strike. So… ignore my pet peeve?

8/10, close, but indestructible cigar.

Thank you all for competing ^^ Hope you’ll have a wonderful week. Before I will take my leave, we shall travel to Sparta for our next prompt!

”Madness! Make an interesting madness card!”

A simple little prompt that reminds at least me about Kate’s first prompt :P Some examples of madess cards are [Basking Rootvalla], [Ichor Slick], [Welcome to the Fold] :^), and [Basking Rootvalla]. Oh and I’d count [Falkenrath Gorger] if you’re curious.

Also, no 5 color weapon :( [Hopefully this will do] <3

[Basking Rootvalla]