#but the reminder text is pretty long so making it just one keyword ability is nice

[dravidious]

a

Thought it'd be neat to have a mechanic called "hierarchy", so I made one and thought it fit the Orzhov pretty well

[inventors-fair]

Epithet Commentary

So, this ended up being a fairly popular contest. I think the prompt was really open and creative, but limiting enough that it wasn’t overwhelming. You all did a pretty good job with it, and I’m happy with the turn out.

Some themes I noticed? One was board wipes. A lot of legendary creatures have some sense of power or finality to their epithets. They’re all the biggest, or the strongest, or the most powerful of whatever they are. It led to a lot of ways to kill things, and a lot of black cards. I was impressed with the non-creatures as well: I was expecting a lot of enchantments and auras effectively granting the epithet to something, but there were a decent amount of spells, and even a few artifacts. In general I was impressed with the cleverness this week. Some people had a lot of fun throwing curve-balls. Picking cleverest reinterpretation wasn’t easy.

Enough talk, on to the talking! BTW, if there’s two paragraphs for an entry, the first is an art direction submitted by the designer.

@bread-into-toast - Archive Keeper

mood: flightless aven librarian, suspended in a cavernous maze of shelves

I like what you’re going for here. That first ability sounds really cool, and I could see it being sort of a build-around theme. I don’t know about uncommon, though. There would have to be quite a few ways to put cards into a library in the format, maybe a keyword that does it, like if flashback tucked instead of exiled. The exact wording of this would make cascade particularly scary if it were in the same format. I also like the flavor, caring for a literal library, and the art is great. Now lets get to my big issue with this: the activated ability. I do really like that you gave the card a way to trigger its first ability, but I think you went a little too aggressive with it. First, unless the format is particularly bad it it, this keyword is going to always be active. It’s cheap and requires a very easy resource to get. The fact that it stacks with multiple of these guys is also scary, especially with it being uncommon. Second, it’s off-color. I know it’s your own graveyard, so it’s not like it’s graveyard hate, but blue has never done this. White does it a little. Also, even though they’re separate, it does sort of read U: This creature gets +1/+0 and gains flying until EOT. That really isn’t blue. That’s fire breathing. Blue doesn’t get fire-breathing, at least not for a very, verly long time. White gets it very, very rarely, but I think it might be fine here. I know the colors are an attempt to put this card in the colors of “putting things in libraries,” which I think is good, but the exact payoff for doing it isn’t quite right.

@chungus-supreme - Lich Queen

Interesting take on Lich. Almost like a mix of Lich and Recycle. The number of permanents you have when you play this will never change. Unless of course you’re playing reanimator or something. It’s especially scary if you’re playing non-permanent cards. These types of cards are rather hard to judge, since saying “this is very swingy and will either lose or win you the game with no inbetween” is kind of the point. Putting lich on a creature is especially awkward since it leaves her open to wraths or sweepers. I do like how she doesn’t technically kill you, so she works will in lich-tribal decks which are more common than you’d expect. Still, I don’t think these kinds of cards are healthy for the game, even if they are fun and silly. They just lead to very simple “do you have it or not?” scenarios which can lead to sour players. Still, as I said, a neat take on the archetype.

@corporalotherbear - Young Conqueror

Art direction: A haughty young man, surrounded by kicked and humbled servants, wearing a crown reminiscent of the horns of a certain elder dragon planeswalker.

What an brat. I get what this card is doing. I like how the “young” part denotes its small power toughness, but the high mana cost and splashy ability makes it feel powerful. I don’t know if I quite agree with “conquerer” specifically, since it takes away from your opponents but doesn’t give you anything. I think that’s kinda minor. I like the ability itself, and I think it's probably costed right. The lose 1 life is mostly trinket text, but the other two effects are pretty strong. ETB discard is at two mana, ETB one-sided sacrifice isn’t actually super common, but on spells its about 2 mana, so a combined four mana is probably okay once you factor in the three colors (and it being a rare, unlike the cards I’m using as an example). I’m going to ignore the personal part of me that dislikes blink decks and aggressive ETB effects and say that this is something wizards would think is okay. And at least this loses value as the game goes on or against specific decks. So in total, I like it. And it’s a good use of this week’s challenge!

@col-seaker-of-the-memiest-legion - Royal Scion

Well isn’t that a pretty boy. So I get the treasure part. But I don’t get the last ability. You can spend money to save things? I don’t quite get what story you’re trying to tell. Mechanically, the card is fine, but there’s a few tiny issues. First, the last ability I believe can target itself. As in, you can sacrifice an artifact to make itself indestructible. Not very intuitive, but I expect it will happen often. That will essentially make this guy a 2/2 that comes with a 1/1, with a little utility. I guess that’s okay. The second issue is I don’t know where this guy is going. Treasure decks and artifact decks have less in common than you might expect: the former are aggressive and usually base red, the latter are usually slow and base blue. They both occasionally show up in white or black, but neither probably want a small body that gets you a few chump blockers and protect some stuff. At uncommon I could see this in maybe an artifact heavy set or a set with treasure synergies, but I’m having some difficulty. I think this guy is fine, but I’m just not a big fan of it.

@demimonde-semigoddess - Heart of Fire

Love the art there, it’s very evocative and really seals the card. I’m also surprised to see cipher; I’ve always thought the mechanic was cool, but it’s hard to do well. I think you may have fallen into the trap as well. This card is very strong. Two damage will usually be able to get at least a single blocker out of the way, and then you get to cast this card again for free most of the time. Most cipher cards were costed as though you were going to get two free casts a turn. The “draw a card” one costs four mana, for example, because it usually comes out as a divination + a curiosity rather than a cantriping curiosity. So this card ends up being really close to a reckless rage that you can go face with and can be recast. Think about Direct Current, which was also a sorcery and also cost you another resource and was 3 mana but still saw lots of limited play. I do like the fact that the card deals damage to the creature it’s encoded on, but because of how cipher works it’s hard to make it feel necessary. Unless the creature has trample, the damage is pretty much going to be all or nothing. Dealing small amounts of damage to your own creature is most relevant before combat. Doing damage after doesn’t usually matter unless it kills it. But it still makes it a cost: you can get another copy of it, but it’ll cost you a small creature. Despite all of my issues, I still like the card. It’s creative and flavorful, it’s just the sort of card that could dominate games, and should not be at common.

@dimestoretajic - Torch of Defiance

I don’t know what to say. It’s a good card. It’s got a very basic pump with a slightly fancier extra ability, and it feels flavorful. The defiance part is a little weak, but I get it. I also think you maybe could have upped one of the costs, or made the equip not have red. As is, it’s stronger than a lot of menace-granting equipment, and it even lets you spread it around. But maybe that’s just me wanting to play it safe. Anyway, card is good! I’m very happy with this one.

@fractured-infinity - Shifting Flame

What an amusing little card. The name helps me picture something, but not an equipment. However, seeing it, I actually like that interpretation. The idea of “wielding” a flame is a cool idea. The effect is cool, though a little weird. It reminds me a lot of balefire dragon, a 7 mana mythic, but maybe the fact that it needs a body and time to set up helps bring it down. I do enjoy some of the safety valves, such as it being double red, meaning it's harder to put it on a deathtoucher, and how it’s all or nothing, so you can’t remove the absolute minimum and have an easily repeatable board wipe. I’m still unsure how much I like this card exactly. Outside of balefire and shockmaw dragon, this effect is pretty rare. At a minimum, it turns a creature into shockmaw. Getting a blazing volley every turn is stronger than it sounds. It makes it hard to build up a board or get your smaller creatures bigger. I do like that, the longer this sits out, the more likely it turns into “equipped creature must be blocked.” Even with all the setup required, I’m a little scared of a reusable one-sided board wipe that just sits out until it's necessary. Granted, I’m not as scared to print this as a lot of cards, but I’d just want to see how it plays first. I think you made a cool card with a unique ability that could end up being a little too hard to come back from without direct answers.

@gayagendaofficial - Heretical Healer

For the art, I imagine a human man pulling a corpse out of a grave. The corpse is not yet fully out of the grave, but the man is already measuring it and preparing to saw off a limb.

Wow, this card is nuts! It’s a repeatable reanimator with very little effort. First, let me address some templating. After the “mill three cards” text, you can have the next sentence be connected. As in, “mill three cards, then you may...” Also, you don’t need to say “under your control” because it’s already coming from your graveyard, so it’s kind of assumed. Okay the card. So, if you play this card, as long as you have two creatures i your graveyard, this reanimates a creature. If you’re playing four of these guys, it’s entirely possible to play this, mill another, then reanimate it, then mill a clone, then clone this guy and do it again. If you’ve ever played when Gyruda combo was a thing, I could see this doing something similar. However, the card itself is pretty cool, and I think it’s worth saving. One option you have is just increasing the cost: I would suggest up to seven mana. Another thing you could do is restrict what you can reanimate, sort of like Gyruda. Perhaps it can only exile or only reanimate the cards it just milled? Or maybe come up with some other restriction, like it having to be a creature with a certain mana value or something. In summary, I like this card’s design, but it’s a little too easy to just be way too powerful in a good enough deck.

@ghoulcalculator64 - Dungeon Warden

I love cards like this. O-ring effects that care about what you O-ringed. How very “imprint” like of you. However, the connect doesn’t quite feel right to me. The two effects feel like they’re pushing in completely different directions. Banisher Pirest effects are best in aggressive decks, where having a removal spell on a creature is super relevant, and you can hopefully kill them before they get their creature back. The card draw half of this feels really weird in that style of deck. It seems really strange to have a ticking time bomb like this that just sits there to draw you cards. The high mana cost doesn’t help with that, but I don’t think it could be any cheaper, either. There’s also the fact that it can target your own creature. That feels really antithetical to the design, and can lead to shenanigans that are really counterintuitive to new players. That also sort of ties to one of the first (yet less legitimate) complaints about the card, which is that I think the last ability needs better flavor. I remember in the Discord you mentioned it was supposed to represent interrogating a prisoner for information. But if that were the case, wouldn’t you be exiling your opponent’s graveyard? And if you are allowed to target your own stuff, would you be interrogating yourself? Like I said, this is a little more nit-picky-y, but it really makes that last ability feel disconnected. If I hadn’t seen the Discord message, I wouldn’t have known what it was representing at all. I’ll also say that referring to “the exiled card” even though the card exiles a lot of cards is confusing, but I don’t really know a way to fix that. With all that said, I still don’t think this is a bad card. It’s well designed, creative, and although I say it pushes in opposite directions, sometimes that makes it more viable as a “Plan B” sort of card.

@gollumni - Sun’s Nemesis

Boy, this guy sure does hate the Sun! A little direct on the interpretation here. The white mana symbol is literally a sun, and red mana is… hot. I do love it being a shade, that feels like such a great flavor choice. Mechanically, gotta say I don’t like this card. There’s nothing an opponent can really do once this card hits play. The only real “fun” I think you can have with this card is playing a blood moon, but I don’t know if blood moon leads to fun games anyway. It’s also strange to have a card that does literally nothing but be an overcosted flyer in a lot of matchups. I think the fact that this triggers on every mana is also a bit much. If it cared about the spells being cast, even if it cared about mana costs, that would feel more fair. But right now it’s just so all or nothing, and so easy to make a mistake on. It also will lead to some more annoying players saying “do you tap it for blue or for white?” when a player uses their hallowed fountain to cast a colorless artifact. I get the style here, and I think it’s a really fun way to make a nemesis of the sun, but I think this card leads to unfun games.

@helloijustreadyourpost - Torch of Defiance

I do like the flavor of this card, and the art really helps with that. I like the fact that it just keeps getting stronger and stronger as the game goes on. However, I think it needed to make them stronger. In order to get the first counter, you need to pay a total of 5 mana and have your creature die from damage, all before getting a single amount of value from it. After you do that, though, it can finally start to snowball. Unless they have a bounce spell. What I’m saying is that this card is really fragile. Compare it to Malefic Scythe, which is cheaper, lower rarity, starts with a counter, and works with sacrifice outlets. While I know the damage clause feels correct, I think it’s putting too many restrictions on this card. If you wanted to avoid combos, I think “and it wasn’t sacrificed” would have really helped with that. You could also let counters be put on it when any creature dies form damage, not just the equipped one. I also think you have some extra space to put text on the front of it, so it could grant something while it’s still empty. Menace would be the most obvious and on color, but about anything could work. I could also see it starting with a counter. I like the auto-attach, but it’s really all this card has going for it, and I think it’s hard to take advantage of this card enough to be worth putting it in a deck.

@hiygamer - Cursed Huntsman // Primal Hunter

Fun fact: I have signed foil copies of both of the cards you used for art here. I will not let that color my opinion of the card. Luckily the card is pretty good anyway! I love a good, simple, well-made vanilla. This isn’t technically vanilla, but it’s close (it’s also not french or virtual vanilla, for those wondering). A 3/3 for 3 is a little under curve, but a 5/5 for three is pretty good, exactly what you want from a werewolf. I’m not sure how I feel about the exact flip condition, I kind of feel like a simple “transform this when X dies” would work very well, but then you get some awkward state-based damage effects for the big guy. My biggest complaint with the trigger as it is is that you can play the huntsman post-combat and have it flip right away. The original werewolf clause specifically worked against that, so that it would actually feel like you were transforming a card that had been on the battlefield and not just going straight to the end. I’m also really impressed by the names, which feel like perfect mirrors, sort of like breakneck rider // neck breaker and daybreak ranger // nightfall predator. I don’t normally do judge picks, but I really feel like this is a card I want to see. I like it.

@hypexion - Hate Seed

Now that’s what I call a bad seed! Love the art, by the way, as does my fiance who walked into the room a minute ago. I like this as a card that sort of sits out here and “grows,” much like a seed. It’s pretty easy to grow this guy, especially in mono-black. Playing this one turn two, then playing any number of bobs, sign in bloods, or group pingers like Spawn of Mayhem can get this guy massive by the time you pop him on turn 5, not to mention actual damage! Most cards like this put some sort of restriction on the loss of life, such as paying life, only life you/your opponent loses, or once-per turn. I think it needed something like that, because even without building around this card you can often get it above 10 power by the time you hatch it, at instant speed no less! And with trample! Oofta! From a purely design perspective, I’m glad you put the counters on it, and at the right time, rather than just making an X/X, both because those are hard to remember and also because it helps this card double dip on counter synergies. However, I worry a lot about the memory issues of the first ability, since loss of life comes in many forms and could be confusing to many (i.e. is it more counters for more damage? Does multiple creatures in combat count? What if I gain life at the same time?). Also, and this is really a nitpick, but I think this either wants to tap to activate or be an enchantment. So in total, I think this card is better than it looks and more difficult to play correctly than it looks, which makes for a generally good card but one I’d be worried about printing.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes - Mirror-Breaker

Art direction: On the right, Mirror-Mad's "main" spirit (the one in the hallway) is exiting a mirror, who is being ruptured by this fact. On the left, with their back on the ground, someone is terrorized, a hand raised up as to defend themselves from the angry spirit.

This is a type of card we don’t see a lot of. At a minimum, it’s a big hastey one-hit-wonder. But you can hang onto it for a while if you’re smart! I like the literal interpretation of the name. It literally breaks mirrors. And if it doesn’t, then it gets angry and leaves. You can even use it as an artifact sac outlet if you somehow need that. I’m a little unsure about the deathtouch. It seems very unlikely that 5 power won’t kill, and with flying and 1 toughness it’s rare that they’ll double block and need you to spread damage. If anything, the deathtouch is more relevant for blocking. It’s actually kind of strange that this has a downside for attacking, despite having haste and flying and five power, but you can just have it sitting on the back line, read to trade for any creature they have. I don’t think people would do that, but it’s strange how much it kind of rewards you for not attacking. The strange mix of things happening on this card and the different directions this card is being pulled make it hard to put this in a deck.

@jund-berserker - Locus of Rage

I like what this card is trying to do, but it’s way, way too good. At a minimum, you can cast this, name a number of a card in your hand, then cast it. You get a three mana bolt (which is plenty playable, especially in limited at uncommon) and the inevitable ability to do it again. If you name 1 or zero, you can likely win the game with this the turn or two after you play it in almost every eternal format. Compare this card to Aria of Flame, Imminent Doom, or Eidolon of the Great Revel. All these cards are less consistent and harder to build around, or are symmetrical. This just lets you turn half the spells in your deck or more into free lightning bolts. Also, the fact that it triggers on your opponents’ spells just feels mean and oppressive. However, like I said, I like what ou were trying here. I just think that if this had said 1 damage, or maybe 2 damage but only going face, maybe this would be okay, but right now it’s just too good.

@loreholdlesbian - Slumbering Isle

I like the description of a volcano being a “slumbering isle.” That’s a really clever way to reinterpret that. However, I think the “isle” part was either taking too far or not far enough. Basically, I don’t know why this taps for blue beyond the name. It’s sacrifice effect is entirely red. I’d say add a scry or something, but we already have Surtland Frostpyre. This is especially a strange case because lands, as we all know, are colorless. So it’s not like it’s a break or anything, right? But Maro has said that activations costs follow the same rules as cards when it comes to colors. If this activation requires blue, it should do something blue. Alternatively, maybe drop the blue entirely from this card. Or, if you want to make it feel really flavorful, drop the blue from the cost but make it only tap for blue, to really sell the idea of a normal island turning into a scary volcano.

@maizenolo - Lunarch Marshal

That’s cute. Lunarch, moonfolk, that’s so clever. And it’s really cool that you gave it the moonfolk ability to bounce lands. However, that signature ability is… bad. It’s not particularly fun to keep bouncing lands. As with you card specifically, I have two issues with it. First, I don’t think blue gets +1/+0. The only cards that really do it usually have some other thing attached, usually unblockability, so just a flat buff seems weird. I don’t think it’s a color break, but it doesn’t feel blue. Second, this ability is so repeatable I’m worried players are going to overuse it and it will lead to frustrated players. If you just want to hit for three a turn, you’ll slowly be going down lands. Worse yet, imagine you attack your opponent late in the game and they’re at five life. You can bounce all your lands, and maybe they’ll die, but if you get hit with removal you’re going to lose the game, all because of this ability. Is it unfair to blame the designer for a player misplaying a card? Probably, but it’s our job as designers to encourage players to make the right decisions, because the better decisions they make, the better game they’ll have, and the more fun they’ll have. That's the end goal as a designer, isn’t it? I think a good way to get around this is to increase the mana cost, limit it to once per turn, or make it not as useful on repeat uses. For example, if it gave +1/+0 and unblockable, I think it would be less likely that a player would repeat it (though it would need to be costed differently). I think moonfolk are really hard to design. Still, I like the way you answered the prompt.

@misterstingyjack​ - River Guide

I like this card, but I also have a lot to say. First, the first ability is weird. In general, cards that get better based on your opponents lands have been phased out. There’s nothing your opponent can do about it for the most part, so it just feels mean. However, a single card ebing drawn isn’t that bad, and it’s especially interesting here because drawing a card is the one thing blue decks most want to avoid letting their opponents do. They want to one for one with counters. So this is more of just a strange hoser ability. The last ability has one obvious issue: you can exert something without tapping it. Currently, as written, after activating the ability, the island would still be untapped. But that’s a simple fix: just say “tap and exert an untapped island you control.” I kind of feel like you could have avoided the exert keyword, since it doesn’t really fit flavorfully and it’s not an evergreen keyword. I maybe would have just said that it doesn’t untap in the ability itself. But anyway, the card itself. I think it’s… fine? It’s sort of like a mix of key to the city and the first Thasa card. I think this is one of those cards where it either does nothing in the format or is a four of in a top tier deck. It really depends on the format. But I think independent of all that, I think it’s an okay designed card. And the flavor is spot on, very clever.

@naban-dean-of-irritation - Fractal Bloom

Oh no! Math! This card adds up quickly. It doesn’t quite double your counters each turn, but it gets pretty dang close. This is a really scary card in two ways. It’s very scary when it’s going off, but it’s also really scary to put in a deck. This card really needs to be uilt around to be useful. Yes, this means having cards that have counters, but it also needs a bit of a payoff, still. You can spread counters around, which is nice, but it’s slow enough that you aren’t going to be using it aggressively. At the same time, you don’t want cards that “spend” counters, like Fertilid, because the counters need to stick. So you’ll mostly want this for doubling the power of trampling hydras. I think this card is a little weaker than it looks. I wish this card had a better fail state. I wish it had some very minor but possible way to add counters. Perhaps an expensive activated ability, or that it puts a minimum of one on a card. As is, the card could very easily do nothing, especially considering it costs six mana, requires a board, and doesn’t do anything until your next turn, giving your opponents a lot of ways to interact with it. I think this could probably cost 5 mana, maybe even four if it has a more restrictive color cost. In general, “win more” cards like this are only really fun if they do win you the game quickly or if there’s something do with them when you aren’t using it to win.

@pocketvikings​ - Defiant Hero

Art Description: We're seeing our hero from the back, charging the Big Bad and facing whatever spells are being thrown at them.

I get it, it’s a hero! Like heroic! But the fact that it triggers on opponents makes it feel like it’s not just a hero, but a defiant one. One who fights through the trouble. I’m having trouble making up my mind on that last bit. Part of me thinks it’s useless. If it makes your creature indestructible, why would your opponent ever cast a removal spell on it? The indestructible will never be relevant because it will always be there. Which means it is relevant. But it also just sort of feels like hexproof from spells? But not if its exile or -X/-X effects. Though opponents are probably very often going to fall for “give your creature -2/-2 oh woops its too big now” which, while clearly on them is something that should probably be avoided. Basically, it’s an ability that is either never going to be used, feel like it isn’t relevant, or only be useful if your opponent misplays. That’s all kind of awkward. Lastly, and this is a big one, this card isn’t rare. This feels a lot worse than Tenth District Legionnaire, which is at uncommon

@rasputingold​ - Hunger Tide

So this one’s a bit wild. The insect token is a little closer to its origin card, Grist, than I would have liked for this contest, but I can look past that. The fact that you get one for every creature on the battlefield is crazy powerful, though at least they can’t block so you don’t immediately get chumpers forever. I kind of wish there were more of a limiter there, either non-insect, only opponents control, or only you control. As is, this barely needs anything to get nuts. The last ability is very hard to parse. More often than not, it will just be “each player sacrifices a creature,” since it takes 6 insects before they need to sacrifice anything more than 2 toughness, which I feel is about average. I also realize that it being symmetrical balances both the ability and the card as a whole, since you’ll eventually lose all your insects, but it all seems so weirdly roundabout. Lets say you have a creature and they have two when you play this. You add 3 creatures, pass, come back to you, you sacrifice two of your insects. Those insects have done nothing but make math hard. I’ll also say the fail state of this card is still amazing. It’s been a while, but The Abyss is still a four mana card, and this is very nearly strictly better than it. I will say, though, I really enjoy the execution of the story here. They come in slowly, but eat away at smaller creatures until they eat the big ones or die off. It’s a very, very good mechanical representation of a locust swarm. I just think its too complex for any normal magic set.

@real-aspen-hours​ - Monstrous Raider

NOTE: this is a render created by me. Originally submitted as text.

Vampire Barbarian is a terrifying thought, but a cool concept. I like the fact that this seems so willing to fight that it will stop trying to win the game in order to kill something. I worry that an on-board way to repeatedly deal with creatures is too strong, though. If your opponent ever has just one creature in play, it’s going to be really hard to deal with this guy. They NEED two creature in play, but the fact that this kills one every turn makes that hard. Also, I’ll say that the template is probably different than what you’ve got, looking at a card like Soltari Guerillas. Still, the two toughness at least makes it pretty easy to kill, so it’s a pretty high risk and a pretty high reward. So while it’s probably fine, I worry that this could lead to really frustrating board states.

@reaperfromtheabyss​ - Cradle of the Sun

This is cute. Love the feeling of a cradle here, and how different it feels from the original. I also have a soft spot for cards like this: Colfenor’s Urn, Cold Storage, Endless Sands. They all have such weird utility. I like that you kind of skip to the end with this card: rather than playing this, wrathing, then getting your creatures back, you play this, wait for a wrath, then wait for them to build their board, then wrath while un-wrathing. It’s such a weird concept and would probably make for some interesting games. Don’t get me wrong, I like it and I love the concept. I just have no idea how it would play. In general on-board wraths lead to long, drawn-out games because no one wants to dedicate to a board state. The fact that this lets you continue to do so is neat, but could be frustrating. At the same time, you’re leaving yourself to get blown out by artifact removal if you’re not careful. So yeah, as a whole, I like it, but would really want to playtest with it before I printed it.

@scavenger98​ - Battle Seraph

So I’ll start off with the obvious, which you even admitted to, which is that this is very close to the card its based on, basandra. Same cost, same type, some power. But the rest is very different! The comparison to Omnath is pretty clear, and I’m glad that card exists to give us a clear idea of the templating. Other than the “is” needing to be “are” I think you got it right. As for the exact ability, I think it’s kind of messy. For omnath, the three abilities felt very linked, even if it was just because they all had the number four. Linking them helped you remember what they do: I get 4 of something, just gotta remember what. Here, the three abilities feel very disconnected. One gains life and is dependant on how much damage was dealt, the second makes a very specific token, and the last is a generically good effect. The triggering condition is also really weird. It doesn’t care which creatures, so you have to pay attention to exactly what happens on every turn to every creature. The fact that the first ability cares about how much damage is also really weird and hard to do. You have to count every damage done to everything every turn. But, if your opponent pings a creature in response, you don’t gain any of it, just the ping. The next two abilities I kind of like. A little token is nice, and I like how it makes it easier to trigger in the future by not having first strike. The last ability is almost definitely out-of-color, but considering how much work it takes (first strike, normal combat, and a spell/ability all dealing damage to creatures) maybe makes it worth it. I’m probably wrong, and it’s still probably not okay to let Boros draw cards, but you gotta try. So as a whole, I really want to like this card, and I really like the directions it's pushing, but I think it’s just really, really hard to keep track of what this card is doing while it's in play.

@shakeszx - Wielder of Mysteries

Love the flavor here, great use of an epithet. I’m wondering if this would finally be the card to make this ability work. For reference, Mind Reaver and Grimoire Thief have tried this sort of “use your own cards as counter fuel,” and neither have been all that playable outside of combos. This guy has no combo potential, but boy does he mill! Each end step and each opponent means milling four cards a turn, more in multiplayer (though this guy doesn’t do much else in EDH, the most popular multiplayer format). The fact that he doesn’t doesn’t sacrifice to counter really sets him apart. Putting the card in the graveyard so it isn’t a hard lock is something I appreciate, and I’ll say here that you probably could have said that as the cost to save some space (i.e. 1UU, put a face-down card exiled by ~ into its owner’s graveyard: counter target spell with the same name as that card). My guess as to what kind of deck would play this is some sort of flash deck that can leave up the mana or maybe a control deck that tries to leave this in play as a mill win-con. I don’t know how great it fits into either of those with it’s squishy wizard body, but at least it has a place. I wish there was a way to make this safer to play. Maybe give it ward or more toughness or even more power and flying so it has something to do rather than sit there and hope to be useful. I think this is better than other cards that do the same thing, but I don’t know if it's quite good enough to see play.

@snugz​ - The Hidden Realm

Very clever to put this on a land. Lands are almost never legendary, even if they feel like it or have “The” in the name. As for this card specifically, I don’t think you realize what this does. When you tap it for mana, it phases out. It will phase back in at the start of your untap step. That means that this is a five color land with no downside other than that it can’t be untapped and used again if you’re using it for colored mana. In fact, it’s a lot better, since your opponent will never be able to target it with removal, rare as that is. So yeah, this card is way too good. Five color land with upside.

@starch255​ - Tower of Triumph

Gotta say, was not expecting this one, and not just because I did not know that path of mettle’s back half had an epithet. I love the towers. It was one of the first “whoops, we forgot to finish that cycle because we didn’t even think of it as a cycle” cycles. I’m a little unsure of the templating here. I feel like there needs to be an “each” or “all” in there somewhere to make it clear that you’re not just “activating abilities” but activating at least one per card. This is one of those funny cards where taking it as face value is hilarious. Requiring 48 mana and 6 overcosted cards in play to win the game is essentially impossible. However, having 6 bad cards in play, then playing Galazeth Prismari or Flame Fusillade and paying 8 mana may be more doable, if not “intended.” So this card has a casual, obvious, fun-but-not-viable way to sue it and another less difficult way to use it. I still wish it had some fail state. Maze’s End, for example, has a long and slow win condition tied into it, but it also fixes your mana slowly. Thassa’s Oracle can let you fix your draws. Win conditions tend to be more fun and more playable if there’s something you can do with them before winning, especially for a card like this where it will need to stand on the field a little while probably and therefore risk getting hit by removal.

@takemuse1 - Sengir Thrall

I cannot find any card that has the epithet “Sengir Thrall.” I think you may have either misread the prompt or submitted to the wrong contest. Either way, the card seems fine. I like what you’re trying to do here.

@teaxch​ - Celestial Wind

I remember the wind cycle, even had a few, for some reason. Here’s a card that hits a bunch of stuff. Get rid of up to three things, get back up to three things. It’s a little wordy. I think it’s possible to make this non-modal, but my suggestion would be “Choose one or both: -Exile target artifact, target enchantment, and/or target creature. - Return target artifact card, target enchantment card, and/or target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.” It still reads a little complicated, but at least you wouldn’t have the super weird blank space on the upper right of the card. The functionality of the card actually fits the rest of the cycle pretty well. It’s okay. It’s hard to make a nine mana card that feels worth it that doesn’t just win you the game. I think if you’re playing this you’re mostly going to be using it for the reanimation, since it will be pretty rare for your opponent to have all three permanent types, but there’s better ways to reanimate each of those types, and having a mix of types makes the deck harder to build. You really need at least four modes firing for this card to be even playable, and that’s not easy. Obviously multiplayer is where this card shines, especially EDH, but even there I don’t know if you want a nine mana card unless you can cast it for free, and again, there’s better cards to do that with. I think this card is trying to make up for its cost with its versatility, but there’s a difference between a card always having a use and a card always being useful. This will never be a dead card, but I don’t think it’ll ever be exactly what you need. Final note: compared to Blood on the Snow and Casualties of War, this could pretty easily be a rare.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path​ - Artful Provocateur

I read your submission comment before the text box and you got me excited for a card with provoke. Instead, it’s got goad, which is the opposite but also the better keyword, so yeah, that’s fine. I like the second ability, it’s got a lot of flavor to it and I could see it being a key card in some decks, like Marisi EDH. The last ability is fitting in a goad-style deck, and works well with the theme. The first ability I don’t think I’m a fan of. Spending a treasure to cast this guy feels weird, since you’d need the extra mana anyway to activate the ability. And if you’re not activating the ability, then you’re just attacking with a 2/1, which is not worth sacking a treasure most of the time. I’d say that it’s neat trinket text to encourage players to play this in a treasure deck, but the middle ability already does that. But I’ll stop focusing on that for now. I like the last two abilities and how well they play together and how nicely they fit in a deck. I like the creature types as well. I wonder a bit about the rarity. Repeatable goad only happened by attacking (which means it didn’t repeat often) or by having it permanently on a single creature, even at rare. The timing is also going to be strange, since you’ll be waiting until the declare attackers step 90% of the time, meaning your opponent’s must be constantly aware of you goading one of their creatures as soon as they move to combat. That’s going to make combat a nightmare. Limiting to sorcery speed would be great. If this is meant to be a conspiracy style set, I think this card is doing way too much at uncommon. If this is meant to be in a commander precon, I kind of understand it as attempting to combine multiple themes. In fact, this seems like it’s trying to combine the two commanders of the RB commander deck they just released: Prosper having a treasure theme and the Eye Tyrant having a goad theme. Still, that first ability seems really tacked on and will lead players to misplay. I like what the card is trying to do, but it needed a bit more restraint.

@whuh-oh​ - Eternal Pilgrim

Love the art here. This is another take on a pilgrim, our second, and a completely different interpretation. This guy mills you and gains you life, at a minimum one (unless he’s killed in response), then lets you reanimate something, even if it’s just a land. So, first things first, this definitely need to be a rare. It’s such a complex ability, and does a lot of things that shouldn’t happen regularly in limited. The way it snowballs, turning tapped creature into more creatures into bigger creature, or at a bare minimum ramping. I also reeeally wish this were green. I feel likeit’s pretty likely you’ll be reanimating lands most of the time, unless you’re built around these guys. Self mill and life gain are also both green. This is not to say this is out of color, I just think it fits better. I also kind of wish it restricted your reanimation to just cards milled. That would encourage you to really get X up there, instead of just laying back, activating two of these guys in response to each other and getting back the same two two-drops you just blocked with. I want there to be a little more going on here than just slow, repetitive value.

@wolkemesser​ - The Untouchable

I mean, I don’t want to touch him. A very direct interpretation of the epithet. He can’t be targeted, and if you touch him you die. I like the minion typeline, it’s a rare one, but it really fits the deathtouchiness of this guy. However, that’s about all I like. Deathtouch and trample don’t exist on the same card for a reason. It’s an incredibly niche and awkward interaction that confuses new players. Putting this at uncommon means it’s likely new players are going to have to interact with that. Plus, it having shroud means it will have to be blocked in order to kill it, meaning it will almost certainly come up. I do appreciate that the shroud makes it less likely you’d need to do it with more than two creatures. But trample also doesn’t fit the feel of the card. It doesn’t really make it less touchable. It also isn’t needed for power levels, it’s already strong without it. I think this card is a perfect encapsulation of the epithet, but I wish it wasn’t as unfun to have in play.

~

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

[radramblog]

Every Boros Commander, Part 2

Where we last left off, I was shitting on Adriana, Captain of the Guard, who gives ACAB a pretty different meaning. Fortunately, most of the pickings this time aren’t quite as dire.

Depala, Pilot Exemplar (3rd most played as of writing)

Holy shit, a Boros commander with card advantage? It’s niche, but it was a first. Being limited to Dwarves and Vehicles does leave her with a problem a lot of commanders and tribes tend to have, which is being just a smidge under critical mass- but with the upcoming Kaldheim appearing to support Dwarves, and vehicles appearing to be a deciduous mechanic, I feel like it won’t be long before Depala is as powerful as her placement suggests. She is niche and mana-hungry, but basically the only Vehicle commander (and definitely the only Dwarf commander at the moment), so I suspect she’s here to stay for a while.

Tiana, Ship’s Caretaker (15th most played as of writing)

Tiana is possibly my favourite character lorewise in all of magic, frankly. She’s cool and cute and a massive dork and also someone who found her purpose in life, and frankly I love that for her. 

She’s also a really interesting commander to build around, seeing as she has a unique brand of card advantage that leads to the addition of old and weird cards, which I’m always a fan of. I should really get around to building a Tiana deck, to be honest, though I already have 10 commander decks with an 11th in progress, sooooo…

Firesong and Sunspeaker (4th most played as of writing)

I’m surprised to see F&S this high, but the first unique Buy-a-Box card did expand into an archetype previously unseen in the combination in the form of Boros Spellslinger (Dalakos would later return the favour as an Izzet Equipment commander). Previously, you had to go into Pauper EDH and play fellow Minotaur Blaze Commando for this kinda deck. Like Depala, F&S are heavily played despite being niche, though the also have the benefit of being a RW minotaur commander, if you want to play White instead of Black in that deck for…some reason? The siren moo of Boros Reckoner speaks to us all, I suppose.

Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame (17th most played as of writing)

The only partner pair I’m discussing today on account of their monogamy. Knights and Dragons make a weird combination, seeing as there are basically no other cards that help them work together rather than apart. You could almost run them as a goodstuff deck if you wanted, seeing as many of Boros’s best creatures are Knights or Dragons, but largely I think sticking to one or the other is probably for the best. With that in mind, the pair are actually the only real commanders for either tribe within Boros- the only other Dragon is something we’ll get to, and the only knight is…Adriana…so…. The buffs given by either pair are excellent, and not something that either tribe gets easy access to typically, so I can see the appeal of them in that slot. At that point, the extra commander is just a bonus.

Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice (21st most played as of writing)

Oh, another Aurelia, and she’s worse this time. In seriousness, her ability looks like its likely to be targeting herself most of the time, and Mentor just doesn’t do enough in this format. She has enough keywords and power to Voltron, but I’m not expecting much interesting from her outside of that.

Tajic, Legion’s Edge (18th most played as of writing)

Tajic has 4 separate lines of text for some reason, and only one (ok fine two haste is nice) actually matters. Having a damage prevention effect is nice in the zone, but it doesn’t apply to himself, so if you’re planning on turning mass damage one-sided you’re going to need to protect him still. And like, what else does he do? He’s not a good aggro commander at all, his last ability is a joke, why are people playing this card? If I was in a mass damage deck I’d just play Gisela, at least she does something on the off chance she survives. Probably no-one is gonna go out of the way to kill Tajic, at least. Beats out Aurelia for biggest downgrade, imo, even if Aurelia fell from higher.

Feather, the Redeemed (Number 1 most played at time of writing)

Feather is the most popular Boros commander, by over triple the next most popular. It’s not hard to see why: she’s a cheap commander that turns any targeted cantrip into a draw engine, she synergises with so many random powerful cards that you can build her a fair few different ways, and she’s a cool story character getting a card 12ish years after her appearance in the Ravnica novels. She does so much and is so interesting that it’s completely understandable that she’s as huge as she is. I’m still never going to build her though, even with my funky Japanese copies, if only because I’m too much of a hipster.

Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero (13th most played as of writing)

Kinda funny that Gerrard’s little text that made him work in the command zone until recent rules changes is now a strict downside. Gerrard has his niche, with a Second Sunrise in the zone unsurprisingly supporting Eggs decks rather nicely, and synergising with a lot of just random bullshit. I’d probably never build him, and it seems pretty easy to make it degenerate, but I’m glad he’s here and he’s certainly better than the first iteration of the character.

Haktos, the Unscarred (12th most played as of writing)

I’m kinda surprised to see Achilles this high, considering how recent he is. He reminds me a lot of Progenitus, oddly enough, as a commander that would be good at Voltron but can’t get buffed easily by traditional means. I think adding equipment on the off-chance that it fits his heel is a complete mistake, but things like Silverblade Paladin and Exalted cards do exist, so fair play. He’s pretty hard to kill unless you’re boardwiping, and even then damage-based ones probably miss, so I can see the value in that. But that mana cost hurts to look at- hitting 2 mana of 2 different colours on turn 4 was a pain back when I played Trostani, and that was a green deck.

Stet, Draconic Proofreader (No data available)

Okay look, I tried so hard to find a way to abuse this dork’s ability but there’s just no good way to do it. Stet sucks hard enough that even if you are playing with Silver-Bordered cards legal I just don’t know why you’d ever run it. His art is pretty funny, I’ll give it that. We got Alexander bloody Clamilton and Surgeon Commander in the same cycle, keep in mind.

Winota, Joiner of Forces (2nd most played as of writing)

Having menaced standard, Winota is still pretty decent as a commander, even without access to her 7-mana blue payload.  There actually aren’t that many beefy humans to cheat out in general, but considering how easy it is to enable her ability and the fact that she digs *6 cards deep* on trigger, I think you just kinda end up swarming the board distressingly easy with her deck. It’s shocking to see a card from 2020 in the top 5 like this, considering how the year has gone for the format in general, but like. 6 cards.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker (8th most played as of writing)

Look it combos with Basalt/Grim monolith in the command zone isn’t that neat. Zirda is pretty open-ended, but not especially powerful outside of the aforementioned combo. I find them much more appealing in the Companion slot, frankly. With that said, I do like that Boros is the colour pair getting access to Training Grounds in the zone, seeing as it works well with its other themes (Equipment mostly) and opens new archetypes (Cycling, etc.) up as possibilities.

Akiri, Fearless Voyager (7th most played as of writing)

Haha, Brion has more decks than Akiri. That’s probably since it only released a few months ago. Of course, I’m not including the other Akiri, so this is the first time we’ve seen her on the list. But apart from that, Akiri was somehow the first of these commanders to actually say “draw” on it. Her synergies with Living Weapon (and the recent equipment cards that do the same) are pretty sick, though her second ability will end up costing a lot of mana over time if you have to use it. I think its hilarious how much more value this gives you than Adriana for doing the thing Adriana wants you to do, at 2 less mana.

Also, she’s probably the best general for Kor tribal? I guess you could go Akiri/Black partner so you can play Orah in the deck. Someone build this! Kor like equipment, Akiri likes equipment, lets go.

It’s only just occurred to me that Akiri gives you more for attacking other players than Adriana does. Fuckin hell, man.

Bell Borca, Spectral Sergeant (25th most played as of writing)

Bell finally getting a card 15 years after his fictional death was a welcome treat, but the exile-related ability is frankly awkward and abusing it to 1 or 2 hit commander damage is pretty difficult. Still, having impulse draw in the zone makes him probably just the best generic #goodstuff commander. I’m surprised he’s as low as he is, but he only released a month ago (at time of writing) and we got an absolute stack of legends (including 2 other Boros ones and the partners) in the same set.

Reyav, Master Smith (28th most played as of writing)

Reyav is neat since he combines 2 of Boros’s more traditional archetypes, being Aggro and Voltron, into one damage doubling dwarf. I suspect his lack of play is again due to the other legends in the same set and that it only dropped a month ago, because there’s no way he deserves to be below Munda. Also, he’s 2 mana! The only other 2CMC Boros Legend is partner Akiri! How did that happen? I think he deserves better. You can suit him up and get dunking real quick.

Wyleth, Soul of Steel (16th most played as of writing)

Our final general is Boros’s second ever Precon commander, and the only one with flavour text. He’s got the space for it, considering how much work that second line is doing. I appreciate that Wyleth, despite being superficially similar to Akiri, plays pretty differently, as he prefers Voltron while she prefers spreading equipment out. I assume Wyleth would be a lot higher if the precon itself was included, but there’s no way of knowing how many people are playing just the base deck, so who knows.

A CHALLENGER APPROACHES!!!

Koll, the Forgemaster (no data available) This bloke got spoiled between me writing most of this and going to publish it. I can see a few easy combos with his first ability, especially seeing as Grafted Wargear is a card. Playing fairly though, his first ability feels kinda slow, and not being able to protect himself is a huge drag. The second ability feels kinda stapled on, as its a way of giving you a bonus since the first one doesn’t do shit for tokens. But like, just don’t equip them, lmao. Awkward, but has potential.

And that’s the lot of them! Uhhhh yeah that’s all I’ve got, stan Tiana kthnxbai

[jjpmoans]

Empty Space | kyg

w.c :  9k+ words

warnings : angsts. lots and lots of angsts. cheating. slow build up. 

a/n : Happy 1k followers to me! I’d like to thank everyone for following me, staying for my content and my writings. I need to improve more and I am sorry that I’ve not been active. I am still overwhelmed by the 1k followers and it is now at 1.2k followers (OMG 1.2K WHAT DO YOU GUYS FOLLOW ME FOR).  Also since I wasn’t active, I figured a drabble game will have less participation from my audience so I decided to personally dm the 1000th follower and asked them what kind of fic and who does they want to be the main lead. Sooooooo, my 1000th follower @luvgyeom​ requested for a Yugyeom angst, then Yugyeom angst it is! It is quite long (this is my first time writing this long lmao). Please enjoy all the heartbreak. Thankyou for following me again! xoxo 

Heavy steps resonate through the sidewalk, together with everyone else. Everyone is either walking home from work, probably catching up with friends or going for a movie. What they are going to do is absolutely not something Yugyeom actually cares about. However, with the things running through his head now, he’d rather wonder about a stranger’s plan rather than sort things out.

It has been sunny for a while now. The heat is bearable; at least to Yugyeom. Or probably he has lost the ability to feel because he doesn’t think he can function really well right now. He is getting nearer to the familiar street and for the n-th time of the week, he sucks in a breath to gain some strength.

He passes the first grocery and the roasted chestnut smell from the stall hits him immediately, staggering his step. It rings in his head how you would beg him to stop for some chestnut when he was struggling to hold your groceries. Even if he wanted to say no, the pout on your face will melt him completely. He’d give in, watching you skip steps joyfully towards the stall. Living close to the area has made you a regular, the old grandma will give you extra chestnuts because she thought you’re pretty.

Yugyeom thinks you are, too.

“Oh! You’re here!” like on cue, the said old woman calls him, motioning him to come closer. “I thought you had moved away! You stopped coming for weeks now!”. She quickly gathers some freshly roasted chestnuts because that’s how you like your chestnuts. Fresh.

There are reasons why Yugyeom wanted to say no whenever you stopped for chestnuts. Because he doesn’t eat them. He can’t stand the taste. Until you came. You came and suddenly roasted chestnuts became his favourite. No, actually, you’re his favourite.

He loves you. You love chestnuts. He loves chestnuts.

Yugyeom sighs, now he is adding the smell of chestnut to his ‘dislike’ list. Roasted chestnut now makes him dizzy, clouded by the memory of you. He doesn’t even want to meet someone that reminds him of you, which is why he has avoided the route several times.

However, humans have weaknesses and at times Yugyeom feels like malfunctioning without enough dosage of you. Is this what addiction tastes like? It was pure torture, haunted by countless memories which tastes bitter in his mouth but sweet in his mind. It’s like a combination of life, where Yugyeom thought you’re the one he’d spend his life with forever but it turns out you weren’t meant to be his. He was angry at you, he was trying to deny the fact that you too, have weaknesses. But at times like this, he misses you and he just wants you in his arms.

“Yugyeom?” the old grandma calls. He snaps out of his own thoughts, pulling out his wallet to pay. The grandma holds his hand instead, warmness spreads through the touch. She smiles, shaking her head. “Bring this to her. Fights are common, sweetheart. That’s how love works. But you fight for it, you don’t run away. That’s how you save your relationship.”

If it is that simple, he would have ran to your arms long ago. Where it was just a few days; probably a few hours. But it has been far too late, he has broken countless rules made when he dated you. Nonetheless, on days where he found himself in a stranger’s arms, he knew he won’t find the same love that you’ve provided him with.

Because you’re perfect.

You’re perfect and he took you for granted. He knew you were loyal so he went around flirting, cheating behind you. He knew you love him; you will never leave him. He knew sooner or later you’ll find out about him but he didn’t care less. He knew you love him too much to break up with him.

But he never knew what strength can do to a woman.

“Don’t you think it’s time to stop pretending?” your voice was low, Yugyeom didn’t think he had ever heard your tone as cold as that. But he played dumb, asking you what’s wrong. “Why do you think I won’t find you sleeping around behind my back?”

Yugyeom met you when he was still someone who sleeps around. He was in a group of friends who don’t do relationships and only commit one when they’re ready to hold responsibilities. He had warned you before that he is, and will be someone who cheats because he simply can’t leave his old habit. But you stayed nonetheless, trying to get him out of his lifestyle.

And it worked. It worked out and it freaked Yugyeom out when he felt that he started changing for you. He never lingered too long whenever he was out with his friend because he was ready to go home to you. He never realised that until Jinyoung pointed it out. He never drank too much after meeting you, even though his alcohol tolerance is high because he knew you don’t like him reek of alcohol when he came home.

He learnt about you and had your personal preference memorized at the back of his hand. He knew all your likes and dislikes that it scared him when he felt the change. It threw him off the momentum and like a gear, he reversed his life to where before he met you. He never thought he’d fall in love with you and he never thought he’d change for you.

He was mad and he was scared.

The day he gave up messing around was the day you broke up with him. Yugyeom decided that the lifestyle doesn’t suit him anymore; that he loves you too much to sleep with other people. He can’t see other women without thinking about you but as life always works, you sniff things out way before he can explain.

When Yugyeom walked out of the shared apartment, he told himself he won’t regret leaving. He knew he wasn’t worth your love, your loyalty and your dedication. He knew, you can end up with someone better, someone who cherishes your love, someone who isn’t him.

“Are you good?” Youngjae nudges him with a can of beer, Yugyeom smiles in return. Never would he have thought that he would hate drinking. He refuses every drink that came his way and everyone started freaking out when they found out that you broke up with him.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Bam, was the first to curse, fist almost meeting his face. Bam, his own best friend. He was utterly disgusted, refusing to listen to Yugyeom’s explanation. “It’s good she left you. You’re fucking ungrateful, cheating on someone as angelic and as patient as her. I am embarrassed to call you my own friend.”

“Yeah, I’m good.” he replies, eyes lingering on his group of friends talking to each other, being ignorant to how the world revolves. Jinyoung told him that love works in a different way and now he wants to scoff, the elder must be proud if he knows that Yugyeom indeed, acknowledge his words now. “Just feeling empty.”

Yugyeom knows, you’re the only person that fits well in his heart. He knows that you’re the missing piece, the one that is supposed to solve the puzzle. He knows it but he can’t tell them, his friends. They won’t understand and Yugyeom doesn’t have the energy to fight again, hearing things he will just get blamed.

Nights are the most difficult of all for Yugyeom. Climbing on his bed is another story, he loathes himself whenever he starts thinking when you were once in his arms. He would snuggle you to sleep, your head on his chest while you hugged him.

Never had he thought break ups would be this torturous. Never had he thought he would be this affected; going through this phase is absolutely the worst. Never had he, Kim Yugyeom, felt this weak for a woman.

Staring at the ceiling of his bedroom, Yugyeom finds himself drawing the digit 8 with his eyes when his phone buzzes on the side table, bringing him to reality. Three in the morning, probably Jaebeom is texting him to pick them all up since he is the only sober one. So he picks the phone up, opening them to read the texts.

‘Hey.. I miss you. Can we talk?’ had Yugyeom in a panic attack, right after that an incoming call buzzes, ringing for five seconds before he picks it up.

Silence is probably the worst torture Yugyeom could feel now. It is devastating, knowing you’re on the other side, probably crying because of his stupid ass.

“Yugyeom..” your voice falters, awakens the guilt in him. “Oh god I’m so sorry. I can’t- I miss you. I’m sorry.”

Yugyeom smiles, hushing you to calm down.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Yugyeom replies. “I miss you too.”

“I know I don’t have that kind of right to tell you that.”

“But I really really miss you.”

Yugyeom knows, this will probably be the last conversation before you fully move on, leaving him behind. But he also hopes, you will at least, feel his love before totally erasing him out of your life.

Because for once, he needs you to know that only you can fill these empty spaces.

In Yugyeom’s life, he has never felt as empty as he is now. Mainly he was happy, ‘was’ is the keyword because right now, he feels nothing. Your departure brought along his entire emotion since you’re the person who’s in charge of it. You are the person whom he has dedicated all his life for. You’re the reason why he breathes everyday, looking forward to the rest of his day. Waking up to you is one of the views that sparks the light in his heart.

Cheating on you was his fault.

It was and will forever be his fault. Your departure serves as a reminder to him that he is not worthy of your love and will never be worthy of it. When you were right there by his side, he frequently hesitated to show his love towards you. People say it’s because he’s still young but he knows, he was just too egoistic to show his emotion. He never showed you off in public because he was too proud to have someone loyal by his side. He knew you were grateful enough for his affection, those where he showed them to you behind the closed doors.

However he knows, you deserve more than just being a trophy girlfriend. You are brilliant, excellent and everything he should have been bragging about. But he didn’t do it. He didn’t brag about you and he has lost that chance entirely.

From the moment he saw you smiling with your friend in a dimly lit club, his heart clenched and that’s when he realised, he has lost you.

The night where both of you were vulnerable, Yugyeom still remembers every bit of it. You were crying, sobbing in pain as you vent your frustration on him. He could make out the figure of you clutching your chest, tears streaming down your pink cheeks, dropping down to your wet pillow. The image alone hurts him to the core.

“I’m so sorry.” he says into the receiver. Your heart drops at his apology. A part of you wants him to not apologise, that it makes you more vulnerable and will probably run into his arms again. “I’m sorry for cheating behind you. I have no explanation and I deserve you breaking up with me.”

You want to stop him from talking but all you can do is cry, writhing in silent pain. You know Yugyeom loves you. Or so you thought. Years of your relationship has tricked you into a specific mantra that you have been hypnotised with, the assurance that he loves you. Till that day you keep wanting to believe that you are his everything, the only girl he let into his life and hopefully the last.

Leaving Yugyeom was…painful. It has ripped off your lung, knowing the fact the man you’ve been blindly in love with, was sleeping around behind you. Epiphany hit and the excruciating pain left you speechless. The mantra that kept you together broke, shattering with your future that you have pictured with him. The trust was no longer there, you refused to trust him anymore. For what, really? To make you even more miserable? Knowing that you trusted him too much for him to play your heart like some insignificant thing in his life?

So you leave. You love him and you wanted to hear some explanation of how he messed things up. But you needed to leave. You don’t want him to take your love for granted. You wanted to give him a chance but right now, your heart is in pain. You can’t share your man, you just can’t. You can’t accept him for cheating because never in your life, you would accept a cheater.

Love has made you blind and you want to avoid becoming one. 

“Maybe it’s not now,” he said. “I’ll court you again in the future. I’ll gain your trust and I’ll make sure I earned it right.”

“I’ll make myself deserve your love.”

Two years and Yugyeom feels like his life is catching up again. He moved on from the break-up almost a year later, where he figured that life is teaching him how to appreciate people. He changed from a young boy to a mature man, finding a permanent job and wearing proper attire. Funny how he almost sees Jinyoung in him. His friends think the same, he starts to look more proper, more presentable. He is no longer the Yugyeom from two years ago. He left everything in the past to be himself now. He wanted a change, a solid reason to become your man again.

Fate, of course, works differently on both of you. While Yugyeom soars up high, you have become more miserable than you can be. Days and nights are a blur to you, save for those times when you’re at work. Two years made you a zombie, clouded by all ‘what ifs’ and ‘whys’. What if you hadn’t left? What if you stayed? What if you give him a chance? 

You questioned your every move, of why you never asked him the reason he cheated and of why you chose to run away instead of facing the problem head on.

There is only one reason why.

It’s painful to swallow but you still love him.

A combination of blind and fools, that is what you are. You know this is the hardest pill to swallow, the hardest confession you have yet to make to your friends. Whenever they asked you if you’re interested to start dating again, you pushed them away by saying you’re busy with work. You have seen their side eyes and snickers, you know they knew about the truth.

Kim Yugyeom will always and forever be the only man you’ll set your eyes on. 

The first time in two years, your eyes found his. Amidst the crowd, you found him, ash grey and heavy lids. You knew it from the first glance, the way your eyes immediately attracted to that shape of his.You always love those eyes, cheeky and full of enthusiasm. 

However that day, you found confident eyes, a little bit tired but still a strong gaze. You know he met yours too because the next second you find his eyes dilated, diverting the contact. A sharp tug in your heart brought you to reality, shaking you from your mindless dream.

Why?

Doesn’t he miss you? Doesn’t he suffer the same way as you did? Has he moved on? Has he?

You’re enraged by the thought, a string of curses left your mouth while you walk home in tears. However as you hit the shower, you felt yourself relaxing under the warm rain. Then you realise that you’re relieved to see him. You’re relieved to know he’s alive and healthy without you. It’s a lie if you didn’t feel hurt. A part of you wanted to see him miserable as you are but at the same time you were thankful that he managed to live without you. Between the two of you, you’re the mature one while Yugyeom couldn’t even cook instant noodles with the stove. He is more to hot water instant noodles. So when you find him breathing and alive, you have a tiny jealousy in your heart knowing he is better off without you. You guess this is better, parting ways and not existing in each other’s life.

Unknowingly, you find yourself walking through the same route every other day of the week, looking forward to chances that you could probably meet him, even just a quick glance. On your third day, you realise that this is the old route you used to go shopping with him, the one where you always buy your roasted chestnut.

You went home crying, sobbing into the pillow as it swallowed your tears away. 

The next day, you still walk on the same route, stronger than before.

Days become weeks.

Weeks become months.

You never stop, holding to that thin rope of hope to meet him again. Each day you walk through the same route at the same time you met him months ago, wishing that he will be there, probably just standing there and quirk a smile. 

Just knowing that he acknowledges you is already fine. You just need that.

Yugyeom knows you’re there.

He knows it.

He met your chestnut, tired eyes. You looked like – dare he say – miserable. His stomach churned at the possibilities that you may probably haven’t moved on from him, still trapped in the same heartbreak he caused you two years ago. He saw you first, when you were dragging your feet against the bricked floor not giving any attention to your front. It felt like his eyes were glued to you, your beauty kept him stunned; no really, he just missed you. He felt his heart did a little flip when you swatted your hair away from your face, a gesture whenever you were irritated but still keeping that long hair because Yugyeom loves it. He kept watching you walk until you spotted your favourite roasted chestnut stall, the same old stall. Then your eyes suddenly caught his, making him flustered, flying away from your figure.

For the last two years, Yugyeom kept finding himself in a position where he wanted to have you all to himself, selfishly thinking to end his own suffering. He even went to the extent of calculating a plan to win you over, to kneel and to beg for you. 

“You think she’ll take you back?” Yugyeom hated it when Jinyoung questioned his every move. He hated that Jinyoung always sounded right, always taking on your side instead of his. “Why do you think she left you in the first place?”

“Stop trying to bring me down.” he hated when Jinyoung was right.

“You don’t understand!” Jinyoung’s voice thundered, breaking through the silent apartment. “You don’t fucking understand why!”

Jinyoung has no reason to be mad to start with. However Yugyeom’s attempts at winning you over again made him seethed in anger, trying to set the poor boy straight.

“You don’t understand that she didn’t leave because she hated you. She was hurt. You fucking hurt her. You cheated on her and yet you wanted her to accept you back?” Yugyeom ran his eyes from Jinyoung’s, only to land on Bambam’s. That man was no longer his friend the day he revealed how you left him.

“Let’s put it this way, Gyeom-ah.” Apparently Youngjae is the calmer one hence he was with the right mind to put some good words inside Yugyeom’s brain. The other two were still angry, refusing to talk without a string of curse words. “You love one girl. You are crazy about her, you are willing to sacrifice everything for her.”

“I do love her-”

“Then one day, you came home to know that she’s been cheating behind your back. She had another man behind you, god knows how many men she has been sleeping with.”

“I didn’t sleep with them-” 

Jinyoung beat him to it, punctuating each word. “Does she know?”

“Doesn’t it hurt you when the one that holds your trusts, betrays you?” Youngjae sat in front of him, patting his shoulder. “Doesn’t it hurt you?”

From that day he vowed to be better, to stop playing around and to start all over again. 

“How could I make her love me again, hyung?” was one of frequent questions that he’s thrown to his friends. “How could I make her fall for me all over again?”

Mark was definitely the most sane of all, scooting closer to calm the broken boy. “Be a man, Yugyeom. Fix yourself. Fix the old you. Man up and explain yourself. Don’t hope for her to accept you back. Explain yourself and let the time decide.”

That was the reason he changed. He has long given up trying to make you fall into his arms again, however he wanted you to know what happened. You deserve an explanation. You deserve to know what happened and what should have happened. Each day the guilt weighed him to no end. At times he felt suffocated, being chased by the old memories, fragments of that day haunted him over and over again.

Yugyeom had never wanted to hug someone so much after he made eye contact with you that day.

He went home to Bambam, crying over the sadness bottling up his lungs. His fear came to reality, seeing you completely lost in the sea of people. He has totally broken you into pieces and he shall be the one putting you up again.

“Why are you avoiding her?” Jaebeom asks, watching Yugyeom lost in his own thought, his eyes staring into space. “What harm would you bring if you meet her?”

It has been known to his group of friends that Yugyeom met you again at the crosswalk and you are waiting for him every day. You hadn’t realised but his friends were there too, each day when you peered to see his shadow at the same spot like last time. His friends saw you whipped your head left and right, then when you can’t see him, your shoulder would slump and you would walk home like how you usually do.

Sad, broken, helpless.

“Go fix her, Gyeom-ah.” Jackson advises. “Things are getting worse for her. You need to be responsible for this. Don’t run from the problem. Face it. You’re a man.”

Yugyeom looks away from the mindless stare, focusing his vision on his hyungs. “What if I fuck up again? What if I made her fall for me and I fuck up again?” 

“I never told you to make her fall again.” Jaebeom bent closer, patting the younger man on his head. “Fix her. Then let her decide. Don’t take advantage of her. Fix her. She’s broken. Help her realise that her life isn’t worth being pathetic for you.”

“Ouch.” Jaebeom smiles, rubbing circles on Yugyeom’s shoulder. “I’m proud of how far you have come. You have us but she has no one, Gyeom-ah. Help her fix herself as strong as you are. Then let her decide if you are worth accepting again.”

“Can I have it like usual?” the old grandma smiles, her hand is busy packing you a bag of roasted chestnut and honey coated chestnut. Your inside jumps at the delicious smell of your food, giddy to go home and devour them. Months ago you passed the route for Yugyeom. Today you passed the route for your old chestnut stall.

Securing the package, the old grandma proceeds to hand you the food with the change. While you busy yourself keeping the change, she clears her throat. “You look happy today.”

The statement makes you exclaim a small oh! before giving her a curious look. 

Instead of replying, she laughs and starts cleaning her station. “It has been quite long since you stopped buying my chestnuts.”

“I guess the young man and you have parted ways?” she asks.

The question punches your gut, causing your bottle of emotion to shake and start making a mess inside you. It has been known to your circle about your break-up but to a stranger like the old grandma? Of course this hits you hard, knowing that a stranger managed to sniff your relationship like that.

She looks up when you don’t respond, offering a sweet apologetic smile. “I’m sorry if I offended you sweetheart. I saw you happy today, so I thought you’d move on from the young man.”

You didn’t actually blame her, she used to be fond of Yugyeom. Every time you stopped to buy, she would squeal at how nice and handsome Yugyeom is, much to Yugyeom’s liking. You guess that is a common thing to ask, since it has been two years and now you came alone.

“I guess we are not meant together, grandma.” you force a reply out of you, knowing that it probably hurt the old woman if you stayed silent. “We parted ways long ago.”

She hums, watching you dearly. “Do you love him, sweetheart?”

A mere question bursts a thousand emotions, that’s how your tears broke. You nod furiously, unable to contain the sadness anymore. You feel like a useless fool, you have no idea how Yugyeom has so much control in your life that once he’s out of your sight you’ve become this fragile. 

She pulls you into her arms, giving you a comforting, motherly-hug. You don’t know if it helps because you feel so small in her arms and you cry your heart out, tired of bottling everything in. You wanted someone to talk to, but your friends won’t understand. They will continue to call you a weak person, someone who still loves a cheater like Yugyeom. You wanted to tell them that you are indeed a fool but you need them to stand back up again.

“Stop crying sweetheart.” she says softly. “I can see you love him so much. Why don’t you fight for your relationship?” 

To that you cry even harder, countless ‘what ifs’ hits you again full force. Are you the one to be blamed in this situation? Are you the one who stopped fighting for your relationship? Why would you hold him back if he went around cheating while having you by his side? You are a human too, you can’t share what is yours. 

“I don’t know the problem between you two, sweetheart. But what holds you from moving on is because you still have regrets.” she strokes your hair, calming you down. “Talk to him. Vent out your frustration. Let him know that you are not okay with this.”

She wipes away your tears-stained face, giving you an encouraging smile. “Then you can be at ease. You will feel better. You will, sweetheart.”

Words can’t describe how nervous you are, sitting in front of Yugyeom after two years. He looks equally nervous, a different kind of nervous. He looks like he’s afraid that you might break down - which you probably would - and he doesn’t know what to do. So after gulping your saliva for the nth time, you clear your throat, attempting to sort everything out.

If you guys are going to stay silent like this then this meeting won’t ease your mind.

“I’m sorry.” left you gaping, heart drumming at an intense rate. You watch Yugyeom’s Adam Apple bobs, arranging his words. “I am sorry for everything I did to you.”

You can’t say no, because indeed, he was the one to blame. “It wasn’t my intention.” he darts his panic eyes to you, licking his lips to continue, “to cheat. It was never an intention to cheat.”

You inwardly scoff, unbelievably irritated by his explanation. It wasn’t intentional? So like- what, he lost control of himself and suddenly made out with some random woman? It makes no sense and because it doesn’t; your irritation becomes more visible. 

“What? You mean ‘oh I lost control of my limbs and suddenly a woman was riding me’? Disgusting.” you spat out words without thinking, your heart aches more than you can ever give him your empathy. You are disgusted with him. 

As bad as your words come out, he stays collected; even more surprising to you. He shakes his head, leaning closer to the table that separates both of you. “No, I don’t mean it that way.”

“I never intended to cheat. Not because I got bored of you nor because I feel like cheating. I didn’t-” he doesn’t miss how your eyes narrow at his explanation, still feeling disgusted as he refused to come clean. “I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

‘Unbelievable-”

“Think what you want to, but I never slept with anyone when and after we dated. I admit I went clubbing and made out with some women,” he grimaces as he remembers the vague image in his head, “But I never bed them.”

“Never bed them?”

“I can’t. You are everywhere and I felt like I was committing a huge sin.”

“Technically, you were.” you can’t help but blurt it out.

“Yes. The worst sin I had ever committed.”

You feel your throat dries, knowing this is the time for you to ask him. This is the time for you to find out the truth. This is where your future lies. His answer will determine how your misery ends. This is where your curiosity will be answered and you feel yourself chickening out from this conversation. What if he breaks your heart again, reminding you how dumb you were, breaking things between you two without listening to him first? 

However there is no way you’re running out of this restaurant. You’re here and you need to admit that no matter how dumb you were, you and him were over. A broken glass can’t be put back again so you decide to screw it. Timidly, you hang your head low and manage to let out a small but clear word. “Then..why?”

In return you heard Yugyeom scoffing, laughing to himself and stopped. That’s it. He’s about to make fun of you, saying how you are so clouded with your own conclusion and emotion, how you are always the one that overthinks, that you’re the reason why you break up.

Amidst your inner banter, you tip your head curiously and instantaneously your heart stops at how his face changes. You can see right through him, his pain and his misery. His face holds so much regret that you can almost feel the pain in his heart. 

You can see the real Yugyeom, broken and in pain.

“I was stupid, y/n.” he says.

“I was stupid, I was scared. God I was so so stupid.” he repeats again, one after another. “I was scared because I started changing into someone I don’t know.”

“I dated you for just one year and I changed from a free boy to a committed boy. I was committed to our relationship and it scared me how I changed in a split second because of you.” he pauses to inhale a suffocating breath, painfully stabbing him through his lungs. “I was pathetic. I was so scared seeing how dependent I’ve been to you and I feel like you could control me with just a snap of your finger.”

You fall into silence, shaken by his confession.

However, silence was never Yugyeom’s favourite; yours top everything. He was scared to explain because he knows it will look unreasonable and pathetic in your eyes. He knows it is, judging by how ridiculous you’re looking at him now.

“So..you slept around because you were scared of changing?” the tone of your voice changes, exactly as cold as Yugyeom could remember, just the exact tone from the day things fall apart between you.

His head drops again, voice coming out with hesitation. “It sounds ridiculous, yes it does. But you don’t understand how scared I was. I was becoming someone under your control. It was weird because I usually have everything under my control. I wasn’t used to being under someone’s spell and it blinded me to the point where I don’t feel as happy as I was when hanging out with my friend just because you weren’t there.”

“Then I thought that’s probably because I hang out with you too much. I’ve become dependent on you, I thought that was totally ridiculous when Bambam told me that’s because I’m in love with you.”

His shoulder jolts when he lets out a forced laugh. “Me? Capable of loving? Love wasn’t in my dictionary back then, y/n. I was messing around and it threw me off guard when Bam mentioned that. Love? What kind of love would I be able to give you? I was a boy, I have nothing but a simple life. I wasn’t ready for commitment but you made me fall deeper for you.”

“So I messed up. Like how Kim Yugyeom would, I messed up.” for the first time since he spoke, he looked you straight in the eyes. “It took me two weeks to realise that ‘shit, I’m in love with y/n’ and another one week to get my shit together, thinking of how I should break it to you.”

You’ve been listening attentively to his explanation, the gears in your head moved rapidly, overlapping one issue with another. 

‘So for one year he didn’t love me?’

‘But he did. Just he didn’t realise.’

‘But he needed three weeks to realise when he’s been with me for one year?’

‘He was confused, y/n.’

“What,” you inhale, composing yourself. “happened the day we broke up?” 

You found out about him a few days before you broke up. One of your acquaintances kept hinting to you about your relationship. When she got unbearable that you can’t hold it anymore, you confronted her for the issue. To say that you were surprised, you weren’t entirely surprised. You were more disappointed than surprised. You don’t understand why.

“I guess I wasn’t careful. I don’t care for what if someone saw me because like I said, I thought I should take a break from you and back to my life before I met you.” 

“Probably she was one of the women I danced with or I kissed-” he grimaces again. “I don’t know. I was ready to come home to you and make up for what I did.”

Silence falls between both of you again, unsure of what to say. It’s too much to absorb; at least to you. You have a lot to ask him but they disappear the moment Yugyeom shows you the whole picture. Now that you heard his explanation, your brain starts working more questions but unrelated to previous questions. 

What now? What do you do? You heard his confession, you resolved your frustration. It turns out Yugyeom was a big idiot and it costs your relationship to make him realise that life isn’t all simple. 

Your eyes dart to the man before you, hesitating to ask the real question. You know how much he broke you. You weren’t ready to hear that he moved on, but you wanted to know if you were to make a stupid move, you need to know what he feels about you.

“Do you…” you trail off, unsure how to put it. Yugyeom’s attention perks at your halt, watching you slowly shifting into panic mode. “Have you ever once..”

“Love me?” you feel small, you feel rejected. You always feel that when you’re with Yugyeom, you know how insecure you were when it comes to him. His view meant a lot to you and you guess after years, you haven’t changed. You still seek for his validation and that’s when you realise you have very little self-confidence.

Instead of scoffing like how you thought, Yugyeom offers a sweet smile, his eyes however, don’t shine as sweet as his smile. “I do, y/n.”

“I never stopped loving you, if that’s what you were wondering.”

He stops at that, making you wonder what’s wrong. He never stopped loving you. So? No continuation?

He laughs, leaning back to sip his chocolate drink. “I can hear your thoughts, y/n. I know you’re overthinking and you are irritated.”

“I never stopped loving you. But I don’t know if I’m worth your love again.”

“I have done a lot of damage to you, one of which is destroying your future without properly explaining what happened. I saw your shoulder slumped and I never saw that smile again.”

He grins, however it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I think I shall no longer exist in your life, y/n.”

You almost wanted to argue but he stops you with his next sentence. “I don’t want me to influence your life. You’re beautiful, y/n. You’re beautiful and you’re a confident woman once upon a time ago. That’s why I was attracted to you before. However dating me changed you into an insecure woman; I am sorry about that.”

“I don’t want you to consider accepting me again because you love me. No, I don’t want you to do that. I need you to remember that this man has broken you once and probably will break you again in the future. I want you to build yourself again, no not for me but for you. For your own sake. I know you always seek my validation which I enjoyed when we dated but I realised it has degraded your worth.”

Sincerity keeps pouring out of him and you feel your eyes become teary, then the next second you feel them running down your cheeks. “You are worth much more than my validation. You don’t need my validation nor me. You need yourself, you need to love yourself for you to be able to build yourself stronger.”

“Please don’t cry,” Yugyeom’s hand moves to hold yours, only to retreat back to his side. “I love you, y/n. Please remember that. But I can’t let myself stop you from finding yourself back. I don’t want you to be my slave because you love me. You need to build yourself again. I don’t want to be a distraction to you.”

“But I want you back in my life.” you choke on a sob, excruciating pain shoots through you. Yes you’re being dumb because he is right, you need to find yourself. You lost yourself right when you dated Yugyeom so you do need to rebuild yourself. However, losing Yugyeom for the second time, you don’t know if you’re ready for that.

For once he reached over to hold your hand in his, covering your tiny fist with his huge palm. “One day, y/n. If fate wants us to stay together, we’ll stay together. I’ll make myself worthy of your love again.”

“Just not now, sweetheart.” your eyes shut tight, releasing more and more tears. He’s right. He’s right and you hate how right he sounds. “I’ll wait patiently for you. I’ll wait for you to mend yourself, I’ll wait for you to accept me back.”

“But when?” you’re not going to give up. You want assurance, you want to know that Yugyeom will be there when you succeed in finding yourself.

“Soon, sweetheart. When you are ready, when your heart is ready. When fate is ready, I’ll be there to prove my worth.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

Soon, is an indefinite promise. Soon changes from weeks to months, months to years.

You stopped counting days after the sixth month, seeing you gained no difference in yourself, only looking forward to running into Yugyeom’s arms back again. You lied to yourself, saying you’ll find yourself when you’re with him. For months, you lied, desperately holding to that promise Yugyeom did during your last meeting. You assured yourself that you’ll change and he’ll come back sooner than you think.

On one random day, the string inside you snapped and suddenly everything hit you that Yugyeom was saying goodbye to you, he was ready to leave you. You cried for hours, angry and mad at how he played you. He coaxed you into believing that he’ll take you back when you change but deep down he knew that you won’t change. He knew that you will stubbornly lie to yourself because that’s how you did two years back. That’s how you lived after he walked out of your life, lying to yourself since that’s what you know the best.

Eight months and you saw a pattern changed in your lifestyle. You started sleeping early, giving your body enough sleep for the day. You started eating breakfast, something you’ve considered a few times but you always wake up late and rush to work. You started going out for a walk in the evening, tired of being trapped in the same apartment. 

Walking alone was so cold, so boring and reminded you of old times. On impulse you detoured to a shelter one day, adopting a dog.

She is a small golden retriever, around 3 months old, active and very clingy. Adopting her helps you relax, focusing every single problem only on her, no other things. She, after weeks living with you, is finally called Chestnut. You laugh at yourself after you named her, so much for the originality. 

Living with Chessy is everything you’ve needed. She helps you discipline, soon you fall into a routine that you yourself didn’t realise. Chessy is easy to take care, though quite fussy and picky with people. She doesn’t particularly like strangers and only warming up to people she’s chosen to warm up to, which is now, only three people. You, your mom and your dad. You never take it as a problem since you don’t really associate with other people anyways. Chessy’s behaviour also helps you at times where you want your co-workers out of your sight, she will bark at them immediately to chase them away.

Chessy becomes a part of you, someone who makes you look forward to coming home.

Soon has turned into three years, you changed into a more independent woman, leaving your old self behind. In the span of three years, you resigned, leaving your toxic coworkers and friends to a new workplace. You enjoy yourself, surrounded with a new and positive environment. Your current boss is everything you wanted, keep giving his employees chances to grow and soar high.

You, driven by the new environment, escalated your self esteem pretty quick, making you braver and stronger day by day. Your colleagues help in building your confidence, always there to guide you to be better. In short, you feel your life falling into the right places.

Perhaps this was what Yugyeom said.

Finding yourself is the best thing you’d ever achieve in your life. You never feel so happy than right now, where you feel that you can breathe easily without something weighing you down. Perhaps this was what Yugyeom wanted you to feel, before finding him again. This new version of you is unbreakable, built with much self-love and respect.

This version of you indeed, feels alive.

Fifth year and you’re living as a completely new person, someone easy-going and social. You’re still you, but a better version. Your fashion changes, your lifestyle changes and your mindset changes. You believe that everything happens for a reason, that you probably know what it is sooner or later. You believe that every decision and every step you take, you must be held accountable. You should not regret and dwell on that decision if it turns out wrong, but you’ll improve yourself to be better. And that includes making a wise decision.

You never have to ask for someone’s validation anymore. Your work, your decision, your mind. What you plan is what you’ll do. You’ve changed your working style and you have to admit, it is easier right now. You’re confident and always ready, it lessens the stress in you.

You never thought you’d arrive at this point. 

Yugyeom was right.

After years being mad at him for standing you up, you finally agree that what he did was right. 

It will be impossible for you to be at this point if he’s by your side, clouding your every decision. You’ll fall into the same routine again, you will never get to build yourself and act as your own person. 

Sky decides that it’s a perfect time to cry and here you are, sitting with Chessy in your lap, nuzzling into your warmth. Your new apartment gives you a window with a ledge, a perfect place for you when you need your thoughts to run wild. You always use it to your fullest, especially on rainy days where you stay indoor, enjoying the warmth of your apartment.

Running your hand through her fur, you wonder. 

‘Where are you at, Yugyeom-ah?’

The smell of coffee has always made you calm. You don’t know why but there are two smells that calm you. Coffee and Yugyeom. You smile, shaking your thoughts away as the cashier hands you your change. Your attention shifts to Chessy, who’s waiting outside of the coffee shop since she can’t come in. You’re on your usual evening walk with Chessy, a routine you won’t miss whenever weekend comes. Chessy enjoys a walk and so do you.

When your buzzer vibrates, you quickly get your coffee and that’s when your attention falls again on Chessy, sniffing a stranger’s hand outside the shop. Your heart thumps at the possibility that the person would kidnap Chessy; not that it would be possible since Chessy can bark really loud but you can’t be so sure, so you quicken your step outside, only to see Chessy shaking hands with a man in a checkered shirt.

“Chessy!” instantaneously, you exclaim, wondering how weird Chessy is, being kind to strangers. 

Both your dog and the man jolt in surprise, you realise how he stiffens after you call out Chessy’s name. His outline seems familiar, a rush of cold air passes and you’re stunned at how easily your mind can recognise him. 

The broad shoulders, the baseball cap, the checkered shirt, the worn-out jeans.

The scent.

“Chessy.” he repeats, cooing and patting your dog. “A sweet name for a cute dog like you, right sweetheart?”

“Your mom must be good at picking names.” he smiles, standing up from Chessy to face you.

“Yugyeom.” Just like that, memories from five years ago hit you, playing scenes after scenes in your head. 

“Y/n.” he breathes out your name and your heart skips a beat, knowing how much you miss him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know she’s your dog. She’s so cute, obediently waiting outside the shop so I wanted to greet her.”

He grins at Chessy, who’s now by your side, wagging her tail happily. 

You’re still stunned but you shall not show that you are, so you swallow your overwhelmness to respond.

“It’s okay. She likes you.”

His face lightens up, darting his eyes to Chessy. “Really? You like me?”

His whole behaviour screams your old Yugyeom but deep down you know, he’s not yours. You are still overwhelmed to meet him but as he said, fate will decide on it. You don’t search for him and you think he doesn’t search for you too. You think that’s just how fate wants you to meet. You have a lot to ask him. 

How have you been? Did you do well? Do you know that I moved? Did you know that I changed my workplace? Have you been healthy?

All that stuff. You just want to catch a conversation, to be updated about him. 

Your cheeks lift up, stretching a smile on your face. However it lasts shortly before you remember that he’s not supposed to touch Chessy.

“Wait. You shook hands with her just now?” 

“Yes? Why?”

“You’re not supposed to!” you fuss, panicking. “You have allergies, remember? Oh my god why would you touch her?” 

At that Yugyeom laughs. He laughs and your entire body stops functioning. It’s been too long since you heard him laughing and you want to capture his laugh in your mind in case fate decides that you shall no longer cross path after this. 

“Why are you laughing?” you’re breathless but you are still worried. Why would he laugh? This is a serious situation. Yugyeom’s allergies hit quite hard before and he could be bedridden if he didn’t take his meds quickly. 

“I’m okay with her fur. I am allergic but only to a certain type of fur.” he bends down to pat her again, before giving you an apologetic smile. “I need to go.”

“Oh.” you don’t intend your gasp to be that obvious but probably you wanted him to stay longer. It’s too short for five years. “I’m sorry for taking your time.”

He smiles and shakes his head. “No, y/n. I’m glad I met you.”

“Perhaps we can catch up again.”

“How?”

He starts walking backward, eyes promising another meeting. “Like how today happens.”

Funny how five years you’ve been in the neighbourhood, you had never once met Yugyeom, coincidentally or accidentally. Probably you’ve been busy with work, with the newest project that kept you at work even on weekends. However since it was submitted last week, you have some free time to yourself and are able to take a walk during the weekend. 

And then you met Yugyeom again the next two weeks.

He was out for a jog and you were on your routine, bringing Chessy for a walk. Days passed and you felt your schedules synchronised, every time you’re out for a walk, he’s out for a jog too. It feels too real to be true that you start making all sorts of assumptions in your head.

“I think you’re stalking me.” was the first thing you said to Yugyeom after you met him for the fourth time. “It’s impossible that I met you every time I am out with Chessy!”

He laughed as you kept accusing him for stalking you, before replying “Maybe I’m just interested in Chessy. Right, sweetheart?”

Chessy barked happily, siding with Yugyeom even more. 

Fourth becomes fifth, and fifth becomes tenth. 

You decided that you don’t have an issue with your schedules synchronised so you start adjusting to the change, to the extent of having coffee with him after your walk.

“I think it’s just useless if I were to have chocolate every time after I went for a jog.” Yugyeom sips on his drink, almost spluttering his chocolate drink when he meets your judging eyes. He cracks up as you try not to stab him with your straw.

“Is it my fault then? I never forced you to drink with me!”

“You did.” he points out. “You asked me ‘do you want to have some drink?’”

“I asked if you want to, not that you are obligated too.” you roll your eyes, sipping your own coffee. “Chessy, your admirer is so annoying.”

Yugyeom chuckles, setting down his drink on the table. “You don’t force me. I just want to.”

That statement skips your heart a beat, however you did not press on it. You let it flow, savoring your friendship. You decide that it is the best if you stay as friends first, there is no need to get into a relationship where both of you might screw up again. You need to build a strong foundation first, before taking the responsibility.

Your weekend meetings continue, both of you start updating on your life. You with your work and Yugyeom about the guys and his life. It becomes a routine between you two, now you are sure that your schedules aren’t synchronised, it is more to you actually serving an empty slot just for him. 

Like he does for you.

After months, you meet his friend circle again, just him inviting you to their gathering. You never thought that you’ll miss them; well you don’t have time to think about them before. You never thought you’d feel complete when you saw Jaebeom and Bambam bicker or Jackson and Jinyoung dissing each other. You just feel like a misplaced puzzle inside you finally fits, finally relocates and completes.

“What are you thinking?” Yugyeom asks as he walks you home from the gathering. You choose to walk rather than drive, just in case they decide to drink so you’ll take a cab home. But Yugyeom offers to walk with you, Bambam taking his car home instead.

“Us.”

He stops in his tracks, watching you still walking forward. You know that he’s afraid of mentioning it first. You saw his curious eyes and you can’t blame him for not bringing this up. He still fears that he’ll make the same mistake and will break you again.

So you turn around, smiling as bright as you can, determined to make him see that you are ready.

“Are you sure, y/n?” he licks his lip nervously. “I can wait. I don’t want you to feel burdened. If you don’t want me then I’m good with it.”

“Yugyeom.” you reach to hold his hands, gripping it tight. “I am sure with my decision.”

“I’ve thought of it over and over again and if I want someone else I should already have them now. But I don’t want someone else. I want you.”

“But what if,” his voice falters, fear starts clouding his mind. “What if I hurt you again? What if I make a mistake again?”

His voice comes out like a squeak, like he’s too vulnerable and scared. 

“Gyeom-ah.” you call him, still caressing his hand. “We can make this right. We’ll talk about what is working and what’s not. We need to be honest to each other.”

“We’ll be rational and sort things out. We will, Yugyeom. We will.”

“We will?”

You nod, etching a smile. “We will.”

Winter has never been warmer than that night. Yugyeom finds you in his arms again, stronger and unbreakable. He’s relieved, though worried what the future has for both of you. 

For now he’ll focus on you, the one that fills his empty space.

Copyright © 2020 jinyoungmoans. All rights reserved

[ Writings ]

[stripedigital]

Types of SEO You Need to Know To Run a Successful Business

What do the majority of people do when they have a question or need to find a business? They “Google it”. No matter what type of business you run, having an online presence is key and appearing in search is crucial to generating leads and making money online. If you have a website (which you should!) you will need to optimize it in order to show up in search results. There are several types of SEO that you, as a business, owner need to know to ensure you’re running a successful business.

What is SEO again?

Before we go through the types of SEO, make sure you know what SEO is. If you’re familiar with our site and blog then you probably already know the answer to this question. But if you need a reminder: SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s how your potential customers organically find your website when they search for your products and services online. Search engines like Google are constantly crawling websites looking for the best content to show users who type keywords into the search bar.

If you are really new to SEO we’ll explain with an example. Say you are looking to join a gym but you want to make sure you like it before you purchase a membership. You go to Google and type in the keyword “gym membership free trial” and in less than a second Google has over 96 million results. If you value your time, you are probably not going to go through every result. You will probably skim over the first few. You won’t even think about clicking to the second page of results because these options look like exactly what you were searching for. Well that’s exactly what Google wants – to provide you with exactly what you want. Nice, huh?

Here’s where SEO comes in. Each of these pages has been optimized to show up for the keyword that you have just typed into Google. Several businesses could be ranking for the same keyword. It’s just a matter of who does it better.

On Page SEO  

One of the most well known types of SEO is on page SEO. This is anything that you can physically put on to your webpage like text, images or code.

Keywords

We briefly mentioned keywords but they are the powerhouse of SEO. Without them, SEO wouldn’t exist so it’s important to make sure you understand what they are before you do anything. You may think that you can pick whichever keywords you want to and optimize your site to reflect these keywords. But this is not the case for pretty much all types of SEO. You will need to do extensive keyword research before you even think about optimization. Your ideal keywords will be relevant to your brand, have high monthly search volume and low competition. It can be difficult to find that sweet spot so if you’re not sure where to start, let one of our SEO specialists know in the comments on this page!

H1 Tag

The family of “H” tags are known for their ability to style text but they are also used to show search engines what is important on the page and create hierarchy through different types of SEO.

Best practices for H1 tags include designating one main keyword per page and using that keyword as your H1 tag. There needs to be one and only one H1 tag per page on your website.

Don’t make the mistake of using H1 tags to style your text. If you decide to use multiple H1 tags on a page this could negatively affect your rankings. An H1 tag can be found in the text of your site (aka the code aka the HTML aka hypertext markup language). Don’t use an H2 tag or an H3 tag. You need one H1 tag per page and that H1 tag needs to be your keyword like so <h1>keyword</h1>. If you are having trouble with your H tag styling let us know, our website experts would be happy to help!

Title

Just like each page has an H1 tag they also get a title as well as a meta description. The title appears in Google like this:

Your title should be between 10 and 70 characters. Not words. Keep it relatively concise, include the page’s focus keyword and use pipes |, or colons if you need to. The title for LYFE’s home page is “LYFE Marketing: Social Media Management Company”. Can you take a guess as to some of the keywords that this page is ranking for? One of this page’s target keywords is social media management company. Notice how it is a part of the title as well as the meta description. This page may be ranking for other keywords as well but there are other ways of ranking like adding keywords to the copy or as your H1 tag.  

Meta Description

Your meta description is next, located just below your title. This is a longer explanation of what your page is about. It should be between 160-300 characters. Any longer and Google will cut you off with an ellipsis…and nobody wants to get cut off mid sentence.

Although human users might not look closely at your meta description you can bet search engines do. Your meta description should include your target keyword or keywords for that page.

*Something to note* You may notice that sometimes there are sub headings that come with search results. These are called sitelinks which show links to your subpages. These are intended to help users navigate. You as the owner of the website cannot add sitelinks to your listing. Google determines which pages might be helpful to show to users in addition to the main page and adds them for you. This is all the more reason to use different types of SEO to fully optimize your site so Google knows your content is valuable and shows it off. If you want to add your own sitelinks you will have to create a PPC campaign using Google Ads.

Image Alt tags

Sometimes people skip over these thinking that they’re not as important. Think again. Even though people can physically see the photos on your site and know what they are, search engines can’t. They are reading the code and text that is on each page. If you describe your photos with keywords, then search engines will easily be able to tell what your photos are about. Don’t overuse your keyword in your image alt tags. Take some time to actually describe your images and add in keywords where they make sense.

Image alt tags can be found where you manage your media. In WordPress it looks like this. You have space to type a title for your image so that you can easily search for it and you have a place for your image alt text.

Content

Quality content is important and plays a role in your rank. The important word here is quality. Let’s say that a website that has a lot of content that is mediocre and a second website has less content but it’s high quality. Search engines will eventually pick up on the fact that the first website is producing sub par content. It won’t want to show users this site. Instead it will crawl through the other website’s content and see that it is keyword heavy but still captures the attention of website visitors.

The way search engines determine if users like the content is with bounces and dwell time. A bounce is when a user lands on a web page and decided the content isn’t useful to them and hits the back button. Dwell time is how long the user spends on your website. The longer the dwell time, the more relevant the content.

On each page of your website you should have at least 300 words but the more words you have, the more chances there are for you to insert your keyword into your copy. The more keywords on your page the higher you could rank in search. If you have a page with 300 words you may only be able to use your keyword 2-3 times so that it makes sense. With additional copy, say 1,000-2,000 words, you have space to insert your keyword 5-10 times or more!

Remember when you are writing copy to write it so that it is useful for your human visitors first. You need to make sure you have your keyword in your copy only where makes sense. Enlist the help of our content writing experts to help you capture the true opportunity that these types of SEO offer.

Design and Usability

Believe it or not the design of your website can contribute to your overall SEO. If there are flaws in the design or the usability this can confuse visitors. Which could cause bounces. And bounces are bad for all types of SEO. They send a signal to Google that the content may be irrelevant or not in line with the keyword that the user searched. In short, make sure your website is professionally designed and that it’s easy for users to find exactly what they are looking for.

Optimizing your pages on various platforms

If you run your own website you might be using a free version of WordPress, Wix, Shopify or another platform and maybe you are not entirely sure where to start with optimizing your site.

WordPress has an incredible plugin called Yoast SEO. A plugin is kind of like an app for your website. Yoast lets you know how your on page SEO is looking.

The SEO on the left needs some work but the SEO on the right looks pretty good! There is a place to edit your “snippet” or title and meta descriptions and Yoast will let you know things like how many times your keyword appears throughout your page. If you have an issue a red dot will appear with some text. Once you correct this issue it will turn green. If you have all green or mostly green dots you’re good to go! The best part is, Yoast is free!

Sites like Wix and Shopify are relatively easy to optimize. On each page you will find a place to input your title and meta descriptions and keywords. You should be able to create H1 tags in the text boxes of your pages. You may have difficulty finding your H1 tags if they are buried in your code. If so, we have professionals standing by ready to dig up those hidden H1 tags!  

Off page/ongoing SEO

Off page SEO includes blogging, backlinking, and internal linking. Blogging is crucial to SEO. It gives your site more high quality content for search engines to crawl. It can increase the number of site visitors as well as boost your rankings if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, luckily we have a team for that too.

Writing blogs to rank in SEO involves keyword research and quality content. Your keyword will need to appear in your copy and make sense for your topic. If you write a blog about types of SEO your blog will need to be written around that topic showing users different types of SEO, what they are and how they work. As long as you stick to your topic and focus keyword and keep producing quality content you will have a blog that entices users and keeps them coming back for more.

Backlinking is basically like a recommendation from another website saying that your site is high quality and a good source for information. It is simply a hyperlink that links from one site to another. Backlinks can be obtained by building relationships with other companies in your industry or other industries that make sense for your brand. If you are a cleaning company you would not want a backlink from a restaurant unless you specialized in restaurant cleaning.

Internal linking helps to build page hierarchy on your site. You can link to other subpages from a main page. This tells search engines which pages are the most important. It also helps users to navigate your site. They can go from page to page on your site taking in more and more information. Internal linking can help users gain a better understanding of terms they are unfamiliar with as well. For example, you are writing a blog where you need to use a technical word that people might not know. You can hyperlink that word to link to another page on your site that explains that technical term.

Local

Local SEO is one of the types of SEO that can be difficult to execute but there are a bunch of tactics you can take advantage of in order to increase your local rankings.

This is a local pack. Google shows local options near you when you search for a product or service.

You want your business to appear in the top three spots. You can do this by optimizing your site but also getting good reviews on Google. The more reviews the better for potential customers and search engines. Customers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from family and friends. If you have numerous good reviews people will be more likely to try out your business. If you have 5 good reviews, people might trust your business. But having a lot of reviews can show customers that you are established and trusted in the community.

You should also have a Google My Business account if you want to rank locally (or if you want to rank at all). This shows customers and search engines where you are located. If someone searches for the best donuts in Google, it will show them where to get the best donuts near where they are currently located. Make sure that your business information is the same across all platforms including your Google My Business. Doing so will increase your chances of ranking. When you are claiming your business on GMB you also need to fill out all of the information that Google asks for.

Another way to boost your local SEO rankings is to get listed online everywhere you can. You can use sites like Yext to get your business listed across the web. Imagine having your product in one brick and mortar store. Now imagine having your product in 100 brick and mortar stores. This gives your product and brand more visibility and the opportunity for you to make more sales. Listing your business on multiple sites is similar.

Mobile

Out of all the types of SEO, this one isn’t really an option. It’s essentially becoming a necessity. Optimizing your site for mobile is crucial in today’s digital world. Everywhere you look there’s someone Googling away on their smartphone. SEO works the same way on mobile as it does on a desktop but there are some tactics you will want to implement on your mobile site to increase your chances of ranking on mobile devices.

Don’t use popups. Popups can be difficult to exit out of on mobile devices and can sometimes appear differently from the desktop version. If you have a popup on your site usually there’s an option to turn it off on the mobile version. This will allow your mobile visitors to have a better user experience.

Restructure your menu. If your navigation bar contains a bunch of pages it might be wise to restructure your menu on mobile devices. You can build separate menus that appear on mobile and desktop.

Page speed is immensely important for mobile users as well. No one wants to wait on a website to load no matter what device they are on. Users have come to expect a fast load time especially on their mobile devices. Test your mobile site to make sure that it loads quickly. You will reduce the number of site bounces and increase your sales.

White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO

This is one of the types of SEO you want to implement. White hat SEO is everything we have talked about so far. Practicing white hat SEO means that you are following the rules. If you follow the rules search engines will reward you with good rankings.

Black hat SEO on the other hand breaks all of the SEO rules. Website owners may use these techniques to trick search engines into ranking them in search. Like we have mentioned before, search engines want to provide human users with quality search results. And websites that are using black hat SEO are usually not the high quality sites search engines are looking for. We are going to explain different blackhat tactics, but do not under any circumstances use them. You need to be aware of black hat SEO so that you can avoid it.

Just to be clear these are types of SEO that you should not use. They will destroy your rankings or get your site blacklisted.

Keyword Stuffing

Imagine if you were speaking with someone who used your name in every sentence or even 2-3 times a sentence. This doesn’t make sense and isn’t the way that we speak. If you do something similar on your site search engines will pick up on this! Maybe not immediately but it’s not worth the risk. If you really want that blog post to rank, let us help! We will do the keyword research and make sure your content is acceptable to both search engines and humans.

Hidden text

In addition to keyword stuffing some site owners will hide keywords in the white space or background of their pages. Someone might do this if they didn’t want to take the time to add quality content. Instead they would type their keyword a bunch of times and hide it making it so human users can’t see it but search engines can. You might be able to get away with this for a little while, but search engines are smart and will eventually catch you.

Duplicate Content

If you need more content to round out your site do not duplicate content on your site or from any other site. This will cause google to deindex your duplicate content. Strive for original high quality content.

Fake Clickbait

If you write a great title meta description and promise the potential customer who is about to click something amazing and then don’t deliver, this is fake clickbait. It’s like promising someone the best tacos at your restaurant and then only serving mediocre waffles. It’s a disappointment and that person is definitely not coming back. Legitimate clickbait is great just as long as you don’t over promise and under deliver. It entices people to click on your site which is what you want!

These are just some of the black hat SEO tactics used today. Using them to move up in rankings can get you into a lot of trouble with Google. You run the risk of never being able to rank in Google search so be safe and only use white hat SEO tactics.

A lot of time and effort goes into building an SEO campaign. These types of SEO will help you optimize your site so that you can reach that coveted number one ranking for your focus keywords. Want access to an SEO campaign that is designed specifically for your business? Our team is passionate about building our clients the best SEO strategy possible. Contact LYFE today to get started!

The post Types of SEO You Need to Know To Run a Successful Business appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog.

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Bark App Review

4.5/5

Monitors 24 social media platforms

Offers customizable alert settings

Monitoring starts at $9/mo. or $99/yr.

Visit Bark

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Bark Leads the Pack of Parental Control Apps

Bark is a longtime favorite of ours for social media monitoring. On top of our research, we’ve had multiple kiddos, teens, and parents give it a try. Find out why Bark is our top recommendation for keeping kids safe on social media.

Bark impressed us during testing with its monitoring alerts for 24 social media platforms. We also appreciated the adjustable sensitivity settings and how Bark encourages you to have conversations with your kids about online safety.

Pros

Monitoring across 24 social media apps

Alerts for texts and emails

Compatibility with most devices, including Android and iPhone

Tips to help parents start honest conversations with their kids

Cons

No iOS app

No website blocking

No screen time controls

Bark Pricing and Plans

Type of Plan Cost # of Children # of Devices Trial Period Learn More

Monthly Yearly $9/mo. $99/yr. Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 7 days 7 days Visit Bark Visit Bark

{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Table", "about": "" }

Data effective 10/25/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Bark is going to cost a little more than other parental control apps, but it also does a lot more than its competitors. We think it’s worth the extra $10.

That said, we recommend taking Bark up on its seven-day free trial offer before you opt into a monthly or yearly plan. When you log into your account, you’ll see a countdown of days left in your trial. You can cancel anytime before the trial ends to avoid automatic billing.

After the trial period, if you’re certain Bark is the faithful online companion your family has been waiting for, go for the yearly subscription to save money in the long run.

Bark’s Monitoring Features

Most parental control filters shield children from sensitive content by restricting access, but Bark believes safety comes from transparency.

Bark’s founders and board members, who are parents and psychologists, designed this parental control app to encourage open conversations.¹

Unlike some other online filters that rely exclusively on keywords, Bark uses advanced machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to screen social media, texts, and emails.

Parents receive alerts via email or text when Bark detects suspicious activity. Here are the concerns Bark screens for:

Cyberbullying

Sexual content

Drug- and alcohol-related content

Violence

Depression

Self-harm or suicidal content

Profanity

Inappropriate behavior or content

Risky app or website usage

Changes in account activity

Weapons

In testing, we were particularly impressed with how well Bark handles Google’s suite of products. Many middle schoolers and high schoolers now use Google accounts to connect with friends and share content. Often, they’ll use comments in Google Docs instead of chatting on social media.²

While parents seem to be aware of the dangers of Facebook and YouTube, they may overlook Google Docs as a potential source of cyberbullying. Thankfully, Bark does an exceptional job of monitoring Google accounts and sending snippets of concerning conversations and social interactions in its alerts.

Bark’s Adjustable Sensitivity Settings

In our testing, Bark was surprisingly adept at catching slang, acronyms for swearing, and even questionable emoji use. At one point, an emoji-heavy text from an 8-year-old triggered a warning for alcohol-related content because it included a beer mug.

While it’s nice to know that Bark won’t miss anything, all those alerts can get pesky. Bark makes it easy to adjust the settings for each type of concern so you can customize based on your child’s age and how much information you want.

There are three options: relaxed, moderate, and strict.

The “relaxed” setting will alert parents only for the most serious concerns, while “strict” is liable to turn up some false positives. For instance, on the strict setting, Bark flagged an email between a father and son about a haircut appointment as a self-harm risk.

There are a few types of alerts, like those for inappropriate behavior or risky app and site usage, that you can set as either on or off. But the majority of alert settings are customizable from relaxed to strict.

Bark App Installation

One of the challenges of parental control apps is that they can be tricky to install, especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy. But Bark does an exceptional job of walking parents through each step of the installation process.

For devices like Chromebooks and PCs, it takes just 20–30 minutes to connect one child’s social media accounts and email accounts to Bark. Multiply this by how many kids you want using the app.

Installation gets wonky with iOS devices, though. This complexity isn’t Bark’s fault, as Apple doesn’t always play nice with other platforms and apps. You’ll need to connect your iPhone or other iOS devices directly to your laptop or computer and use Bark’s desktop app to finish the installation process. During testing, the download slowed to a crawl and took 30–45 minutes to complete.

Bark’s Check-in Feature

While Bark doesn’t offer website blocking or the ability to set limits on screen time, it does have a check-in feature. Once connected, you can ask your child to check in, and Bark will notify them and request a response.

A check-in doesn’t give you location information like kids’ GPS trackers do, but it can help relieve some concern when your child is away from home.

Bark’s check-in feature is pretty basic, so if you want to communicate directly with your child on their mobile device, look into the best phones for kids instead.

A Word about Privacy and Parental Controls

You could install a parental control app on your child’s device without letting them know, but Bark discourages this. During the installation process, Bark reminds you to have a frank conversation with your kids about why you’re using Bark and what they can expect.

Experts agree that one of the best ways you can ensure your kids’ safety on the internet is to encourage communication.³ By limiting strict control features and expanding monitoring instead, Bark puts those critical conversations about staying safe online in a parent’s hands.

Bark’s parental alerts do include content and comments from people your child interacts with, but the notifications are only snippets of conversations. These alerts strike a balance between respecting the privacy of others and safeguarding your child.

Bark vs. Net Nanny vs. Qustodio

Parental Control App Logo Cost per Year # of Devices Social Media Monitoring Filtering/Blocking Capabilities Text Monitoring Learn More

Bark Net Nanny Qustodio $99.00 $89.99 $96.95 Unlimited 20 10 24 platforms None Facebook only X No ✓ Yes ✓ Yes ✓ Yes X No ✓ Yes Visit Bark Visit Net Nanny Visit Qustodio

Data effective 10/25/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Other parental control apps offer the ability to block sites and apps or filter content, but Bark is unparalleled when it comes to social media monitoring.

Because a Bark account includes monitoring for an unlimited number of children and devices, it’s also a great value for big families with lots of gadgets.

Bark FAQs

Is there a Bark iOS app?

While Bark monitors iOS devices, you won’t find Bark’s app in the App Store. Bark does have an app for Android devices and a desktop app—but because you’ll also receive push notifications via text and email, the app is somewhat redundant.

If you’re an iPhone user, we don’t think you’ll miss it much.

How do I monitor my child’s school email accounts?

Many schools use Google’s free products for email, chat, and document management, but kids also use those same tools for social reasons. If you want to monitor their school accounts, you’re in luck—Bark offers this service for free.

Connect with your child’s school, let them know about Bark Schools, and see if they’re interested in joining. Nearly 1,300 school districts (and counting) use Bark to monitor students’ online activity.

I’m concerned about something I saw in a Bark alert. What do I do next?

If you’re worried about something you saw in an alert, you may be wondering how best to address it with your child.

At the bottom of every alert, Bark offers common-sense recommendations about how to discuss the problem with your child as well as discount codes for online counseling services for teens.

Because of this proactive approach, Bark credits its app with averting 51 potential acts of school violence and alerting parents to 99 sexual or online predators in 2018.

Will Bark slow down my computer or my kid’s devices?

Installing any parental control app, including Bark, on your computer or your child’s device may slow it down slightly. When we tested our internet speed before and after installation, the difference was minimal.

Neither the children nor the parents in our test noticed a slowdown during normal online activities like web browsing or email, but it may become more pronounced for high-bandwidth activities like gaming.

Conclusion: Bark Is A Parent’s Best Friend When It Comes to Internet Safety

Open and honest communication with everyone in your family about internet safety for kids is critical. While blocking access and restricting social media may be necessary for young children, it’s not a long-term solution for teaching your child how to stay safe online.

Bark is ideal for monitoring tweens and teens as they venture into social media because it doesn’t infringe too much on their privacy. Easy installation, good customer service ratings, and unlimited access for your entire family and all their devices make Bark’s slightly higher price tag well worth it.

Related Pages on SafeWise

Parental Control Filters Buyers Guide Internet Safety Guide for Kids How Can I Protect My Child From Strangers Online?

How We Reviewed Bark

To test how Bark works, we connected multiple devices used by both young children and teenagers to a Bark account. We experimented with sensitivity filters and monitored alerts over a week’s worth of online activity for both age groups across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Google Docs, text messages, and email. We also considered information from cybersecurity experts on keeping kids safe as well as reviews from other Bark users.4 For our full methodology, you can pop over here and read to your heart’s content.

Sources:

1. Forbes, “This App Aims to Help Keep Your Kids Safe Online Without Helicopter Parenting” 2. The Atlantic, “The Hottest Chat App for Teens Is…Google Docs” 3. Wired, “How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online” 4. Facebook, Bark, “Parenting in a Tech World Community Page”; Google Play, “Bark—Monitor. Detect. Alert.”

The post Bark App Review appeared first on SafeWise.

Article source here: Bark App Review

[josephlrushing]

Senstone Portable Voice Assistant: Take Easy Notes with Transcriptions

Senstone began life as a Kickstarter project; in fact, Dan was an early backer. I missed that window but then received one for review. It’s an impressive voice recorder that goes anywhere and quickly delivers accurate transcriptions that are available on your phone. Senstone can be worn clipped to your clothes or with the optional pendant.

You might wonder why someone would want or need a separate portable voice assistant. After all, our phones and tablets all have apps to record voice notes. Moreover, voice assistants have taken up residence in our homes and on our mobile devices. Who needs a voice assistant when you can say, “Hey Google, take a note…” and start speaking? And since Senstone needs to be paired to a phone or tablet, it really isn’t a standalone device.

Well, after using Senstone for a while, I can give a definitive answer. Who needs such a device? Me. The reason is simple – the Senstone offers speed, convenience, and voice-to-text transcriptions on the go. But don’t take my (or Dan’s, for that matter) word for it. As we dig into this review, I suspect the device will make the case for itself.

Included in the box are the Sentone portable voice assistant, a USB powered charging cradle, a sticker, warranty information, and a manual.

Senstone is a small, oddly shaped device. The smooth surface hides a number of indicator lights. When the Senstone is searching for a smartphone, a blue LED will glow in the center; when the Senstone is recording, a green LED will glow in the center, and when the Senstone is charging, this happens …

Senstone charges on the included charging dock in just three hours; a fully charged device should provide up to four days of battery life. Senstone measures 1.2″ tall by 1.2″ wide by 0.5″ thick, and it weighs 0.4 ounces. At the bottom, you’ll find the Senstone name.

On the right side (when the device is facing you) there is a small, rectangular button. Pressing this button initiates or ends each voice recording. Pressing and holding the button for 4 seconds will cause a factory reset.

On top of the Senstone device, there is a microphone.

On the back, there is a small contact that connects to the included charger. Surrounding the contacts is a locking mechanism into which you can connect either a pendant or clip attachment. Swapping from one to the other is as easy as twisting the attachment a quarter turn and removing it. Replacing that attachment or the other is as simple as repeating the process is reversed.

The company describes Senstone this way:

Senstone is a portable voice assistant. It employs a digital recorder and the app, it syncs together to process voice input. It is then pushed to the Cloud and transformed into coherent text. The text is organized by the backend AI, and the end result gets stored in the Cloud where you can access it through your account whenever you want.

It recognizes multiple (12) languages, so users all around the globe do not necessarily need to speak English for it to work correctly. All in all, Senstone is designed around the principles of productivity, efficiency, and freedom.

They continue,

Senstone is screenfree and small, which makes it perfect for active and mobile people. You can be as flexible as you want, you can go anywhere. Senstone doesn’t need a case or a pocket. Are you at the wheel? Are you in front of your computer? Are you taking a walk? Senstone is just as efficient in the office as it is on a street. You can fasten it to your jacket. You can wear it as a pendant. Truly portable, it never restricts your movement and freedom of expression.

Once the device is charged, the Senstone app is downloaded, and the device is paired with your phone, you are ready to go. Push the button on the side of the device and start speaking. It captures your voice and quickly transcribes it.

You don’t need to have your phone or tablet with you to use the device, however, since the Senstone has enough internal storage to capture up to two hours of recordings.

The built-in short-range microphone is designed to capture your voice from 10 to 20 cm away. That makes using Senstone a personal experience, and it explains why the included collar clip or the optional pendant are ideal accessories — each places the device in close proximity to your mouth.

Some people might worry about recording personal information on Senstone. The good news is that all notes are not only encrypted on the device, but they remain encrypted when transferred to your phone or tablet. The app will show you how many notes you have left on your plan, allow you to select your language, and it will allow you to select a light or dark theme.

Unless you have a Pixel smartphone, the main thing that distinguishes Senstone from the voice memo app on your phone is the device’s ability to not only record but to also transcribe those recordings within seconds of their creation. Each recording can be up to 3 minutes long, and the app saves both the original recording and the transcribed text. Three minutes may not sound like much, but try speaking for three minutes straight, and you will quickly realize just how long 180 seconds are.

Clicking the menu to the side of each transcription will reveal options to share the note’s text, share the note’s audio, or delete the note.

The company reports that accuracy is up to 90% or higher. We have found that claim to be accurate if not understated. In addition, you can easily keep notes organized by using hashtags. For example, if you want to use Senstone as a journaling device you might begin a recording with “#journal” and then speak. The new transcription will begin with “#journal” followed by your note. It works similarly with tasks or pretty much any other organizational system you devise. Once the recording is made using Senstone, it is sent to your mobile device via Bluetooth for transcription. The Freemium Senstone app offers 150 free transcriptions a month. Once you start using Senstone that might not be enough. If that happens, you can subscribe to the paid version; $12.90 will allow you to create an unlimited number of transcriptions.

The ONE word that Senstone seemed to have the most trouble transcribing, oddly enough, was its own name. It recognized “period” and “comma” and “question mark,” but it doesn’t recognize “parentheses” or “ellipses.”

But why use Senstone when your phone has a notes app? When Dan first received his Senstone, that was the question his wife Raina asked. As he related the story, he asked Raina to record a note on her iPhone. She took out her phone, unlocked it, pulled up the Notes app, started a new note, tapped the microphone icon on the keyboard and began dictating. Dan then took his Senstone, tapped the button on the side and dictated the same message Raina has just recorded. “Which is safer if you are driving?” he asked.

It was, of course, a rhetorical question.

That’s the point. Our phones are powerful multi-purpose pocket computers, but in order to use them, you need to look at the screen, pay attention, and tap away until you get to the app you want. That might not usually be an issue, but when you are driving, about to fall asleep, or otherwise occupied, reaching for your phone isn’t convenient.

Senstone is.

Senstone is small, it gets good battery life, it accurately records and transcribes notes, and it can be used without your needing to look at it. You can simply tap the button and record without needing to shift your attention. Senstone is safe, fast, it works, and it is perfect for someone like me because when I have a random yet important thought — if I don’t write it down or record it, I will forget it.

As the company explains:

Carry it everywhere. You never know when you need your recorder, and you are going to need it often. Since Senstone is the definition of portability, nothing stops you from working on the go – literally. If you feel you need to record something, press the button and speak. Don’t let the thought slip out of your mind. Long gone are the days of having to rummage through the drawers to get a piece of paper or to pull out your phone.

The Senstone features:

Immediate recording, everywhere: Always capture tasks and ideas you can’t afford losing.

Available anytime: Imagine walking in the busy street or driving a car and capturing thoughts or reminders with the speed of thought. That is a personal assistant. Always with you.

Speak and it comes out in text: Stay productive or foster your creative soul by capturing topic ideas for articles, podcasts or talks.

Capturing everything: Being able to take notes on the go is critical — be it your personal goals, your breakthrough ideas or your travel journal.

Create and work during other activities: Senstone is a standalone device so you can take notes and create lists when it’s not connected to your smartphone. It records for up to 2 hours when offline. Then it automatically syncs your notes in the cloud when you are back in range.

Choose your style: The best material for Senstone to look and feel right. All models feature a scratch-proof tempered screen.

Automatic Speech-to-Text: You speak and it automatically transcribes. Transcriptions are stored with audio.

Maximum Recording: Up to 3 mins in one take. Designed for the convenience of quick capturing.

Transcription Accuracy: 90% and higher

Noise Reduction: Single microphone, short-range sensitivity.

Security: All tracks are encrypted both on the device and during the transfer.

3-4 days of battery life: You can have 3 hours of continuous recordings or 1 week in standby mode.

Daily Logs: The software platform does speech processing of voice memos and puts them into daily logs.

Cloud: A recording stored on your phone is backed up with your Cloud account.

Audio and Text: Store your notes with original audio files – everything in the app.

Todos and Reminders: Create lists and reminders with the help of keywords, and hashtags. Search them by content and tags.

Share: Edit and share the note with other people. Subscription: More transcriptions and larger Cloud storage for all your recordings.

Senstone has really impressed both Dan and me. It takes a while to get into the swing of using it but, once you do, you will appreciate its power and simplicity. The creatives behind Senstone note, “Our long-standing vision has been to bypass the usual touchscreen and move forward with a more sophisticated but yet simple voice interface.” They have achieved that and much more, which is pretty cool by any standard, but considering this is a first-generation device, it’s even more impressive.

Senstone isn’t inexpensive. The basic kit with a Senstone, a collar clip, and a charging cable is $179; if you get the version with all of that and the pendant attachment, it’s $199. And if you want more than 150 recordings a month it will cost you an additional $10 per month, or you can pay $300 for a lifetime subscription. That’s not an impulse buy, but if (like me) you have ever had a flash of insight only to forget it moments later, you may find Senstone to be worth every penny. I’m impressed, and I suspect you will be too.

Senstone Portable Voice Assistant prices start at $179; they are available directly from the manufacturer.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Small and discreet; Battery lasts for 3 – 4 days or up to 3 continuous hours of recording; You can use it without your phone nearby and still record up to 2 hours of voice notes; Up to 3 minutes transcribed nearly immediately on your phone; 150 recordings and transcriptions per month for free; $10/month gets you unlimited use, and a lifetime subscription is $300; If you are out and about, it is hands-down the quickest and most efficient way to take a voice note!

What Needs Improvement: It’s expensive, but it works

  from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/02/04/senstone-portable-voice-assistant-take-easy-notes-with-transcriptions/

[ntrending]

These apps give you the best features of iOS 12 before the update rolls out

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/these-apps-give-you-the-best-features-of-ios-12-before-the-update-rolls-out/

These apps give you the best features of iOS 12 before the update rolls out

If you keep an eye on the Apple news cycle, you already know that iOS 12 is on its way. Due for a full launch in September, the latest version of this mobile operating system comes with a variety of new updates and features. Highlights include improved password management, better photo organization, a smarter Siri, and new augmented reality (AR) apps.

But you don’t have to wait months to give your iPhone these abilities. You can duplicate many of them right now, often for free, with existing apps. Here’s how to access the best features of iOS 12 before the software officially arrives on your phone.

Group video chats

When it comes to group video calling, Apple is kind of late to the party—other apps have had this ability for years. That means you can use them to replicate the iOS 12 update that lets FaceTime host group chats with up to 32 participants. These options may not mesh with iOS as well as FaceTime does, but they do offer a pretty much identical set of features.

For their quality and stability, we would recommend Houseparty (up to 8 participants), Google Hangouts (video calls with up to 25 participants), or Skype (up to 25 participants). Houseparty, which is more chilled-out and social, matches FaceTime’s simplicity, and it works best if you’re just planning to hang out with friends. The other two offer extras like text chats and file transfers, which optimizes them for more professional applications. You can download all three of them to iOS for free (minus your data costs) right now.

Password management

As another treat, Apple is improving your ability to manage passwords in Safari. Updated versions of the web browser, for both macOS Mojave and iOS 12, will soon generate and remember passwords for you, and warn you when you’re using the same code to log in to multiple accounts.

Those are features we’ve come to expect from the best third-party password managers—which are already available on iOS. We like 1Password, LastPass, and Dashlane. All three make it easy to manage an unlimited number of passwords by remembering your log-ins, generating strong passwords from scratch, and reminding you not to duplicate your credentials across more than one account. In terms of polish and features, not much separates the apps. Only Dashlane offers a free version, which lets you download the app to a single phone or computer; to add more devices, you have to upgrade to a premium plan that costs $3.33 a month. 1Password plans start at $3 per month and LastPass ones at $2 per month.

Animoji, Memoji, and photo filters

The animated cartoon characters known as Animoji are already available on the iPhone X, and iOS 12 will introduce more of them, as well as adding Memoji—customizable 3D avatars you can design to look like you—to the mix. Both types of avatar will match your facial movements, such as smiles and winks. You can use them instead of your own mug in video chats, or record short clips to share later. Third-party apps can’t offer exactly the same tricks, but they do have a few fun substitutes—and unlike Animoji and Memoji, you can use them even without an iPhone X.

For example, Snapchat’s Bitmoji app introduced the concept of avatars you tweak to look like you. First, you create your own personal emoji, with hair, fashion choices, and facial features that match your own. Then you can open Snapchat to add your avatar to video messages and pictures.

Snapchat, and its competitor Instagram, also include a number of photo and video sticker effects that more or less match what Apple is adding to iOS 12. Both apps let you plaster your images or clips with filters and stickers, from putting bunny ears on your head to raining down a shower of hearts.

Take control of your screen time

One of the Apple’s best new iOS 12 features is the Screen Time app. It monitors how much time you spend glued to your screen, tracking how often you unlock your phone and the minutes you spend in each app. Plus, it lets you set limits on how long you use certain apps, although you can override these controls fairly easily. Even without the new app, several existing iOS programs aim to help cure your smartphone addiction.

RealizD, for example, does almost exactly the same job as Screen Time. It logs your phone usage, breaks down the data into helpful charts, and limits your access to particularly time-consuming apps. The basic version is free, while upgrades, which cost $2 and up, give you more ways to gather and analyze your data.

To encourage your digital wellbeing, other programs focus less on usage data and more on getting you away from your phone. The beautifully designed Space (free with ads or $2 without them) and Forest ($2) apps both encourage you to step away from your phone. You collect in-app points for opening apps and checking social media less frequently.

Smarter photo management

The updated Photos app will gain a slew of new features in iOS 12. These include a “For You” tab, which automatically assembles highlights from your library; sharing recommendations, based on the people Photos identifies in your pictures; and support for more complex searches, so you can sift photos by location, date, event, and keyword.

Well, you can already get pretty much all those features in Google Photos, including sharing suggestions and highlight collection (via the Assistant). Even better, you don’t have to pay for any cloud storage space, because Google gives you unlimited room—as long as it can resize your pictures down to 16 megapixels and your videos down to 1080p.

Deciding which app should store a lifetime of photos is a big decision. So you should consider multiple factors, including which devices work well with the app and what privacy settings are available. That said, until iOS 12 arrives, Google’s rival app is still a better bet than Apple Photos.

Siri Shortcuts

We’re very much looking forward to the Siri Shortcuts feature in iOS 12, which lets you configure multiple responses to a single Siri command. For example, if you tell Siri you’re heading home, you could have the AI assistant respond by texting your partner an update, turning up the smart thermostat in your house, and enable Wi-Fi on your phone all at once.

Before iOS 12 arrives, you can start playing around with this type of function on Workflow. This app helps you build packages of automated tasks that launch at your bidding. Since Apple bought it in 2017, it’s a good guess that Workflow inspired Siri Shortcuts, and any Shortcuts you set up in iOS 12 will work like routines in Workflow.

Siri is also getting smarter in iOS 12, providing pre-emptive suggestions and accessing a broader range of knowledge. You can’t hack this stuff into Siri yet, but if you want to test out these abilities ahead of time, then check out Google Assistant instead: It knows just about everything (as long as that information lives somewhere on the internet), and like a real assistant, it can monitor your behavior to suggest actions based on the time of day and your usual habits.

Measuring with augmented reality

Apple’s mobile operating system already includes an augmented-reality engine called ARKit, which lets developers build AR-enabled apps. Now, iOS 12 will usher in a few improvements, including a handy AR app called Measure. As the name suggests, it lets you use the camera on your iDevice to measure a distance in the real world.

However, the App Store already contains quite a few AR-enabled measuring apps. The most comprehensive and accurate one that we’ve found is AirMeasure, which lets you map out floor plans, draw, and measure everything from a picture frame to a desk. As with any AR app out there, you can’t completely rely on the measurements, so use them as a guide rather than the ultimate in precision. Because of that, AirMeasure does feature a handy triangulation tool to help you verify your results.

Written By David Nield

[gamerelitegen-blog]

Hero Wars Hack Cheats Free Emeralds Generator

Hero Wars Hack Cheats Free Emeralds Generator: CLICK HERE

Fight enemies, Archdemon and his evil army, in the multiplayer battle arena: train your army, power up your heroes, unlock skills and wage war in the ultimate PvP adventure game. Heroes War is the Active Time Battle of the modern Final Fantasy games, without the emphasis on plot to join the fights up. There are still story beats, played out in lifeless text between missions, but it's all very skippable. Hero Wars is a roleplaying game where players create imaginary characters who will struggle with the gods and demons in the fabulous world of Glorantha. Hero Wars has some very cool (and surprisingly related to stuff I learned at the Forge) story-game advice in the Narrator's Book - it tells players to drop "I try to..." when describing actions in favor of making clear statements, it derides Fortune-at-the-Beginning as causing dull and listless play, and throughout the rules advice, it reminds the Narrator to make choices based on the needs of the story, trumping things like sound tactical responses and logical accuracy.

Collect heroes, unlock skills, fight enemies in power showdowns and gain experience in Hero Wars fantasy PvP arena battles. Collect heroes, unlock new skills, fight power showdowns against enemies and gain experience in the ultimate Hero Wars fantasy PvP arena. It's allowed me to seriously buff my party's equipment and purchase more characters for my team, which has extended the amount of time I can play the game significantly since the energy required to enter a battle is per hero.

Hero Wars has advice on running a game focused on the player characters shaping the world- it's full of possible themes and ways to shape a campaign ("The Hero Wars are between X & Y"). On the plus side, I've been wanting to play Glorantha-stuff for twenty years, put off each time by the RuneQuest system, and therefore my enthusiasm about Hero Wars has communicated itself to the players. Hero Wars - Take control of the team of heroes and fight with powerful enemies and monsters.

It's intended to be both a general introduction to the endlessly fascinating fantasy world of Glorantha and a companion book to the Hero Wars role-playing game. Star Wars: Commander is a real-time strategy game along the lines of Clash of Clans where players must choose whether they want be part of the Rebellion or the Empire, then fight against the other side. Be the ultimate Hero Wars player and build a lasting legacy in the ultimate RPG heroes fantasy adventure game!

Forge a guild, train your army and fight for skills and power in Hero Wars, an epic RPG and adventure battle game! Well we all here played hero wars, but the bs thing is that ppl pick overpowered characters and tome like crazy, and its not fun. Product: Heroes War Publisher: Com2uS Format: iPhone Genre: Action, RPG, Strategy Players: 1 Networking: wireless (network) Version: Europe App version: 1.3.8.

It's got some crunch, but not a lot, and it's pretty firmly Story Now in what it's encouraging the group to do. You could play a Hero Wars game that centers on just discovering parts of Glorantha and all that, but that would require very careful choice of Occupation and Magic keywords, otherwise the Narrator would still have a bushel full of things he could do to keep the plot more coherent and shapely. This book offers over 100 Rune and Battle magic spells and skills not in the standard rules, handy for the gamer intent on long-living characters. Like RuneQuest , Hero Wars is set in the world of Glorantha but the rules system is designed for more epic games; there is no real relationship between the RuneQuest game and Hero Wars except for the setting of Glorantha.

The game features lots of upgradable heroes, ride the vehicles of each heroes, get help from more than 50 types of alliance characters, over 80 types of enemies, and intense boss battles at each stage. One of the main differences in HeroQuest's use of abilities, as compared to other roleplaying games, is that they are not limited to describing skills and capability, but may also describe areas of expertise, relationships, personality traits, magic spells, technological implents, superpowers and possessions, depending on the genre of the game being played. A pocket Guitar Hero for Android.Rock Hero is a rhythm game in pure Guitar Hero style where players have to try to press the buttons that appear on the screen in exact time to the rhythm of the music.

Hero Sky: Epic Guild Wars is a strategy game that's practically identical to Clash of Clans in which players build their own operations base and attack other players' bases. Unlock skills and battle enemies with Hero Wars, the ultimate RPG fantasy game. Versions of this app apk available with us: 1.0.2 , 1.0.1 , 1.0.0 You could also download apk of HERO WARS: Super Stickman Defense and run it using android emulators such as big nox app player, bluestacks and koplayer.

Hacked hero Wars V0.7 Ultimate Edition, Ultimate Edition blood hacked 999, 99999 magic, level full, the character fully unlocked (you can send skills). - Added 'key' parameter for herowars.player.get_player() function, so you can now search players based on any of their properties (name, index, etc.) - herowars.commandlib.get_nearby_players() returns players near a point in sorted order by their distance to that point; players_near_vector() and player_nearest_vector() have been removed.

Hero Wars is a role-playing mod for gameservers running Source.Python environment. Battle enemies and fight a war in this epic PvP adventure game across the fantasy lands of Dominion. I've played 100s of hero wars games.. got like 80-100 different maps.

It is intended for both players and narrators, who must own Hero Wars to use it fully." Playing HeroQuest — Information on Roleplaying in Glorantha, What are the Hero Wars?, and Magical Landscapes. Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars, world background (with no game rules whatsoever)

Hero Wars: Roleplaying in Glorantha, containing the core rules. Hero Wars is the name for the fantasy Role-Playing Game published by Issaries, Inc. That setting is now joined with an innovative system, and Hero Wars stands in the ranks of independent role-playing games.

(3) The books don't say a word about it, but the general philosphies of play and especially magic might serve wonderfully for a Do It Yourself setting using the Hero Wars magic system. The Hero Wars rules for magic match the themes of Glorantha far better than the mechanistic RuneQuest system could ever hope to. A certain re-write of a certain well-known RPG has as its advertisement plug, "rediscover fantasy role-playing." I consider this phrase to apply far, far better to Everway, Maelstrom, and now to Hero Wars.

There are the Hero Wars game book, the Narrator's Guide, the Guide to Glorantha, and Gloranthan Visions, a book of myths and stories. (Another side note: in reading up on Glorantha, you'll notice a certain resemblance to WarHammer and Earthdawn - complex fantasy world, at least one cataclysm in the past and another approaching, encroaching chaos, combining politics and myth - that's because, in my opinion, both of these games frankly ripped off Glorantha in the first place.) However, Hero Wars never penetrated the mass market and the decision to publish as trade paperbacks resulted in a smaller format which constrained layout and kept the books looking very simplistic, and they also did not fit in well with most game store displays.

By mid-year the new game was now known as Hero Wars, even though Stafford had wanted it to be HeroQuest, a name he had wanted for 20 years, but Milton Bradley had used for an unrelated board game Laws' new game was scheduled to be demonstrated to the public for first time in May 1998 at Glorantha-Con VII. Where some games reward memorization, an instinct for math, and the willingness to comb through multiple rulebooks for the most useful super powers, HeroQuest tips the scales for creative improvisation, verbal acuity, and a familiarity with the techniques and stereotypes of popular fiction. Glorantha (Hero Wars Roleplaying Game, 1102) Paperback - February 23, 2007.

Star Wars Force Collection is a strategy and card collection game in which you gather the cards of different characters from the Star Wars universe in order to create your own deck to use in strategic battles. Description: a creation of Pablo Colares its basically battle between characters of video game and movie super heroes let see who will win. Jump straight into the Hero Wars fantasy adventure with action-packed multiplayer campaigns.

Battle Archdemon and his evil characters for power in epic RPG wars. Battle enemies and fight a war in this epic battle adventure and fantasy game across the lands of Dominion. Heroes, titans and other characters battle it out in this epic fantasy RPG for control over Dominion.

Fight epic multiplayer PvP arena battles with the ultimate RPG fantasy game.

[housebeleren]

Rivals of Ixalan - New Commanders

Hoo-boy it’s that time of year again! I don’t know why I’m surprised, since it’s this time of year 5 or 6 times every year as new sets and products come out. What time of year am I talking about? Why, it’s New Commander time, Mr. Scrooge! 

Yes, it’s time to go through all the new Legendary Creatures in Rivals of Ixalan and see how they stack up as generals. As a reminder, I live in 75% land, so we’re not talking competitive here. But who’s fun, who’s playable, and who is just awful. That’s what we’re talking about today.

So, call me crazy, but I actually think this monster is borderline competitive. What seals the deal is that second line of text. On ETB, untap all lands you control. That goes a long way to making sure you get value out of your general. If you can turbo ramp this guy out (shouldn’t be hard in those colors), he’s going to be a force to reckon with. And, in a funny way, him casting 9 almost makes it no longer matter if he does get killed, cus chances are if you can pay 9, you can pay 11, and 13, and whatever. Mana doublers FTW!

The last thing I want to mention is the formatting on this card. “When Zacama, Primal Calamity enters the battlefield, if you cast it, untap all lands you control.” This card is a clear sign that Wizards keeps us EDH players in mind, as previous standard templating would read “if you cast it from your hand...” Being able to cast it from the Command Zone and get the trigger. 

Oh, that’s too fucking cute.

It casts Sphinx’s Revelation when he swings. That’s so cute I’m gonna hurl.

No, seriously, Azor is one of the better Azorius (har har) control generals out there. I’d run him with plenty of flicker effects to reset his ETB trigger, which is a pretty solid lock, unless someone is literally about to win with Craterhoof Behemoth or something. I see him heading up W/U pillow fort decks, Sphinx Tribal decks, and also just good old fashioned Azorius Control.

He’ll also be a super solid inclusion in the 99 of Brago, King Eternal builds, so I expect to see him hanging around the kitchen table quite a bit once he becomes readily available.

Elenda is an interesting one, for sure. On her own, she feels kinda flimsy as a general. There’s some sort of Voltron Aristocrats build here, but I’m seeing it being better in theory than in reality.

On the other hand, as an inclusion in the 99 of Edgar Markov? Sign me up. I also like her for Ayli decks, who can sacrifice her at a moment’s notice and end up with a herd full of lifelinkers.

If your goal is Merfolk tribal, I doubt you can do better than Kumena. He simply has the best payoffs for playing tons of Merfolk. I like his card draw ability the best, as that’s what’s going to help you dump your deck onto the field in short order. Sure, Merfolk tribal is still barely 75% level, but at least it’s almost there after Rivals, whereas before it was sad. Just...... sad.

Also, Pirates didn’t get another General? WTF Wizards? I get that the Mythic slot was taken by Azor, but really? Jerkfaces.

So, I’m just gonna say it now. The Elder Dinosaurs, while all cool, are mostly jank as Commanders themselves. Zetalpa is fun and all that, but EDH is a land where Indestructible is unbeatable like it is in Standard or Limited. We have Swords.

Also, Mono-White is a rough color for an 8 color general. Trust me, I have an Avacyn deck, and man is it some hot garbage. Sure, you can get there, and once you do, it only takes a tiny bit of pump for Zetalpa to be lethal. But if your opponents are letting that happen, then shame on them.

Where I do kinda like this is as an inclusion into Keyword Soup generals like Odric, Lunarch Marshal. 

Oh, my sweet Bae. You know I how much love you.

That said, there isn’t much of an identity here to build around. You can bet your ass I’m throwing this into my Thassa, God of the Sea deck with reckless abandon, but as a Commander? I’m not feeling it.

WHOMP WHOMP

Yeah, Tetzimoc is cool, but as a General he’s a 6/6 Deathtouch for 6. Unless you really feel like creating some weird Reanimation deck where you cast him from Command, sacrifice him, then return him to your hand, just so you can use his durdley ability. 

Didn’t think so.

If you wanna jump through all those hoops, do yourself a favor and build a Phage the Untouchable deck. At least that’s cute.

On the other hand, if there are any Horobi players that didn’t immediately pick up that Tetzimoc belongs in their deck, they forfeit their right to play Horobi decks in perpetuity. 

Of all the Elder Dinosaurs, this is my favorite as a General. His ability is interesting and scales nicely with EDH. Red has plenty of ways to give him Haste, so you can swing and cause some chaos crazy fast. In fact, that’s how I’d run this deck. Mono-Red Chaos. 

Oh, I’m also putting him in Vial Smasher, like immediately.

Suck it, nerds!

Y’know, there’s something here. Sure, Ghalta is Biggest, Dumbest Dino of all the Big, Dumb Dinos out there, but the fact that he is built-in 2 hit Commander kill is worth considering. If there are decks that can turbo him out super fast, I could almost see that coming together. And the great news is his cost-reduction is super relevant to keeping him castable again and again. 

Board wipes will hurt, tho.

So that’s it. Thoughts on the new Legendary Creatures? What are y’all going to run? 

I’m not building any of these shits, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Go forth and be jank. I know I will be.

[davidegbert]

Why are we still using instant messaging apps at all?

A while back, you may have seen Adam Doud’s article “A weekend with Allo: When tech geeks unite!” where a bunch of us tech geeks used Google’s new instant messaging app Allo to keep in touch while wandering New York City. I didn’t use it though because my newest Android phones either won’t turn on (HTC One) or don’t have any non-WiFi active internet access (Moto Z), and they all have crappy cameras compared to my Nokia Lumia 1020. So if anything important was decided, someone else would email me or call me. Having to switch our tech geeks group from communicating over email (which was working great) to Allo instant messaging (which isn’t platform agnostic at all), reminded me of the old days when instant messaging was new and actually had a reason for being.

IM was necessary in the 90’s

Back in the 90’s we had the advent of “instant messaging” programs. This was necessary on the public internet since electronic mail was largely a “pull” experience meaning the software on your PC had to periodically go out and check for messages. The messages didn’t just appear right away (“push”) as they do now. With “instant messaging”, we could have a little program running on the PC at all times (or while connected to dial-up) and whenever someone sent a message, it would pop up right away. ICQ was one of the first and most popular instant messengers at the time. AOL had an instant messaging function but that was only for AOL subscribers. Eventually they opened that up to anyone for free with the AIM software and that competed a lot with ICQ. Then Microsoft made one too called MSN messenger, which actually allowed you to send messages to AOL users as well. This was awesome news since having all of these incompatible instant messaging programs was a real hassle.

Switching IM programs with every other message

I had one friend who would exasperate the annoyance of running multiple instant messaging programs by starting a conversation on AIM, then replying on MSN, then replying to my reply on ICQ. Many of my other friends dreamed of a world where you only needed one Instant Messaging program and anyone could contact you. The Internet Engineering Task Force actually tried to develop an open-source platform agnostic instant messaging protocol. They founded the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol Working Group in 1998 which worked to create the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. This would have been great! The protocol was actually implemented by MSN Messenger, Google Chat, Jabber, AIM and Facebook Messenger at one point or another, but EVERYBODY has dropped support for the protocol (except maybe Jabber), and still none of the instant messaging programs are cross-app-compatible.

An IM app infestation

Now that smartphones are popular in this decade, we’ve seen a resurgence in instant messaging apps with a gabillion new ones that come and go fairly frequently. You probably have a special folder set up on your phone that contains a huge variety of internet-based instant messaging apps like: WhatsApp, Line, Telegram, BBM, Google Chat, Allo, Hangouts, Skype, Viber, WeChat, Kik, LiveProfile, Facebook Messenger, Tencent QQ, AIM, iChat, iMessage, Yahoo, ICQ, GroupMe, Vkontakte, Mail.Ru Agent, Odnoklassniki, Yandex chat, Mamba.Ru, Mig33, SINA Weibo, Renren, Fetion, Gadu-Gadu, MeinVZ and Jabber. I know it sounds like I’m just rambling gibberish right now, but all of those are basically proprietary programs designed to transfer text-based electronic messages from one client to another with varying degrees of extraneous features. The hassle of running multiple instant messaging apps and switching between them has increased exponentially.

Transferring text-based electronic messages from one person to another

Guess what, we already have a way of transferring text-based messages between electronic devices over the internet and it works with anything that has ever been able to connect to the internet. We call it Email and since about 2005 just about all email servers and email clients have supported “push” technologies for near-instant delivery just like the instant messengers of the 90’s. Those proprietary connections aren’t really necessary anymore. Exchange ActiveSync and the IMAP IDLE push technologies used by most email servers these days work really well.

But Instant Messengers are easier than Email

Are they really? Replying to an instant message usually happens like this:

Tap app icon

Tap thread to open conversation

Tap text input field

Type message

Tap send

Replying to an email usually happens like this:

Tap app icon

Tap email message

Tap reply

Type message

Tap send

Making email chat-like is only a matter of software design.

Both only take 5 steps. So, it’s just about exactly as easy to reply to an email as it is to reply to an instant message in that scenario. Where instant messaging improves the usability and efficiency of text-based communications is only when you already have the app open and are staring at the conversation. Ain’t nobody got time for that. That is one advantage though for streamlining rapid fire chat communications if both people do keep the app open at the same time and are watching the conversation in real time. You know, like Internet Relay Chat invented in 1988, but with proprietary lock-ins.

However, is there any reason why an email client couldn’t be made to sort emails as conversations and instantly load new messages into a conversation thread as you’re looking at it? No there isn’t, and Microsoft Send actually does (or did) that with Office 365 Business accounts. Getting that to work with other email accounts and servers should be pretty trivial. Tech support systems already do that kind of thing with tags in the subject line.

Instant Message programs become much less easy to use when they’re tied to specific devices. If I’m sitting in front of my computer and an instant message comes in on my phone, it can become really annoying to have to start using my phone to reply to those instead of being able to access the communications on the device I’m currently using. I can’t even get WhatsApp to run on a phone with no SIM card. Then when you’ve got a dozen instant messaging apps on your phone, switching between them becomes extremely annoying. With email, I need just one app and it’s probably already built into any new internet-connected device that I buy. I log in with my email address & password, and I’m done. No need to transfer accounts between phone numbers or whatever.

Email management is far more robust

Other than the huge advantage that Email already works on everything and everyone already has an email account (it’s practically a requirement to be on the internet), another advantage is that email software (and servers) often have far more robust management features compared to instant messengers. In Outlook on Windows desktop, I can set up conditional formatting rules that make particular emails show up in specific colors to make them stand out from the others in my folder lists. That’s extremely useful for visually separating the important stuff. I can also make custom auto-reply rules based on keywords, or send notifications via SMS. For emails that have actionable items, I can flag them with reminders and they’ll show up in my task list. On Windows Phone 8, I can make a live tile People Group that animates and flips over when new emails arrive from specific people. On Windows 10 Mobile, I can pin a subfolder of email as a live tile and set specific notification settings and sound effects for that. On the server side, I can automatically apply categories to emails based on keywords, automatically filter them into specific subfolders, ignore specific threads or subject lines, and even set specific spam confidence levels based on any number of criteria. Even searching is extremely robust. It’s easy to find conversations and references from decades ago. Long before something like WhatsApp even existed. WhatsApp only recently got the ability to save outgoing messages in an outbox while you have no internet access… something email programs have had since the past century.

If only we had such powerful email management software on a phone!

What about security?

Most instant messengers these days require your communications to pass through their proprietary servers. That means everything is in one place so that if there is some kind of security compromise, everybody is vulnerable. With email there are millions of individual servers communicating with each other, so intercepting messages needs to be more focused on a specific domain, but capturing and reading the contents of emails can be pretty easy if you have access to the servers they pass through. You can of course add encryption to emails that require digital ID certificates on both ends and communications within a single domain can be secured even more strongly by running your own internal server (or server farm).

How do you deal with spam?

This is an easy one. Don’t let spammers know about your email address. Some of the best advice I heard a couple decades ago was to make a separate email address that you use for internet stuff like shopping sites, message boards, non-humans, etc. and keep another one only for real people like friends and family. With that, I can set notification settings and a priority-placed live tile/widget for my important friends/family emails and give less priority to the email accounts that are going to get all the spam. Of course I have a few other email addresses for work stuff as well. Spam blockers and filters on most servers are highly configurable with the ability to add real-time-block-lists that keep publicly known spammer servers out. With email, it’s possible to design clients that prioritize emails based on certain criteria. I can filter all of my VIP emails into a sub folder and add specific notification sound effects to that folder in order to keep those messages up front while subduing the extraneous noise. I can even set an email account to be completely exclusive and only allow incoming emails from specific people (for example, the ones in my contact list). That kind of thing isn’t really possible with most instant messaging apps. Most instant messaging apps are just always obtrusive as long as they’re installed and it’s very difficult to sort out the unwanted messages.

Emoji and Stickers are fun!

Yeah, ok, but guess what… most of those are just regular animated GIF graphics that we’ve been able to embed in emails since email clients started supporting the HTML format decades ago. Sure, some email clients still don’t support playing animated GIFs, but there’s nothing keeping them from doing so and there’s nothing keeping me from inserting inline graphics into HTML emails. Some email clients actually automatically replace ASCII emoticons with graphical emoji. Some email clients in the past, Pocket PC 2000 for example, even had quick access buttons for adding voice recordings and handwritten digital ink to emails.

Message delivered and read notifications

Many instant message apps these days have little icons that indicate when the message was delivered as well as when it was read. That’s a pretty great feature for the stalkers out there who get annoyed when people don’t reply to their messages right away and are wondering where the other person is. Of course, this has been possible with email for a very long time. Exchange Server has supported read receipts and delivery receipts at least since the 90’s when I first started using it. Unfortunately, not all email servers treat read receipts the same way or at all. So that’s an aspect of email that’s hit or miss, but of course the feature is absolutely possible.

Do you really want your personal phone number out there?

Another thing that seems really naïve to do is putting your personal phone number into an app folder full of proprietary web-based instant messenger apps. A lot of the new ones these days associate your account with your phone number instead of a username/password log-in. This makes things easy on the user since they don’t need to remember a password, and the app developers can scan your contacts list, cross reference it with all the other users that have installed their app, and show you a list of who you know that is already using this particular instant messaging app. It makes contacting your friends (who have installed the app) really easy, but it’s also kind of a creepy invasion of privacy especially if the company who developed the app decides to change the privacy policy later on (like WhatsApp recently did).

Email will probably be around forever

Another huge disadvantage of all of these proprietary instant messenger apps that require you to peer-pressure your friends into downloading the app and signing up for an account is the fact that they change so frequently. Skype is going to completely stop working on Windows Phone 8, 8.1 and Windows RT next year (and never worked on Xbox 360). WhatsApp has changed their policies and will be sharing your info with Facebook. They’re also dropping support for a good number of platforms in 2017. MSN Messenger no longer exists. Facebook Messenger is going to require a ridiculous 2Gb of RAM on your phone soon and is becoming quite bloated. Instant messenger apps get bought up by other companies and support stagnates all the time. Other instant messengers have added tons of annoying ads once they started getting popular… and subsequently died off in popularity. Email has none of those problems, especially if you own your own domain so that you can switch email services whenever you want (or set up your own server). It’s just like old land-line telephones; you can get one from anywhere (build your own), plug it in and it’ll work.

You can’t get WhatsApp on the awesome old Nokia N8, but email still works.

What about SMS/MMS texting?

SMS and MMS (short message service and multimedia message service) were invented in the 1980’s as a means for sending text-based electronic messages between mobile phones over wireless networks (originally GSM networks). Multimedia message system obviously added the ability to include more than just text, such as pictures, videos, and audio attachments. SMS/MMS texting really started taking off when cross-network communications were enabled around the turn of the century. The reason we needed SMS was because mobile phones didn’t have internet access and therefore couldn’t send/receive regular email. Texting was an inexpensive work-around for that limitation and including the advantages of being “pushed” to the receiving device long before the wide variety of email servers became capable of push. I remember using some smartphones that actually used SMS to initiate an email “pull” when a particular email was seen on the server.

Today, there’s a heavy interest in being able to send and receive SMS/MMS messages on desktop PCs, tablets, and laptops. Apple has a feature called Continuity that lets you do that via iMessage apps on your Macs & other iOS devices logged in with the same Apple ID. Microsoft has SMS sync and relay built into their new Skype Preview app on Windows 10. Google has SMS capabilities in the Google Voice service that’s accessible from any browser. Back in 2005, we had PC apps for Windows Mobile that let us connect to the smartphone and send/receive SMS as well. All of these hacks to get SMS on more internet-connected devices seem a lot like how email has already been working the whole time. To this day, none of those SMS sync services work between platforms though. I can access my email conversations from practically anything that has internet access by (in many cases) simply typing my email address & password into the email program built in. And since I’ve set my Google Voice phone number to forward all text messages to an email account, I can reply to those from any internet-connected device too. It really makes SMS feel unnecessary and extremely obsolete… as long as I’ve got internet access. SMS still shines in those areas where GSM may have reception, but the data connection does not. Those no-internet situations are becoming far less frequent though, and SMS conversations have remained far less manageable and far less capable than email.

Just make better email apps!

The bottom line is, we don’t really need a gabillion different ways to send text-based electronic messages to each other. What we need is a single standard that everyone can communicate on and some more customizable/flexible ways to send and manage those messages. Maybe you want a messaging program that sorts your messages in a chat window with blue and green bubbles and a cute background image. Maybe I want a messaging program that puts all the incoming messages in an “Inbox” folder where I can color code everything with categories and hit the flag button to add them to my task lists or write macros that auto-respond to specific keywords. The interface I like and the interface you like shouldn’t interfere with our ability to send text-based electronic messages to each other!

Conclusion

There seem to be a lot of people and companies that want to replace your open electronic internet communications with their own proprietary systems that lock you in to a particular service. If you’re overwhelmed with email, it might be because you haven’t learned how to take advantage of some of the great management features out there. One of the best ways to get a handle on your email is to keep separate accounts for separate uses. My email account that only friends & family know about is completely noise free. That’s where my priority conversations are and it works on everything that has an internet connection.

These other instant messaging companies want to lock you in to their specific service so that once you start depending on it, they can start sending advertisements and make lots of money. We know this because it’s all happened before. They want you depending on their apps/services because you are the product.

A clever developer could probably collapse the whole instant messenger market by designing a platform agnostic email client that supports all the things email does already, but adds a more chat-like experience interface. Stickers, emoji, backgrounds, etc. could all be easily added as HTML embeds. Conversations could easily be organized with subject or header tags. Then some open-source standard-API server extensions could be added for things like read-receipts and presence sharing so that all email servers could be updated with IM-like capabilities while maintaining backwards compatibility with all existing email programs. We did it with the world wide web and HTML standards compliant browsers that can load any website. Why can’t we do it with electronic text-based communications?

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[radramblog]

Elder Dragon Highlander

 Commander is a format of Magic the Gathering that has become almost completely detached from its original premise. Much of what the format is is built upon the concept of Elder Dragon Highlander- 21 Commander damage is lethal because that’s 3 hits from an Elder Dragon, the slow grindy format built to accommodate the original 5’s heavy mana investment and limited effects.

But that was a long time ago, and the designers at WoTC have opted to attach the moniker of Elder Dragon to a number of additional cards. 21 total cards hold the name, 4 cycles of 5 apiece with one straggler at the back.

What is considered “elder” is largely to do with lore, I think, but due to its association with such iconic cards, it’s interesting to see how and what the label is attached to.

I’ll, uh….do cube something next week? I dunno. But this is the Elder Dragons.

 The original 5

The first elder dragon cycle is kind of iconic of Magic in general. Released in Legends, they were the first tricoloured cards in the entire game, were I believe the biggest and most expensive cards of the time, and all represented characters from the comics that I think just about everyone forgets existed.

They do not even remotely resemble modern design. Clunky is one thing, but the quintuplets are almost aberrant to what would be considered attractive Magic cards. A monstrous investment of mana in multiple colours that has a continuous upkeep of more mana, all for an arguably understatted flying creature with one extra ability. Chromium gets Rampage, a keyword that started in Legends, ended in Mirage, and doesn’t have reminder text despite being arguably confusing. Palladia-Mors gets Trample, making it arguably one of the best ones. Vaevictis Asmadi gets Firebreathing in all 3 of its colours, in case 8+3+3+3… wasn’t enough mana-shaped eggs in one basket for you. Arcades gets a bonus ability in toughness-breathing, to make up for it’s deliberately mediocre ability- the “oh cool I can use this with vigilance” eureka/fun brain moment quashed by its pointless limitation.

And then, of course, there’s Nicol Bolas. Somehow one of the game’s most iconic characters, in an art rendition that makes a powerful villain look like a gentle draconic geriatric. (EDITORS NOTE: still Rad here but I just now noticed this mf has a fucking dragon nipple, wtf?) I suppose Bolas becoming so well known was inevitable, if only because it was the only one of the most popular cycles with an actually cool and powerful ability. There are currently 210 more Bolas decks than any other member of this cycle, and that difference also happens to be twice what the other four have combined.

Bolas is arguably the only one that stood the test of time, the only one to ever show up independently of the other 4. I suppose we’ll see if any of the rest do the same, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

(Elder) Dragons of Tarkir

The titular Dragons of Tarkir’s third set (Dragons of Tarkir) were a set I was excited to see as the cards were being spoiled. The lore of the plane was interesting, with Magic stepping into a plot with time travel and finally showing us what Ugin looked like after almost 10 years of curiosity. The dragons that would become the Clan leaders had appeared previously in Fate Reforged, and the editions that we’d see as Elders- 10,000 years older and in some cases even wiser- presented a powerful and exciting cycle. Unlike with the Legends dragons, I’m pretty sure all of these saw play somewhere.

Ironically, though, I’m pretty sure these were deliberately tuned for Standard rather than the format named after their typeline. Even outside of Kolaghan’s line of text that….doesn’t do a whole lot in the format, Ojutai and Silumgar were pretty obviously built to be the finishers in the Esper Dragons deck that ran them, Atarka a clear top-end for Gruul Monsters (and, eventually, Eldrazi Ramp), and Dromoka a potential menace in Dromoka’s Command-backed Midrange lists. These cards are all quite powerful, but they’re built for a different kind of game.

That’s I suppose the biggest issue with the Dragons of Dragons of Tarkir, they were underwhelming. The set as a whole was fairly middling, though I did truly enjoy the draft format. I’m pretty sure the most played card in the set is fucking Collected Company, one I kind of despise, followed with Kolaghan’s Command which is just a traumatic experience for me. And while 3 of these 5 are seeing more play than their past counterparts, including Dragonlord Ojutai being literally 10 times more commonly seen than Soul of Winter, that difference is largely a matter of power (or lack thereof), the Mythic Dragonlords being obviously stronger than their Rare originals. The rare ones are arguably more fun, though, and that’s what matters to me.

 Legends…2! (aka core set 2019)

Part of the theme of Core Set 2019 was the story (read: retcon so the ending of War of the Spark makes more sense) of Bolas and Ugin in their youth, which meant that we got to get updated, modern designs of the original Elder Dragons (not Ugin tho lmao). And by Modern, I kind of mean postmodern, because we’re at the point where Commander cards start getting absurd All The Time.

Each of the Elder Dragons of Core 2019 (copyright WoTC 2018) have the benefits of updated design practices with 24 extra years of experience, as well as not having to have a million words on them for silly reasons like extra mana sacrifice triggers. Even Palladia-Mors, probably the weakest of them (and still pretty threatening!), gets to have flavour text hinting at a potential return (which hasn’t happened yet).

When you’re designing cards like these, though, it’s inevitable that some are going to be overshadowed by others. Baby Bolas, of course, was one of the flagship cards for the set, being a transforming Planeswalker with lots of abilities that wins the game in just the most classy way I’ve seen in a minute. And Arcades took a fun niche deck people liked and blew it wide open, making Defenders into one of the most disgusting Offensive decks in a minute.

But then there’s Chromium, a fairly powerful Voltron/Control finisher but not one that leads you in any particular direction. Vaevictis does lead in fun directions, but would then be completely dwarfed by the absurdity that is Lord Windgrace the same year and Korvold the next one.

Outside of a few, this cycle feels like it got kind of lost in the shuffle, and I think that’s not really that much a reflection of the cards (except maybe Palladia, the Naya Problem rearing its ugly head again), and more the greater issue with Magic as a whole just shitting out cards constantly faster than most can catch up.

Welcome to Strixhaven School of Magecraft and Sideboardary

Our final cycle is the new kids on the block, the Strixhaven dragons. I suppose one way to make the definitely not Hogwarts Houses (they’re colleges, Clearly) seem important is attach a giant Fuckoff Dragon next to them.

A thing I like a lot about Strixhaven as a set is how it was introducing a new Thing for each of the enemy colour pairs to do- Golgari Lifegain, Boros Graveyard, Izzet Spells But Big Ones Instead Also Treasures?. The set came with loads and loads of cards supporting each of these themes, and having Commander 2021 alongside it and associated with it means they’re well supported by that as well. But, and this is the important part, the Elder Dragons aren’t as overshadowed because they too are doing something different, even if its rather slight in some cases, on their own- but each supporting or being supported by the Dragon in question.

Beledros is a Big Mana Golgari commander (normally seen in Mono-Green or Gruul) whose huge life cost is assisted by the Lifegain cards Witherbloom got. Galazeth helps ramp into the giant spells associated with Prismari while also making the alternate discard into treasure option some of those spells have a lot better. Tanazir doubles the power of Quandrix’s Fractal tokens, and makes them even more huge when attacking due to then natively being 0/0s. And I don’t really know what the idea in Silverquill is other than “Politics”, but Shadrix looks fucking cool and probably plays really nicely. It’s just a really fucking solid cycle.

It’s not really possible to tell how these 5 are going to play out- Strixhaven is still the latest Standard Set to release at time of writing. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the most successful Elder Dragon cycle as a whole assuming you’re looking at, like, mean Decks.

And then there’s The Other One

As part of Modern Horizons 2, cards for a set of characters from alllll the way back from those Legends stories were created- a new Dakkon, a Geyadrone Dihada, and the Elder Dragon that showed up in their story- Piru.

Piru is, obviously, a reference to the original cycle of Elder Dragons, but in a Wedge colour rather than a Shard. And with an extra keyword, which is something I missed, because it makes all the difference. I had written this card off, until I realised that Lifelink triggered from the death trigger, and when this thing dies it isn’t too hard to gain dozens of life points. That’s a lot and combined with clearing the board it’s not too hard to get virtually unkillable. I love leaning into the downside from the original dragons by adding a powerful death trigger like this.

Piru released very recently, and already has 112 decks to her name. I wouldn’t be surprised if that plateaus, but it’s still rather promising. 8 mana is a lot in non-green colours, but I like Piru, and I’d be happy to see her see lots and lots of play going forward.

While 2021 has so far had more Elder Dragons than any other year, they’ve been a very promising cadre with a lot of interesting ideas going on. With that said, I’m not sure that I want the trend to continue, because the more they make (the more Elders in general, really), the less special they get. But for now at least, it looks like we’re finally getting to a good place for Elder Dragons. Only took us 27 years.

[inventors-fair]

Lessons Unlearned: Short Story Commentary and Reflection

Well. 21 entries isn’t exactly a 50+ commander extravaganza, but that’s where we’re at. This contest made a lot of sense to me, in my own head, and I think I got lost in the concept without considering the full execution, or that Other People Might Not Think Quite Exactly Like Me. 

Still, I would say that almost all the entries created their own unique worlds, some plane-based, some personal, and it made for great and creative reading. I feel that something more concrete would help a contest like this in the future, like... Well, I’ll have to save that for another time.

Onto the commentary!

@abzanhero — Captain Morgan the Vengeful

The Card: It’s interesting design space you’re playing with here, and I’m actually a fan. You could pump him up to a 2/2 for a little battlefield presence, but it’s not out of the question. The fact that there’s not consistent graveyard tutelage means that he’s not as overpowered as he could be, and it’s only one counter, which... Admittedly, it’s powerful, but there are a few moving parts to make this less than incredibly overpowered. I’d rather the trigger happen at the end step for that “final fate” feel, personally. Minor templating: “shuffle it into your library” (only planeswalkers get personal pronouns), and I think contemporary design supports “when you do” as a trigger to respond to instead of “if you do.” 

The Story: Ha, it rhymes! ... And yeah, it doesn’t precisely explain the ins and outs of the curse, but it’s swashbuckling as hell. It’s one degree off-kilter to have a rhyme that isn’t part of a meta-tale, but I like it, so. I can imagine younger players doing their best pirate voice as they shuffle him (the character, not the card, I know, pedantry) into their library. Arr.

@dimestoretajic — Eternal Bond

The Card: I had to go through the Zendikar image gallery to make sure, but yeah, “party members” isn’t a term. I believe this card would read “Exile two target creatures in a party. (reminder text)” And it would be “combined” toughness, right? Either way, this is a hyperspecific and expensive removal spell, at rare, with a modest amount of lifegain. That simply doesn’t feel good, and I’m not getting a feeling of a “bond” out of, well, a removal spell. Let’s move on.

The Story: So, a kind of love story, framed around a removal spell? That already doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t have anything positive to say about the writing itself, so for Magic critique, I’ll say that it doesn’t feel like a Magic card or part of a Magic world, absolutely not Zendikar. There’s a time and place for those kinds of cards, such as Cathartic Reunion and Planewide Celebration. But Magic doesn’t need single-card love stories, unless they’re remarkably well-written.

@fractured-infinity — Baddon, Rivstalt’s End

The Card: Okay, that IS a real town in Innistrad. Had to check that. Anyway, man, someone would love to make a commander out of this bad boy. Kinda eh that he doesn’t do anything specific on his own, but the death effect is cool as-is, I suppose. The only issue is that HOO BOY you are going to have a LOT of memory issues with all your Zombie tokens capital Z. It’s flavorful and I think it would be worth doing, but the second part... Nah, keep it simple. 3UB, no protection, just Zombies, and you’re golden.

The Story: I’m having a really hard time parsing your writing. It took a couple reads to understand that he’s talking about... Well, actually, I don’t know. What do emotional bonds have to do with taking the town, or damaging the bodies? How does that work? Do we get that anywhere else in the story? Hate to say it, but this little snippet doesn’t really make much sense in or out of context, without heavy inference about the world that we don’t really get.

@gollumni — Tempest Serpent

The Card: I love the idea of off-color emerge! Emerge was a fantastic mechanic and I feel that it could come back again. It creates some really neat draft ideas that unfortunately may bend a lot of the pie rules. But also. A three mana 3/3 flying hexproof? That’s OP at uncommon, no question, good lord. Small templating note: Flying comes before hexproof, and the second should be lowercase.

The Story: I can just see the art of a guy on a boat cowering as the ship snaps in half and a massive stormy elemental electric snake monster BLOWS UP outta the ocean ready to eat him. It’s cool how it’s not about the serpent itself, but rather the human/NPC interacting with the serpent. It’s not Hemingway, but you conveyed something great! I liked this story.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Gravedigger of the Order

The Card: I don’t get how all these parts come together. Pro zombies, sure, she’s a zombie caller. The blocking/blocked trigger, uh, I don’t see that coming up a lot considering that she’s only a 2/2 with no significant combat-oriented keywords. And the last ability implies a strong return mechanic that I’ll admit makes a lot of cool sense with your flavor but doesn’t translate to perfect gameplay. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t grok this card, but it feels like there was cohesion sacrificed in favor of flavor.

The Story: Well, this sure as heck ain’t Innistrad. I’m curious about where this would take place, and what kind of world you’re going for here. Let’s try looking at it from an isolated perspective. It’s an alright macabre story, so I’ll give you that. But the name. What is the “Order?” Is she part of it? Do all members of the order whisper to bones like her? I don’t understand her goals and motivations, what “kindness” she whispers, why the dead are coming back at all.

@ignorantturtlegaming — Demonic Mentor

The Card: It feels unplayable and yet extremely playable at the same time. It’s expensive and creates some really crazy shenanigans in Commander with surplus life. Oh my goodness, Oloro would LOVE this card, good GOD. It’s unfortunate that it does have to be costed this way and that it makes sense for a tutor. I believe the wording could be adjusted to one chunk of text: (using Covetous Urge and Thief of Sanity as references)

“Search target player’s library for up to X cards and exile them, then that player shuffles their library and you lose X life. You may cast those cards for as long as they remain exiled and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast those spells.”

The Story: I don’t get it. What does having  a demonic mentor have to do with brother rescue? I assume this is part of a larger story, but we don’t have that story for context, and mentorship doesn’t have to do with rescue. This is a card about tutelage and power and losing life, not losing a mind. The library is so often represented as the mind, and you’re not losing that, you’re saving part of it. Really iffy on this one, despite the coolness of the card. Also, watch out - you switched tenses in the second sentence. 

@macaroni-and-squeez — The Iroan Race

The Card: RRR for haste, sure, whatever, that’s fine in this day and age, if a little color-heavy. But this card isn’t meant for limited. This is a build-around-me if I ever saw one. “Four instances of haste”?? I don’t want to call that brilliant because it frustrates my sensibilities, but dammitall, it’s...it works. For those of you doubting me, the Zendikar Rising release notes for Attended Healer states “Multiple instances of lifelink on the same creature are redundant.” So, if that is to be believed, this card is designed for some combo player to go nuts with haste nonsense. Or maybe I’m just reading it wrong. Either way, I like this card. But I would make it win the game for you, not anyone else.

The Story: Sure, I’m into it. A guy running a race for Iroas checks out. I would have condensed it a little, but in general, yeah, it fits the world and makes a neat little story. I’m really hung up on the name “Kris.” That...doesn’t feel like a fantasy name as much. I mean, we have things like Gideon, and Judith, etc. but Kris? I can’t help but feel that it’s a smidge too out of touch with Theros worldbuilding. Yay, nitpicks.

@milkandraspberry — Burn Down the Library

The Card: Conceptually, this card is pretty cool. Very strange. It’s a different take on anti-blueness in red, and I can go for it. Sorry about MSE and fonts. Reinstallation is a pain but it’s possible. Anyway. I wouldn’t call this card a breakout all-star, but it would be...fun, I suppose. A good combat trick enchantment thing. Shame it doesn’t do much if you have an empty hand. With wording: Use “can’t” instead of “cannot cannot.” Use “cast blue spells” instead of “play;” that’s been phased out for a while. You also can’t discard spells, but you can discard blue CARDS. Question: what if you couldn’t cast blue spells from your hand? Eh? Eh? Flashback and madness? Ehhhhhh?

The Story: This time, I’ll give an example of how this could be shortened. “After years of fruitless study, the young scholar found a better use for her teacher’s wisdom.” Maybe “frustrated young scholar,” or something to give her motivation. Why is she burning down the library? That’s the most important question to ask. “Because she felt like it” is the obvious answer, but that’s not motivation, that’s not intrigue. We have to ask “why,” always. Your story makes sense, but it’s just on the brink of great characterization.

@nine-effing-hells — Arch-Evoker’s Capstone

The Card: I want to like it, and I probably do. I don’t know what kind of deck would play it, as it feels like a Commander card for sure, but yeah, I think I do like it. It’s got powerful stuff attached to it with very red sensibilities. The land destruction is pretty wild, but it’s expensive as hell. Or is it? Five mana to destroy two lands... That’s actually, hm. That’s actually really, really, super strong if this were to see any limited play. You may even have to make it XXRR to get around that if you want to keep that effect. Land destruction is unfun. (I <3 Ponza though, so)

The Story: With this specific card, I wouldn’t have recommended also adding three lines of flavor text on top of four paragraphs of rules text. Additionally, um, I don’t get that last line. “It wasn’t every day the horizon was on fire for a week straight”? It’s exerting too much effort without a strong effect on the reader. Edit and save for a card without as much rules text.

@partlycloudy-partlyfuckoff — Spiraling Depression

The Card: Buries? What opponent? Is this targeting? Is this an edict effect? Least power among creature they control, I assume? I legitimately don’t know what you’re trying to do with this card. Wretched Banquet-esque?

The Story: Instead of attempting to give this flavor text legitimate critique, I would instead advise you that referencing real-world conditions such as “spiraling depression” without a critical lens might appear as insensitive to individuals legitimately suffering from those conditions.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Blazing Sacrifice

The Card: I really love this card, actually. The choice to do CMC over power I would argue requires playtesting, and I would prefer power to compare to other cards in the family such as the lovely Fling, but I can see the argument against it. Yeah, not much to critique or add onto that front. You made a really great card mechanically.

The Story: And then the story lost me entirely. “monsters that would surely go on to destroy everything he loved” is clunky to say the least. “Surrounded by monsters” is fine, it’s decent, it gets the job done. Monsters are monsters, that’s that. But that last line. That’s...a D&D reference, right? I can’t take that seriously, I just can’t. It’s verging on cliche, and it makes sense on a rudimentary level but adds nothing to the Magic world. I’ll be the first to say that yes, it’s personal bias and that some players would appreciate the memetic qualities, but it simply doesn’t do it for me.

@scavenger98 — Walking Stick

The Card: It...is a stick. You know, I think I like this one, and frankly I would consider it for constructed play. I’m a Krenko guy, what can I say. But yeah, it’s fun, it’s fragile, it’s got good equip synergy, and I might actually be underestimating its power. I don’t know, is there some crazy combo that you could do with it? This stick is made for walking, not fighting. Heh. Good flavor tie.

The Story: And there it is, right? It’s kinda funny how it’s implied that the whole story about this thing is that this piece of equipment is breaking. And that’s kinda what makes me on the fence about it. Like, if you had a creature, and the text was about the creature dying, that wouldn’t make a lot of sense, right? Maybe if the text was about Bredik fearing the day when he WOULD face a sword? Eh, I’m just being picky here. I think that it’s still pretty good. I like Bredik. He’s not a fighter, but he walks very fast.

@tmstage — Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

The Card: Yeah, once again, looking at Zendy Risey, I think the wording would be different than “full party.” I’ve been sitting here and I can’t come up with a better way to word it, but it still doesn’t mesh well even if it groks. And it’s a situational card that’s either going to do literally nothing or it’s going to destroy four creatures for one mana. That’s...not great. Hey. I understand if you don’t like a specific mechanic, but I’ve seen some really great ideas from your neck of the woods. Let’s keep going.

The Story: Technically, uh, this does not fit the criteria. Who was praying to the vengeful god? Was it the creatures in the other party? Is there a god of making rocks fall down? What’s up with the name, anyway? There’s a strong sense of disconnect and many questions that go unanswered. But considering all the factors that are going into this card, I have a feeling they aren’t really asking to be answered anyway.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path​ — Marathon of Mogis

The Card: Wow, I wasn’t expecting two Theros-themed God-themed enchantments that gave a number of creatures haste. Great minds and all. So, this card. I don’t think you need to reference the active player. The whole thing can be toned down a little. “At the beginning of each player’s combat (or end?) step, that player sacrifices all creatures they control that didn’t deal combat damage to a player this turn.” Keeping it simple. Honestly, though, I...am not sure I like it for four mana. It feels like a game-ender kind of card. Frankly, I would make it six. And I know that’s a lot and I know that it might be too much, but to be honest, this would be an unfun card otherwise, in my opinion. It’s really, REALLY powerful for a clock.

The story: Is that Mogis’ deal? Does he make people run? I checked the wiki and read through it all and I don’t understand why Mogis would get pleasure out of people not dying. The point of the stampedes and the destruction is to invoke slaughter and sacrifice, not to run humans to the bone. The ferocity of minotaurs is not sadistic. This feels like a Rakdos card — the cult, not the color combo. I feel that there was a misunderstanding.

@wolkemesser​ — Otherskin Scarecrow

The Card: I’ll go out on a limb and say that you could make this a little more Horizons-y and give this card Changeling instead of just saying it has all creature types. Could that make it a shapeshifter? Hm, what if, because it wears clothing from characters in the past, it also has the creature types of all creatures in graveyards? But I digress. Anyway, this card. It’s not bad! It’s not making me super excited, but it’s not bad. You meant for this to have a Reaper King vibe, right? Or at least to work well with it? I think you succeeded. 

The Story: Love the first sentence, don’t quite understand the second one. My interpretation is that it’s taking skin from others, right? Well! Um! That’s actually scary and makes me miss the world of Lorwynmoor even moor. Er, more. It’s unfortunate that the mechanics of the card don’t necessarily depict “skinning intruders alive and taking their identity in a grotesque fashion” as much as I’d personally like. Still, that’s a risk, and you know what, the implications aren’t super strong but it’s enough for me to grok.

Once again, thank y’all for your entries. New contest tomorrow. Be prepared. Be scared. Be....ard. 

-@abelzumi

[andylocksmithtipsntricks]

Bark App Review

4.5/5

Monitors 24 social media platforms

Offers customizable alert settings

Monitoring starts at $9/mo. or $99/yr.

Visit Bark

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Last Updated: 4 days ago

It had been over a year since we did extensive testing of the Bark app. To make sure it's still our favorite for social media monitoring, we had multiple kiddos, teens, and parents give it a try. Find out why Bark is still our top recommendation for helping kids stay safe on social media.

Bark Leads the Pack of Parental Control Apps

Bark impressed us during testing with its monitoring alerts for 24 social media platforms.

We also appreciated the adjustable sensitivity settings and how Bark encourages you to have conversations with your kids about online safety.

Pros

Monitoring across 24 social media apps

Alerts for texts and emails

Compatibility with most devices, including Android and iPhone

Tips to help parents start honest conversations with their kids

Cons

No iOS app

No website blocking

No screen time controls

Bark Pricing and Plans

Type of Plan Cost # of Children # of Devices Trial Period Learn More

Monthly Yearly $9/mo. $99/yr. Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 7 days 7 days Visit Bark Visit Bark

{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Table", "about": "" }

Data effective 10/25/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Bark is going to cost a little more than other parental control apps, but it also does a lot more than its competitors. We think it’s worth the extra $10.

That said, we recommend taking Bark up on its seven-day free trial offer before you opt into a monthly or yearly plan. When you log into your account, you’ll see a countdown of days left in your trial. You can cancel anytime before the trial ends to avoid automatic billing.

After the trial period, if you’re certain Bark is the faithful online companion your family has been waiting for, go for the yearly subscription to save money in the long run.

Bark’s Monitoring Features

Most parental control filters shield children from sensitive content by restricting access, but Bark believes safety comes from transparency.

Bark’s founders and board members, who are parents and psychologists, designed this parental control app to encourage open conversations.¹

Unlike some other online filters that rely exclusively on keywords, Bark uses advanced machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to screen social media, texts, and emails.

Parents receive alerts via email or text when Bark detects suspicious activity. Here are the concerns Bark screens for:

Cyberbullying

Sexual content

Drug- and alcohol-related content

Violence

Depression

Self-harm or suicidal content

Profanity

Inappropriate behavior or content

Risky app or website usage

Changes in account activity

Weapons

In testing, we were particularly impressed with how well Bark handles Google’s suite of products. Many middle schoolers and high schoolers now use Google accounts to connect with friends and share content. Often, they’ll use comments in Google Docs instead of chatting on social media.²

While parents seem to be aware of the dangers of Facebook and YouTube, they may overlook Google Docs as a potential source of cyberbullying. Thankfully, Bark does an exceptional job of monitoring Google accounts and sending snippets of concerning conversations and social interactions in its alerts.

Bark’s Adjustable Sensitivity Settings

In our testing, Bark was surprisingly adept at catching slang, acronyms for swearing, and even questionable emoji use. At one point, an emoji-heavy text from an 8-year-old triggered a warning for alcohol-related content because it included a beer mug.

While it’s nice to know that Bark won’t miss anything, all those alerts can get pesky. Bark makes it easy to adjust the settings for each type of concern so you can customize based on your child’s age and how much information you want.

There are three options: relaxed, moderate, and strict.

The “relaxed” setting will alert parents only for the most serious concerns, while “strict” is liable to turn up some false positives. For instance, on the strict setting, Bark flagged an email between a father and son about a haircut appointment as a self-harm risk.

There are a few types of alerts, like those for inappropriate behavior or risky app and site usage, that you can set as either on or off. But the majority of alert settings are customizable from relaxed to strict.

Bark App Installation

One of the challenges of parental control apps is that they can be tricky to install, especially if you’re not particularly tech-savvy. But Bark does an exceptional job of walking parents through each step of the installation process.

For devices like Chromebooks and PCs, it takes just 20–30 minutes to connect one child’s social media accounts and email accounts to Bark. Multiply this by how many kids you want using the app.

Installation gets wonky with iOS devices, though. This complexity isn’t Bark’s fault, as Apple doesn’t always play nice with other platforms and apps. You’ll need to connect your iPhone or other iOS devices directly to your laptop or computer and use Bark’s desktop app to finish the installation process. During testing, the download slowed to a crawl and took 30–45 minutes to complete.

Bark’s Check-in Feature

While Bark doesn’t offer website blocking or the ability to set limits on screen time, it does have a check-in feature. Once connected, you can ask your child to check in, and Bark will notify them and request a response.

A check-in doesn’t give you location information like kids’ GPS trackers do, but it can help relieve some concern when your child is away from home.

Bark’s check-in feature is pretty basic, so if you want to communicate directly with your child on their mobile device, look into the best phones for kids instead.

A Word about Privacy and Parental Controls

You could install a parental control app on your child’s device without letting them know, but Bark discourages this. During the installation process, Bark reminds you to have a frank conversation with your kids about why you’re using Bark and what they can expect.

Experts agree that one of the best ways you can ensure your kids’ safety on the internet is to encourage communication.³ By limiting strict control features and expanding monitoring instead, Bark puts those critical conversations about staying safe online in a parent’s hands.

Bark’s parental alerts do include content and comments from people your child interacts with, but the notifications are only snippets of conversations. These alerts strike a balance between respecting the privacy of others and safeguarding your child.

Bark vs. Net Nanny vs. Qustodio

Parental Control App Logo Cost per Year # of Devices Social Media Monitoring Filtering/Blocking Capabilities Text Monitoring Learn More

Bark Net Nanny Qustodio $99.00 $89.99 $96.95 Unlimited 20 10 24 platforms None Facebook only X No ✓ Yes ✓ Yes ✓ Yes X No ✓ Yes Visit Bark Visit Net Nanny Visit Qustodio

Data effective 10/25/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Other parental control apps offer the ability to block sites and apps or filter content, but Bark is unparalleled when it comes to social media monitoring.

Because a Bark account includes monitoring for an unlimited number of children and devices, it’s also a great value for big families with lots of gadgets.

Bark FAQs

Is there a Bark iOS app?

While Bark monitors iOS devices, you won’t find Bark’s app in the App Store. Bark does have an app for Android devices and a desktop app—but because you’ll also receive push notifications via text and email, the app is somewhat redundant.

If you’re an iPhone user, we don’t think you’ll miss it much.

How do I monitor my child’s school email accounts?

Many schools use Google’s free products for email, chat, and document management, but kids also use those same tools for social reasons. If you want to monitor their school accounts, you’re in luck—Bark offers this service for free.

Connect with your child’s school, let them know about Bark Schools, and see if they’re interested in joining. Nearly 1,300 school districts (and counting) use Bark to monitor students’ online activity.

I’m concerned about something I saw in a Bark alert. What do I do next?

If you’re worried about something you saw in an alert, you may be wondering how best to address it with your child.

At the bottom of every alert, Bark offers common-sense recommendations about how to discuss the problem with your child as well as discount codes for online counseling services for teens.

Because of this proactive approach, Bark credits its app with averting 51 potential acts of school violence and alerting parents to 99 sexual or online predators in 2018.

Will Bark slow down my computer or my kid’s devices?

Installing any parental control app, including Bark, on your computer or your child’s device may slow it down slightly. When we tested our internet speed before and after installation, the difference was minimal.

Neither the children nor the parents in our test noticed a slowdown during normal online activities like web browsing or email, but it may become more pronounced for high-bandwidth activities like gaming.

Conclusion: Bark Is A Parent’s Best Friend When It Comes to Internet Safety

Open and honest communication with everyone in your family about internet safety for kids is critical. While blocking access and restricting social media may be necessary for young children, it’s not a long-term solution for teaching your child how to stay safe online.

Bark is ideal for monitoring tweens and teens as they venture into social media because it doesn’t infringe too much on their privacy. Easy installation, good customer service ratings, and unlimited access for your entire family and all their devices make Bark’s slightly higher price tag well worth it.

Related Pages on SafeWise

Parental Control Filters Buyers Guide Internet Safety Guide for Kids How Can I Protect My Child From Strangers Online?

How We Reviewed Bark

To test how Bark works, we connected multiple devices used by both young children and teenagers to a Bark account. We experimented with sensitivity filters and monitored alerts over a week’s worth of online activity for both age groups across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Google Docs, text messages, and email. We also considered information from cybersecurity experts on keeping kids safe as well as reviews from other Bark users.4 For our full methodology, you can pop over here and read to your heart’s content.

Sources:

1. Forbes, “This App Aims to Help Keep Your Kids Safe Online Without Helicopter Parenting” 2. The Atlantic, “The Hottest Chat App for Teens Is…Google Docs” 3. Wired, “How to Keep Your Kids Safe Online” 4. Facebook, Bark, “Parenting in a Tech World Community Page”; Google Play, “Bark—Monitor. Detect. Alert.”

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