#and it being free helps me overlook jankiness

[warlordfelwinter]

there is just So Much worldbuilding going on in palia

[decamarks]

Hey there! First off I want to say I *adore* your art, you absolutely 1000% perfectly tap into the vibe and style of late 90's/early 00's 3D models in a way literally no one else does. I think about your art of your fake games' glitches (especially the forum post!!! it's. *perfect.*) all the time :)

And I've noticed how you're always very insightful and kind whenever you answer asks, so thank you for that!

If it's not too intrusive to ask, I was wondering how you went about finding a doctor to get your autism diagnosis? I've been pretty sure for a few years now that I'm on the spectrum, but I've never had a clue how to actually get tested/diagnosed. Especially since I'm an adult female too, and I've heard a ton about how autism is really overlooked/underdiagnosed for people like us.

But seeing that you were able to find someone who avoided all the common pitfalls and was able to actually help you made me want to reach out. I had been wanting to ask you this for a while (as you can probably tell based on what the question was haha) but I was too anxious to actually do it (still am, a bit ><). Again, feel free to ignore this part if it's too personal or you don't want to answer it for any reason!

It feels awkward to end an ask with that, so I'll bookend it with something I think you'll like: have you ever heard of trsrockin.com? It's an old fansite I used to visit religiously as a kid that talked about early Pokemon and Super Mario games and collectibles from them, as well as oddities like glitches from the aforementioned games, forgotten weird one-off SNES games, documenting fake/trick fanmade "cheats" for games, and bootleg merchandise.

It's one of if not the first public place (afaik) that MissingNo. and pals were discovered/talked about, and a little community came together to try and figure out why the glitch happened and what all the effects and variants of it were. Even you've been to trsrockin before and none of this is new info, I thought it would at least be a nice trip down memory lane :)

It's an old site that has since been taken down, and for some reason archive.org can't properly archive the full site/all its links. But luckily someone created a complete mirror of it! You can find it here: http://catfish.it.cx/trsrockin/trsrockin.com/index.html

AHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! ;__; you're too kind... i know i haven't posted too much of my 3d work recently, but trust me, i have a LOT more of those faux-retro aesthetics in store with the game i've been working on... >=) i'm always so so happy to see other people appreciate janky ol' 3d graphics, LMFAO

also!! i've definitely heard of trsrockin eheehee... i was a bit too young to use it when it was in its prime (and also more of a bulbapedia enthusiast), but i've perused some archived pages before! old internet forums & fansites are just the best thing in the world...

ANYWAY: regarding your question! Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to give advice about this, because I feel like I kind of got my diagnosis by chance... Essentially: I started seeing a new therapist; she suggested I might be on the spectrum, I said, "Yeah maybe IDK"; I got a referral to an evaluator—and then an incredibly expensive diagnosis after a few months of waiting and testing.

My case differs in that I didn't really suspect being on the spectrum myself. Which seems a bit silly, considering I now realize I am... observably autistic. In abundance. But it was genuinely hard to puzzle out, what with all my other problems (particularly, severe misophonia, which can be REALLY hard to differentiate from general sensory sensitivity.) So about specifically seeking out a diagnosis, I unfortunately can't give a good answer. But I'm willing to talk about the rest, on the off-chance it ends up helpful! (Under the cut at least.)

I don't like to be too open about my Issues™ online—but I got a whole lot of them, and they used to be a lot worse than they are now, so I was stuck in that perpetual "adolescent with treatment-resistant depression" purgatory for, like... my entire adolescence! Because no one knew what the hell was wrong with me. I'm barely in adulthood now, but I'm extremely thankful to be broken out of that. Both the 'treatment-resistant depression' diagnoses AND the adolescence. Being told with authority that I, indeed, have an untreated case of mega-autism—and not an irreparably broken brain whose electrical activities zap SSRIs straight out of existence—is definitely relieving. And now I can confidently say shit like 'mega-autism', so like, wins all around.

About getting a diagnosis in general: in my case, I kind of needed one, because it would be not be feasible for me to go to school/work/exist without accommodations of some kind. (The evaluation I had was, in part, just to get a psychological report of any kind, since I desperately needed supporting documentation to request accommodations anywhere.) Otherwise, I'm honestly not sure if I'd bother?

On one hand, an official diagnosis is an incredibly affirming thing to have—especially if you didn't even suspect it before; things start making a lot of sense afterwards, LOL—but on the other hand, it is a tedious and kind of humiliating process. And possibly expensive.

And then, like you mentioned, there's the problem of some doctors being biased or plainly godawful at their job/poorly designed systems ruining everything for everyone. It's probably for incompetency on those ends that a diagnosis managed to elude me for nineteen years straight. (Vividly recalling the time my school had a counselor give me an impromptu autism evaluation, in which she concluded that I "didn't seem to have autism, but would probably get along really well with autistic people." WHATEVER THAT MEANT.) But! It's not impossible to get someone who knows what they're doing! I'd love to say otherwise, but I really did just stumble into a decent doctor... There's a lot of luck involved, and man. I did not get good RNG at first. (← I'M SORRY FOR BEING A GAMER.)

I went into the evaluation doubting I had it, and heavily doubting that I'd be diagnosed, but like... Hold on let me reach across your desk and slide you the answers to the autism test. The trick is to not even try to be normal, I think. Intermittently talk about CRT monitors, and how you like learning ciphers, and Pokemon glitches—or whatever else you're into. But those specifically worked for me! "Don't mask", is what I'm saying. (Really though, I think if you're answering everything to the best of your ability, properly administered tests done by a doctor who doesn't suck should be able to diagnosis you. If they don't, then the problem is something systemic, and far beyond anything I could reasonably give advice about...)

ANYWAY! (x2) I'm honestly not sure if any of this is particularly helpful, but if you decide to pursue it, I wish you luck with getting your diagnosis!! It's definitely a bit of a hellish thing to do—but dammit, if it's worth it to you, then it's definitely worth doing.

YOUR REWARD FOR READING THIS WHOLE POST IS: "Kinesin_walking.gif"

YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH

[mismagireve]

WIPs/Drafts/Concepts

going under a cut because this fucker is long

like 60-stories-and-their-summaries long

Works In Progress

He Who Invites—Police Detective Ryotaro Dojima is pulled into the strange magical side of the Inaba Murder Case when he sees his nephew’s persona casually hovering above him one night.  Focuses largely on Dojima’s development and his interactions with the Investigation Team in the real world as they plan their next moves.  Five out of ??? Chapters published.

Everything Stays—The Fell Dragon Grima interacts with his fellow dragons in the kingdom of Askr.  A writing challenge to tell a story in 300-700 words each.  Somewhat on hold until more dragon units are added to the game.  Two out of Fourteen stories published.

Drafts

Words Spoken In Wormwood—Members of the Rose Cult have not overlooked Amadeus’s strange eccentricities.  They may not know what he is, but they know that he’s almost certainly not human.  Several cultists discuss Amadeus’s relationship with the Hero in a bar one night, leading to uncomfortable revelations.  Oneshot; draft has 1,751 words so far.

Can You Hear Your Heart Sing?—When you get close enough to your soulmate, your heart can’t help but sing in sheer joy at finding the person that is destined to love you forever; this causes problems when your soulmate is your also the person destined to be your enemy.  Slowburn Heropulchure Soulmate AU.  Multichapter story; draft has 722 words so far.

Somewhere Ages And Ages Hence—In exchange for being declared dead and saved from being imprisoned or executed for a crime they didn’t commit, the Reader puts their life in the hands of a strange man in a Rose uniform living out in the woods with his daughter.  Oblivious to his true identity (but not his true form), the Reader slowly falls in love with their new family.  Second-person Slowburn Reader/Sepulchure story, set during Book 3.  The Calamity Saga is unfortunately canon in this one.  Contains smut.  Twoshot; draft has 4,534 words so far.

Don’t You Dare Call Me Daddy—Though initially only taking the job for extra textbook money, Hero has to admit that it has some nice benefits.  Like getting pounded into a mattress until she can’t see straight by her old highschool history teacher.  Heropulchure Babysitter AU.  Contains smut.  Oneshot; draft has 508 words so far.

In Which The Lowblood Prince Saves A Dragon From A Princess—Prince Karkat of Prospit is sent to diffuse a situation between two princesses.  This would be fairly easy if not for the fact that one of said princesses was a dragon.  Old-ass Homestuck fic draft from 2015.  I think this was going to be fefkat.  Oneshot; draft has 1,481 words so far.

Fic Concepts

DC Comics

Not Quite Bat Son—When a new hero from Fawcett City is welcomed into the Justice League on a probationary membership, Billionaire Bruce Wayne feels a pang of nostalgia for the old city and decides to check in on how his godson Billy Batson is doing after so much time away—only to find that Billy’s guardian Ebeneezer Batson had thrown the boy to the streets nearly an entire year ago, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Tim And Dick Write A Yaoi—Sequel to The Bat And The Billionaire.  Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, the former and current Robins respectively, attempt to write their own “janky brucebat romance story” after the discovery that a market for such stories actually exists sends them into howling laughter.  The boys quickly grow bored of their story, but other players in the Batman mythos slowly find and add on to the document until it is completed.

Ain’t You Ever Hear Of A Harlequin Bat?—Harley Quinn’s dumped the Joker for good, and her new boytoy Bruce Wayne is keeping her safe in the public eye while her new partner Batman keeps an eye on the Joker’s activities in Gotham to make sure it stays that way.  Look out Gotham City, Harley Quinn maybe be fighting crime instead of causing it these days, but joining the Batclan hasn’t done a thing to reign her in.

The Adventures of Supergirl—Kara Zor-El finds a small drone with a voice coming out of it, claiming (reluctantly) to belong to a hero named Querl Dox from the 31st century.  Though initially not wanting assistance and not wanting to interfere with the past respectively, the two quickly become partners when a supervillain attack turns out to be more than Kara can handle by herself.  Querl’s history documents say she saved the world countless times; they never said she didn’t have help.

DC Comics: Black Dadam Initiative

The Prince of Kahndaq—Though not exactly planning on ever stepping down, Black Adam is still a practical enough man to plan for the possibility that he might have to anyways; that plan includes the task of choosing an heir for the throne of Kahndaq.  With no living descendants and no living mortals worthy of his kingdom, Black Adam comes to realize that the only being alive that could truly make a claim for his throne is current champion of Shazam: Billy Batson.  Not that Billy is going anywhere without his co-champions to back him up.

Welcome Home Uncle Teth!—After 5,000 years hurtling through space, the last thing that Black Adam had expected to see was not that the wizard Shazam had chosen a new Champion, but that said champion and his companions would welcome Black Adam with open arms as if he was some long lost relative instead of an enemy.  Perhaps—perhaps he might wait a bit to destroy them all.  It... has been an awful long time since anyone was happy to see him...

Ben-Adam—In accordance to ancient Egyptian belief, it takes, on average, 3,000 years for a soul to be able to reincarnate in human form once again.  But perhaps in certain special cases, a soul may choose to delay its return to human form.  When Black Adam returns to Earth after 5,000 years away, he finds one of his children waiting for him:  Billy Batson, a child living on the streets with the power of Shazam and no memory of his past life.

Fire Emblem Heroes

The Villain Of This Story—The Fell Dragon Grima is summoned to Askr, and the Order of Heroes finds that he can’t be sent away.  Not wanting to waste a perfectly good unit, the Summoner takes it upon themself to make an ally of the old god, show him that humanity has more to offer than pain and empty promises—and perhaps find love?  Grima/Summoner.

Love Like You—A series of cute oneshots of Grima and the Summoner in various situations.

We Are Ready (We Are Many)—Legion finds himselves smitten with the Summoner after they unwittingly become the first person to treat him and his brothers with unconditional kindness.  When Reese and Clarisse join the Order of Heroes, he can’t help but feel... jealous as his Summoner offers them the same treatment.  Contains smut.

Imposter—This masked swordsman, prior to what he says, cannot be Marth.  Camus has fought Marth, and while this stranger is close, he isn’t the real deal.  From what Camus can tell, he isn’t even a he at all...  Camus/Lucina crackshipping.

Penance—Titania finds the Black Knight in Askr long before any of her fellow mercenaries are summoned, and while she knows that his life is Ike’s to take, there is no way that she can bear to let the man live even a second more.  At least, no way until she realizes that the Black Knight wants her to kill him; there’s no valor in killing a man who wants to die.  Which, she supposes, leaves them at a bit of an impasse.  Titania/Zelgius crackshipping.

Google: How Do I Escape Another World?—A college student finds herself embroiled in a sudden inexplicable war as the Summoner of Askr; too bad she comes from a world without Fire Emblem so she doesn’t know who or what anything is.  At least she has her phone with her to look things up in the real world and keep in touch with her friends... Kiran/Bruno AU.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia

Creation Of The Brand—The brand of a Divine Dragon signifies a blood pact between dragons and the men that worship them.  In the early days of the nation that would become Rigel, a young tribal leader petitions her god to grant them someone worthy of becoming King.  Reader/Duma.  Contains smut.

All But Invincible—Zeke finds his memories returning much quicker after joining the Rigelian army under Jerome’s command; unlike in canon, this time he makes sure to tell Tatiana about what he’s discovered, leading to changes in the upcoming war with Zofia.  Tatizeke AU.

Sable Blood—Tatiana finds a coffin washed up on the beach, and the man isn’t human: he’s a vampire.  A young vampire, one with little power, and littler bloodlust still.  Instead of wanting to dominate the village, he’s indebted to it, and begins working to make their home an easier place to live... Something that catches the eye of the vampiress Nuibaba, whom holds this region under her iron grip.  Tatizeke AU.

Hello?  Hello?  Are You There?—In modern day Valm, long after all the gods have died and all the magic is considered little more than a myth, Tatiana moves into a house on the coast after returning to her old hometown—and finds an old ghost haunting it as she sleeps.  Tatizeke AU.

Fire Emblem Tellius Saga

Black Dawn—Sothe didn’t come in time and Micaiah was unable to escape enemy capture, leading the soldiers to bring her to a surprised General Zelgius visiting from mainland Begnion.  Not seeing any way to free her without revealing himself, Zelgius kills the soldiers and escapes with Micaiah, joining the Dawn Brigade and continuing his master’s plans at the cost of his life in Begnion.  Micaiah/Zelgius AU.

Absolution Of The Queen—Yune is able to heal the Black Knight before he perishes from his wounds, and Zelgius survives to see the end of the war.  Micaiah gives him a public pardon when she is crowned Queen in order to not deprive the struggling people of Daein of one of their few heroes, something Zelgius finds too forgiving to bear.  Then she requests that he marry her in order to strengthen the throne.  Micaiah/Zelgius AU.

The Branded King—Zelgius is normally able to smother his conscience without much issue, but one order from Ashnard suddenly strikes a chord.  The Mad King challenges his knight to a duel to the death for his ideals, and claims Zelgius as his heir upon losing.  Later, an attempt to reconcile his dual identities leads Zelgius to both cut off his ties with Begnion and reveal his true nature.  Thus begins the reign of the Branded King.  Micaiah/Zelgius AU.

What We Talked About—Ike did return from his journey one day, though he never again set foot in the nations of man.  Part of the reason he’d left was to find himself after living so much of his life fighting a war.  And part of it was to learn to become someone that could stand on equal footing with the woman he loved.  Ike/Lethe AU.

Happy Family—Lillia is able to hold on long enough for Greil and Elena to flee Daein.  Zelgius accidentally bears his brand to Greil, who offers him a chance to escape.  Lehran’s Medallion never changes hands with someone who could not withstand its power.  And the world is a happier place.  Everybody Lives AU.  Micaiah/Zelgius.

White Dahlias—Faced for the first time in his life with someone whom not only understands him, but appreciates his company, the Black Knight falls quickly and completely for his maiden.  It was easy to shove his feelings aside at first for the sake of the mission—but then he started coughing up flower petals.  Micaiah/Zelgius Hanahaki Disease AU.

Diplomatic Relations—Micaiah was never spirited away to Daein, but declared a bastard child and thrown into the ranks of the servants with only the grace of Prime Minister Sephiran keeping her from being executed instead.  Years later, an envoy from the country of Daein arrives in Begnion, and Micaiah encounters the Black Knight while tending to her royal sister.  Micaiah/Zelgius No War AU.

I Can Read Minds, You Know—There are many things that the Black Knight does not tell her, and she is willing to allow him his secrets.  However... her knight is not nearly as guarded with his emotions as he thinks he is, and they’re becoming a bit distracting.  Micaiah/Zelgius.  Contains smut.

Dragonfable

Red Bloodied Armor—Formerly written for NaNoWriMo, in serious need of rewriting.  While on the voyage home from yet another failed attempt at finding out who she used to be, Serenity’s carriage is attacked by a dragon, forcing her to take cover in a nearby castle in the woods.  Though her monstrous host is all too happy to let her stay as long as she wants and keep his daughter company, without any means of contacting the outside world, there’s no way she can leave.  And on top of that, there seems to be something else going on in the castle that no one wants her to know about... Serepulchure Beauty And The Beast AU.

A Warm Heart(h)—Xan never did recover his spark after the Hero defeated his Magman and headed to Serenity’s Inn for a job as promised.  Though admittedly terrified at first, it didn’t take all that long for the innkeeper to warm up to him.  Everyone deserves a second chance, right?  Serenity/Xan AU.

Dragonfable Awakening—Serenity joins the army after a a small detachment saves her from bandits on her way to garner trade deals for her inn.  It works out well enough: the people are nice, and she’s quite useful as a cook and a healer.  On top of that... there is a certain wyvern lord who just keeps catching her eye.  Serepulchure Fire Emblem Awakening AU.

Fate/Doom Knight—Serenity tried out the summoning circle on a lark.  Magic wasn’t real, and surely summoning spirits wasn’t either.  So why is there suddenly a very tall man in red armor in her living room asking if she’s his master?  And what the heck is a Holy Grail War?  Serepulchure Fate/Stay Night AU.

Firefly—A Star Captain wakes up in a field shortly outside of Falconreach and finds himself a stranger in a strange land.  How did he get here?  How can he get home?  At least the locals seem friendly enough...  Based loosely on conversations with @tmae3114.  Serenity/Sys-Zero AU.

Basking In The Aftermath—There are few things more enjoyable after a successful hunt than going out to the nearest tavern, having a nice meal, and getting absolutely plastered with your brother-in-arms.  Throw in some casual sex on top of that?  Now you’ve got a dragonslayer’s idea of a good time.  Hero/Galanoth.  Contains smut.

Skyrim

Gods Of Dov—Two women wake up in a cart heading to Helgen, and hundreds of miles away, a man outside of time wakes in a field.  Together, they are not only Skyrim’s only hope of stopping Alduin, but the only hope of all of Mundus.  Skyrim AU where the protagonists are Galanoth, Kensington, and Daeris.  Based on a heavily modded instance of Skyrim and mine and @hnybnny’s AQW headcanons.

Ancient Alphabets—Miraak has a name on the inside of his wrist that no one can read.  His soulmate’s name.  It is faded and white; his soulmate hasn’t been born yet.  His fellow priests console him as the years go by and his soulmate has still not been born, but Miraak is a very patient man.  He can wait.  He can wait all that he needs to until the time comes that the Last Dragonborn finally meets him.  Miraak/LDB Soulmate AU.

To Steal A Champion—As Nightingale of Nocturnal, the Dovahkiin is far better at thievery than the average mortal.  Better enough, apparently, to steal the bonds tying Miraak to Hermaus Mora for her own use.  She was just trying to keep Mora from killing him so she could kill him herself; now what’s she supposed to do with a Champion?  Miraak/LDB AU.

Fate/Stay Night

The Holy Childcare War—Heroic Spirit EMIYA is summoned in the Archer class, but his Masters are both a young Rin Tohsaka and a young Sakura Matou before her family ever traded her away.  Still wanting to prevent his future from ever occurring, Archer decides to take his two small masters and run before their father can ruin their lives and set the catastrophic events of the Fifth Holy Grail War into motion.  Unsanctioned fan sequel/retelling of the Fate doujin “Childcare is War”.

Sakura Doraku—Kariya Matou wasn’t going to win the war, and he knew it.  But that doesn’t mean he can’t save Sakura.  Sacrificing his own soul and all of his command seals to power the required miracle, he was able to grant his servant Lancelot Independent Action A+, allowing him to linger in the material plane and protect Sakura indefinitely.  Seeking to obey his Master’s final orders and redeem himself for his crimes, Lancelot steals Sakura away from the Matou family and raises her as his own for the next ten years—when Sakura is chosen as a Master for the Fifth Holy Grail War.

Oleanders In June—As magus from an old but nondescript family, Pepper Malone never thought she would get to see a Holy Grail War, much less participate in one.  So when the war starts up in the middle of her hometown, she’s going to need all the help she can get just to survive it; especially with her monstrous knight of a servant jamming up the works.  OC/Berserkerlot.  Contains smut.

Pokemon

Seelonce Mayday—At the behest of her doctor, May finally sets out on her pokemon journey through the Hoenn region in hopes that the changing scenery, fresh air, and possibility of bonding with new friends and pokemon might help lessen her depression (in conjunction with regular medication of course).  Partly a retelling of ORAS with a splash of Emerald thrown in, partly an attempt to work out my own issues vicariously through helping May overcome hers.

So Now You’re The Very Best, What’s Next?—With his pokemon journey over, it’s time for Red to return to school like every other kid.  But, what other kid can relate to what he’s been through?  Blue might’ve become Champion just the same as Red did, but he didn’t take down a criminal organization while he was at it—and speaking of criminals, what’s Red’s mom going to say about Mewtwo...?

Raphael—Byron meets a new drinking buddy one night, a man with long white hair and bright blue eyes.  He meets the man again a few nights later, and a few nights after that.  It’s nice to have someone to talk to that gets him so well, but he can’t shake the feeling that maybe there’s a connection between his new friend and the sudden string of people being rushed to the hospital for nightmare-induced insomnia.

Transformers

Cadmus—Professor Sumdac is long dead from a lab accident, and his daughter Sari is tossed out from the company she apparently has no claim to.  Trying her best to survive on the streets, Sari finds a family in the old disembodied head her father used to keep in his lab.  An unsanctioned fan rewrite of My Big Sister The Spider.

Heterodyne—Soundwave escaped the Shadowzone much quicker than expected, though with no Megatron to serve and no war to fight, he’s left at a bit of a loss for what to do now... At least, until Knock Out vouches for him to the Autobots and reminds him that there are plenty of Decepticons who’ll be coming to Earth that don’t agree with Megatron’s order to disband.  Though his new life working with former enemies is less than ideal, at least Soundwave doesn’t have to put up with Starscream anymore; not that Miko isn’t a menace in her own right.  Junewave AU.

Black Noise—There is a temple hiding deep in the woods, and a monster hiding deeper still.  A monster bound in human form nearly thirty years ago from what June hears the locals say.  And now this monster is holding her son hostage in exchange for her help in returning it to its original form.  Reverse Beauty And The Beast Junewave AU.

Deep Cover—Vorns upon vorns after an incident in Autoboot Camp lead to him losing his memory, Longarm Prime begins to fear that he may secretly be a Decepticon spy after finding hints of an additional alternative mode.  Turning directly to Ultra Magnus for advice on how to deal with this potential information leak, Longarm learns that not only was he a spy—he’s Megatron’s right-hand man.

Miscellaneous

Feral—The Dark Warrior Project was not a complete failure, but it could hardly be called a success.  With most of his body changed and most of his mind locked away under a haze of dark eco and pain, a very different Jak is rescued from Baron Praxis’s prisons—leading to a very different revolution of Haven City, and a very different ending for many of the players involved. 

What’s In A Name?—No one actually calls themselves Guild Girl or High Elf Archer: Goblin Slayer is just terrible at remembering names.  Though oddly, he does still call himself Goblin Slayer rather than a conventional name.  Priestess, or Lucidia rather, wants to know why.

It’s Not About Goblins (But I Do Care)—Guild Girl and Cow Girl put up a good fight, but Priestess has won Goblin Slayer’s heart.  Unfortunately, Goblin Slayer’s backstory has left him with a few... issues regarding intimacy and displays of affection.  At least he’s trying?

Disarmament—What is there left for the Doom Slayer to do when all the legions of doom have been slain?  What is there left to live for now that he’s finally completed his goal?  There’s a brave new world out there in need of repairing after Hell invaded.  Maybe it’s time to help picking up the pieces.  A speculative ending to the 2016 Doom reboot series.

Original Concepts

Inside The City Walls—One hundred years ago, a man named Mackeroy Neren protected the country around the Walled City from vampires.  When he left for a hunt and never returned, the City ceased almost all trade, and rarely ever opens the Walls.  But—something’s gotten into the City.  Something’s lurking in the shadows.  And one Patrice “Patty” Argall finds herself wrapped up in the middle of it all.

God’s Stone Crown—For unknown reasons, several players of the popular VRMMO God’s Stone Crown Online find themselves trapped as their characters within the game world, where things are much different than actually playing the game would lead one to believe.  There are many unfinished dungeons within the game that turn out to merely be unmapped within the world: maybe one of them could hold the key to escaping the game? Co-created with @nostalgiamascot.

The Miracles of Saint Maylis—302 years ago, Saint Maylis converted a demon to the light of the church, training him in the faith as she would any other.  300 years ago Saint Maylis lead an army against the encroach of a great evil, and never returned.  Now, the evil is returning, and the only one who can truly stop it is the only one left who was there: Sir Penetratus Iseley, the First Miracle of Saint Maylis.

Another Day In Kingfisher Bay—Welcome to idyllic Kingfisher Bay, home to a thriving superhero/supervillain population.  Would you like to spend your days cleaning up blood because one of the heroes took shelter in the wrong apartment again?  Get abducted by an alien overlord?  Or perhaps have a supervillain for a neighbor?  Try anything and everything here in Kingfisher Bay!

Journey To The Demon King—Yuliya is a simple cleric, tasked with guiding the Chosen Hero on his journey to slay the Demon King when they rise again.  So why is everyone so convinced she’s the Demon King’s next coming?  Do you see any horns under this habit???

[m4n71c0r3]

No Sacrifice No Victory: A Warrior Tribal EDH Deck

Why Warriors?

Because you’re not a COWARD, are you?

In all seriousness though, Battlebond, the upcoming 2HG set features some pretty neat Warrior cards in almost every color, including a super sweet new 5 color Legendary Warrior to head up your EDH deck.

Now that the spotlight has been put onto my favorite tribe in the game I’d like to show off the current incarnation of my 4 Color Warrior EDH Deck looks like. With all that said, let’s get down to business!

NO SACRIFICE, NO VICTORY

Warriors as a tribe are much more than just attacking. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll be doing a LOT of turning creatures sideways, but the tribe has a lot of synergies that are often overlooked in the place of just swinging face. What my deck focuses in on is generating tokens and taking advantage of +1/+1 counter generation to make a big army that can win either through direct combat or by other various means which I’ll elaborate on later.

OUR COMMANDER(S)

For a while I initially used Saskia just for her colors, but after a while I saw that I just wasn’t casting her, so I decided to go with a much more powerful partnership.

Not only is Reyhan a Warrior, but her ability to transfer counters from our dying creatures plays a key role in the deck and I’ve had more overall consistent results with her in the Command Zone instead of the 99.

Bruse is pretty much just here for his colors, but having something gain double strike and lifelink in a pinch sure doesn’t hurt either. 

CORE CARDS

These are what I consider to be the core cards of this deck. Reyhan and Kresh are able to make a powerful engine that let us trade in both token and nontoken creatures for additional counters onto Kresh. Primal Vigor lets our various token generators get out of control while Cathar’s Crusade and Bramblewood Paragon gives them the necessary counters when they enter the battlefield, while Death’s Presence lets us net additional counters from them dying. Daghatar the Adamant is probably the most efficient nontoken creature for the strategy considering he’ll yield the most counters on death, and Dragonscale General lets us get even more out of our unrelenting assault with even more counters.

This core package of cards essentially enables us to relentlessly press the attack with little concern of what lives and dies because either way we still get value regardless of outcome.

REMOVAL AND SACRIFICE

Nothing too outstanding with these cards, just some ways to remove threats on Warrior bodies. Kindred Dominance is more often than not will wipe everything except your side of the board, and Utter End is there just to make sure that any extremely annoying permanents don’t stick around after the wipe.

There is a neat little interaction between Champion of Stray Souls and Butcher of Malakir that lets us retrieve creatures from our graveyard wile forcing our opponents to sacrifice their own creatures. Not the most efficient way to clear a board, but in the face of some graveyard hate it can save anything in the yard from being exiled and punish opponents for trying.

TOKEN MAKERS AND DOUBLERS

This package of cards lets us generate an obscene number of Warrior tokens. Anointed Procession, Parallel Lives, and Second Harvest are pretty self explanatory.

Oketra’s Monument rewards us for casting nontoken creatures while also reducing the cost of White cards by a bit. Doesn’t seem like much but with a few of our doublers out we can get a good bit of tokens out of one creature cast.

We can often mitigate the X/X Treefolk token that Sylvan Offering gives an opponent with some forced sacrifice from the previous package, and our opponents generally aren’t able to get as much value out of their X 1/1 Elf Warriors as we are so it’s pretty negligible.

Mercy Killing is an odd card because more often than not we will be targeting one of our own creatures that would be killed by targeted removal.

RAMP AND ACCELERATION 

Mostly because of my own hubris the little bit of ramp/acceleration is creature-based like with Cryptolith Rite and Growing Rites. Civic Wayfinder is a neat little Warrior that gets us a basic, and Black Market will reward us for all the stuff that’ll be dying. Other than that we have some signets and a Pillar of Origins to fix for any colors that we don’t have.

(If you have the money for it though a Cavern of Souls would be pretty amazing for the deck, but since I don’t it’s not included here.)

MISC. WARRIORS

These are just some nontoken Warriors that were good enough to make the cut. Brighthearth Banneret is good cost reduction in addition to a +1/+1 if we draw it too late for it to be useful. Champion of Lambholt is good with this kind of strategy because she can get out of control relatively easily and grand make our whole army unblockable. Den Protector is a slower Eternal Witness but with the relevant tribe. Grand Warlord Radha can help with mana issues and Reassembling Skeleton can help us abuse our ETB counter effects.

Boldwyr Intimidator is mostly just a flavorful inclusion that won’t let COWARDS BLOCK WARRIORS and makes our opponents creatures COWARDS.

 Herald of Dromoka and Chief of the Edge are pretty self explanatory, although it’s worth noting that the reason I’m only running Chief of the Edge and not Chief of the Scale is because of Kresh’s ability since it only cares about power and not toughness.

CARD DRAW/DECK DIGGING

All of these cards can either help us find what we need or draw us some cards. This Garruk is just an absolute card draw monster in this deck, plus his minus 3 and ultimate can really just let us go to town with getting things onto the board. Duskwatch Recruiter does a good job of imitating Garruk’s plus 1 with letting us filter through our deck and has cost reduction on his other side. More often than not we can cast out a pretty big Kindred Summons and get a good amount of creatures onto the battlefield.

Herald’s Horn gives us some nice cost reduction plus an additional card every now and then, while Vanquisher’s Banner boosts our army and gives us a card every time we cast a Warrior. Inspiring Call doubles as a card draw/combat trick in this deck that can make all of our creatures with a +1/+1 counter on them indestructible for the turn and give us a card for each. With the way this deck plays it’ll pretty much always net us a nonzero amount of cards.

I’m sure that Birthing Pod needs no introduction needs no introduction, but to those who are unfamiliar the card will let us sacrifice a creature to get one out of our deck which is super sweet.

Greater Good is a nice free sacrifice outlet that can get us cards in exchange for some powerful creatures and also has some nice interactions with Garna, the Bloodflame that I’ll talk about in the next segment.

BIG FINISHERS

This deck has a lot of very consistent ways to close out the game depending on how it’s going. Cards like Kessig Wolf Run, Stonehoof Chieftain, and Stoneforge Masterwork are great if you’ve managed to build up the board with big Warriors and can generally finish the game off just through combat alone.

But this is EDH and things are rarely that simple so luckily the deck has a few ways to deal with that. Blood-Chin Fanatic, Goblin Bombardment, Roar of the Crowd, and Throne of the God-Pharaoh all give us ways to close out the game in a board where we might not be able to directly attack our opponents.

Throne provides some nice drain early on with a Cryptolith Rite and a few creatures, but can also just end the game on its own later on if we’ve managed to build up a big enough board to just dome everyone else at the table.

Blood-Chin Fanatic and Goblin Bombardment fill the same kind of direct damage as Throne, but work better in different board states, although sacrificing a lot of tokens with +1/+1 on them and then a big Kresh to Blood-Chin Fanatic is probably my favorite way to end a game. Bombardment also has a nice bit of utility in the face of a mass exile like Merciless Eviction or another similar spell.

Garna is a very recent addition, but she’s served the deck well in that short time even if winning with her is really janky. Essentially what we would want to do is sacrifice almost everything to Greater Good and discard as many creatures as we can, then play out Garna and return everything for one big swing. It’s not very consistent but it’s still a very satisfying way to win.

LAST CARDS

These are mostly just things that I had laying around that I thought would slot into the deck pretty well, and so far they have.

Metallic Mimic is an honorary Warrior since it grants an additional +1/+1 counter to every other Warrior that enters the battlefield.

A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!

With the reveal of Najeela a lot of people have started to show interest in my favorite tribe, and though I claim no authority on the matter, I thought I would take some time to show off some options that I would consider adding to this deck as well as some cards from Battlebond.

BEAT EM BLUE!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while then it should be no secret that Blue is my least favorite color, so if you haven’t I’m just making my bias known. Even with that being said though, the pool for Warriors in Blue is extremely shallow, but the few that do shine through are pretty sweet.

Grimgrin, Ezuri 2.0, and Herald of Secret Streams already fit really well into the counters theme of the deck and push it just completely over the top, while Surrak makes all of our creatures uncounterable and grants Trample to the whole team. 

And even though I don’t like Blue very much I’d like to take a second here to specifically talk about Grimgrin and how good of a card he is for Warrior tribal. Specifically though, how he goes infinite with Presence of Gond.

Once you’ve got Presence of Gond onto Grimgrin all you have to do is tap him to make a Warrior token and then sac the token to untap him and get a +1/+1 counter onto him. That’s good enough on it’s own but with Cathar’s Crusade, Death’s Presence, and Primal Vigor you’ve pretty much got infinite Warriors with infinite +1/+1 counters for your whole team.

Sure, it’s super sweet, but if you run this combo then you better be able to close out the game on that turn or be prepared to become the target of the table.

BATTLEBOND

The pickings from Battlebond are pretty slim for this deck, but the ones that make the cut are pretty decent. Rushblade Commander is a nice haste-enabler for our Warriors. Decorated Champion slots into the +1/+1 counters subtheme of the deck and makes for a nice juicy target for Blood-Chin Fanatic as well. Blaring Recruiter is just more token generation, Mindblade Render is more card draw, and Thrasher Brute pings an opponent every time a Warrior enters the battlefield which will be pretty frequent. Thrilling Encore is basically just another Garna effect which, while not super consistent, can still be really fun.

Anywho, that’s the rundown on Warrior tribal! This is by no means a comprehensive analysis of the viability of the tribe or anything like that, it was mostly just me gushing about my favorite tribe in all of Magic! I hope that y’all see what I love about the tribe and maybe consider giving them a chance for your next EDH deck!

(@queen-marchesa​ @rhonas-indomitable @gardianforce @dad-nixilis I remember y’all wanted to see it the most so here it is!)