#oh and getting a full combo should give you a guaranteed win

[joltedfox-06]

I asked this on Reddit, but i want to know what you guys would change about Nightbringer?

Whether that be the story, characters, gameplay, etc

[lemonandbasil]

Easy Peasy Classic Guacamole

Ever since I was a child I’ve loved guacamole. That’s an absolute lie. I hated guac as a kid. That all changed after September 17th, 1954. That night was a local dance. I had been asked out by the cutest guy from my high school class. He had gotten to my house at 7:00 sharp in his bright red convertible. The dance was set up by the local church, of which his family were regulars and devote followers. It was also a potluck! I had decided to bring my most famous guacamole and chips. A classic. A guaranteed hit. Everything was perfect. He started driving me out to the local dance hall, but I noticed he was taking a weird way. He was taking the road out of town into the forest. It did eventually connect around to the other side of the town and the dance hall, but if he went this way we would be late! How would that look to the church-goers? Two teens showing up late clearly coming from the woods. How scandalous! So I mentioned this to him. I told him all that exactly! You know what he said? He said “Oh, I don't mind the rumors if its you.. I just want as much time with you as possible.” How my heart swooned, dear reader. I blushed and sat there happily, reveling in the heartfelt moment with him. We made our way into the forest and he stopped the car, at first I was concerned, but all he did was take off his letterman jacket to put over my shoulders, concerned that I would be cold in the dark, moonless forest with the convertible top down. A true gentleman. As he handed me his jacket, the clouds parted in the most beautiful movement, the glow of the full moon spotlighting us in the night forest. Unfortunately, right at that moment, my date became something not quite human. His neat brown hair grew, it became shaggy and in almost no time at all, it covered his face, his hands, every inch of what had once been skin was now hair - no - fur. His face elongated and he looked at me with sad eyes, his mouth opened as if he was trying to say something, but then he was gone. His eyes were no longer the boy I knew, but an animal. His words replaced with howls and his gentle hands, extended to give me his coat were grasping claws, reaching to my throat. Instead of my date to the dance, I was sitting next to a werewolf. A werewolf, set on tearing me apart. I had no idea what to do, how could I get out of this car, out of the forest, to the dance, before he got me? There was no way, no way at all! But then I remembered: my home-run guacamole. My guacamole that’s changed lives. The guac that made me the homecoming queen. The dip that got me a date to the dance in the first place. My claim to popularity. The chips and guacamole combo that was so good it made the pope bow at my feet. As much as it pained me to do so, I grabbed my bag, my precious guacamole safe in it’s container no longer. I opened it and threw it into the slobbering maw of the beast in front of me. In an instant, he sobered. He stopped, leaned back, swallowed, and looked at me like a puppy. The monstrous beast had been tamed by my, pardon my language, kickass guacamole. Yet another win for my EASY PEASY CLASSIC GUACAMOLE what follows is the magic recipe for taming any unruly dates you may experience! 

Olivia’s Easy Peasy Classic Guacamole

Serves 4

What you’ll need:

3 Avocados

half to 3/4 a lime

2 cloves of garlic

half a jalapeno

10 cherry tomatoes

red onion

salt and pepper

Ok first thing’s first: all of this is to taste. I don’t like tomatoes my mom really likes tomatoes. Doctor it up make it what YOU want.

First, cut the avocados in half and take out the pit in the middle. A good way to do this is to cut a vertical line around the avocado, the grab the two halves and twist. The avocado should just pop apart if its ripe (dark green almost black skin, slightly squishy). Then take your knife and with the avocado sitting with the pit facing up, hold the knife by the handle and put the other hand on top of the dull side of the blade, sharp side resting on the pit. Then hot the dull side of the blade with the palm of you hand so the blade sticks in the pit. The pull the pit out. The use your thumb to dislodge it from the knife and voila (make sure your dog doesn't eat the pit when it falls on the floor after getting it off the knife because its like thousands of dollars to have it surgically removed). Then take a serving spoon and scrape all the good avocado out into a bowl.

Then squeeze that lime juice into the bowl with the avocado. I start with half a lime, then depending on how strong that particular lime was I add more until I think it’s about right. You want to be able to taste the lime, but my sister doesn’t like it because it’s too sour for her, so i generally do just a hint. This is a bit of a personal preference how much lime you want. 

Next we have the garlic! Ok so easy way to peel garlic: microwave for 9 seconds, or until you hear it pop. That’s the water bursting out of the papery skin, now you can just slide the good garlic out! Careful, its hot! Cut off the hard end where it was attached to the other cloves, and take out the green stem from the middle, it makes it more bitter and I personally don’t like bitter guac. Next, mince it! I recommend getting a garlic press because its so easy. 

Mash all of that together with some salt and pepper for flavor

Dice half a jalapeno (or as much as you want) and mix it in!

Slice up some tomatoes (I do like 6 cherry tomatoes, my mom likes a lot more) again a personal thing!

Dice a red onion (i do one disc diced, but again, personal to how much you want)

Mix it all with a little more salt and pepper

Get some good chips and enjoy with your date to the dance!

[chroniclerdl]

Seven Fundamentals to Writing Better Yu-Gi-Oh Duelfics

Ever wanted to write a duelfic just as good or better than canon?

Done right, duels are memorable action scenes.

Done wrong, duels shatter the suspension of disbelief. It’s already a big ask to imagine the world revolving around a card game.

You don’t want the tragedy where your readers yank the scrollbar past your duel, or worse, close your tab. Even the small pool of duelfic readers/writers like me will skip huge chunks of your chapters when the duels sag.

By implementing basic storytelling techniques tailored to dueling, you can hook your readers into following the play-by-play.

High Stakes

Consistent Rules

Sneaks Checked

“Balanced” Gameplay

Foreshadowing Victory

Engaging Description

Dramatic Tension

1. High Stakes

When you advertise your story as a duelfic, your first duel tells readers whether or not what you wrote is worth their time.

If your characters duel without a concrete reason to rip the opponent’s throat, readers already know the outcome:

You lose.

Why? The game is pointless. Who’s dropping whatever they’re doing just to read the equivalent of your characters sipping afternoon tea? If you’re introducing the setting and characters, why can’t you introduce exciting threats?

No reader expects your first duel to decide the fate of the world, but your characters still need to bet.

Characters wager life chips.

If your character loses, they suffer death or suicide-inducing despair.

Is it too much to start with life-and-death? No. Think of the life chip as the culmination of hopes and dreams.

As the story progresses, the stakes will rise, must rise. How? Others will entrust the main characters with their own life chips, and/or the life chips acquire additional meaning. Consider this loose analogy: at the end of a poker tournament, gamblers sit at the final table with stacks built from the chips of others.

Life chips mean different things to different characters. Let’s take the Duelist Kingdom arc.

Yugi’s life chip is the hope to save his grandfather (and later, his own soul)

Joey’s life chip is the hope to win the prize money to fund his sister’s medical operation

Kaiba’s life chip is the hope to save his little brother (and later, his own soul)

You don’t even need your final showdown to revolve around the fate of world; it just has to be one or more things that matter to your characters.

Also, make sure to communicate the stakes, or why the characters accept uneven bets.

If you have the chops, you can also play around with disguising the stakes. As in, your character thinks they’re wagering something small, but it’s actually their life chip. However, your readers still need a vague reason to believe that a defeat will devour the character.

Always make sure the characters stake one or more life chips!

2. Consistent Rules

If you watched the Duelist Kingdom arc and tried to understand the moves everyone made, your head exploded.

Ask yourself: will the clever scheme that your hero invented drive readers crazy?

If I write a magic system that requires a wand, this applies to all. I cannot become a genius and suddenly wave my hands to cast magic.

Demonstrate the rules early, preferably in the first duel, and keep them sacred.

If you must make an exception, establish it early. In that case, the exception becomes a well-defined branch of the rules that the readers can anticipate.

Can the players magically draw the card they need, whenever they want?

If you can establish the when and why, by all means. The readers proceed with the understanding that the players can reach into their deck like a glorified toolbox.

For example, Duel Links has a concept called “skills” that function like a player’s special ability. At the time I wrote this, Yami Yugi’s “Destiny Draw” skill lets the player take any card from their deck once per duel after losing 2000LP (and even if they stacked the top of the deck earlier!).

Card should also have the same, predictable effect. If the card prevents attacks, I doubt the text discusses physical properties or mentions holding things in the air. But you knew that, right?

The rules are the laws of the universe.

3. Sneaks Checked

I love duels. I also love getting what I want.

Why does getting what I want have to be through a duel?

If we talk, maybe we can come to an agreement. If I blackmail you, maybe you’ll give in to my demands. If I shoot you, I can loot your corpse. Give the readers a good reason as to why your characters would bother with the hassle of honest dueling and can’t wiggle from the consequences of losing.

Often, the duel takes place in the context of a tournament. Hopefully, the tournament officials are keeping a good eye on the players and cracking down on cheaters.

However, even that’s not a guarantee. What’s the key concept?

Power.

The competitors have equivalent capacity for coercion (usually violence) or have a neutral referee presiding over the match with the most capacity for coercion (shoutout to gambling manga Usogui).

Anyone who enters a game otherwise has lost before the first move.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, magical and sci-fi enforcement are common. The Shadow Realm can trap the loser in a desolate hell. In a digital world, the loser suffers deletion. Or just have good tournament officials.

Be vigilant when your duel doesn’t call upon these tropes.

Your amoral characters won’t mind blindsiding your other characters, and they won’t mind blindsiding you with a plot hole.

If you’re not careful, the readers will ask you why they played uncharacteristically fair.

4. “Balanced” Gameplay

Duels should be fair and fun…for the villain.

Ostensibly, everyone plays a balanced game, designed to give both sides a sporting chance. In reality, the villain tilts the field to their favor with one or more tricks up their sleeves. Why would your villain ever fight fair?

But that’s fine. We love rooting for the underdog and watching the villain get their comeuppance.

Overpowered ability to let the villain read minds? Deck full of unbalanced cards that makes the villain’s monsters invincible with no drawback? Creator who knows every strategy in the game? Readers will turn the page as they wonder how the hero will prevail.

The more obstacles you can throw in the hero’s way, the better.

Got custom cards? No problem, just follow a couple guidelines. After all, some duelists are more equal than others.

The hero’s deck is full of regular cards that have a cost to use. For every play they want to make, their cards insist that they give up their attack, discard to play, etc.

The villain’s deck is full of rare cards that power up their game for free. So long as you can justify why the card made it to print, the villain can play whatever they want.

For every step your hero takes, the villain gets two.

5. Foreshadowing Victory

How many times have you watched a duel where the protagonist comes up with this never-before-seen card that does exactly what the protagonist needs to clinch the win? In the final showdown, no less? It’s like the writers begged to be called amateurs and idiots.

No other genre tolerates such laziness.

However, readers don’t want an infodump of the characters’ decks. Show the cards in action. To cover the deck, you'll probably need multiple duels.

This also implies you have more freedom in how your character defeats their early opponents in the duelfic.

Does that previous statement contradict what I said about never-before-seen cards clinching the win as the mark of laziness? No, because here’s the rule:

Tolerance for the hero’s new cards decreases as the story progresses.

(Notice that I specify the hero’s new cards; your villains exist to make life harder by inventing unfair tricks.)

When you must include new cards for the hero late in the duelfic, at least find a way to make them first backfire.

Now, some writers have lots of knowledge about the card pool and metagame. Can they assume the readers a priori know the hero has access to any of the available cards in a given archetype?

I’d err on the side of caution and properly foreshadow the cards before they appear late in the duelfic. Not every reader is a walking card database. They have no reason to assume something exists unless you show the card.

Take the tolerance rule into consideration when planning your duels. If you know the awesome combo you want to use for the final turn in the duelfic climax, that’s your cue to scatter the cards into the earlier duels.

Plan the last duel first and your early duels last.

6. Description

Every reader wants a front-row seat to the action.

They’re paying you their time, so make it worth the admission: sleek combatants & budget-busting fights. Kaiba invented Solid Vision technology for a reason, so help readers envision your duels.

Who’s fighting? Describe the point-of-view’s impression of the monsters’ appearances. Red-Eyes Black Dragon should be self-explanatory.

What about a decorated monster like Time Wizard?

You could go into detail about how the red clock humanoid has yellow gears that form epaulets and purple, pointy boots and a green mustache made from clock hands and so on, but such a level of minutiae bogs pacing and invites skimming.

Readers just need to hear about a purple-caped, red clock humanoid with a wand to form an image. Their imaginations can handle the little details.

Paint appearances in broad strokes and one or two brief sentences.

How are the monsters fighting? Duel Monsters is a game where the target takes the aggressor’s attack like a champ. That doesn’t mean you can’t spice it up.

For example, my opponent’s dragon attacks my weaker knight with a fireball. My knight, interested in not dying, raises his shield. Unfortunately, he screams as the flames engulf him.

You wouldn’t just stand still with a straight face if someone armed with a knife lunged for your gut.

A fight scene is a string of action and reaction.

Most people also experience life in more senses than just sight.

A dragon’s fireball is a bright reddish-orange, hot, dries the air, smoky, and explodes with a boom on impact. I never tasted a fireball, and I hope I never do, but that’s still four senses: sight, touch, smell, and sound.

Include multiple sensory details.

Let’s spare a moment to talk about the heads-up display (HUD).

In Yu-Gi-Oh, cards have multiple stats and abilities. You’re free to mention whatever you deem necessary. No set formula exists. On one extreme, you can mention nothing to keep the narrative clean at the risk of confusing the readers. At the other extreme, infodumps about the monster’s abilities provide great detail but wreck the pacing. But there’s a cozy middle.

State only what you need from the card.

If your duels occurred before the era of Synchro, you don’t need details about levels. You can just display the basic stats to determine the stronger monster. If a deck has Pendulum monsters, just mention the scale numbers when they're played as scales. And so on.

You can also make an index of new cards at the end of a chapter.

BONUS TIP! Understanding show, don’t tell.

What is show, don’t tell? At its core, this concept refers to immersing your readers in the senses and feelings instead of exposition. Unfortunately, that definition is a bit vague to execute. After writing for a while, I had my lightbulb moment.

Don’t TELL the readers how to think or force-feed them a conclusion.

SHOW your readers the evidence.

Here’s a written example from Joey vs. Rex in Duelist Kingdom. See if you can spot what makes this prose telling instead of showing.

“Joey watched nervously as Two-Headed King Rex stomped Baby Dragon. He messed up his Baby Dragon-Time Wizard combo!”

You can see two failures: “nervously” and the second sentence.

Adverbs like “nervously” and other “-ly” friends get a bad rep because rookies tend to use them as telling crutches (especially beware adverbs after dialogue tags!). “Nervously” tells me how Joey reacts. But what does “nervously” look like? One character might bite their thumb. Another might fidget in their seat. The adverb in this context lacks nuance.

We also have the second sentence: “He messed up his Baby Dragon-Time Wizard combo!” When you’re explaining the “why” to something, you’re telling. It’s like talking down to your readers.

Contrast with the next example.

“A bead of sweat rolled off Joey’s face as Two-Headed King Rex stomped Baby Dragon. He stared at the Time Wizard in his hand.”

The first sentence shows me Joey’s physical reaction. I see him sweating, so I think he’s nervous.

We also see a second physical reaction: “He stared at the Time Wizard in his hand.” This comes on the heels of the first sentence, and I also have knowledge of when Joey used the Baby Dragon-Time Wizard combo in a prior duel. Combined, I think Joey is ruminating about a missed chance.

Readers are smart; they’ll catch your intention if you show the proof.

7. Dramatic Tension

I bet you know what it's like to draw a bad hand.

Imagine: The hero staggers into the arena, and the villain just needs to win one duel to take over the world. The villain draws a bunch of powerups with no monster, but the hero draws a one-turn-kill combo.

Anticlimactic. The readers throw that duelfic straight into the trash.

Don’t just write real-life duels. “It really happened” doesn’t mean it’s emotionally satisfying.

That’s why we have literary structure.

Success and setback pace together with progressive intensity to maximize dramatic tension and emotional payoff.

I’ll spare the nitty-gritty theory detail, but your duels should look like this on a basic level:

Part 1: Villain’s basic threats. Introduces the villain’s deck and style.

Part 2: Villain’s minor strategy. The villain’s first serious attempt to defeat the hero.

Part 3: Villain’s major strategy. The hero’s reversal! But the villain has worse in store.

Part 4: Hero’s imminent defeat. The hero must break through, or else will instantly lose!

Ideally, you’re also integrating the story itself into the duel; themes and duels synergize to create a stronger effect.

You may notice how the format resembles the three-act structure.

Act I is Part 1

Act II until the Act II midpoint is Part 2

Act II midpoint until Act III is Part 3

Act III is part 4.

I’ll use Yugi/Pharaoh vs. Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom as an example.

Part 1: Mind scan. Pegasus can read minds to counter combos.

Part 2: Toon World. Indestructible, cartoonified monsters attack.

Part 3: Shadow game. Toons destroyed! But playing a shadow game weakens Yugi.

Part 4: Yugi passes out. The Pharaoh must find a new way to stop Pegasus’s mind scan!

Figure out each part of the structure for your duels before writing the turn-by-turn plays.

By the way, modern real-life Yu-Gi-Oh duels don’t suit drama because the rules provide weak constraints to creating strong boards. A good modern deck usually establishes a scary turn one board and jumps straight into Part 4, whereas other card games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone force the powerhouse cards to wait several turns until the player builds the mana to pay costs.

You can still write a good modern duel. Here’s a basic outline of Arc-V’s duel between Sora and Shay. Technically, “tragedy” is the structure of this duel, so I’ll make Shay the “hero” to flip it and keep matters simplified.

Part 1: Basic monsters. These clash before a monster appears from the Extra Deck.

Part 2: Frightfurs. They come one after another to crush Shay’s Raidraptors.

Part 3: Sora’s wrath. Rise Falcon survives! But Sora’s malevolent nature comes to light.

Part 4: Frightfur Chimera. Sora chomps candy and summons his biggest fusion horror!

If following the four parts is too difficult for you, that’s okay. They're just logical extensions of one basic concept. Keep the following in mind, and you’ll never go wrong:

The villain’s subsequent threats become increasingly overwhelming.

Conclusion

Much of writing a duel boils down to storytelling technique.

Let’s tl;dr the main takeaways.

High Stakes: Minimum ante is the life chip, worth a character’s hopes and dreams.

Consistent Rules: Everyone plays by the same logic.

Sneaks Checked: Characters can’t skip the duels with violence and coercion.

“Balanced” Gameplay: Villains enjoy advantages.

Foreshadowing Victory: Readers have a chance to predict the winning combo.

Engaging Description: Immerse senses and invite reactions.

Dramatic Tension: The villain makes progressively stronger threats.

As a duelfic reader/writer, I can gauge a writer's ability by measuring their duels with the fundamentals. Many fan writers struggle; even the canon writers struggle.

But writing a duelfic isn’t rocket science. With practice, minding the fundamentals will become second nature.

And don't forget to tag your story as a duelfic. It's a whole genre in fanfic, so sort it properly and help readers from the future find you.

May the heart of the cards be with you.

…

Want to see in-depth examples of my advice? I rewrote the Orichalcos arc to reimagine its untapped potential without the failures of the canon presentation. You can find it on FFnet and AO3.

[lionews]

Guide to GB

hi ;0 sorry it’s me again. I noticed that maybe yesterday or the day before, there was a discussion on how people made GB without buying any, and a lot of people mentioned event stuff. That usually requires a bit of research (if you’re just getting started on lioden) and can be overwhelming. So this post is for anyone who needs it—anyone who is new to event grinding and trying to step up from being a casual player, or just trying to make a few more bucks.

In almost every month, new apps will be released, and typically those will sell well out of season… but there are a few hot items that will always be almost always be on SOMEONE’S radar, and I’ll tell you about them now!

—–

Mod note: You should probably post this on a public blog so it can go into the Lioden tag. We don’t post in there incase people don’t want to see our blog. Or even in the forums.

January - January’s event is mostly filled with decor, but save up your SB a month or so in advance, because when the 3rd tier is unlocked, you can buy some pretty neat stuff that sells well later on! Lion meat can be purchased at T3 in the event shop for 2000SB! If you hold onto it for later, you can make 8-10GB per meat! Prices tend to shoot up during February, so if you wait to get full worth, you could be earning 13-15GB from a 2000GB (about 2GB) investment. As always, branch prices ALWAYS fluctuate, so forgive me if my ranges are a little off. But typically, that’s the general profit you can make from lion meat.

Then, MOD Overgrown Fur can be purchased for 4000SB when Tier 4 is unlocked! Popularity varies among players, but it’s definitely something you can sell… personally, I would invest more in lion meat, but it’s up to you!

In January, there is also the Boneyard! Save up your LB because digging about in the yard or donating skulls can get you a selection of three items, which can be quite useful if you know what you’re looking for.

Vulture eggs, broken drones, giant tortoises, leopard orchids, MOD: Primal, and lion meat may appear! You can then purchase them with event currency!

Vulture eggs and broken drones sell well in bulk. Giant tortoises on average sell really well for about 1-2gb MOD: Primal varies, again, around 10-15gb is what I’ve seen post-January. And lion meat was mentioned above!

Oh! And you’d be surprised… don’t skip out on those leopard orchids! They might seem a little lame, but you can sell them for 1gb! And holy COW they sell fast! Why? Because the normal auto-claim on a lioness in explore is 2gb, so players will jump on those leopard orchids for 1gb each! I’ve sold mine recently in under 5 minutes, it was surprising!

February - February is a special chaos. I’m not kidding, every bit of your event currency will be desired sitewide.

Tier 2 in the flirt shop allows access to honeycombs—which can be sold fast for 1gb… though they have an expiration date, so maybe not the best investment since prices drop in February. You can also find Grains of Paradise (GOP) which guarantee at least 2 cubs in a litter! These will sell out of season for up to 21GB from what I’ve seen, but prices will fluctuate and crawl up and down. Regardless, you’re looking at about a 8-15gb profit on average depending on what the branch prices look like.

Tier 3 in the flirt shop and slap shop, my friends, is where it gets wild. Buffalo balls, which guarantee at least 3 cubs in a litter, will be available along with an item called Yohimbe bark, which chops 1 day off of a lioness’ breeding cooldown! Out of season, yohimbe barks sell for around 12-15gb each! And Buffalo balls, which are always in high demand, can climb from a price of 6gb during February to 16 to 20gb! Later on by summer, buffy balls can reach as much as 25–and I’ve seen as much as 45gb… a big leap! So hold onto them. And again, prices will always fluctuate, so don’t hold me firm on these prices if you don’t see them please ;;;

Apps, again, vary depending on the community opinion on them… once more, all newer apps will sell well. Personally, I find the February apps gorgeous, but if you want to make quick sales after February and make the most of your event grinding, I would invest in breeding items.

In the slap shop, there are lion scrotums when T3 is unlocked! They guarantee a 25% chance of passing a mutation on… though this does not account for hybrids. Dwarves require these in order to pass on their mutation, and double uteruses do as well. DU and dwarf breeders will always be on the lookout for these! But prices on these make me narrow my eyes. Buffy balls can be used for all lions, but lion scrotums are only useful if you’re breeding dwarves or DUs. Thus, buffy balls will almost always sell faster than lion balls from my personal experience—but that doesn’t mean lion scrotums aren’t worth buying! Due to their slightly higher price compared to buffy balls in the event shop, they tend to sell for just a bit more than buffies do! But bewarned that come the May event, I believe, they will become available once more in an event shop.

March - March brings in more decor than it does breeding items, but there are still ways to profit! While you might be tempted to snag the newest apps, hold off and try to gauge the public opinion… for example, recently Hirola was released… and it seems sort of meh, so you won’t see a big demand for it. It’s the base apps that are involved involved in combo-base breeding that are the key!!! The ivory base can be used in two combo bases as a factor: Soul and Madagascar! So pick up that One With Giants app! It can be resold for a fair amount!

April - April is another event heavy on decor, but there are at least a few nice things! Egg yolks in the event shop will be heavily desired by stat breeders, so you can pick up those to sell—beware they also have expiration dates. Personally, I think the real good stuff is in Wenet’s shop! Doing her quests grants you hare points to spend. Stocking up on roasted lambs is a very good idea—these double your energy gained for 8 hours!!! They’ll be floating around during April for 1-3GB on average. And if you hold onto them until February, they shoot up in demand and can go for about 12-16gb each! It’s not difficult to pump out at least 8-9 roasted lambs during April, so that’s a few extra $$ in your pocket if you’re patient enough!

May - In May you can purchase red bulls, which are similar energy boosters like roasted lambs! These sell well, and as mentioned previously, lion scrotums make their return! Also, there is a chance to obtain male groupies, which are heritageless lions like NCLs that can be used to replace your king and essentially make it a G1! These sell for fairly good prices throughout the year due to people changing/replacing kings! Make sure to patrol them or freeze them on your side account (so they don’t age too much), and you can fetch quite the pretty penny depending on the market. I once, out of season, bought a heritageless groupie, one of the only few remaining on TC, for 75GB. Do I regret not waiting? Yes. Is it too late to cry? Totally.

June - June. Lovely June. Side with one of the deities or gods or whatever during the event, and once you finish their story line, you’ll get a base applicator that typically is worth a decent amount of GB out of season depending on which one you’re selling. Let it be noted that anubis, bast, seth, and sha are ALL factors of a combo-base, which is why combo-breeders will be willing to pay a good sum of money for those apps. Check the lowest branch price if you’re looking to sell!

July - Pack your bags and get ready to grind hardcore again, July brings a new base that usually has breeders scrambling to obtain, and there are also GORGEOUS backgrounds and decor to buy. Not only that, but for shards in the event shop, you can buy applicators that ALL sell fairly well. Well… mane apps might be iffy. But let me point out a few things worth snagging: Sunrise markings! Sunset markings! These two are almost ALWAYS going for a jaw dropping sum, I’ve seen 40-70 each, but DONT hold me on that please.

Curse of divine is a combo base factor for Elysian, a fairly popular base. Snag it! Touch of demiurge is a gorgeous base, and it sells pretty well! Grab that if you want!

And of course, whatever new comes out, make sure to gauge the audience… though in July, most everything new is going to be a good investment.

August - August is a pain in my opinion. Grinding DB to buy buffy balls is rough. But let me mention the stuff to invest in! The peddler allows you to buy vulture eggs, broken drones, and lucky feet—all of which sell nicely in big quantities.

I failed to mention this in April, but lucky feet will be in an abundance. SAVE THEM. Lucky feet are used to automatically win battles, and they come in handy for October, which is heavily combat based!

Buffalo scrotums and Grains of Paradise also make their comeback at the peddler, though I can’t give you a good price range on those. I will say that by August, the market for breeding items gets a bit dry, and so prices will be higher—much higher than they were in February.

September - September is good for one thing, and only one thing… actually scratch that—two things, and only two things primarily. GMO cows and ochre gnawrocks. Anyone playing lioden long enough knows that GMO cows are a big item used in mutation breeding, it ups the chance GREATLY of getting a mutated litter—even moreso than lion meats do. These things are WHACK. They sell for 45-60GB out of season, and in February, MANY people will be trying to buy them. Ochre gnawrocks guarantee the passing of a specific marking. Rosettes are very hard-to-breed markings due to their low pass rates, and mottled rosette is a hybrid originating marking. Thus, ochre gnawrocks will go for big bucks out of season, especially during February. 45-60GB is the common price that I’ve seen, although one year it was wild enough to reach 80GB. It all depends, but regardless, both items are good to grind for.

Oh! And in the Harbringer’s shop, there are black stallions, which sell well for 1-4GB all year long. They essentially guarantee that a lioness gets pregnant once for a breeding. This is very helpful to people breeding low fert lionesses like hybrids. Although, angelic blessings do a longer lasting job and sell for more… more on that later, you can’t get those during this month.

October - Then comes October, the battle-oriented event that I mentioned previously is what you should be saving your lucky feet for.

Let me try to get this all down. There is a general shop in which you can buy applicators and decor, and quite a few of the base apps in the shop are factors for combo bases. For example, Unholy is involved in 3 combo bases! And blazing is in another. Fiery is also in one, and I really can’t go into specifics because I’m not a big combo-breeder, but a quick google can give you the idea.

Then, you can side with heaven or hell, in which you’ll collect the respective currencies for whichever one you might go with. In heaven, you can get Angelic blessings, which as mentioned previously, are like black stallions. However, when you equip them to a lioness, they’ll get pregnant no matter what their fertility in one go for as long as they live/are using the blessing. Be warned that removing the blessing, which “acts” like a decor, will cause it to be used up. You won’t get it back, it’s a 1-use item. These sell well for 10-15gb out of season.

Shadows of death are what you can purchase in Hell’s shop. This will shorten your lioness’ life by 1 day—which in turn also removes a breeding cooldown day. These sell fairly well for about 10-14gb out of season! Surprisingly enough, I would say they get used fairly frequently—although the idea of killing your lioness might make it hard to believe.

Then there’s the manticore shop, where you can buy things like fermented marula fruit, medlar fruit (good for cub training to 100% immediately), dove feasts, RMAs, and crunchy worms. Dove feasts can be crafted in February, RMAs can be purchased at any time in the Oasis all year long, and medlar fruit on the market is a bit shakey considering that it’s not hard to train a cub to 100% without items. The real market investment here are the crunchy worms, which give a 25% of producing a clone cub of the mother in a litter. Again, these will sell VERY well out of season, especially during February. I don’t feel confident on giving a good price estimate, but as I’m writing this, the average price appears to be about 30GB, and it is early April.

November - Deep breaths, we’re almost done! November is where you’ll mostly be saving your event currency to buy the newest released base app or decor. I recommend saving your herbs, because I believe November is heavily herb-based. Giant tortoises are also available in the shop!

December Here we go, most all December event apps are HOT HOT HOT! And the jolly pose in the event shop is also fairly desirable! Save for those Jolly poses, and save for that newly released base, marking, whatever. Many of the bases in the event shop here are used in combo-base breeding.

I should note that spicy ice tends to have year-round popularity! It’s a factor for a whopping 4 combo bases! That’s a lot!

Along with that, frostbitten markings seem to have a decent amount of popularity, though things always always fluctuate. Check lowest branch prices, and with newer apps, always scan the community for the general feedback before investing.

And that’s it for event stuff!

Here’s the biggest advice of all…

If you want GB fast, sell the items listed above DURING the events.

If you want to make a profit/get rich, sell the items listed above MONTHS AFTER the events!

[thisissirius]

Siri, wow, can I have Buddie with Royal AU and Soulmate AU? I love your writing!

this made me so happy! i am here for this combo ;)

blink and almost miss eddie/buck, soulmates, royalty au

Trying to escape from his bodyguards is becoming a full time job.

Lucky for Buck, he’s been doing it since he was a toddler. Bobby never learns, always puts bodyguards with too much spine on Buck duty, as if he doesn’t already know Buck hates those types. 

“it’s for your protection,” Athena always says with raised eyebrows. 

Buck gets crushed one time in a freak accident and suddenly everyone wants him kept in bubble wrap. Under wraps. Heh. 

The pier is packed with people—Buck doesn’t pick his battles as well as he evades bodyguards and press—and Buck navigates them easily. Most people don’t pay him any notice, which works for him, and he manages to hover around a couple of stalls without getting his picture splashed onto social media. 

Buck catches sight of a kid with crutches on his own, looking at the people around him. When he was a kid, fresh in the state, Buck remembers getting lost because his bodyguards have always sucked, and he knows how terrifying it can be. He can’t help himself; he jogs up to the kid. “Hey, you alright?”

The kid immediately looks up, face shifting between emotions quickly. “My dad says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

“And he is absolutely correct,” Buck says, trying to think of something that will help him get this kid found. 

The boy’s eyes widened. “You’re the prince.”

“Ssh,” Buck says, pressing a finger to his lips and crouching down. He doesn’t think anyone around them has heard; nobody’s immediately stopping and demanding his attention. “Let’s keep that a secret for now, okay? Think we can catch up with your school?”

There’s a moment’s hesitation. “I’m not here with my school. Ms. Ingrid takes care of me when my Daddy works. She gets mad I can’t keep up.”

Buck feels a momentary flash of anger but covers it with a grin. “Do you know if Ms. Ingrid has a phone number we can call?”

“No,” the boy says. “She doesn’t give it to me. She says I’m too stupid to remember but my dad says I’m smart.”

Buck’s chest tightens further with anger but he crouches down, gives Chris the brightest smile he can. “I think I believe your dad, buddy. Do you know if he has a number?”

“Yes,” the kid says brightly, then his face falls. “It’s in my coat and Ms. Ingrid left it in the car.”

Ms. Ingrid is definitely Buck’s least favourite person. “Well, I’m gonna call some people myself, alright? Wanna find somewhere to sit until they get here and help us find your dad?”

“Okay,” the kid says. “He’s a firefighter but I don’t know where.”

Filing the knowledge away where he’ll probably never use it, Buck finds a nearby bench and directs the kid to it. He doesn’t know the protocol for this kind of thing, and if anyone sees, they might think he’s kidnapping the kid or something. He’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. “My name’s Buck.”

“I thought it was Evan,” the kid says, tilting his head back.

“My friends call me Buck,” Buck says carefully. 

The boy’s smile is blinding. “My friends call me Chris! My name’s Chris. Except when my dad’s mad or worried.”

Buck laughs gently; yeah, he knows those kinds of problems. “My dad gets like that too.”

Chris nods. “My dad says King Bobby is awesome.”

“That he is,” Buck says. He can’t wait to use that particular adjective on Bobby. “Right, let me just call for help, okay?”

Chris seems content to sit next to him on the bench, watching people go by. Buck pulls out his phone and bypasses his bodyguards, going straight for Hen. She’s managed to dig him out of several scrapes and he kinda needs her advice.

“—Why I even bother!” Hen’s yelling decreases and Buck gives Chris a funny look. Chris giggles and Buck hears Hen’s sigh. “That the kid?”

“Yep,” Buck says. “I don’t know where his chaperone is and I know people are starting to notice me. Any chance we can find this kid’s parents?”

“Just dad,” Chris adds helpfully. “Eddie Diaz, and he’s a firefighter. Mom’s dead.”

Buck’s heart lurches painfully. “I’m sorry to hear that, buddy.”

“It’s okay a lot of the time,” Chris says, though he looks a little sad. “Dad makes it more okay.”

There’s clacking from the other end of the phone and Buck tunes back into the conversation, keeping a hand on Chris’ shoulders. “Found him. I’ll call him and the cops. Please stay where you are.”

That means bodyguards. Buck rolls his eyes, but does as he’s told and waits.  

It takes about ten minutes for help to arrive in the form of Buck’s bodyguards. Bobby’s gonna be having people fired at the end of this, but Buck’s glad to have some friendly faces around. Thankfully, they don’t try to hustle him off the pier, and Buck assumes Hen’s contacted them and managed to get things under control.

Not long after, the cops arrive with an unimpressed Chim.

“What the hell?”

“Look,” Buck starts.

“No, I don’t wanna hear it,” Chim says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Cops, Buck, really?”

“It’s fine,” Buck stresses. “Whoever’s chaperoning Chris—”

“That would be me,” an unimpressed voice says. 

Chris shifts closer to Buck and whispers, “That’s Ms. Ingrid.”

“Christopher,” Ingrid says, and Buck hates her on sight. “What have I said about wandering off?”

“I didn’t,” Chris starts. 

“And lying,” Ms. Ingrid stresses. She looks at Buck—and he sees the flicker that she recognizes him—but immediately turns to the cops. “This man is kidnapping!”

“Hey now,” Buck says. 

“No he isn’t!” Chris cries. 

“I highly doubt that,” a new voice puts in.   

Buck looks up and fuck, that is one handsome man. He’s striding through the crowd, anger clear on his face, and Chris immediately perks up from behind Buck. 

“Dad!” 

The man sweeps in, hugs Christopher tightly, and Buck’s heart hammers against his chest for reasons he can’t explain. “Christopher.”

“Told you,” Chris says, looking up at Buck, and Buck can’t help laughing. He stops as soon as Chris’ dad stands, eyes narrowing. It takes a beat, two for him to realize who he’s staring at. 

“Oh shit,” he says. “Uh, I mean, your Highness.”

“Oh god, don’t,” Buck groans. “Listen, it’s—” 

“Dad,” Chris says, smiling widely, “this is Buck! He stopped me getting lost when Ms. Ingrid went ahead and—”

“I did not,” Ingrid stresses. 

Chris’ dad—Eddie, apparently—looks thunderous. “This isn’t the first time.”

Ingrid bristles, and Buck ignores Chim’s warning look to interject. “Chris was by himself,” he says, quietly when Eddie turns the full force of his gaze on him. It sends a shiver up Buck’s spine and makes him want to do whatever it’ll take to get Eddie to stay. What. The fuck. Ignoring it, Buck continues. “I didn’t know what else to do but have someone call you.”

“I appreciate it,” Eddie says.   

“Bo—your father is going to kill you,” Hen says, coming up behind Chim. Buck groans internally. Now that they’re both here, Buck’s in a world of trouble.

“It wasn’t Buck’s fault,” Chris says immediately. “He was helping me!”

Hen looks amused more than irritated, and Buck grins, knows Chris is winning her over already. Maybe she won’t eviscerate him once this is over. “Is that right?”

Chris nods. “Please don’t be mad, Ma’am. Dad says we should be grateful to people who help us.”

“Should we?” Hen says.

Chris’ dad flushes, hands on Christopher’s shoulders. “Buddy, I think we should—”

“Please don’t go,” Buck says immediately. He knows how it sounds and can feel his own cheeks heat up. “Let me sort things with the cops and then we can talk or something, I just want—”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Hen and Christopher’s dad say at the same time.

Buck deflates, crouching down in front of Chris. “I’m glad we met, buddy.”

“Me too,” Chris says, looking sad. “Am I allowed to hug a prince?”

Though his bodyguards might throw a fit, Buck doesn’t give a fuck. “You absolutely are.”

Chris moves forward a step, wrapping his arms around Buck’s shoulders. Buck squeezes him gently, breathing in a scent that’s oddly familiar, though he can’t pinpoint how. When he pulls back, he gives Chris a bright smile. 

“I’m glad I met you, Christopher.”

“Me too.” Chris says. “I wish we could be friends for longer.”

Buck feels something settle in his chest, an uncomfortably tight feeling. “Yeah. But you have to do something, alright? Make sure you always keep smiling and definitely make sure to take care of your dad.” 

Chris nods and Buck doesn’t know what to make of the indecipherable look on Eddie’s face.

“This is ridiculous,” Ingrid snaps. “He doesn’t get accused of kidnapping because he’s a prince?”

“I didn’t kidnap him,” Buck puts in. 

“Hey,” Eddie says, stepping between Buck and Ingrid. “I left Chris in your care and you abused it. I won’t be paying for today’s session and you can guarantee I won’t be sending Chris to you again.”

“We have a contract,” Ingrid starts. 

“Voided,” Hen cuts in. “If you like, we can talk about it with the cops.” Placing a hand on Ingrid’s shoulder, Hen steers her away and Buck lets out a slow breath.

Eddie’s still standing in front of him looking angry and Buck wants to wipe the expression off his face. 

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Eddie asks, genuinely surprised. 

“You didn’t have to step in. For all you know, I could have kidnapped your kid.”

“You didn’t,” Eddie says immediately.

Buck doesn’t want to argue, he doesn’t, but his mouth is already saying, “how do you know,” before he can stop it.

There’s a strange expression on Eddie’s face, like he’s not sure himself, but he’s shaking it off. “Chris says you didn’t. I trust my son.”

“Then I’m glad I met Chris,” Buck says, smiling down at Chris, who grins. “You have a pretty awesome kid, Mr. Diaz.”

“Eddie.” Making a face, Eddie’s lips quirk up into a soft smile. “I’m only Mr. Diaz when I have to be.”

Buck laughs at that, though he doesn’t know why; it’s not particularly funny. Something about Eddie puts him instantly at ease. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Eddie.”

“You too,” Eddie says, holding his hand. 

It’s easy enough for Buck to place his hand in Eddie’s with every intent to shake it. As soon as their palms touch, Buck feels hot, his body burning from head to foot. He can’t stop staring at Eddie, who’s watching him back, mouth open, eyes wide. Buck wants to get lost in them, can’t help but move forward. Eddie meets him halfway, free hand coming up to touch Buck’s cheek. Every place they touch has Buck tingling and he breathes out a soft noise. 

Eddie moves forward, crashing his lips to Buck’s. It’s instantaneous, the build up of emotion and it rushes in, fills every part of Buck’s head until he’s dizzy with it. He’s accepting the bond, he knows, letting Eddie consume him, and Eddie’s doing the same otherwise it wouldn’t work and he—

“Uh,” he says when he wakes up.

“Idiot,” a familiar voice replies. Chim, Buck thinks, cracking open one eye. “Wake up, Princess.”

“Prince, actually,” Buck says, and his head is pounding. “What happened?”

There’s enough of a silence that Buck opens his eyes. He’s laying on the ground. Wood. Sounds of the pier rush in at the same time the memories do and he jerks up, frantically looking for Eddie. 

“I’m right here,” Eddie assures him, and there’s a hand on the back of his head. “You passed out.”

“Oops,” Buck says, and closes his eyes again. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

There’s a soft press of lips to his head. Buck tingles. Eddie breathes. “Is that normal?”

“I don’t know,” Chim says, sounding put-out. “Hen’s the soulbond expert.”

“Oh,” Buck says. “We bonded.”

Another silence.

“I don’t mind,” Buck says, groping around, satisfied when Eddie’s fingers tangle with his. 

“I’m a widower,” Eddie says gently, his voice low. When Buck opens his eyes again, trying to ignore the swirl of anxiety deep in his chest that he knows doesn’t belong to him, he can see the fear on Eddie’s face. Eddie swallows, looks over to Chris, who’s being looked after by an attentive Hen. “I have a kid and a shit ton of baggage.”

Buck knows what this is and he doesn’t like it. He leans in, forehead against Eddie’s shoulder and thankfully, Chim leaves them to it. “I don’t care.”

“Evan—” 

“Buck,” Buck says helplessly. 

Eddie sounds worried, but Buck can feel his heart pounding beneath his cheek, an emotion strong in Eddie’s mind that Buck doesn’t dare name. “Buck.”

“I get it’s a lot,” Buck says quietly. “I’m a prince and I’m—well I’m sure you know.”

“I read things,” Eddie admits, hand resting on the back of Buck’s head. He starts stroking, gently, and Buck wants it forever. “I don’t know you.”

“We can learn.” Buck doesn’t want to pull back, but he needs to look Eddie in the eye. “If you want.”

Eddie’s smile could light a thousand dark days. “Alright.”

“Good,” Buck says and leans in, kisses Eddie again. It’ll never get old, he thinks, and then looks up as the clatter of crutches on wood drags his attention away from what Eddie tastes like. 

“Buck!” Chris pauses. “Are you okay?”

“I am now, Chris,” Buck assures him. 

Chris looks at Eddie, then Buck, then back to Eddie. “Is Buck your friend, Dad?”

“I think it’s a little more complicated than that,” Hen says, looking at Buck pointedly.

“Bobby’s going to kill me,” Buck groans.

“As in King Bobby?” Eddie says, going instantly pale.

Buck nods. 

“Oh, shit, you’re a prince,” Eddie says. 

“Yeah.” Buck speaks slowly. “You know this.”

“Does this make Dad a prince too?” 

Oh. Oh shit, Buck’s going to die.   

Chim raises his eyebrows. “Oh no, neither of you are going anywhere. We’re going back to the palace to explain this.”

“Yay,” Chris cheers. 

“Awesome,” Buck says, heavy with sarcasm. 

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Eddie replies.

Buck stares at him, feels the thrum of fear from Eddie. Beneath it is a rush of warmth, pride, and adoration. Love, Buck thinks. It’s love. “We’re gonna be fine,” he blurts, hopeful.

It takes a moment, but Eddie nods, touching Buck’s face again. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.”

[my-lady-knight]

Favorite Reads of 2020

I take back everything I said last year about how 2019 was a comparatively bad reading year for me. 2020 was even worse. I only read 48 books, I could barely focus on reading even when I did find a book I liked, and, just like last year, I ended up with fewer favorites than usual. Starting in August I’ve been having trouble reading any written media that isn’t TOG fic. And some of my eagerly awaited releases by favorite authors ended up being disappointments (Deeplight by Frances Hardinge and Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee).

2020—the year that keeps on giving.

I sincerely hope 2021 will be a better year in all respects, including my reading habits, but, as with everything else, who knows.

Regardless, here’s my list of favorite reads of 2020, in chronological order of when I read them:

Network Effect by Martha Wells

I’d read the first four Murderbot Diaries novellas when they first came out and enjoyed them, but I didn’t fall head-over-heels in love with them. Maybe because they were novellas, and too short to get fully invested? Possibly. As it turns out, Network Effect is the novel-length fifth entry in the Murderbot Diaries that turned me into full-on squeeing fan—SecUnit, aka Murderbot, continues to be its delightfully acerbic, antisocial self, SPOILER makes another appearance and oh how I’d missed this character, the supporting cast is fun and endearing, and the novel-length story means there’s time and space for the brand-new corporate espionage/colonization/alien civilization murder mystery to unfold and spread its wings. (Sounds like a Sanctuary Moon plot tbh). SecUnit is possibly my favorite non-human fictional character atm, and I am now fully on-board for every and any new story in the series.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

When I first heard about this book and read the words “time travel romance”, I immediately went, “Nope, not gonna read.” I don’t like reading time travel stories, and honestly, I was imagining it to be something like The Time Traveler’s Wife, which granted I haven’t read but also sounds like it’d be the opposite of my cup of tea. 

And then I went to a reading where Amal and Max took turns reading chapters – letters written by Red and Blue, enemy agents who repeatedly taunt and thwart the other’s plans to ensure their side is the one to win the time war and who can’t resist smugly outlining just how they’re staying one step ahead of the other – and the prose was witty and gorgeous and clever and intricate, and Red and Blue were snarky and arrogant and talented and fun. I had to read it. And I ended up loving it, this enemies-to-lovers story that is a meld of fantasy and science fiction such that they’re indistinguishable from the other, where the past is as equally fantastical and alien and imaginary as the future, where Red and Blue’s power play transforms into something different and scarier and more intimate than either of them imagined. 

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers has done it again, writing a gentle, hopeful story about humans working together out of a share a love and fascination for scientific exploration and wonder for all the possibilities the entirety of space can hold. With the advent of both space travel and technology that alters human physiology to allow them to survive otherwise inhospitable environments, a team of four astronauts and scientists have embarked on a mission to ecologically survey four distant planets and the life forms that inhabit them, from the microscopic to the multicellular—not to conquer, but to record and to learn and to share the gathered knowledge with the rest of Earth. In the meantime, lightyears away, Earth is going through decades without them, and the four of them must also contend with a planet that may have forgotten their existence—or that’s abandoned the entire space and scientific exploration program.

Reading Becky Chambers is the literary equivalent of sitting down with a warm mug of my favorite tea on a bad day – I always feel better at the end and like I can imagine a future where humanity does all the wonderful things we’re capable of doing.

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

I started reading this book right as NYC was gearing up to go into lockdown, which should have made this a terrible choice to continue reading since part of the premise is that a combo of multiple stochastic terror attacks and a brand-new, deadly plague upend the world as everyone knows it by causing the U.S. to pass laws that keep people physically apart in public for their own safety and make concerts, theatre, and any other kind of artistic gathering obsolete.

But that’s largely just the set-up, and the real story is that of Luce Cannon, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter who played the last major concert in the before times who twenty years later performs in illegal underground concerts, and Rosemary, a younger music-lover who’s only lived in the after-times, and who’s taken a new job scouting out talent to add to the premier virtual entertainment company’s roster of simulated concerts.

It’s a love letter to live music and what it feels like to connect and build community via music in unusual and strange and scary times, the energy involved in making music for yourself, for an audience, exploring the world around you, imagining and advocating for a better tomorrow, and embracing the fear, the possibility, and the power of change, both good and bad. This was the book I needed to read at the beginning of the pandemic, and I’m thankful I ended up doing so.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 edited by John Joseph Adams and Carmen Maria Machado

When I end up loving half of the stories in an anthology and greatly enjoying all but two of the rest, that’s the equivalent of a literary blue moon for me. My favorites included the following;

"Pitcher Plant" by Adam-Troy Castro

"Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women" by Theodore McCombs

"Variations on a Theme from Turandot" by Ada Hoffmann

"Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" by LaShawn M. Wanak

"The Kite Maker" by Brenda Peynado

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark

"Dead Air" by Nino Cipri

"Skinned" by Lesley Nneka Arimah

"Godmeat" by Martin Cahill

"On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog" by Adam R. Shannon

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

No one is more surprised than me that Harrow is on this list, given that I am one of approximately three people in the universe who did not unequivocally love Gideon the Ninth. 

And yet the sequel worked for me. 

Maybe because this time I already knew and was used to the way the world and the Houses worked, and I knew to not take anything I read for granted because I could be guaranteed to have the rug pulled out from under me without even realizing. Maybe Harrow’s countdown/amnesia mystery worked better for me than Gideon’s locked room mystery. Maybe the cast of characters was more manageable and fewer of them were getting murdered left and right before I got a chance to get used to them (and some of them even came back!) Maybe it’s that Harrow blew open the potential and possibilities Gideon hinted at and capitalized on just how fucking weird and mind-blowing the whole premise is in a way that felt incredibly and viscerally satisfying.

Also SPOILER happens three-quarters of the way through. That was pretty fucking awesome.

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djélí Clark is a master of melding history and fantasy in ways that are in turn imaginative and clever (his fantastical alternate-history, early 20th-century Egyptian novel A Master of Djinn is one of the books I’m most looking forward to in 2021), while also using fantasy to be frank and incisive about the history of American antiblack racism (as in the above linked story in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019). Ring Shout combines the late-nineteenth and early 20th-century history of the rise and normalization of the KKK with Lovecraftian supernatural horror, in which the release of The Birth of a Nation summoned literal monsters (called Ku Kluxes) that became part of the KKK’s ranks. Maryse Boudreaux is a Black woman who’s part of a grassroots organization hunting both the monsters and the human members in order to keep the Klan at bay. However, there’s soon to be another summoning ritual atop Stone Mountain that will unleash even more Ku Kluxes into the world, and Maryse and her friends are running out of time to prevent it from happening.

Maryse is a fantastic character, as are her two friends—brash, unapologetic Sadie and WWI veteran, weapons expert Chef—her mentor and leader of the Ring Shout group Nana Jean, and all the other members of the group who work and fight together as a team and a family. Maryse’s past and the journey she goes on in the book to uncover the truth and stop the summoning is harrowing and heart-stopping, the supernatural elements are both horrific in and of themselves while also undergirding the real-life horror of the KKK and the hatred they engender. It’s smart, it’s fun, it’s eye-opening, and it’s also being turned into a TV show starring KiKi Layne. It’s really, really good.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

“Stick to the brief.” This is the maxim given to Dietz and all the other soldiers who join the war against Mars, where soldiers are broken down into light to travel to and from their assigned battlefields instantaneously. Only Dietz isn’t experiencing the jumps like everyone else – Dietz, like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five, has become unstuck in time and is experiencing all the battles in the mission briefs out of chronological order, to the point that Dietz starts to build a picture of a war and a reality that’s been sold to Dietz and everyone else on Earth as pure fiction. 

I’ve always appreciated Kameron Hurley’s stories, but this is the first book where she fully succeeded at writing the book she set out to write—it’s fast-paced science fiction thriller in the form of a loaded gun that takes brutal aim at late-stage capitalism, modern military warfare and the dehumanization of everyone involved on all sides, the greed of ungovernable governing corporations, nationalistic and military propaganda, the mythology of citizenship and inalienable rights, and it’s viscerally bloody and violent without being grotesque in the way all of Kameron Hurley’s books are. Especially important for me, I loved that Dietz went through the entire book not being gendered in any way, shape, or form (those last five pages didn’t exist, what are you talking about), and I love in general that Kameron Hurley is committed to writing non-male characters who aren’t less violent or fucked-up or morally superior to men just because they’re not men.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Middle grade is a hard sell for me these days, as are books in verse, and I wouldn’t have known this book existed if it weren’t for the Ignyte Award nomination list earlier this year. As it turns out, this book, the story of Jude, a pre-teen girl who wants to be an actress who leaves Syria and the encroaching civil war with her mom to go live in the U.S. with her uncle and his white wife and their daughter while her dad and older brother stay behind, is full of beauty, curiosity, humor, confusion, grief, pain, and joy, and the poetic prose is both lyrical, nuanced, and perfectly fitted to Jude’s voice. I devoured this book in one day, which is the quickest amount of time it took me to read any book this year, including novellas.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

The first book Darius the Great Is Not Okay was one of my favorite books in 2018, and I’m ecstatic that the sequel is equally as amazing.

It’s been approximately half a year since Darius went to Iran, met his maternal grandparents in person for the first time, and found his best friend in Sohrab, and in that time he’s come out as gay, joined the soccer team, got an internship at his favorite tea shop, and started dating for the first time. Darius is also working through some things though—when and if he wants to have sex with his boyfriend, his grandfather’s worsening illness, his dad’s recent depressive episode, his emotionally distant paternal grandmothers on his coming for an extended stay, the fact that he’s getting to know and growing closer with one of his teammates who’s best friends with Darius’s years-long bully, and a bunch else. 

Darius the Great Deserves Better has the same tender and vulnerable emotional intimacy as the first book, more conversations over tea, new instances involving the mortifying ordeal of being a cis guy with a penis, even more Star Trek metaphors, and so much growth for Darius as he works through a lot of hard situations and feelings, and strengthens his relationships with all of the people in his life he loves and cares about. I can’t think of any other book that’s like these two books, and I love and treasure them dearly.

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

I had zero awareness of this book until a bunch of SFF authors started praising it on Twitter a couple months before the release date, and I was intrigued enough to get a copy from the library. I loved this book. I happened to be reading it right at the time of the presidential election, and it phenomenally served the purpose of desperately-needed distraction from the agony of waiting out the ballot counts.

It’s book about the power behind borders, citizenship, exploitation, and imperialism, set in a late-late-stage capitalist future, in which a prodigy invented the means to access and travel to slightly divergent parallel universes to grab resources and data – but only if the other universe’s version of “you” isn’t there. It’s the story of a woman named Cara – poor, brown, born in the wastelands outside the shelter, security, and citizenship privileges of Wiley City – who’s comfortably employed to travel to all the parallel worlds no one else can visit, because all her counterparts in those worlds are dead from one of the myriad ways Cara herself could have died growing up. It’s the story of Cara traversing the muddied boundaries between her old life and her new one, the similarities and differences between her own life and that of her counterparts, as well as the figures of power who defined and shaped her and her counterparts’ existences, and solving a mystery involving the unexplained deaths of several of her counterparts and the man who invented multiverse technology.

It’s a story of the permeability of selfhood and self-determination, and complexity of power dynamics of all kinds – interpersonal, familial, collegial, intimate – and the interplay between violence and stability and identity, and how one can be both powerful and powerless in the same dynamic. It’s a story with literary sensibilities that is unequivocally science fiction, written with laser-precise prose that flays Cara open and puts her back together again.

I worry this description makes this book sound dry and removed when reading this book made me feel like I was coming alive every time I delved back into it. This is a book I cannot wait to reread again to experience the brilliance and skill and thoughtfulness and emotion of Micaiah Johnson’s writing. I have no clue what, if anything, she’s writing next, but I have a new favorite author.

Honorable Mentions

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Stormsong by C. L. Polk

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I feel bad putting it here and not in the first list – it is undeniably a modern classic and a brilliantly crafted book! But I had zero interest in any of the Italy chapters, and I found the way he finally figured out how to access fairy magic by essentially making himself mad to be both disappointing and narratively unsatisfying.)

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

For my yearly stats on books written by POC authors, in 2020 I read a total of 24 books (one of which was co-authored by a white author), which is fewer than last year (30). However, because I also read fewer books this year overall, this is the first year ever that I achieved exactly 50-50 parity between books written by POC and white authors. I honestly wasn’t expecting this to happen, as I stopped paying deliberate attention somewhere around April or May. Looking over my Goodreads, the month of September ended up doing a lot of heavy lifting, since that’s when I read several books by POC authors in a row for the Ignyte Award nomination period. But also, it does look like the five or so years of purposefully aiming for 50-50 parity have materially affected my reading habits, by which I mean even when I’m not keeping my year’s count in mind, I’m still more likely to pick up a book by a POC author than I was five years ago when I had never kept track at all. My goal for next year is to once again achieve 50-50 parity and to not backslide.

[neophix]

Elsword PvP Stereotypes: 2nd Edition

Alright. It’s been a year and a half. Let’s do this again, sure.

Unlike last time, where people salting at me during the match contributed to a large portion of the character stereotype, I only have their gameplay to work off of this season. Mostly. Rage whispers have gone down significantly which honestly is a change that's good for everyone. {Nod nod.}

{Additional commentary by @demos-cloud​ will be in braces}, and my responses to her commentary will be italicized, since I’ve ah. Ranted to her about a lot of these before, and asked her to help proofread.

Elsword: Bullheaded, stubborn, and does not think very far ahead.

This is mostly thanks to the amount that they've built up Elsword's defensive options lately. The changes to Autoguard mean that Knight Emperor doesn't really have to worry even if he gets caught (I've had more games turned around thanks to that than I care to admit). Infinity Stoic is still a thing, not in the least helped by the large number of quick, stoic approaches and normals he has. Melee Elsword gameplay basically rewards LEEROY JENKINS. Rune Masters are surprisingly rare.

Aisha: Still Bullies.

This has always been the case. Though lately I've come to the realization that Aisha, and Void Princess' line in particular, usually stays out of PvP unless she has access to something dangerously close to hacking. Meditate+Trans slot cooldown drops are always popular, but Oz Sorcerer lives and dies depending on whether she can pretend-hack or not (looking at you, Angkor Millions and Shadow Body). Metamorphy's population likewise dropped drastically as soon as they nerfed the stoic on her >>X(Z). {Her damage output was also hit hard by the Impact Zone nerf in PvE.}

Rena: Slime.

There's been a lot of complaining about the changes to the NF system, though honestly it's probably better for PvP-health in the long term. Now, instead of basically being guaranteed to eat 3 cancelled Violent Attacks to the face in the middle of every single combo, you probably only have to worry about it happening once or twice per game. They're still really slippery, thanks in large part to physics bending over backwards around her and >>Z being so fast, though their PvP numbers have taken a drastic drop since the nerf.

Raven:

Basically only the oldest Raven mains are left, a corps of elite veterans who know their character and yours inside and- oh and I guess you have the bandwagon RH horde. {Man the bias is practically dripping out of your mouth here Ketsu.} The majority of my Raven matches are against players who I recognize on sight, though. The canon Raven has certainly been getting spoiled, comparatively speaking, though the fact that KoG nerfed M.Maximum Drive almost immediately is a good sign. RH is still probably the most consequence-free Raven at the moment; he doesn't really have to worry about taking combos because it's extremely likely he'll be able to mash a Spread out and revenge-catch you if there's even the tiniest delay or mistake.

{PvE is full of old, rich, Ravens as well. BMs/FBs especially are the oldest and most funded. Yeah they know their class in and out, but they’re also not above shelling out $200 to +11 that glorious Void weapon. VCs are dead.}

Eve: Nasod Bitch. Runs on money. {はい、はい。}

Eve on the whole is very confrontation-adverse, and all three of her classes avoid direct combat. Good thing for her, too; aside from the Exotic line Eve's combo game is so poor she can barely hold anyone in place on her own. All three Eves have very strong utilities kits which are supposed to come with a weak damage-per-hit ratio, but Eve players are already very strongly conditioned to spoil her rotten. Nobody's ever been accused of spending too little on her, after all. Codes 4v1 and Sariel both just dunk on melee-centric characters, and Ultimate has enough unsafe-cancels and core synergy that you'll be spending more time eating lasers than spears. {Like I’ve been saying for the past four years, Eve’s Core Release system was built for CN. Of course she has the best Core synergy out of all Eves.} Illusion Thorns' debuff field really should not trigger core. Raven's lingering skill effects (grenade fires and smoke clouds) have NEVER triggered his core, and those at least deal damage, but I guess even KoG isn't tired of spoiling Eve just yet. {Maybe it’s because Illusion Thorns’ debuff area only lasts a measly two seconds compared to Raven’s lingering AoEs (dead laugh).} Raven’s lingering AoEs also only last for a couple seconds, too, though. {oh.}

Chung: HERE I GO. {HERE I GO!!}

Hoo boy. Okay. After the absolute Chung dominance in the 1v1 tournament, there's been a significant rise in Chung PvP populations. Sure, Base Chung has Heavy Stance to mitigate being slow and getting caught, but these three basically never have to deal with such puny things as "consequences" and Heavy Stance itself has actually been vanishingly rare. {DC really should not have so many Heavy Stance/stoic opportunities, given that his whole backstory is based around being faster and thus, being less defensive. IP’s ridiculously high attack speed is abnormal and needs to die. Even back in S1 it was a pain to deal with…} Back Blast and Reload are core skills not because of utility or reload, but because they're such hard to deal with panic buttons when strung together. Cannonball management is a total farce. Super spoiled, getting amazing tools and mod skills with each update. A few significant differences between them:

Comet: Basically indestructible. Will not die. A rocket powered turtle who can strike you from anywhere in the map and always has an advantageous position. The new goddess of PvP, stripping Yama Raja of the title. You could just tell that a couple of the tournament finalists were screwing around and winning anyway, and that flagrant disregard for consequences has been adopted by the bandwagoners. {I feel like having one of the IP semifinalists intentionally handicap himself of the class’ best skills, fool around, and still manage a strong victory.. Really says a lot about the class’ current standing.}

Phantom: Homing Ruthless attacks for days. Mod Shooting Star caused a lot of passive ruthless to get stripped, but I guess there was enough of a Chung tantrum that they got it back on base Shooting Star AND in M.Burning Punisher. Could probably win a game blindfolded thanks to all the high-damage homing at his disposal. A non-berserk awakening is so rare you honestly think it's a glitch. {Remember when it was only like a 25% activation chance. lmao.}

Centurret: After a long and arduous process of moderately intelligent cockroaches bashing on keyboards tested every possible configuration, tactics have been finely reduced to "if your dog craps on enough lawns, someone is going to step in it." Instant-hit Grav Shots are far more than any character deserves, especially when they have practically no vertical limit, and whoever approved of this as an Siege mode option should be spaghettified.

Ara:

Lately, the number of Aras who fully depend on the X or ^X loop has gone down. Devi is still incredibly oppressive, able to basically slam their face on the skill bar whenever they're in trouble to turn it around with any one of their many, many incredible utility actives (with skill storage). Shakti populations have been on the rise in comparison, though as a Shakti main myself I can't really comment on any other trends without being... more biased than usual. {Dead in PvE, though very willing to shell out money. More-so than other Ara classes, I find (even Devis, yes!)} Apsaras generally rely way too much on Kite or Suppression and barely have two brain cells to rub together, having godawful combo maintenance outside of the aforementioned X loop, despite Ara's strong kit. {They changed how ZZXX works how else am I supposed to do fancy combos nowwwww} It feels like if they did have any more to work with they would've job changed to Devi by now.

Elesis:

Population is in decline, but still powerful. Empire Sword still has some of the most safe combo maintenance in the game, and it's exceedingly rare for her to make anything remotely resembling a mistake. {The fact that she has such a high DPS ratio in PvP really hurts, what gives.} INJECTION finally got the nerf it deserved and is starting to sound like a word again. Fire Wallsis is still horrifically oppressive if it goes off, however, and reduces many games against her to "play perfectly or die."

Add:

Doom Bringers are vanishingly rare. Dominators basically all spontaneously ceased to exist once Charged Impulsar got nerfed and they realized they'd actually have to try in PvP again. Paradox is, once again, the most popular PvP Add, and for some reason still has an infinite. Purple is the color of bullies, it turns out. {Death to purples.}

Lu: Almost as Leeroy Jenkins as Elsword, but not a large sample to work with.

If the dive that magnetically homes in on targets wasn't enough of a giveaway, Lu's ability to zero in on a target is still very high. Diangelion's switch-attacks have the same bizarre hitboxes and gravity as ever. Lu in general seems to be about throwing giant hitboxes around the map and hoping they hit something, and her combo game is so safe that there really isn't need for precision there, either. {If she can’t hit you with a command normal or a skill, she’ll lag you out with her FPS-killing abilities. Surprisingly not very high up on the whale list, and even lower on the whales-for-fashion list.}

Ciel mains still don't exist. {Nobu would be sad to hear this.}

Rose: Rich, but shallow.

You're basically not even a Rose main if you don't have an 11+, the same way you're basically not a Chung main if you can't get 4+ X-drops in a single launch. {I am apparently no longer a Rose/F. Gunner main. Okay.} Their gameplay shows no personality to speak of, and you'll be fighting the same kind of Rose tactics at Rank C that you will at Star. Despite being the only non-Chung in the 1v1 Finals, Minerva has actually seen something of a population decrease lately. I imagine a lot of players disliked the fact that the player got to finals by using a Freeze Grenade infinite. 

{POs seem like one of the most funded Rose classes, despite being lowtier in both PvP and PvE. About 20% of them have an elitist complex, and another 40% only play her because “OMG MECHA WAIFU”. I’ve only encountered like two POs who acknowledge that she feels and plays nothing like her DFO counterpart, and the fact that I had to argue with a super stubborn NA forumer about this is flat-out stupid. Ah, also. TBs are dead now. Unsurprisingly.}  PvP Rose is actually mostly TB thanks to her pseudo-meditate.

Ain: I was horribly, terribly, no-good very bad wrong about the prediction last time.

PvP Ain is as homogenous across all three paths as Rena: {はい、はい。} Base Ain normals are so strong that the only ones his other classes really use are dives. Otherwise, you can treat all Ains the same. Watch out for airdashes, stomps, Xes, and basically a full kit of backwards melee hitboxes (we got rid of that on the Polar Bear suit for a reason, right? Right??) which are all so strong that, even though the bug has been patched out, Schwert Platzen is still a core PvP skill for all Ains. Bluhen is very rare in PvP, due mostly to the fact that he doesn't have a dive combo. Richter basically plays "The floor is lava" the entire game. The stomp noise is as annoying and stuck in my head as Aisha's "HYA" voice clip now and is a standout among Ain's generally obnoxious sound design. {Maybe if KoG gave us more combo options my fellow Richters wouldn’t have to sink this low.}

his german is off but i appreciate the effort.

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Cloudchaser and Flitter Explain: Defenders of Equestria Manes

Hehe, I knew you’d b—

Wait, you’re not?

Nope.

Okay, who are you and what’d you do with Cloudhcaser. You’re always excited for nationals!

Okay, you got me. I can’t wait! Everypony’s going to bring their best decks and the competition is going to be fierce and I’m going to win this year!

Now that’s the Cloudchaser I know and love, hehe. Well, we better get started with our last thing before nationals!

You bet!

Hi everypony! Are you as excited for nationals as we are? Because we’re super duper excited! It’s going to be the best nationals ever!

Definitely. Cause I’m going to win this time.

And to help you guys prepare a little bit for regionals, we thought we’d talk about the new Manes that Defenders of Equestria introduced, just in case any show up.

After all, you’re bound to see a few of them, right?

I dunno, actually. Some of them have powerful boosted sides, but they all have the same flip condition which can hurt their competitiveness.

Turn 1 troublemakers and turn 2 DFOs happen a lot nowadays. And both can seriously hamper a confront-to-flip Mane’s ability to flip. It might be a good idea to just stick with the Manes that don’t have that liability.

Or maybe you could not scare everypony off before we even start.

Sorry…

But it is something to keep in mind. Confront to flip is an easy flip condition on the play for sure. But on the draw?

Well, things can get dicey.

Sure, and that is worth mentioning. But I think most of these Manes are still pretty powerufl regardless!

Anyway, let’s kick things off with Rainbow Dash: Wonderbolt.

Look at her, achieving her dream. Maybe someday Cici will be a full fledged Wonderbolt too.

We can hope!

Anyway, Dash is an interesting card. At first glance you might think she’s an aggro card, as she helps you win Faceoffs. But, really, providing power to confont is more important than faceoffs, and there are definitely better Manes for that.

So maybe you think she’s a good farming Mane? Well, kinda, but she’s definitely not as good as Ambassador of Loyalty for that, who can dash up to problems for free and lets you play high req hasty cards like Thunderlane: Unsung Hero all by herself.

No, she’s actually a control card. Specifically, a troublemaker control card since she effectively gives your TMs +2 power. And she helps a lot with ties too, since each tie gives you another +2. So she’s actually pretty good at it.

Though the problem is she doesn’t do terribly much against other control decks or combo decks, since they don’t care about your Troublemakers so much. And a powerful Mane is usually key in those matchups, so she’ll suffer a lot there.

But, eh. She’s still pretty solid. And gives Blue a reasonable control Mane option, which it was lacking before. Maybe not the best, but hardly bad.

And absolutely great in limited, heh.

Like CIci said, Rainbow prefers a control strategy, though she can fit any role, really. And more specifically, she prefers strategies with lots of Faceoffs!

If you wind up going control, you’ll want to add some troublemakers. And maybe cards like Gilda: Feather Ruffler.

But if going more aggroy, you might want to try cards that care about winning Faceoffs, like Scootaloo: Most Creative, or Storm of Justice!

Meanwhile Farm will prefer lots of epics and cards that flip you extra cards, like The Brave and the Bold or Rainbow’s Epiphany.

And of course cards like Showdowns or Heart’s Desire work for any strategy, really! After all, more faceoffs mean more opportunities to benefit from Dash’s ability!

Now for problems, you’ll probably want to start with something easy to confront. Which is going to be true for all seven Manes today, so I won’t bother repeating that, hehe.

As for the rest, go with stuff that helps you with faceoffs! Ready to Fight is a great option, for example.

Anyway, I guess I’d say, she’s solid. Not the best Blue Mane we’ve seen, but hardly the worst. And that’s fine.

Well, that’s enough about our favourite new Wonderbolt. How about Applejack: Tooled Up?

Heh, amusingly enough, AJ is in the exact same boat as Rainbow. At first glance looks like an aggro or farm Mane, but is actually best at control. Flipping extra cards is a great way to protect your TMs.

But also like Dash, while this works well against aggro and Farm, she’s not so great against control or combo. Which can be a liability in such matchups.

Though AJ has the disadvantage of only helping you out once a faceoff while Dash can help you multiple times. In fact if there are multiple faceoffs between your ready phases, AJ can only help once while Dash helps out in all of them. So honestly I feel she’s a bit worse.

Unless working with chaos effects, I guess.

Not that anypony ever uses chaos effects, hehe.

Again, Cici was right on the money with AJ in that she favors control, but can be used most other places. As such, you’re probably going to want to use similar cards regardless of which Mane you choose! Even similar problems, though you’ll probably want Orange ones instead of Blue.

The main difference, besides colour of course, is that instead of wanting cards that give you extra flips you’ll likely prefer chaos cards. Or cards that care about chaos being flipped, like Tempting Offer.

But whichever choice you go with, you’ll have a Mane that’s really good at winning Faceoffs, which can help you out a bunch!

So next up would be…

Sigh, Pinkie Pie: Cruise Director.

Is it too much to ask for a new Pink Mane that isn’t absolutely awful?

Cici!

What’s really annoying is there were no Pink Manes in either High Magic or Marks in Time despite plenty of ponies wanting a new Pink Mane that would be a reasonable alternative to Vinyl. Not necessarily better, just an alternative.

And Cruise Director is so close. If she were Main Phase timing instead of Faceoff timing, she’d actually see play in some decks. Vinyl would be better in most cases, but she’d at least see play. There are definitely decks that would benefit from getting a free friend every turn.

But Faceoff timing is a joke. She doesn’t help when opponents challenge your Troublemaker, she only provides one power for problem faceoffs and the friend gets sent home taking up space afterwards.

And if Pinkie herself is involved, you’re guaranteed to not want to use her, unlike Dash who’s used automatically or AJ who at least has the possibility of flipping higher than a 3.

It’s just… really disheartening. And it makes me think we’ll never see a good Pink Mane again simply because Vinyl is too good.

Awww, Cici. Maybe there will be a cool Pink Mane in Seaquestria?

Maybe… I’m not holding my breath, though.

Anyway, Pinkie kind of also prefers control, since that’s the best way to get lots of Faceoffs to make lots of friends. And like AJ and Dash, she’ll want to pack several troublemakers.

You’ll also want to include some cards that take advantage of you having a lot of extra friends. Like Belly Flop or Party Hard. And some Showdowns probably wouldn’t hurt either, being a good way to get a 1 power friend into play for 0 AT!

Though you won't have a built in way of making the showdown easier, so you’ll have to be a bit more cautious than if you’re using AJ or Dash!

As for problems… that’s a bit of a toughie. Nothing specifically supports her innate ability. So I guess you should just go with whatever problems you feel help your strategy the most.

Fortunately, Pink has no shortage of good problems, many of which apply to basically any strategy! So I’m sure you’ll have no problem building a problem deck, even without specific direction.

Let’s just move on…

Yes, let’s! Attention students, class is now in session with Princess Twilight Sparkle: Professor Sparkle!

So would that make her Princess Professor Sparkle or Professor Princess Sparkle?

Uh, I don’t think you use both titles together.

Yes, Cici, I was jo—

You probably use the higher title by default, which would be Princess in this case, and only use the lower title in settings where it’s more appropriate. Like the classroom.

Though I suppose it’d probably be fine to use the higher title everywhere? Since, well, that’s maximum respect, right?

Um, I think you’re over thinking it.

Anyway, tell us about the card!

Oh, right.

Well, Twilight here is kind of weird in that she’s the exact opposite of Dash and AJ. You might think at first that she’s a control Mane, and you’d be right for limited, but for constructed? She’s absolutely a farming Mane.

Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t work for control. In fact, she’s fine at it, provided you have a steady income of AT and some troublemakers.

But given enough time, an aggro or farm player might actually be able to break through, given enough power. And spending all that AT protecting your Troublemakers might just bankrupt you.

Not to mention she has a similar problem to Dash and AJ in that she oes absolutely nothing against control and combo.

But don’t forget, she can give troublemakers less power too. All the way down to 0 power. Which makes it really easy to beat them! All you need is someone to challenge the epic. Even a frightened friend stands a chance when fighting a 0 power troublemaker, after all.

That being said, she does have some major weaknesses. Not only do you need to devote a lot of your deck to troublemakers, you have to devote a fair bit of space to generating a lot of AT.

And that’s on top of ensuring you can actually confront a problem with Twilight to flip her, as without her ability to make troublemakers weaker, chances are you’re going to have some serious trouble.

But I guess that’s true for all of these Manes, really.

And of course you tend to be a turn or two slower to actually start farming than the Ambassadors of Loyalty or Honesty. Which can matter a lot against control or combo.

Anyway, overall I think she’s probably one of the stronger Manes from the set, but I’m not sold on her taking any major tournaments anytime soon. We’ll see, though. She definitely has potential.

Regardless of if you go the control route or the farm route, Professor Sparkle definitely wants you to have a troublemaker based strategy. So make sure to pack at least 9 to make the best usage of her ability, possibly more!

On top of that, like Cici said, you’ll want to make sure you have some ways to get some extra AT, since you’ll be dumping a lot into the professor’s ability.

Cards like Zecora: Brewing a Plan or anything with Prepared would be good options for controlly builds, while cards like Heart’s Desire or Spike, Take a Letter might be better for the farmers. Though you can probably mix and match to a degree.

As for problems, well, Purple has a ton of problems that care about troublemakers, and you’d likely do fine with any of those. Alternatively, you could try and choose some problems that will help you gain AT. Entrance Exam, for example, is basically a free AT every turn, which is pretty useful!

No matter how you build her, though, you’ll definitely be ready to teach your opponent an important lesson about the importance of troublemakers!

But it’s time for the princess to give up the stage to our next guest: Rarity: Fashion Mogul, who will be teaching us about all the latest trends and crazes!

This just in, hats are in this year!

I am pretty sure Rarity never said anything like that.

Seriously, Cici? You don’t think Rarity likes hats?

Uh wait, we’re still talking about the game, right?

What do you think?

Er, um, anyway…

Unlike the Manes we’ve talked about so far, Rarity definitely has an obvious play style. Namely control.

Which is why it’s such a shame she’s not that great at it.

Now, okay. She’s not awful at it. Removing a key friend from a faceoff can be a huge swing for sure. Removing a Night Glider: Overpowering or a Thunderlane from a faceoff is fantastic. But a lot of friends right now have powerful come into play effects, so you can’t rely just on this.

Add to this the fact that she’s restricted to one faceoff a turn, and that she does nothing to Manes, she’s basically only useful against aggro or friend-based farming. She may as well have not have text against Mane-based farming, control, and combo, which is really disappointing.

So if you’re fine with an effect that’s powerful against one type of archetype, and even then only if they’re not using too many come into play effects? She’s probably fine.

In fact, I definitely recommend her as a good introduction to control decks for newer players since she’s focused on just one thing, and that’s fine.

But other than that, I don’t recommend her at all. Which is a shame since White has been crying out for a good control Mane for a while now.

Since Rarity focuses a lot on the opponent starting faceoffs, she’s a perfect fit for Troublemaker control. Which means you should definitely make sure you pack a few!

On top of that, cards like Cold Wave can help you win faceoffs when Rarity’s innate ability isn’t enough, while stuff like Discord: Captain Wuzz or It’s Gonna Work can help you get back troublemakers the opponent may have actually managed to defeat.

And if you’re using a bunch of events to protect your troublemakers, you may want to consider Eff Stop to get them back. Cici says he’s the best control card in the game right now.

Well, he is! I don’t think you can play control competitively without him, to be honest. He’s insanely strong right now.

Hehe, that may be an exaggeration. But he definitely has been cropping up in a lot of decklists recently. Probably for good reason!

As for problems, stuff like Fear Itself can help out a lot at denying the opponent the ability to confront problems even if they do defeat your troublemakers. And since you’re preventing your opponent from scoring anyway, why not toss in Blackmail? Nothing quite like free points!

Ugh. As an aggro player, I hate that problem so much. Sometimes it’s right to just not try and confront a problem this turn, but Blackmail makes you try so much harder than you might otherwise. It’s so annoying to have a clock ticking down like that.

Fortunately, Dilemmas help a lot with that problem.

They sure do!

Well, that just about covers Rarity. Let’s move on to Fluttershy: Nurturing Nature!

Absolutely! This is my favourite Mane of the set!

Paying 0 AT to put 3 or more power at a problem is fantastic. It’s been a staple of Princess Luna: Dream Warrior for over a year now for good reason.

Now, that being said, Dream Warrior is still generally better at this. Since Hasty Friends let her pull of DFOs she wouldn’t be able to otherwise, or join in the fight of a TM she otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. But Fluttershy is not without her advantages either.

For one thing, if the problem requires only as much power to confront as she has power, you don’t need to spend anything at all, while you still need to actually play a friend to move Luna. So there are cases where you can actually save AT.

And, well, the other advantage is that she’s Yellow. Which means she has a different skill set to draw upon than Dream Warrior does. Like Bunyip, who I put on my top 10 list for the set!

Unfortunately, that’s also a weakness. Yellow aggro certainly isn’t awful right now or anything but it feels a lot weaker than Blue or Pink at the moment, as it just doesn’t have some of the same tools…

But that’s not the point.

The point is she has a ton of potential. And I fully expect her to become a fantastic Mane if she can get the proper support. A lot of ponies have been overlooking her in favor of Thorax, but I think she’s the true winner here. Maybe not this set, but next set?

Well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her performing exceptionally well.

Real shame about that flip condition. But fortunately, Yellow has tons of ways to circumvent troublemakers.

Of course, her other major downside is she doesn’t provide that power to faceoffs. Which makes DFOs a bit riskier. But that can be worked around in several other ways, like having high powered friends or using cards like Mob Mentality to reduce the opponent’s flips.

Basically there are solutions if you’re creative enough, and it’s usually a minor problem anyway as usually you have a reasonable advantage when starting a DFO anyway, so 3 less power won’t always matter.

Nurturing Nature, if you couldn’t guess by Cici’s undying love for her, prefers an aggro strategy. She wants to be confronting a problem every single turn, and possibly more!

As such, you’ll mostly want cards that help you confront. Be it stuff like Zephyr Breeze: Quitter, who has a great power to AT ratio, or cards like Conductor’s Baton, which give you lots of power. Confronting is the name of the game.

Though the real tech is to run stuff that makes it easy for Fluttershy to confront by herself. Double Diamond: Second in Command can power up your Mane permanently if you can discard him. And cards like Coloratura: Simply Rara can make big problems much more manageable for Fluttershy.

You’ll probably also want to include some measures to be able to confront even if your opponent is running interference. Be they Dilemmas, which Fluttershy is pretty good at confronting, or just stuff to get rid of the TM, like Turning Point or Battlesnakes.

As for problems? You probably want stuff that’s easy to confront. Concerning Cutie Mark is confrontable by herself, for example. And Equal or Else is pretty close!

If playing with two colours, try not to use problems with a Yellow req higher than 3, though, since this way you can confront with Fluttershy + any of your other friends, not just the Yellow ones.

And I guess with that, we’ve come to the last Mane for the day, Thorax: The Changed Changeling.

He’s… okay.

Hehe, you were pretty excited for him when you first saw him! You were planning lots of decks around him, as I recall.

Yeah. I definitely wanted him to work well. And, well, he kinda does. But the more I play with him and the more I play with Fluttershy, he just feels kind of lackluster in comparison.

On the one hoof, you can get him to huge power levels. Really big, really fast, thanks to cards like Rise and Shine or Furball that make multiple Friends for cheap. But on the other hoof, you still need to actually move him to a problem to do anything. And he can be disrupted really easily.

There are a lot of ways to make friends leave play, nowadays.

Still, he’s definitely not bad. And maybe I just haven’t found the right spot for him yet. Large Manes like Maud Pie: Rockin’ and Applejack: Ambassador of Honesty have historically done really well in the past. So there’s still potential for him to shine. But right now I’d just rather use another Mane.

Thorax is a bit unusual as he’s equally suited to both aggro strategies and farming ones, due to the fact that he can get so big.

Either way, you’ll want to make lots and lots of Friends!

A great way to do that if going the farming route is to use Princess Celestia: Raptor Raiser, who can provide you with a bajillion friends for just 3 AT!

Speaking of farming, if you do go that route you’ll probably want to prefer non-Villain epics to villainous ones, just because they won’t scare your tokens. This can make them a bit more difficult to actually farm, but keeping Thorax as big as possible is usually worth it.

Though don’t worry too hard if you do go with Villains. Since frightened friends still powerup Thorax! They may not have any power right now, but Thorax looks at printed power, which doesn’t change at all.

Speaking of which, this means you can go all out on power buffs too without worrying about decreasing Thorax’s power. Conductor’s Baton is going to be as great for Thorax as it is for Fluttershy, for example, as will other cards that benefit from you having swarms of Friends, like Changeling Citizens.

Oh, and don’t forget Zipporwhill: Pet Collector. Not only does she give you 3 Friends in one card, thus powering up Thorax 3 times, she also lets you keep all those Critters at home to power him up even if you ahve way more than 5 Friends!

Who knew that Changelings and puppies could get along so well?

As for your problems, feel free to use larger problems than you might be inclined to normally. Most Yellow decks probably wouldn’t want anything to do with Too Many Fluttershys’ 8 confront requirement, but Thorax is completely fine with it.

And large problems for you probably also mean large for the opponent, so not only are you not being hampered by it, but your opponent might not be able to DFO as efficiently as they’d like!

And that’s it, I guess. All seven Manes from Defenders of Equestria. Kind of a mixed bag, but Manes usually are.

Still, I think I’m mostly fine with them. None of them are truly busted, like we’ve seen in the past, but most of them are still fine.

Except for Pinkie.

Well, I still like using her. I can never have enough Friends!

Do you mean in the game or in real life?

Both!

Heh, yeah, I should have known that.

Well, guess that’s it for now! Bye everypony! See you all at Nationals!

Yeah! I hope you all show up! It’ll be great.

By the way, nice fakeout earlier. You actually had me thinking you weren’t looking forward to Nationals for a moment there.

Thanks. I practiced keeping a straight face in the mirror for hours.

But yeah, I am crazy excited! There’s going to be so many awesome ponies competing this year, and I think I’m in a great position to take the championship this time! I’ve put in so much time playtesting, and I think I’ve got some great tech. We’ll see what happens, though.

You can do it, Cici! You’re bound to win one of these years.

Don’t I know it.

Of course, I may just nab that title away from you if you don’t watch out. There we’ll be in the finals, staring each other down, knowing only one of us can walk away from the battlefield triumphant.

It’ll be the most epic game ever seen at Nationals ever!

Heh, I’m looking forward to it.

Course, that’ll probably never happen since I’m bringing my hat deck, hehe.

You goof. You’d do way better if you brought one of the decks I made.

Oh, I know! But I like playing hats at Nationals. It’s fun!

Yeah. It just wouldn’t be Equestrian Nationals without Flitter playing hats.

Awww, you big softie. I always knew you secretly liked my Hats deck!

Eh. It’s not for me, but…

Well, you just wouldn’t be Flitter if you didn’t take every opportunity possible to run your hat deck.

Nope!

And that’s the Flitter who’s been my best friend all this time.

Awww, Cici. You’re my bestie too.

Anyway, once Cloudchaser starts paying me compliments for playing Hats, I think that means we’ve rambled on long enough. Bye everypony!

Later!

[batvish-blog]

Top 10 Lingerie Gifting Ideas

Valentine’s Day is looming over your head and you are fighting against time to plan the perfect day and buy the most heartwarming gift. This is the day when you will score all of your brownie points and earn forgiveness for every stupid thing you have done in the past few days. Naturally, the day has to be perfect. A big contributor to a perfect Valentine’s Day is Valentine’s day gift. This gift should be sweet, thoughtful and symbolise your relationship. Basically, it has to make her feel like the most beautiful and special girl in the world. Finding a gift that fulfils all of these criteria is hard. But there is one gift to beat all other gifts- lingerie. If you buy her the right lingerie, it will make her feel bold, sexy and beautiful and if you play your cards right you might even get to see it on her at the end of the night! It is a win-win. If you don’t subscribe to the idea of Valentine’s day and instead celebrate the power and beauty of female friendships through Galentine’s Day, then lingerie is the perfect gift too. A gorgeous lingerie piece can make your friend feel amazing and confident on even the most ordinary day. Knowing the value of lingerie as gifts, we have curated a list of 10 gorgeous lingerie pieces that will definitely become your favourite girl’s new favourite underpinnings.

Fatal Attraction (Lingerie Accessories):

1. Chic and Maiden set:

This three-piece lingerie set is the embodiment of sweet and sexy. This fatally seductive combo has a lace detailed bra and panty with a matching cheeky garter belt. The frill and lace will make her feel sweet and delicate while the beautiful black colour will get her inner seductress out.  It is a unique set that can be mix and matched with other pieces because of its versatile design. If you want your gift to make her swoon and blush a bright red, this is the perfect gift that you can give her.

Sugar and Spice and everything nice (Sleepwear):

This amazing collection of sleepwear has something for everyone. Sheer babydoll dresses for girls wanting to live up to their audacious personalities, satin silky goodness for ladies who prefer to lie in the lap of luxury and comfort in the night.

1. Firewalk: This stunningly designed sheer floral lace chemise is bound to make any girl feel like a seductress straight out of a Bond movie. This little black chemise features an intricate floral lace in the front, dainty little triangular sheer cups with vertical centre seams for shape. The V-neck with scallop trim and lace edges is designed to look steamy. The soft and sheer material is lightweight, feels luxurious and hugs your body like a dream. In this little black chemise, your girl is going to look like a gorgeous seductress and you are definitely going to drool at the sight of her.

2. Sleep in Shape:

Is that a goddess or is that a girl in this beautiful floral lace detailed sleepwear? This sexy black chemise features 3/4th push-up cups with lace embellished body that is going to win her heart. The bonus is that it comes with an adjustable strap and a matching G-string. This also the perfect gift for your fave gal pal, especially if it is a bachelorette gift! This chemise will fortify your friendship by showing her that you love and celebrate her bold, confident and sexy side. If the phrase, “oh la la” was turned into sleepwear- this sexy black chemise would be that sleepwear!

3. Freefall:

This little black babydoll is one for the sexy sleepwear hall of fame because it will definitely sweep her and you off your feet. It has all the ingredients for the recipe of the ultimate sexy goddess- sheer fabric, frill detailing in the straps, cheeky front knot which is the gateway to a sweeping opening and a G-string. This babydoll leaves nothing to the imagination. It is the perfect gift if you want your Valentine’s day to end with a steamy night. This jaw-dropping, heart-stopping babydoll is definitely going to make your girl look like “babydoll sohne di”.

Guilty Pleasures:

If you are thinking about something totally naughty then we have some treats lined up for you. This outrageously sexy collection of bras make for the perfect cheeky gift. She is going to look so gorgeous in these bras, you won’t know if its a gift for her or yourself. 1. Kiss Me:

This beautiful, lacey bralette is the perfect addition to any lingerie collection. The bralette has a heat-set pleats design on the straps with a longline silhouette adds more coverage while the delicate straps make it subtly sexy. The bralette ends in a high-low lacey frills pattern that oozes sexiness. Additionally, the bra is wired and padded with level 1 push-up cups to give the cleavage a flattering lift. This cute bralette walks the fine line between elegance and sexy and will make your special girl feel like a million bucks.

2. Tweet:

This bra doubles up as a shapewear and is guaranteed to give you your ideal shape. This balconette style strapless shapewear comes with padded demi cups and underwired detail that provides full bust contour and support. This gorgeous shapewear comes with design features like the adjustable shoulder straps with removable option for multiple wearing choices. The intensely rigid fabric guarantees excellent contouring while also being comfortable and allowing you to breathe. This fabulous and sexy, bra cum shapewear is definitely is the key to winning her heart and gaining all the brownie points. Style this with a jacket and fitted jeans and your favourite boots, and get that celeb look in no time!

3. Lady Bug:

This magical black bra will transport you right back into the era of princesses and fairies. This chic plunge bra will be a great statement piece in your lingerie drawer. This pretty black number features pretty little lace frills along with straps that give this piece a dainty look. Your special lady can pair The wide-set straps and the plunging neckline with low cut dresses and blow your mind. This bra comes with padded, wired cups that guarantee great contouring, coverage and support, throughout the day. The pretty lace between the cups ties the whole look together and is like a gift waiting for you to open it.

4. Mellow:

Gift your Valentine’s a bra that comes with multiple styling options with this chic, strappy multiway bra. Designed with a perfect match of function, comfort and beauty, this chic lace overlay, the strappy bra will give you a great shape and comfort. The cups are wired and padded in a flattering balconette shape and come adorned with scalloped lace. This bra comes with the option of removable straps so that you can style it with many different clothes like a strapless, crossed back, halter or even one-shoulder style! With so many options and choices, your lady love is bound to rock any outfit that she decides to wear.

5. Swank:

This sensuous and sinfully beautiful stretch floral bra is bound to make your special lady feel like a ravishing Queen. The bra is designed with triangle-shaped, transparent lace cups and features a plunging neckline with scalloped lace edges. The bra cups also have underwire detail and seam along the bottom, to offer guaranteed support and hold. For the annoying issue that shoulder straps digging into your skin is, this bra has wide, flat and comfortable shoulder straps that can be adjusted with sliders. Made from stretchable, breathable soft lace, this bra is sure to make your girl feel luxurious and comfortable and she will definitely thank you for it.

6. Lace detailed Bodysuit:

This delicate bodysuit with scalloped edges, lace detailing and a deep V-neck halter is super cute, and it’s perfect for your girl if she likes surprising strappy back details. This extremely chic white bodysuit can be paired with blue ripped denim for a stunning day look or even with a pencil skirt for more elegant, evening attire. The bodysuit oozes versatility and you can pair it with anything to create a gorgeous ensemble. Your lady love will fall in love at first sight with this cute bodysuit and fall in love with you all over again for gifting her this treasure.

That concludes the list of gorgeous lingerie gifting ideas that will blow the mind of your Valentine’s. This lingerie pieces will be perfect additions to any and every wardrobe and are in essence statement pieces that are a definite must-have. So this Valentine’s day gift your lady or friend or even yourself these sweet and sexy pieces that will make your girl/your friend/yourself feel sexy, confident and bold. Happy Shopping!

[junker-town]

2017-2018 MLB free agent rankings

Which players are the class of the offseason? This ranking is empirically correct, so we’ll do the thinking for you.

It’s that time of year again, when the stupid awards are over, and the hot stove is getting hotter. Mmm, so hot. This might be the best part of the offseason, and the only thing you have to do is forget just how wretched most of this free agent class is.

Well, maybe that’s too harsh. There are useful players to be found in the 2017-2018 MLB free agent bonanza this offseason. Some of the players who don’t make this top-40 list will play a significant role for a team next year, and they’ll be regarded as the steals of the winter. There just aren’t a lot of premium players. If your team is looking to slap the offseason upside the head with an oar, there just aren’t that many options.

This is a trip to the hardware store, then. There are no rides. There are no cotton candy machines. There are clamps. Mostly clamps. Maybe a few wood screws.

Okay, maybe there are a couple of cotton candy machines. Like ...

1. Shohei Ohtani - RHP, 1B, RF, DH, QB, PF, G

The most perfect free agent possible, really. He can hit, he can pitch, and he isn’t going to cost your favorite team more than Joe Smith. That’s not a figure of speech. He’ll be less expensive than the actual Joe Smith.

He just needs to choose your favorite team. His reasoning might have to do with his future contract. It might have to do with a need for privacy. It might have to do for a desire for the spotlight. It might be based entirely on FiveThirtyEight’s burrito rankings (please, oh please).

There are still some bureaucratic hurdles with the posting system, specifically some rollbacks that would allow Ohtani’s old team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, to make more money for parting with their young superstar, but he’s almost certainly coming over. And he’s easily the best free agent of this class, if not his generation.

2. J.D. Martinez - OF

He’s been really, really good for four years now. The slugging percentage and general power output were absurd last year, but he’s always had a tantalizing combination of power and bat control — the answer to what would happen if Chris Davis could hit .300.

His defense ranges from iffy to incredibly iffy, regardless of what Scott Boras will have you believe, so there are risks with a five- or six-year deal. This is the best hitter on the market, though, and that was probably true before he ascended into the ionosphere with the Diamondbacks.

3. Yu Darvish - SP

The best starter on the market, as expected. Just, uh, ignore the part where he probably single-handedly cost his last team the World Series. It was a blip! Weird things happen when you mix slick balls with small samples. That goes without saying.

Because it’s 2017, not 1987, I’m pretty sure that teams will pay Darvish for the 135 games he pitched before the World Series, not the last two games he pitched. While his track record is inconsistent (just 200 IP in one season, and an ERA that’s gone up in each of the last four seasons), he’s still near the top of any rotation in baseball.

4. Jake Arrieta - SP

For four straight seasons, Arrieta was one of the hardest pitchers to hit in baseball. He led the NL in hits-per-nine in both 2015 and 2016, showing off a repeatable skill that’s hard to find and harder to maintain.

His velocity is down two ticks, though, so I’m going to believe that the bump in hits allowed last season has to do with hitters having extra milliseconds to make better contact. If you’re paying for Arrieta, pay for what he did last year, and then expect it to get slowly worse. That is a fine addition to any major league roster. If you’re paying for what he did in the seasons before that, good luck.

5. Eric Hosmer - 1B

He’s a fine first baseman. Stays healthy, can take a walk. There are some defensive metrics that hate him, but he passes the eyeball test. The good news about him is that he’s just 28, which is relatively young for a free agent.

He’s basically J.T. Snow, though. I lived through the career of J.T. Snow. There were some fine moments, and I will remember him fondly. But I wouldn’t remember him quite as fondly if he made the late-’90s equivalent of what Hosmer might get in this market, which is upward of $100 million. You enjoy players like Hosmer when he has a good team around him. You enjoy them less when they’re your free agent centerpiece.

6. Mike Moustakas - 3B

The sixth-best free agent? We’ve reached something of a tipping point, and I just started.

Moustakas’s career on-base percentage is .305. His glove is pretty okay. If you’re going to start there, you’re going to need the player to hit 38 home runs to have a ton of value. Luckily for him (and Boras), that’s exactly what happened, so there will be a team that will overpay.

This is exactly the kind of free agent that most teams should avoid, though. In his best-case scenario, last year, he walloped nearly 40 dingers and was still worth roughly two wins above replacement. What happens when the baseballs go back to normal? What happens when his fast-twitch reflexes fade, and he needs to swing at better pitches? I can see this one getting ugly fast, so the team that gets him had better be in ultra-win-now mode and have the money to brush financial mistakes off easily after a couple years of solid production.

He’s the Eric Hosmer of third basemen, really.

7. Lorenzo Cain - CF

Probably a better player than either of the other two Royals, but I would trust the power and patience to age better for the previous two when compared to Cain’s speed-and-defense combo.

For next year and maybe 2019, give me Cain, though. His 2017 season wasn’t much different than the year he had in 2015, when he finished third in the AL MVP voting, after all. I might come back in an hour and put him ahead of his former teammates.

8. Lance Lynn - SP

Healthy and able to make every start last year, Lynn is a fine choice for a team wanting to bolster their rotation while also planning to recreate the Dodgers’ 2017 postseason strategy. For the first two times through the order, Lynn is a solid fastball monster with the ability to miss bats. He used to keep the ball in the park, too, but he was hit as hard by the juiced baseballs as anyone.

If you believe that the home runs were a blip? Give him money. He’ll be cheaper than Arrieta and roughly as valuable. If you think that the home runs are here to stay? Be wary of that 4.82 FIP he posted last year, which makes his modest 3.43 ERA seem incredibly lucky.

9. Carlos Santana - 1B

That’s seven straight seasons with at least 18 homers and 600 plate appearances or more, which seems like something most teams can use, and that’s before you get to him being a switch-hitter with a .365 career on-base percentage.

He’s 32, though, and limited to first base or DH, if you ignore those bizarre attempts to put him at third or the outfield. Still, it would make sense to pay him half as much as Hosmer, considering he’s had the typical good Hosmer season in seven out of the last eight years.

10. Alex Cobb - RHP

The American League Lance Lynn, right down to the Tommy John surgery. Like Lynn, I’d rather pay Cobb for three years than most of these pitchers for five, but there’s also a chance that teams will pay all of these guys for five years, so I don’t know.

While it’s a shame that Cobb blew out as arm right as he looked like one of the brightest young starters in the league, he at least timed his rebound well. He allowed twice as many homers as he did in his last full healthy season, but so did everyone else, really.

11. Wade Davis - RP

If you’re looking for a dominant closer to ape what Andrew Miller and Kenley Jansen have done in recent postseasons, don’t look at Davis. Just ask the Cubs. This isn’t a knock on Davis, who gave the Cubs nearly everything they should have expected, but just a reminder that not every closer is built to hit the month of wildly intense bonus baseball and throw twice as often for twice as long.

Davis is a fine closer. Brilliant at times if you let him pitch just one inning. Expect that, and you’ll be satisfied.

12. Greg Holland, RP

Not to be cynical or rude, but when a pitcher coming back from Tommy John has the first-half/second-half splits that Holland did, you should be very, very, very, very skeptical about giving him tens of millions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go for another one-year deal, really. There are innocent explanations for his second-half decline (general fatigue that is unlikely to carry over into 2018), and I’d prefer to believe those.

What if that pitcher from the first half isn’t coming back, though? It has to be a consideration, at least.

13. Zack Cozart, SS

I laughed at the idea that Daniel Murphy was somehow Rod Carew now. Now Daniel Murphy laughs at me. I’ve already apologized, but he keeps laughing, and it makes me feel worse.

Cozart might be a similar story. He’s always been one of the more underrated defenders in baseball, and prior to this season, he started hitting just enough to take seriously. No one expected him to put up a 933 OPS when he was 31, though. That’s just silly.

He’ll either be the best bargain on the market when he continues to hit like this, or he’ll be overpaid based on his potential to do that.

14. Todd Frazier, 3B

He’s averaged 33 home runs over the last four years, and the only thing keeping him this far below Moustakas is his age. Otherwise, they’re very similar players, with the main difference being that Frazier has done this a lot more often.

15. Logan Morrison, 1B

He went from someone who was practically guaranteed to be a non-roster invitee into a proven commodity. Morrison hit 38 homers in 601 plate appearances, which is about 1,000 plate appearances sooner than it usually takes him to hit that many. He’ll be 30, and his defense has never been exciting, but it would make sense for a lefty-friendly team like the Yankees or Red Sox to stop here first before committing $130 million on Eric Hosmer.

I wasn’t expecting this entire ranking to be a referendum on how much I’m going to hate the Hosmer and Moustakas contracts, but here we are.

16. Neil Walker, 2B

Surprisingly good! Year after year! I almost left him off the list entirely, but he kept sneaking up. He’s remarkably consistent, too, putting up an OPS between 750 and 810 every single freaking season, with competent-to-okay defense and double-digit home runs.

Walker has missed more than 50 games in each of the last two seasons, though, so it’s not all good news. Still, for the rare teams that are looking for a second baseman, they could (and probably will) do far worse than a reasonable contract here.

17. Tony Watson, RP

I had him ranked way too low, which means that I have to manually go back and change the numbers of everyone below him, and I’m mad at him right now. Still, he’s been a consistent left-handed presence in the late innings for years, and he’s the class of the late-inning lefties.

Watson was miscast as a closer, but he’s also miscast as a LOOGY, holding right-handed hitters to a sub-.300 OBP over his career.

18. Mike Minor, RP

What a fantastic renaissance season from a pitcher who hadn’t thrown a pitch since 2014. Durability has to be a concern, but Minor was death on lefties and hard on righties. There will be a lot of teams who think his durability concerns might be a feature, not a bug, if they can get him on a shorter contract because of them.

19. Brandon Morrow, RP

What a fantastic renaissance season from a pitcher who hadn’t thrown a full season since 2012. Durability has to be a concern, but Morrow was death on lefties and hard on righties. There will be a lot of teams who think his durability concerns might be a feature, not a bug, if they can get him on a shorter contract because of them.

(And I wouldn’t think that Morrow’s heavy use in the 2017 postseason will hurt his value that much. He looked outstanding for most of October.)

20. Anthony Swarzak, RP

I started this gig in 2011, and I’d like to think that I’ve written about just about every player since then. But this might be the first time I’ve ever written the name “Anthony Swarzak.” He was the most forgettable pitcher in baseball, every single year. There’s a plaque that goes with that, but they keep forgetting to send it to him.

Swarzak found his strikeout pitch, though. He actually found it in 2015, but this is the year he put it all together. You might disagree and prefer some of the relievers below him on this list, but I’m bullish on this newfound control-minded whiff monster. He’ll help build the copycat bullpen that one of these division winners is going to spend on.

21. CC Sabathia, SP

Still got it. He’s 37 and doesn’t like to run off the mound if he can help it, but he’s had two valuable seasons in a row, and he’s not likely to need a multi-year deal. The Yankees would be lucky to get him back, but there have to be a lot of teams interested in his 150-160 innings of generally solid pitching.

22. Tyler Chatwood, SP

His career ERA is 4.31, which is Pretty Okay. His FIP is 4.58, which suggests that he’s been helped by the brilliant Rockies infields of recent vintage. But his ERA+ is 105, which reminds you that, oh, yeah, Coors Field still exists.

Chatwood hasn’t thrown more than 158 innings in his career, and durability is a concern even more than it is with Lynn and Cobb. But how good can he be when he’s out of Coors? Maybe the walk rate will drop when he’s not worried about every single pop fly drifting out of right-center.

23. Jay Bruce, OF

Over the last four years, Bruce has put up a .237/.303/.457 line, and it’s not like is defense is anything other than passable, at best. He’ll be 31 next year. Please tell me that you see the red flags, too.

And yet he’ll get something like $40 million. He is a left-handed Ryan Ludwick, and there’s going to be a team that stumbles into the viper pit. Compare his numbers with Lucas Duda, then write a letter to your team! This isn’t 1983, and 36 homers aren’t what they used to be. He’s a good guy, lovely in the clubhouse, but his replacement-level play from 2014 through 2016 should really make teams think harder.

Dinger fever has no cure, though. I can respect that.

24. Pat Neshek, RP

He’s still something of a ROOGY, but those concerns are overstated. He can still face a lefty if you need him to, and he’s been quietly excellent for years now. Your bullpen can use more funk. All of them can.

25. Jake McGee, RP

He has a longer track record than Minor, but I’m not immune to recency bias, and even though he was better in 2017 than the previous year, he still never came close to his Rays peak with the Rockies.

On the other hand, he was on the Rockies, which seems tough. Take a moment to go back and remember just how dominant he was in his last two seasons with the Rays, and adjust him accordingly.

26. Addison Reed, RP

He would rank much higher, but he gave up 11 dingers. That is far, far too many for a late-inning reliever. Teams don’t need that kind of heartbreak, even if it’s cut with some excellent pitching in the interim.

Plus, he gets a Gin Blossoms song stuck in my head every time, and I will never forgive him for that.

27. Brandon Kintzler, RP

Ah, we’re deep into the funky relievers now. Brad Ziegler proved that funky can work for right-handed relievers for several years at a time, so don’t mind the below-average strikeout rate too much.

Mind it a little, though. And hope that your team has the right kind of defense if they spend money on Kintzler.

28. Steve Cishek, RP

Funky relievers! I would love to see a team swoop in and grab Neshek, Kintzler, and Cishek at the same time and build the entire bullpen out of funk. Just scour the Earth for all the sheks and kintzes, really.

Take the Neshek capsule and adjust downward for reliability, and you have Cishek, who would be a quality addition to most bullpens.

29. Jhoulys Chacin, SP

Ah, yes, the fourth-most valuable starting pitcher in free agency according to Baseball-Reference’s WAR (tied with Lance Lynn), so look here if you want a bargain. Don’t ask who no. 1 or 2 are. You’ll get to them soon enough.

Even if that seems a little unrealistic when it comes to what to expect from Chacin next year, it’s worth noting that he did have a solid year for the Padres, and it’s not like he’s without excellent stuff. He’s been a pick to break out since his outstanding year for the Rockies in 2013, and that’s only if you considered his 6 WAR season back then something that wasn’t a breakout season.

He’s probably a one-year bargain for someone.

30. Jonathan Lucroy, C

He was briefly one of the most valuable players in baseball, and while the Brewers cashed in on that value both on and off the field, Lucroy is stuck in the land of short-term deals. He could have been a $100 million player with better timing, which seems unfair when you think about some of the players on this list who will get serious money.

Considering his play in Colorado (.310/.429/.437 in 175 PA), I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s invited back. Even though he isn’t an All-Star anymore, he’s still better than most of his peers. That should count for something.

31. Welington Castillo, C

I still find it amusing that the Mariners — who have averaged a .100/.101/.102 line from their catchers over the last decade — had Castillo for two weeks before catapulting him into the desert. He can hit quite a bit for a catcher, and that’s something that will intrigue a dozen teams or two.

He’s not much of a framer or defender, though, so don’t expect the full package. But as an à la carte deal, it’s a pretty good one.

32. Carlos Gomez, OF

This should have been the year that Gomez got his nine-figure payday, but it’s like A. Bartlett Giamatti said, “The Milwaukee Brewers will suck the life force out of you and everybody you love.” Look it up.

Anyway, Gomez is a reasonable defender in center, and he looks a lot better offensively if you pretend that he’s a random player who wasn’t supposed to do much instead of an indie-label Yasiel Puig who used to do everything. It’s all about managing expectations.

33. Andrew Cashner, SP

Here is the top free agent starter by Baseball-Reference’s WAR!

...

Please clap.

...

Okay, I don’t get it either, but Cashner turned into Kirk Rueter with worse command, and it worked? I’ve stared at his Baseball-Reference page for an hour now, and I’m not closer to understanding it than I was at the start. Please appreciate this list of right-handed pitchers with low strikeouts, high walks, and above-average run prevention. Jason Marquis! Miguel Batista! Albie Lopez!

And this tall dude who throws in the mid--90s and could always strike people out before. I know he mixed in a cutter, so it’s possible that the Rangers found the secret to success. I would trust the FIP more than the ERA here, though.

34. Jason Vargas, SP

Here is the second-best free agent starter by Baseball-Reference’s WAR (tied with Yu Darvish)! Led the American League in wins and didn’t get a single Cy Young vote. Shameful.

Unlike Cashner, Vargas had his unlikely success in a very on-brand way, though. He was just 50 percent more vargasy. On a short-term deal, he’s similar to R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon last year, and he’ll probably work out as well as one of them.

35. Miles Mikolas, SP

Wild card! He’s following the Colby Lewis path, right down to the part where some poor overworked coach in Japan had to rebuild him from scratch and undo whatever in the hell the Rangers did to screw him up in the first place.

No, I know that’s not fair. But it is amusing to me. Mikolas turned into a bat-missing talent in a league that is known for appreciating the art of contact, and he did it while keeping his walk rate microscopic (2.25 ERA in 188 IP, with 187 K and 23 BB). Lewis’s success in his return to MLB probably made Mikolas an extra couple million. What kind of gift basket do you send over for that?

I would like to order a $25,000 gift basket, please. Yes, yes. Right. Yeah, at least 30 pistachios.

36. Lucas Duda, 1B

Assignment: Write what he’s done each year (four seasons total) on a separate piece of paper. Do the same for Jay Bruce. Put them into a hat, and draw them out. Pretend this is the new career sequence for both of them. Is Bruce going to get $50 million with this new, reordered career? Is Duda going to have to settle for a one-year deal?

The difference, of course, is that one can play the outfield and the other can’t. But as hitters, the only difference is timing. Bruce has it. Duda does not. Do not. Duda do not. Dudon’t. I’m still workshopping this.

37. Carlos Gonzalez, OF

Perhaps my favorite Carlos Gonzalez fun fact is that he’s only 32. It feels like he’s the same age as Matt Holliday instead of the prospect who was traded for Matt Holliday, but he’s actually the same age as Adam Jones.

Keep that in mind, then remember that he had a 114 OPS+ and played in 150 games or more in the previous two seasons. He was good as recently as 2016, and he’s only 32. Don’t just look at his home/road splits and call it a day, because the effects of Coors Field aren’t as simple as that. Accept his warts (platooning is a must) and see if he’s that rare combination of a name-brand player and a short-term bargain.

38. Bryan Shaw, RP

He’s far more boring than all of the other right-handed relievers on this list, but he might be better. More consistent, at least. He looks like a pitcher who was on the original Rays roster and just keeps plugging away, year after year. He’s led the league in appearances in three out of the last four years, which is either a red flag or something that goes on the brochure.

Shaw had the highest ERA of his career, while having the lowest FIP. That’s more than a little odd, but it’s because he allowed a career high in runs while preventing home runs better than he has since 2013. He’ll be just 30, so unless the mileage worries you, he might offer more cost certainly than some of the relievers ranked much higher.

39. Jarrod Dyson, OF

He won’t hit. His career OBP is .325, and it was .324 this year. He’s 33, so that’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.

But he can run, and maaaaaan, can he field. He won’t get a long-term deal, which should probably make him more attractive to everyone. Who can use a lefty-hitting fourth outfielder who can field like a Gold Glover and steal bases when he needs to? Everyone. Everyone can.

40. Yonder Alonso, 1B

Pay for the 774 OPS from the second half. Secretly hope for the 866 OPS on the season. Alonso will be 31 next year, and considering this is the first time he reached double digits in home runs — even Omar Vizquel did that once! — it’s okay to be skeptical.

Ask yourself, though, if you would rather have Alonso and an extra $100 million to spend, or if you’d rather have Hosmer. I know which one I would choose. Promise to come back here in a year and laugh at me if I’m wrong?

Look at the list from last year. Such bad takes all over the place. I’ll stand by the last ranking, though:

40. Edinson Volquez or Seth Smith or Joaquin Benoit or Sergio Romo or Mark Reynolds or Brandon Moss or Santiago Casilla or David Hernandez or Jason Grilli or Fernando Rodney or Adam Lind or Rajai Davis or Angel Pagan or Jon Jay or Pedro Alvarez or Mitch Moreland or Aaron Hill or Logan Morrison or Jon Niese or ...

Seems like a jumble of uninspiring names, except you know one of those players up there will have an exceptional year on the cheap ...

The answer was Logan Morrison. Logan Morrison. Someone not on this list will do the same next year. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that we know this.

[allcheatscodes]

tony hawks pro skater 3 gamecube

http://allcheatscodes.com/tony-hawks-pro-skater-3-gamecube/

tony hawks pro skater 3 gamecube

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 cheats & more for GameCube (GameCube)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Get the updated and latest Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, guides, hints, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for GameCube (GameCube). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the GameCube cheats we have available for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.

Check PlayStation cheats for this game

Check PlayStation 2 cheats for this game

Check Xbox cheats for this game

Check Game Boy cheats for this game

Check Game Boy Advance cheats for this game

Genre: Sports, Skateboarding Developer: Neversoft Entertainment Publisher: Activision ESRB Rating: Teen Release Date: November 15, 2001

Hints

What Is Special About Wolverine

Collects “Mutation Points” instead of “Stat Points.” He makes the Rasta guy want to fight, although it does look more like a dance. Also the photographer says “Hey Wolverine” before his other lines.

Cruise Ship Level

Get any medal in all three competition levels.

Play As Wolverine

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions two times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Super Stats

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions fourteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Get The Thin Man’s Key

In the Suburbia level you have to help the thin man and he keeps telling you to find his key. This is a trick to make you look for a key, but it is actually an axe. To get it skate over to the construction site and grind the rail on the right. You now have the thin man’s key.

Railing

Get really good at grinding the rails – it comes in incredibly helpful in a few places. It merely takes a bit of fine tuning with the analog stick. If you are having trouble getting past the first competition – Rio – you can grind your way all the way around the course. Just jump from section to section and this will incredibly multiply your points and have the judges give you scores in the 90’s. Its a guaranteed 1st place after a few tries.In the airport – jump through the X-ray machine and you’ll come down to two escalators (the two that you need to jump over for a goal). You can go around and around on the rails here easily getting 500,000 – 1 million point combos which will kill even the sick score.

Deadly Demoness

In Canada, play as Demoness. You know where you get Chuck unstuck and all of the guys hang around? Well, skate over there. Get Chuck unstuck and then run into the other guys. They drop dead, or unconcious, if you prefer. They get up after twenty-minutes. (Yes, I timed it!)

Tokyo Secret Place!!!

First, make sure you have Tokyo unlocked. Also make sure you have full stats or cheats with super stats, perfect grind and always special. Start a Free Skate, and go to Tokyo. When you start, look to your right. Stay along the right hand side until you get to the bowl with the pink coping (rail around the top.) OK: follow me very carefully; stop when you get to the small ramp in the middle of the EDGE of the bowl. It is rounded, and about 1/2 the height of the bowl edge. It has a red line in the middle of it. Turn 90 degrees right (1/4 turn.) Get enough speed to go up this vert ramp in front of you (IT has pink coping too.) and a little to the right. Hold down grind. You should grind on the wire with the red Japanese lanterns on it. Just grind all the way around to the other side of the level. You’ll need to jump from sign to sign here. When you get to the tallest sign grind across and break the wires holding a large circular sign in place. It breaks revealing the area. To get there, use the cement ramps below (“Oh, that’s what those are for!”) to jump up and grind then jump onto the opening above the sign. Go into the hole in the wall and have fun!

The Abyss

In the Canada leval, find the peeing guy on the quater pipe. Do a stall right were the guy is and he will fall of in to the clouds.

How To Block The Car Chase In L.A.

To block the car chase, first start the earth quake by grinding the 4 required rails. Then the freeway will crumble and a guy and his car will be hanging on the edge of it. He will be screaming so you will know where to go. Go up onto the highway (there are rooftops you can go to that will get you there). You will see his car on the edge. Grind next to his car you will hit it. He will fall and the car being chased can’t get through. You have blocked the car chase.

Peeing Guy

In the Canada stage, make your way to the quarter pipe you use to launch into the raised halfpipe (you use it for the secret tape). Stop in front of the quarterpipe and look up and to the left. There is a guy standing there (he is looking toward the water) and to the left of quarterpipe you can see a stream of pee.

Get Extra Trick Slots

Simply complete all 9 goals in a level to unlock an extra trick slot. You can do this for all of the normal levels.

What Is Special About The Neversoft Eyeball

It does not do anything different to anyone in the game.

What Is Special About Demoness

Collects “Possesion Points” instead of “Stat Points.” However, she starts with full stats, so her “Possesion points” don’t do anything noticeable. When she goes up to certain peds they will shrink to smaller than tiny mode. She also does this to the Rasta man, and she sets his skate shop on fire. If you skate up to the Thin man on the Surburbia level he will do the Rasta man’s dance for Carrerra and hearts will form and pop above his head.

What Is Special About Kelly Slater

Collects “Break Points” instead of “Stat Points.” Also he uses a surf board instead of a skate board.

What Is Special About Ollie The Magic Bum

Collects “Puke Points” instead of “Stat Points.” The photographer says “Hey Ollie” before his other lines. Also he uses a homemade board instead of a skate board, comprised of two wooden 2×4’s. The Rasta guy gets drunk with this bum as the bum screams out non stuff like, “Got any change?”

What Is Special About Private Carrera

Collects “Demerit Points” instead of “Stat Points.” She is the only earned secret character where you can customize her clothes. She makes the Rasta dance, sing, and practice his one-liners. She also makes other people dance in the game.

What Is Special About Officer Dick

Collects “Donut Points” instead of “Stat Points.” Also the photographer says “Hey Officer” before his other lines. Officer Dick makes the Rasta guy look nervous he does the same for some of the in game characters as well.

What Is Special About Darth Maul

Does a Jedi choke on the Rasta skateshop guy, he also does it to other characters in the game. It works on everyone except for girls, security guards, and the photographers. Another Maul tidbit is that instead of grabing “Stat Points” the Sith Lord grabs “Force Points.”

Pirate Ship

Lots of people have probably already stumbled upon this one on accident. But if you were wondering why Skater Island is an Island – its because it really is. Go over to the middle right side of the map and look around for two hanging flags. One is a US flag and the other one is a pirate flag. Grind the pirate flag and a new part of the level will open up. NOTE: If you havn’t gotten the gold yet and you like the back left corner of the map – don’t grind the flag yet as cannons will go off and destroy that part of the map. Also – the last STAT point is on the ship.

Pro Bails 2 Tape (Alternative)

Get a gold in Tokyo with a hidden skater to unlock the Pro Bails 2 tape.

Warehouse Level From Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions three times in career mode with a created skater.

Roswell Level From Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions nine times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Burnside Level From Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions six times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Huge Skater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions fifteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Small Skater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions eighteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Ollie The Magic Bum

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions seven times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Play As Private Carrera

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions five times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Play As Officer Dick

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions three times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Play As Kelly Slater

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions eight times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Play As Darth Maul

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions one time with any character in career mode.

Play As Demoness

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions ten times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Secret Tape

Get gold medals in all three competitions in career mode with a bonus skater.

Pro Bails 2 Tape

Get gold medals in all three competitions in career mode with a created skater.

Pro Bails Tape

Get medals (gold, silver, or bronze) in all three competitions in career mode.

Expert Mode

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions twenty times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Snowboard Mode

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions eleven times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Moon Physics

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions nineteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Slow-motion Mode

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions sixteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

All Highlight Tapes

Get gold medals in all three competitions in career mode.

First Person View

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions twenty-one times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Perfect Balance For Rails

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions thirteen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Perfect Balance For Manuals

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions seventeen times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Infinite Specials

Successfully complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions twelve times in career mode with a different skater each time.

Canada-Beat The Bully

An even easier way to beat the bully than to grind is to turn around after the start and head into the “woods” area. As you cross in, there will be a frozen stream that runs all the way to the edge (where you will fall off). Anyways, go over this stream and turn around so that you are facing the bully and his tree. Ride towards him with a decent amount of speed and roll onto the frozen stream. As you exit the stream you can use the “riverbank” as a jump. Simply launch into the tree and the snow will fall.

Canada Goals

The only two goals that are hard to figure out at first are the "Bury the Bully" and "Get the Tape".To bury the bully, as soon as you start, turn around and go up the ramp from which you came down. Instead of jumping towards the pathway infront of you, there is a tree covered in snow to the right. Grind that and the snow will fall and "bury the bully".To get the tape, work your way up to the top of the tree passageways (its easiest just to fall in the river b/c it will start you on the top of the tree). Work your way over to the half pipe that is at the very end of the level. Just before this you will notice a red switch box, grind that and it will operate the lift which will enable you to jump to the very top of the tree. You'll need to grind quite a bit here, but the tape is up there at the end of a train track looking thing.

Haunted House Tape

The Suburbia tape is a little hard to find at first. After you give the man at the Haunted House the axe (which you find somewhere in the street) he will chop through the wood opening up a new part of the level. Go into there and use the ramp at the end of the hallway to spin your way over to the right where you’ll find another new part of the level. There’s a really tall half pipe in the middle of this area – get some speed going (in the red zone) and aim towards the house avoiding doing air tricks which will keep you on the ramp.You’ll fly through some glass and on the other side you can grind your way up to the tape.

Unlock Skaters Video

Beat the game with a skater with all gold medals.

Cheats

Max Stats

Select Cheats from the Options menu and enter MAXMEOUT

All Cheats

Select Cheats from the opitions menu and enterMARKEDCARDS

Unlock All Hidden Characters

To unlock all secret characters (Darth Maul, Wolverine, etc.) enter in the code “FREAKSHOW” on the passwords screen.

Cheats Menu

First, go to cheats and enter to cheat “MARKEDCARDS”. Second, while in gameplay press pause and go to cheats in pause menu. Press “A” to toggle on or off with the cheats.

Unlockables

Currently we have no unlockables for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Tokyo Floating Cube Glitch

First start a two-player game in Tokyo and head over to one of the bright floating cubes. Then turn on the infinite rail cheat and start grinding at a high speed around the round base that projects the cube. After a little while you will begin to get farther and farther from the camera and begin to spin around the whole level. After this happens you can jump off which will take you into a purplish jolty area where you can spin around and sometimes do tricks until time runs out. Once the time runs out the game will think that you are still in a trick and you must quit manually.

Tokyo Glitch And Secret Halfpipe

In the Tokyo level head over to the back left corner (near the two big bowls). There should be a big blue sign that says “Yasuo Tokyo Ceramics.” Jump up and grind on the sign and then jump behind it (this may require full stats or the moon physics cheat). You should now be in a room with a halfpipe. Start doing tricks on the halfpipe and gain lots of speed. After you gain a lot of speed do a big jump (using a fastplant will help) off the halfpipe while aiming slightly away from the main part of the level. After a few tries you should be able to jump higher than the wall next to you, and land on top of the wall, except that you will be sideways. While you are “floating” sideways on the wall, you can do as many tricks as you want before sliding back above the halfpipe. (This glitch requires a lot of patience and may require full stats or moon physics.)

Guides

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.