Tiebreaker - Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest vs Polukranos, Unchained

Hi folks!  Yesterday, these two cards both got 177 votes in Batch 2.3, leading to a tie.  I don’t vote in the polls so that I can be the tiebreaking vote when it’s needed.  So here I am doing that.

I am going to be using the same format as I did for the ties in the original Magic Bracket - see this old post for an example.  Essentially I will provide a written analysis on each card over five categories, and then finish with scores.  If the scores also tie then my personal favourite gets the nod.  The categories are:

 - Quality of design, scored out of 10  - Power level, scored out of 5 (overpowered cards will score lower)  - Flavour, scored out of 5  - Art, scored out of 5 (combined across multiple arts if there are any)  - Place in Magic history, scored out of 5

Let’s get stuck in.

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Design

Fittingly for a death priest, Mazirek cares about death - specifically, he’s one of the relatively few cards that care about sacrificing.  While we’re more used to seeing this on black-red cards in recent years, Mazirek was printed in Commander 2015 and the sacrifice-matters element is perfectly at home in black.  While it doesn’t feel green, the reward you get - +1/+1 counters on all your creatures - certainly does, and Mazirek has a solidly black-green feel as a result.  And by both caring about death and growth/life, he also feels specifically Golgari - which matters as the Kraul are a Golgari insect group.  Sacrifice-matters probably does play better in black-red (where red’s ability to sacrifice its own stuff lines up nicely), but it’s not massively out of place here.

Having flying (which makes sense for an Insect) but a measly 2/2 body for 5 also guides the player to imagining growing him into a massive threat through adding lots of sacrifice effects.  The design is also kept light by not having Mazirek provide any inherent way of sacrificing things or making sacrifices happen - the player has to provide their own.  This is pretty common for these kinds of designs, but is good because it means the rewards can be a bit juicier, as the player has to provide a sacrifice payoff, an enabler, and likely some fodder - although making your opponent sacrifice things also works!

One ding against the sacrifice trigger is that it does require players to handle a small bit of rules knowledge - specifically, identifying the “sacrifice” keyword action and understand which things are and aren’t sacrifices.  And effects that make temporary tokens are annoyingly inconsistent about whether the tokens are exiled or sacrificed, which sets up a bit of a reading debt.

Power level

Fittingly for a card from a Commander precon, Mazirek is pretty potent.  He can grow your team quite substantially with a few triggers, even if he doesn’t provide you an in-built way of getting them, and promises unbounded payoff.  Combined with a sacrifice outlet and something with Persist can even make infinite combos, which is pretty compelling as a power option.  Mazirek is technically legal in Eternal formats, but isn’t up to grade there - but that’s not a mark down on him as few cards are.

Mazirek ranks #278 on EDHREC, as the Commander of 424 decks, and as a card appears in 4% of decks on the platform.  This indicates a potent and popular Commander card.

Flavour

Mazirek, as mentioned above, is the leader of the Kraul, the Golgari insect race.  His card name certainly conjures up a lot of what’s going on with him - “Death Priest” is quite a title, and gets across both the death-focused aspect of the Golgari as well as the Kraul’s society - Mazirek was the leader of the Kraul race until his death in the War of the Spark storyline.  His name is also fun to say - and feels quite insectile.  It’s a shame that the “priest” title, which feels more like a Cleric, is not matched with his typeline, where he is a Shaman.  There are plenty of green and even black-green Clerics, so this does feel like a minor ding.

Mazirek’s flavour text reinforces the “insect” thing nicely, with talks of clicks and buzz, and the very Metal “incarnation of decay”.  Overall the picture of a rotten, death-feeding entity is well sold.  Being empowered by death is a flavourful concept, but “sacrificing” specifically is hard to convey as a flavourful concept - it’s a bit too mechanical.

Art

Mathias Kollros’s piece revels in the black-green colour palette we’d expect from a Golgari legend, and shows the central figure suggestively in dark greens and yellow highlights, but with the details hidden by strong green-white backlighting.  The posing emphasises the many additional limbs that Mazirek has over a humanoid figure, with his wings and extra legs, as well as his elevated position.  Some drippy, slimy looking moss decorates his podium and the darker edges of the piece give us the sense that we’re in the Kraul’s tunnels.  After adjusting to the main image we also see the eggs at the edges of the image, adding to the insect / creepy vibe for an overall very effective piece.

Note that the colour palette appears to have been significantly darkened from the original printing for the later Double Masters version for no clear reason.  I think the original printing is the superior.

Place in Magic history

Other than a supporting role in the Ravnica / War of the Spark storyline, Mazirek doesn’t have much to write home about here - no particularly unique or interesting things about him.

Polukranos, Unchained

Design

From this year’s Theros: Beyond Death, we have the zombified version of Polukranos.  Originally gaining infamy as Polukranos, World Eater, this hydra is now presented in a black-tinged version - our second black-green card.  He starts out with square stats as a very undercosted-seeming 4-mana 6/6, before later promising to escape as a 6-mana 12/12.  The “permanent damage” drawback here is something originally seen on Judgment’s Phantom creatures, which only ever lost one counter per instance of damage; the counters-per-damage version was premiered on M11′s Protean Hydra as a “heads” metaphor, and was also seen on Ugin’s Conjurant.  Conjurant and Polukranos share an important improvement - they only apply the replacement effect while they actually have a +1/+1 counter, which stops them becoming invincible if you raise their toughness some other way.

As well as being a big reservoir of power and toughness, this newer version of Polukranos connects mechanically to the original by including a fight ability - and a very rare repeatable one at that.  This opens up some interesting options whereby if Polukranos has shrunk too much, you can fight him off in order to have him die and then be able to escape and reset him with his final Escape ability.  Polukranos has the highest card-cost for any Escape card, needing six other cards to come back - justified by his massive size upgrade when you do so.

The design overall hits some of the right notes for the established Polukranos power set - beefy and activated-ability-fighting - while adding some interesting play patterns with the Escape mechanic.  It doesn’t do a great job of feeling green-black to me instead of just green however - monogreen has Escape cards and that’s all that black is really bringing to this package other than a generic multicolour power injection and the Zombie creature type.  And the design is very busy, with a lot of text and moving parts that is a bit confusing to play.

Power level

While being a Limited powerhouse, Polukranos hasn’t managed to get anywhere in general constructed thanks to competing for resources with the far superior Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, which is commonly played with black.

In Commander, EDHREC shows Polukranos, Unchained at rank #494 as a Commander of 170 decks, and appearing in 3% of decks.  The combo with Vigor is particularly nice - you can choose to apply Vigor’s replacement effect instead of Polukranos’s own one and have him grow every time he fights instead of shrinking!

Flavour

The name is straightforward enough - and connects with the art - but not inspired.  The lengthy rules text doesn’t even leave room for Escape reminder text, let alone flavour text.  The character of Polukranos is of a dangerous monster that Elspeth had to defeat in the original Theros storyline as the champion of Heliod, but the new version is just “that same guy from before, only he escaped from the Underworld”.

Art

Chris Rahn is one of Magic’s most notable current artists, with a great ability to render detailed fantasy images with beautiful details.  The purple-and-grayish hues of the underworld are used here to show the location, and nicely we see the upper purple head of Polukranos blending with the beautiful night sky.

And those purple heads are shown coming from the same root - I believe they are actually regrowing at the time of the art!  There are a lot of nice visual indicators of this - a pinkish glow showing where the stump was, the purplish colour of the two new heads, and the fact that those are a little smaller than the other four.  The new heads both have collars on so I imagine these are magical collars designed for a hydra - but the art also shows that the chains weren’t strong enough, as the name tells us.  A close look shows a loose chain breaking a statue in the foreground - and the other foreground figures help sell the size of the monstrous creature in front of us.  The overall mood is “Oh s***, the monster has got loose!”.

Place in Magic history

We have a minor storyline character here and the card has no particular resonance or important part to play, so not looking at a whole lot here.

Final verdict

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Design - 7/10 Power level - 4/5 Flavour - 3/5 Art - 5/5 Place in Magic history - 2/5 TOTAL - 21/30

Polukranos, Unchained

Design - 6/10 Power level - 3/5 Flavour - 2/5 Art - 4/5 Place in Magic history - 2/5 TOTAL - 17/30

Good luck to Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest in Round 3!

Pegasus Knight/Falcon Knight Tobin (Guide/Analysis)

Growths

HP: 35%

ATK: 25%

SKL: 50%

SPD: 30%

LCK: 35%

DEF: 25%

RES: 0%

Analysis

His growths as a Pegasus Knight may not be impressive, with his ATK and DEF getting shot down to 25%, but his SPD gets bumped up to 30%, which is the fastest he can possibly get. The only other class that will bump up his speed is the Mercenary line, in which Gray arguably performs better. 30% is not a high growth per se, but his base 6 in SPD will bring him a long way.

While growths may be of importance, SoV is very base stat-oriented--as promotion boosts to a class’ bases can heavily benefit certain units.

Unfortunately, Pegasus Knight’s bases don’t do much for Tobin either. His personal base 6 in speed and 7 in attack puts him only a single point behind Pegasus Knight’s bases in either, making the promotion boosts almost unnecessary when he reaches level 3 as he has a chance to gain either of these stats before promotion. Also, with Falcon Knight’s relatively high promotion level (12), he may not even receive any boosts as it is likely he will meet or surpass all of Falcon Knight’s bases by the time he reaches promotion. The class does however complement his rather good luck stat.

Despite all of these negatives, Pegasus Knight is by no means a bad class for Tobin, and he can prove to be a very efficient flier.

Firstly, there is also little opportunity cost in classing him into a Pegasus Knight. Kliff can fill the role as a Mage in Alm’s party in place of Tobin, and he now doesn’t have to face competition for swords against Mercenary Gray if he is a Pegasus Knight. Using Faye as a Pegasus Knight instead of a Cleric poses a heavy opportunity cost as Alm’s party loses access to an early Physic user. Tobin learns Physic very late anyway--making the option to be a flier much more appealing for him. Python comes in late into Act 1, but just in time where Archers become more necessary, so you won’t be missing much if Tobin or Kliff aren’t Archers before Python joins.

Tobin does have overall lower offensive growths compared to Clair (Alm’s only natural Pegasus Knight), however, his earlier join time gives him a head start to build up his stats and will likely have a better offensive performance by the time she even joins. He can fill in the role as a flying Ridersbane user arguably better than Clair or Clive.

Due to the lack of terrain and Terrors on Alm’s route, flying and Banish may see very little use, but can still be very helpful in certain situations. There are several cavalry enemies in later maps, and having a flying Ridersbane user can prove to be very useful and Tobin does it well.

Pegasus Knights in Alm’s route unfortunately only see the most use in Act 1, due to the final map, but giving Tobin Pegasus Knight is a great alternative class option for him. It’s by no means his best class, as Archers excel with the existence of the Killer Bow and his early Excalibur makes him an early game magic nuke, but Pegasus Tobin also contributes well without missing out on much.

My Personal Experience

I’ll be honest, Tobin is my favorite character in SoV, so good experience with him is most likely due to favoritism LOL.

Despite his low offensive growths, his base speed kept up with him throughout the whole game and had a speed stat that was comparable with some of the fastest units like Kliff, Gray, and even Clair at times. I did feed him a Pegasus Cheese at one point, but he still managed to retain great offensive stats in ATK, SKL, and SPD regardless. His high skill and luck also allowed for him to have relatively high crit rates.

His main problem was his survivability. He had great offensive stats, but below average if not mediocre defensive stats. He could take a hit, but he definitely struggled against high attack enemies such as Knights.

I would say that he was like the Catria of Alm’s route.

This was a fun overall experience with my favorite character in my favorite class, and I would definitely recommend trying this build out!

You can find my gender-lock-free SoV mod here!

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EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS

This rule is left over from a time when algorithm meant something like the current Google? Why do patents play so small a role in software? Any hacker who looked at some complex device and realized that with a tiny tweak he could make it run more efficiently. In something that's out there, problems are alarming. It has for me. It may also help them to grasp what's special about your technology. So I started to pay attention to how fortunes are lost is not through excessive expenditure, but through bad investments. Fear the Right Things. Microsoft Word. But there are limits to how well they'll be able to hire better programmers, because they'll attract only those who cared enough to learn it.

4 million a month to the rapacious founder after two years? They just don't want to seem like they had to make concessions. Perhaps a better solution is to assume that anything you've made is far short of what it might have been. If no one else will defend you, you have to publish it, and that's just as bad as the mid seventies. Perhaps a better solution is to look at the problem from the other end. When a company starts fighting over IP, it's a sign they've lost the real battle, for users. Startups usually win by making something so great that people recommend it to their friends.1 You generally apply for a broader patent than you think you'll be granted, and the startups are mostly schleps. True, but I don't think publishers can learn much from software. So while they're often nice guys, they just can't help it.

And not just from the technical community in general; a lot of users. So if you're the least bit inclined to find an excuse to quit, there's always some disaster happening.2 This essay is derived from a talk at the 2006 Startup School. Patent trolls are hard to fight precisely because they create nothing. Economically, the print media and the music labels simply overlooking this opportunity? There's nothing special about physical embodiments of control systems that should make them patentable, and the examiners reply by throwing out some of your claims and granting others. You can't even drive the thing yet, but 83,000 people came to sit in the driver's seat and hold the steering wheel. Technology trains leave the station at regular intervals. Startup acquisitions are usually a lot of mistakes.3 Cross out that final S and you're describing their business model.

Nothing is more likely to buy you than sue you. Experts can implement, but they can't design. Before central governments were powerful enough to enforce order, rich people had private armies. But different things matter to different people, and it's unclear whether anyone could be. If nuclear winter really is here, it may be safer to be a contrarian to be correct, and by that point the innovation that generated it has already happened. The startups we've funded so far are pretty quick, but they don't understand software yet. Most successful startups make that tradeoff unconsciously.4 And for programmers the paradox is even more pronounced: the language to learn, if you love life, don't waste time, because time is what life is made of. We tell the startups we fund not to worry about it, because a toll has to be more than new. If you grow to the point where anyone considers you worth attacking, you're doing well. Viaweb.5 In middle school and high school, what the other kids think of you seems the most important quality is in a startup.

If you had a handful of 8 peanuts, or a shelf of 8 books to choose from, the quantity would definitely seem limited, no matter how obscure you are now. I don't really blame Amazon for applying for the patent, but that has historically been a distinct business from publishing. You can lose quite a lot in the brains department and it won't kill you unless you let them. So I advise fatalism. Both make sense here.6 Every couple days I slip and call it Viaweb.7 Actually, it's more often don't worry about this; worry about that instead. I don't think they hamper innovation much. This is a little depressing.8 VCs should be trying to fund more of. When attacked, you were supposed to fight back, and there is something grand about that. Patent trolls are companies consisting mainly of lawyers whose whole business is to accumulate patents and threaten to sue companies who actually make things.

A mere 15 weeks. The truth is more boring: the state of the economy doesn't matter much either way. Perhaps we can split the difference and say that mobility gives hackers the luxury of being principled. Viaweb, and became Yahoo's when they bought us. I now had to think about something I hadn't had to think about something I hadn't had to think about something I hadn't had to think about something I hadn't had to think about before: how not to lose it. The optimal ways to make money by creating wealth, not by suing people. I was leaving I offered it to him, as I've done countless times before in the same situation. To make money the way software companies do, publishers would have to become software companies, and being publishers gives them no particular head start in that domain. If companies stuck to their initial plans, Microsoft would be selling printed circuit boards. It's more like saying I'm not going to apply for patents just because everyone else does. We tend to say yes to the second, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not going to go out of business if this one product fails; and even at Google they have a lot of bureaucracy to slow them down.

There are several reasons it pays to get version 1 done fast. 9% of the people who thought during the Bubble all I have to keep repeating.9 It's easy to let the days rush by. So why do so many people complain about software patents stifling innovation, but when one looks closely at the software business I know from experience whether patents encourage or discourage innovation, and the content was what they were selling, and the startups are mostly schleps. But the breakage seems to affect software less than most other fields. You can lose quite a lot in the brains department and it won't kill you. It's ok to be optimistic about what you can see people doing. And one of the earliest sites with enough clout to force customers to log in before they could buy something.10 It seems to me the only limit would be the number of startups is not the criteria they use but that they always tend to focus on the goal of getting lots of users. This principle is very powerful.11 The American way is to make money from it indirectly, or find ways to embody it in things people will pay for information otherwise?

So it is with hacking: the more rewarding some kind of job. Well, founders aren't much better. A copy of Time costs $5 for 58 pages, or 8. Even now I think if you asked hackers to free-associate about Amazon, the one to choose is your growth rate to compensate. Some examples will make this clear. You don't need to be constantly reminding yourself why you shouldn't wait. But while I'd spent a lot of regulations.

Notes

To get all that matters, just as well as problems that have been the plague of 1347; the point of a company. I'm writing about one specific, rather than admitting he preferred to call all our lies lies. College English Departments Come From? Startups are businesses; the point of a place to exchange views.

And the reason this works is that the most abstract ideas, because they were already lots of type II startup, but you get paid much. Back when students focused mainly on getting a job after college, they compete on tailfins. Google will pay the most important section.

If the company.

VCs seem to have balked at this, on the firm's site, they're nice to you; you're too early really means is you're getting the stats for occurrences of foo in the same town, unless the person who would make good angel investors. The best thing for founders; if their kids to them about. In theory you could probably be to write an essay about why something isn't the last place in the case, is deliberately intended to be significantly pickier.

Particularly since many causes of the 800 highest paid executives at large companies. Surely it's better and it will become less common for the average NBA player's salary during the war, tax rates were highest: 14. For example, would increase the size of the latter case, not because it's a proxy for revenue growth.

If near you doesn't mean easy, of course it was wiser for them by the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914. This explains why such paintings are slightly more interesting than random marks would be more linear if all you have to admit there's no center to walk in with a degree that alarmed his family, that must mean you should prevent your investors from helping you to raise money succeeded, and how good they are to be about 50%. So far the only reason I say in principle is that it's no longer working to help a society generally is to how Henry Ford got started as a single VC investment that began with an online service.

I couldn't believe it, by doing another round that values the company, but half comes from. I say the rate of change in response to what you really need that recipe site or local event aggregator as much income.

The US News list tells us is what the rule of thumb, the reaction might be able to redistribute wealth successfully, because investors don't yet get what they're really saying is they want both. It was revoltingly familiar to slip back into it.

In a typical fund, half the companies that seem promising can usually get enough money from mediocre investors. So by agreeing to uncapped notes. Since most VCs aren't tech guys, the last thing you changed.

There is usually slow growth or excessive spending rather than trying to sell services than a nerdy founder trying to describe what's happening as merely not-too-demanding environment, but they hate hypertension.

The First Industrial Revolution, England was already the richest and most sophisticated city in the few cases where a great founder is being able to redistribute wealth successfully, because spam and legitimate mail volume both have distinct daily patterns.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Anton van Straaten, Robert Morris, Geoff Ralston, and Jessica Livingston for their feedback on these thoughts.

long ass fucking meta under the cut on alm’s growth, primarily focused on his shift in values (and also going into what they were to begin with) as his character arc in fire emblem gaiden. all quotes used in this are subsequently from that game.

alm’s main flaws are his naivete and his impulsiveness. when going on gut instinct while you, frankly, have less information on what’s happening around you, that’s just dangerous. alm’s victories are won by the knowledge mycen has drilled into him since he’s been a child ( after all, mycen knew that one day alm would have to set out in a war against rigel should things go to plan ) and his own unique strength. alm is mentioned to be a cut above the rest, reflected in how he is not only a unique class but also his stats being higher than even lukas, someone with actual military training, from the beginning. kliff has good reason to feel insecure and implore alm to be the one to save him in a pinch, and this strength plus alm’s good heart is likely what landed him a leadership position within his childhood friend group.

is alm’s strength something deriving from his genes? a blessing from his cross-shaped birthmark? something to truly set himself as a rigelian and not a zofian? i could speculate all day if i wanted to, but that matters not for the main argument i have to bring here: alm’s strength is what allows him to get his goals, and his goals are ones most agree with because he has a good heart, thus with power and kindness, what he needs most now is to mature mentally and see the world differently from how he did when he started his adventure.

alm grows up incredibly sheltered. being raised in ram village, he has lived most of his life in a far corner of valentia, unable to come into contact with much of anything. his education is implied to be solely through what mycen teaches him, and considering the low profile mycen was trying to keep, it is unlikely alm traveled much or had any reason to gain information or mature his world view. the fighter lacks experience, and he merely thinks like how his neighbors do as commoners.

he believes in the idea that mila will save them. the earth mother is all what zofians have relied upon for many years, leading consequently to their sloth. mila has blessed them with bounty and the people celebrate her. as someone growing up in a farming and ranching village with a large focus on winery, it makes entire sense that he was raised in a community that praised mila more than anything, for it was her blessings that has made their primary source of income able to work. they don’t have a plan b without her. alm defaults to faith in her, unable to come to terms on his own that they would ever be without her even in the face of a very certain famine. this is why his conversation with forsyth is so important.

Forsyth: It seems that Desaix’s requested aid from the northern power Rigel. Zofia’s forces can’t compare to the might of the knights of Rigel. If the Kingdom of Rigel makes a move, we won’t stand a chance.

Alm: But the “Pact of the Gods” upheld by Zofia and Rigel means we shouldn’t come to blows, right? Our guardian, the Lady Mila, would never permit such a thing.

Forsyth: Yeah, but see… There’s a rumor, it seems, that Lady Mila’s disappeared. Hey, hey. Don’t be so surprised. After all, it’s been kind of weird lately, hasn’t it? Around here, the crops have been failing, and all that’s showing up are a bunch of strange demonic creatures. You can’t help but wonder if the powers of Lady Mila, Protector of the Earth, are waning. Well, if you go to the Temple of Mila, you should be able to find out if this rumor’s true.

forsyth is the one to bring up bad news politically, only for alm to reply back that there’s no way rigel could send troops to zofia. mila wouldn’t allow that. but mila can’t do a thing about it, forsyth essentially tells him. mila’s gone. she hasn’t been helping them for a while. forsyth is the one to open alm’s eyes.

alm’s beginning to think for himself and truly evaluate what’s before him. when celica reunites with him on the rooftop, we start to see this shift. 

Celica: [...] Alm, I have a request for you. Is there no way war against the Kingdom of Rigel can be avoided?

Alm: That’s impossible. Emperor Rudolf of Rigel has seized the opportunity to attack while Zofia’s still weakened by civil war. He’s already started an invasion. At this rate, the Kingdom of Zofia is going to be destroyed.

Celica: But when it comes down to it, both Rigelians and Zofians are the same, aren’t they? We are all people of Valentia. Even if these divisions of country no longer existed, we should all still be able to live together in happiness.

Alm: That’s no good. You can’t just tell the people of Zofia to go live under the barbarous rule of Rigel. Seeing as how Rigel aided Desaix in ravaging the lands of Zofia, we’ve got no choice but to fight.

celica does something eerily similar to what alm did before: she suggests that war between zofia and rigel can be avoided (albeit for different reasons than alm did). however, when presented with this statement, alm is now the one to shoot it down and stubbornly so. we see alm now taking forsyth’s counter, thinking it through, and accepting it. alm’s previous argument, zofia and rigel cannot go to war because mila wouldn’t let it happen, hinges upon his faith in mila. him no longer believing that peace is possible between the two nations displays then a loss of faith in mila. alm has turned to be a figure who does not blindly devote himself to the gods, shedding some of that initial mindset, and this also puts him one step closer to what gaiden purports to be the ideal person: someone who does not rely too much on deities but instead themself. we must remember that this whole game’s conflict starts with emperor rudolf of rigel’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in all of valentia and wishing to reset it entirely, using his son — alm — as the figure that would pave the way.

in order for rudolf’s ambition to be realized, alm had to lose his fath. being less religious, for him, is linked with independence, one of the values that gaiden puts on a pedestal.

but that is not the only large shift in ideology that alm goes through. in the same conversation with celica as was referenced above, the following discussion happens:

Celica: Unless, Alm, now that everyone’s holding you up as a hero, you want to become the king of the country as well?

Alm: What! That’s mean, Celica. I don’t have those kinds of ambitions. I just want to protect the people of Zofia, that’s all. Besides, it seems that the royal family of Zofia’s only remaining princess is still alive, so I’m planning to search for her. As soon as I find that princess, I’m returning to the village.

keep in mind that zofia’s sole remaining princess being alive is nothing more than a rumor at this point as far as alm is concerned. but he is quick to believe it. in all honestly, alm is quick to believe just about anything in gaiden, which is another point to his naivete. 

regardless, his desire to find her to restore her to the throne highlights this mindset that he believes certain people are born to rule. he goes along with the class system, likely something zofia perpetuates, while rigel is more likely to reward people based on merit since that empire values strength so much. alm believes there are bad rulers, but he nonetheless thinks a princess he knows nothing about and doesn’t even know if she’s alive deserves to be on the throne more than any of the people who are working actively towards zofia’s liberation. 

however, by the end of the game, alm becomes the holy king (or, rather, as sov puts it, the saint king) of valentia. he, who was raised as a commoner, takes on this role. he may have the blood of an emperor, but he was not raised to fulfill the throne. he takes to it though, believing it to be his responsibility instead of giving sole control to celica which would’ve aligned perfectly well with his plan from before: to find the lost princess of zofia and then return home.

he learns returning home is not his end goal anymore, and when i take sov’s writing into account ( his a-rank support with faye to be specific when he answers why he can’t return faye’s feelings or why his dream is not to return home to ram ) for once, this is something he decides even before he finds out his true bloodline. he makes this decision without the basis that it’s his birthright to rule over rigel, but because of a difference in ideology. he no longer believes that he should have no hand in the matters of state with valentia and that he should just hand it off to a royal that he may hope will be benevolent. 

in doing this, he is also proving he is not falling to the same fate of all the zofians who relied on others, namely mila, to give them prosperity. he’s decided he shall do it with his own hands, and he will do it the whole way.

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E1-46 (Jan 8, 2019)

Happy New Year! Welcome to Talks for tonight, a looooong time coming. @eponymous-rose is off doing very cool science, so I’m stepping in tonight. Also Brian’s wearing a guitar-string bracelet that was once upon a time played by Meatloaf.

Announcements: Tuesday, Jan 15 at 4pm PST is the debut of Mame Drop, their new show ft. the Mame Cabinet. Wednesday, Jan 23 at 5pm PST, they’ll be doing Pub Drop, ft. art lessons with Babb Star; the next season of Between the Sheets airs Jan 28 at 7pm PST. Ashley will definitely be in Season 2.

CR Stats: “9,″ or “nein,“ has been said at least 733 times so far. Matt has facepalmed 80 times in 46 episodes. By this point in C1, he’d facepalmed 77 times. Beau has cast the highest level spell so far (conjuring the elemental). Caduceus has prevented 38 damage from critical hits with Sentinel at Death’s Door. Caleb’s smell has been commented on 49 times. Fjord -- and BWF segues to discuss Travis in Liam’s oneshot, which was a whooooole ‘nother thing, and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it yet! We never come back to his fact, sadly. Jester has performed 35 pranks so far. Molly has been gone for 85 days in game. “Long may he reign,” says the cast, and they all toast him. Nott has cast Message 50 times. Sam: “Wow, I got a lot to say!”

The biggest challenge for them so far in terms of the culture shift between C1 and C2 has been the war. They do think about it a lot while they’re “chasing magic ocean orbs,” but they know the clock is still running while they’re doing other things. Nott would care if her homeland was gone, but she wouldn’t mind overmuch if the goblins were killed but the land was okay.

Jester is perfectly content with Nott’s motherly advice, even though it’s vastly different from what her mother suggested. Laura: “It’s weird that I can look at Matt and go, ‘Mom,’ and it feels...” Matt: “It’s okay, don’t worry,” but in the Ruby’s voice, and we’re all delighted.

Matt has had to reconsider some aspects of his preparation now that he has two PCs that can see everything and/or remember everything. He doesn’t believe in artificially upping the difficulty of his worldbuilding/checks just because people took certain feats, he just has to be prepared to answer their questions more than before.

Sam feels the alcoholism has added a bit of randomness to Nott’s character. It’s actually weirdly led Nott to be able to do more, since Sam had envisioned her as a very skittish, nervous character, but the alcoholism allows her to be brave in a way she is not otherwise.

Travis wanted to explore Fjord’s origins, but didn’t have any specific plans. “Growth? Yes. I think he’s taken a dive into a lot of things that he’d never experienced before, and had outcomes that he didn’t anticipate. I also think that he’s reeling from all these choices--it’s just one coin flip after the next, and that’s put him where he is now.” Both BWF and Matt express interest in the twists neither of them anticipated. Marisha, plaintively: “Please don’t kill us all.”

Caleb doesn’t think there was a specific turning point that made him trust the Nein as well as Nott; it was a series of small steps. The first time he shared his backstory with Beau was a screw loose. Liam enjoys the conflict between the group goals and Caleb’s goals.

Everyone has missed being their characters over the break.

Travis agrees with Liam that there’s a new possible viewpoint every 30 minutes--he has no ulterior motives, just is always trying to do what feels right in the moment. He’s seen some things online suggesting he has a bigger plan, but he doesn’t think that far ahead.

Beau was the first one to say “I love you” out of the M9. Marisha was most surprised by Beau’s opening up. Beau was a “deliberate asshole” to Molly, Fjord, and Caleb at certain points because she knew they’d leave her eventually; this way, she controlled the relationship and was the one doing the pushing away.

Taliesin had no plan for Cad’s future during the breakdown on the boat. He was dealing with the realities of Cad’s creation and trying to find an anchor for his “track,” and the two conversations with Nott and Jester were crucial for helping him find his path, and Tal’s plan for his future arcs.

Did Molly’s death affect how the cast relate to their characters? Sam: “I’ve been thinking of backup characters way more than last campaign.” It doesn’t affect how he plays Nott, though. Travis feels very guilty that we’re spending so much time in his backstory and still know hardly anything about so many others--he’d feel terrible if someone else died and we still knew nothing about them. Laura feels like if she makes a backup character it’s bad luck. Liam has a vague idea, but he’d rather use it for a future campaign. Laura and Travis have no backups planned.

Caleb has no regrets avoiding the legionnaire contracts back in Zadash. Molly (says Tal) would have also been happy they avoided it.

The Fjord/Nott prickliness started off as a goof, but Sam thinks it might be a touch of a real thing. Travis is all, “naaaaaaah, not a thing.” Fjord likes poking her. Fjord actually loves Nott--he’s messing with Sam more than anything, especially with the buttons, but everything has a shelf life. Sam suggests Fjord fundamentally does not understand Nott’s nature--is she a person? A thing? It has a touch of genuine suggestion by Sam, but Travis waves it away. He truly does love Nott, he says.

Fanart of the Week: @quortknee with a stunning portrait of Yasha surrounded by flowers.

Dani mentions to Matt that Jamedi was the first NPC in either campaign that was a critical part of a path--journeying through the woods as a guide--but did not participate in combat at all. Matt says he’s essentially a scout, amazing at tracking, but would never jump into combat with a hydra. Matt created the character’s personality first, then explored that in his actions later.

Tal’s super interested in more about Jamedi. Laura loves how cool he was. 

Travis compares Fjord’s journey to a kid getting dropped into a high school party: “There’s going to be beer and alcohol and you’re going to be tempted--no I’m not! I love Dr Pepper!” Travis laughs: “Fjord is the kid at the high school party” who suddenly succumbs to every temptation despite being sure he’d resist wholesale.

Laura teases Caleb for being a Debbie Downer. Liam, deadpan: “Life expectancy in Wildemount is not that great.”

Matt and Laura both are super excited to see how the relationship with the Traveler develops. Laura initially envisioned a very much big-brother relationship, but she’s found that she genuinely is struck with awe and a bit of fear every time the Traveler shows up. “I thought they were going to be way more familiar!”

Liam talks about how the idea of meeting Astrid and the rest makes his palms sweat every time.

Caleb was originally an Evocation Wizard--still level 2 or 3--in his backstory, but all the years of doing nothing meant he had to start over later.

Beau has latched onto the first mate position because she’s always wanted to prove herself, both to her parents and herself. BWF: “Flex. I gotchu.”

Nott does consider herself the mother of the group. She’s not great at it, but she does view herself as surrounded by a bunch of people who aren’t fully mature in any way, and she’s trying to “get ‘em to college.”

Everyone agrees Beau has changed the most out of everyone throughout the campaign. Caleb has begin to make small different choices in his behavior. Laura: “Fjord has changed a lot. Now he’s going to kill us all.” Matt’s enjoyed his shift from “I don’t know what’s happening” to “I want to know what’s happening.” Everyone comments on Fjord’s wild-westiness over the last few episodes.

Everyone misses Ashley and talks about her bravery in exposing Yasha’s heart in the last episode. Matt points out Ashley always reviews the VODs for this campaign and explores Yasha’s emotional journey offscreen, so that this episode was basically her check-in, showing how Yasha’s journeyed and grown over the last dozens of episodes.

BWF struggles mightily parsing “palenewmoon” as a username, and it’s hilarious.

Caduceus is not scared of his current situation; it’s a thing that happens and it’s gone, his moment of fear now behind him. He does feel far from home--not a wanderer. “A bit of a hobbit vibe.” Fjord doesn’t scare him at all. Travis: “He shouldn’t.” Travis says Cad is the one he’s the most interested in exploring right now.

Matt found Laura & Travis’s baby arrival one of the most unexpected events in terms of having to scramble for a plan. The docks of Nicodranas are a close second, especially since he was dangling all these other hints about the Menagerie Coast and the war only for the M9 to completely ignore them. Liam: “War sounds hard.”

The Darktow escapades also surprised him, since he’d imagined it would be more of a race with Avantika to the next orb. “You stayed one night and got kicked the fuck out. I had planned the next few days; there was a whole thing with Allison that could have gone on... All the pirates are distinctly like, ‘Don’t do shit to other pirates or we’ll kill you,’ and you were like, ‘Hey guys, let’s do shit to other pirates!’” Sam: “We’re terrible at this game!”

Travis didn’t anticipate the visions, especially the dream of water that destroyed the fleet of ships. Fjord wants to get as close to the goal line of releasing Uk’otoa without crossing the line. That sounds dangerous, kiddo.

Caleb thinks Nott is a much better being than he is since she has a good heart. He also feels like he’s letting his guard down around the Nein and allowing himself to have a circle of friends. However, the last couple of episodes have made him want to withdraw back to the Nott-and-Caleb against the world vibe. Sam thinks they’ve drawn closer together--they know they have each other’s backs, so now they can explore other relationships.

Most impactful moments so far: Molly for everyone, for sure. Fjord: hooking up with Avantica. Cad: staying on the boat. (Matt likes that this showed good commitment to both story and each other’s characters to have Jester check in on him.) Caleb: telling Beau and Nott everything, like letting off a steam valve. Beau: the plan with the Plank King, validating her strengths. (Everyone oohs and aahs over the “I...wait.” moment again.) Jester: the dragon fight, staring down death and wondering if Mom had been right after all.

Talks Machina: After Dog

In discussion of chicken noises made to amuse Ronin, Tal reveals he keeps feral chickens. Somehow I’m not surprised. 

Favorite activities over the break: Matt slept. BWF suggests karaoke, and Laura realizes everyone went to kigerumi karaoke without them because they had family in town. Laura & Travis and BWF (and Ashley?) went to Sam’s Christmas party.

Tal thinks the Gentleman will be dead by the time they all get back to him. Matt reminds them of the sequence that led to Port Dimali--just the name of a contact. Nicodranas is the only hanging thread at the moment, suggests Matt.

Funniest thing so far? BWF suggests Ashly Burch’s face while Molly was dying, because of the terror that was originally character terror becoming meta terror. Ashly told BWF later that she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Tal: “I’ve never felt so alive.” Other contenders: fluffernutter failing, the bug carrying the piece of bread. Laura says she had nothing in her brain at the moment and that was the first thing that came out. Sam loved seeing Travis being asked a simple boat question and realizing that his whole backstory was predicated on knowledge that he does not have. “I don’t know the answer to this test. I didn’t study!” Liam loved Travis’s face journey during the live show when Matt started his backstory. Somehow, the transcription of Liam’s statement got picked up by Travis’s Apple watch and sent to Postmates. It’s totally hilarious.

M9 character you’d never want to play as? Travis: Caleb, because he’s a wizard and squishy. BWF: Jester, because of the accent. Tal: Nott, because he’s not funny enough to pull her off. “You have a portal in your heart and I don’t know where it goes.” Sam: Orly, because of the accent.

BWF feels this campaign will go to 169 episodes. If he’s right, Sam offers to 69 him. “Denim on face.”

Everyone comments on Matt’s li’l scruffy beard. Liam’s the only beardless one now. Matt laments the next time they want facial capture they’ll make him shave his beard; Laura insists technology has advanced beyond it. Oh, voice actors.

BWF doesn’t know if he’ll be married by 2020. “It depends on if coughcancelBlindspotcough happens.” Sam looks forward to all the cool new shows on the Critical Role channel. Marisha’s excited to learn how to draw. Taliesin’s excited about things he can’t talk about. Liam’s excited for the live show and art gallery next week. Some of the fanartists will even be able to make it.

Travis very convincingly knows who he will be playing in the oneshot next week. Laura, in stark realization: “Oh, no.” Marisha points out that this oneshot will take place 24 hours after Vax’s death, and everyone’s a little nervous. Tal suggests scrapping the whole thing and having a shopping episode.

And that’s all for the night. We fade out on Laura being indignant about karaoke, which is probably the best way to start the year. Is it Thursday yet?

+ 2 new DMs

The .... 13yo? Kid in the group wanted to try being dm. This is the second time.

The actual first time I’ve only heard about, but I guess it was very bad and honestly I’m not surprised because he was taking bad contradictory advice from the worst sources. Some of the advice was like... not even at all anything those guys even do? Like. “I give my players absolute freedom! I plan nothing!” Honey.... honey no you don’t. You plenty often rewrite every persons character backstory and then railroad us for 3 1/2 hours to accomplish what could have just been a 5 minute explanation.

Stuff like that.

So, you know. He followed this shit advice and the shit advice of overly complicated home brew mechanics and rules and nonsense and world building even though the game already has rules that mostly work. They were tested at least by people and not just a few dice roll generators.

He made up a complicated world and weird rules but didn’t plan anything and was shocked and frustrated when the players did what players do without direction (hell even if they do have direction??? Honestly???) and nobody ended up having any fun. Everyone was confused and annoyed and obviously it was a bad time.

He was actually banned from dming again until he had a solid plan of action and accepted that players will always make a mess SOMEHOW. Which is weird to me because that doesn’t sound anything different than some of the other games that have gone on and nobody stopped those guys from running games without planning or practice communicating. But whatever I guess.

For a couple weeks this kid was made fun of and bothered about this fiasco which.... I mean was only partially his fault. Like. He did exactly what he was told and surprise surprise it didn’t work out just like it doesn’t work for the guys who told him that shit but they do it anyway.

Then he comes in last week and says: I have a plan. I want to run this pregenerated adventure but you can make your own characters but only use stuff from the core 3 books for now. It’s an official wotc adventure made for learning how to play and I think it’ll be a good way for me to learn how these things work.

The response?

Largely negative. Though the one who initiated the ban of course allowed the game to happen and supported it. The guys who gave him the shitty advice though? Kept giving him shitty advice and were not understanding that: wotc content does not equal AL play. Like. They couldn’t grasp this at all for a weirdly long time.

While they puzzled this I pulled the kid aside and tried to assure him he was making a good choice with the premade content and to not listen to those idiots because what works (or “works”) for them isn’t going to work for everyone and sometimes different people just enjoy things differently and it doesn’t match up nice all the time “just take your time and try your best, figure out what works for you and whats important for building your style”

I think he appreciated it? I guess? I dunno. I really just wanted him to know that like, I was ready to support his creative growth. I think that’s important.

Eventually we get started and I have who is probably my most favorite character I’ve had, though I might scale back his stats because the stat rolling system he picked was very generous and I rolled very well on top of that. But I think some lower stats would be more fun to role play and more interesting to roll play instead of the almost obnoxiously high stats my sweet boy has. Almost obnoxiously high because that honor goes to the guy who usually has suspiciously high stats all the time. Oh?? You have a 19 str in this character too? For the 8th character in a row that that hasn’t been forced to use the standard array? .... interesting..... but it’s fine, it makes him happy I guess and it doesn’t really take away fun from other people so whatever.

And I know how this adventure is supposed to go, I think a few people at the table have at least skimmed through it- the lost mine of Phandelver. He’s played it pretty straight, though it was weird a bit because I was playing an aarakocra and really playing up the bird business. though of course I did my best to try and make sure things moved along but it wasn’t really needed because with clear directions and objectives like? Things just? moved along? On their own? It felt like that anyway to me. Which was a great change of pace. I don’t mind being left to my own devices of course but some kinda direction is be nice now and then. Often the games I get involved in feel like: sit here for 3 hours while I tell you a story and pretend you’re playing a game with me or sit here for three hours and find out something to do on your own I’m not giving you shit to play off of. Or there is shit to play off of but the group actively ignores it or the dm put it there but.... doesn’t want us to play with it? It’s just a one time talking point we are Supposed to then forget about?

Over all, I think he did a good job. He did get frustrated and a little overwhelmed in a few instances but in similar situations I have ALSO been overwhelmed and I wasn’t even the dm at those times. I think his biggest issue is he, being the 13 yo he is, has a curfew more strict than the other teens so he gets very annoyed when side conversation and silliness take time away from play, but rather than say: I have a time limit please pay more attention. He just gets angry. Apparently he did a lot of yelling the first time but has since figured out some restraint from then. Also doesn’t ever throw things or hit people like some of the other teen DMs have done.

He does have some things that need work of course but it’s hard to know what’s a technical issue with using a pdf on a phone instead of a book and what’s he just needs practice but I’m sure he has some ideas on this and I think werewolf dm surely would have given him her thoughts on the subject.

There’s another chick, she wants to try dming and she told me a bit about her ideas, she explained they were still kinda rough but she had a clear goal in mind of what the end results would be. They seem pretty straightforward, clear objectives but a bit of room to roam around in between, which is a great way to start. I told her I thought it would be great and she should absolutely give it a try when she’s ready. I also gave her the same caution I’d give anyone who wants to gm for this group, and some examples of weird shit my other groups have done (investigation of street lights for a weirdly long time even though they were literally just street lights). I’d hate for her first try to go super bad like the 13yos did because she thought the group would play differently than they usually do or because of bad advice that some of the guys like to give that they may or may not know is bad advice.

She told another person in the group about her ideas. It didn’t go so well. He gave her lots of bad advice and would not listen to what she was saying. “These things you are telling me are not helpful and detract from the core of the adventure.” ; “You don’t know that! I’m being very helpful and smart!” ; “I do know that because I’m writing it??? No you aren’t?”

Healing

Summary: Doctor Hwang was regarded as one of the gifted doctors within the Children’s department by all those who came into his path. He could do no wrong, but you were able to see another side to him, freeing him from the shackles of being the perfect doctor.

Pairing: Hwang Minhyun x reader

Genre: fluff, romance, medical

Warnings: death / medical terms

Word count: 2251

If there was one reason to visit the children’s ward at Seoul National University Hospital, it was for Doctor Hwang.

All those who walked through the department doors left with smiles on their faces and appreciation for the resident doctor. Children who would fear getting treatment would soon be giggling and willing, parents were instantly at ease knowing their child was in capable hands, and the nurses all came to work ready for another day assisting the gifted doctor.

It didn’t help that he was handsome, often mothers soon forgetting their significant other, fawning over the young doctor with lots of arm touches and laughter. And of course, Doctor Hwang took this all in his side, patiently thwarting off their attention with his genuine mannerisms, able to placate the mother and attend to the child all in one go. The amount of arranged blind dates he had received with relatives or older daughters were in the hundreds now from the past two years of working in the ward and they never slowed down either.

It was because Doctor Hwang was such a perfect example of a good human. He was kind and gentle, treated everyone equally and went the extra mile to help anyone he could.

It was why it came as a surprise to you to hear him let out a string of expletives and bang on the wall in frustration one morning, the doctor not aware that you were in the medical supply closet counting the syringe inventory around the corner. Your eyes went wide and you peered around to see who it was, Doctor Hwang staring down at his phone with tears building within his dark eyes. Deciding to give him his privacy, you shrunk back, trying to keep yourself from being nosy.

And then you accidentally dropped the clipboard you were writing numbers for the stock take down on, gasping inaudibly at your disruption. You didn’t dare look to see his reaction, and soon you heard the door open and close, being left alone reeling over what had just occurred.

It made it harder to look at Doctor Hwang from that day onwards, his smiling face and genuine behaviour always slightly tarnished by that incident. Although you knew everyone had their down days, for some reason you had this foolish idea that Doctor Hwang was immune to this. Even after asking the other nurses who had been there longer than you, they all mentioned they had never seen him have a bad moment ever. It confused you, and intrigued you to try to understand him more. This was made easier when a fellow nurse Seora went off on maternity leave, putting you in her place as his assisting nurse for most of your shifts.

You began to build a team rapport that you rated second to none, both understanding what was needed from each other efficiently, whilst maintaining a calm and fun environment for the kids. Doctor Hwang would rely on you to keep him up to date on his patients when he wasn’t in the department and appreciated the level of proficiency you kept to in every file. Although you were stationed within the ward, and not the surgical team, you were gaining experience there because he often called you in as a scrub nurse, saying little things like ‘he couldn’t do a good job without you there’. It was nonsense of course; he was the main star within that environment. It made you feel special all the same and slowly as the weeks passed by, you started to forget about that day in the supply room, just enjoying how fulfilled you felt at the end of each shift, clocking out with a smile. Soon, you were on a first name based level, Minhyun often coming to eat dinner in the staff room with you if you both had time to eat and a couple of times he had even given you a lift home. It was comfortable working alongside him and you were often grateful towards him for the growth in your knowledge as a nurse within the hospital.

“Hello Seojun, how are you today?”

The small boy dropped his book and grinned up at your arrival, his eyes glued to the doctor at your side. “Doctor Hwang!”

“Can we check you over by chance?” Minhyun asked and the boy’s head nodded immediately, the smile not leaving his face.

Minhyun gave you a nod and you moved forward with your equipment, checking the seven year old’s stats and recited them off to the doctor. He nodded and tapped at his tablet, reading over the notes you knew he had already been checking through on the way to start his rounds. You smiled and waited to see what his next instruction was.

“Okay Seojunnie, can I listen to your chest?” Minhyun placed on his stethoscope and examined the child, sighing a little, but maintaining his warm composure. He then turned to you, his eyes a little serious. “His bronchial tubes are still not functioning effectively, even with the use of oxygen. We need to get another chest scan done. Do you know where his mother is today?”

“She comes in at eleven.”

“We’ll need to meet with her when she’s in to discuss the findings of the scan.” He then pulled out his phone and rung through to book it in, a habit of his to ensure what he asked for was completed before he left any patient.

Whilst he did so you turned to the child, gently ruffling his hair. “We’re going to go on a small trip out soon okay?”

“Will it be scary?”

“Of course not!” you reassured, smiling down at Seojun. “Would I ever take you anywhere bad?”

Seojun grinned and reached over to hug you, Minhyun turning to see the embrace. He smiled and nodded at you to follow him and after saying your goodbyes, you moved into the next room and onto the next patient. But you could tell he wasn’t as attentive as usual, his brows constantly knitting together and becoming perplexed every time he wasn’t examining a patient.

“Are you okay?” you asked and Minhyun flinched at your voice entering his thoughts, glancing down at you and then letting out a sigh.

“I’m concerned about Seojun. It’s not looking good right now. If he comes down with bronchial pneumonia-”

“We won’t let it get to that stage,” you cut in, placing a hand tentatively on his lower arm, the taller man staring at your hand and then at you. You tried to smile encouragingly. “We’ll find a way to help him, okay?”

He sighed and diverted his eyes. “Why is it always you seeing me at my worst?”

You frowned as he walked away from you then, wondering what he meant.

Time travelled, Seojun recovered and was discharged, and there were always new cases that brought your team challenges along the way. Most of the time you were successful in healing the children but there was always one or two that made an impact, who pulled at your heartstrings and then departed too soon. Those were the hardest moments and as you dropped the phone, your eyes filled with tears, unable to comprehend the sentence your charge nurse had just said to you.

Just yesterday, Yoomi was smiling and laughing with you as you checked over her vitals, telling you how she wanted to grow up and be a nurse, just like you.

You didn’t want to believe otherwise and as the tears slipped down your cheeks in grief, you attempted to think of a way to bring her back, to keep her dream alive.

And then one person came to mind.

You rushed out of the ward you were in and to the doctors’ offices, banging once on the door and then opened it up. Minhyun was nowhere to be seen and his mobile was uncharacteristically left on his desk. He carried that around like a life support and you knew he couldn’t be far, turning on your heel and trying to think of where to find him. You tried a couple of places before opening the stairwell door and rocked back on your feet, finding the doctor in a crumpled mess on the stairs.

You hadn’t been aware that you were still crying until you dropped down beside him, Minhyun snapping his head up to see who it was, before grabbing your hand and burying his head into your shoulder.

He wasn’t crying as much as you but he was shaking with his emotions, his grip on your hand cascading in waves, sometimes tighter, and other moments you wondered if he had let go. He was the most vulnerable you had ever seen him and if you weren’t already caught up in your own emotions over the loss of Yoomi, you would have been shocked to see the man so unhinged.

He had never been like this in front of you before.

After some time, the tears stopped and a comfortable silence fell between you both. Minhyun had lifted his head from your shoulder but his hand still encased yours, his thumb mindlessly rubbing gentle circles over it.

“We should get back,” you said tiredly, knowing that you both couldn’t just sit in the stairwell all day, even though you had no energy to move.

“Y/N,” he started and you glanced over at the doctor, his eyes not lifting from his lap where your hand rested. “It was you who saw me that day.”

“Uh, mm.”

“Do you know why I asked for you to replace Seora?” You shook your head. Minhyun finally glanced at you and smiled. “Because you were the first to see me like this. Everyone else is so determined to view me as this majestic doctor who merely looks at a child and it’s healed. No one took the time to see how hard I work, assuming my talent would get me out of any tricky situation. And whilst I never see myself as fake, I felt bound to that role, the happy doctor. Humans aren’t always happy.”

He took a moment to steady his emotions again and let out a hollow laugh. “You saw me crack and didn’t make a big deal about keeping me to that same mold. I noticed your stares trying to uncover the real me.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” you mentioned embarrassedly and Minhyun shook his head.

“I’m glad you did that. I’m glad you’ve been at my side for all these months assisting me. We have a good work ethic together through the good and bad.” He smiled, looking back at your hand, his circling motion becoming more concentrated. “Whenever I’ve lost a child, this is where I come. To say sorry to the universe, to beat myself up for not finding the right answer in time. To pray they move on without any more pain. Not one person has ever thought to come and find me until I’ve pulled myself back together. Not until you.”

His eyes found yours again and the stare was intense. You swallowed. “Is it bad that I-”

His lips found yours gently then, your eyes widening at the sudden gesture, before fluttering shut and feeling him press against you. All rationale was lost in that moment, your free hand moving up to grip onto his shoulder as the kiss deepened. And then he pulled away, his eyes were warmer than you had ever seen them before.

“I’m glad you keep looking at me. I’m thankful towards you more than you realise. And, I like you. A lot more than I should. I hope that this won’t affect our working condition.”

You realised just how long you had been looking towards the doctor with a similar gaze, how often you went the extra mile to help him, to talk about everything with him. All this time you had just felt it was because you were close as professionals, not understanding that you were both building something more unspoken between you. You smiled, moving your hand up to cup the side of his face gently. He instantly nuzzled into your touch, which made your smile grow.

“I like you too.”

“I kind of guessed with how you kissed me back like that,” he said with a faint blush and you bit your lip shyly. The emphasis on your mouth made him sigh and tear his eyes away from you, and then he got up, pulling you up in the process. “We better get back to where we belong.”

“Isn’t it right here?” you suggested and he looked around you both and then frowned. You held up your still linked hands and smiled. “I meant here.”

Minhyun grinned, albeit a bit shy from your forwardness, and nodded. He shifted your hand up to his mouth and kissed it lightly and then started towards the door. “With you at my side, I know we’ll be making a lot of good choices from here out. Let’s go help some more children together, hm?”

You nodded, letting go of his hand and stepping out into the bustling hallways, no one noticing the renewed expressions upon your faces or the stealing of glances at each other. But once you were back in the ward and attending to the children and their families, you remembered back to why everyone loved Doctor Hwang.

He wasn’t perfect, but he was human. And he was the human you loved.

_________________

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long ass fucking meta under the cut on alm’s growth, primarily focused on his shift in values (and also going into what they were to begin with) as his character arc in fire emblem gaiden. all quotes used in this are subsequently from that game.

alm’s main flaws are his naivete and his impulsiveness. when going on gut instinct while you, frankly, have less information on what’s happening around you, that’s just dangerous. alm’s victories are won by the knowledge mycen has drilled into him since he’s been a child ( after all, mycen knew that one day alm would have to set out in a war against rigel should things go to plan ) and his own unique strength. alm is mentioned to be a cut above the rest, reflected in how he is not only a unique class but also his stats being higher than even lukas, someone with actual military training, from the beginning. kliff has good reason to feel insecure and implore alm to be the one to save him in a pinch, and this strength plus alm’s good heart is likely what landed him a leadership position within his childhood friend group.

is alm’s strength something deriving from his genes? a blessing from his cross-shaped birthmark? something to truly set himself as a rigelian and not a zofian? i could speculate all day if i wanted to, but that matters not for the main argument i have to bring here: alm’s strength is what allows him to get his goals, and his goals are ones most agree with because he has a good heart, thus with power and kindness, what he needs most now is to mature mentally and see the world differently from how he did when he started his adventure.

alm grows up incredibly sheltered. being raised in ram village, he has lived most of his life in a far corner of valentia, unable to come into contact with much of anything. his education is implied to be solely through what mycen teaches him, and considering the low profile mycen was trying to keep, it is unlikely alm traveled much or had any reason to gain information or mature his world view. the fighter lacks experience, and he merely thinks like how his neighbors do as commoners.

he believes in the idea that mila will save them. the earth mother is all what zofians have relied upon for many years, leading consequently to their sloth. mila has blessed them with bounty and the people celebrate her. as someone growing up in a farming and ranching village with a large focus on winery, it makes entire sense that he was raised in a community that praised mila more than anything, for it was her blessings that has made their primary source of income able to work. they don’t have a plan b without her. alm defaults to faith in her, unable to come to terms on his own that they would ever be without her even in the face of a very certain famine. this is why his conversation with forsyth is so important.

FORSYTH: It seems that Desaix’s requested aid from the northern power Rigel. Zofia’s forces can’t compare to the might of the knights of Rigel. If the Kingdom of Rigel makes a move, we won’t stand a chance.

ALM: But the “Pact of the Gods” upheld by Zofia and Rigel means we shouldn’t come to blows, right? Our guardian, the Lady Mila, would never permit such a thing.

FORSYTH: Yeah, but see… There’s a rumor, it seems, that Lady Mila’s disappeared. Hey, hey. Don’t be so surprised. After all, it’s been kind of weird lately, hasn’t it? Around here, the crops have been failing, and all that’s showing up are a bunch of strange demonic creatures. You can’t help but wonder if the powers of Lady Mila, Protector of the Earth, are waning. Well, if you go to the Temple of Mila, you should be able to find out if this rumor’s true.

forsyth is the one to bring up bad news politically, only for alm to reply back that there’s no way rigel could send troops to zofia. mila wouldn’t allow that. but mila can’t do a thing about it, forsyth essentially tells him. mila’s gone. she hasn’t been helping them for a while. forsyth is the one to open alm’s eyes.

alm’s beginning to think for himself and truly evaluate what’s before him. when celica reunites with him on the rooftop, we start to see this shift.

CELICA: […] Alm, I have a request for you. Is there no way war against the Kingdom of Rigel can be avoided?

ALM: That’s impossible. Emperor Rudolf of Rigel has seized the opportunity to attack while Zofia’s still weakened by civil war. He’s already started an invasion. At this rate, the Kingdom of Zofia is going to be destroyed.

CELICA: But when it comes down to it, both Rigelians and Zofians are the same, aren’t they? We are all people of Valentia. Even if these divisions of country no longer existed, we should all still be able to live together in happiness.

ALM: That’s no good. You can’t just tell the people of Zofia to go live under the barbarous rule of Rigel. Seeing as how Rigel aided Desaix in ravaging the lands of Zofia, we’ve got no choice but to fight.

celica does something eerily similar to what alm did before: she suggests that war between zofia and rigel can be avoided (albeit for different reasons than alm did). however, when presented with this statement, alm is now the one to shoot it down and stubbornly so. we see alm now taking forsyth’s counter, thinking it through, and accepting it. alm’s previous argument, zofia and rigel cannot go to war because mila wouldn’t let it happen, hinges upon his faith in mila. him no longer believing that peace is possible between the two nations displays then a loss of faith in mila. alm has turned to be a figure who does not blindly devote himself to the gods, shedding some of that initial mindset, and this also puts him one step closer to what gaiden purports to be the ideal person: someone who does not rely too much on deities but instead themself. we must remember that this whole game’s conflict starts with emperor rudolf of rigel’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in all of valentia and wishing to reset it entirely, using his son — alm — as the figure that would pave the way.

in order for rudolf’s ambition to be realized, alm had to lose his fath. being less religious, for him, is linked with independence, one of the values that gaiden puts on a pedestal.

but that is not the only large shift in ideology that alm goes through. in the same conversation with celica as was referenced above, the following discussion happens:

CELICA: Unless, Alm, now that everyone’s holding you up as a hero, you want to become the king of the country as well?

ALM: What! That’s mean, Celica. I don’t have those kinds of ambitions. I just want to protect the people of Zofia, that’s all. Besides, it seems that the royal family of Zofia’s only remaining princess is still alive, so I’m planning to search for her. As soon as I find that princess, I’m returning to the village.

keep in mind that zofia’s sole remaining princess being alive is nothing more than a rumor at this point as far as alm is concerned. but he is quick to believe it. in all honestly, alm is quick to believe just about anything in gaiden, which is another point to his naivete.

regardless, his desire to find her to restore her to the throne highlights this mindset that he believes certain people are born to rule. he goes along with the class system, likely something zofia perpetuates, while rigel is more likely to reward people based on merit since that empire values strength so much. alm believes there are bad rulers, but he nonetheless thinks a princess he knows nothing about and doesn’t even know if she’s alive deserves to be on the throne more than any of the people who are working actively towards zofia’s liberation.

however, by the end of the game, alm becomes the holy king (or, rather, as sov puts it, the saint king) of valentia. he, who was raised as a commoner, takes on this role. he may have the blood of an emperor, but he was not raised to fulfill the throne. he takes to it though, believing it to be his responsibility instead of giving sole control to celica which would’ve aligned perfectly well with his plan from before: to find the lost princess of zofia and then return home.

he learns returning home is not his end goal anymore, and when i take sov’s writing into account ( his a-rank support with faye to be specific when he answers why he can’t return faye’s feelings or why his dream is not to return home to ram ) for once, this is something he decides even before he finds out his true bloodline. he makes this decision without the basis that it’s his birthright to rule over rigel, but because of a difference in ideology. he no longer believes that he should have no hand in the matters of state with valentia and that he should just hand it off to a royal that he may hope will be benevolent.

in doing this, he is also proving he is not falling to the same fate of all the zofians who relied on others, namely mila, to give them prosperity. he’s decided he shall do it with his own hands, and he will do it the whole way.

Magdelina

General Info

Welcome to the Magdelina In-Depth Guide. In this guide, you'll learn all you need to learn about Indines' Battle Priestess! Note that this guide is NOT a substitute for experience. It's always better to go out there and play some games!

About the Author

This guide was written by long-time community member CAnon! He's contributed so much to the community, from his cool customs in our custom character tournaments to general memery! He's also, of course, a Magdelina player.

 Quick Reference

Match-Ups

Maggie is favored against opponents who have consistently low to average power, like Marmelee, or who struggle to consistently hit. Likewise she can do well against most other clockers, like Eustace, as her build-up may potentially be slower but will certainly “outscale” by providing larger and more consistent boosts once underway.

Her problems emerge largely against characters who can rush her down before she has a chance to hit her power-spike, such as high power monsters like King Alexian. Additionally opponents like Tanis with large amounts of repositioning or movement can run rings around her limited range.

 Overview

Magdelina is an escalation character  who starts laughably weak but, if she can survive long enough, gains enough raw stats to just trample her opponents.

Simple Tips

Between Dodge, Safety, and Priestess and/or Blessing, you have a lot of ways to negate, minimize or undo incoming damage early in the match. How successfully you can deploy these tools can determine whether or not you survive to mid/late-game.

Provided you can avoid predictability and confirm the hit, repeated and common usage of Blessing (or use of Apotheosis if available) can significantly accelerate your advancement up the levels, whilst helping keep you topped off on life.

While you will generally be looking to win during levels 3, 4, or 5, you can still opportunistically poke and trade even as early as Beat 1, if a good chance presents itself. Spiritual helps make this count, and should be relatively unexpected. Just make sure you don't miss and (by extension) further delay your growth.

Strengths

Massively strong stats at late game

Relatively safe early game

Life regain effects

Massively strong stats at late game

Weaknesses

Questionable mobility and very poor range

Can be bullied to death long before she becomes relevant if the opponent has a high power character and good reads

Has to win once she's already stalled for a long while - meaning if she whiffs too many attacks she can find the clock running out on her

Failure to land Priestess or Blessing can lead to life deficits which are difficult to overcome

Role on the Team

Magdelina fills an interesting role in team compositions. On the one hand, she can be relied on to beat most clockers or weak-to-average enemies, given time. However the tournament meta seems focused around rushdown characters and the one “clocker” who is exceptionally popular at high level play, Thessala, can both rush her down early and remain highly competitive against her late. Nonetheless, this means that unless your team has no other answers to their composition, opponents are unlikely to ban her which can be a great boon if you are very familiar and capable with her.

Card Analysis

Unique Ability

Magdelina’s Unique Ability is Divine Conduit. Essentially, she gains a Trance counter at the end of each beat and, if her current pool has more counters than she has levels, she empties the pool and levels up (except on end of Beat 1). For each level she has (starting at level 0, with a maximum of 5), on ante, she gains +1 Power, Priority and Stun Guard per level possessed.

This means she becomes stronger, faster, and more secure the further she levels and can reach truly oppressive ability late game. To balance this, most of her styles have printed negatives of -1 or -2 on power and priority. Nonetheless, the consistency of having these +X bonii to everything - and the safety in the knowledge they can only increase from here - means she loses far less to bad reads than others with similar bonuses who probably need to expend resources to reach such power or speed (and will certainly struggle to get both).

One thing to note is that they are bonuses, and so can be negated or stolen by effects that reduce her down to printed values. This makes her match-ups versus tricky characters like Sagas, Lixis and Tanis quite hard.

Sanctimonious

Sanctimonious is kind of a reflection of Maggie herself - a frankly terrible style to begin with. Yes, it has the 2nd highest printed power among her styles - at -1 - but it's also the slowest and effectively without any bonus range or effects beat 1 (or any other beat directly after you level up). However it does have an effect.

It gains +0~1 range per Trance counter in her pool. This means, in the late game where you are at level 3 or 4 and are therefore able to hold 2 or more Trance counters, you do have access to that thing Maggie craves: Hit confirm, to make the most of her inflated stats. Additionally, by then you should have enough cumulative priority or Stun Guard that you would rather have the -1 in power rather than priority, to make the most of your somewhat limited windows of opportunity to hit.

As a result of this effect, Sanctimonious pairs great in the late game with two of the Bases most in need of Range: Strike and Grasp. Strike is obviously a pay-out attack: hit with high power, relatively fast, probably at such range that they can't beat it, only evade. Grasp, meanwhile, hits fast and threatens to throw them out of their range (assuming they aren't stunned outright) or to drag them in closer for follow-up attacks next beat.

Excelsius

Excelsius is similar - it has less power and more priority, but it also has range (a very small amount) and even some movement to boot. Just be aware that the movement is mandatory and, as such, can lead to you walking out of your own range or into the opponent's.

Excelsius, due to this hit confirm, is pretty okay throughout, though it is undeniably at its best in the mid to late. This is due to an effect it gains at Level 2 and above which allows you to push the opponent, On Hit, up to 2 spaces. This lets you push them out of range if they could retaliate, while also allowing you to choose not to push if it would be of greater use to you. Combined with the movement, the push effect helps you set up future null beats to exploit for “cheaper” levels.

Excelsius Shot has a plethora of range and can help send opponents to the opposite end of the board, if that would most inconvenience them, whilst Excelsius Blessing gives Blessing the extra hit confirm it needs to ensure you get the Trance counter and sustain to accelerate towards the next level, and the push (again) potentially stops any retaliation.

  Spiritual

Spiritual is her pay-out Style - printed positives on both power and priority on Magdelina makes for one strong hit levels 3 and above, but also opens up the intriguing possibility of early damage. However if you fail to hit, you will not get a Trance counter this beat.

As a result, it is certainly best late when you can exploit your bonus power and priority further, but also when there is less opportunity cost. Fundamentally, the difference from level 3 to 4 is less important to Magdelina than between 1 and 2; when she first gains neutral or positive stats on everything and when Excelsius gains it's On Hit. However, if you can poke them with a quick Spiritual Drive for 4-5 damage early, it should be unexpected and help put them more on guard, hopefully relieving some pressure.

Spiritual has no range and so pairs well with Shot and Drive. Drive goes faster, making it more playable earlier on, but loses to Dodge even if you're in the corner (as they can just retreat 3 spaces). Shot meanwhile does not have such a limitation, you just need enough levels to make it safer from their threats - level 3 or even level 2 should be enough, as you'll be going at priority 5-6 and any attacks which can out-speed that are unlikely to breach Stun Guard 4-5 (especially if you throw Force Gauge Priority or Stun Guard on it).

Priestess

Priestess helps give you a bit more survivability in the mid-game, when you've outgrown Safety but aren't quite ready to start taking your opponent apart. It has the standard Maggie 0/-2/-1 spread of range, power, and priority, along with an On Hit debuff to the opponent's power and “After Activating: Recover 1 life”. It's difficult to play early as all its benefits are lost if the opponent out-speeds and stuns you, whilst it lacks the range or power to be an optimal style late. Nonetheless, mid-game, it can effectively give you Soak 3 provided you hit first.

Priestess pairs well with Drive to hit fast and activate its effects. If you aren't worried about Burst or Dodge it can also work with Blessing, which gives you 4 life recovery, a Trance counter and inflicts the -power on the opponent (at the expense of healing them also and not doing any damage yourself).

Safety

Safety saves lives. Again, the standard 0/-2/-1. However it passively caps the damage you take to 3+L (where L is your level), which hugely increases your survivability early-game (and even into the mid- versus the real heavyweight fighters). It also gives you an “End of Beat: Move up to 3 spaces”, provided you were hit this beat. This means you can use it to take a minimal amount of damage this beat and simultaneously create enough range to set-up a null beat for the next.

Safety Blessing is great. The range is not great, but it's an attack with effective Infinite Stun Guard (due to SG3 on Blessing, damage cap at 3+L, and each level giving you +1 SG), which accelerates your growth and (at level 1) only “loses” 1 life (provided you manage to hit back). Safety Strike could also work as a trading pair - you'll at least trade even with FG Power, but the range is kind of a crapshoot.

Blessing

Maggie's Unique Base is Blessing. It has a pinch of range, average priority, Stun Guard 3, and power N/A. You see, Blessing doesn't actually do damage. Quite the opposite, its On Hit effect gives Maggie a Trance counter, and both her and the hit opponent recover 3 life. This is great for her as it not only shortens the amount of time for which she needs to stall but also provides her with the sustain with which to achieve it. Therefore, you want to play it often and make sure you hit, to spend as little time on levels 0-2 as possible. Something to note is that  (due to the clause in your UA preventing you from reaching Level 1 before the end of Beat 2) you don't need it in hand before Beat 3. Therefore it is fine - and indeed, probably optimal - to place Blessing in your Discard 1. As mentioned above, it pairs well with Safety early, and Excelsius late.

  Force Special Action (Switch)

Printed +0’s (and an extra point of Force) makes Switch an incredible card for Magdelina. It's effectively a mini-Spiritual, without the penalty for missing, which is understandably pretty great. As such, consider whether Switch might be a better or safer play any time you are tempted to use Spiritual.

Apotheosis is range 1, power 1, priority 4. If the stats look underwhelming for a finisher, bear in mind Magdelina’s bonuses are applied to her directly so her finishers do get her Level bonuses also, not just her attack pairs. At Level 3, for instance, it becomes 1/4/7, with Stun Guard 3, which is much more palatable. But the main reason to use it is because “On Hit: Magdelina gains a level”. Note that, unlike when she levels up via her UA, there is no mention of discarding Trance counters. As such, if she were on Level 3 and 3 Trance when she lands it, she immediately jumps to Level 4 and 3 Trance, basically saving her 4 beats worth of Trance collection. Apotheosis, properly used, is huge. It can swing games single-handedly, or be the final push needed to close out one she's already leading. Just be aware of the very bad range, as Start of Beat movement ruins it.

Solar Soul is 1~2/2/4 with Soak 2. The extra point of range isn't huge, as she's likely got enough levels to outspeed Grasps by the time she's in Finisher range, but it does make the attack slightly less telegraphed than Apotheosis (even if it still loses to exactly the same things). “On Hit: Discard any number of Trance counters for +1 power each” is a nice way to land a single, super-heavy blow, but kind of misses the point of Magdelina, I feel. It doesn't do a huge amount more damage than her basic attacks at the same levels, delays further power spikes, and can probably only win games if it's already fairly close - in which case, I'd rather do two safer basic attacks than one finisher which could easily whiff. That said, in the situations where you can't risk two attacks (or could be counter-attacked) it could have a place, and the Soak is a nice touch.

  Credits

Content - CAnon

Editing - Marco De Santos

You know who this Celtics’ offense would be perfect for? Kyrie Irving

Prada’s Pictures is back with analysis on the Celtics’ offense without Kemba Walker. Plus: praise for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Rebound Joust of the Week.

Kyrie Irving’s relationship with the Celtics ended poorly last season for reasons that go far deeper than what happened on the court. But if one had to pin down a basketball-specific gripe, it was that the Celtics didn’t hand the offense over to his individual shot-making brilliance.

Instead of crafting Irving’s supporting cast around role players designed to service him shooting a lot off the dribble, the Celtics entered the year with a collection of young perimeter players who wanted those same opportunities. Once initial attempts to placate everyone failed, Irving slowly shot more and more, and the your-turn, my-turn energy ruined the team.

Irving now has what he wants in Brooklyn. As old friend Kristian Winfield noted, Irving is taking more than 26 shots per game in the early going, a career-high. He’s averaging 13 pull-up shots per game this year, and more than seven of those are threes. Both are more than anyone not named James Harden took last year. Brooklyn’s offense almost exclusively depends on Irving creating offense for himself off the dribble and making pull-up jumpers in pick-and-roll situations.

And yet, so does the Celtics’. It’s early, but so far, the Celtics’ offensive system in their first year After Kyrie is built entirely on the very skill that most defines him.

This is how a typical Celtics possession has ended this year.

And this is how it’s ended when the shot goes in.

The goal of each is to get Kemba Walker an open jumper off the pick-and-roll with the opposing big man dropping into the paint. Both were executed to perfection. The only difference is one went in and the other didn’t.

Tiny-sample-size caveats are appropriate, yet Boston’s shot output this season has been a sharp contrast to last year and not at all like the ideals you’d associate with a non-Kyrie centric approach. Through one week of the season, Boston ranks in the top three in the league in most pull-up shot attempts per game, most three-point pull-ups per game, and points per possession in plays finished by the pick-and-roll ball-handler. They have the seventh-highest percentage of unassisted field goals while ranking tops in the league in the percentage of threes that are unassisted. Meanwhile, they rank dead last in catch-and-shoot points per game and 26th in assisted points created.

Shooting off the dribble is this team’s specialty. Scoring directly off the pass very much isn’t.

It’s not hard to see why after looking at the roster. Boston replaced Irving with Walker, who’s as close to an on-court Irving doppleganger as anyone in the league. (Only two players attempted more than 10 pull-up shots per game last year. James Harden was one. Walker was the other. Irving, by the way, wasn’t in the top 15). The Celtics also lost Al Horford, and his shots have mostly transferred to three of the perimeter players who yearned for the looks Irving wanted himself: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward. All four of those players — Walker, Tatum, Brown, and Hayward — are better scorers than passers off the dribble. Hayward has the best vision of the four, but since his horrific leg injury, he tends to gives the ball up too early to fully take advantage of his passing skill.

The Celtics pursued Walker, re-signed Brown, and haven’t traded Hayward yet, so this is clearly the roster they want. That leads to a more interesting question: is an offensive strategy built around four players who play like Irving is more effective than one built around just Irving?

It’ll take a lot longer than a few games to know the answer, but results are mixed so far. On the one hand, having all these dudes who can create their own shot on the perimeter is an amazing threat that Brad Stevens can leverage. When the Celtics are humming, they swing from one pick-and-roll action to the next before the defense can re-set. That makes them much more unpredictable than a roster built this way should be.

Celtics fans should be overjoyed when they see sequences like this one in crunch time against Toronto. All four of the perimeter shot creators move in sync with each other. A middle screen for Hayward turned into a double ball screen for Tatum, who curled into the lane and found Hayward sliding up the three-point line for a critical open three. Walker started the play and cut through, while Brown kept the defense distracted on the opposite side with his own basket cut.

Walker’s off-ball speed can open up the Celtics’ playbook in ways Irving’s style couldn’t. Though Kemba is a pick-and-roll-heavy player, he can also give the ball up and then get it back on the move to attack. That allows others to touch the ball and acts as a different way to tilt the defense to create openings. This corner three by Tatum didn’t go in, but it’s the exact kind of sequence the Celtics should be replicating.

On the other hand, all that movement ultimately happens in service of the same kind of shot too often. Walker got his max contract because of his ability to score off the dribble, not because of his passing. Tatum showed promise as a driver in the preseason, but he’s an awkward finisher when he gets there and still settles for shots like this far too often.

Brown has displayed some playmaking chops at times, but he’s still prone to locking in on pass/shoot decisions instead of reading the game first.

None of the Celtics’ players are inherently selfish, so they sometimes do create the endless drive-and-kicks that exhaust a defense. But they are all players whose best skill is shooting off the dribble, rather than using a pick-and-roll to probe a defense and fire passes opponents cannot anticipate. In practice, Boston often takes the first open shot possible before any real ball movement can kick in.

When that happens, Boston is at the mercy of those off-the-dribble shots going in. Sometimes, they do, and that in and of itself can cause the defense to cheat up too far and opens up the kind of ball movement Boston really wants. But the Celtics need that to happen first, and only then can the full power of their mutli-playmaker style overwhelms teams. If the shots don’t go in, Boston has no other way to scramble defenses.

And when the shots aren’t going in, the Celtics get a lot of this.

And this.

And this.

Ultimately, it’s Stevens’ job to create a diverse ecosystem using a series of overlapping skill-sets. His past suggests he’s capable of doing so, and this Celtics’ core should be much more coachable than last year’s.

But there’s only so much Stevens can do when he has four players who are at their best shooting off the dribble. No matter what tweaks Stevens engineers, the Celtics will still look unstoppable when the pull-up jumpers fall and horrific when they don’t, with little in-between.

In other words: they’ll look a lot like the team version of Kyrie Irving. How ironic.

PRESEASON QUESTIONS, ANSWERED

Before the season, I listed the 100 most interesting basketball-specific questions of the season. Each week, we’ll see if we have enough information to answer one of them.

QUESTION 63: Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander actually good, or just a nice prospect?

Tilt this one squarely into “actually good” category. A year after acting more like a caretaker point guard alongside other ball-handlers, Gilgeous-Alexander has already commandeered the Thunder offense and looks just as smooth while doing so. This is poetry.

Shai’s craft didn’t worry me, but his slender frame often did last year. I wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to actually score often and effectively through defenders rather than just around and above them.

He’s allayed those fears and then some this year. He’s actually getting all the way to the cup in half-court situations, finishing around opponents waiting for him, and drawing more fouls while also committing fewer turnovers. This is the kind of finish we didn’t see much last year.

Eric Gordon is a difficult player to hold off when driving, and I suspect he would have bumped Gilgeous-Alexander off his path last season. But this time, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to keep Gordon on his hip and then shed him easily when he tried to jump back in front. Instead of being forced to finish over Gordon, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to power through him. That’s an important sign of growth.

CLOSEOUT OF THE WEEK

Three-point shooting is essential, yet there’s no good stat that credits defenders for the essential act of preventing a three-pointer from being taken. We must reward these efforts.

I’m cheating this week, because this play actually occurred in the preseason. But I’m still in awe of Giannis Antetokounmpo sprinting from the restricted area all the way to the wing to stop Kristaps Porzingis, a 7’3 dude with one of the quickest releases in basketball, from taking an open three. Not once, by the way, but twice!

This isn’t the most fundamentally sound closeout, because mere mortals wouldn’t be able to sprint like Giannis and still maintain the balance necessary to recover and stop Porzingis’ stepback attempt. But holy crap, how does one person cover that much ground and still stay on balance?

REBOUND JOUST OF THE WEEK

Last year, I wrote about the rising trend of teammates fighting each other for defensive rebounds. These moments usually end harmlessly, but occasionally, they can cost a team. Here’s to overaggression!

Meyers Leonard, who is 7 feet tall, has blocked a total of nine shots in the past two years. This should count as No. 10.

Unknown Pleasures: 20% seasonal | Rock Paper Shotgun

Boo!

Haha, Halloween is very easy. Though I’ve by no means understood the principles when it falls on a weekday, and like all depressing British whingers I resent its bizarre enlargement from a number of hours of hiding from disagreeable infants into a whole sodding month of pumpkins and garbage horror. So with that in thoughts, let’s have a spooooky Unknown Pleasures!

Threatening however then being too British to really ‘trick’ anybody this week: barely interactive fiction, a multiplayer indie with precise gamers, and a stick on the moon.

Vox Machinae £19.49 / 20.99€ / $24.99, Early Entry

A mech shooter is such an apparent match for VR that I’m somewhat shocked we’re not inundated with them. Even should you accurately have little interest in VR although, Vox Machinae is value contemplating. It primarily does what you in all probability already assumed: gamers pilot completely different courses of mech (the distinction being their steadiness of mobility, firepower and armour – there aren’t any help roles), decide their lasers/rockets/cannons, and exit in groups to robo-kick every others’ computo-faces in. Though there’s bot help (which unusually I haven’t examined, as I used to be having loads of enjoyable with – ugh – people) it’s primarily multiplayer, and actually relatively spectacular. The sport modes are effective – occupy bases on the map, race to a randomly showing salvage spot and struggle over it. The degrees are very vertical due to inbuilt jet boosters, and the feeling of ponderous, weighty motion is already there. There’s even a devoted ramming mech, and the weapons and modular destruction of limbs and hardpoints put some previous entries within the style to disgrace (sorry Hawken. You weren’t a nasty recreation however you had been a nasty mech recreation).

The non-VR participant will cope effective, however that is an space that wants work. I couldn’t discover a record of keyboard instructions (although there are some respectably succinct tutorials that can type you out quick), nor discover out the that means of varied beeps and warnings. Extra severely, with out voice (as a result of go to hell) I had no method of speaking with different gamers in any respect, which was a disgrace as I’d have preferred to thank the right nearly-full server I discovered at 4am for a good time. Significantly the American man who I mistook for voice performing when the very first thing I heard was a delightfully droll “Name me Stella, ’trigger I obtained my groove again”.

LoveChoice 拣爱 £1.69 / 1.59€ / $1.99, Early Entry

Lovechoice 拣爱 (Chinese language for “(a backing refrain going ‘love! Alternative! Ah-aaaah!’)”) is by far the shortest recreation to outlive the brutal trials of UP. Will probably be over for you in a couple of minutes. Even a second playthrough will in all probability not outlive your contemplative sandwich. However it’s candy. It’s a heat, light micro-tale about relationship, whereby the same old aim of “unlock the puzzle field that’s some girl” is changed with “she type of likes you so it’ll nearly positively occur no matter you do”. The vital half will not be second-guessing the proper sequence of phrases to cross her exams, nor accumulating Seduced Factors to unlock A Girlfriend, however contemplating what it takes to kind a very good relationship.

Its classes are usually not revolutionary, however then elementary truths about how lovers intertwine seldom are. Vulnerable to spoiling (truthfully, in case your curiosity is piqued, skip to the following paragraph till you’ve performed it), I recognize that the subtext is a critique of our perspective to each video games and romance – the trail of the connection parallels your actions as a participant, and is dictated by not simply what the participant character says, however how a lot you assume and take as a right in regards to the recreation.

It’s tiny, so tiny, nevertheless it’s doing one thing completely different, and one other IF recreation – a courting one, no much less – tipping the scales of the style away from the sweating, lecherous mire it’s notorious for, and for that I believe it’s value recommending.

Ship Us The Moon: Fortuna £19.99 / 19.99€ / $19.99

At any time when one thing goes improper IN SPACE, the protagonist should clomp forwards and backwards fixing doorways and rebooting engines and getting the entry code from that man’s desk (which is infuriatingly bulletproof as a result of folks do it in actual life on a regular basis). And it’s in all probability aliens, and it’ll be closely foreshadowed instantly. Ship Us The Moon has each an fascinating premise and a real thriller. These dozy Earth folks have tousled the planet once more, this time by working out of gasoline, but in addition found a option to generate tonnes of unpolluted (I believe?) vitality from a helium isotope which occurs to be plentiful on That Moon. A colony is constructed, it smelts the helium or no matter and beams the vitality again to Earth through microwaves (theoretically doable – house nerds had been already bouncing the concept round once I was at school, however then EVE On-line got here alongside and distracted them so it by no means took off). However then it out of the blue stops, and Earth is hosed once more.

So, you and a few rogue astro-boffs have scraped collectively a rocket and launched a determined solo flight to the colony to search out out what occurred and repair it. I wouldn’t usually relate a plot in such element however Ship Us The Moon is one among only a few video games to make practical fashionable house shuttle stuff fascinating and approachable to me, and I’m actually curious to search out out what occurred as a result of it could possibly be something. It’s principally about floating in regards to the moonbase reducing cables, listening to audio logs, and changing gubbinses, and it’s not notably taxing. However it appears to be like good, has a good environment, and it’s all somewhat bit understated. I need to discover out what occurred, and for as soon as it appears like I’ll wind up serving to to repair it relatively than blundering right into a face-eating house mutant.

[John has extra ideas on the sport in his Ship Us The Moon: Fortuna overview. –Ed]

Neighbor £11.39 / 12.49€ / $14.99

The one recreation that truly matches the theme this week. Oops. Neighbor is a couple of girl who strikes right into a flat the place she’s continuously afraid and suspicious and laid low with ghostly sights and intrusive, threatening noises, and unable to go away due to extortionate rents, all of which her landlady coldly shrugs off. Much less a horror story than a barely beneath common week in any houseshare within the Southeast, then.

This too is a little bit of a file, for stretching the definition of “interactive” to its close to restrict – Neighbor is as passive because it will get, with nothing to do however click on for the following line, and never even the phantasm of selection that many visible novels current. However it does the job. Ghost tales are of virtually no curiosity to me, however this one’s financial narration and assured pacing had me intrigued all through, and very similar to Ship Us the Moon, I actually loved the supply of the clues and foreshadowing. It’s not tremendous scary, and positively not the boring startle-you-up most horror is, nor does it invoke a very sturdy dread. However I preferred the narratagonist’s perspective – she sees sufficient to be each be rightly scared and really feel silly and uncertain about being scared. She additionally acts remarkably rationally for a personality in a horror story, touchdown the tone extra in supernatural thriller than frightfest. Quite than mark herself as a madwoman by insisting that you simply have to belieeeve me, or creeping across the lair of the monster going “hellooo?” like a lemming with a vore fetish, she units about following up leads on the historical past of the flat and what might presumably have gone on there. She’s a fairly good cookie, and the consequence would possibly invoke the fury of the It’s Not A Sport militia, however should you like a basic thriller with only a little bit of a scare in, you should do nicely right here.

Reignfall £7.19 / eight.19€ / $ 9.99, Early Entry

Although technically a city builder, Reinfall’s constructing is all in help of elevating defences and armies to struggle incoming waves of monsters (which could technically make it a type of tower defence, nevertheless it didn’t really feel that method so I’m saving it from that condemnation). Putting homes and woodcutters and roads carries that delicate satisfaction of growth and enlargement, however there’s no actual administration to talk of moreover rising output by periodically upgrading a farm or plonking a market down by some homes to extend their gold output.

Defending them is the enjoyable bit, and regardless that it too is extra streamlined than a ‘pure’ manstab or RTS, you possibly can at any second take management of your Lord and run round proper alongside your militia and trusty knights. I’ve talked earlier than about what an enormous distinction this will make. Your items could also be nameless, however you’ll nonetheless rush over to rescure a lone peasant when he’s separated from the herd and cornered by skellies (and never simply because surviving ones accumulate stat boosts), and swinging your sword into two or three bandits directly, or simply distracting them for a little bit of crowd management makes an enormous distinction.

There are ranges to achieve and attributes to unlock too, bringing welcome replayability. I just like the artwork model, low tech although it could be, and I’m at all times up for a recreation that channels only a trace of Mount and Blade. And a punny title, too? Alert! Somebody is courting us.

Decide of the Week: Tough, tough resolution. I might nicely look again and need I’d gone for LoveChoice. However it’s going to Vox Machinae.

Early Entry or not, this can be a sturdy mech recreation, and with the suitable growth might have a protracted tail. The place most on-line video games that cross by means of the column are unattainable to guage for lack of gamers, I obtained into Vox instantly, had a grand previous time, and wished to maintain going. Mastering motion and the angles wanted to trace and intention, particularly vertically – assaults from above have a giant benefit since you’re proper there within the cockpit and have big blind spots due to your individual mech, simply correctly – supply that sensation even once you get shot down of getting tangibly higher by means of observe.

And but I additionally felt helpful, battling the large lads however quickly favouring a zippy bot with twin miniguns, harassing and distracting opponents with low, however fixed harm and stress. I notably respect the best way the ‘scope’ extends a feed from a high-zoom digicam, helpful however very tough and dangerous to make use of. This one deserves to take off, and should you’re into having video games sellotaped to your head, you’d be mad to cross it up.

Oh, proper, the theme factor. Uh… I vaaant to suck your blood, mwahaha, and so on.

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/unknown-pleasures-20-seasonal-rock-paper-shotgun/

Conquest Lunatic guide: Character talk #2

Time to talk characters, chapters 9 to 12!

Nyx: Rivals Elise in squishyness, except she doesn’t even have her god Res and is a combat unit rather than a support healer. There’s better mages. Like Leo. Pass.

Haitaka (might as well): Has Rally Def. That alone earns him a spot on the team for quite a few chapters. His growths actually aren’t half bad at all and you could make him a pretty good combat unit, though honestly without supports he’ll always be at a disadvantage compared to regular characters. But hey, he’s pretty much the only chance you’ll ever get to use Seal Defense unless you capture and use a generic so that’s worth something I guess?

Selena: Plays an important role in Ch10 but honestly beyond that she’s not all that amazing. What’s true for a lot of these characters is that they’re good on paper, you just have so many better or more suited characters for the chapters at hand. Mercenaries give some pretty okay pairup bonuses at least so you could always keep her as a pairup bot. I do plan to support her up with Kaze simply for the Dragon Herbs in Midori’s paralogue.

Beruka: Not Camilla/10 though possibly useful if you need an extra flier for ferrying or something. Not gonna see combat outside of Ch10 most likely though. Can be paired with Benny but even for that Camilla is better.

Camilla: So I heard you needed an early midgame to be carried for you. She can fly, she can Dragon Vein, she has Lunge and a damage-boosting aura, and she has the stats to take on pretty much any enemy for a long while into the game. As for why I’ve changed her into a Wyvern Lord immediately, it’ll be quite some time until she can feasibly hit Lv5 and honestly I don’t find Savage Blow worth it to put up with her worse bulk and pairup bonuses for that long. She also gets Seal Def a level earlier, relieving Haitaka of some of his duties a smite earlier. Plus she can immediately get started on her Lance rank that way which’ll come in handy when she needs to fight those pesky dodgy Samurai, and it’s early enough so her Bronze Lances still hurt like hell.

Kaze: Shuriken are the best weapon type in Fates and Kaze knows how to capitalize on that fact. Doubling damn near everything, weakening tough enemies to feed kills, and acting as a second Locktouch (which can be vital in Ch12 especially) are only some of the things Kaze can do. Beyond that he comes with a Steel Shuriken which is a pretty dope weapon, and has further utility in being able to use the Hunters Knife to great effect, most notably against the foxes in Ch19, but also against the myriad of cavalry and pegasi you’ll be facing throughout the game. Did I mention Shurikenfaire because he also gets Shurikenfaire. As said before, he’ll be supported by Selena for the S Support, afterwards I’ve found he makes for quite a pair with Xander, seeing as he gives like a bazillion Spd on pairup.

Laslow: More or less the same as Selena, with the added benefit of having a personal Rally that could come in handy on occasion if you happen to have a free unit slot (Spoiler alert: You probably won’t) Brownie points for being able to use the Armorslayer at base though, that earns him a spot on my Ch13 deployment. Fucking Knights.

Peri: Doesn’t have Silas’ Juggernaut Mode nor Xander’s EVERYTHING, as well as literally the worst personality in the history of Fire Emblem. I routinely ignore personality in favor of stats when it comes to using units but even I have my limits. She can smash some poison pots in Ch12 and if it wasn’t for my perfectionism I’d have Ryoma skewer her in the very same chapter. Fuck Peri.

This morning, headlines across the UK revealed the same news: Nick Grimshaw’s Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1 had lost 500,000 listeners in the space of a year. It’s a headline we’ve heard before, and it simply doesn’t tell the whole story. Grimmy is good at his job – excluding Chris Moyles, he’s lasted longer as Breakfast host than any other Radio 1 DJ since Simon Mayo in 1993 – but this story isn’t really about Grimmy. It’s about how young people’s listening habits are changing – and what that means for radio’s future.

Nick Grimshaw is actually doing much better than Radio 1 as a whole

Radio stats (RAJAR figures) come every three months, and the news from today is about the fourth quarter of 2016.

From Q3 to Q4 of 2016, Grimmy’s audience has increased from 5.25m to 5.37m listeners. But Radio 1Xtra lost listeners in the same period, dropping from 1.03m in Q3 to 909,000 in Q4. And Radio 1’s overall audience also fell from Q3 to Q4, down by 3.2 per cent to 9.56m.

In Q4 2015, Grimmy had 5.87m listeners, which is why it’s being reported that he’s lost half a million listeners in the last year, but Radio 1 as a whole lost 7.4 per cent of its listeners since then as well, and Chris Evans’ Breakfast show on Radio 2 has lost 200,000 listeners across the same period.

Radio 1 is suffering because its core audience is turning away from live radio

Last year, BBC News reported the number of hours 15 to 24-year-olds spent listening to radio had fallen from 29 million hours in 2010 to 16 million in 2016. This age group used to make up 45% of Radio 1’s listenership (3.7m); it’s now just 36% (2.9m). This is largely thanks to the arrival of streaming services, and that’s why Radio 1’s head of music, Chris Price, wants to start some kind of streaming service.

“A BBC music discovery service… to me feels like a very natural and necessary evolution of linear radio,” Price told Music Week yesterday (February 8) after he was asked where he sees Radio 1 in five years. “Taking the music we already curate across our linear networks and surfacing it in new ways for new audiences to discover. I’d really love [that service] to happen – what the music industry and audiences need right now is a fair deal and a market-maker and that’s the role that a BBC music discovery service could play. At the moment, radio and streaming, rather than being the strong marriage it ought to be, are like two nervous teenagers eyeing each other across a High School prom. A BBC music discovery service sitting between the two could play matchmaker.” Could this be the solution for radio’s falling listenership? Possibly.

Younger listeners engage with radio stations via social media

Right now, Radio 1 doesn’t have that streaming service, so it’s targeting its 15- to 29-year-old demographic elsewhere online, because they’re aware that 42% of 15- to 24-year-olds on social media follow their chosen radio station’s social pages, compared to 31% of those aged 25 or older. On YouTube, Radio 1 has 3.5m subscribers compared to Radio 2’s paltry 42,069. Radio 1 has 2.55m Facebook likes compared to Radio 2’s 633,053. Radio 2 may have higher listening figures for its live shows, but the reach of Radio 1 – particularly with viral content – is much higher on social media than it is for Radio 2, and that’s because its audience is younger. In your face, Radio 2!

Radio 1 isn’t just about radio any more

As Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper explained this morning: “Radio 1’s Listen, Watch, Share strategy means that RAJAR is only part of the story. Alongside the 10.5m listeners, our YouTube videos have received over 1.4 billion views and we have 8.7m followers across social media.” The reason Radio 1 has so many social media followers is because it’s producing content that works on YouTube and on social media as well as on radio. These things are funny, they’re usually video-based, and they just happen to act as breadcrumbs that entice people on social media to tune in. When it gets famous guests, Radio 1 plays games like Innuendo Bingo or Playground Insults that are rivalling Carpool Karaoke, the hugely popular spot from James Corden’s massive US TV show, in terms of actual funniness and in what execs like to call ‘shareability’.

Radio 1 is changing: you can no longer fairly compare its listening figures with Radio 2’s, because the way people consume Radio 1’s output isn’t uniform anymore. The biggest radio stations have high listening figures because their audiences are older, more loyal and more predictable. Radio 1 undeniably the more exciting station – there’s far more innovation happening there – and that means the long-term future of what radio actually is might depend on what Radio 1 does next. If Radio 1 can figure out a way to win over young listeners, who have so many other options than radio, that’ll probably end up being a model for every other radio station in future. Because millennials aren’t just going to start listening to radio more when they hit a certain age: for radio audiences to return to growth, this young audience will need to be convinced to start tuning in somehow – and if they aren’t, won’t Radio 2, Radio 4, and all the other big stations be facing the same crisis of ‘falling listenership’ in 20 years’ time? (NME)

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E15 (Apr 24, 2018)

Hello hello hello! As @eponymous-rose​ is away doing Important Science, I’m covering TM recap duty tonight! Tonight’s guests: Marisha & Liam. Tonight’s announcements: 

This Saturday is International Tabletop Day! G&S is running special programming all day to celebrate.

VM Origins #6 is out at all available online comic retailers. The final touches are being placed on the comic collected edition; details to be released soon!

Wednesday Club airs tomorrow at 7pm PST.

826LA hit the $35,000 reward tier this week! This means Matt will be hosting another Fireside Chat soon. (Liam reveals that the vintage robe & a tiger ring Matt wore in the last chat were gifts from him after a certain jazz-hands-related event in the last campaign.) As a reminder, all donations are doubled up to $40,000 thanks to a generous critter matching donations. 

Pillars of Eternity is out in two weeks! Reminder that the characters of VM will be playable as voice sets in this campaign; the new portrait art for Vax was released this week. Check it out at versusevil.com/criticalrole! Liam extols Travis’s voice acting and the “finesse” in his performance and hopes that fans will be very happy with it.

Reminder: Dani Carr hosts Critical Role Recaps every week. 

CR Stats for Episode 15

48 natural ones this campaign so far ($4800 from D&D Beyond to 826LA!)

67 natural 20s so far, even without a Lucky rogue!

Over both campaigns & 51 initiative rolls, Ashley averages only 9.5 on her initiative rolls. :( However, she’ll be on Talks next week! Yay!

Beau is super into working for the Gentleman right now. As long as she makes friends in high places, she’s happy (in part because she knows they won’t last long). 

Liam doesn’t miss trap duty at all. (He’s enjoying being a screw-up wizard.) That said, he still enjoys watching Sam bring his magic touch to his old class. 

Beau fundamentally trusts that people will always act in their own self-interest, which is why she told Jester to take care of herself first. To Beau, selfishness & survival are synonymous--most people want to make sure they aren’t going to get caught or killed. That’s how she can trust untrustworthy people to work for the good of the group, and why she thought Caleb & Nott needed to be part of a bigger conversation.

Sam, of course, very briefly FaceTimes into the show with the knowledge that Liam called him a comedic genius. He wishes everyone to know that this is accurate, does a remarkable Howdy Doody impression, and leaves.

Caleb didn’t have any experience with the Zone of Truth spell before and paid close attention while it was being cast, but “nobody asked him any questions, so I guess it’s fine.” 

Caleb’s one-on-one with the DM hasn’t changed his playstyle or character interpretation yet, since it didn’t reveal anything significant. He does think it might have given Caleb a mildly different outlook on certain things/his mood a little bit, but no fundamental shifts yet. Beau’s one-on-one shifted her perspective a lot--she doesn’t respect authority at all, so being put in her place was a good check on her personality & took the edge off her wrecking-ball habits. Both Marisha & Brian talk about respecting someone willing to call them out on their crap.

Gif of the Week: this glorious thing by @scottc_miller on twitter. Poor everyone. Poor drunk Nott.

Beau is officially warming up to Molly. Awwww, my heart. “I don’t know if Molly’s warming up to Beau, but...” Brian: “Self-preservation, guilty until proven innocent...an optimist!”

Molly’s amnesia reveal hasn’t really changed Caleb’s opinion of him. He does trust that Molly told the truth within the Zone’s context, but he knows that may not be the whole truth. The only person who’s changed in Caleb’s estimation is actually Beau; Liam talks about a low score he rolled on an arcana check on the magical symbols, which Beau surpassed, and in the moment Caleb realized that meant Beau must have had some formal schooling. “A little checkmark went ‘boop!’ in a box.”

Beau is aware of her own terrible flirting with women, & Marisha references Beau’s strong preference to be in charge in her interactions. Marisha also talks about some of her Meisner acting classes/acting methods in how scenes are structured and it’s actually really, really cool. Liam segues into his first week in NYU at his very first voice acting class where they laid on the floor and did “pelvic thrusts” to loosen the diaphragm. Marisha recalls her college voice acting teacher telling her she was terrible and shouldn’t pursue voice acting because she spoke from the back of her throat. 

All of Caleb’s spells have been selected for RP reasons over functionality/utility. Liam knows it’s not the most optimal build &, as might be expected, doesn’t care in the slightest. You go, boo.

Liam and Marisha giggle over fighting such a classic old-school monster as a gelatinous cube. Liam honestly wishes Frumpkin could have been dissolved; Caleb emphatically does not. Marisha remembers finding the old cube mini with Matt which could be opened up so other minis could fit inside, and they sat in their living room for some time putting minis inside it. The pair that slays together stays together. Liam also remembers a Comic Con that had light-up gelatinous cube minis which he attended riiiiight after meeting Marisha. 

Fanart of the Week: this by @sephiramy! Look at how good everyone looks, awwww. 

Liam jokes that he personally excluded Quebec from the giveaways and it’s inexplicably hilarious, especially given Matt’s apologies for it on the regular show.

Beau’s hand going numb on the cube attack didn’t phase her at all; she’s still in the “adolescent” phase where she isn’t afraid of any bad things that might happen to her.

In re: screwing the DM with in-universe D&D choices: “Path of the Duck for the fuck.” 

When it comes to HP management, the rest of the party is trying to make sure they can get people up when they’re down, especially since Jester canonically dislikes healing. Marisha reflects on the last campaign where she & Sam often filled the blanks around Ashley’s healing, and feels everyone’s trying to fill a similar role now. Liam and Marisha would ideally like another healer, but neither Beau nor Caleb are paying much attention to maintaining a balanced party comp. 

The cat’s paw version of Caleb’s spell was always planned given his attachment to Frumpkin.

Liam talks about pre-stream puzzles from campaign one, including a complicated hydraulic puzzle that Taliesin’s dragonborn paladin sidestepped with one brute force elbow. He also remembers a child’s square puzzle that took “a group of adults an embarrassing time to solve.” 

Cast- and staff-wide digression into puzzle-shaming Gandalf for flunking the Moria door riddle. Gandalf the Grey--more like Gandalf the Bad at Riddles, amirite

Beau’s ability to solve the magic puzzle feels to Marisha like the lessons your dad makes you learn as a kid, even though you never think you’ll use them--(such as being made to learn to change your own oil despite thinking you’ll always use AutoZone), but then you end up using the skill later on and resent it the whole time. 

Caleb’s increased participation in discussions lately is an intentional choice on Liam’s part. 

Beau’s improvement in dealing with the rest of the M9 is due to her becoming more comfortable with them.

Caleb recognizes Fjord’s arcane power, but doesn’t question it at all due to the magical nature of their world. (Neither Liam nor Caleb trusts Fjord to be neutral good: “He spat saltwater out!”)

Marisha makes a great point about how everyone in a D&D party is by definition magical and special, but everyone in the M9 right now feels like they’re still discovering what that means. Liam points out that VM very much felt like strong, special people with greatness thrust upon them; M9 feels like a troupe of random carnies. 

Marisha on why she’s playing a human in D&D when so many possibilities exist: “Some people like playing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.” She likes going from an all-powerful half-elven archdruid prodigy to a schmo who can just punch things really hard. 

While discussing impostor syndrome, Brian quotes David Milch: “So much of the accomplishment in art comes not from the discovery of one’s gift but from its acceptance.” He likes that the leveling system supports the slow growth of a character in an RP sense and allows the character to learn and accept his or her strengths. He likes that it’s not straight escapism, it’s the combination of one foot in reality and one foot in fantasy.

Liam points out that since their group is very theater- and story-driven, they often use the leveling process to support story choices and character growth over class optimization. Marisha relates it back to the choices in Disney movies, where sometimes the protagonist discovers their innate power & embraces it in order to succeed, vs. where sometimes a protagonist must overcome an innate feature and rise above it in order to succeed. She loves that dichotomy. (Brian feels Scanlan represented similar principles in the last campaign.)

Liam’s favorite moment of the last episode was Sam’s small drunk goblin irritation. 

In re: the rising from the floor at the end of the last episode, Liam hopes there’s a way to talk their way out of any upcoming fight, since Caleb’s pretty tapped. Beau: “This is fine.”

After Dark: I Know What You Did Last Summer Edition

On transferring from the relationship between Vax & Keyleth to Caleb & Beau--both Liam & Marisha have had some disputes about everything that went down in the High Richter’s house. Marisha: “I wouldn’t use the word ‘disputes.’” Liam: “What would you use?” Marisha: “...Clarifications?” They both are struggling with how much their in- and out-of-game relationships have changed over the course of the two campaigns. 

The crew photoshops Liam’s hairy V-necked chest onto Marisha live. What even. How.

Marisha does miss some things about spellcasting, but enjoys watching everyone else struggle with concentration checks and saving throws. 

Liam and Marisha both enjoy building characters and then assigning the classes that fit their story, instead of deciding what class to play first & building a character to that.

Brief aside where both Marisha (not Beau) & Caleb (not Liam) talk about how much they love Jester. 

Liam discusses in- and out-of-player knowledge when it comes to Fjord. Liam knows there’s an eldritch horror behind him, but Caleb has no clue. Marisha sees him as the altrustic half-leader who’s hiding a lot. Liam hypothesizes that someone was about to die, and Fjord saved whoever it was by offering himself to Cthulu. Liam doesn’t think Fjord is good-aligned. Marisha doesn’t trust his smarts. 

Marisha tells a story about Taliesin’s hair at C2E2. They were doing group photos when a family with a little girl came up who asked Taliesin his favorite hair color. He answered “I’m really into the peacock fade with the blue and the fade into green and the purple and the emerald,” and the poor girl was a little overwhelmed. (Marisha once answered her second-grade teacher’s question about her favorite color as “iridescent” and feels the teacher was more impressed with her vocabulary than her color choice.)

If they were pulled into Exandria today, Marisha would like to be a wild magic sorcerer or a paladin; Liam would be a wizard. 

If the M9 were stuck in a cavern with no food, Marisha would eat Fjord first since he’s probably already a little salted. 

Beau’s martial artistry is inspired by Ip Man. 

Liam steps out for a moment after a coughing fit, then returns in order to stand very, very close to Brian. Close enough that Brian’s ear rests on Liam’s stomach. Close enough that Marisha feels left out and both of them cuddle on Brian’s lap to end the show. I’m glad I’m not kidding. 

See you Thursday!