#1. this is my third attempt trying to format and post these drawings

[roses-luckride-art]

My first post!!! Today me and a few friends had visited the Homestuck × Requiem Cafe and I ended up drawing these to celebrate!!!

[lunchtimebedamned1997]

Harrow the Ninth real-time reading thoughts + GTN character concept doodles (pt. 1)

| Here | Part two |

Please no spoilers for chapters after #6! (or for book 3... obviously)

Someone on my Gideon concept art post (I've since checked, it was @samgemrus) said they'd like to hear more of my thoughts as I read HTN, so I thought I'd indulge, since I do love a good yap XD

Let's start with the book one stuff! Art! Wanted to draw Palemedes and Camilla next bc they're my babies I adore them!!! (Speedpaint under the cut!)

I don't know why I imagine some characters the way I do but here we are, Cam with the wrong hair and Sextus with what is probably (?) too pretty of a face. I tend to imagine characters I like the personality of to be more personally aesthetically pleasing lmao I do not remember if this man's attractiveness was described or not the main character is so gay and i'm bi so idk... I guess everyone gets to be pretty XD

(Also you might peep the note in the upper left, I'll put the spoilers I got while finishing up the art at the very bottom of the post so that you can avoid them if you wish to!!)

Alright, that's book one housekeeping, let's move on to book two! thoughts and rambles and theories abound from the beginning-chapter six!

Okay! So! The second-person perspective! I still don't like it! But my discomfort with the format aids the story well, and it's been interesting to have dreams of Harrow's being written in third person along the lines of the previous book. I find that it gives off the sense that Harrow only feels moored (even by falsehoods) when she is removed from the truth of her current reality. By using the pronoun 'you' to guide the bulk of the story thus far, it leads the reader to be faced directly with Harrow's discomfort, confusion, and aching wrongness. We are the voice deep inside of her that is screaming for things to be righted and to make different choices as she fumbles along without hearing us at all.

Never would I have guessed in my journey though the GTN that Ianthe Tridentarius was going to be in any way largely important. Let alone that we'd have to spend so much time with that miserable woman.

I imagine that Harrow's false memories/delusions, that her 'forgetfulness' around and about Gideon, is for her own sanity; and perhaps is even an attempt to stop them from merging completely into Lyctor. Some play by Harrow as we once knew her, to try and save Gideon or herself - or them both.

God is weird.

God is... hm. I - he's unsettled me to be honest, but perhaps I'm just scarred by the Dumbledore-type. The ones that seem kindly and wise in their age and appearance of relative normalcy (/averageness). I can't help but feel as though he is somehow secretly very awful. The creation of his power - the way the galaxy died and these monsters were created... surely he must have been some kind of desperate as a mortal man. A man from our time. Wouldn't he be? A man who was... what? Grappling for power? To try and save anything he could? To save someone he loved? To stop someone... he loved? There is the locked tomb to consider. Since we discovered the process of becoming a Lyctor, I couldn't help but suspect, that with sword in hand, that perhaps this girl in the ice is not a lyctor but a Cavalier?

I'm not entirely sure of my reason for thinking that. Some sort of gut sense. 'God' seemed to know exactly what would happen to Harrow if he separated (or attempted to separate) Gideon and Harrow's now-entwined souls. Maybe he'd done it to himself? Maybe the reason he'd be unable to stop her if she reawakened would be because then they would be truly separate and broken? Like - perhaps he's still siphoning from her even now?

Maybe - maybe she's just a body. Maybe her soul is still entwined with his (if I'm even right that those two are connected in this way) and if you were to awaken the body... perhaps it would rend God apart in some unfixable way? Re-seperate the souls? Reverse whatever process granted him his power...

And why does he have more power than a Lyctor? Was he man to begin with at all? Or something else that gave up godhood and then returned to it? I'm excited and terrified to know.

We still no nothing of this other, more ancient Gideon. The one mentioned on the scrap of flimsy in GTN, the one Gideon's mother's body screamed out endlessly upon being called back from the dead.

For a while I thought Gideon must surely be our Gideon's fath- oh - ohhh my GOD is - is 'God' Gideon's father?! Is 'God' that ancient Gideon?! Because - oh fuck - because Gideon - our Gideon, she didn't die from the poison that brought fourth the power for Harrow's conception. Gideon didn't die when Harrow siphioned her for the trial with the box! Didn't someone expressly mention in book one that it seemed impossible that Gideon was alright - Camilla, wasn't it? That Gideon wasn't just alright, but that apart from being tired (and traumatized af lmao) she was completely healthy?!

God also chasitised Mercy for not wanting to share her name with her new sisters (also, I'm assuming 'sister is a religeous endearment like nuns or smth, but if not, marked that as - you know, no. either way mark that down as I'm uncomfy XD) and yet, we don't get to know his name. Most people wouldn't think to ask the name of 'God' would they. A man of a thousand epithets - but surely he has some 'true name' as he phrased it before, right?

Holy fucking fuck. Am I on the right track?! DON'T ANSWER THAT XD

I still don't know how (our) Gideon's mother would have made it to the here-and-now, or... unless she wasn't old? Unless she wasn't from then... Maybe she just worked closely with them on the ship? The ship... the ship he (god) feels sorrowful to leave as if it holds some kind of significant memory? Fuck there's so many loose ends, and I've probably tangled all the wrong threads but... holy fuck, that would be interesting wouldn't it?

Also Mercy is deeply annoying so far XD

Here's the Pam and Cam speedpaint to finish this very long red-string post up XD (Also don't ask how I'm drawing so many concepts this fast bc idk - it's probably the neurodivergencies and the fact that they're sketches lmao)

I wanted to give Cam scars, but I have a feeling girly is about to go through a LOT more bs and I wanna wait until I know more of what she's been through before I decide what scars to give her :3

THE SPOILERS (?) I GOT:

Apparently, Gideon's father's name is John (boring) and Cam gets murdered?! (SAD!!!!) I think I got other ones as well, but IDK if it's just small details I missed/forgot from book one or if some resurrection shenanigans are gonna happen with a couple people from the book one cast??? (Particularly Sextus??? Probably not tho lmao)

[tyrantisterror]

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE!  YOU THOUGHT THAT THE TIME OF MONSTERS WAS AT AN END!  BUT YOU WERE WRONG, FOR NOW YOU MUST WITNESS…

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

That’s right, it’s back!  Celebrating the publication of The Atomic Time of Monsters Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! (which in turn completes The Ballad of Tyrantis arc for this series), I’m holding another monster design jam.  The third of such jams, in fact!

Like the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, the aim of this contest is to create kaiju that would fit within the setting of my big kaiju story series, The Atomic Time of Monsters.  Think of it as me letting you into my sandbox to play with my toys for a bit, or like you’re being put in the director’s chair of a new ATOM-verse kaiju movie.  That means your entry does have to fit into ATOM’s world, which in turn means that yes, there are limitations to your creativity here.  But limitations can be good sometimes - they can make us explore options we wouldn’t consider when given completely free rein to do what we want!

(also you don’t have to make a three dimensional image or anything, the title’s just a pun on how the third movie in a monster movie franchise will often be a 3-D film)

Read below the cut to learn the rules and whatnot:

THE RULES:

1.  You are limited to one entry per person.  Work hard and make your entry count!

2.  Your kaiju must have some sort of description of its physical appearance and its personality - you can submit a drawing or a written description (or both!) for the physical appearance depending on what you’re most comfortable with.  Using the same template/format as my official ATOM Kaiju Files (https://horrorflora.com/monster-menageries/atom-kaiju-files/) isn’t required, but it was cool when people did it in the last contest, so feel free to do so this time too!

3. The kaiju you create must specifically be created for this contest  - no repurposing characters you made for other, wildly different stories.  This is not “trick TT into drawing/canonizing my main OC” time.

4. The kaiju must fit the setting and aesthetics of ATOM.  I’ll explain this in more detail down below.

5. The kaiju should add something meaningful to the world of ATOM. The more unique and interesting your kaiju is, the more likely you will win the contest.

6. Don’t make your kaiju too dependent on pre-existing ATOM characters - no “Tyrantis’s long lost evil brother who’s the strongest kaiju in the world.” These should be to Tyrantis’s story what War of the Gargantuas is to Godzilla’s movies – heroes (well, monsters) of another story in the same world.

THE REWARDS:

I will make pencil sketches of the top 5 entries in the contest.

I will then make fully rendered illustrations (lineart, colors, & shading) of the top three entries.

The winning entry will be made into a model ala the ones I’ve been making for ATOM’s core 50 monsters, which can then be shipped to the person who created it (should they be able to cover the shipping costs).  That’s right, your kaiju could be brought to life in THREE GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR DIMENSIONS!  (Hey, we worked the gag title in to the prizes!)

THE DEADLINE: All entries must be submitted by July 3rd, 2021.  You can submit it here on tumblr, via the horror flora e-mail, or any other channel you know how to reach me through.  I’m in a lot of places.

THE GUIDELINES (TO HELP YOUR ENTRY FIT THE RULES AND WIN):

The smartest thing you could do if you want to win this contest is familiarize yourself with the world of ATOM by, y’know, reading all the material I’ve published on the subject.  In addition to the many kaiju files that are free to read on horrorflora.com, there are now TWO, count ‘em, TWO novels in this series for you to peruse, both of which establish many of the rules of the setting as well as its general themes and tone!  You can get them in either paperback or e-book formatting (I’d recommend the former over the latter since I lack the technology to make a really nice ebook, but if money is an object, the kindle version is only $1).  Here’s the links again if you missed them:

Vol. 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us!

Vol. 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth!

However, since I know reading a bunch of stuff is, y’know, not something everyone is inclined to do, I’ll jot some good bullet points for you in an attempt to outline how ATOM works in a brief, easily digested way:

ATOM is an homage to the monster fiction of the 1950’s and 60’s (i.e. the Atomic Age), and is set in those two decades, albeit an alternate universe version of them where, y’know, monsters and space aliens exist.  If you aren’t familiar with the monster fiction I’m referring to, there will be some reference material provided at the end of this post along with some recommendations for further research.

Kaiju/giant monsters in ATOM work under very specific rules.  There’s a full description of those rules at this link, but here’s the jist:

ATOM Kaiju are created created by the radiation of a mineral called Yamaneon, which naturally converts harmful radiation into its own unique energy.  In natural circumstances, it takes hundreds of years of exposure to Yamaneon radiation for a creature to become fully transform into a kaiju (luckily, Yamaneon radiation slows the aging process while speeding up the healing process).  However, an explosive burst of energy - such as the geothermal and kinetic energy released by an earthquake, or the blast of a nuclear weapon - can speed up the process, turning a normal animal into a kaiju within a matter of seconds.  

All ATOM kaiju can heal grievous wounds within minutes or even seconds, are supernaturally strong and durable, and can convert harmful radiation to harmless energy that they then feed off of.  Kaiju do not have an equivalent of old age, and can theoretically live forever (though their violent lifestyle means that few do).

ATOM Kaiju generally don’t need to eat unless they are severely injured, getting most of the energy they need from solar or geothermal radiation - but many still have instincts that drive them to seek out food from time to time.

Most ATOM kaiju stand roughly 100 feet tall (depending on their body shape), i.e. smaller than the original 1954 Godzilla.  There are exceptions to this rule - younger kaiju can be smaller, while exceedingly old kaiju can be significantly larger, but these are rare.

In general, ATOM kaiju are significantly more intelligent and emotionally complex than people expect animals to be, though most are incapable of speech or complex tool use.  There’s a reason ATOM Kaiju Files have a “personality” section.

Most ATOM Kaiju are tooth and claw fighters - ranged weapons are a rarity in this setting.

While the terrestrial monsters in ATOM look strange, they are intended to fit within the taxonomy of animals in reality - reptiles, mammals, fish, arthropods, molluscs, etc.

ATOM’s mesozoic era was dominated by a fictional clade of crocodile-relatives called retrosaurs, which are based on the outdated paleoart that one would find in the 1950’s/60’s fiction - i.e. when dinosaurs were viewed as trail dragging lizards instead of strange birds.  You can learn more about retrosaurs here (https://horrorflora.com/2016/11/15/atom-kaiju-file-bonus-a-guide-to-retrosaurs/).

Kaiju appear on every continent in ATOM, but certain areas tend to be dominated by different types.

North America is mainly besieged by retrosaur kaiju and giant arthropods.

East Asia is technically also mainly plagued by retrosaurs and big arthropods, though they tend to look more fantastical and mythic - and, often, oddly well suited to being portrayed by a person wearing a monster suit.

Russia is beset by prehistoric monsters that seem to come from the Cenozoic, particularly the Ice Age.

Western Europe is plagued by creatures that vaguely resemble creatures from myth, if they were also prehistoric.  Dragon-y lizards, fiery birds, etc.

Towards the mid-way point of ATOM’s timeline, earth is invaded by a coalition of aliens from different solar systems called the Beyonder Alliance, and as a result a bunch of alien monsters can be found on earth.

Mars and Venus both host (or hosted in Mars’s case) animal life.  The surviving Martians colonized Venus, and sent some of their kaiju guardians to earth to help us fend off the Beyonders (who are responsible for the destruction of Mars’s ecosystem).  Martian and Venusian kaiju have specific anatomical quirks, which you can see by looking at these kaiju files:

Venusians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/03/atom-kaiju-file-29-karamtor/

Martians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-39-kemlasulla/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-40-podritak/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-41-sombarvot/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-38-ullawdra/

Giant robots exist in ATOM, but are big, bulky, and incredibly expensive.  Fancy beam weapons also exist, but are similarly clunky - there are no sleek, elegant machines in ATOM.

Since the fiction ATOM takes inspiration from was made at a time when interplanetary travel was only just beginning to be possible, its scope is significantly smaller than modern sci-fi.  Alternate universes/dimensions were pretty uncommon because the idea of alien planets still held a lot of wonder to it.  So, as a general rule, don’t try to go farther than the one galaxy.

ATOM is a setting for stories that are focused on humanity learning to coexist with monsters, rather than humanity destroying them.  A certain level of sympathy is put into almost every creature of its canon, even the ones that are meant to be villains.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here is a playlist of 1950′s monster movie trailers.  

Here is some reference material from various monster comics of the 50′s and 60′s. 

Good movies to track down to understand ATOM’s inspiration and tone include Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Them!, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Gamera, The Giant Claw, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

And here’s the intro cutscenes for all the different giant monsters in the PS2 videogame War of the Monsters.

[deaththesyd]

A Swim Worth The Bruises

Finally, after months of following others and loving their content, I am ready to make my first contribution to this site with my own fanwork! (This is my excuse for anything weird about the formatting of my post.) This isn't my first time posting fanfiction however! I have an AO3 account under the same username as well, that has a shakily outlined story which this fic is part of.

This is my first post of hopefully many, prompted by Kisame week 2021's day 1 challenge, "Come into the water and I'll show you". @kisameweek-2021

I also want to say this was inspired by a post headcannoning that Kisame could draw sharks to him passively, kinda like the Zodiac members in Fruits Basket.

Summary:

“I just wonder what you do out there for so long.”

The look on her face was simply too cute to deny her curiosity. It was probably a bad idea, but knowing her, she would definitely enjoy the experience. He debated on the idea for a short moment, which piqued her interest further. Her pleading look ended the mental debate. “Come into the water and I’ll show you.”

The summer heat was quickly becoming unbearable. The early morning hadn’t been too bad, as the trio had been mostly shaded by the trees, but as the day progressed and the terrain turned to deadened grass and rock, the sun's beams were becoming a little more than an annoyance. Normally, Kisame would just trudge on, even at the risk of heat exhaustion, he prided himself on his ability to endure. With his companions though, that wasn’t an option. Itachi had been getting worse. He tried to hide it, and to his credit, he had hidden his worsening condition for years, but as their mutual trust strengthened and the sickness became harder to stifle, Kisame had taken notice of the muffled coughs and squinting glances. Their traveling had always been leisurely, but unless they were on a mission that was expected to be finished quickly, Kisame insisted on breaks. The younger man was both determined and stubborn, and this meant that without Kisame’s interference, he would have dropped dead from overexertion several times over. At the moment, said man was keeping pace with the taller man's strides, but his ever weary face was dampened by sweat, and his breath was coming out slightly harshened by exhaustion.

Looking down at his other side, he could see that their third companion was too, sweaty and tired and determined not to show it. Breathing laboured, she clutched the straps of her backpack as she shuffled along. Her steps were loud and crunched as she dragged her feet, no doubt wearing out the soles of her shoes. Healthy as she may be, she wasn’t accustomed to the heat and it wore on her as it did the two shinobi. Both needed a break, yet were firmly set on pushing themselves till they were forced to stop. He knew that he would have to be the one to make an excuse for them to rest, but he was having a hard time spotting a reasonable spot to recover. That was until the wind changed direction and he caught a whiff of a familiar scent.

The reason he hadn’t realized how close they were was because of the sloping, rocky cliffs that hid it from their view. As they drew nearer to the tall rocks Kisame could make out a seagull call and grinned. Itachi must have realized where they were as well, as he perked up slightly and gave the other man an approving look from the side of his eye. Both men changed their direction slightly and headed towards what they hoped would be a suitable rest stop. Turning to check on the woman following at his side, she appeared to not have noticed anything, focussed on her own thoughts. She only clued in when they were close enough to hear the waves lapping at the coast, that was when her eyes lit up with excitement. She looked first at Kisame, who gave her a sharp-toothed grin, then at Itachi, who simply gave a curt nod. Childlike glee had her tired feet bouncing along once again.

Climbing the rocky slopes was challenging, but when all three had clamored to the top, they were rewarded with the uninhibited breeze, and the sight of sparkling water reaching as far as the horizon. The sight was beautiful of course, but the promise of salty, cooling water had them quickly making their way down to the beach. The current position of the sun gave them a nice shaded area at the base of the cliffs to settle their things. Itachi unzipped his long Akatsuki cloak and used it to sit upon, leaning against the cold rock. Kisame’s cloak was laid on the sand next to Itachi’s, as well as his sword, Samehada, and the rest of his supplies. While he kicked off his shoes, his cloak was stolen by the third of their group as she lazily flopped to rest in the shade. Her wriggling attempts to find a comfortable position caused a muffled chuckle from Kisame as he tugged his shirt over his head. Finally finding a suitable arrangement lying on her stomach, arms crossed in front to cushion her head, legs splayed awkwardly, she turned to say something but seemed to lose track of what that thing may have been when she glanced at the expanse of muscle above her.

Her ogling was very clear, Kisame smirked, “You see something you like?” he asked.

Partially hidden by her arms was an impressed grin, and her eyes stayed right where they were as she simply replied, “Duh”. The complete lack of shame made him laugh as he decided to indulge her by giving a few flexing poses, to her absolute delight. Itachi, who was quite used to their casual flirting, ignored them and closed his eyes for a chance at a light nap.

Shuffling out of his pants and stooping to fold them with his shirt and lay them on a rock to keep them from getting sandy, he was watched unabashedly by the woman. He was used to this by now, she had never been the type to hide her attraction to him. Instead of her staring making him uncomfortable, it gave his ego a boost, made him feel as attractive as she told him he was. “Tell me how the water is when you get back,” she said, a little more quietly than her normal volume, trying to be more considerate of Itachi’s attempt at getting some shut-eye.

Raising a brow, Kisame looked at her, “You could come along and find out for yourself” he tempted, following her lead in lowering his voice slightly.

In a less objectifying way, she glanced down at his underwear and gave a light laugh, “I don’t know if I feel comfortable swimming in my underwear” she answered.

This made Kisame chuckle, “It’s not as though it’s something I haven’t seen before,” he argued. He glanced at Itachi and added, “and Itachi’s a gentleman, he wouldn’t dare to make a woman uncomfortable by gawking at her in a state of undress.” Itachi didn’t react other than continuing to ignore their chatter, but this was the clearest sign showing that he had no particular desire to ‘gawk’ as Kisame had mentioned. He glared humorously at her, “Unlike someone else I know.” She giggled but looked as though she was considering his offer, before settling her head down in her arms properly.

“Too tired to swim,” she mumbled into her arms, “Later.” She finished.

That was good enough for Kisame, the lapping of the waves against the shore finally drew him away from the shade and his tired companions. The scorching heat had been forgotten as he undressed in the shade, but the short distance to the water had reminded him why he had so badly wanted to reach the cool ocean before. Splashing water sprayed his ankles as he took a testing step into the clear water. The feeling was already refreshing, but as he waded further in, eventually reaching waist-deep before diving under completely, he felt the familiar calm of the ocean, of what he truly considered home. Opening his eyes he could see the sandy, seaweed-covered ground better than most with his specially developed eyes. Tiny fish swam away from his kicking legs and powerful arms, yet more kept swimming closer, curious as they were. His lung capacity was greater than most, but gills served as nothing more than decoration, and he was forced to come up for air after a few minutes of swimming along the seafloor. Breaking the surface, he let himself float on the gentle waves, basking in the sun for a short while, before taking a breath and submerging himself again. After all the time on land, he had begun to miss the weightlessness of the ocean. Sometimes he wished he was fully adapted for the salty sea waters, he felt as if he was a mistake on land, a fish out of water.

It seemed as though the body of water felt the same, as he spotted a black-tipped dorsal fin jutting out of the waves, heading directly for him. Kisame grinned a toothy grin, it had always been something of an uncontrollable talent for him to compel nearby sharks to gather around him. The reef shark wasn’t shy, it brushed against him, curiously drawn to his presence. Kisame carefully ran a hand along the length of its back as it moved past. It playfully flicked its tail, hitting him with a strength he would always admire. It circled him, enjoying the attention, bumping harshly into him. It appeared to be the bravest of its peers, as a few more gathered around him, their rowdiness didn’t make him nervous, instead, he enjoyed their rough company. The heat of the sun on his face and shoulders pushed him to once again dive into the deep blue. His new companions swam around him, curiously following as he dove deeper, giving him enough space to maneuver freely. Once he could seat himself on the sandy floor, he casually performed the signs for a basic water jutsu, creating a small whirlpool that caught the playful sharks and sent them spiraling quickly to the surface. Once the jutsu was released, they swam back, excitedly nudging him as they swarmed, the equivalent of a group of children surrounding an adult asking them “to do that again!”, and he indulged. When the pain in his chest was too much to ignore, he breached the surface of the waves to gulp greedy breaths of air.

By now his only company was not simply the blacktips, but they had been joined by a bulky and brutish bull shark that preferred to simply swim close, avoiding Kisame’s jetstreams and whirlpools. Lurking nearby in the slightly murky distance were a few hammerheads that were still hesitant to get too close. He wasn’t quite sure how long he had been out in the deep, so he gave the bull a firm palm to the nose as a farewell and began the short distance back to shore. As much as Kisame yearned to belong fully to the sea, he couldn’t swim forever, and his companions waiting ashore wouldn’t be leaving without him.

Closer to the beach he could spot her walking in the shallows, still fully clothed, just cooling her legs. The sun wasn’t as high as before, and he was sure it had cooled down some by now, but standing in direct heat was most likely to still be less preferable than the shade. He wondered if she was waiting for his return. The beaming smile on her face when she noticed his approach made it clear that was exactly what she was doing, and Kisame couldn’t help but grin back in earnest. She waded further in, stepping carefully, avoiding the mushy seaweed and pointed stones till she was deep enough for the water to just miss the bottom of her shorts. He bridged the gap between them, getting close enough to speak without shouting. “Was napping with Itachi too boring for ya? Or did you just miss me?” he teased.

She gave a soft laugh, “Itachi’s not boring” she insisted. “I was just a little worried about you”.

Had he really been gone that long? Covering up the fact that he was flustered by her care for him, he reached a dripping hand to ruffle her hair in a teasing gesture, which she annoyedly huffed at, batting his hand away before running her own hands through to organize the dampened strands. “Worried about lil’ ol me?” he joked, “Did you think I was gobbled up by a giant sea monster? I thought you knew I was big and strong.” His forced grin returned to a normal one when she rolled her eyes at him.

“Of course not!” she replied exasperatedly, and then a bit more curiously, “I just wonder what you do out there for so long.”

The look on her face was simply too cute to deny her curiosity. It was probably a bad idea, but knowing her, she would definitely enjoy the experience. He debated on the idea for a short moment, which piqued her interest further. Her pleading look ended the mental debate. “Come into the water and I’ll show you.”

“But I’m already in the water” she teased, gesturing at the gentle rolls of the tide around her legs.

He rolled his eyes, unamused. “You don’t trust me?” he baited, and of course she took it.

“Of course I do!” She said frustratedly, followed by a dramatic sigh, “Just give me a moment to save my clothes, jeez I was just kidding.” Her obvious sincerity was just so refreshing to him, he couldn’t help but pick on her sometimes. Even when she was upset with him, she always made sure he knew how much she cared. He followed her, not even trying to hide the gloating grin he wore when she pouted over her shoulder at him.

The sun had shifted enough that the spot they had chosen before was now in direct sunlight instead of the shade, and Itachi had either never fallen asleep, or had awoken to the uncomfortable heat and had retreated further into the shadows to read instead. Despite what Kisame had said to her before about Itachi not looking at her undressing, he couldn’t help but keep watch on his young partner. Sure, he knew Itachi quite well, but for her comfort, and, admittedly, his own, he felt a bit protective. Folding her clothes and placing them next to Kisame’s on the now Sun-bathed rock. Faking confidence, she walked beside him, heading towards the water. Her body language was stiff, but she seemed determined to ignore how she flushed slightly at her inappropriate swim attire.

Reaching the water and wading far enough to conceal her form made her noticeably more relaxed. “So, what was soooo incredible that forced me to strip for you?” she joked, reminding him just why they were there.

Grinning down at her, he fell backward into the water and swam away facing her still, deciding a verbal response was not quite needed just yet. She huffed, but her curiosity made her follow his lead, swimming towards him, not quite managing to bite back the smile playing on her lips. They swam mostly in silence for a short while before he decided they had gone far enough from shore. She was attempting to hide how tired she was, but he knew that even with her determination she wouldn’t be able to keep above water for much longer. Reaching for her he arranged her comfortably in one arm, laughing off her protests. “Don’t worry about it Guppy, I don’t mind swimming for the both of us”, he assured before adding in a more serious tone, “and the water’s about to get a bit rougher than you can manage anyway”. This made her pout fade away into a more curious expression. She didn’t seem scared, but he felt her grip on his arm tighten in preparation for what was coming.

It took a moment, but when a bulky head brushed against his legs he heard her gasp. He felt worried then, that this had been a mistake, that she would freak out, but when he looked at her face, her look of wonder erased his doubts. Another shark bumped into them as it passed, a bit rougher than the last, but this just made her chuckle breathily as she watched it fade away into the deep. These blacktips were still young, only a few feet long, smaller than the ones from before, but as they started to get rougher as they grew more excited, Kisame gave them a few firm pushes on their snouts as a deterrent, but this only worked for a short while, as they once again circled the pair, brushing past them. Kisame felt one of her hands leave him to reach into the water to brush gently against them, careful to keep her hands clear of any teeth. Just as she would with a cat or a dog, she cooed as she ran her hand along the length of their backs, and giggled when one got too excited and snapped at the tail of another. Cute as it was to her, it was a sign to Kisame that he should put some distance between them and her before they got too nippy.

“I’m gonna need my hand back, so you might wanna hang on” he warned before letting go of her to flash a few hand signs that caused a pulse of water to flush the swarming reef sharks away. With the space he gave them, she adjusted her hold, while he readied himself for another jutsu. Like before, he formed a small whirlpool and sent it towards the sharks, sending them whizzing around in a flurry of current. Beside him his companion was in complete awe, watching the sharks regain their bearings as the jutsu faded. Confidently grinning, he completed the signs for another jutsu, this time, it was a geyser that sent the sharks up a couple of feet above the water, giving his companion a good look at the creatures she adored before they dove safely back down. He expected the starstruck look on her face, but he hadn’t expected it to be directed at him. He could feel his face flush as he performed his next jutsu.

-

They left when a couple of bigger sharks joined them, she looked disappointed, but she didn’t protest, something Kisame was thankful for. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and they still had some traveling to do before they could set up camp. Maybe some other time he could let her meet a white shark. When they reached the sandy shore and walked towards their clothes, he knew he had made the correct decision. It was easy for her to forget how tired she was when she was watching fish fly, but he could tell their swim had tired her out again. Still, she was uncontrollably grinning like a child, and her earlier embarrassment over her state of dress was forgotten as she asked “How do you do that? Do you summon them or something? That was so cool!”

Taking a subtle glance at Itachi, who was still reading in his spot in the shade, he passed her her clothes. “No, I didn’t summon them, although I can summon sharks. I’m not really sure if this is true for all in the Hoshigaki clan, but all of my family members have been able to draw sharks to them passively without summoning” he answered. She seemed fascinated as she stared up at him.

While struggling to put her clothes over top of her wet underwear and damp skin she continued “Does it work with all sharks? Are they always that friendly?” She hesitated before adding, “Has one ever hurt you?” She asked the last part concernedly.

“No, not really,” he assured, “I've had a few nips from some smaller ones, and a few bruises from the bigger ones, but they've never been aggressive towards me”. The look of relief that came across her face made him unconsciously relax as well.

“I’m glad they're friendly, even though they're a little rough when they play. It would probably be a problem whenever you went to the beach otherwise” she laughed. “Though,” she paused to consider a thought, “I guess if you drew them too close to a public beach you could easily terrorize the public by accident.”

The idea of him even going to a public beach was laughable to him, but the idea of him drawing a group of sharks to the shallows of a crowded beach was a dream he was now tempted to make a reality. He chuckled “Never thought of that, but I think that's a pretty quick way to get myself a private beach.”

Giggling and fixing her hair as best as she could, she waited as Kisame finished redressing before they gathered their belongings and joined Itachi. Without sparing them a glance he bookmarked his page and slipped the novel back into his pack. Kisame noted how far along in the story the younger man was and decided to make a bookshop one of their next stops. Adjusting his cloak, Itachi stood and acknowledged their presence, “Did you enjoy your swim with the sharks?” He asked, queuing the excited retelling of her experience. As they made their way over the rocky cliffs back to the road, she gushed about how cute the sharks had been, drawing a rare, faint smile on Itachi’s lips, something that Kisame after years of being around the man still wasn’t used to seeing. All three of them were still tired from their travels, but their short beach stop had reinvigorated their mood, and their comfortable chatter kept them entertained till they set up their camp and turned in for the night.

[booksrocci]

Smith

 

 

 

Donald Rocci

 

 

 

Chapter 1

They came in the night and were only visible by the small light of their ignited torches, sparking fear within the city that fueled the fires of the unknown destruction that was to come. Their dark and ubiquitous military slithered out of the mountainous hills, ghostly specters within the moonlight hungry for living flesh. They marched in perfect formation to their orders as each creature held off whatever eagerness it felt for the charge, waiting until the first glimpse of any weakness in our defenses revealed itself so they could begin with their grisly duty. They had made no demands upon us thus far so the only thing left was plunder, they wanted our riches, our woman, and our lives, there is no other meaning for their arrival.

I had seen many such armies that would try to steal the wealth of the kingdom that lay behind me, but the wall always held. Impenetrable it was said, and for good reason for many have tried, but their remnants still laid in the fields on which this force stood with their denial in their minds and their souls wandering lost in the abyss. But the wall still faced this test of time, as strong as it had for centuries, tall and unmolested in the dry cold air, leaving us as a city that could not be taken easily by any army who dared to attempt the feat.

This army was somewhat different in its overall design and skill. Even in the pale light the figures looked less than human and almost animalistic. Their leather armor, tattered and sewed together, hung off their muscular bodies that seemed stooped, almost hunched, as they walked from post to post. Dark black skin withheld any features in the night and they were massively sized, even larger than the German hordes that was ever present upon the Rhine frontier. The way their faces looked in the torchlight that showed them as they spoke made it seem as that they were snorting rather than using words to communicate. I wasn't sure who they were or where they had come from, but it didn't matter, I knew they were going to whatever afterlife their belief had determined to exist.

I scanned the defenders of the realm looking for my sons and found their armor shining like stars brighter in the sky than all the others. I let a small smile slip from my stern face but quickly stifled its existence from the earth. As a smithy I was one of the best in the empire, I knew they would not have to fret and wonder about their armor giving away in the heat of any battle. It would last longer than anyone else's within the province and would most certainly would not fail here. My pride welled in my chest as dreams swept through my head of rewards and praise from the peers in my craft. These grandiose thoughts took me away to far off places of glory and riches, the battle before me was but a distant memory. I snapped myself back to the present and the reality at hand, I must remain in the moment, only fools dream of future greatness to bitter ends in the present.

Three sons I had, all heads of their own divisions armed to the teeth with my designs. I had raised them to be leaders not to be lead and they did me proud whenever I saw them and their men marching in formation. Top of their arts in battle logic, archery, and swordcraft. My three were the best this city produced in years or at least they we're never last. As my thoughts drifted toward my third boy and his independent nature I let off another small smile, he was frustrating to say the least.

Could be that I lost one or maybe two today, that is the wages of battle and war. But they would go down heroes who defended their kingdom and others would tell tales of their deeds in the small fires of the night. My pride swelled yet again as more visions of glory sprung forth in the fields of the summers mind. Followed by a solemn sadness, for I knew my wife would be devastated. Their was no way to heal the wound of a child lost, time can only take away so much, but some pain lingers through the scars of love.

But what options did we have, the coming of this army has been foretold for weeks. Evacuees had been coming as their cities, towns, and villages were taken, and stories of savagery and slaughter traveled with them. The kingdom would open its doors, help who it could, feeding and housing most of them, the others we did what we must do in these times but disease is just as terrible as any army. I thought upon the family we had sheltered, telling their tale of horror that befell them while shivering with traumatic memories that even the warm fire could not release. Creatures that I had only heard of in myths were described with frightening details, but I left those notions to simple folk who have never seen other cultures or people of different lands making up stories to explain that which was misunderstood. As I sat and listened to their terrible tales my skin brushed up with bumps and fear filled my treacherous heart. Looking at my wife I saw the despair and trepidation appear in the darkness of her eyes, I had to be strong and still the terrors in the night that would consume dreams. As the refugees left heading towards the east and the great sea hoping for something better. I told my wife and daughters that we will not flee to a safer place. "Our kingdom needs us." I would say as she cried and begged for us to leave, but I held firm, we would not be marked as cowards to be ridiculed.

Some in the kingdom chose to go find them and do small attacks, hoping to at least slow them down and make them think twice. I wanted to wait, I had made swords and armor by the dozens and my men were hard at work all the way to the last day till they arrived. The summer was ending and the cool autumn air rolled in from the east as the massive army slithered in from the western plains.

We had poisoned the wells and harvested all the crops leaving burnt earth behind before we shut the gates. They would die, they always did, from starvation or thirst and would leave in a few months time. This kingdom was well schooled in sieges, as our history was filled with them. But they did not have me before to arm the soldiers, and I was the best in the land. As I watched from the battlements of the wall my pride grew renewed within me, almost every soldier was equipped with my armor or sword. They knew who made it and they trusted my equipment, it would not fail, I was simply the best.

I looked again at the western horizon and thought I saw something flying in the distance. Death was ever present in the air and maybe the ghosts of battles past grew restless with the thoughts of fresh blood to feast upon. It was the way of it I thought to myself. Such as it was from the beginning of time till the end of the earth. A sigh escaped my lips as I brought the chalice of wine to my tongue and turned the bitter liquid within my mouth. Swirling the cup in my hand I swallowed the grapes gift and let it take effect.

It was still in me to be nervous, days of battle were long past and I made a comfortable living as a smith which made my family one of the most richest and respected in the kingdom. Yet still the unease of it all filled me, as the horrific stories still clung to my memory like a bad dream. I cast the thoughts of fear and doubt aside with a laugh.

"No one will breach the gate." I murmured.

"What?" said the sentinel to my right as his armor plate reflected the torchlight beside him. I looked into his frightened blue eyes and saw the stories lying behind the watchful stare. He wore the same cloak of the guard that all the sentinels wore, brazen red with gold outlines cascaded down his back. A black crest held the family house he belonged to. That was the only difference in each mans outfit within the guard. Above that was the seal of the kingdom, bright blue as the sky with a golden eagle shining within. The armor was one of my finest, hemmed with steel and inlaid again with the seal of the kingdom etched into the metal.

"I said they will not breach the gate."

He nodded his approval and stared hard at the siege line searching them for trouble.  They had not moved, no action was taking place even their cavalry lay dormant, every now and then a nervous whine from one of the horses below would echo of the wall but nothing else really pierced the silence. They just sat there and watched stone faced waiting, and that was when I realized what was so odd about the situation. No movement to place and wind the siege engines, no planning being done to breach the wall, no ladders being towed to climb. Nothing they just stayed there staring at the massive wall with neither fear or courage. Strange, how did they expect to succeed where so many others had failed. Surely this was not the armies that the refugees feared and storied with dark ends. Some other mass must have assembled or they were waiting for more forces to arrive, perhaps that was the reasons behind the hesitation.

I could feel the eagerness of the soldiers below me and caught a movement in the western sky again. What was there a storm coming in from that direction, unlikely but stranger things have happened. The sea hardly ever gave birth to rain at this time of year. Maybe a sudden storm or some random wind tempest driven by the spirits of the past. How fortunate that would be if this enemy would be blinded before the fighting began, attacked without us even having to draw a sword. I smiled warmly at the image of the besiegers flailing around in the storm only to be destroyed later by our seasoned troops. This would be over before it began.

A fresh thought of my wife filled my mind, I would be home soon, enjoying the fire and warmth of family as I told tales of the battle. Let the terrain take its victims again, there will be no fear here to be sowed and be reaped by soulless men. The fight would come and the victory would be sweet, won on the blades of righteous men of the realm. Of this fact I had no doubt.

A wind started rising from the north which made no sense at all. The storm was to the east and the sea air in the west was still. Loud thrums of drums started to sound within the besiegers camp, with sounds of metal upon metal filling the nights air. They started forming into companies which timed with the drum beats, they were organized, I would give them that. Ominous as all this was I still let out a chuckle of how foolish they were. Fools led to their destruction, let them come and meet their demise upon our walls.

The cheering from the opposite camp grew intense and filled the night with noise. Then it came like a gale of wind indiscriminate of its purpose. I could barely understand what happened or why I was on the ground when I saw the results of the calamity. Clumsily I stood and saw the charred and melted men that were strewn and entangled everywhere on the ground beneath the stone wall. My face burned from the hell fire that seemed to be feasting on the mortar besides me where the sentinel once stood. Trying to shake off my confusion I searched for what had happened. Only to be knocked down again from the force of the wall obliterating itself where the main gate was placed.

In shock and awe I caught a glimpse of a beast as it turned and flew with wings so massive it blotted out the moon towards the west. It's job was done and we were relatively defenseless, the wall and most of its defenders had fallen in what seemed like an eternity but in actuality was mere minutes. The last men fought valiantly but were being overrun by the now seemingly massive army that was pouring into the city. I had but one thought left that could penetrate the haze and move my body into action, my wife and daughters.

[wavering-eyes]

The Three Goals of the F&L List

The TCG got a banlist a couple of weeks ago which went into effect on the 14th. I haven’t posted about it (or any banlist in the past year+...) because I feel it’s the kind of discussion I don’t have much to add to anymore. You can go anywhere and get a banlist analysis because the intent of the banlist is pretty clear to anyone who’s extensively interacted with the metagame. It’s for this reason I think the banlist is sort of self-explanatory, at least when it’s doing its’ job, and as a result, I have little desire to see Konami try to explain it themselves (also because their previous attempts didn’t satisfy anyone). I had pretty much the same feelings with this one.

With that said, there’s still an obvious demand for banlist analysis out there, so I figure it might be helpful to elaborate on my perspective in hopes it saves you, the reader, some time in trying to decode future banlists when they come around. To this end, I have isolated three primary factors that influence which cards end up on the banlist.

First off, as you probably know, the banlist is a tool used to balance the metagame. If a card or deck starts dominating the game at a high level to the point where other decks become unviable or warp around it, that deck will usually be addressed in some major form in the following list. Until recently, SPYRAL had four different cards (Drone, Quik-Fix, Master Plan, and Resort) on the banlist for this reason; the deck is simply too strong at combo-ing off with any more copies of these cards.

Second, the banlist is also used to ensure the game is enjoyable to play irrespective of game balance. The “fun” associated with the game is a really complex topic, but generally, this is meant to explain when cards are hit due to negative experiences with their mechanics. Yata-garasu is a solid example of this. I can personally guarantee you that Yata-garasu could be unbanned next list and see zero competitive success. The reward of denying your opponent a draw is simply too low for it to be worth finding a way to Normal Summon a 200 ATK bird and then hit your opponent with it, given that this absolutely requires you to either go second and break a board, or slow down the game going first without shutting your opponent out entirely. Any combo deck seriously capable of doing this would be infinitely better off going for an FTK or OTK, and any control deck capable of this would be better off just winning traditionally. And yet Yata-garasu remains banned, because at more casual levels of play, this card is about as fun as a root canal. If you’re looking at the banlist and spot a card that doesn’t seem to fit into any particular archetype and doesn’t seem too strong, this is probably the reason why that card is there.

Furthermore, this is also why occasional banlists will come out and indiscriminately nuke every deck relevant to the metagame: players tend to enjoy the game less when the metagame is stale, even if it’s balanced. January 2020 is the most recent example of this: the top four decks at the 2019 WCQ were unquestionably Danger! Thunder, Sky Striker, Salamangreat, and Orcust. These decks had very solid matchup spreads against each other and represented a wide variety of playstyles. Most TCG formats would kill to be this diverse. Nonetheless, once January rolled around, the banlist hit key cards in all of them, because people had grown tired of seeing the same few decks everywhere, and the only one that really managed to survive was Salamangreat.

Third, on a more cynical note: the banlist is also a tool meant to sell a product. If you’re looking at the banlist and can’t discern that a certain card was hit as the result of one of the prior two reasons, it is probably because of this. While there’s something to be said about the play experiences and power levels of Called by the Grave and Red Reboot, I’m going to keep it real with you: I am firmly of the belief that these cards were hit to sell Triple Tactics Talent and Evenly Matched, respectively. Why’s that?

Red Reboot was limited in January 2020 in a format where the premier backrow deck was virtually all spells. A few tiers below the main four of that format were True Draco, which lost Demise and Diagram at the same time, and promptly dropped off the face of the earth; Altergeist with 1 Multifaker, still played only by Doug Zeeff; Guru Control, which was never that good, and had handtraps as backup in the case of Red Reboot anyways; and Traptrix, which saw fringe play at best. Red Reboot obviously saw no play in this format, but Evenly Matched did. So what’s the difference? Why is the less relevant of these cards Limited while the more popular, and arguably powerful one, isn’t?

Yes, Evenly takes your battle phase, and yes, it’s not a Counter Trap so it can still be negated without Solemn Judgment, but once again, let me be real with you: Red Reboot was a Super Rare worth like a dollar on release, and Evenly Matched was reprinted in a premium set three months later, rebounding to around $20 at the time of writing. Money is the motivator here.

Same with Called. Called was a $5 common for the longest time. Handtrap design literally shifted around it (Infinite Impermanence, Nibiru, the Primal Being, and Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay all don’t interact with the card), and as a result, it hadn’t seen much play at all in the previous few months, as the combo decks still remaining shifted towards playing as many extenders as possible, or putting out a negate in under 5 summons. Called was already made irrelevant by the decks that would normally want to play it becoming so powerful that they no longer have to rely on drawing it at all, so why was it hit again?

Triple Tactics Talent goes for nearly $100 a copy right now, that’s why. Why play the card that just counters some hand traps instead of the better going-second card that activates a card from the banlist if your opponent tries to interact with you at all? Called wasn’t much better if you didn’t have to use it, anyways. It’s a bit of a wonder why Konami felt they needed to limit a bad card in order to sell a good one, but let’s consider a few things about the format and world right now:

In-person events have been canceled since March.

The format has become incredibly expensive to play in since then. A 9-card side deck containing a set each of Forbidden Droplet, Lightning Storm, and Infinite Impermanence will cost you like, >$700.

Events since then have mostly been held in simulators.

You do not need to buy cards to play simulators.

You need cards to enter Remote Duel tournaments, but Remote Duels are a total joke and Konami knows it.

Once events reopen, people will probably be searching for budget versions of expensive staples. Called fits that perfectly.

Finally, I’d like to mention that this is also meant to explain why Konami is less willing to hit new cards as opposed to old ones. It is generally not a great look for your company to sell people cards only to tell them they’re not allowed to play those cards. If the time between release and banning is short enough, it raises questions as to why the card was printed in the first place.

So, to recap, consider cards on the banlist with the following questions in the following order:

Did, or would, this card contribute to an unbalanced metagame?

Is this card enjoyable to play against?

Is there a really expensive card that fills the same role as this one?

And if you answer “no” to all three, Konami might just be off their shits. Cannahawk was Limited for like 5 years, after all.

Thanks for reading. After one round of editing, this seems ready for release, but it’s possible there’s something I wanted to express but forgot to. If that happens, or if I come up with an example that demonstrates a possible fourth major factor, I’ll make a followup post.

[wiresandstarlings]

all I find are souvenirs from better times

Some background: I was planning on making some scripted video content, but I found the process of actually recording so miserable that I gave up. I thought the transcript might still be an interesting read though, so I polished it some into this blog post. I was going to record my video over the original coverage, which you can find here if you want to follow along. You can find Sam and Josh's decks here.

So I'm going to try making a series of videos analyzing some matches from past coverage that I found instructive. My goal to showcase some interesting gameplay situations and to share what I learned from watching these matches.

This first video will be on Sam Black and Josh Utter-Leyton's semifinals match in PT Philadelphia in 2011. To me, this match really illustrates both how and how not to use your interaction against combo deck.  

To set the scene, this is the first ever Modern Pro Tour, so all kinds of shit is legal. Cloudpost, Blazing Shoal, Ponder and Preordain, Rite of Flame AND Seething Song. There are like 8 decks that can kill on turn 2.

Sam Black is playing one of them, a mono-blue Infect deck using Blazing Shoal plus Dragonstorm to do 10 Infect in one attack. The rest of the deck is just cantrips and tutors.

Josh Utter-Leyton is playing a creature aggro deck splashing blue for countermagic, including 3 maindeck Bant Charm. A bit of a strange choice given the cards legal in this format, but the idea was that it had enough interaction to beat the creature combo decks like Sam's while being more consistent and resilient against disruptive decks.

With that, let's get into game 1. Let's quickly go over the opening hands first.

Dragonstorm 2 Blighted Agent Peer Through Depths Preordain Island

This is Sam's hand. It's on the weaker side in that he needs both land and Blazing Shoal to participate and even then only has an unprotected kill, but I think it's still a clear keep. Peer is around 35% to find Shoal, 60% to find Shoal or Muddle, and can also find more Peers or cantrips. Preordain will probably find a land and then we have multiple threats.

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Lightning Bolt 2 Arid Mesa

And this is Josh's hand. It clearly sucks but you're not mulling it to 4, especially under the Paris mulligan. Coverage doesn't have the hands that Josh mulliganed, so overall not much to learn here.

Josh is on the play and goes land go.

Sam draws Progenitus for turn, which is a dead card, then casts Preordain. He sees Scalding Tarn and Muddle the Mixture. He's obviously keeping Scalding Tarn, but Muddle the Mixture is interesting. Muddle tutors for Blazing Shoal, which Sam needs, but Sam would need a third land in order to do that.

Given that Sam has Peer Through Depths already, which is like 53% to find either Shoal or Muddle, I like bottoming this Muddle to look for more cantrips or a third land.

Coverage cuts away so it's hard to see what Sam actually does, but Sam probably topped the Muddle given he drew one. I think this a small error but not a big deal.

Josh draws Bolt, passes again. Sam cracks Scalding Tarn casts Blighted Agent, which he has to do. Sam's deck doesn't have efficient protection spells like the current Modern Infect deck does, he has to just run his threats out there and hope they stick.

Now, Josh does not Bolt the Blighted Agent on Sam's end step. I'm going to pause the video here, because this is a more involved discussion.

On a high level, there are essentially 2 ways you can use your interaction in combo matchups. The first is to hold the interaction and make your opponent beat it. The second is to use the interaction to disrupt your opponent's set-up, trying to strand them with dead combo pieces. The first approach is what Josh is doing here, holding up the Lightning Bolts and making Sam cast a Blazing Shoal with enough protection to beat all of Josh's removal. The second approach would be Bolting the Blighted Agent end of turn and hoping to run Sam out of creatures. Neither of these approaches is abstractly correct, and the right path to take depends on the matchup and your exact hand.

Fundamentally, it makes sense for Josh to default to fighting Sam's Blazing Shoals rather than his Infect creatures in this matchup, since Sam has 8 Infect creatures but only 4 Blazing Shoals. And if Sam commits a Blazing Shoal into a removal spell and the kill attempt fails, Josh gets both the Infect creature and the Shoal.

But in this specific situation, there are a lot reasons why Josh should deviate and just Bolt the Blighted Agent. The first is that Josh knows he's constrained on mana, and Sam might not be. Further, once Sam has a Blighted Agent in play, his combo costs 0 mana, and his deck is full of Spell Pierces, Muddle the Mixtures, and Disrupting Shoals. On the turn Sam goes for the kill, there's a good chance that Sam will have more mana for interaction up than Josh will have for disruption.

The second reason is that using Lightning Bolt proactively here will also let Josh develop a threat if he draws one, like a Tarmogoyf, Green Sun's Zenith, or Qasali Pridemage, and Josh currently has no pressure.

The third reason is that Josh has 2 Lightning Bolts and Sam has not played an Inkmoth Nexus, which suggests he doesn't have one. Josh would still have a removal spell behind for a second Blighted Agent, and Sam is less likely than baseline to have half his threats in hand, so we can reasonably expect that we'll be able to answer every threat.

The fourth reason is that half of Sam's interaction is Spell Pierce, so additional mana can inherently represent another layer of interaction on the combo turn. 1 Bolt with 2 open mana will often be as hard for Sam to beat as 2 Bolts with 1 open mana.  

If Sam had played both Agent and Nexus on turn 2, I would be more sympathetic to Josh's line, since in that case we'd need to hold open Bolt for the rest of the game anyway to play around the combo. But even then, Bolting the Blighted Agent makes Sam's combo cost 2 mana rather than 1, making it harder for Sam to cantrip or Transmute and win on the same turn and squeezing out a counterspell.

Anyway, Josh doesn't Bolt. He draws Bant Charm and passes again.

Sam draws Preordain and sees Summoner's Pact and another Muddle. Pact is a clear bottom, and Muddle is a clear Bottom after we topped the first one. Situations like this one are why I think bottoming the first Muddle is better than keeping it. We would have wound up drawing a Muddle naturally anyway, and then this Preordain sees a card deeper.

Sam casts Gitaxian Probe and sees Josh's hand.

Now Sam has an interesting call because he's seen Josh's hand. He knows that if he plays the second Blighted Agent, then Josh can kill both and he'll likely be stuck transmuting Muddle for a third Agent. But Josh has so much interaction that Sam needs to put more threats into play, and countering a Bolt is more mana efficient than Transmuting but the end result is still just turning Muddle into a Blighted Agent. Plus, Josh has already shown disinterest in casting his spells, so we can maybe rely on him continuing to do that.

Sam plays the Blighted Agent here, which I like.

From Josh's perspective, Sam now knows he needs to beat 2 Bolts, is almost 0% to have Nexus after shocking to play the second Agent, and we drew a third piece of interaction. At this point, I think not using at least one Bolt is just heinous. I think not using both Bolts end of turn is fine since that might cut off our ability to cast Bant Charm down the line, due to fetching complications, but that's just even more reason to use one of the Bolts now.

Josh draws Plains, passes again. Sam draws another island, attacks and passes. Josh casts Bant Charm to kill a Blighted Agent end of turn, which is again an interesting spot from Sam's perspective. On one hand, the best this Muddle the Mixture is ever going to be is a Blighted Agent, so it kind of makes sense to get the mana expenditure out of the way in case we draw another Muddle. On the other hand, if we counter this Bant Charm and that convinces Josh to finally casts his Lightning Bolts, we're in trouble. Given how insistent Josh has been about not casting his spells, I actually like Sam's line because it potentially allows him to present more interaction on the turn he actually tries to win. Like if Sam lets Charm resolve, Josh lets Peer for Shoal resolve, and then Sam draws 2nd Muddle or Spell Pierce, then Sam forces Josh to have 3 pieces of interaction on the kill turn instead of 2, which is unlikely when Josh is stuck on 3 lands. Sam's play is relying on Josh to make a mistake for somewhat thin value, but Josh has kept making this same mistake so far.

Josh draws Helix, Sam finds Shoal off Peer. Then Sam draws Spell Pierce, so Josh dies with a Lightning Helix in hand.

It's not obvious that Josh wins this game if he casts his spells, since he still wouldn't have had any pressure and Sam was drawing live to more threats. But Josh certainly did not give himself the best chance to win. Like on the turn that Josh cast Bant Charm, if he'd just cast his Bolts earlier, he would have been drawing to any land or any creature finally get some pressure on the table.

Anyway, that game was pretty compact but I think instructive. Josh played really bad and Sam got to take a cool line that I think is a mistake in the abstract, but was correct based on how Josh was playing.

2 Noble Hierarch Tarmogoyf Bant Charm Plains Misty Rainforest Marsh Flats

This Josh's hand for game 2. It's marginal but a clear keep. It has threats, mana, and 1 piece of interaction.

Spellskite Gitaxian Probe Peer Through Depths Progenitus Blazing Shoal Island Inkmoth Nexus

And Sam's hand is the nuts. Just a turn 2 kill with Probe, card selection, and protection.

First turn cycle is straightforward, then Josh has an interesting choice on whether to pass with Bant Charm or to play Tarmogoyf and Noble Hierarch. My instinct is that Josh should just develop his threats, since it's not that likely that your opponent has a turn 2 kill and Bant Charm is so expensive that Sam can easily set up a kill through it if you give him enough time. But after thinking the situation over, I prefer Josh's play of passing. The fact that Sam played Inkmoth Nexus on turn 1 instead of a cantrip means that the Nexus being able to attack is important to him, and that to some extent implies Sam has the kill. Secondly, because Josh has the 2 Noble Hierarchs, he'll be able to hold up Bant Charm again next turn while developing the second Hierarch, and then he'll have enough mana to continue developing while holding up Bant Charm for the rest of the game. Third, Sam might have kept a hand exactly like the one he did, which is short on mana and interaction but has the kill, and can't continue profitably developing.

Now Sam plays Spellskite and Josh Bant Charms the Spellskite, which I think is a mistake. Sam has already presented 2 threats, you only have 1 piece of interaction, and you have infinite mana. It's the exact reverse of game 1, where Josh had a lot of interaction but not much mana. This is when you want to make your opponent beat your interaction, which means saving Bant Charm to Dispel Blazing Shoal.

If this was Josh's plan against Spellskite, I think he should have just played Tarmogoyf on turn 2 and accepted dying to the combo. Since now, barring your draw step, you're playing Tarmogoyf a turn later and still dying to the combo.

But anyway, Josh draws Green Sun's Zenith for Gaddock Teeg, which is the best possible. He puts Teeg and Hierarch into play, pretty straightforward.

Sam draws Peer and passes. There's some argument for casting Peer main so it doesn't get countered, but revealing what Peer finds is probably more important. Josh doesn't have many counters for Peer and doesn't want to counter it anyway.

Sam Peers and takes Snapback over Preordain, which makes sense. Sam has to get the Teeg off the battlefield to win and Snapback is one of Sam's few answers.

Josh draws Aven Mindcensor and plays it on his own end step after Sam reveals the Snapback. This play is interesting. There are two main upsides to this line. The first is that if Sam has Pact of Negation plus Shoal, then he no longer has the win on his turn with Snapback, Pact, Shoal. The second is that if Sam draws a fetchland, Josh doesn't have to play timing games with the Mindcensor. The downside is that if Josh waits, there's some chance that Sam goes for the kill against Josh's 1 unknown card, and getting Sam to commit the mana plus trade the Nexus is a good exchange. The situation basically boils down to what Josh thinks Sam will do. If Josh thinks Sam never attacks with the Nexus, it's strictly best to get the Mindcensor down right away. If Josh thinks Sam always jams into the 1 unknown card, even without Pact, then it's strictly better to wait.

From Sam's perspective, jamming is a "losing play", in the sense that he'll lose to a removal spell or a counterspell (in which case you've used your Snapback and no longer have a plan to beat the Teeg) and Josh probably has some interaction, but I think it's still the correct line. It's so tough for things to get better for Sam here, since he's two lands away from killing with Muddle backup and his Spell Pierces are already dead, if they're even still in his deck. If Josh just passes, it's right for Sam to jam and I think he frequently will jam. Josh could conceivably have a land, a dead Green Sun's Zenith, or a Noble Hierarch or whatever as a bluff.

This spot just comes down to Sam's tendencies as a player though. It's close enough that I don't feel strongly about either line, but I personally would have waited and expected that Sam would have gone for it.

Josh draws, Sam Peers again and takes Slaughter Pact, which is the best possible. And then he goes for it against Josh's random card and wins. All of Sam's plays here are straightforward and clearly correct, I think.

Wild Nacatl Gaddock Teeg Path to Exile Misty Rainforest Arid Mesa Horizon Canopy Tectonic Edge

Josh's hand is good, clear keep. It's heavy on lands but Teeg is his best card and he has a clock and interaction to pair with it.  

Pact of Negation Blazing Shoal Dragonstorm Blighted Agent Gitaxian Probe Inkmoth Nexus

Sam's 6-card hand is also a clear keep, it's turn 2 kill through a removal spell with an untapped land in 3 draws.

As is, Sam's hand is going to have a really tough time beating Gaddock Teeg, since he'll need to draw land and then either exactly Slaughter Pact or Snapback. So this game probably won't going to be too interesting.

You'll also notice that Sam lost game 3 off camera and chose to draw this game, which is a legal game action.

Sam draws another Dragonstorm, which is the worst possible. Josh draws Flashfreeze, which is the best possible.

This is where I start skipping and speeding up, since Sam's so unlikely to win.

Sam actually has outs here, drawing Spell Pierce and then land. If he Peers into free removal and then topdecks untapped land, he can removal, Shoal, Pierce and win. So Sam's on 20% into 33%, around 7% overall. That's impressive given how badly the opening hands lined up for him; Sam's deck was really broken. He bricks and dies though.

Noble Hierarch Wild Nacatl Qasali Pridemage Stomping Grounds 2 Marsh Flats Sacred Foundry

Josh's hand sucks but I agree with the keep. This tournament used the Paris mulligan, so mulliganing sucks, and Josh's hand has a fast clock on the play plus Pridemate to interact with half of Sam's threats.

Blighted Agent 2 Disrupting Shoal Ponder Inkmoth Nexus 2 Island

Sam's hand also sucks but it has a counterspell for a 2-drop, 2 threats, enough lands to Transmute, and a Ponder to tie things together.

Not sure either of these hands would be a keep under the London mulligan but I think they're fine here.

Sam chooses to draw again.

Sam draws Pact, casts Ponder, sees 2 Peers and a Nexus. Seems like a good top, planning to Peer past Nexus.

Sam uses Disrupting Shoal on Pridemage, pitching Blighted Agent, which definitely seems right. Pitching Agent instead of the second Disrupting Shoal is an unintuitive but good play. Sam knows he's going to cast Peer on both of his next turns, so he won't be able to deploy the Agent in a window where it'll be useful. And the second Shoal might be able to counter a removal spell down the line.

Josh plays his cards and attacks, and he's down to all lands. Sam has an interesting decision between Probe and third Peer with Peer here. My instinct was to take Probe since we have second Peer already, but it's close. We're two cards away from our combo still and will probably need 2 more turns, and we might end up taking a better cantrip than Probe off of the second Peer. Peer is better than all the other cantrips here since Nexus doesn't tap to cast any other spells. On the other hand, we might not have the luxury of tapping Nexus for mana for two more turns.

Worth noting that situations like this one are why you generally choose to play in constructed.

Sam draws another Spellskite, which is useless. He passes instead of main phasing Peer, which is a big mistake. By passing, Sam denies himself the option of casting a Ponder or Preordain if he took one off Peer. Josh is unlikely to use a counterspell on Peer, and giving Josh an opportunity to cast his counterspell this turn isn't a big cost given Josh has so much mana already.

Josh draws 2nd Nacatl, which locks up a 2 turn clock but is otherwise a brick.

Sam sees lands and Preordain off his Peer and gets punished for waiting. He draws Blighted Agent, which is useless.

Cantrip sequencing is worth noting here. Sam should lead Preordain since it sees fewer cards, so he'll have a better idea of what he needs to find off Peer. Sam does, finds Dragonstorm and keeps it since it's one of the two cards he needs, pretty straightforward.

Josh draws a lethal Helix and Sam gets paid for holding Shoal all those turns ago.

Sam bricks his 35%er to find Shoal off Peer, takes Ponder instead. He's on another 30%er to find Shoal with Ponder but bricks again to lose.

If Sam had cast Peer on his main phase earlier, having additional blue mana would have given him more redraws to Shoal. That mistake probably cost him a 5% chance of winning on the last turn.

So, closing notes. I do want to stress that when I'm pointing out mistakes I believe Sam or Josh made, I'm not suggesting that that they're bad players. If you watch my matches on coverage, or literally anyone's, you'll find mistakes every turn cycle. Everyone is bad at Magic.

Note that this means if you're not seeing the mistakes in your own games, you're not looking hard enough.

Watching coverage is so great for improving because you get to see the mistakes great players made, mistakes you may not even be thinking about the game deeply enough to make yourself. But to improve by watching coverage, this is the kind of watching you need to do – actively picking apart what's happening on camera, figuring out why the players on both sides of the match are making the decisions they are, looking for patterns. It's not about copying what the players on camera are doing, it's about improving on it.

Anyway, thanks for watching reading.

[loveshotproductions]

Another Weird Dream involving someone from Tumblr again

I feel like I should keep some sort of dream journal on here whenever something involving this site. And this dream was especially weird to me.

So buckle up, cause it’s a weird one.

So while the dream was a bit long(one part involving a puppet guest star on Off Topic that was voiced by Tony the Tiger and a badass action scene that I can’t recall anymore) there was one part that stuck out to me the most. It involved fan art of my DimensionsAU that was drawn by @steadyconnoisseurnacho and the reason I knew that was because they showed it to me via a Snapchat video, which is strange because I use Snapchat exclusively with IRL friends and Family. Now the reason I believe it was Snapchat was that I saw the black bar that would usually text, but there wasn’t. It was a traditional drawing in a sketchbook, and looked something like this:

I was able to remember most of the drawing to make this recreation of it and I want to try to dissect it because it has some interesting things related to Dimensions itself.

I’ll start with the top left:

I remember it specifically being this sort of split box thing with one side being a drawing of a forest in the Camp Camp style and Gwen holding some sort of box thing. I want to talk more of the Gwen drawing the most. For one thing, it was hard to capture what expression she was making. I wasn’t sure if she was angry or crying into the box thing, and most of the face look slightly melted to me. Like it was edited in Photoshop with Liquify. And the more I thought about it, the more it looked like a drawing that I remember making:

They were almost in the exact same pose, and keep in mind that I drew that doodle on the right in October of 2017 as a sort of vent drawing. The difference being in the dream draw, she’s holding something. I debated on what she was holding cause it looked like a brick, but I thought ‘why would she be yelling/crying at a brick?’ until I put context to the story. It was a phone. In Dimensions, the campsite mostly has on the wall cord phones and very old technology and a part of the story is Gwen attempting to call out to someone over the phone about Cameron’s threats and failing because of Cameron’s interference. So I could only imagine that this was a reference to that.

Since I don’t remember what was in the second box so I’ll move on to the third one. For one thing, I remember it being in a different style than the other in that it looked painted. The one glaring detail I remember out of this was that Cameron was in the doorway and was bright blue. The scene was also something related to the story since David looked like he was opening, or closing a box. It was the parts of David attempting to run away. But, why was Cameron there, and why was he the only thing in the picture in color? My theory was symbolism, but I don’t know how Dimension! Cameron is related to the color blue considering his character.

 The last drawing in the bunch was what looked like outline drawings of the Main three campers. The Line Art was super clean and looked like it was going to be colored in later. There wasn’t a lot of detail and kinda weird looking. Luckily I was able to recognize the characters because of the hair.

Now I wanted to leave it at that, but there was one thing I didn’t want to leave out. Since the drawing was in a sketchbook, there was a second page I had glanced at that contain some unrecognizable doodles. I only remembered one that stood out to me, and that was this:

It looks like something that I would draw back when I was first creating Dimensions, some in the style of some of my old Camp Camp drawings. Though the whole face was covered and not just the eyes as most of them were styled that way.

Now as depressing as it is to literally dream of getting fan art, but this seemed stranger than that. Just the way it looked was just off in some way. Though it seemed weird how:

1.) The style and format of the of drawing.

2.) the Elements of the drawing

3.) Just the way it was shown to me in the dream via video.

Now, why specifically @steadyconnoisseurnacho I may never know. But I had the need to make this post just to tell them. You know how when you have a dream about someone you know, and you just have to tell them about it, that was me after I woke up this morning. This was something more akin to that dream I had about meeting @/directium at a signing panel, and in the vain of doing so, I might just start a dream journal here for Tumblr related dreams.

[notspoondere]

May 2018 List Re-Review

I did this once before for fun and wanted to do it again. For the reference, the May 2018 analysis was here.

If you’re not familiar with the idea, in this post I will be highlighting statements where I made predictions about the shape of the format to come and scoring them based on how accurate they turned out to be, then tallying those scores at the end to see how well I did. Let’s get into it.

(Also, September 2018 list analysis is on the way. I didn’t want to do it at first but have received a request for it.)

Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King

Yep, this is Luster Pendulum.  He’s now Zoodiac Drident crossed with Apoqliphort Towers, and naturally he’s on the banlist again.  Feel old yet?

To continue on that analogy, I fully expect this deck to go the way of Qliphorts and continue to see play as a stun variant.  Note that nerfed Draco is still a better deck than Qliphorts, unfortunately.

Correct on both fronts: Qliphorts are still bad, and Draco is still seeing play as a stun deck with two variants, one using The Monarchs Erupt, and the other using Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries, both with the intent of winning by preventing your opponent from playing the game and drawing cards to beat them down once they can’t.

Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis

Woohoo, we won’t get Plant FTK!   With that, I have the feeling we’ll be getting the Aromage Link Monster next set, since that’s the card that enables this FTK.  Once again, a good hit.

Wrong: We didn’t get the Aromage link monster, but who cares. I’m not going to score this because this post isn’t really about my predictions about Konami’s product design, but rather the metagame.

Oh and we technically got a plant FTK involving Samsara Lotus. Whatever.

That Grass Looks Greener

F.

I’ve been a 60-card player since around this time last year, and Lightsworn is my favorite deck of all time, so I’m sad to see this one go, but it was absolutely responsible for 60-card decks’ most unfair hands.  “Oh, you decided to drop Ash Blossom on my Lonefire?  Here, let me just mill a third of my deck real quick and end on Naturia Beast or Void Ogre Dragon with Fairy Tail - Snow and Shiranui Spiritmaster in the GY.  Oh, and you only have three cards in hand.  Sorry, not sorry!”

There’s nothing factually wrong about this since there’s no real prediction, but I would like to mention here that a totally different 60-card deck has seen play since: it turns out that there are some Pendulum variants that legitimately have 60 cards they want to play and wouldn’t have played Grass even if they had the chance. Shine on, you crazy diamonds.

Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter

This is the best card in Draco that isn’t named Master Peace, and is the sole reason for why I think the deck isn’t totally dead.  Return and Apocalypse are still absurdly strong cards going first and this card searches them. 

Correct: I don’t think anyone would disagree that this is still the scariest card left in that deck (unless you think it’s Rivalry, but Frogs and Altergeist play that too).

Gem-Knight Master Diamond

Here’s another “spin the wheel” hit; the Gem-Knight that actually burns is Lady Lapis Lazuli, but hitting this hurts the deck’s attempts to play legitimately, too. Problem solved, I guess, but at what cost?

They can’t make Calamities anymore, either, but that matters much less when they can’t actually kill you, either.

Wrong, unfortunately. Gem-Knight FTK has topped once since this hit happened. I don’t know how and I don’t really care. They should have banned Lazuli.

Chain Strike

And there’s a strange hit!  Chain Burn has been a nuisance since, well, the release of Chain Strike, and this hit is kind of out of nowhere, but who cares.  Chain Burn is dead if you don’t draw an insane hand.  Better now than never.

Correct, haven’t seen this deck since. Don’t care to either.

Semi-Limited Cards

Apoqlihport Towers

Ring of Destruction

I’ll take “Cards that have seen no play” for 800, Alex.

Though much weaker in a format with copious Extra Deck-based removal by battle, this card’s namesake lives on as a reference point for insurmountable boss monsters.

This card’s errata in 2015 addressed its infamous problems in tournament by preventing it from stealing games and forcing draws.

Correct.

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole

Compulsory Evacuation Device

Fairy Tail - Luna saw no play and Solemn Strike is still at 3.  Who cares.

Also Correct.

Grandsoil the Elemental Lord

The functional errata is effective already, though we won’t get it in print until FLOD: SE.   Elementsaber buff, though the deck really isn’t good anyways.

I don’t remember getting this spicy. Yeah, Elementsabers didn’t turn out great. Correct.

Mathematician

This is still a solid card, honestly.  I could see it seeing play again in decks that don’t need a Normal Summon, or if they finally unban Construct.  I don’t think that deck’s in the game right now, but it could be soon.

So Mathematician saw no play whatsoever, but I still think it’s because the right deck doesn’t exist; after all, Armageddon Knight is arguably more restricted than Mathematician, and that card does see regular play (in Gouki because it’s a Warrior, in Dinosaurs because it can send Overtex, and in Zefra because it can send Destrudo). All that really proves is that a monster which consumes a Normal Summon in order to send something generic to the GY is good enough to play, and Mathematician is definitely that, so I think we’ll see him come up again once a more useful Level 4 or lower target is introduced for a Type or Attribute that doesn’t already have a better alternative, or for ones that need three more copies of it (with Armageddon Knight, Dinosaurs have eleven cards that send Overtex to GY or search a card that does). For that reason, I’ll call this a maybe--ultimately, as much as I can try to demonstrate that it’s a good card, it depends on whether that deck comes to exist.

Atlantean Dragoons

Dragoons was tearing through boards years before SPYRAL Tough was, and honestly, there’s very little stopping it from doing so now with Light of Sekka in the game (Abyss-scale is a brick and chances are that you don’t run any spells that do anything more impactful than drawing two cards and fixing your hand).  This is kind of like when Charge of the Light Brigade came back to 3: It’s a fairly solid buff to a fairly solid deck.  Add onto that the imminent reprint of Moulinglacia and the new Mermail Link Monster, and the deck is looking like it’s soon to be in a very strong place.

Mermails have seen minor competitive play, but it is certainly stronger than before, and indeed, the deck plays Sekka’s Light over Abyss-scale. Correct.

Ignis Heat, the True Dracowarrior

This means virtually nothing compared to Dinomight coming back to 1.

…

Okay, hear me out.  Ignis was the deck’s best play going second since it grabs Heritage, which plusses off of disruption.  That’s fine, but:

Amano-Iwato stops your opponent from doing anything to stop you already.

You are going to search your spells with Diagram anyways, and you don’t need your opponent to be using effects on your turn to do that.

Heritage is still a disruptable card itself, and the proper play with Ignis is usually to let him hit the board and swing over him later in order to give the opponent Heritage on a turn when they can’t immediately use it.

For these reasons… yeah, Ignis doesn’t actually matter that much.  Draco would still be fine with Ignis at 1, and I don’t really expect that he’ll be run at more than 2 at MOST due to the way optimal ratios work with Card of Demise.

This is a pretty contentious portion of that post and I kind of regret being so bold. Actually going through and looking at what was right and what wasn’t here is a mixed bag because much of it plays upon theory that is half-true and ended up being half-followed. Let’s take a look.

Ignis is an important card in Draco.

Ignis is a good card in Draco, and the deck often plays two or three copies.

True Draco with Master Peace and Demise regularly played the same ratios of eight monsters in the Main Deck: 3 Amano/Boarder, 1 Ignis, and two Majesty and Master Peace.

The current incarnation of the deck plays roughly nine monsters. It has lost two of the previously available ones and gained a potential three more; not counting the other Dracos, this would account for 3 Amano/Boarder and Ignis, 2 Majesty, and 1 Dinomight, but about half of the lists I’ve seen play two Ignis and a sparse few play Dreiath and/or Metaltron.

Waterfall of Dragon Souls is a fair bit more popular now than it was then, too.

Finally, optimal ratios for Demise necessitate as few monsters as possible, but optimal ratios for Desires insist that you play more cards in triplicate than usual.

So with that said: I feel safe in saying Ignis can be justified at 2 or 3 copies, and I definitely feel safe in saying that he’s a worse card than Dinomight. Going off of this, I’m tempted to say I’m right, but my language was a bit too decisive and derisive (surely people would have played 3 Ignis even if it was demonstrably wrong), so I’ll say this was at least partially wrong and call it a maybe.

In the last section, I made a bunch of predictions about various decks; I’ll go over them each and judge how they should be scored. I’ll also tally this separately just to see how well I guessed how the format would pan out; these will not be scored twice if I mentioned them earlier.

Magicians nerfed.  FTK and Zexal builds murdered.  Pure deck is still viable.

Every other pendulum deck nerfed, though pure Metalfoes arguably lost the least. (Zefra didn’t use Astrograph at all, but really needed AFD.)

Magicians are still a tier 1-2 deck (is Gouki tier 0 or 1?). Pure Metalfoes actually really liked having Astrograph, though for what it’s worth, it is the only one of these decks that doesn’t need to play bad cards in order to make Vortex. Zefra also did play Astrograph, though at the time, the only Zefra player I knew complained that it took two slots in a very tight extra.  Maybe on this.

Draco nerfed.  Still viable, mark my words.

Correct.

60-card is dead outright.  The best playmakers are still there, but Left Arm into Grass is no longer valid backup for Lonefire Blossom.  You may see 40-card Dino or Zombiesworn lists in the future given good enough hands, but there’s no good way to fit the Lonefire combo in 40 cards without bricking too often.

So this is a weird one. The Lonefire combo has seen play at least once in the form of a Gouki deck, but that follows a different combo route than the Lightsworn variant did and is demonstrably a worse version of that deck: it’s hard to get more explosive than Gouki already is, and it requires at least two more bricks. 60-card decks as we knew them are totally dead, so I’ll say this is correct.

Gem-Knight FTK dead.

As mentioned above, unfortunately wrong. Haven’t seen it beyond that one time, though.

Chain Burn, for some reason, also dead.

Haven’t seen it since. Correct.

Every deck that plays Destrudo into AFD is nerfed or dead.  I expect ABC and Zefra to survive through sheer power, though both lost much in consistency.

This is correct as it is obvious. Calvin Tahan would top with ABC in Nekroz format if it happened again today and Zefra will be better than the best rogue deck until they start losing copies of Zefraath or get horrendously powercrept.

Invoked are fine, though invoked hybrids lost AFD, I guess.

Invoked didn’t really do much but get power crept. I guess this is wrong? The one Invoked hybrid, AKA the deck with six field spell engines and nothing else, did lose this, but it also literally died. So.

World Chalice untouched.  If you think you’re good at this game, try this deck and realize how wrong you are.

I didn’t make an explicit prediction here, so no score, but I should mention that it did top at least once during this time. The only list I can find doesn’t use Knightmares to their full potential, but to be honest, the deck doesn’t entirely need them; it can still do an extra link and make the opponent discard four cards off of an opening hand Venus and any monster without Knightmare Goblin.

SPYRAL untouched.  Easily a top-tier contender.

Deck was really good for a while, yeah. Correct.

Burning Abyss untouched.  Still a solid deck with proper backrow.

Well goddamn, it turns out Burning Abyss is still a solid deck without proper backrow. Current lists run Sekka’s Light at three copies and more than a dozen hand traps. I’d like to call this a coincidental maybe, but I honestly felt at the time that Burning Abyss was only strong due to its ability to pack in powerful backrow without losing consistency, and in that regard, I was totally wrong.

Paleozoics untouched, though the worst part of their worst matchup is totally gone, and they’re very solid versus Altergeist.  Budget players, keep an eye on this deck.

Paleo Frogs were good for about half of the format and dropped off pretty hard. It’s not like what it does it bad, just that there are more counters to it. Also is indeed a budget deck. Still correct.

Neo-Spacians tier 1, obviously.

AHAHAHHAHHAAHAHHHAAHHAHAAHHAAHHAHAH

This dumbass one-off comment I made has come full circle because Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin saw regular play in a tier 1 deck, that being Gouki. It is played because it’s a level 3 Warrior that can mulligan your opponent’s hand of hand traps, and in that regard, it is absolutely unmatched. This card’s burn damage closed out the last game of the European WCQ in time. Do I deserve to be correct for this? You decide. I think so.

Trickstar ANYTHING

This deck has fallen off a bit, but Drollcarnation is still legal and the deck is still a threat based off of that alone.

Another funny one. This wasn’t that true early in the format, but so-called Kid Touch (Trickstar Sky Striker) ended up being a tier 1 deck for a couple of tournaments immediately after the implementation of the new end-of-match procedures, though not entirely because of them, and not entirely because of Drollcarnation, but both together ended up being an unbelievably scary combo: Trickstars could now make Link Monsters without drawing Scapegoat, and Sky Strikers could get even more consistent advantage while also ticking away with burn at a time where it matters the most. Correct either way.

Tallies after eliminating duplicates:

11 Correct

3 Maybe

3 Wrong

64.7% correct, 17.6% definitely incorrect. Pretty good ratio.

[xtruss]

The Empty Blockbuster Music of DJ Khaled

His latest album, “Khaled Khaled,” seems to exist solely for the pursuit of clout.

— By Sheldon Pearce | The New Yorker | May 4, 2021

The use of the hip-hop personality’s full name in the album’s title is supposed to signify maturation.

At the 1995 Source Awards, Suge Knight, the thug mogul of Death Row Records, took to the stage to criticize his rival, Sean (Puffy) Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records. “Any artist out there that want to be an artist and want to stay a star, and don’t want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing—come to Death Row,” he howled. He was drawing a line between being “real” and being “commercial,” and between the backstage impresario and the on-air talent. Combs, he implied, disrupted the balance, and took the spotlight off actual entertainers; he was standing where he shouldn’t be, in a place reserved for creators.

The desire to be “all on the record, dancing” is DJ Khaled’s entire ethos. He studied Combs carefully and sought to make being “commercial” a personality. He is not a performer; he is a presenter. His superpower is networking—as a d.j. in Miami, he amassed considerable connections. His creative philosophy is exemplified by a quote that he gave to The Fader, in 2013: “If you can’t find it, you gotta go make it. If you can’t make it, you gotta go find it.” He leans heavily toward the latter. He can’t rap and, until recently, he rarely produced, so “finding it” was often pegged as his sole talent. His lack of involvement in the creative process became a running gag. “What Does DJ Khaled Do and Is He Good for Hip-Hop?” a Complex story from 2012 asked. “Solving the Mystery of What DJ Khaled Actually Does,” posited another, from 2016, in the Houston Press. Khaled aspired to fill a position that Combs once gave himself: “vibe giver.”

Khaled’s megamix cuts, filled with boldface artists, once had a certain novelty. When he started, he was assembling rappers in his orbit for low-stakes rap-offs. The music had a clear precursor: the promotional mixtapes used by rap d.j.s to cement their statuses as masters of the airwaves. The albums followed a formula marked out by DJ Clue’s “The Professional” and Kid Capri’s “Soundtrack to the Streets.” But Khaled had far larger aspirations: he wanted to be seen as a hitmaker in his own right. By his second album, he’d cracked the code. “We Takin’ Over,” with Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Lil Wayne, scored him his first platinum record. “I’m So Hood,” with T-Pain, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, and Plies, scored him his first outright hit—and the official remix of the song, which added more than twice as many new verses, became a mark of his growing reach.

In recent years, Khaled has used his influence to transform himself into a sort of rap Tony Robbins. He preaches a positivity gospel so empty that it borders on satire, or even performance art. He has even become a cartoon character, using an animated self-help persona to sell the everyman on the keys to success. In 2016, he wrote a book of affirmations literally called “The Keys.” The following year, he released an album called “Grateful.” He sold thrones and gold lions as part of a furniture line. He promoted a cryptocurrency (and was subsequently charged by the S.E.C. for failing to disclose payments that he received for the promotion). He played a motivational coach in a Geico ad. Everything he did came to feel like marketing, most of all his music.

DJ Khaled albums now seem to exist solely for the pursuit of clout. The songs are high-profile mashups devised as heat-seeking missiles for the Billboard charts. The choices of artists are tailored to burnish his personal brand, the music equivalent of bathing in the residual glow of a string of celebrity name drops—accomplishment by association. The music isn’t a success if it’s good; it’s a success if it reinforces Khaled’s self-perpetuating myth of the A-list hitmaker.

That myth threatened to unravel, in 2019, when Khaled and his album “Father of Asahd” lost a chart race to Tyler, the Creator’s “IGOR.” In a shameless (but not uncommon) attempt to boost sales by using bundled purchases, Khaled sold the album with energy drinks through an e-commerce site, Shop.com. According to the Times, Billboard disqualified most of Khaled’s bundles for encouraging unauthorized bulk sales and awarded the No. 1 slot to Tyler. After working transparently in pursuit of the top spot, the proponent of the “All I Do Is Win” ideology finished second.

By that point, Khaled’s all-star collaborations were losing juice. In 2017, the Scottish d.j. and producer Calvin Harris released an album called “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1,” which he produced himself. The songs were sleeker and more organized, and they had far more interesting groupings. The singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, with his “No.6 Collaborations Project,” turned the format into a truly creative exercise. As time has gone on, the type of collaborations that it seemed only Khaled could orchestrate have started to come about naturally. Last month, the rappers Young Thug and Gunna released “Slime Language 2,” a label compilation full of unusual pairings.

Khaled has been forced to adapt, and his new album, “Khaled Khaled,” tweaks the model. The use of his full name is supposed to signify maturation. “If you look at some of your favourite icons, there’s a point when people start calling them by their real name,” he told the U.K edition of GQ. “You know Khaled as a mogul, as a hustler, but I am a father. And a winner. And I am God’s child.” In keeping with that symbolic evolution, he plays the auteur this time. After a Michael Bay-like run of big set pieces with explosive combinations, Khaled wants to become the Steven Spielberg of the rap blockbuster.

A few of the biggest artists of the moment—Drake, Cardi B, and Justin Timberlake, who have at least fourteen No. 1 songs between them—get solo showcases. (Drake gets two.) One of rap’s most promising risers, Lil Baby; the cult phenomenon Bryson Tiller; and the egot contender H.E.R. all appear multiple times. Khaled shuffles the matchups around a bit. Beneath these cosmetic adjustments, though, it all feels familiar. Most of the performers on this album were on his previous one, and the music yearns to reach new heights without taking any risks. The shortcomings of “Khaled Khaled” are twofold: it is a failure of imagination and a failure of spectacle. Even when previous Khaled singles started to feel as if they were product tested before a group of Spotify data analysts, there was at least a curatorial sensibility at work. Now Khaled is producing full-on paeans to prosperity, and the music makes no attempt to entertain.

When Khaled brought the bona-fide pop star Justin Bieber into the fold, on “I’m the One,” from 2017, it felt like a huge get. But the move only seems like pandering by now, the third time around. There is no thrill in the return of the Migos or the oddball union of Post Malone and Megan Thee Stallion. And there is no refuge to be found in the beats, which rely heavily on classic rap samples and the nostalgia they induce. The album’s aspiration-over-inspiration approach is made clear by “This Is My Year,” which features Rick Ross, Big Sean, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, and Combs ad-libbing as Puff Daddy. The verses get more and more rigid and colorless as they go on. Big Sean is “going over blueprints” in the boardroom, and Rick Ross has Forbes on his mind, rapping, “305 the code if you wanna get a block / You can send in Bitcoins, time to triple it with stocks.” Making money in rap used to be fun, but in the uber-capitalist realm of nonstop advancement that dominates Khaled’s mind, it’s all work.

Blame some of that on contemporary rap’s forebears, who, in middle age, have turned to old-money methods as a sign of maturity—none more so than New York City’s hip-hop kingpins Jay-Z and Nas. The two team up on “Khaled Khaled” to take venture-capitalist raps to new lows on “Sorry Not Sorry,” a celebratory toast that appropriates the language of the sarcastic non-apology for one-percenter consumption. The pair have rarely sounded so bored or so didactic, rapping about cryptocurrencies, Silicon Valley, and angel investments with the smugness of a late-night infomercial pushing a pyramid scheme. In these verses, settling into the lap of luxury isn’t glamorous; it’s a cold, lifeless calculus. The same is true of the single “Popstar,” Drake’s lamest-possible engagement with his celebrity profile. In what is among the most listless performances of his career, the Toronto idol reels off the stats accumulated by his mounting success with a shrug. “Crown in my hand and I’m really playin’ keep-away / Shit don’t even usually get this big without a Bieber face,” he raps.

Drake embodies the effortless, ceaseless hitmaking of Khaled’s “another one” slogan. He has had throwaways top the charts before, but not even his singles tallied a No. 1 song for Khaled this cycle. According to current projections, “Khaled Khaled” will go No. 1, but with a dramatic decrease in streams and sales from his previous album—a pyrrhic victory. No one knows how to spin better than Khaled, and he’ll likely use the top-of-the-charts tanking to shout “We the best” through a megaphone. But if he isn’t an artist, an entertainer, or a booster, what’s left?

— Sheldon Pearce is the music writer and editor for Goings On About Town.

[pppssc]

Types of Quests in Miitopia Post-Game

Every day you play during post-game, provided you don’t let too many go unplayed (a maximum of six can appear in the Traveler’s Hub at once), the game will restock with three quests. Below are the types of quests that you can get:

Errand: Typically shows up once a day, on rare occasions doesn’t appear.  As far as I know, it’s not possible to get more than one per day. A random traveler NPC, either a professional courier or someone who wants to be friends with one of your local NPCs, has a gift to deliver to the local NPC.  The scene plays out similarly to the random “gift” inn event, but the reaction to the gift doesn’t affect anything except flavor text.

Prizes for these quests are either game tickets or three distinct, but related, food items.  Since both roulette and the food prizes can include foods you’ve never seen before, these can be very helpful for hundred-percenting the food collection (I unlocked my last three outstanding foods from two errand prizes and a roulette prize).

Quizmaster’s Quiz: The Quizmaster gives you a triathlon of quizzes, culminating in Quiz Remix. These quizzes and Quiz Remix’s draw only include ones that ask you to identify individual Miis like Who Am I, Who Is It, Silhouette Shenanigans, and Curtain Conundrum, and not more specialized ones like General Knowledge, Treasure Chest Shuffle, or Mii Parade. Beating the two internal quizzes gives you five HP bananas per quiz, and beating the last one gives you five game tickets.  This, the Worried Explorer’s Snurp Hunt quest, and the Youngest Fab Fairy’s variations on standard quests, have a roughly equal chance of appearing, though occasionally none appear, and as far as I know, it’s not possible to have multiple of them appear on the same day.

Worried Explorer’s Snurp Hunt: The Worried Explorer appears in the Traveler’s Hub letting you know about rare monsters somewhere in the Realm of the Fey (typically in Lotus Lake, the Bigg Forest, or near the Elven Retreat).  These monsters are snurps!  As such, unlike other battle quests, only snurps will appear as enemies (including in treasure chest traps, and with the exception of if you trigger a battle-related random event like one or three of your Miis falling asleep or a monster appearing in the bushes).   The map looks like a big snake, with three standard battle circles prior to the boss and there are three guaranteed overworld snurps, though it’s random whether they’re gold, tasty, or rare.  The boss is one or more of rich, delicious, or very rare snurps surrounded either by ordinary battle snurps (black, water, green) or small versions of the boss (gold, tasty, or rare).  Bosses are actually standard enemies because they are vulnerable to status ailments and one hit kills.  Unlike other quests, this one won’t give you any external prize, because fighting the very rare/delicious/rich snurp is the prize.

The Youngest Fab Fairy, unlike the other two recurring local hosts, doesn’t have her own special quest type. Rather, she follows the main template for other quests with the following quirks:

1.       Which quest map, location, and boss she uses is fixed based on level rather than random 2.       While most quest hosts not listed above give a random prize of money, weapons, or clothes, she gives three copies of a fixed very rare (sweet) food based on quest level 3.       She always tags along with you and never becomes the boss 4.       Her bosses, like the Worried Explorers’, tend to be several copies of regular (over-leveled) enemies that only attack once at a time and are vulnerable to status ailments and one hit kills.

Finally, the most common type of quest, that typically appears once a day but occasionally twice or even three times on rare occasions, is the standard quest. The standard quest has many different stories but the narratives fall into four basic structures: the quest host asks you to defeat a generic enemy for them, the quest host asks you to find their missing friend (who is the boss), the quest host goes with you to find their missing friend (who is the boss), or the quest host goes with you for one reason or another and has their face stolen.  

Prizes for this are a random amount of money, a random (outstanding) piece of clothing, or a random (outstanding) weapon.  They will never offer a piece of clothing or weapon that everyone in your active party when it appears either already has or can’t use, but it will not change if you switch out party members, class change, or buy/win/find the equipment before completing the quest.  You can sell newly-redundant weapons for full retail price as with the roulette.

There are seven basic maps that standard (and Youngest Fab Fairy) quests can follow, with some being more common than others if they have shape variance:

1.       Straightaway: A straight line of two standard battle circles followed by the boss.  Less common due to no shape variance. 2.       Triangle: Three standard battle circles arranged in an isosceles triangle before the boss. It can vary in dimensions and orientation, and is thus more common. 3.       Party Split: A huge boulder appears and splits your party in half.  Half the party tackles a battle circle on the left and meets at the top.  The other half of the party tackles a battle circle on the right and meets at the top.  They reconvene to potentially replay battle circles and beat the boss.  Less common due to no shape variance. 4.       Treasure Detour: A right triangle including two standard battle circles and a treasure path before the boss.  It has variance in dimensions, orientation, and placement of the treasure path, so it’s more common. 5.       Lock and Key: A three-pronged trident, where two paths lead to battle circles, one standard and one holding a key, and the third leads to a locked door.  Either the stand battle circle or the locked door has a treasure path behind it, and the other one leads directly to the boss. The respective locations of the three prongs and the treasure path vary, so this one is more common. 6.       Pyramid: Five battle circles arranged in a pyramid (2 to start that lead to 3) before the boss.  One of the three inner battle circles is a treasure path.  Although which one it is varies, it otherwise has no shape variance and so is less common. 7.       Difficulty Divergence: The most complicated of the varieties, this one starts with a specialized difficulty fork that starts by going up and then splits left for easy and right for tough.  They both have two battle circles in a row that lead to a boss, but the tough path also has a path to an inner treasure chest.  Less common due to it only having one map shape.

Standard battle circles (that is, battle circles aside from treasure paths and special cases like the Difficulty Divergence difficulty fork or the key path from Lock and Key) are randomly picked from one of five path maps (even in fixed maps like Youngest Fab Fairy and Worried Explorer), each new quest, but restarting a quest after losing it and trying a different quest in the meantime will keep the same map formations from the previous attempt.

The five path maps are, as far as I can tell, equally likely to appear as each other and independent, and they include the following:

1.       Straightaway: One path, no forking 2.       2-fork: A path splits into two pre-action and reconvenes at the end 3.       Zigzag: A path splits into two pre-action, reconvenes in the center, splits into two again, and reconvenes at the end.  This path has up to four potential paths but only two required to gold-flag the circle. 4.       4-fork: A path splits into two after one action, then splits into two again and reconvenes at the end.  Going down and then up and vice-versa will converge into one path. 5.       6-fork: A path splits into three pre-action, then splits into two again and reconvenes at the end.  Going down and then up and going straight and then down converge into one path, as do going up and then down and going straight and then up.

Also, any standard quest map can also randomly include the Roving Gourmet, giving three more of the local delicacies, the Quizmaster, giving a random quiz for 5 HP bananas, MP candies, or game tickets, or overworld snurps.

[yosttravis]

Nostrum

In my day job I act as a Director of Operations and Analytics for a large company. I say large because we did $1.4bn in revenue in FY16. How far we have come!  

Our company generally and my team specifically, by and large, builds its own models. Occasionally -- due to sheer scope, resource constraints, complexity, whatever -- we will go out and entertain third-party solutions. That means direct interaction with sales guys -- sales guys who rarely have your best interest in heart and whose primary objective is to just get you to sign on the bottom line.

There is a pretty quick way to differentiate between pure pitchmen and guys who genuinely believe in their product. The biggest indicator is usually their response to any question concerning what their solution cannot do. Pitchmen will find a way to skirt the question (oversell and underdeliver; simply dodge the interrogatory; etc.). Those who are candid about weaknesses, open to you prodding around their product, and receptive to feedback tend to have the better solutions. And not surprisingly, those are the companies we tend to do business with.

One of the gray areas for companies here is toeing the line of transparency vs proprietary product. If an entity truly has the secret sauce, they’re not going to be open to sharing much of that until they have some sort of financial commitment. I’m sympathetic to this position from every angle.

You are starting to see a lot of this stuff - in both directions -- around the sports world, especially as leagues get knee-deep in big data. The world of data is much larger and much more transparent in some venues (/cough NBA). Not so much for the NHL, where we are still relying on play-by-play scrapes to formulate any sense of statistical understanding.

The modern era of hockey stats isn’t just about Corsi%. Corsi% might have started the discussion, but it’s branched off in a million different directions. From simply measuring teammate/opponent quality to calculating expected goal numbers on any and every shot attempt, the vast majority of this stuff has been carried out in the public sphere. There have been analyses of all quality, and opinions on certain things have changed over time. One of the true guiding lights though has been that all can run their own analyses and come to their own determination on what matters and what doesn’t. (As an aside, this is a great way to know which teams/media people/fans have actually studied certain things on their own vs. parroting whatever lazy claim was last posted on Twitter.) 

Private companies have jumped into the mix, and with mixed degrees of success. Some have made their way by, well, pitching teams on magic bullets. Some have made their way by simply providing data the public cannot get their hands on. And, again, it’s up to the few individuals who see this data to suss out what’s real and what’s not.

This brings me to an interesting exchange I had with Mike Kelly, who works for one of the big tracking companies. I don’t really know Kelly well but he seems like a good enough guy. 

Occasionally Kelly will dangle some proprietary information in the public sphere to support one of his claims. Today, he made the argument that shot quality > shot quantity. (As a brief aside, there is zero evidence this is true from the publicly-available data. Shot volume is the single-best predictor, and it improves when you *also* account for shot quality. I haven’t seen a single analysis to suggest that shot quality, in and of itself, predicts performance better than any other competing measure.) 

When I asked for more information, I was redirected to what looks like a simple Excel sheet with colors streaking across rows and his comments in free text in a far right column. From my understanding the claim from the table is that a finishing rank in slot shot differential (how he is defining “shot quality”) was a better predictor than shot differential of team performance. 

The table is included below and linked here :

So just to recap: the argument, at least as I can understand it in the public sphere, is that shot quality is better than shot quality because of the above ranking system. He did this by coloring in rows for teams where rank variances were lower. He then took an average variance of the ranks, compared the two, and concluded shot quality was better. He lastly claimed that “shot quality was 39% better than shot volume”, which I think he calculated by simply netting the average rank variances and dividing out. (More on this later.)

You can sort of start to see the problems here.

For starters, it’s not clear to me why he would provide ranks rather than numbers, especially for a correlative analysis. Among other things, we want to understand sensitivity and variances. The above table would treat all team talent differences as equivalent. WSH is x amount better than Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is x amount better than Chicago -- all the way down to Colorado. All we have are pure ranks and nothing else. There’s no good reason to run any analysis, ever, off of a ranking system like this.

But in fairness, it is plausible or even likely that he can’t release the percentages because his company owns it. Let’s assume this is a legitimate and fair constraint, and he -- in good faith, of course -- is trying to educate people on why this other measure matters.

Putting that aside, another slew of question should come up. What game state are we talking about here for slot and shot differential? I would suspect it’s not all situations because he would know that you shouldn’t be lumping unique game states (e.g 5-on-5 vs. 5-on-3 power-plays) as the same. But it can’t be purely 5-on-5 either. I know this because, well, 5-on-5 shot differential data is available. 

I would also hope that he didn’t use raw 5-on-5 numbers, since we know the impact of score effects. Not only do trailing teams rack up shot differentials relative to their leading counterparts, they hurt their own individual shot quality in the process. This, again, is a known quantity -- it’s precisely the reason why we 'adjust’ Corsi% based on event, score, and venue. 

Those numbers though -- they weren’t used in this ranking system. I quickly ran the table variances and, well, there are many. Amusingly enough, when you bring in *actual* shot differential numbers, there is no clear indication that either metric is better. One was more predictive for 14 teams. The other for another 14 teams. 2 remained the same. 

The three right columns are what you’d want to look at. The 'Shot Rank Error H/(L)’ column is how variant Kelly’s numbers are to, well, their actual rank. Notice how Carolina is 13 ranks off -- that’s because there was no adjustment for score effects. Why the spread? Easy. The Hurricanes chased a ton of games last year, which, as everyone at this point knows, means that Corsi% goes up and Sh% goes down. This phenomenon was acknowledged and accepted back when the only hockey analytics studies were being done in the comments section of the Oilogosphere.

But I can’t just say 14 teams vs. 14 teams and call it a draw. That’d be lazy! And in fact, that’s not what he did. He took the average of each individual variance, ran quick division, and concluded that shot quality was 39% better.

So I’ll do the same. The average shot quality variance was 4.9. The average shot quantity variance was 4.5. Therefore, shot quantity is 8% better. 

Same exact study. With the right numbers. And the completely opposite conclusion.

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

For the (quick) purpose of showing you why the above was wrong, I simply cleaned up Kelly’s work and re-calculated. But any credible analyst can see what’s wrong with this. And while Kelly may not be able to create this work himself due to employer constraints, it shouldn’t stop anyone else from asking these questions.

Let’s just walk through a quick list. I’ll give myself only two minutes to come up with pertinent questions ... starting now.

1. What game states are we measuring? 2. Why are we using a ranking system vs. the actual performance numbers? 3. How is ‘slot quality’ defined? 4. Why are we measuring to points, which is inclusive of performance across all game states, the overtime format, and the shootout format? 5. Why wouldn’t we consider a blended measure as a competing metric, like Expected Goal%?  6. Why wouldn’t we look over multiple season to increase our pool of data? 7. Why aren’t we adjusting for score effects? 8. Why are we taking the averages of rank variances to determine measurement superiority? 9. What’s our error margin? 10. How are we controlling for arena bias? 11. Why does ‘slot shot differential’ bin shot data? Does a shot one millimeter to the right or left of the slot have an expected goal value of 0.0? (No.) 12. Why are we correlating ranks? 

And time. That’s 12. I’m sure you can think of more. 

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

Just to recap: I think shot quantity matters. I also think shot quality matters. I think shot quantity matters more because it’s proven to be extremely indicative of a team’s true talent. I think when the data is aggregated together on an expected goal basis, the measures become even more robust.

But stuff like this bothers me. Tremendously so. If it’s not disingenuous, it’s bad faith. And if it’s neither, then it’s unacceptable negligence. 

Keep in mind that NHL teams today are facing the same exact issue. Who do you believe? Who do you trust? Some teams have went with private data exclusively. Most teams, in fact. But some of those teams are just ingesting the data -- they have hired publicly-vetted, credible analysts to utilize that data to run complex analyses and make difficult decisions. 

I don’t think you need to be vetted in the public sphere to ‘check out’ as a stat-based hockey analyst. Far from it! But it sure is interesting that some teams -- when faced with the question of ‘do you want our data or do you want our ‘services’? -- have chosen the former. 

Those teams are worried about getting pushed down the wrong path. And they can’t risk being wrong, because their jobs are on the line.

My recommendation: treat everything like a skeptic until proven otherwise. (Second recommendation: feel free to change your opinion on things! It’s OK to be wrong.) This space was started, funny enough, because I was sure that SAP was taking the NHL for a ride. I have never been able to figure out if the NHL.com stats rollout was pure monorail sales work by SAP, sheer vetting incompetence by the NHL, or a combination of the two.

At the end of the day, SAP and the NHL took a terribly inaccurate product out of stage and into production. And although they have cleaned up some of the data discrepancies, the public is pretty uniform of it’s hatred of the current stats site. So much so that, well, not a single soul that I know or have worked with in the stats sphere for close to a decade utilizes it with any frequency. 

 If a company the size of the NHL can get taken for a ride, anyone can. 

[walkonwalkonwithhopeinyourheart]

Post-Match Day Thread: Sevilla 3 - 3 Liverpool via /r/LiverpoolFC

Post-Match Day Thread: Sevilla 3 - 3 Liverpool

Sevilla 3 - 3 Liverpool

Player Ratings

Player Rating Karius 6.46 Gomez 7.50 Lovren 7.26 Klavan 7.09 Moreno (62') 5.98 Coutinho (62') 7.48 Wijnaldum 6.35 Henderson 6.37 Salah (86') 7.84 Firmino 9.62 Mané 7.48 Can (62') 6.24 Milner (62') 5.90 Oxlade-Chamberlain (73') 6.08

Group E

Pos Team P GD Pts 1 Liverpool 5 10 9 2 Sevilla 5 0 8 3 Spartak Moscow 5 3 6 4 Maribor 5 -13 2

Match Events

Goals Roberto Firmino 2' 0-1 Sadio Mané 22' 0-2 Roberto Firmino 30' 0-3 Ben Yedder 51' 1-3 Ben Yedder 60' 2-3 Guido Pizarro 90+2' 3-3

Links Post-Match Thread - credit /u/lrk2003 Match Thread - credit /u/MatchThreadder Pre-Match Thread - credit /u/_cumblast_

Thoughts

Formation

I have to say I would have preferred Can or Milner in midfield over Wijnaldum. I know Can has had some (in my mind unfair) criticism of his performance over the last few weeks, but he does provide some defensive solidarity that I think we would miss against a very strong Sevilla side. Similarly, Milner would have provided some much needed experience in a key game. Apart from that, no complains.

Firmino First Goal

I've gone back to watch the build up to the goals in this game because the .gifs don't really tell the whole story. This game started relatively slowly, but we pressed high up and forced Sevilla into a couple of mistakes. The corner comes from a nice give and go between Mané and Salah, and the former chased down a lost ball to get the corner.

http://ift.tt/2iLHonQ

The goal itself is very simple. Coutinho just whips the ball in to the penalty spot, and Firmino is going to run off the back of his defender to the unmarked back post.

http://ift.tt/2B5fXvJ

Wijnaldum heads it down to the back post for Firmino to run on to - being critical he could have probably scored himself. Not that it mattered. Firmino slams home from a couple of yards out and we jump out to a 1-0 lead.

Mané Goal

Another corner, another goal. This one comes from Henderson winning the ball back high up, then playing a lovely pass through to Firmino. He misses the one on one but, as we will see, we get a goal anyway.

http://ift.tt/2iLHrA2

It's stunning how similar this goal is. Coutinho, again, whips it in to the penalty spot. Firmino this time gets a head on it. Mané this time is running off the back of his defender to the far post. A lovely diving header into the far post. Just as simple.

Firmino Second Goal

Moreno plays a lovely ball in behind for Mané to run on to.

http://ift.tt/2B5LaPt

The only point I wanted to make here was how close our front three were. This was a long ball, and everyone's within 15 yards of each other. That gives us the advantage for any rebounds or ricochets, and forces the defence into mistakes.

Half Time

Three nil up, apparently in complete control, but the stats would say different. Sevilla had 70% possession, over double our passes, and far superior pass accuracy. We were playing on the counter and our finishing was lethal. However, I think in retrospect the danger signs were there. Our midfield was poor. Henderson and Wijnaldum gave the ball away far too often, playing passes they didn't need to. I think we should have made a switch, and bring on an extra midfielder. For all his positives Coutinho isn't a defensive player. At 3-0 we didn't need to keep him on the pitch. Bringing on Milner or Can would have given us an extra man in the middle of the park who can shut down Sevilla.

Ben Yedder First Goal

http://ift.tt/2iLHsUC

As the ball is hit Ben Yedder is making a run across the line of defenders. Moreno, at the near post, cannot see him. Quite rightly his eyes are on the ball. Firmino and Lovren, in the centre, have watched him go. They aren't marking anyone. Sevilla haven't exactly loaded the box. One of them needs to go with him and make it difficult for him.

http://ift.tt/2B5fZUn

My only criticism of Moreno on this goal is that he jumps straight up instead of attacking the ball. This allows Ben Yedder to get in front of him and score.

As I said in the post-match thread, this is a systematic issue. We use zonal marking. Everyone was in their zones - Moreno at the near post, Klavan and Lovren in the middle, Firmino at the back post. Ben Yedder runs straight through these zones and everyone assumes they've done their job. It would be interesting to see if someone, anyone, gave Moreno a shout that Ben Yedder was coming. If he had maybe it would have been different.

Ben Yedder Second Goal

Ugh. This is mistake that if made by almost anyone else would be almost excused. I've rewatched the first 15 minutes of the second half and, genuinely, do not think Moreno was having a bad game. I've already said I don't think he's at fault for their first goal. He also saved a second just before this. Now, Coutinho sells him short, playing an overhit pass back to him in a difficult position.

http://ift.tt/2iLHtrE

So Moreno's being charged down by three people. I will say he should just put his foot through this. Boot it out of play on the far side if you have to. He's under pressure and tries to trap it. I guess he just takes his eye off the ball and it bounces off his heel.

http://ift.tt/2B5LbTx

Klavan has let his man get three yards on him. He should be tracking much closer to that, and might have been able to clear up if so.

http://ift.tt/2iKuA0R

It is, clearly, a penalty. Moreno makes no attempt to get the ball, and steps on the man's foot. You might say he goes down too easily, but I disagree. I think he has to go down to get the correct decision. In the background you can see the ref is pretty far away - the delay was, I believe, him speaking to his two assistants.

Pizarro Goal

And the capitulation is complete.

http://ift.tt/2B5g2j1

I've highlighted Pizarro. He starts on the far side of the box, pretty much unmarked. Firmino has a man, Henderson has a man, Ox has a man. Can and Gomez, however, are left with a choice of two.

http://ift.tt/2iLHw6O

As the ball is kicked a problem has already arisen. Pizarro has, once again, run across the front of our defensive line, and once again we haven't picked him up. Can is left in no man's land, Gomez has now got a guy on him, and Ox has let his man run behind him. This is poor.

http://ift.tt/2B5LduD

Klavan wins the header, but now Pizarro is in acres of space. Henderson and Ox have both lost their men and are marking nobody. Someone needed to step up and stop him. This is the problem with the zonal marking system, but Klopp has done very little to fix it in his tenure.

Control

Well, we never had it, Even at 3-0 at half time Sevilla were hitting on the break with regularity. Nobody put their foot on the ball to slow the game own. In fact, there was only that little period after the third goal (where Gomez had his altercation with the ball man) that we even attempted to time waste. This is where the naivety of this team comes through. A Chelsea or United team would have shut that game down, a City or Spurs team would have passed them to death, we did neither.

Perspective

Ask most people on Tuesday what we would need from the next two games, and I imagine most of them would have said a win and a draw. Hell, even two draws was enough. We all know that the performance changes things but a draw away at Sevilla is a good result. We should be able to beat Spartak at home - and if we can't then maybe we don't deserve a spot in the knockout stages.

Also, to anyone trying to coin "Sevillanbul" or whatever bullshit twitter has been spouting: I imagine if Milan had won the penalty shootout, or we had still won the league after Palace, then nobody would give a shit. We're still top of the group, we still hold our destiny, we will still win this group. Everyone seems to forget that we weren't favourites to do so, and having fucked up our last two appearances in the CL I think we can all be happy with the performance so far.

Chelsea

The big call is whether or not we recall Robertson. I don't think Moreno deserves the criticism he's been getting, but at the same time I can see Chelsea targeting him.

Mignolet Gomez Matip Lovren Robertson Wijnaldum Henderson Coutinho Salah Firmino Mané

Our next fixture is against Chelsea in the Premier League. The match kicks off on the 25th of November at 17:30PM(GMT)/12:30PM(ET).

Submitted November 23, 2017 at 01:43PM by voliton via reddit http://ift.tt/2mSFLc8

[chickenscratchingdotcom]

Turning an outline from a list of plot points into a scaffolding that you can use to build a story

by Hugh Sullivan

chickenscratching.com

chickenscratchingdotcom.tumblr.com

Note: this is an article I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo, with the intent of publishing it then. For some reason it never got published, so I figured I’d start out some very pre-NaNo posts with this now.

I could write an entire article on the various ways of coming up with an outline... but it’s been done. A lot. Which is what I found when I started preparing for my first attempt at completing a full novel for National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short).

There are dozens of methods for coming up with an outline, maybe as many as there are writers. Some methods get reused a lot. Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake method is great for expounding something into a pulp-style 4 act format, and I used my own personal take on the concept to do the outline for my first NaNoWriMo story. Snyder’s ‘save the cat’ or Campbell’s ‘hero’s journey’ beat sheet is good for adventure stories. A sprawling list of clues, red herrings, and possible deductions to be made in different situations can be used for a mystery story. A list of obstacles and how to overcome them can be a barebones outline for everything from a children’s story to a romance novel to a sprawling science fiction epic.

The first year that I did NaNoWriMo, I thought an outline would be enough. But a week before November started, I looked at my outline and realized that I still didn’t know how to make it go from an outline into a story.

So here’s what I did, and I hope this will help you too.

Step 1) Map out your foundation

The very first novel I ever wrote for NaNoWriMo (or at all, for that matter) was written in a very episodic format, made to be published serially in short audio format, and then as a whole novel afterward. The main story had four acts, each act had four chapters, each chapter could be divided up into four 10-ish minute long podcasts. (Should I choose to make four books in this series, then I suppose the structure will be completely fractal at that point) This made it easy for me to separate out each episode to do this step. However, not every outline is going to be as clearly delineated. You may have to go through every point in your outline, or you may be able to find small logical groupings of events.

Then you start listing out what each section actually does for the story.

In general, the early parts will involve setting up the characters, world, and plot. Later chapters will illustrate more about the characters, move the plot along, and show how the characters change and grow.

For example, here is a basic example of a chapter outline from my first NaNoWriMo novel. My original outline had a basic overview of each chapter, and four separate points divided up into what would happen in each ~10 minute podcast.

 Chapter 1) Jacobs washes up in Crown Bay, setting the story in motion

•        Jacobs washes up on shore in Crown Bay. Jim Leatherby uses a magical item and finds him.

•        Jacobs gets drunk, screams at a statue commemorating the massacre ten years prior, then gets cornered by guards and subsequently rescued by Jim Leatherby.

•        Jim brings Jacobs somewhere quiet to get sober, and then recognizes him.

•        Cut to the governor’s office in the city. The governor confides in his right-hand man, Commodore Briggs, that he’s near breaking down. He lost his wife during the massacre ten years ago, he can’t afford to lose his daughter. Briggs brings him the good news that Captain Jacobs has been spotted, and he takes a group of soldiers to find him.

 Once the outline of this chapter was done, I went through and wrote down all of the functions that this chapter served in the novel.

 Functions of Chapter 1

•        Hook the reader into the lead character and world.

•        Introduce the reader to the two protagonists.

•        Introduce the idea of magical items in this world.

•        Show that Jim has a very simple life, and that the magic item he possesses can lead him to find adventure outside of that life.

•        Show that Jacobs is in fact the captain of a pirate ship, not just a sailor who fell overboard.

•        Show that Jacobs is well known enough that the governor would be looking for him, and leave the reader with enough questions as to why to keep them reading further.

•        Show that this town has a history, and link that history to why Jim is an orphan and Jacobs left to became a pirate.

 Most of these functions will seem simple and obvious to the writer of the outline. Even so, it’s good to actually list them out so that you know what your foundation is supporting. Now that we’ve mapped out what the outline currently supports, we move on to the next step.

  Step 2) Figure out where to place your support beams

Every story has basic needs that need to be fulfilled. A story needs a beginning, a middle, an end, and action or conflict to move itself along while keeping the reader engaged.

The basic outline of my novel was a very simple four act structure, similar to the potboiler pulp stories of Lester Dent and Michael Moorcock. In the first act, the world, characters, and the adventure were introduced. In the second, the characters found themselves embroiled in that adventure. The peak of the growing adventure hits between the second and third act, where the characters have to choose whether to blunder on or give up. And by the end of the third act, they have found themselves in so deep that there is no longer a choice. They have to see their way to the end. (Those who have looked into popular story and act structures may recognize this as somewhat similar to the current Hollywood 3-act structure, and both styles are compatible with most popular beat sheet formats as well.)

That meant that for my story, the basic needs for each act were simple. I needed to hook the audience at the beginning with an interesting world and characters. I needed to keep building the story in such a way that it kept people tuning in for the next chapter or episode.

But every plot point creates a set of needs as well. Let’s say that in your story, part of your plot entails a group of people traveling into a dangerous area.

So now you add to your list of story needs:

•        Show the reader that the area is dangerous

•        Show whether the characters know it’s dangerous.

 There are also some more subtle needs that you may not think of right away, but once you get into the habit of looking for them, you’ll find them fairly easily. Some of them may not have to be in any one particular place in the story, they may simply need to be inserted somewhere before the point where they are used in the story. Think of this is kind of a reverse Chekov’s gun. If a gun is needed at the end of the story, then make a note to show that the gun exists in the universe.

For example, when I realized that a minor character was going to be killed off at the end of the story, I decided that his past life before the story needed to at least be hinted at, if not expounded on so that when he died he could pass on some sage advice and maybe make some of the sappier readers get a little bit misty-eyed. (Not that I would know ANYTHING about that. Men don’t cry. Not even when a house-elf breaks his promise and sacrifices himself to save someone else’s life. Nope.) So that was added to the general list, as a note of something that needed to be worked in where it could be.

Some obvious things to put on the list of overarching story needs are things like:

•        Get the audience to know the characters well enough to understand their motivations and capabilities. (There’s nothing better than a villain whose motivations you understand... but can’t condone.)

•        Display the basic traits of the important characters and settings. (Even if your protagonist is going to be a boring everyman character for the audience to project themselves onto, the rest of the cast has to be three dimensional and interesting.)

•        Find some way to fill in any important backstory that’s relevant to the current plot. (Sometimes this may end in a simple flashback or prologue. But if you just keep it in mind while writing, you can often find a spot to weave it into the narrative much more naturally.)

•        Give the reader a question. (Who killed the butler?)

•        Answer the reader’s question. (It was the maid in the drawing room with the candlestick.)

Now that you have your foundation and you’ve set up support beams on it, it’s time to make sure that the beams can actually support your story.

Step 3) Build your crossbraces

Now that you have a list of what each chapter accomplishes, and what each chapter and the story overall needs, you can start going through and finding the holes in your outline and plugging them. Sometimes this is as simple a step as leaving yourself a note to mention something important in a character’s backstory. Other times it may require adding in a few extra plot points that you hadn’t thought of in the original outline. Something that you may have been able to do on the fly when writing, but now you don’t have to.

Keep in mind that even if you miss something in the planning phase, this method can help while writing as well. If you reach a block, don’t try to figure out how to get around it. Try to figure out what the story needs to continue. Does it need an outside force to make something happen? Or do the characters need to find their own way? This can be a wonderful spot to allow a person to step forward, do something to show growth and character, and help move the story along.

At one point in my novel outline, I needed a way for a character to escape after being tied up. So I made a point to mention in earlier chapters that he hid several coins in hidden pockets in a leather bracelet, and he was quite adept at sleight of hand, repeatedly making the coins appear and disappear. So when the time came, it wasn’t a shock to the reader when he produced a coin and used it to saw away at the rope. A simple bit of characterization early on saved me from a plot hole at the end of the novel, and simultaneously helped illustrate the character better for the audience.

Step 4) Start building

Now that your outline has filled in, you’ve got more than just a list of plot points. You’ve got a guide that you can use to write your story. A solid, but not inflexible scaffolding to build on.

For an example on how to use the guide in practice, let’s break down the plot point that I mentioned above. In this case, we’ll say that the characters are going to go into this dangerous area, and they will be made aware of the danger.

In the original outline, it would have simply said, “The protagonist, his sidekick, and the guide go into the Blasphort Desert.” Now, you have a bit more set up to write the scene when it happens.

 “Hmm,” the guide said, poking the ground with the toe of his boot. “Not good.”

“What is it?” the protagonist asked.

“Wyrling tracks. Their territory is close. Probably near the canyon, for access to water.”

The protagonist shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We have to get through. And if we stray too far from the river...”

“Only one way to deal with wyrlings,” the guide said.

The sidekick piped up, “At least there’s something. How do you deal with a wyrling?”

“Run faster,” the guide replied.

The protagonist looked at the guide curiously. “I didn’t think you could outrun a wyrling.”

The guide shook his head. “Can’t. But outrun someone else, and...”

“Oh,” the sidekick said.

The protagonist put his hand on the sidekick’s shoulder. “Doesn’t matter.”

 Now when the scene is written, both the audience and the characters know they’re walking into danger, and some other needs outside of the scene have been fulfilled. For one, the audience now knows a bit more about the personality of the three characters and the danger that they’ll be facing. The guide is simple and straightforward, the hero determined but sensible, the sidekick a little more worried about the situation than the hero, and wyrlings are some sort of dangerous creature, but will stop to feed.

From my own experience, I’ve found that there isn’t a clever pun or turn of phrase that I’ve come up with that makes me feel half as clever a writer as when I write a short passage that manages to fulfill a half dozen story needs. And when facing the normal amounts of self-doubt that one faces while writing a novel, those moments where we as writers feel clever should be cherished.

   About the author

Hugh Sullivan has been a long time dabbler in writing, music, and tabletop and video game design. After a ten year hiatus from creative work, the voice in his head finally convinced him that not having a creative outlet was going to eventually drive him crazy, so he went back to school to do a minor in video game design, worked on designing a tabletop role playing game, started participating in NaNoWriMo, and composing soundtracks to accompany podcasts of his writing.

Ironically, doing all four at once may be a clearer sign of madness than following the advice of a voice in one’s head. Follow his work at his website, chickenscratching.com, or his slightly more active tumblr account, chickenscratchingdotcom.tumblr.com.

[mrevaunit42]

Nova vs Chapter 18: This is how we do it

Hello everyone, Mr.E here and back! Thank you for everyone who likes, comments and reblogs this story. it means a lot to me

i want to apologize to those who were waiting for this. I took a month off because in all these nearly 2 years of writing (holy snap that’s next month) and the random bouts were i didn’t post, I never actually took a break. but I’m back, refreshed and ready to keep stories for you amazing people.

Here it is, the finale of the current arc thought of by my good friend @marionette-j2x who was kind enough to let me borrow her ocs *Jelina, Mary and Berry with their lord Kim* and let me write out the arc idea she came up with and a special @thefandombytes who helped me with some translations. thanks buddy, I greatly appreciate it! 

This is not the story finale so no worries, there’s still some more nova on the way. Well I am going to simply let the show get on the road cuz I know a few of you waited a long time for this so here we go.

also here’s the link to the ff page in case you want read this from the beginning or stumble upon this randomly https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11773524/1/Nova-Butterfly-vs-the-Forces-of-Adolescence

Notification Squad 

@hipster-rapunzel @isolated-frequencies @artgirllullaby 

There was a deathly silence that filled the air, a stillness that no one seemed to want to break.

Katrina stood defiant in front of the children, hammer still embedded in the ground before the shifting, almost slithering robes of the cultists, their eyes empty and lifeless.

“Do you refuse to yield?” Katrina asked, body tensed with preparation.

She knew their answer already but never hurt to make sure. Royal bodyguard she may be but she was always fair.

The cultists stared at one another, not a single word shared among them but each agreeing with the same course of action.

Together as one, they surged forward, their thick black robes moving as a singular entity and making it seem like the shadows themselves were lunging towards the group.

“Yep” Katrina muttered to herself as she kicked her weapon into her armored gauntlet, lifting the massive object without pause “That's what I thought.”

Katrina leapt into action, swirling and twisting her body around faster and faster until she was a whirling hurricane of righteous fury.

The cultists paused in their charge, sharing a concern look of regret as Katrina crashed into the frozen foes and sending several flying helplessly through the air.

Katrina was relentless in her attack: Her hammer swept droves of enemies off their feet, scattering and breaking their formation with one blow.

The closest cultists jumped onto the armored figure, trying to use their weight to slow the juggernaut but all that managed to achieve was let loose a sigh of annoyance.

Katrina effortlessly gripped a helpless cultist in her hand, rolling her eyes as she threw them as far as she could, an unseen smirking gracing her lips while the sickening crunch of his bones against the solid stones walls filled the room.

However, Katrina was but one warrior among a sea of enemies and no matter how many she held back, she could not stop them all.

Katrina reached for one of the robed figures who managed to slip under her and bolted towards the helpless children but before she could grasp his hood, another one of his comrades slammed his fist against her chest plate. While the attack had done nothing more than broke the attacker's hand, it had startled Katrina enough. Instincts took over and she turned around, instinctively grabbing head of the unlucky cultist and smashing her helmet into him, sending him reeling to the floor.

“Wait, NO!” Katrina cried but the cultists were swarming and Katrina had no time to lament her failure. She thrust her hammer outward, catching an approaching enemy in the stomach before flexing. With one mighty shove, the nearest cultists skidded the floor with an angry Katrina looming over them.

Jack was the first noticed a few of the robed figures heading their way, a small group that manged to break through Katrina's defense.

Jack wobbled to his feet, his body tired and sore from the previous battles. Two transformations a day had drained a lot out of him but he had no choice but to attempt a third.

“What I do for covy....” Jack muttered wearily.

Jack stood up straight, trying to ignore the aches in his body but before he could even take a deep breath, someone gestured at him with a strange hand sign he vaguely remembered.

“Oh crap” Jack managed to get before he sailed through the air, the dark magic taking hold over him and bringing him closer to the figure.

Jack slid across the floor, wincing in pain as he fell a few feet short of the spell caster.

“You suck!” Jack shouted angrily, struggling to get to his feet “Seriously, my lola can do magic better than you and she doesn't understand what a wiccan is!”

The hooded caster made no indication he heard the half demon. Instead, he broke into a sprint, drawing closer and closer to the helpless Jack.

Jack gripped the stone floor rightly, his claws digging into the tile as he tried to will himself up but he felt like there was a massive weight on the back of his head pushing him against the floor.

“Stop struggling, I need a steady surface.”

“YOU!” Jack snarled when he finally noticed Jelina kneeling next to him, one hand held firmly on her massive bazooka and the other square on Jack's head, planting him firmly to the ground.

“I know you don't need my help right now” Jelina explained, a hint of sarcasm hidden in her neutral voice “But could you please stay down? I need to provide covering fire if we are to escape”

“I hate you” Jack muttered quietly as Jelina began unleashing a barrage of missiles into the thickest parts of the horde.

With hand grabbing at the scuff of Jack's collar, Jelina rose to her feet, hoisting the magician in the air like he was some sort of kitten.

“I don't have a lot of ammo so keep up” Jelina told him flatly

Jack struggled, flailing his arms and legs wildly in an attempt to break free of the mechanical maiden's grip “Well put me down and I'll...”

“No time”

and without warning, Jelina broke into a full sprint, the world becoming a blur of colors that lasted only a moment before Jack found himself unceremoniously dumped next to the still embraced figures of Nova and Connor

“Alright” Jack admitted “that was pretty cool.”

“I'm afraid we have to engage the enemy” Jelina glanced towards Berry and Mary who nodded in agreement

“I forbid it” Kim chimed in defensively “You will not foolishly risk your lives.”

“But master, we...”

“You live to serve me” Kim replied, a finality to his voice “You cannot do that if you are dead.”

Before Jelina could argue, the room was filled with a pinkish purplish light that glowed softly in the darkness.

Amidst the fighting, everyone had forgotten about the still massive dimension portal lazily hovering where the ceiling once was.

The sudden shift in illumination blinded many of the combatants (except Katrina who kept wailing away on her foes unhindered.)

Nova rose her hand to shield her eyes from the glow, Connor's embrace tightening despite the warm feeling that surrounded them.

Something descended slowly. Nova could hear the light fluttering of wings approach, softly growing louder as the source of the light drew closer to her.

Nova squinted, trying her hardest to see past the blazing light.

“What is that?” Nova muttered to herself, leaning forward to get a closer look.

A little gasp escaped Nova's lips, her eyes wide with awe and wonder upon seeing through the veil of illumination.

“Mom...” she softly whispered.

Nova couldn't help but stare at her mother as the light slowly dimmed. She had never seen her mother in her Mewberty form before and despite the descriptions from varying sources, none had done the sight justice.

Her mother's normally fair skin was now tinged a deep, rich purple. Her pink, rose colored wings with fluttered gently behind her. Her long, golden blonde hair was now faded and twisted into two antenna like cones. Star wore sleek, well polished sliver battle armor that had obviously been custom made for the queen given her pair of arms were now six. Her eyes and hearts glowed with a harsh light and for once in her life Nova could feel the royal authority behind her mother.

This was the Butterfly that would not allow anyone to deny her her choice of husband. That was the Butterfly that fought tooth and nail to reunite with her beloved and daughter. That was the Butterfly who defeated Toffee and reformed an ancient dynasty, bringing unity to two warring enemies. That was the Butterfly who connected two dimensions forever.

That was Star Butterfly.

The light faded from her eyes and hearts, returning them to normal.

“Mom!” Nova cried, unable to help herself as she raced forward (with Connor supporting from behind)

She lunged at her mother, locking her arms around her tightly as tears began to pool in her eyes

“Mommy, I'm so happy you're here” Nova sniffled “I was so scared. I thought I wasn't going to see you again a-and the wand! Mom, I'm sorry I couldn't...”

Nova fell silent as Star's hand gently brushed her hair, her touch soft and affectionate while she held Nova closer.

“I'm here. Mommy's got you sweetie. You are safe. Nothing else matters.”

Nova pulled away only to find a relived smile on Star's face, her eyes warm and loving.

“Hey, what about me?” A voice called from behind Star.

“D-dad? You're here too?”

Marco scoffed in mock annoyance as he appeared from behind Star, still well dressed though now rocking another accessory in the form of a sheathed katana.

“My little girl was kidnapped! Of course I'm going to be here.” Marco rolled his eyes playfully.

Nova tackled him, hugging her father tightly while the tears flowed freely down her cheeks

“There, there angel” Marco whispered gently, patting Nova's head lovingly “It's okay. We're here.”

Marco and Star shared a look, one that brought a shiver down Nova's spine.

“OOOOOOO KATRINAKINS!”

Katrina flinched in embarrassment, ignoring the thrashing of the figure whose figure she held by the throat.

“Your majesty, did you have to call me that here? Now?”

Star gave a peppy nod as Marco ushered everyone behind himself and his wife.

“Of course. Katrina, please come back and help the children through the portal. Kim and his maids included. We will take care of this.”

Katrina's mask was indifferent but the fierce warrior's posture changed at once.

“Oh boy” Katrina muttered to the still struggling cultist “You are all in trouble now”

Katrina smashed the figure against the ground and jumped high into the air, effortlessly landing next to Star and Marco in a single leap.

“Okay kids time to go!” Katrina instructed, hoisting Connor by the scuff and tossing him through the massive portal

Connor flailed wildly for a moment before landing on the Diaz's living floor with a muted thud.

Nova stayed back though close to Katrina who now was arguing with Kim about how much trouble he was in.

“In, now” Katrina snarled

“we refuse” Jelina shot back, the trio of mechanical maidens standing between the towering monster and their demon lord.

“I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice. You are under suspicion of conspiracy of kidnapping the princess and if I have to take you by force, I will.”

“Wow” Berry chimed in, thoroughly impressed “that sounds bad. Really bad.”

“Ugh, who cares” Mary crossed her arms “We're not going with you.”

“Our master has done nothing wrong. We refuse to comply with your request” jelina added in

“Ladies”

The trio turned to Kim who gestured them to remain calm

“I will go with you”

“Master!” The maids cried out indignantly

Kim raised his hand and they fell silent at once

“My maids will accompany me of course” Kim went on “I will go with you willingly though I suspect you to be honest in your findings.”

Katrina gave a curt nod “We just need to verify if you were working alone or of your own free will. Nothing more.”

Kim nodded “I agree to your terms, shall we?”

Katrina picked up Kim with one hand and the fuming maids in the other, placing them carefully on the floor away from the portal

Sol stared at the demonic overlord and the brightly colored maids that suddenly appeared in his home.

“Whoa” Sol nodded “I'm going to need more cookies” and promptly raced into the kitchen to get snacks for their guests.

Marco drew his katana, tossing the sheath into the portal and onto the couch.

Star took a step forward. There were still dozens upon dozens of cultists despite the countless groaning bodies that littered the floor.

Star took a deep, calming breath. She closed her eyes, imagining a peaceful relaxing field in Mewni she was so fond of.

Marco braced himself, hands covering his ears.

Star's eyes snapped open, her grin bending into a bone chilling smirk.

The cultists fidgeted nervously, their self preservation instincts screaming at them to run for the door.

“So.” Star spoke gently, her gaze scanning the sea of fabric that stood before her “YOU TRIED TO KIDNAP MY LITTLE GIRL!?”

Star's voice boomed with an unearthly volume, shaking the hooded figures externally and internally.

Despite their stoic, inhuman nature, they shuddered at the sound of pure anger laced within the mother's tone.

Star hadn't even waited for a response.

She gestured outward with a single hand and before faster than anyone could anticipate, ribbons of pink energy collided with several cultist chests, sending them crashing into those fortunate enough not to blasted by the righteous fury of Mewni's queen.

Silence as the world seemed to slow, Star's fingers smoking in the stillness

With a screeching battle cry, the figures that remained standing raced forward, hoping to overwhelm the Mewman with their sheer numbers.

Marco rolled his eyes, strolling past Star to place himself between the horde and his wife.

“Marco sweetie” Star cooed lovingly

“Yes honey?”

“Save some for me, will you?”

Marco a gave short nod as he held his katana at his side.

One poor soul made the unfortunate decision to lunge at Marco, thinking it was the most brilliant idea he ever had.

Marco smirked, swinging the flat of his blade against the mid-air foe who tumbled to the floor face first, his nose breaking with a sickening crunch.

Marco charged forward, pushing deep into the crowd while his sword blurred about his body with inhuman speed

Cultists fell at his feet, clutching the various body parts Marco struck achingly, thick, nasty looking bruises already forming.

Marco slashed towards a line of approaching hooded figures and with a flick of his wrists, pieces of hair fell gently to the floor, their owners clutching at their heads fearfully as they backed away from the king.

“got you!” Someone cried from behind, leaping onto Marco's back and attempting to trap him in a hold “Surrender or...”

Crack.

The figure stumbled backwards, a river of crimson leaking from his nose. Marco swiftly turned about and drove the hilt of his katana into the attacker's forehead.

He crumpled to the floor motionless at his feet.

The cultists were giving Marco a wide berth now, surrounding him a very loose circle.

“Look, I just want to go home” Marco told them, motioning with his weapon casually “Just back off and this won't hurt. Well it will hurt but it won't hurt as much as if you make me take you down. What I mean to say the ratio of pain is lessened if you just give up”

“Marco! Stop mathing at them and kick their butts” Star yelled

“You are but a man!”

“But I'm not” a voice called from the door way and stepping out of the shadows was Tom who was as impeccably dressed as Marco.

Marco waved cheerfully with his sword “Oh hey Tom! What brings you here?”

“I figured we could speed this along. Got word that Kim is not a board member and thus fair game. Hey, are we still meeting up for bowling?”

“Totally” Marco nodded in agreement “But this is getting boring. Let's wrap thing up.

“Boring?!” The cultists cried out indignantly but their groans of complaint grew into whimpers of fear as Tom's trio of eyes glowed with a blood red hue.

The CEO of the Underworld grew in size, his limbs and body elongating to an impossible length. his entire form changed, growing and growing as his muscles budged outward ripping the fabric of his shirt. His nails grew and glimmer with a razor sharpness. Glowing orange demonic runes were scrawled every inch of his body as his horns bent and curved backwards, twisting in a tight loop. Flames spread across the normally clean shaven face of the demon until a thick, burning beard made of pure fire crackled against his skin.

Tom let out a roar that shook the very foundation of the world before reaching for a hooded figure, easily plucking him from the sea of his comrades despite his struggling.

Tom swept outward, knocking rows of the cultists to the floor as Marco sprang into action, driving his hilt and flat of his blade into every forehead he could find.

Star took to the skies, bombarded the unlucky souls below with multicolored narwhals, ribbons of concussive force and bright pink gumballs of energy.

Nova watched in awe as the numerous enemies dwindled rapidly before her eyes.

Nova shifted guiltily at the sight of her parents

“They really are amazing.....” She mumbled sadly to herself.

Star waved with a free hand and at her command swirls of pink energy formed at the cultists feet,  spinning faster and faster with a reckless abandon before forming into a thick, powerful pink tornado that swallowed entire figures whole and trapped them in an endless cycle.

Several figures attempted to leap at Tom all at once in hopes of somehow overwhelming the demonic lord but Tom swiped them out of the air, sending them crashing against the solid stone floor before giving them a good punt outside the door.

Marco ducked and weaved through the hooded figures, expertly attacking any cultists who was foolish enough to try and stop him, making sure to give some warning cuts to some clothing for good measure

“That is pretty terrifying” Connor called to Nova, his green eyes wide with awe “I've never seen your parents fight before.”

“I've never seen mom transform before.” Nova replied in a stun awe.

“What is going on here?!” A new voice called from the Diaz household.

The fighting stopped at once with no one sure why exactly everyone had paused.

There was a dull thud as someone fell through the portal into the underworld, the darkness of the room against the illumination from the setting sun on Earth basked the person in a shadowy silhouette

“JACK!” A motherly whine called out and before the young half demon knew it, he found himself trapped in a familiarly tight embrace.

“MOM!” Jack cried out in embarrassment, much to his horror “What are you doing here?! AND STOP TRYING TO KILL ME!”

“How dare you run off to the Underworld without telling me?” Janna scolded, grabbing and pulling on her son's ear “Hmm? What were you thinking?”

“Oww, OWW! sinusubukan ko lang makatulong sa aking mga kaibigan!”

“Really?” Janna peered closer “AND YOU RUINED YOUR CLOTHES?!”

“MOM!” Jack whimpered helplessly

“Don't you mom me!” Janna frowned “I worked very hard to make you those clothes and you can't even keep them cleaned?!”

“I was in the Underworld mom! It's kinda hard to....”

“Excuses” Janna cut in.

“Umm...” Connor said calmly “is this really....?”

“Yep” Nova confirmed, her gaze never leaving mother and son “It's happening”

“and YOU”

A cultist froze as Janna pointed directly towards him, inching closer and closer with a blind rage in her stance.

“M-me?” The cultist stammered

Janna gave him a quizzically stare before punching him straight in the jaw and sending tumbling to the floor.

“not you” Janna scoffed before turning furiously at the towering Tom “YOU”

“Me?” Tom gestured helplessly to himself “Wait, what?”

“You let our son...”

“Mom, it's not...”

“... go on a dangerous rescue mission to the underworld.”

“Wait, Janna it's not like...”

“AND DIDN'T TELL ME?”

Tom taken aback “He just showed up on my doorstep! I didn't really have time to call you.”

“Did you at least give him the armor?”

“He's wearing it sweetie”

“And did you at least walk him here?”

“Janna I couldn't just.....”

Janna shook her head disappointingly “We'll talk about this later.”

Janna turned to face the few cultists that remained and told them in a low, dangerous whisper “get out.”

The cultists shared a surprised look with one another. Was this woman really expecting to...

One of the hooded figures jumped as a battle ax suddenly embedded itself in the floor, barely missing his arm by an inch or so.

Janna leaned in closer, hilt of the weapon still in her hand “I said go.”

The cultist opened his mouth to reply when he felt something warm tickling down his arm. He glanced to find a piece of his robe had been cut off and something red trickling down his arm.

The cultist fled at once, tripping and falling over their fallen in their race to escape.

Silence overtook the room once again before shattered by a loving, excited “JANNA BANANA!”

Janna barely braced herself in time for Star sudden hug attack, the queen of Mewni wrapping her arms tightly around her deputy mayor while bouncing up and down (Luckily she had returned to her normal Mewman form)

“Hey Star” Janna greeted in a lazy drawl, patting Star's back in a friendly manner “Been a while.”

“it has!” Star pouted “You have to tell me how it went in Paris. Tell me tell me tell me!”

“Star” Janna raised a hand to stop the mayor's pawing “Kids”

“Don't worry Katrina's got them buuuut we better go. We need to close the giant portal we left in the ceiling.”

“So...” Tom coughed, slowly approaching his wife “You look...”

“Yes I look good and yes I'm still mad. Come on hothead”

Nova felt strange sense of disconnection just sitting in the living room next to Jack and Connor despite being trapped with a demon's manor just moments before. The adults stood around them in a loose formation, talking about life and things that occurred since the last time they saw each other but Nova could feel the worry roll off of them, their gazes protective yet relaxed though it's probably the several massive Mewman knights standing at every possible entrance into the house, at the ready.

Katrina was sitting on the floor, laughing at Sol who was eagerly trying on her helmet despite the fact it was several times too big and span freely on his head.

“Everything is so normal” Nova said cautiously “ like nothing happened.”

“I know right?” Connor added in, eying his surroundings carefully.

Jack shrugged indifferently “This isn't our parents first battle.”

Nova thought back to her mother's Mewberty form, how majestic and powerful she had been.

“...yeah....”

Marco carefully approached the children, giving a reassuring smile “You guys okay?”

They all gave a nod

“So how many days were we gone?” Connor asked curiously

Marco scratched his chin thoughtfully “about 4 hours?”

“Four hours?! SERIOUSLY?!”

“Yeah, it's still Thursday”

Connor sunk into the couch in disbelief before wincing in pain.

“Connor!” Jack and Nova cried out in surprise.

“I'm fine” Connor tried to wave off their concern but he could the knowing glint of Mr. Diaz's eye

“Ah, first major battle huh? Probably got bruised pretty nicely”

“Connor!” Nova scolded.

“I'll be fine”

“Nova, bandage him up”

Nova sighed dramatically “C'mon Connor.”

Connor stayed still

Jack raised an eyebrow “I will carry you”

Connor shot to his feet at once, allowing the magical princess to lead him to the bathroom.

Connor sat there silently, trying his hardest not to flinch as Nova smoothed out the wrappings around his shirtless chest, her cold hands and the swelling of his bruises making it difficult to sit still.

Nova's face was bright red and she spent as much time as she could staring away from Connor.

“H-hey, you got muscles now?” Nova commented offhandedly

“I-I guess?” Connor coughed “I mean I just invent...but I guess some of the pieces are pretty heavy....”

“R-right....”

Awkward silence fell over the teens who were determined to just get this over with.

“....I'm...sorry....”

“Huh?” Connor turned around only to found Nova staring at him, tears in her eyes.

“This happened because I wasn't strong enough.....my own parents had to come and get me....”

“Nova? I don't...”

“I'm no Butterfly” she muttered sadly “I couldn't even fight off a stupid demon.”

“HE'S NOT STUPID” The trio of maids shouted back.

“You know what my mom did when she was my age? SHE SAVED MY DAD WHEN HE WAS KIDNAPPED BY TOFFEE! I COULDN'T EVEN....”

Nova stopped as Connor held her closely

“Nova, you're okay. Everything's okay. That's all that matters.”

Nova cried freely, wrapping her arms gently best friend.

Connor stroked Nova's hair softly, letting out a relived sigh.

Everything was okay.

Nova trudged her way to her bed after her mother decided it was best for the young ones to sleep. She threw off her father's hoodie and sat at the edge of her bed, preparing to head to sleep. Her father decided it was best if they all stayed home tomorrow given how chaotic today was.

She sighed deeply, holding her mother's devil headband gingerly in her hands.

What kind of princess was she? Not even a month with the wand and she was already kidnapped and endangering everyone. Who knows what could've happened if Connor and Jack hadn't came to save her or her parents failed to reach them in time.

Connor and Jack were asleep downstairs which brought her some small comfort but the failure of her duty gnawed at her entire being.

And as she tried to drift off to sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, all she could think of  is how horrible she was at being a magical princess.

Maybe the nobles were right. Maybe she was no heir to Mewni.

[magibb-blog]

For ‘How to claim a fic’ please refer to this post. I have kept the formatting of the summaries pretty much the same as they were submitted to me. So if a summary looks different than the others, that’s why.

The summaries have been palaced in the following catagories with the number of how many fics there are (this is based on popular pairings and which pairings had more than 1 fic)

Sinja (5)

Juhaku (2)

Sinju (2)

Multiple [just any story that has multiple pairings, they can be of any kind] (3)

Other [pairings that were submitted once and/or aren’t the most popular ones] (6)

General [no pairings/pairings play no actual role] (3)

The Summaries:

Sinja 1 [note that this fic has 3 summaries, one for every chapter]

1.Summary:  It’s Ja'far’s third birthday since he joined Sinbad’s merry band of idiots, but it’s the first one that Sinbad has known the exact date for. And he’s going to make this one the best Ja'far’s ever had. But he’s going to need some help. Because what do you get for someone who doesn’t want anything? Pairings: Sinja (Kinda) (Main) Characters: Ja'far, Sinbad (Kinda Vittel??) Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Fluff, flashbacks, and Sin and Ja’far aren’t technically in a relationship. There’s a kiss on the forehead and that’s it besides a “Love ya, Ja’far!” from Sinbad. Rating: K+2. 2.Summary: The birthday of the king is a huge deal for all involved, and while Sinbad doesn’t think it’s a big deal, Ja'far’s stressing over what to get for the man who has everything. Pairings: Sinja (Main) Characters: Ja'far, Sinbad. Triggers/themes/info to be noted: There’s mild sexual themes here, like they’re about to get it on but are stopped before anything can really happen. Ja'far stressing. Language. Fluff. Rating: T-M 3.Summary (if enough time): Sindria’s anniversary is renown throughout the world, but the two keeping it together just need some time without the hustle and bustle to celebrate in their own way. Pairings: Sinja (Main) Characters: Sinbad, Ja'far. Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Sinbad and Ja'far celebrate with sex and lots of fluffy aftercare when something goes horribly wrong and Ja'far panicks. Rating: M-MA. 

Sinja 2

Summary: When Masrur notices Sinbad spending an awful lot of time alone with Ja'far in her tent, he decides something must be done to prevent their leader from breaking Ja'far’s heart.

Pairing: Sinbad/Ja'far

Main Characters: Masrur, Ja'far, Sinbad

Info to be noted: Sinbad no Bouken era, fem!Ja'far, fluff

Rating: T

Sinja 3

Summary: Sinbad, a vampire, ends up starving to death on mercenary monster-hunter Ja'far’s doorstep.  Through a serious of shenanigans, they overcome their natural enmity and try to make a safe, underground world for various monsters and misfits.  

Pairings: Sinja

(Main) Characters: Sinbad, Ja'far, the #crew affiliated with them

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: there will be some nsfw if that bothers you.  Minor mook death, mentions of gore, though it won’t get too nasty.  otherwise it’s relatively long so there should be a choice for what you wanna draw 

Rating: explicit (though i can remove the smut part if it’s a problem??)

Sinja 4

Summary: Sinbad should know better than to step into seedy bars that are definitely fronts for shadier business, but that blind bartender fascinates him.

Pairings: SinbadxJa'far

(Main) Characters: Sinbad, Ja'far, Judar, Kouen, Hakuei,Alibaba, Aladdin, Morgiana, Hakuryuu

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Small amount of angst, blindness, drug and alcohol use, mild violence, smut

Rating: Explicit

Sinja 5

Summary: Sinbad adopts Aladdin after death of Sheba. Jafar realized he's not just a playboy. 

Pairings: Sinja 

(Main) Characters: Sinbad, Jafar, Aladdin 

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Death, Fluff, a bit angst, modern AU

Rating: T-M 

Juhaku 1

Summary: If it seemed like Judal was running his tattoo parlor out of a Chinese restaurant, it’s because he was. It had that commercialized, old-world Chinese mysticism aesthetic, and artistic designs hung on the wall that moved beneath the glass of the picture frames, with the help of a little bit of magic. It wasn’t big, or popular, or spectacular, but he was proud of it, and he’d do anything to protect it.

Genre: urban fantasy, near future

Pairings: Juhaku, implied Sinju

Characters: Judal, Hakuryuu, Kougyoku, Sinbad

Warnings: violence, crime, abuse mention, torture mention

Rating: M

Notes: This fic is based on the setting of Shadowrun. You don’t need to be familiar with it!

Juhaku 2

Summary: Hakuryuu, a casual collector of rare potteries, stumbles upon a fabulous deal on a very rare piece in a ramshackle “antiques” store. The owner, Judal, is rich in eccentricity and looks, and sells it to Hakuryuu for a meager price with only a cryptic warning to suggest there may be more at play. In this shop, however, the deals are only as good as your ability to follow instructions….

Pairings: Judal/Hakuryuu

(Main) Characters: Judal, Hakuryuu

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: modern fantasy au, cursed objects, Judal is a shit, may end up including a sex scene?

Rating: T (M if I include a sex scene or Judal ends up being particularly weird)

Sinju 1

Summary: Sometimes Sinbad dreamed. He dreamed of bleeding fingertips playing the sweetest lullabies and an obscure lover offering him the most sinful peach. He dreamed of torrid hands and Tarab.

Pairings: SinbadxJudar

(Main) Characters: Sinbad- Judar- Gyokuen Ren- Ren family 

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Romance/angst/hurt and comfort. A bittersweet one-shot, something full of vibrant colors though not necessarily having an over-happy theme. contains blood, hope, love, bittersweet lingering feelings and tenderness. 

Rating: M 

SinJu 2

Summary: Judal doesn’t particularly want to help Kougyoku look after her flower shop, but it’s only a matter of time before he’s roped into the monumental task. But when Sinbad, the handsome tattoo-artist from next door, always finds an excuse to pay a visit, Judal thinks the job might not be so bad after all.

Pairings: Sinbad/Judal

(Main) Characters: Sinbad, Judal, some minor characters (Kougyoku, Kouen, etc.)

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: fluff, possibly some light nsfw, will probably be around 10-20k words

Rating: M (probably lmao)

Multi 1 

Summary: Sinbad attempts to postpone his death by telling stories to the man about to end his life. Detailed plot synopsis can be found here, since it’s kind of long.

Pairings: Sinja, Sinju, Juhaku, Kougyoku/Morgiana

(Main) Characters: Sinbad and Ja'far are the main two characters actually in the story, and the rest (Judal, Hakuryuu, Morgiana, and Kougyoku) all appear in the stories Sinbad is telling.

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Open ending with an implication that Sinbad survives, but the possibility that he does not. Juhaku segment will include canon-typical bad news from the main pair. Koumor section may include brief and undetailed mention or implication of violence towards women.

Rating: Either T or MA depending on where the coarseness of language and the violence level in the Juhaku bit falls… I’m going for a fairy-tale-esque feel so T is probably where it’ll be

Multi 2 

Summary: During the  hundred years travelling as a soul only in the doll body after losing the battle with Hakuryuu and Judar, Alibaba got teleported into a parallel world where the people were the same, but it’s a whole different story, where even relationship and names are different. This is the story of what happened to Alibaba before he met Judar, spening time nearly half a year in my Modern AU (with special abilities and cyber punk existing)

Pairings: Judar/Kassim, Kouen/Sinbad/Seren, Yamuraiha/Dunya, Alibaba/Kouha

(Main) Characters: Judar, Kassim, Alibaba, Morgiana, Aladdin, Tess, Sinbad, Seren, etc

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: fluff, platonic love, graphic depiction of several mental illnesses and physical disabilities, mental illnesses itself, trans characters, Dissociation Identity Disorder! Judar , Amputee! Kassim (many more have disabilities but I can’t tag them all cause it’ll be too much) the pairing in the Pairings section is not because I ship them in Magi canon but because that’s how the story goes.

Rating: T-M

Multi 3

Summary: Vampire Slayer AU; Newly-graduated Magnostadt alumnus and Magi Aladdin nearly gets eaten by vampires and runs into two vampire-slaying troupes: the Fog Troupe, led by Kassim and Mariam, and the Fanalis Corps, led by Morgiana and Myron.  The journey he takes with them leads him to Balbadd, the improbable sanctuary country that has been taking in fleeing humans and dhampirs alike, regardless of political circumstance.  There Aladdin and the others learn learn the dark secret that creates a sanctuary country and lays cruel chains on its king: Alibaba Saluja, Aladdin’s dear friend and King candidate, who it might already be too late to save.

Pairings: Alihaku, Kasskou (Kassim/Kougyoku), Aladdin/Mariam, Myrgiana (Myron/Morgiana), Sahbmad/Koumei, Sinja, Kouen/Hakuei, and Judal/Kouha

(Main) Characters: Aladdin, Alibaba, Hakuryuu, Kougyoku, Kassim, Mariam, Morgiana, Myron, Sinbad, Yunan

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: This is a Vampire Slayer AU; it’s very much like the Magi universe, but there are vampires, dhampirs (half-human, half-vampire and immune to being turned into vampires) and humans here.  Djinns only serve humans and dhampirs; no one has ever tried to turn a human King candidate into a vampire… yet.  There will be blood here (both in blood contracts and battle), a climactic battle with some violence (not too graphic though) and major character (near?) death.  Additionally, there is some sexual talk between the characters, but no smutty scenes will be in the main story.

Rating: M

Other 1 [SinAli]

Summary: Rashid had passed away only two years before Sinbad, who had become Alibaba’s guardian, was in a trafic accident and lost his vision. Now Alibaba has to help Sinbad adjust to his new situation as well as help him cope with the series of mental issues ensuing the incedent.

Pairings: SinAli

(Main) Characters: Sinbad & Alibaba

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: angst, disability, self-loathing, depression, father-son relationship, AU - Modern setting.

Rating: T.

Other 2 [SinSpar]

Summary: Sinbad, a demon, has been held prisoner for centuries in the depths of a church, where the devotees of God regularly torture him as repentance for his sins. Or perhaps their own. Spartos, a young priest, is introduced to the monster as the next in a long line to torment him. However he has one trait that the pious seem to have forgotten; compassion.  

Pairings: Sinbad x Spartos 

(Main) Characters: Spartos Leoxses, Sinbad 

Triggers/themes/info to be noted:  Religious Themes. Lots of violence.Angst with a happy ending. No character death. Monster x Human relationship. Dark fic

Rating: M - MA for Violence and possible implied / explicit Sexual Content. ( not decided yet) 

Other 3 [SinDra]

Summary: While taking a hiatus from his career, Sinbad receives a letter with a very familiar surname, and discovered that an old flame had been widowed and is in need of some help caring for his kids, and that some feelings hadn’t disappeared entirely over the years…. 

Pairings: Sinbad/Drakon

(Main) Characters: Sinbad, Drakon

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Modern AU, Drakon’s human, fluff with some h/c. Also contains mentions of shitty fashions worn during high-school. 

Rating: PG 

Other 4 [HinaRuru]

Summary: After her mother’s death, daughter of national chief Rametoto, Rurumu is determined to become a fierce warrior and everything else she needs to survive in a harsh environment. However, after meeting an assassin and hearing the cruelties of the outside world, she sets out on a series of adventures in her quest to create her own country.

Pairings: Hinaruru

(Main) Characters: Rurumu, Ja'far, Hinahoho, Vittel, and Mahad

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Child abuse, death, canon divergence (lots of canon divergence)

Rating: T

Other 5 [JuKou]

Summary: He could chose to specialize in air magic, powerful enough to blown entire armies, or earth and level the foundations of kingdoms, or even fire and burn the world to the ground; yet Judar keeps coming to the water’s edge. Al Thamen always said that water is weak. Kougyoku is a mermaid with the power to use Vinea’s water magic, but what use is water magic in the sea? Together, Judar and Kougyoku discover just how strong the sea can be.

Pairings: Judar x Kougyoku

(Main) Characters: Judar and Kougyoku

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Mermaid AU (The Ren family and advisers are fish people except Judar and anyone closely associated with Al Thamen.)  

Rating: K+

Other 6 [AlaKou]

Summary: Ren Kougyoku is the Eighth Imperial Princess and the second female Djiin user in Kou. She is engaged to Aladdin, one of the most important members of the Peace Alliance. She understands her duties and understands his. She won’t complain, she’ll just wait for those days he can come back to her. 

Pairings: Aladdin x Kougyoku

(Main) Characters: Ren Kougyoku, Aladdin

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: It’s basically Kougyoku holding herself together over having a long distance relationship with Aladdin and him coming back to her.

Rating: General Audience

Gen 1 [Mystras]

Summary:  Banished from Sasan, Mystras decides to travel to the country he has always been hearing stories of. But an inexperienced traveler doesn’t always end up where he wants to be and a lost home is always calling.

Pairing: None

(Main) Characters: Mystras Leoxses, Yunan, Hakuyuu, Hakuren, Morgiana, Darius, Sinbad, Spartos and some more characters that appear for maybe one paragraph.

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: AU where Mystras doesn’t follow Sinbad and Darius isn’t the biggest shit around, rushed writing because that’s kind of my style and it probably has some parts that make no sense but... Mystras is alive throughout the whole fic?

Rating: K+/T

Gen 2 [Hakuryuu]

Summary: Modern AU. With Gyokuen having been out of Hakuryuu’s sight since he was a child due to the justice system, the revenge his brothers asked for is impossible for him to carry out. Finding other ways to satisfy their memories is difficult - after all, how can he know if they approve or not when they’re long dead?

Pairings: It’s not a romance fic at heart, but there is Juhaku and just a little Alimor.

(Main) Characters: Hakuryuu, Judar, Alibaba, and Cassim. But mostly Hakuryuu.

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: Lowkey an addiction fic. Other themes are grief and anxiety. I wouldn’t call it angst but it’s not particularly happy. There’s also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to past sexual abuse.

Rating: T-M

Gen 3 [Hakuyuu]

Summary: From striving to be the perfect heir to the throne, to fighting for his life on the battlefield, to slowly uncovering his mother’s deceptions, to trying ultimately in vain to protect his family, Ren Hakuyuu has always struggled through life.

Pairings: Background Ren Gyokuen/Ren Hakutoku

(Main) Characters: Ren Hakuyuu, Ren Hakuren, Ren Gyokuen (Arba, technically). Centers around the whole Ren family, but those three are the focus. 

Triggers/themes/info to be noted: War scenes, canon-typical violence and gore, angst, pain, betrayal, Hakubros burning to death. Moments of levity (in the form of family bonding), but not an overall happy fic. Rating: M