LEFT : oswaldo kato / RIGHT : akira komayama

clean offical tcg art of both of my cringefail wives...

Jealousy pt 2 😍 (I love ur writing sm omgz..) (have a good day/night)

i’m sooo sorry i’m just now getting to this. this request and the others before this one were made when i was getting my life together after my breakup but i’m here now! thank you so much, i’m so happy you love my writing❤️❤️ since you didn’t specify specific characters, this one will be with cyno, wanderer, ayato, and heizou☺️ (i never write for them and they need to be shown some love)

cw: none!

tags: multiple chars x reader (separate), lowkey yandere!ayato, fem!reader

read part 1 here!

m!list here

Cyno~

You and Cyno had been together for so long now. It had started when you were introduced through Tighnari, who had taken you on as his newest assistant after hearing about how you made the top of your class in the same darshan Tighnari graduated from a few of years prior. Tighnari would go on and on about how much easier his research has been since you became his assistant until Cyno had enough and demanded to meet you. Cyno hates to admit it, but it was practically love at first sight. Not only were you a strong fighter with good instincts when you needed to be, you were also whole-heartedly passionate for what you held interest in.

Cyno had asked you and Tighnari to take a break from research to join him for TCG night at the tavern, to which you both agreed. Once arriving to the tavern, you three take your usual table and get set up for the match. Drinks were ordered to the table and the heated match began. When it came to playing TCG with Cyno, the matches either ended swiftly or he would purposefully draw them out just to win in the end. Somehow, over the course of the match, you and Tighnari ended up helping each other here and there with, whispering in each other's ears about strategies for your next moves.

Cyno watched the two of you, not particularly enjoying how physically close you two were getting as you both snickered and whispered to each other. He did his best to keep his cool until Tighnari's fingers grazed yours as he turned your deck towards him to guide you on your next move. You paid no mind to it, but Cyno could feel the possessed spirit within him practically clawing its way out of his body, looking for a fight. Tighnari was the first to notice the subtle flashes of purple light that began to linger around Cyno's body, a clear sign that the spirit was trying to take over, "Um, Cyno?"

Tighnari's concerned tone made you look up from your cards to see the sight before you. Your smile slips into one of concern and you get up from the table and move towards Cyno's spot, "How about we take a break and get some fresh air? Just you and me..." Cyno's red eyes seem to flash as they meet yours, but all he does is nod. You give an apologetic smile to Tighnari who just nods in understanding. You and Cyno step outside into the sticky, hot night. You reach up with both hands, placing them lightly on his tanned cheeks, "Cyno, love... Tell me what's wrong?"

The sweet, soft sound of your voice, your gentle touch, and the way you were looking at him with such love and concern put the possessed spirit to rest. He looks into your eyes and sighs, not one to admit his emotions let alone jealousy, "I don't want to talk about it at the moment." His tone monotone as usual, but the look in his eyes held a hint of longing, "As much as I hate to say this, let's forget about the match and go home...please." You kiss the tip of his nose, making his cheeks go a light shade of red, "Alright. Let's gather our things and say goodbye to our friend."

Wanderer~

Ever since Wanderer regained his memories, Nahida had asked you to keep an eye on him. You two hardly got along until one night, months ago, he kissed you. He likes to say it was a temporary moment of weakness, but you knew better. Ever since then, you two have been almost inseparable as you helped him with Akademiya projects or wandered through Sumeru.

On this particular afternoon, you had resigned yourself to the House of Daena with a male student you couldn't remember the name of for the life of you. He approached you knowing that you always helped Wanderer get the best grades on his project and promised to pay you handsomely if you could help him as well. You shrugged and agreed, not denying the chance to earn such a nice amount of mora.

Wanderer was pissed when he couldn't find you until he entered the House Of Daena. He felt ready to explode when he saw you sitting so close to that random guy, seemingly laughing at something he had said while you reached over (a little too close in Wanderer's opinion), making a correction on the guy's paper. You look up with surprise which turns to the cutest smile when you see Wanderer approach the table, completely unaware of just how pissed off he was. The foul look on Wanderer's face didn't go unnoticed by the guy you were working with who now had a subtle smirk on his face.

Wanderer's eyebrows furrow as he clenches his fist, "I suggest you wipe that stupid smirk off your face and walk away now while you still can." You blink once in confusion. Your eyes flitting between the guy and your boyfriend, "What are you going on about now?" Wanderer's frustrated gaze falls to you, his demeanor almost cracks when he sees how cute and oblivious you look. Then his gaze returns to the guy who hasn't made a single move to leave, "I gave you a warning already. Don't make me repeat myself or you won't have legs to walk away with."

The guy puts his hands up defensively and takes his stuff, only leaving half the amount he had promised to pay you as he walks away grumbling to himself. You look up at Wanderer, your initial shock morphing into quiet laughter that you tried so hard to hold in. He plops himself into the seat next to you, shooting you a glare, "What's so funny?" The childlike angry pout on his face made it hard to contain your laughter, "Are you jealous right now?" Wanderer looks like you just said the greatest insult, but the redness of his cheeks give away how embarrassed he is, "Yeah, right. As if I'd be jealous of a weak nobody." You lean in and press a kiss to his cheek, which makes him blush up to his ears, "Whatever you say~"

Ayato~

You were so precious to Ayato. He simply cannot imagine his life without you. You were smart, strong, and so sweet; he couldn't ever get enough of you. It wasn't really a secret how close Ayato kept you. Honestly he was a bit too obsessed with you, but that's part of what made you fall for him in the first place. Wherever he was, you were too. Except for today.

Today you had spent most of your day with Aether helping him with a commission he had insisted he needed your guidance on. Of course, you had asked Ayato from permission first. That's just how your relationship was and you didn't mind it one bit. Ayato was a bit wary of sending you off without him being by your side, but Aether insisted he would keep you safe and he knew you were capable of handling yourself. So, begrudgingly, Ayato agreed but made you promise to be back before nightfall, dragging you in for an over the top kiss to your lips.

Hours had gone by and Ayato felt he was about to go insane without you by his side. He gets up from his desk and begins pacing the estate, bringing on questioning looks from the guards and groundskeepers. It's not long until he hears one of the guards by the main gate give his greeting. It takes Ayato so much restraint to keep himself from practically storming over to you and taking you into his arms. Aether was still with you, and Ayato had an image to upkeep. What he didn't expect to see was Aether holding you as if you were his bride as he entered the grounds. "What is the meaning of this?", Ayato demands as he quickly approaches the two of you.

You stir in Aether's arms, turning your head to give Ayato a tired smile before your eyes close once again. Ayato is absolutely furious as he practically rips you out of Aether's arms, making you let out a sleepy groan, "You have three seconds to explain why you have brought her home in such a state, in your arms no less." You nuzzle into Ayato's chest and Aether releases a breath, "We got dragged into a fight with some Kairagi." If Ayato hadn't been holding you tightly in his arms, he would have drawn his sword to Aether's throat. Sensing the immense anger, Aether raises his hands defensively, "Don't worry, she doesn't have a single scratch on her. I think she just passed out from exhaustion."

Ayato looks down at your beautiful sleeping face, then glares up at Aether, "Do you mean to tell me you checked her body for scratches? I've heard enough. Please exit quickly before I do something I may come to regret." Aether looks sincerely apologetic as he leaves the estate and Ayato carries you to your shared bedroom. Once he lays you on the bed, he gets in and immediately holds you as if you were going to disappear right in front of his eyes. Ayato nuzzles into your hair, breathing in your scent, speaking softly so as to not wake you, "I will not allow any man to touch you nor allow you to leave my presence ever again."

Heizou~

Everyone knew you were Detective Heizou's girlfriend. He would never shut up about you, going on and on about how you're almost just as bright as he is when it comes to solving cases. It also takes a lot for him to feel jealousy with the big ego he has. How could anyone be better than him? That would be absurd and simply out of the question. But one person seems to put him on edge despite both of you being so close to him: Kazuha.

There was something about Kazuha's easy-going and free-spirited nature that made Heizou want to pay close attention to the way you and him acted while in each other's presence. It wasn't that he didn't trust you or Kazuha, he just had this unfamiliar feeling that bubbled up inside of him whenever he would see you laugh together or be near each other. The night stars were shining brightly as the three of you laid on an empty cliff, away from the main city of Inazuma. You were laying between both boys as you admired the twinkling stars. You and Kazuha were going on and on about the constellations, recalling the mythology behind them with such passion and romanticism. You and Kazuha were very similar in that aspect. Everything to you both had a sense of romance to it which Heizou normally found endearing, but not in this moment.

Kazuha was telling you the story behind Orion's constellation as you listened with great intrigue. Heizou was growing jealous of the conversation and the way you kept looking from Kazuha and back up to the stars. Heizou wanted you to do that for him. You were his girlfriend for fucks sake, not Kazuha's. So he makes a quick decision, grabbing your hand to get your attention, effectively cutting Kazuha off from his story-telling by butting in, "I know of an even better story." You and Kazuha look to Heizou, confused but interested. Heizou clears his throat and begins telling a tale of a god who gave up his power for a human girl he had fallen for just so that he could be with her. When he finishes, you and Kazuha share a look and you speak up first, "Did you just make that up?"

Heizou's face heats up and he frowns, looking away from you both which makes you laugh, "Why are you pouting? It was a cute story, love." Kazuha tries his best not to laugh which only makes Heizou more annoyed, "Why is it that you can romance my girlfriend but I can't?" Now both you and Kazuha begin to laugh, not at Heizou, but of the absurdity of his statement. Now furious with jealousy, Heizou moves to get up from his spot, but you grab hold of his hand, giving him a silly smile, "You don't need to 'romance' me with silly stories, I much prefer your ramblings when you're going on about a case." Heizou's expression relaxes, but still huffs out a breath, "Then quit getting all gooey with him over those balls of gas in the sky." Kazuha finds this to be the perfect opportunity to crack a joke, "Would you prefer we discuss other types of balls instead?" This makes Heizou's demeanor crack completely as laughter from all three of you fills the night air.

a/n: writing this made me realize i actually love writing for ayato! he gives serious yandere vibes but in the best way. i hope you liked this anon❤️

id like to hear your ideas please :)

okay so

for starters, my fascination with trading card games has rekindled. and not in the normal way where you go hey i wanna go play that game but in the way where you want to design a whole fucking game from scratch (<= not a good idea when you take a look at how my past ginormous creative projects went)

i have two main ideas for that. the first one would be relatively basic. a creature battler with an all cards as resource system. combat is basically just take the attackers attack stat and if its equal or higher than the opponents creatures defense stat that was targetet, that gets destroyed. if the attack stat was higher, the excess damage can be retargeted to another of the opponents creatures. there are no life points. instead, you win the game by clearing the opponents board of creatures three times in a row. each player has a set of 3 specially prepared creatures outside the deck acting as shields. each time ones board is cleared, you get to put the next shield in line onto the board so your board isnt empty anymore. the game starts off with the first shield of each player already put onto the board.

the other is a little more nonstandard. the goal here is to reach some number of victory points before your opponent does. you gain these points by making the cards you put onto the board do some once-per-turn action equal to the cards point-gain stat. you can however also similarly make your cards steal the other players points, replacing the usual point-gain action, stealing as many points from the opponent as the cards point-steal stat. a card can only gain or steal per turn. if you made a card perform neither action during your turn, it instead can protect your point stash during the opponents next turn, reducing how many points an opponents card would steal with one action by your cards point-protect stat.

okay those were the tcg ideas

now, conlanging

im still (very passively) working on my big protolanguage to make all these different daughter languages later on. for these daughters i largely dont have any concrete ideas yet but a bunch of misc sound changes that could lead to them that im gonna put here (mostly those that i havent noted down somewhere else before because if i did all this would take forever and im lazy)

-q ɢ→qʀ̥ ɢʀ→kʟ̝̥ gʟ̝→cʎ̝̥ ɟʎ̝→tɬ ʎ

-q ɢ→qʀ̥ ɢʀ→ʀ̥ ʀ→r

-P̥→P̥ʰ/_V; P̬P̥ʰ→P̬ʱ; P̥P̬→P̥

-r→ɻ; ɻ{t d s l n}→ʈ ɖ ʂ ɭ ɳ; ɻ→∅/_C

-g→ɣ→x; xz xv→xʃ xf; x→∅

-p b kʷgʷ → f v p b

none of these are necessarily in one daughterlang or the other those were just some that i thought were kinda cool.

one last thought that i had thats not related to either of those is what if there was like. an anglerfish pokemon. but with the sexual dimorphism of real life anglerfish. and maybe the females could even evolve where the males are fused to them.

okay that was all i think thanks for listening and sorry for the wall of text

Masked Singer Season 5 Review

I haven’t gotten to talk about The Masked Singer here in awhile, but season 5 left me with a lot to talk about after seeing how it nosedived this show into being DEAD television by the end of it.

I’m going to put it all past a read more for you here, because I have over 18000 characters in me to talk about how bad of a season this was apparently. There are also some thoughts about Season 3, and Season 4 (which I skipped reviewing because of how uninteresting it was, but boy did it’s bad qualities have a huge impact on Season 5).

So before I get to dissecting season 5 of the Masked Singer, I have to go back to moments of season 3, and a whole lot of season 4. Season 3 is where we start to see the first inkling of bad tropes occur that persist through season 5 to make it worse. It introduces really obviously weak performances that get the performer to skate by when they shouldn't, leading to the biggest upset I have with the season. Kandi Burruss really shouldn't have won season 3 in my honest opinion. within her first 5 performances, she had two clear duds; her cover of Shout!, and her cover of Man, I Feel Like A Woman. Both were covers that had questionable energy (Shout! less so, but Woman was absolutely unenergetic compared to Twain's original vocal performance), and the latter had a key change to the accompaniment that didn't lend any favors to the energy or vibrancy of the cover. I also need to put into context that what I think is Night Angel's worst performance (Woman) somehow won her a face-off round in season 3 (a forgotten show element from the last two seasons? wowie). Obviously I can say that Jesse McCartney should have won season 3 (I just think he had more consistent performances and output throughout the season), but that's a bit off course. What I really want to get to with Burruss cover of Woman is that it's for all intents and purposes just a middling cover. We'll see these happen more in seasons 4 and 5, but they pan out to usually axing off the contestant. Barring the element of Burruss actually getting eliminated, this is pretty much the first notable Punt Song in terms of performance quality. I want to establish the concept of the Punt Song because it plays a larger role in season 4, and season 5. I also need to establish another trope that season 4 introduced which also cursed season 5, which is excusing bad performances. It panned out so much worse in 4 than in 5, but for 4's sake, Chloe Kim should have been out from her first week. Her performance of Big Girls Don't Cry was weak and mildly sobby, but to the panel it's "emotional", and "it's okay, I'm sure you'll do better next week :)". This performance beat out Wendy Williams cover of Native New Yorker. Was that a great cover by Wendy? No, not really. However, whereas Chloe was a weak, sobbing mess on her first swing at bat, Wendy was bringing the comedy and entertainment factor and should have been safe on that alone. This show failure here is especially notable because having comedic factor in an otherwise bad performance actually pans out successfully in season 5, which makes me question the judges consistency in evaluation from season to season (to be fair though, the judges are Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Whalberg, and Nicole Scherzinger. They're already a collective 3/4 of a middling joke). The last part of Season 4 I want to bring up is the usage of the term "taking us to church" in regards to it not only being a cursed term by the end of season 5, but also being a poor reflection on the judges evaluation skills. Look, I get it, this is a Fox competition at the end of the day, so it's obviously hokey pseudo sentimental faux entertainment tailored for white audiences, but don't say someone "took you to church" and then immediately axe them off after that. Yeah, I'm gonna say it; LeAnn Rimes shouldn't have won season 4. Was she bad? No! I just think Taylor Dane was better than her during the week where they axed off Taylor, especially after the panel said that she "took them to church". What did Dane lose to you ask? a somehow more intimate cover of a Billie Eilish song. Is that a bad thing? No, in fact it was pretty good, but I don't think it was good enough to beat what was probably the best performance of season 4. ------------------------------------- Anyways, all of those ramblings from seasons 3 and 4 aside, I'm finally getting to season 5. Yes, I know it took me almost 4000 characters to get here, but I really wanted to go off for a minute and preface the bubbling layers of garbage from the previous seasons that contribute to season 5's flatlining quality out of the gate. If you think a bevy of Punt Songs and poor evaluation amped up another level are all that season 5 has wrong with it, then prepare yourself, because it only gets so much more gimmicky. --- So I'm going to go about this week by week because this show basically was committing sins weekly by this point. So week 1, I'm sorry, but yes, I know seeing Kermit the Frog come out of a snail costume was very : 0 worthy, but Kermit shouldn't have lost that week! His performance wasn't even bad! So what did Kermit lose to anyway? Danny Trejo doing a bad, borderline comedic cover of Wild Thing. You couldn't ask for a more "go home uncle Frank! You're drunk!" performance, but we got it. The judges saw more of a comedy factor in the performance than they needed to see, and let that slip by while they just left Kermit to take the fall. Already not off to a great start (especially since Trejo's character is part funny and part cringey for basically pining after Jenny all season). --- Week 2 is where we get to the first big problem I have with this season, which is letting problematic celebrities be contestants. I'm just going to skirt by Caitlyn Jenner's performance and say that it was maybe a punt song, but to be fair, I don't have high hopes for Jenner having any real vocal prowess. I mean, her cover of Tik Tok sounded like your unamused uncle singing it during karaoke at a family party you barely remember when you were 12. That aside, I just want to point out that Caitlyn Jenner was on this show, immediately lost her first round, then went off to do Caitlyn Jenner things this year like try to become governor of California, and whatever else I forgot she got into the headlines for this week. I don't know the worst representation of a trans woman as a public figure (speaking from a trans woman's perspective) getting this big of a "haha, hehe, hi chum : )" spotlight on national television after everything she's done. Barf me out. --- Week 3 didn't matter too much. Trejo finally got booted after a second performance with bad vocals. However, I want to bring up week 3 for the structural change that it brought to the season that ultimately robbed it of some value. Prior to this season, we had 3 groups in seasons 3 and 4, groups A B and C. Starting in 5, we only have a group A and a group B, but now we have "wild cards". These are performers that get to slot into a groups set of performances for the week and stack against them to make even a "just-safe" performer look cannable. I know what you're probably thinking. "In a show where we're trying to see the gradual performance growth of a performer in order to gauge their consistency and quality, doesn't allowing a performer to come in weeks into the show give them the opportunity to progress further along in the competition with little to the no evaluation?" Yes. It does give them the opportunity, but we'll get to that problem when we get to Omarion's character of The Yeti. For right now though, I'm just going to say this. The wild card group really didn't have any reason to exist if they show could get literally 1 more performer this season (which they technically did). A and B were 5 members each. There are 4 wild cards. All you needed was literally one more regular performer, and the wild cards could have just been group C. This feels like the kind of resource scalping covered up as a fun gimmick that only a large corporation could do for why we have wild cards instead of a group C, but that's where we stand. --- Week 4 is notable for the same reason as week 2. Ugh, do I really have to say it? Yes, Logan Paul was also on this season of the Masked Singer. Yes, one of the problematic Paul brothers. Yes, especially my least favorite one because he's a big reason as to why my hobby of trading cards has had a huge boom for the worse. Yes, I'm going to blame the rise in scalper culture on Logan Paul. Yes, I'm going to blame eBay getting more anal about how every TCG single should be PSA/CCG/etc. graded on a listing on Logan Paul. I just don't like the guy. Why is he here? --- Week 5 is where this show starts to cement itself as dead television. So for those unaware, Nick Cannon, who usually hosts the Masked Singer, was absent for the first third of this season. Filling in for him was Niecy Nash. So where was Nick you ask? Why as a wildcard of course! Nick's wildcard performance was pretty meh all things considered (the only other thing that was meh that week was Nick Lachey's cover of 7 Years, but that's less on him and more on how 7 years is just a bad song for the pop music lexicon). However, Nick's unmasking is where the show really starts to be dead television this season. Before I even get to that, I just want to point out that the costume for Nick Cannon's character just looks absolutely atrocious by season 5 standards. The costume for the Bulldog barely looks like it holds to the standards of season 1 of this show! Anyways, back on track. Nick Cannon decides to pull a "trick" from season 4. Back in season 4, Mickey Rourke forcibly unmasked himself instead of getting voted off. Here, Nick Cannon pops in as a wildcard contestant after being MIA for 4 weeks, just to give a meh performance and then forcibly unmask himself for "shock value", and then be like "hey guys! :D" and resume hosting the show the following week. Eat me. --- Week 6 isn't too notable besides the fact that somehow one of the previous wildcards (Mark McGrath as Orca) somehow go integrated into group A as a member during the same week of them introducing another wildcard, Omarion's "The Yeti". I only bring this up because if they're going to integrate two wildcards into a week and already remove the specialty factor from one of them, then what was even the point of the gimmick? The show would have been better off mix and matching members from groups A and B each week for the performance lineup instead of muddying the group lineups with wildcard characters like this. --- Week 7 is upsetting to me. Two hour special. 8 Performances. Two people out. And who you may ask? Why, wildcard from previous weeks Bobby Brown who was given a super obvious punt song (that he did pretty well on salvaging on the back half of the performance), and Tamera Mowry, who gave a solid pop performance that week. I only bring up Mowry's performance because during that same week, Nick Lachey gave us all a very underwhelming, overly clean performance of Foo Fighters "The Pretender". This is really upsetting because the judge evaluation is extremely suspect here, as they were giving Mowry plenty of legitimate praise, while all they gave Lachey was "wow that was solid. haha ur such a rocker :^)". It's just really upsetting to see how the judges evaluation pans out, because for the record, Lachey won this season, and I honestly think he should have been punted this week. This is also coming from a week where Omarion gave us a cover of Justin Bieber's "Lonely", which is another song I hope desperately leaves the pop music lexicon, because like 7 years, it's a sentimental white boy ballad that just doesn't authentically resonate. --- Week 8 isn't super notable besides the show giving Tyrese Gibson a super obvious punt song, and wow, who would have guessed it, Tyrese Gibson was eliminated that week after being given a super obvious punt song. Zzz. --- Week 9 isn't super notable besides another upset to me. So this week, Hanson (who got eliminated) gave a pretty solid performance of "I'm Still Standing". So what did they lose to you ask? How about Jojo giving us a cover of Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" with extremely questionable instrumental accompaniment. I can't remember exactly how I articulated it when I first watched it, but to put it in perspective, when LeAnn Rimes aimed for art, she succeeded. When Jojo aimed for art, it just left me confused. I honestly though Jojo should have gotten the boot here, but c'est la vie. --- Week 10 is where Omarion gets eliminated after being given a punt song (surprise). A middle energy performance of "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang isn't much to write home about, but I sometimes get suspicious of the behind the curtain politics of the show. The same week they give Omarion a super obvious punt song is also the second week in a row where Jojo gives us an artsy take on a song that nobody really knows. I'm not saying that Omarion's repertoire coordinator forced him into taking a punt song that week in order to let Jojo get to the finale, but. Wait, no, nevermind, that is what I'm saying. I feel bad for Omarion here. I do think it's pretty bollocks that Omarion basically got to come into the top 8 playoffs off of only one performance (which is a severe abuse of the wild card mechanic from the show producers), but they actually were trying to go for this neat character arc with the character of the "The Yeti" in the song choice. Like, the writers actually put some care into it, and then they give him a punt song on both a writing and performance level, and it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I also just remembered that week 10 is where Donnie Whalberg's character of Cluedle-Doo both performs and unmasks. Cluedle-Doo was another dead television gimmick for the season. See, all the characters get clue packages, but Cluedle-Doo will come in and block certain clues from being revealed to the judges, instead replacing them with clues provided by Doo himself. If that sounds annoying, that's because it is. More so when done by a character pompous attitude that does nothing but interfere. I do want to point out however that when I say that Donne performed, Donnie PERFORMED. There are no two ways about it, Donnie's cover of Return of the Mack was the best performance of this week. The only thing that even came close was the Chameleon. I don't need middling Kool & The Gang covers, I don't need art performances of songs I've never heard, and I don't need a Lewis Capaldi cover done by Nick Lachey (so much emotional white boy music this season. Gag me). I really think that Donnie should have been a regular contest, and I think that Nick Cannon should have been Cluedle-Doo as a gimmick character. It's more obvious, and it makes more sense. Obviously this leaves characters to create and fill slots for, but damnit, don't tease me with one of the best performances of the season just to let it whittle out like that. --- Alright, Week 11...the finale. There really isn't much to say, so I'm just going to cut right to it. I don't know what that cover of "Faithfully" Nick Lachey gave us was. There's an obvious problem with the Masked Singer where the short performance time makes slow burn ballads like faithfully translate poorly. As a result, the emotional arc of the performance feels stunted, and it's capped off with a declaration fest ending in one sustained note for "wow, I don't know anything about a good performance, but I'm easily impressed : 0" bait. This is clearly the weakest performance from the three tonight. Jojo's cover of "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" by Michael Bolton is...better than what Nick Lachey gave us, but it has its own problems. The Bolton original earworms on you because of the anguish in Bolton's vocal tone. Jojo is too clean to give us even a smidge of anguish until after she's unmasked. That more forgivable though. I'm not going to forgive Jojo for littering an emotional ballad for multiple unnecessary pop diva vocal runs. They're not appropriate here for emotional flavor. They don't add anything musically. They just feel like a forced device from the executives perspective. They stand out in poor musical taste, and they really take away from what Jojo was trying to do in the chorus. Speaking of, the short form nature of the performances makes doing a double chorus with a key change from one chorus to the next feel like another arc stunt. Just bad direction right there. And finally, Wiz Khalifa as the Chameleon doing Gangsta's Paradise. I'm just gonna say it. Wiz Khalifa got robbed. Hip Hop performers tend to be pretty middling on the Masked Singer, with Bow Wow just beefing it at the end of season 3, and Busta Rhymes being unceremoniously eliminated week 1 of season 4. Wiz was different though. Wiz knew what he wanted to do with not only the character, but also with his performances. Chameleon was by far the most consistent and quality character of the season, with only one marginally middling performance during his run. Wiz's cover of Gangsta's Paradise isn't a masterclass in voice personality, but contextually for the show, it pushed more for what the character was trying to do right at the end where it counts, and the judges failed to evaluate that correctly. Wiz was actually doing sung parts that week. Wiz was engaging with the crowd and judges far more than Jojo and Nick were. Wiz even gave stage presence and his musical presence a real arc in this performance. On top of his already present cool swagger that he had on stage, this was easily the best performance of not only the finale, but also for the Chameleon. It's even up there for the best performances of the season. Giving Wiz third place for two C tier pop ballad performances shows a super evident lack of evaluation skills in the judges, and really reinforces the super obvious ballad bias the show has. --- So anyways, this has been a long one, but I think I got it all out there. Masked Singer season 5 really took the uninteresting quality level of Season 4 and just elevated it to being obvious and gimmicky on top of that. I've seen shows become dead television in my time, but this is a staggering nose dive into the realm of dead television. I "hope" Season 6 is "better" than this (if we even get one. This season might have been so gimmicky because the ratings could have sucked hard), but I'm certain it will be if this is the direction they opted for within just one season. Sorry to talk your ear off, but as someone who likes to think they know what good musical performance is in a context like this after being in many concerts in popular music contexts, this show has really not sustained itself as being "it", chief.

Things I Enjoyed in 2020 Despite Everything

Seasons Greetings! This year has felt like an eternity for so many reasons, and before it’s over, I’d like to take a look back on the distractions that got me through it. Along the way, I’ll occasionally point out where I was emotionally at the time and whether I got into a particular thing before or after the pandemic hit in mid March. I hope you enjoy this little retrospective of some of my experience during one of the worst years of human history!

Games & Mods

Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven

When I was making my 2020 resolutions list late last year, one of my goals was to play more old games in my backlog and not buy many new games this year. That goal largely went on hold, because, well, I sought out enjoyment wherever I could find it instead of forcing myself to play one thing or another. But before Covid, I was really enjoying my new playthrough of M&M6. I’d made attempts at it before, but it was really GrayFace’s mod that made the game click for me. Modern features like quick saves and mouselook make the game much more accessible, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to try an old-school RPG. It’s a great stepping stone into a mostly-dead genre. I’m hoping to get back to it soon. I just jumped ship to simpler ventures like Doom Eternal after the pandemic hit and haven’t looked back since.

Pathologic 2

I learned about the Pathologic series late last year and have since become a little obsessed with it. Hbomberguy’s lengthy video essay on the original game really intrigued me and lead me to trying the sequel/remake in April via Xbox Game Pass. In a weird way, it was cathartic to be a doctor in an even more dire situation than our current one and still see signs of the townsfolk trying to help each other deal with a supernatural plague and little help from their local government. The game helped me express a lot of what I was feeling at the time, when I was still getting used to working from home and wondering just how long this could go on for. I’ve gone back to it recently, and I’m hoping to finish it someday, if I can find a way to stop dying. Above all, Pathologic 2 teaches you how to make choices in no-win scenarios with little information or resources and still persevere, despite the world going to Hell around you. And that’s maybe the most important thing to practice at the moment.

Overwatch

I’ve continued to look forward to weekly Overwatch nights with my friends every Thursday, and it’s really important to have something like that right now. Even if it’s just a new episode of a show airing, a new video from a favorite YouTuber, or a regular Zoom call with coworkers, it helps so much to have something to anticipate from week to week and month to month. Otherwise, it’s really easy to feel like nothing’s going on besides the entropic deterioration of the universe. Overwatch itself helps with this, because it’s such a positive, bright, and optimistic game, as only Blizzard can create. And it’s improved a ton in the past couple of years, in a lot of ways. If you haven’t played in a while, hop in and check out all the new content with your friends; I think you’ll have a great time. It’s looking more and more like Overwatch 2 is right around the corner, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Go

I learned how to play Go after watching a documentary released this year about  AlphaGo, the computer that beat the Go world champion, and I have a huge appreciation for the game now. I think it’s even more beautiful than chess, though even more insidious to learn. If you haven’t played before, start with a 9x9 board, teach yourself the basics, and try playing with another beginner friend. I guarantee you’ll be amazed at the amount of strategy and imagination that a game ostensibly about placing black and white stones on a grid can inspire. Go’s one of several new hobbies I’ve picked up this year, and those new hobbies have really helped me pass the time in a way that feels productive as well as take my mind off whatever depressing news just got blasted across Twitter.

Doom 64

Doom Eternal was fine, but Doom 64′s where my heart lies. The PC port on Steam is great, allowing everyone to easily play the game with mouse and keyboard. Its levels are tight and colorful, often asking the player to backtrack multiple times through the same areas to unlock new ones and take on whatever new twists await down each darkened corridor. It’s a surprisingly fresh experience. Unlike many modern Doom mods that strive to be sprawling marathons, 64′s levels are short but memorable, and the game is a great entry point to the series for newcomers because of that. Retro FPS’s continue to inspire and entertain me, and Doom 64 is one of my new favorites.

Golf With Your Friends

I’m not usually that into party games, but Golf With Your Friends strikes the right balance between casual tone and skill-based gameplay. The maps are vibrant and devious, the different modes are creative and often hilarious, and the pacing is near-perfect. If you’ve got a squad itching to play something together for a few nights, I guarantee you’ll have a lot of laughs trying to knock an opponent off the course or turning them into an acorn just as they’re about to attempt a nasty jump.

Quake 1 Mods

I probably sound like a broken record by now to a lot of you, but I won’t rest until I get more people into retro FPS’s. The outdated graphics and simple gameplay can be off-putting at first, but it doesn’t take long at all to get hooked after you’ve played the likes of excellent mods like Ancient Aliens for Doom 2 or Arcane Dimensions for Quake 1. And it’s only getting better, with this year marking probably the best year for Quake releases ever. The industry even seems to be taking notice again, with many talented mappers getting picked up for highly-anticipated, professional indie projects like Graven and Prodeus. And while the marketing around the retro FPS renaissance as the second coming of “boomer shooters” should be much maligned, the actual craft involved in making mods and brand new games in the genre has never been stronger. I even contributed four levels to the cause this year, but you’ll have to play them yourself to decide if they’re any good: https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/?filtered=burnham.

Streets of Rage 4

I had not tried Steam Remote Play before this year, but it works surprisingly well if you have a decent internet connection. Because of Remote Play, I was able to complete Streets of Rage 4 with my friends, and it was very close to the experiences I had as a kid playing brawlers like Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo. The game is just hard enough to make you sweat during the boss fights but just easy enough that the average group of gamers can complete it in a night or two, which is ideal for adults with not a lot of free time.

Hard Lads

Hard Lads is a pure delight of a game by Robert Yang about the beauty of a viral video from 2015 called “British lads hit each other with chair,” which is even more ridiculous than it sounds. It made me smile and laugh for a good half hour, and I think it’ll do the same for you.

Commander MtG

The Commander format for Magic: the Gathering is one of my favorite things, and in 2020, I dug into it more than any other year. More so even than playing or watching it being played, I created decklists for hours and hours, dreaming up new, creative strategies for winning games or just surprising my imaginary opponents. I sincerely believe this little ritual of finding a new legendary creature to build around and spending a few days crafting a brew for it got me through the majority of this summer. I didn’t have a lot of creative energy this year, but I was able to channel the little I did have into this hobby. Especially during the longer, more frustrating or depressing days at work when I had nothing else to do or just needed a break, I could often dive back into card databases and lose myself in the process of picking exactly the cards that best expressed what I wanted to do for any given deck. And it’s nice to know I can always fall back on that.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

I played a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh! growing up but never had the cards or the skill to be particularly good at it. I just knew I enjoyed the game and the 4Kids show, but I quickly them behind when I got to high school. Fast forward to 2020, and the game and franchise have evolved substantially, not always for the better. But I do find it so intriguing, with a skeptical kind of adoration. It’s not nearly as well-supported as Magic, but what it does have are gigantic anime monsters on tiny cards with enough lines of text to make your head spin. And it’s so interesting to me that a franchise like that can continue to thrive alongside more elegant games like the Pokemon TCG and Hearthstone. And the further I’ve delved into how the game has changed since I stopped playing, the more invested I’ve become, going so far as to start buying cards again and looking into possible decks I might enjoy playing. An unequivocal win for Yu-Gi-Oh! is Speed Duel, which seeks to bring old players back to the game with a watered-down, nostalgia-laden format with fewer mechanics and a much smaller card pool. So if all you want to do is pit a Blue Eyes White Dragon against a Dark Magician, that’s 100% still there for you, but the competitive scene is still alive, well, and astoundingly complicated. And I think that’s kind of beautiful.

Black Mesa

I wasn’t expecting to have the tech to play Half Life: Alyx this year, so Black Mesa seemed like the next best thing. And it really is a love letter to the first game, even if it’s far from perfect. I even prefer the original, but I did very much enjoy my time with this modern reimagining. If you’ve never played a Half Life game before, I think it’s a great place to start.

VR via the Oculus Quest

Around halfway through this year, I started to get really stir crazy and yeah, pretty depressed. It seemed like I’d be stuck in the same boring cycle forever, and I know for a lot of people, it still feels like that. So VR seemed like the perfect escape from this dubious reality where you can’t even take a safe vacation trip anymore. And you know, I think it works really well for that purpose. The Oculus Quest is especially effective, doing away with cords or cables so you have as much freedom as you have free real estate in your home. I don’t have a lot of space in my studio apartment, but I have enough to see the potential of the medium, which is completely worth it. Next gen consoles are neat and all, but I’ve got my heart set on picking up the Quest 2 as soon as possible.

* Beat Saber

I was most looking forward to trying Beat Saber on the Quest, and I was not disappointed. You’d think rhythm games had reached their peak with Rock Band and DDR, but the genre keeps on giving with gems like this. It’s hard to convey if you’ve never tried it, but the game succeeds so well in getting your entire body into the rhythm of whatever song you’re slashing through.

* Half Life: Alyx

Again, I really did not expect to be able to experience this game as intended this year, and I still don’t think I really have. The Oculus Link for the Quest is admittedly a little janky, and my PC barely meets the minimum specs to even run the game. And yet, despite that, Alyx is one of my top three games of 2020 and maybe one of my all-time favorites. Even as I was losing frames and feeling the game struggle to keep up with all the AI Combine soldiers running around, I was still having a blast. For me, it is one of the best reasons to seek out and own VR and a pinnacle of game design in its own right.

Hades

For me, Hades has mostly been similar to every other Supergiant Game that I’ve played: fun and well-polished but ultimately not engaging enough to play for very long. And there’s always this sheen of trying to be too clever with their dialogue, narration, and music that rubs me the wrong way. But Hades is certainly their best game, and I can’t deny the effect it’s had on people, much like Bastion’s reception back in 2011. And I’m really hoping Hades gets more people into roguelikes, as a more accessible and story-driven approach to the genre. Timing-wise, I wish it hadn’t come out around the same time as Spelunky, because I think it did make some people choose one over the other, when the best choice is to play both and realize they’re going for very different experiences. The precise, unforgiving, arcade-like style of Spelunky isn’t fun for everyone, though, and Hades is thankfully there to fill in that gap. I’m really glad I found more time to play it this year at least to succeed on one escape attempt; it’s a fun game to think about in a game design context. And I do think the game has a lot of merit and is doing some clever things with difficulty that the studio likely could not have honed nearly so well without the help of Early Access. The most impressive part of the game to me is not the story or the music or the combat but the massive amount of contextual dialogue they somehow found time to program, write, and record at a consistently high level. All of this is just to say, Hades is obviously one of the best games of the year, and you should play it if you have any interest in it at all.

Spelunky 2

I’ve spoken a lot about this game on Twitter, so I’m not going to rehash much of that here. For me, it’s been a journey of over 1,000 attempts to learn the intricacies and secrets of a deep and demanding game that’s been as frustrating as it’s been rewarding. But it remains a constant source of learning and discovery as well as mastery and pride for me, and I still have hopes of reaching the Cosmic Ocean and getting all the trophies someday. It’s been a joy to watch other Spelunky players too, even as some fair worse than me and others fair far better. And the Daily challenge keeps me coming back, because seeing my name high up on the leaderboard just makes me feel so damn good (or at least I’ll get a good laugh out of a hilarious death). At its heart, Spelunky is a community endeavor, and I think it succeeds at that better than almost any other game this side of Dark Souls. I think it is my Game of the Year or at least tied with Alyx, I really can’t decide. If you don’t think you’d enjoy it, all I’ll say is, the frustration and difficulty are integral to the experience of discovery and surprise, and your brain is better at video games than you think.

Chess

Okay, yes, I watched and enjoyed The Queen’s Gambit, but I think 2020 had already primed people to get into chess this year regardless. Like Yu-Gi-Oh!, chess was a childhood pastime of mine that I really enjoyed and then quickly left behind as I discovered things like music and the internet. If I had to assign a theme to my 2020, it would be rediscovering old hobbies to remind myself how good life actually is. And now I’m more committed to chess than I ever was before. I’m watching international masters and grand masters on YouTube (as well as the incomparable Northernlion), I’m playing regularly on Chess.com, and I’m even paying for lessons and probably my own theory books soon. Like most fighting games, chess is a complicated form of dueling a single opponent with zero randomness, so mistakes are always on you. And modern chess platforms offer extremely good analysis tools, showing you exactly how, when, and why you screwed up so you can do better next time. Like Hearthstone, it’s a quick, addicting, tense, and rewarding way to train your brain and have fun. And it seems more popular now than ever, in part due to a certain Netflix original TV show...

TV

The Queen’s Gambit

I think a lot of people want to be Beth Harmon, even if they know they shouldn’t. It must feel so good to be the best at something and know you’re the best, even while under the influence of certain substances. It’s what makes characters like Dr. Gregory House so fun to watch, though you’d never want to work with the guy. For me, anyway, I always wanted to be a prodigy at something, and what little success I’ve had made The Queen’s Gambit very relatable to me. More so, it’s easy to relate to growing up in a conservative environment with few real friends and fewer outlets of expression, only to realize you’ve finally found your thing, and that no one can take it from you. That’s mostly what I’m going to take from The Queen’s Gambit anyway, more than chess or the Cold War commentary or the problematic relationships Beth has with her cadre of rivals/boyfriends. The show gets a strong recommendation from me for fans of chess as well as lovers of optimistic coming-of-age stories.

March Comes in Like a Lion

Similarly, March Comes in Like a Lion features a protagonist who is scarily close to a version of myself from like eight years ago. My best friend has been urging me to watch this show for years, and I’m still only a few episodes in. But I love how it portrays a young person who’s moved to a big city away from home for the first time, with nothing more than some meager possessions and the hopes of becoming the best in the world at something. And Rei is not confident in himself or outgoing at all, he’s extremely depressed despite pursuing his dreams and trying to distance himself from his somewhat toxic family. It’s a great reminder that the smallest kindnesses can often change our entire perspective on the world, and that even the people that seem the most well-equipped to handle life often still need help. I’ve been very fortunate to have people like that despite mistakes I’ve made, and I hope to be that person for others too.

Umbrella Academy

I’m pretty burnt out on superheroes, but UA put a good enough spin on them that they felt brand new. The show is rough in places, but it’s surprising in some really clever ways. And the comics are some of the wildest stories I’ve ever read, like Hitchhiker’s Guide meets Watchmen.

HunterXHunter

I binged about 100 of the 148 episodes of HxH this year, which I recognize is not a significant number in the wider world of long-running shounen anime, but it’s quite an undertaking for me to finish a show of this length. The series goes places I never expected and made me care so strongly for characters I thought I’d hate at first. It’s the smartest and most endearing show about a band of misfits going on crazy adventures and punching people for the good of the world that you’re likely to find.

Hannibal

This is the rare show that’s simultaneously comforting and nightmare-inducing if watched for extended periods. I can remember nights after binging a few episodes where I couldn’t get many of the disturbing images out of my head. Fair to say, Hannibal is not for the faint of heart, nor is it without some low points. But for those who enjoy gory thrillers or gritty detective dramas, it’s a must-watch. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Original Series, English Sub

You can probably imagine my surprise as I discovered this year that the Japanese version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime is not only much better than the 4Kids version we got in the States, but it’s actually a decent show. The plot makes much more sense, it’s more interesting, the stakes are higher, the voices are better, and overall it’s just more enjoyable to watch. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it long enough to finish it this time, but this is definitely the way I’d do it and would recommend to others.

Fargo Season 4

It’s a miracle we even got another season of Fargo this year, let alone on time and of the same high quality as the first two seasons. It has a great setting, cast, and conflict. I love Chris Rock, and it was so cool to see him act so well in such a serious role. There’s a Wizard of Oz homage episode that is nearly flawless. And the post-credits scene at the end of the season is just the cherry on top. If you haven’t checked out Fargo by now, you are really missing out on some of the most interesting stuff happening in TV. I can’t wait to see what Noah Hawley does with the Alien franchise.

Movies

Cats

I had to include this one because it was the last full movie I saw in theaters before the pandemic hit. I technically went to Sonic too, but my friends and I walked out after about 30 minutes. The less said about that movie, the better. Cats, though, is a strange and curious beast (pun intended), adapting an already unruly animal (pun intended) to the big screen and yowling to be recognized (pun intended). But for every awkward or embarrassing scene, there’s one of pure joy and magic, like the extended ballet sequence or Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat. The film knows exactly what it is and leans into it hard, like a familiar yet slightly insane feline begging to be stroked, which I imagine is exactly what fans of the musical wanted.

Children of Men

There’s not much I can say about this film that probably hasn’t been said better elsewhere. I was intrigued to watch it when I learned it was one of my friend’s favorite movies. And I have to say, it’s really profound in a prescient way. Clive Owen gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. You should watch it, but only when you feel like taking a severe hit to the feels.

Basic Instinct

Vertigo is probably still my favorite film, so when I learned this year that Paul Verhoeven made a bloody, sex romp homage film to it in the 90s with Michael Douglas starring, I simply had to watch it. And you know, it’s not bad. It’s nowhere near as good as Vertigo, and you can see the ending coming a mile away. But what it does have is the immaculate Sharon Stone, who you cannot take your eyes off for the entire movie. And the movie knows it, making her look as alluring and suggestive as her character is to the detective investigating her. You could do worse than to watch it, just don’t expect any of Hitchcock’s subtlety or looming dread to seep into the final product.

Books

Dune

I finally finished Dune this year, and I can genuinely say it lives up to the hype. It’s not the easiest book to get through, but it’s by no means one of the most difficult either. I’m still bummed that the new film was delayed, but it might give me time to read the rest of the original book series.

The Fifth Season

Another fantastic piece of fiction, I cannot recommend this book enough. N.K. Jemisin is one of the best living authors of our time. If you want an original setting with a brilliant magic system and complex, compelling characters, look no further.

Video Content

Northernlion

I’ve been a fan of NL for years, though I’ve never been that into The Binding of Isaac. He just has a charismatic intelligence to him that sets him apart from most “Let’s Play” YouTubers to me, and he’s very funny to boot. I guess I’d say he seems a lot like me or the person I could picture myself being if I were a professional video content creator. So I was really excited for NL’s series of Spelunky 2 videos, and I still watch them every day, months later. And now he’s teaching me how to get better at chess, being a good 600 ELO higher than myself at the moment. His sarcastic and improv-laden banter have withstood the test of years and gave me some much-needed comfort and laughter in 2020. Somehow, the man even found a way to keep up his prolific output this year while raising his firstborn child. There are those who said it couldn’t be done...

The Command Zone - Game Knights

Josh Lee Kwai and the rest of the crew at The Command Zone continue to put out some of the most well-produced tabletop gameplay videos on the internet. It’s perhaps no surprise, seeing as how Lee Kwai created trailers for such blockbuster films as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Jimmy Wong had a supporting role in the live action remake of Disney’s Mulan. But the crew around the two hosts are just as important and talented, and it’s clear that they all share the same singular vision for the channel’s future. They’ve carefully crafted a team of expert editors, animators, cosplayers, and voice actors to deliver one delightful video after the next at a consistently high level. If you’re into Magic: the Gathering at all, you simply need to watch Game Knights.

Cimoooooooo

I found Alex Cimo’s channel shortly after the algorithm learned I was interested in Yu-Gi-Oh! again, and at first, I was less than impressed with him. But it’s clear to me now that he not only loves what he does, he’s an expert Yu-Gi-Oh! player and analyst. Plus, he’s very good at explaining some of the more complex concepts in the game in a way that newcomers can understand. I’ve watched every new episode of The Progression Series and The History of Yu-Gi-Oh! so far, and they’re the best way I’ve found to learn how the game developed and changed over the last 20 years.

Team APS

This is another great Yu-Gi-Oh! channel, focusing more on skits, gimmick videos, and casual games rather than analytical or theoretical content. Mostly, they seem like a really great group of friends that just have a blast playing Yu-Gi-Oh! together, and their love for the game makes me want to play more too.

Tolarian Community College

Somehow, a community college English professor’s channel went from a quirky little deckbox review platform to the most popular Magic: the Gathering channel on YouTube in only a few years. But it’s easy to see why when Brian clearly loves what he’s doing more than most people ever will. He’s not only a fantastic reviewer and MtG scholar, he’s one of the most outspoken voices for positive change in the community and the game. Is he too hard on the Magic team at Wizards of the Coast? Perhaps, but without his measured and well-reasoned takes on all things Magic, I think we’d be much worse off.

IRL

Cooking

Even I get tired of eating the same things every day, so I’ve taken it upon myself to learn how to make more dishes, mostly out of sheer boredom. And I know I’m not alone in that, but I have to say it’s been a rewarding and fun adventure. It’s really surprising what you can throw together with a decent recipe and a little creativity in a modest kitchen when you decide to break away from the microwave for once.

Chinchillin’

Like many people, I felt that I needed a pet to survive this year, and I’ve always wanted a chinchilla. So I took a risk and bought one from a seller on KSL a few months ago, and my life has definitely changed for the better. No longer simply alone with my thoughts all day, I have a furry little companion to commune and bond with. And it’s more difficult to find time to feel sorry for myself when a basically helpless tiny creature depends on me for almost everything. Not to say it’s been a perfect experience however, people don’t say chins are difficult to care for for nothing. And I have learned more about them than perhaps I ever cared to know before, but that’s only made them more interesting to me as a result. Overall, I would recommend them as pets, just be prepared to give them a lot more time and attention than you would to say, a fish or a hamster. I’ve seen the commitment compared to that of a large dog, and I think that’s fair, though chins seem far more difficult to train and are far less cuddly. Basically, imagine a fluffy, super fast squirrel that can jump half your height, shed its fur at will if grabbed too tightly, that sleeps all day and bathes in dust, and that cannot get wet or too hot or eat 99% of human foods without serious complications. And they get lonely, and they all have their own surprisingly distinct personalities, some shy and mischievous, others bright and social, and everything in between. But I’m glad to be part of my little buddy’s life and hope to make it a long and enjoyable one for him. Part of why I wanted a chinchilla so badly is they typically live between 10-20 years, much longer than the average rodent or even many cats and dogs. And they’re sadly endangered in the wild, poached for their incredibly soft fur, which is why I believe it’s critical that we care for and learn more about them now. And above all, I adore my chinchilla’s antics, even when he continually tries to dig up and eat the paper bedding below his cage when I’ve provided perfectly edible hay and pellets for him in much easier to reach locations.

And that’s all, folks...

If you’ve read this far, know that I really appreciate it and hope you learned something new about yourself, art, or the world. And please do let me know what’s kept you going the most this year too, as I suspect I’ll still be searching for new distractions next year, even after I’m able to get a Covid vaccine injection. As Red Green would say, we’re all in this together, and I’m pullin’ for ya. <3

United States TCG: Update

I’m creating a sort of parody trading card game where the monsters are the 50 states and DC, and I’m basing their cost, attack and defense stats on their area, population, and population density respectively.  Larger states cost more to play, states with higher population can do more damage, and states with low population density are the best defended.

I created a spreadsheet of 2010 census data to visualize the stats for each card, dividing them into ten levels per stat.  I wanted to see if the real-world figures are in any way balanced (I doubt it), so I threw together some quick mock ups of the cards to see how they compare to one another.

I’m gonna have to play with a lot of these numbers, because right off the bat we have some low cost cards that are WAY too powerful.

Cost 1

DC: Attack 1, Defense 1

Rhode Island: Attack 2, Defense 1

Delaware: Attack 2, Defense 2

New Hampshire: Attack 2, Defense 4

Connecticut: Attack 5, Defense 1

New Jersey: Attack 8, Defense 1

These all cost the same, but Connecticut is above the power curve, and New Jersey is off the charts.  8 attack?  It costs 1, so on the first or second turn it would be going up against cards with like 1 or 2 defense max.  It’s OP, so I either need to nerf it or give buffs to the other Cost 1 cards.  DC is useless, 1-1-1, not even worth the paper it’s printed on.

Cost 2

Vermont: Attack 1, Defense 7

Hawaii: Attack 3, Defense 4

West Virginia: Attack 3, Defense 6

Maryland: Attack 7, Defense 1

Massachusetts: Attack 8, Defense 1

Why would anyone play Massachusetts for 2-8-1 when New Jersey is playable a turn earlier with 1-8-1?  Maryland is even worse, 2-7-1 puts it well below the curve.

Cost 3

Maine: Attack 2, Defense 8

Kentucky: Attack 5, Defense 5

South Carolina: Attack 6, Defense 4

Tennessee: Attack 7, defense 4

Indiana: Attack 8, Defense 3

New Jersey is still the strongest card; going up two cost levels only gives Indiana a slight bump in Defense, but at this point attacks are getting strong enough to blast through 3 defense like it’s nothing anyway.  Might as well go with 1 defense because it’s cheaper. 

Cost 4

Mississippi: Attack 4, Defense 7

Alabama: Attack 6, Defense 5

Virginia: Attack 8, Defense 3

Ohio: Attack 9, Defense 2

Pennsylvania: Attack 9, Defense 2

We’ve finally reached stronger cards than New Jersey, but even then only slightly.  Ohio and Pennsylvania are twins at 4-9-2, so what makes one better than the other?  Is the extra attack point worth waiting three whole turns over New Jersey?  Defense is still way too low, so why bother?

Cost 5

Arkansas: Attack 4, Defense 7

Iowa: Attack 5, Defense 7

Louisiana: Attack 6, Defense 6

North Carolina: Attack 9, Defense 3

New York: Attack 10, Defense 2

Attack has been maxed out at only level 5; why bother getting any cards higher than this if they’re not gonna be more powerful?  Sure, their defense might be higher, but they cost more for the same amount of damage, so New York is clearly superior.

Cost 6

Missouri: Attack 7, Defense 6

Wisconsin: Attack 7, Defense 6

Georgia: Attack 9, Defense 4

Illinois: Attack 10, Defense 3

Florida: Attack 10, Defense 2

Illinois would have to have a good effect to make it better than New York, but Florida, my dear Sweet Home Florida, is functionally useless.  Same attack, same defense, higher cost; it’s just a worse New York (as in real life; ZING).  More twins with Missouri and Wisconsin; Maybe I should have a mechanic for cards to work together, because the next two on the list make a lot of sense.

Cost 7

North Dakota: Attack 1, Defense 10

South Dakota: Attack 1, Defense 10

Nebraska: Attack 3, Defense 9

Oklahoma: Attack 5, Defense 8

Washington: Attack 8, Defense 5

The Dakotas are identical, min attack, max defense, the toughest but weakest cards yet.  Maybe the twin mechanic could work by states merging with their neighbors to become more powerful; that opens up a ton of combo potential, like Yu-Gi-Oh fusions monsters or Exodia,who knows.  So far, cost 7 seems pretty useless compared to those that came below it.

Cost 8

Idaho: Attack 3, Defense 9

Kansas: Attack 4, Defense 8

Utah: Attack 4, Defense 9

Minnesota: Attack 6, Defense 6

Michigan: Attack 9, Defense 5

Idaho is a more expensive Nebraska, and nothing has yet to beat New York and New Jersey.  Michigan comes close, but it’s weaker and more expensive, so it’s objectively inferior.

Cost 9

Wyoming: Attack 1, Defense 10

Nevada: Attack 4, Defense 9

Oregon: Attack 5, Defense 8

Colorado: Attack 6, Defense 8

Arizona: Attack 7, Defense 7

Wyoming is a more expensive Dakota!  I’m gonna have to rethink the fundamental mechanics of this game, I don’t think I can just tweak it a little to fix all the gaping holes.  It’s nowhere near balanced, with early and mid-game cards knocking late game cards out of the park.

Cost 10

Alaska: Attack 1, Defense 10

Montana: Attack 2, Defense 10

New Mexico: Attack 3, Defense 9

California: Attack 10, Defense 3

Texas: Attack 10, Defense 5

California and Texas could hold their ground against New York, but for twice the cost,they’re not worth it unless they have some really major buffs.  California is only marginally better, with one extra defense point; pittance.  Maybe I could balance things by doubling the attack scale from 10 to 20, but then I’d have to raise defenses to match this, and now we have post-war hyperinflation, whoops.

There are no easy solutions, the concept is fundamentally flawed.  I may have to go back to the drawing board on this one.  I like the idea of a state-based game, but maybe it would be better as a board game like Risk or Catan.  If I want to stick to the TCG genre, it’s imperative that everything be balanced.  I need to study Magic and Pokemon and Hearthstone to see how they handle their cost-to-attack ratios.

Even limiting myself to just 50 cards is proving harder than I thought, there’s no way I’d be able to balance every state from every census dating back to 1790 under my current plan.  No sir, I need to rework this from the ground up.

Again, I’m open to any suggestions.  Any game designers wanna help a noob out?

Wyvern CCG

So my second article. Here we go! I know I said my next article would be about Ophidian’s gameplay, but in trying to learn to play I found I actually didn’t know anyone who liked card games enough to try their best to learn this one... Wyvern though. I have things to say about Wyvern.

Wyvern was a CCG initially released in 1995, designed by Mike Fitzgerald and published by US Games Systems Inc. Now I think its safe to say Mike Fitzgerald isn’t exactly a household name in the gaming community, but surprisingly he did work on other games after Wyvern. Most notably a couple games for WOTC and Dragon Hunt (more on that shortly). He also helped design the starter decks for the early Pokemon TCG, which when I found out about I was genuinely in awe a little bit. 

Allow me this small tangent, but this is someone who had a very small impact on all of our childhoods even if it was in an extremely minor way. A starter deck can really impact how you respond to a TCG, so this was obviously a really interesting job for someone to have and how he decided what cards to put in them is something I’d love to find out, or just generally how these things are decided and who actually designs these things.

Anyway, back to the article. US Games Systems Inc were largely a tarot and playing card publisher, and also a publisher of Wizard Trump cards (I’m guessing in the vein of Top Trumps, but I couldn’t tell you exactly how the game plays). And they still are. Wyvern didn’t put them under the same way other TCGs/CCGs buried their publishers. But again, more on that later.

So Wyvern. It was a game about dragons and dragon slayers, with a unique gameplay style I quite enjoyed (more on that in my gameplay article), with art that ranges from “Legitimately good” to “Comically Bad”, which is odd considering all the cards I’ve checked from the Limited Edition were illustrated by the same artist. It also has the coolest card back I’ve ever seen on a trading card. It has a real fantasy tome vibe, with a gold that really pops in person. There’s a reason I made it the icon for this blog. It would probably fit in well among CCGs today if it lasted. Alas, it did not.

Wyvern lasted two years (Ah the two year curse... Check out Kohdok’s Seven deadly Sins of TCGs for more on that), with five total releases; the Premiere Limited Edition, the limited edition, Phoenix, Chameleon and Kingdom. Limited edition largely consisted of Premiere edition reprints and a few added cards, while Phoenix and Chameleon both added 90 new cards each. Kingdom was similar to the limited edition, in that it was reprints from previous sets, but this set also errata’d several cards and fixed certain errors on others.

While I wasn’t able to find any information on Chameleon’s cancellation, my best guess it ended for the same reason so many card games are cancelled, it didn’t make a lot of money. And it didn’t make money because it wasn’t popular. While I do enjoy the game, the current score on BGG is 5.2, which is pretty bad even for a CCG. Besides that, you can generally get boxes or starter decks of Wyvern on ebay for ridiculously cheap prices. I got my box for £30. Thirty. Pounds. That’s almost the same price of buying each individual booster from when it was originally available, and that’s not accounting for inflation. If that’s not a sign that this game wasn’t popular I don’t know what is. 

On a side note, Limited Edition does seem to be the most widely available and from what I can tell Chameleon and Kingdom seem to be a lot harder to track down. I wouldn’t be able to tell you why, but I can tell you that the Premiere edition is almost impossible to track down due to a printing error resulting in a lot of Magic the Gathering cards being printed on Wyvern backs in the premiere edition, resulting in them being extremely rare collectors items now.

So what happened after the game? Well there was one more Wyvern adjacent release. Dragon Hunt.

Dragon Hunt, from what I am able to tell, was a set deck game using Wyvern cards and the Wyvern ruleset, but simplified and more streamlined. The BoardGameGeek rating for this game is a 5.7 so maybe it was slightly better received at the time, but I can guarantee this isn’t an item you need to track down if you can find regular Wyvern product any easier.

So that was Wyvern. Sorry for the odd structure of this one. I might take another pass at the story of Wyvern one day, but for now, that’s the story of a card game that maybe didn’t stand a chance in the flooded CCG market of the 90s, especially with its wide range in art quality and less eye-catching product design.

I’ll see you soon with my gameplay review. 

Until next time friends,

Kay, Keeper of the Bonehoard

CARNIVAL recaps [2/13]

Today’s recap: Men in Black, not very subtle villains, and the overly dramatic Uno samurai detective who’s trying to figure them out.

--

FIVE

07 Sep 1996 — 13 Sep 1996

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

--

So far, the Billion Killer destroyed the JDC headquarters, the Empire State Building in New York, Stonehenge and Cappadocia. Each time a skull made of orichalcum (as the material that hasn’t been ever discovered on Earth is called) was left on the scene. Witnesses claim that a trio of people in black suits and sunglasses is always hanging around just before disaster strikes.

The first two attacks decimated two detective organizations, JDC as well as NYDT that had its headquarters in Empire State Building. The Billion Killer moved to other targets after that, but each 1 PM on Saturday still saw one of the many detective organizations in the world being blown up by some other criminal.

The Billion Killer, the bombing of detective organizations, the rapidly increasing crime rate, Alive on the loose—the chaos of the Crime Olympics rules the world and claims four million lives daily according to the UN statistics.

--

Let us leave our hardworking detective protagonists and move somewhere else for now.

This gloomy closed space in which it’s hard to tell the time of day is called the Sanctuary. Let’s say, for now, that it’s a giant invisible castle swimming tirelessly through the heavens. Maybe we should say “unseeable” instead; it’s not really invisible, but occupies a convenient blind spot.

There’s a giant round room in the middle of the Sanctuary with a table surrounding a fountain—its name is Lebensborn, the fount of life.

[I don’t know about Japanese readers, but it's really not hard to figure out a certain plot twist (?) after seeing this name.]

Three people in suits and sunglasses stand next to the table, all looking androgynous. These are Dots. The name comes from the fact that they’re nothing more than disposable pawns of RISE—little dots in the grand picture. They talk in calm, unemotional voices in a secret language known as R language or Ra language. [The reader may notice that they always start their dialogue with “...”, because, you know. Dot dot dot.]

Dots are just foot soldiers. RISE is led by a group of so-called Rainbow Sophists, each having a pseudonym symbolizing a color and a chess piece:

Violet Queen

Blue King

Green Bishop

Yellow Bishop

Orange Knight

Red Knight

Black Rook (a.k.a. the Master)

White Rook (a.k.a. the Doctor)

[Insert your Doctor Who joke of choice here.]

They’re all commanded by the leader of RISE, Rudolf Strauss (RS for short).

One of the Dots mentions talking with “the Master” about the book Cosmic that has just been released on September 5 [the real world date of its release.] It seems to pose no threat to RISE, and “mein fuhrer RS” decided they could allow it to be sold.

[If the reader didn’t catch on after Lebensborn, they sure caught on hearing mein fuhrer, huh. Subtle.]

Another Dot says that the Sanctuary is headed for the Bermuda Triangle and that they should get ready to leave the orichalcum skull there. Before that, they go to the Cosmic Room to talk with the Fuhrer. On the way one of the Dots is wondering aloud just what the Sanctuary actually is, but gets shushed by others so that he doesn’t bring “Ra’s wrath” on them; mere Dots are not to know secrets. When the problematic Dot continues to get agitated and speak out of line, suddenly there’s a sound like an explosion and his head is blown off from his shoulders.

The other two don’t seem too concerned and decide to go to “Dragon’s Center” first and inform the Master that a new Dot is needed.

--

(Everyone is wearing a mask. The world is a constant masquerade, a never-ending chaotic carnival.

Nobody, even a hypothetical “other people detective”, could possibly solve other people perfectly—but then again, nobody is even able to understand themselves. Our reasoning about others and even about ourselves is often completely misguided.)

--

The world has seen a lot of secret and dark organizations like the Freemasons and Illuminati, the Neo Nazis and sects. They’re not completely secret, but they don’t have to be; popularity just brings in more curious people who can be introduced to the actual secret parts once they've proven themselves.

RISE is the secret behind the secret, the organization that’s always been hiding behind many others for ages. The common “secret society” sign of the eye in a triangle is a symbol meaning Ra, the one whose eye is always observing the Dots and punishing them.

--

The Sanctuary drops off three Dots in a pontoon in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle before moving far away again, unseen by anyone.

It seems the Billion Killer is going to target a new advanced submarine known simply as “Robo-Ship” with about fifty members of UND on board. UND is a recently created organization of the United Nations gathering talented private detectives from the entire world, who have ironically come here to observe the upcoming Billion Killer’s case. RISE had sent a warning to the White House earlier that the fifth case would happen here.

At 1 PM, the Robo-Ship suddenly disappears. The only thing found near the crime scene is a pontoon with an orichalcum skull and three headless bodies in suits.

--

SIX

14 Sep 1996 — 20 Sep 1996

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

--

Suzukaze Unomaru, the JDC detective looking like a samurai, is investigating a case and is in turn being investigated by his travel companion Marion, secretly one of RISE’s Dots.

Marion started to tail Unomaru a month ago when he came to Cape of Good Hope to investigate a strange incident: a hundred-of-meters-long moving shape was spotted under the ocean’s surface, spawning rumours about a giant sea serpent. Marion told Unomaru that she was a private detective also investigating the rumour and suggested cooperation. (Of course her entire backstory as well as the name Marion are fake. She had another name once, but can’t remember it. Dots aren’t allowed to have individual differences.) The two get on a cruise ship and even witness the giant underwater shadow once, which bonks into the ship from below, briefly rocking it and sending the passengers into a frenzy.

One day, Marion enters Unomaru’s cabin and discovers the floor is covered in piles of anime cards. Unomaru solemnly explains that he’s in the middle of searching for a rare Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta card that he lost, infodumps about how Vegeta never goes SS3 in canon and only in Dragon Ball GT, and dramatically adds that if they don’t find the card, it surely means someone stole it and Marion will have to help him investigate and catch the culprit.

Aside from anime, TCG and other playing cards, Unomaru also collects basically anything you could call a card (credit cards, those shop loyalty thingies…) and can do some neat magic tricks with a normal deck.

They talk about the sea serpent sighting and the chaos that erupted among the passengers. Unomaru is reminded of how in Jaws the shark didn’t even have to be shown fully, as just the triangular fin was enough to make people afraid, or how Duel showed only the arm of the truck driver to similar effect.

Unomaru believes the underwater thing wasn’t a sea monster, but maybe a giant submarine. He thinks that the impact against the ship was intentional so that everyone’s attention would be focused on the sea, creating a convenient blind spot in the sky. He just can’t figure out what would be there in the sky they weren’t meant to see.

Unomaru shows Marion one of his card tricks under the promise that they’ll play some UNO later. He pulls out a deck of fifty-two playing cards, takes a few and spreads them on the ground; they’re all of different colors and values. Unomaru returns the cards to the deck, shuffles it, then gives Marion half of the deck and they shuffle their halves as they like without looking. Finally Unomaru puts the halves together, separates it again into two piles, and has Marion check them. The cards were shuffled so many times, but now they’re neatly separated into one pile of all black cards and one pile of all red. [The illusion isn't named, but it reminds me a bit of Paul Curry's Out Of This World.]

The trick is that Unomaru prepared the deck in the right order long before the illusion was shown, including a few “random” cards that he showed at the start to mislead Marion. The rest just required skillful handling. All those anime cards strewn around helped misdirect Marion’s attention. Since the two halves of the deck had been already sorted by color, it didn’t matter how much Marion would shuffle her single-colored half. The trick to an illusion is always easy in hindsight—just like it is with tricks to mysterious crimes.

Unomaru changes the topic to the three mysterious “men in black” seen before the Billion Killer’s cases, and finally launches the attack: “Say, Marion-dono, wouldn’t you happen to be one of these ‘men in black’?”

He recounts the signs he noticed in her: nervous expressions, lifeless eyes, strangely impersonal androgynous atmosphere, always starting a dialogue with a moment of silence as if she was carefully choosing words. In fact, Unomaru noticed it all the first time they met and intentionally let Marion follow him around. It’s now Saturday and nearing 1 PM, so it must mean the Billion Killer case will start soon.

After a brief hesitation (that even she isn’t sure the reason for) Marion jumps at Unomaru with a garrote, but it catches on the wooden sword strapped to his back. In response, Unomaru booms at her in his own twist on the heroic lines from Momotarō-zamurai, acting so confident (and weird at the same time) that Marion freezes in her tracks.

“Ooo-one! People live to solve mysteries! Twoo-ooo! The strange and mysterious must be solved and make clear! Three-eee! Solve mysteries with the sword of logic!” He dramatically points the wooden sword at Marion. “Suzukaze Unomaru challenges the villain!”

He tells Marion about the first thing that clued him in as to her true identity: that she didn’t look Japanese and claimed to be from another country while speaking flawless native-sounding Japanese. Marion answers that oh, you see, she’s not actually speaking Japanese at all, which confuses Unomaru enough that she’s able to run away from the cabin. She throws him a line about how this ship is going to sink soon and kill him, and that the detectives will never be able to square against the transcendent being that is the Billion Killer. Unomaru yells after her that she should stop what she’s doing or she’s going to die, just like those other men in black did in the Bermuda Triangle.

As Marion changes into her black suit and joins two other Dots on the deck, she finds herself strangely thrown out of rhythm and still thinking about what Unomaru said. He had to be wrong. The Sanctuary is supposed to come pick them up after the job. Surely the Dots from the Bermuda Triangle were safely retrieved?...

Marion realizes with terror just what being a disposable tool means. She screams in fear, drops the orichalcum skull and runs back towards Unomaru who is sprinting towards her, just a few meters more and he will save her somehow, surely—

Marion’s head is suddenly blown up right in front of Unomaru. The same thing happens to the other two scared Dots soon afterwards.

At exactly 1 PM, the ship hits something giant underwater and sinks, taking over a thousand people with it.

--

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

So I’ve been contemplating for a good while if I was going to talk about this episode or not. Not because it was bad, it was actually a pretty solid episode for what it was, just nothing really stood out to me other then the fact that this episode went out of its way to say that while Takeru isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed compared to everyone else in this cast (everyone is a freaking hacking god apparently), he makes up for it by having the best archetype competitively speaking (though Ai might end up taking that placement once his cards are released in the OCG/TCG).

And for his first few plays of this duel, Soulburner went full on Salamangreat meta player with Gazelle. Like I love the fact that they know Takeru has the busted deck and aren’t holding back from showing its true potential in this duel. Roboppy wasn’t to shabby either with their dueling and I just continue to like how their archetype works with their monsters having different effects if they are co-linked or not.

I will say I feel a bit let down when it came to the Flame plot point. Like when the summary mentioned that Roboppy was going to bring up Flame, I felt like we were going to get more emotion out of Soulburner, like his guilt was going to resurface at being reminded that he failed to protect his Ignis but honestly it felt like he just kinda shrugged it off. I mean it it good that he’s not letting his guilt take control over him like it is with Ai but it feels like the summary made this point way more important then it actually was. We could get more out of this topic next week but at the moment it just felt meh.

I do like how it carried over into what I’ve been saying about Roboppy and confirmed that while yes, they have free will now and much more knowledge about the world around them, they are basically just a child who doesn’t understand it and is acting like a child by not wanting to understand it. All they need to know is that Soulburner hurt Ai by, in their eyes, failing to protect Flame, and that’s all there is to it. And yeah, that really doesn’t spell out well for Roboppy because I’m actually starting to believe the people that are saying that Ai might have put a bomb into Roboppy. You can’t change someone’s mind if they are refusing to listen at all and that’s Roboppy right now. It just seems a little excessive and I don’t want to believe the fact that the writers would just kill off Roboppy just like that but then again, look at the rest of the cast at the moment.

So yeah, as much as I really wish this wasn’t the case, it really looks like Soulburner will pull out the win next week. Though I am curious to know if Roboppy before hand will pull some Bohman/Windy BS and use a Skill during this Master Duel. They made a big duel out of their Skill during their duel against Ghost Girl and Blood Shepherd so if this is their final duel, I feel like they will have to use it. It will still be BS but it is whatever at this point. 

And after that, we get to the fun sh*t because oh boy we are getting the Revolver vs Soulburner rematch and god it is going to be an actual disaster (if Playmaker is there as well then it will be double the disaster). Not only is this duel going to be freaking epic as all hell if they both go full out this time around, but it actually looks like they are dueling at the location of the Lost Incident. I mean as stupid as it is for them to be fighting each other right now (seriously you two? seriously?), we could get some more plot and details about the Hanoi Project out of these two. Like maybe how Takeru was kidnapped and maybe finally we will get to see more of Ryoken’s POV of the whole thing and see his side of the looking glass of him talking to Yusaku. Speaking of which, I totally forgot but did Yusaku ever tell Takeru about the whole “special person” thing? Knowing Yusaku, probably not (oh I’m going to love to see how he’s going to explain this and not make it sound gay as all hell XD). Safe to say, I just want this Soulburner vs Roboppy duel to be over with now so we can start triggering some PTSD because there definitely is going to be some trauma breaking though from Takeru (and possibly Yusaku as well if again he’s watching this in person). Yep definitely the fun sh*t. 

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Z...eroara?

570: Zorua

Welp. This is it. It's all downhill from here. This is the highlight. The big triumph over my heart. We won't see another Pokemon be able to top this one across the entirety of this review series. (Unless of course something even more perfect graces us in a future Generation...)

That's right folks. If you know me from my personal blog, it may be no surprise that I absolutely adore Zorua here. I've done my best to not outright say it on here, but I wouldn't be surprised if I laid out less than subtle hints. If not, well, er. Here it is. Zorua, my absolute #1 favorite Pokemon. And if that's not enough, these two collectively are also my favorite evolutionary family to boot!

And while I'll make an entire segment to just gush about both of them, I'll cover the two individually since they're fairly aesthetically different from each other.

Zorua here is the absolute perfect fox creature for me. Literally the only absent bit to it is that it's not a baby nine-tailed fox. But we'll be fair since we've already come up with one, and this one has a cooler theme at least just stand-alone as a fox. The tricky and shady look to it isn't just a personality choice; this Pokemon can change its appearance on a whim. Emphasis on appearance though. It's not like ditto where it'll literally shapeshift, but rather more like an illusionist; only appearing to shape shift. Which can create situations where you can fake-out opponents (or cheese the computer-controlled trainers by making it take on the shape of a Poison type as they desperately try to hit it wish Psychic moves that just won't work for whatever reason.)

The lil guy's tuft of hair even takes on the appearance of a little leaf over its head. Giving it some Tanooki vibes! Which is a Japanese mythical creature I'm surprised took this long for us to get a representative of. And even then, it's a fairly indirect one. It loses the look entirely when it evolves, but it at least fits with Zorua between the “leaf” on its head and the ability to psuedo-shape-shift.

Not to mention, Zorua's also got a bit of sentimental value being not only the first Pokemon I've laid eyes on from Gen 5 (comes with being the first of the two revealed, alongside Zoroark). But also this little bit of self-trivia I suppose. By now, a lot of people that follow me on any social medias or art sites will see me draw plenty of Pokemon the day they're announced to exist in a trailer or what-have-you, especially if I like them a lot. Zorua's the very first time I've ever done this. I guess granting I didn't start taking art seriously until well after Gen 4 was released, but still.

Personal Score: 10/10

I'm not quite done talking about Zorua, but let's get a word in for Zoroark too before we really get into gushing mode.

571: Zoroark

Zoroark may understandably be a put-off given it had marketing advertising it as the next Lucario and it's another anthropomorphic canid. But Zoroark is leagues ahead of Lucario with an overall tighter theme and aesthetic. Zoroark looks much more animalistic; mostly enough to be firmly out of any uncanny valley that it would have fallen in, and its design elements flow much better than Lucario's rather clunky execution. So I didn't mind Gamefreak trying to push this one as the “your new favorite Pokemon” shtick they like to pull. That's very selfish I know, but...

It's also very unique given anthropomorphic foxes in fiction. A lot of them take after Renamon or the like to be very pretty and upright. While Zoroark's still a design I'd describe as “pretty,” it's also very gangly and menacing, complete with the shit-eating grin, long face, and a design the emphasizes a flow into aggressive forward...ness.

My one solitary issue with the design is that its midsection looks a bit too skinny. I get it, sleek, tricky fox. But that's a step too far, I feel.

Personal Score: 10/10

A pair of near-perfect tricky foxies!!

Overall:

Ohhhh no. We're not getting off Matt's wild ride that easily. It's my absolute favorite, so instead of an “overall” segment, I'm gonna take a number from Bogleech and say let's do a...

Top 10 Things I Love About Zorua and Zoroark:

1. A Fox

Let's get this out of the way since that's a given. But I don't meant to point that out because I'm shallow like that; I can get REALLY picky about how my fox monsters look. But rather, these two are plenty unique among the other fox or fox-like Pokemon. Sure, I love me some Vulpix, Fennekin, and some of the Eeveelutions, but they all end up sharing the same general cutesy look. Zorua on the other hand takes on a whole other personality from the previously established foxy Pokemon. And Zoroark too! Ninetales and Delphox generally lean more toward looking beautiful more than anything, but that's not Zoroark's sole focus here. Instead, we get a much cooler looking monster with a more gangly face, which is a type of fox-look sorely missing from the foxmons all the way up until now. The only downside is that it isn't full gangly crookedness like Murkrow. But that's fine by me.

2. The Kabuki Dancer Theme

More prominent with Zoroark, for sure, is the fact that these two take heavily after Kabuki theater. Zoroark's really rocking the tons-o-hair look, with the both sporting some red markings to look like makeup.

3. Their Color Scheme

It's hard to go wrong with black and red, sure. That's a pretty go-to color scheme for something shady or, dare I say, “edgy”. But it serves these two better than most given they lean more toward the “shifty shadows” type of critter than “ultimate edgelord” like Shadow or Reaper or what have you. Then you also add in the teal, bluish green. Just the absolute perfect amount. A tiny accent and little more. Not too obtrusive or anything, because too much of that color could've easily thrown the whole thing off. But they held their restraint. Thank goodness.

4. Their Faces

I've gone over Zoroark's face enough by now, and how wonderful it is. But Zorua's adorably smug look and sly fox visage is the totally perfect foxy face. Now flaws. Just a sleezy friend.

5. They're Fluffy as Hell

Okay, this one I will admit is shallow as heck. But I don't care. Zorua's got the good ol neck ruff that makes it look super huggable. Zoroark may be sorely lacking a tail, but it plenty makes up for it with that big, poofy head of hair. Hair so big and poofy that their Zorua children can sleep in it. That's cute as hell.

6. The Okami Vibes

Obviously not in art style or even saying they deliberately went for an Okami look, but they certainly look like they wouldn't be too out of place as a creature out of Okami wouldn't they? Zoroark's design even calls Ninetails to mind, even moreso than the actual Ninetales. While Okami does tend to favor ogre-ish and Oni-like designs for their monsters, they do have such creatures running around like the tricky Tube Fox.

7. They Don't Kill Each Other's Vibe

It happens far too often that a cute or unique Pokemon will evolve into an ultimate badass that, while cool, end up really losing out on the original form's charm. These two, while pretty drastically different, aren't so completely detached that I'd say Zoroark is missing the same aesthetic cues of Zorua or vice versa!

8. They're Even Fun To Use Ingame!

Because of their Illusion ability, they can end up having a unique play pattern different form most other Pokemon. Especially if you're playing in the single-player parts of the game. Sadly, Zoroark can be predicted into with online battles since you get to see team layouts, but in a regular casual playthrough of a Pokemon game it's definitely fun to watch the AI fall for your disguise tricks. Especially when you disguise your Zoroark as a Fighting or Poison type fighting a Psychic type and watch as they hopelessly attempt to use Psychic moves against a Dark type.

I've also got a fun fascination with shapeshifting, so. Even psuedo-shapeshifting like with these two is neat. Ditto is cool and all but. A fox that shapeshifts? Get outta here. Now you're just toying with me.

9. Ridiculously Photogenic

Yeah, I guess technically any Pokemon is subject to this but. Just looking at illustrations of them is always really nice. Especially when you find really good ones. TCG art is for the most part pretty great, so of course I'm a fan of the illustration on certain cards.

10. Extremely Fun to Draw

Yeah, maybe that's not a totally fair thing but. I really can't say I'd ever get tired of drawing these two. I could draw them into infinity if I really wanted to just never draw anything else ever. That's the true problem with the world! To many things that are also fun to draw! Keeping me from drawing Zorua constantly! Bah!

There are two shames to this line. One being you could say that these two are pretty much sequels to Riolu and Lucario, Pokemon I've previously tore into. And Pokemon's not seemed shy of introducing, I hate putting it this way but, “furrybait” Pokemon. So these two had a success formulated in much the same way as Lucario. But they both pull it off so much more tastefully than Lucario's nonsense design does.

The other bummer being that, in a post-Gen 5 world, their popularity has significantly fallen off. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with Pokemon other than my absolute favorites getting some time in the limelight, but it's so annoying seeing repeated Pokemon Marketing All-Stars that you find boring getting things like Mega Evolutions or Alolan Forms with your top favorite Pokemon of all time sadly getting left out. Lucario can get a Mega, Charizard can get two, but not Zoroark?!

Anyway, sure, this review has gone on long enough. Fiiiiine. I got to sing all the praise I can. Fox Pokemon has historically been the best of the canid Pokemon. So hopefully all foxes from this point onward don't disappoint. You got high standards to live up to!

[Archive]

Power creep in Yugioh is a problem

It’s also inevitable. It’s the natural structure of most trading card games

    Power creep is when newer content in a game is far superior in comparison to older content, effectively making the older content useless. Games like Pokemon tackle this issue by banning the use of old cards in tournament play, but that still means your older cards are useless and you have to buy new ones, so it hasn't even dealt with the issue at hand, just kind of ignored it. The Yugioh trading card game competitive scene started in 2002 here in North America, and there's a good chance that your cards from then are nowhere near as good as cards that are released now in 2018. Since 2002, we’ve gotten 4 new game changing mechanics in addition to the 3 that were originally released with the game. With every new set of cards released, they get more and more powerful, and cards from a few years before become more and more useless.

    Take luster dragon for example. 

Luster dragon is a card first released in 2004’s tournament pack and due to it’s high attack value being a level 4 monster (immediately playable), made it see a lot of competitive play. It was also readily accessible to players, being printed in 6 different random pack sets, 3 structure decks, and 3 starter decks since its original creation. Luster dragon only has one other related card to it officially in the game known as luster dragon 2, but the two cards have no way of synergizing with each other, preventing them from ever seeing modern competitive play. Luster dragon will serve as an example today for how I think Konami can fix power creep within the game.

    The big focus here would be legacy support. Now legacy support is certainly relevant to an extent, but it’s never the focus. Every so often we get new support for cards used by characters in the TV shows or perhaps relevant at one point in the competitive scene. If Konami shifted their focus to expanding upon legacy support to cards that were common in older decks and built support for them, not only does that bring life back to those old cards that otherwise would have no relevance, it still releases new support for Yugioh players to buy into. Being over one year into our current format, there’s a pretty good standard for the performance a modern day deck should have. So if we analyze what most modern day decks are able to achieve in a turn for example, we’re able to give support to older cards to reach that level, careful that we’re not pushing past it, or falling under the standard.

And this is where luster dragon comes in. I made new support for luster dragon using yugiohcardmaker.net , printed them out and glued them onto a bunch of commons I had laying around.

     Before, luster dragon and luster dragon 2 had very little going for them without any specific support for them, but with the addition of 6 new luster monsters with effects inspired by or directly taken from other existing Yugioh cards and a new field spell that boosts the viability of luster dragon and luster dragon 2 specifically, the deck now has the capability to bring them back into play. With this new support, Luster dragon is able to take part in making a big board of monsters and have access to spell and trap removal. Pairing that with previously existing generic support cards that we see in lots of players decks, and we have a deck that can compete with modern day decks while using old cards.

     To test this theory, I have my personal deck here with me to test the first turn boards we can open up with in comparison to the luster cards I made. Both decks were shuffled randomly before testing.(Left, luster - right, my own deck)

 On my first turn with my deck, my board ended with one big monster on the field and the ability to make more plays the next turn.

With the new and improved luster deck, my turn ended with my field having 3 level 4 luster dragons, allowing me to make a wide variety of powerful monsters, alongside the ability to potentially stop an opponents monster from being summoned and a way to destroy up to two spell and trap cards they control. 

Both of these fields go head to head with each other as far as going on the first turn goes and in my real world testing, has even gone head to head with my friends who also play competitive decks.

This is just one example of a card Konami could make a fully fledged deck for, and with over 8000 cards in the TCG, there is plenty of opportunity available for Konami to put an effort into fixing power creep.

Thanks for listening! If you have any comments or you can think of other ways that Konami could fix the power creep, feel free to let me know in the comment section below.

- Billy

long rant about card games below the cut

so, one of my biggest pasttimes growing up was CCGs. i honestly can’t remember whether i got into the Pokemon card game or video games first, either way i was in kindergarten at the oldest. then when Yu-Gi-Oh! came out, i was into that for about a year (just the card game tho, never watched the show) before going back to Pokemon (the problem primarily being that back in 2002, there was basically no strategy once you understood the basic principles; half the cards that existed were literally useless because monsters with at least 1000 ATK were common enough that any playground deck would always have better options than Firegrass or Kurama, and half of any deck that had a ghost of chance in even local competitions were the same cards as were in every other deck at the competition, even though there were no land/energy resource cards; and don't even get me started on fusions and rituals...). and then there was a brief stint (well, i say brief, but it lasted longer than Yu-Gi-Oh! did for me) when i collected Pirates of the Spanish Main. i could at least get my family to play, so this actually grew to be a pretty sizeable collection for me (at least, proportional to the game's full sets, compared to others i played). even though the game as written is easy to cheese just by having more ships of any quality than your opponent, we came up with a variety of alternate playstyles that allowed for more interesting matches. i'd also stumbled across some cards from the Digimon and DBZ card games, but i honestly have no recollection how, and i was the only person i knew who had any, so they just kinda sat in my room for me to look at...

then i found MtG, but rarely had anyone to play with and couldn't afford to get more than a couple boosters a year, so the bulk of my collection was pre-Modern commons. still, even among those, MtG offered strategic depth to rival any other card game i'd played up to that point. i built and rebuilt all sorts of decks, experimenting with different styles and strategies. with the help of a program called Lackey, i even started essentially theorycrafting decks (including what remains to this day to be my favourite: the Suicide Squad deck, a Kamigawa block deck built around getting as many Zubera on the field as possible and playing Devouring Greed). but none were even remotely competitive against much simpler strategies...

and then there was Hearthstone, and for a full year, i was playing it daily. but then it introduced its Standard format, and once again my vigorous but casual enjoyment of the game was left in the dust. which... i get why they needed to introduce it. but i still miss the days when it seemed like it would be potentially possible for me to get a complete collection... honestly, it was removing the ability to purchase older adventures (though i had already bought them all at the time) and sets that killed it for me more than the format changes. shortly after, i also found Eternal, which i enjoyed but... still felt was a bit limiting... the other thing is that i've never really been satisfied with the rarity system since it's borderline meaningless to deckbuilding. a rare card is - in general theory, and usually in practice - borderline broken compared to a common one. this is, ostensibly, why it's rare. but given that it's entirely possible to buy rare cards directly - or even just buy enough packs that you're statistically likely to get the rare card you're looking for - there's nothing mechanical stopping a player from just filling their deck with all the rarest and best cards, completely locking out players who simply can't afford to spend as much from any sort of competitive play. it seems to me that the rarity system implies that a deck is expected to have rare cards in proportions roughly corresponding to the frequency they show up in packs. presumably, this is the appeal of sealed and draft formats. but for someone like me who most enjoys coming up with oddball strategies, draft formats don't allow for that sort of freedom.

then i got hit by a wave of nostalgia. lacking any of my old collections, not to mention people to play them with, i dug out the old Pokemon TCG game for GameBoy Colour. then curious, because i hadn't really gotten into it the first time around, i looked around for some Yu-Gi-Oh! video games to see if there actually was more depth to it than i remembered (since i was only an elementary schooler at the time, so i could easily have missed something). while it seems i was, indeed, correct in my assessment the first time around, i came across a game called Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories (to any pedants, this is the US/EU title of Tri-Holy God Advent, not the original DDS). now, while the game has a lot of problems like an atrocious UI and unclear rules/actions (it took me four whole duels of wondering what effect Hane-Hane had that was allowing it to kill all my best monsters before i learned of the type system), one thing that i do really like is its progression system.

so in most digital card games (including digitized version of card games like Duels of the Planeswalkers), the only real way there is to increase difficulty is for opponents to have decks with better cards. but if you have randomized card packs, and allow players to freely build their decks, this could lead to players getting a lucky pack or two and allowing them to steamroll through several opponents with ease. this is especially true of later Yu-Gi-Oh! games, especially if you import your real world collection like i did (as best as i could remember it being...) and are therefore able to make real world competitive decks to mercilessly crush the first five opponents without even having to vary your strategy in the slightest (probably the next five as well, but i haven't tried it yet). in DDS, however, each card has a value, and you have a duelist rank that determines the highest value card you can include in your deck, as well as what the total point value of your deck can be. while it's low, if you use a particularly powerful card, you might have to accompany it with a number of weaker ones in order to stay under the deck's value cap. or you might not even be able to include it at all yet. ...which i can acknowledge has some potential problems since you don't want a player to end up with too many cards that they can't use, and you definitely don't want those cards to be too far beyond their current level. a few that are a few levels away can add some excitement to leveling up since you're closer and closer to being able to use it, but in principle i think this is pretty ingenious.

since your duelist level goes up every single match, your freedom in building decks also increases. so in combination with getting new cards, after every single match, win or lose, you're able to retool your deck in ways you couldn't before the match. this makes it so that A) you are always progressing (which i consider important in any game where a streak of bad luck can cause you to lose without it really being your fault), B) until you reach max level (or near enough), you will always have reason to adjust your playstyle, and C) even "weak" cards are potentially useful since they can fill out your deck to allow you to use a much more powerful card. like, honestly, when was the last time anyone chose to put Wisp in their Hearthstone deck? or even Magma Rager? seriously, these cards are the Firegrass and Kurama of Hearthstone. the combination of these three encourages exploration, experimentation, and an evolving playstyle. and you could even include options in PvP play for setting the deck value.

Yu-gi-oh cards that should be made (part 2)

Here is a link for part 1 of my yugioh card list, which contains ideas for cards from the original series and ideas for the E Hero and Neo archetypes: https://commentron.tumblr.com/post/175084072743/yu-gi-oh-cards-that-should-be-made-part-1

Ojama- Though used commonly in GX, Konami didn’t released a lot of cards for this archetype, in fact after season 1 of GX no new Ojama cards came out till 5Ds, and even then it was only a few. Though some new ojama cards just recently came out, there are several anime only cards that I think would be good as cards, like Ojama Delta Thunder, Ojamandala, and Mecha Ojama King.

If Konami ever does another booster pack consisting of cards they didn’t think of making at the time, they can make these into cards, plus maybe some new ones for the archetype like more Ojama monsters, new ojama fusions, maybe one consisting of 4 or 5 Ojamas, and spell/trap cards.

Crystal Beast- Another series that since that show ended, only a few new cards have come out, like some only in Japan as well as some new ones that came out along with the new Ojama cards. I could see the benefit of having more cards for this deck, like new crystal beast monsters based on other crystals, and maybe more crystal beast fusions cards that don’t require all 7 crystal beast to do so, as well as one that aid in the summoning of Rainbow Dragon, maybe some that don’t require all 7 crystal beast to do so.

Vehicroid- Though the archetype has some powerful cards, most of them aren’t that good cause either most of the monster cards have either really bland effects or required sacrifices in order to summon the monsters with good effects. Then there are the fusion monsters, not only do some of them require more then 2 monsters to summon them, but some also have bland effects. I say if they plan on making more roid cards (which they did recently) they should make more cards that could fix the problems the archetype has, like monster cards with good effects AND low levels, better magic and trap cards that better aid the archetype like bringing monsters onto the field or hand, and fusion monsters that are easy to summon and have good, unique effects. Some cards that should be made that come to mind are from the manga, like Tankroid, Shovelroid, and Satelliteroid.

Arcana Force- Said to be one of the worst archetypes out there. Though bad I don’t see the harm of trying to fix the weaknesses this archetype has with new cards, like monster with better effects, spells and trap cards that make you get the effect you want or negate a bad effect, or some cards that don’t count on luck to work.

Dark World- A interesting archetype that heavily involved discarding cards in order to do something, like special summon monsters and or destroying opponents cards. Id like to see some more cards for this archetype in the future someday, especially an extra deck card or two.

Chemical- A small achetype used by Bastion in GX, that involved using monsters that were a reference to elements from the periodic table and using magic/trap cards to fuse them into stronger monsters based on chemical like Water Dragon. Again with more cards for this archetype coming out recently I don't see the harm of making more cards for this, like more monsters base on elements, and stronger monsters like chemical based ones and maybe a extra deck monsters.

These next 4 are suggestions I have for possible real life archetypes, 2 of which are anime only cards and 2 that appeared in the never dubbed 4th season of GX so spoilers for those who haven’t watched it.

Professor Banner’s alchemy deck- In Banners only duel, he used an alchemy deck which focused on removing from play “alchemy beast” in order to summon a monster that gains ATK points for each monster removed from play, I know he used other monsters but still. I can see people liking this archetype, especially since it focuses on removing cards from play, which is rare to see used as a key component in archetypes (yes I know there are some that do, but still).

Slime- Used by a 1 time appearance character named Mad Dog. This anime archetype uses slime monsters that have various abilities, like drawing cards, summoning tokens, and causing damage, as well as spell/traps that do various things that are related to slime monsters. I bet with a few more cards like more monsters and cards that can destroy other deck types (as in the anime Mad Dog used card that specifically destroyed Zane’s machine type monsters) this could become a cool archetype.

On a seperate note, during the duel, Mad Dog did use some anime only miscellaneous cards that I think would make for good real life cards like “Contingency Fee”, “Trip Trap”, and “Despised Reality”.

Here are the 2 archetypes that appeared in season 4

“Clear” cards- The archetype uses Clear monsters, monsters with no attributes, and these monsters with the ability of the field spell “Clear World” on the field make the archetype really powerful. Sadly only 2 cards of this archetype have been made however with anime only cards being made now, it might be the best time to make more cards for this archetype if you can call it that. 

Darkness- This deck though uses “darkness” monsters with various abilities, one known example is Darkness Neosphere, it mainly focuses on specific magic and trap cards that can deal major damage to the opponent. I know this might never happen see as how powerful the magic/trap cards are but its still worth putting it on the list.

 The following are from 5Ds

Junk/Synchron- Popular archetypes from 5Ds that haven’t been focused on since the show ended with a few exceptions. I like the idea of Konami releasing these cards again, and maybe make a few new ones for the archetypes.

Fortune Lady- A really small archetype used by Carly that only appeared in a few episodes of season 1 of 5Ds, but never reappeared after that. It involved using Spellcaster monsters that have several abilitites, like there ATK and DEF equals there level times a number and increase there levels every turn (good for syncro and xyz summoning), and a special effect. I think making more cards for these archetype would be cool, heck maybe make a sub archetype consisting of the Fortune fairies, the devolved version of this archetype used by Carly. 

Morphtronic- A machine type archetype used by Leo. A lot of cards were made for this deck but they weren’t shown a lot on the anime, so maybe some new cards should be made to remind the people. One idea I have is a synchro monster that aids morphtronics in some way as Leo only used one on the show, plus there aren’t that many machine synchro cards that fit this archetype.

Infernity- A deck that utilizes in having no cards in your hand, good for people who like to use as many cards as possible. Though there are some cards for this deck out there, even some synchro monsters out there, a few more wouldn’t hurt.

Genex- An archetype introduced in the Hidden Arsenal series. It has many weaknesses but was good for people to experiment and practice with synchro summoning. Again though there are many cards for this archetype out there, I say making cards to fix this archetype’s weaknesses wouldn’t hurt.

 Now Zexal 

Gem Knight- Another personal favorite of mine, since its like Elemental Heroes in a lot of ways. Again there are plenty of these cards but making a few more can’t hurt, like maybe a field spell or more xyz monsters, maybe even a synchro monster, since the archtype was introduced between 5Ds and Zexal.

Crashbug- A archetype that surrounds 3 specific monster cards that uses the King, Queen, and Jack Knight ability, as having any 2 of these cards can let you special summon the 3rd one. This archetype is handy when summoning xyz monsters that need level 3 monsters, and it also has a trump card that have 3000 defense points and can be easily summoned.

Super Defense Robot- A earth attribute machine archetype with a beast theme to it. Only 3 monster cards, and a xyz monster were made for it but I see potential to it. One idea I have that can make this deck cool was if it used not only machine type monsters but also a new type of monster, machine-beast monster cards, which could make way for future possibility of other mixed cards besides Winged-Beast. Also I can see a fusion card that is similar to the XYZ fusion monsters, involving several monsters fusing to form a machine beast monster. 

Star Seraph and Druid- Both weren’t used a lot in Zexal but both have tons of potential, if given more member and support cards. 

Artifact- An interesting archetype that uses the monsters as spell cards with various other abilities. I believe there should be more spell, traps, and extra deck cards for this archetype.

 Here is Arc V

Fluffal- An interesting archetype that uses fairy type stuff animals that can turn into fiend monsters when fused with metal objects. I think there should be more cards for this archetype in the future, like more monster cards, spell & trap cards like a field spell, and fusions, maybe a few synchro or xyz monsters since in the show the character who used this deck traveled to the other dimensions.

Burning Abyss- a TCG only archetype that is based on characters from Dante’s Inferno. It uses fiend monsters that is about getting monsters to the grave in order to win. Also similar to Odd Eye extra deck monsters, several of its most powerful monsters are a different type of extra deck monster, one is a fusion, 2 xyz, a synchro, even a ritual monster. If Konami decides to make more cards, maybe they should try and do 2 co archetypes/series that are based on the rest of the divine comedy that can work with the Burning Abyss cards?

Amorphage- A pendulum heavy archetype, which can destroy a players deck if played right. Only a few are out there, so making a few would be good for those who like the deck, heck maybe make it work with the Burning Abyss archetype since the creatures are based on the deadly sins?

 The following just miscellaneous ideas for cards that range from all the shows, as well as some personal ideas, that I think would be awesome as real cards.

A 3rd colored Eyes colored dragon monster- I talked about this in my ideas for yugioh sequel series. The 2 most popular dragons in the original yugioh series were Blue Eyes and Red Eyes, heck cards for them are still being made to this day, but imagine if there was a third dragon just as powerful as the 2. This idea could work as either a separate normal monster card with cards that can make it as a archetype or maybe as fusion monster between Blue Eyes and Red Eyes ? Again if they ever make another season featuring the original characters, this would make for an interesting side plot for a season of yugioh where during tag team duel or 1 vs 2 duel.

The Beetron cards- Used by Chazz in GX. There union monsters, and just like the cards that make up XYZ Dragon Cannon, can combine into a fusion monster. There aren’t a lot of union monsters around in the game nowadays so having some out, especially these, would be cool.

Bastion’s Fire Dragon- In the 1st & 2nd season of GX opening, Bastion is seen with not only his Water Dragon next to him, but also a Fire Dragon. People think that was going to be another strong monster in his deck, but was never shown cause Bastion was put to the sidelines and eventually written out. Since this was pointed out, maybe Konami should make it as an actual card, they can do this by making the summoning requirements similar to Water dragon but with a Carboneddon and 2 Hydrogedons, which is close to the real life molecular formula for fire. I mean if Konami can release a stronger version of Water Dragon, why not make a Fire Dragon ?

An ABC/VW/XYZ fusion monster- A new Kaiba structure deck came out that contained 3 new lettered union monsters that could form a new union fusion monster and another one with XYZ Dragon Cannon. This makes me think that if the XYZ Dragon Cannon can form fusion monsters with the ABC and VW fusion monster cards then why not a card where all 3 fusion monsters are required ? Sure it might be hard to summon it but that hasn’t stop Konami from making hard to summon monsters before.

A Jim Cook deck- Jim Cook was a character that appeared in the GX manga and season 3 of the yugioh GX anime, but is more fleshed out in the anime. His anime version owned a rock type deck with a fossil theme to it that used a variety of fusion monsters as well as cards that “devolved” monsters to a stronger version of itself.  A big detail of his deck was that he owned a polymerization type card that was similar to super polymerization, as it fused monsters from each player’s graveyard. I bet with a bit of tweaking here and there (like making it easier to summon the fossil fusions monsters as the ones shown on the shows need specific monsters, mostly dinosaur and/or warrior monsters with cetain levels) I bet this deck could work.

More cards that support the Divine Cards- In every yugioh show there are cards that are similar to the Egyptian God cards in ways of having supreme power and needing several monsters/cards to summon it. However before 5Ds there weren’t that many cards that can aid in the summoning of them, so when the Legend of Dragon booster pack made cards that can aid in the summoning of the Egyptian god cards, this got me thinking that Konami should make cards that can aid in the summoning in other monsters like the Sacred Beast and Nordic for example.

A De XYZ and De Link card- If there can be a card that can turn a fusion or synchro monster back to its materials, then why not have a card that can be used for XYZ monsters and Link monsters. The De Link card could be awesome since removing that card could destroy/ prevent summoning extra cards on the opponent’s side of the field.

A non-synchro, xyz, and pendulum area cards-Back during GX, there was a continuous trap card called “non fusion area”, that prevent either player from summoning fusion monster on the field. Not only should they make a reprint of that card, they should make cards similar to this that work on the other extra deck cards out there.

Cards from the yugioh manga series- Besides yugioh being a fun card game and anime, it also has its own manga series, one for each show, however most of them have differnet plots then the anime. Along with different plots they also have different cards. Though some of these manga only cards have been made into real cards, one example are some heroes from the GX manga series, I think Konami should make more cards from the manga as real cards.

A Greek myth archetype- Since the show has aired, there have been cards that were based on a mythology, some best known are the Egyptian God cards and the Nordic monsters. As the title says I think there should be a archtype that focuses on the tales from Greek mythology, cause though there have been some cards that have been named after Greek or even Roman characters, there has never been a true archetype for it. I think now would be a good time since it seems Konami is running out of mythological beings to base cards on, since they used characters from either books or elements of a mythology (like Dante Inferno or the deadly sins). A deck like this would be perfect for my idea of a sequel series where the villain is a greek king.

More ritual cards- Since Link Summoning restrains the use of the extra deck, I can see a lot of value of having Ritual cards in decks, so maybe Konami should make new, or retrained version of old ritual cards that people can use. Heck maybe they should be the key cards in there next spinoff series, it be a good change then a new patch of something new. They should also make a rare ritual card that lets you summon any ritual monster from the deck instead of just your hand.

Fusion/Synchro/and XYZ monsters for specific decks- This is what I mean, in Arc V, we saw characters use several, if not all extra deck type monsters throughout the series, some of which fitted there deck’s theme, like Yuya and his Odd Eye Dragons for example. This got me thinking, so what if Konami made cards for archetypes that are in the form of the other extra deck types, like for example a xyz monster for Elemental Hero or a Synchro monster for Utopia. This can give the people who use these archetypes more choices in strategies as well as let them have more then once kind of extra deck monster that also specifically aid the archetype. I mean its been confirmed that one Link Monsters are being made for older archetypes like E Hero and Cyber Dragon, so why don't they take that opportunity to do this.

Yeah it’s a long list but I’m a dreamer and a big fan of this game and I want to help keep the series alive for a long as possible. So what do you think? What archetypes do you want to see get more cards ? Reblog with your response.

The rise and collapse of a scalper’s sports card empire

Bribes, parking lot deals, and the cards you never had a chance to buy.

Warning: The following story contains strong language.

Tyrone sits in the middle of his three monitor setup like the cockpit of a fighter jet, one hand grasping a cup of coffee, the other his vape, alternating between stimulants and watching a scramble over spots in his newest break. “This shit’s been up 40 minutes and we only got two slots left,” he yells to his two business partners, pulling cards for their latest singles orders.

“Tyrone,” who asked not to go by his real name to keep his anonymity, elevated his hobby for collecting cards into a business three years ago, and turned it into an empire. Now he’s coming face-to-face with it all collapsing. “I knew we didn’t have forever on this,” he says, “I just figured it’d be the feds shutting it down, not some dumbasses at Target.”

May 14th was the end of an era for Tyrone. Target made the announcement they would no longer sell NBA, NFL, MLB or Pokemon cards following an incident outside a Wisconsin store in which a customer pulled a gun on another who’d just purchased cards. Signs, now posted all over stores in the country, read “To ensure the safety of our guests and team members, effective May 14th, MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokemon cards will no longer be sold in stores until further notice.” Walmart has not made an official announcement at this time, though there’s increasing speculation that they too will pull cards from shelves.

“That shit had me f***** up,” Tyrone says, shaking his head. “I dunno how it’s been working up north, but ain’t nobody in my area getting good shit from Target anyway.”

Tyrone began turning his hobby into a business like anyone else trying to get cards. He arrived at stores early on Friday morning, learning that cards weren’t stocked by Target and Walmart employees, but rather independent merchandisers who would enter the store on distributors’ behalf, and place items on the shelves. Tyrone would wait until the merchandisers arrived to put out the new cards, then pounce on them, buying out the store and immediately flipping them on eBay. It was a weekly ritual. Hit a store, move to the next, do the same.

“I’d spend HOURS in the car each week,” he laughed, remembering his beginnings. Tyrone quickly realized there was too much inconsistency. Sometimes he’d miss the merchandiser, or they’d go to another store first and throw off his route. Random shoppers would buy a fat pack (a wrapped package of multiple packs) as their nostalgia kicked in, having no idea what they were buying. This made his stock unreliable.

“It got exhausting, and frustrating as shit got bigger. That’s when I got smart about it.”

I know Luka and Ja, not Squirtle and shit.

After months of shadowing deliveries and driving around, Tyrone approached one of the merchandisers in a Walmart parking lot, and befriended them. He needed as much product as he could get his hands on, they needed to do their job. “I made it work for both of us.”

At the time the only thing really popping was basketball cards, particularly the highly sought after Panini Prizm series. If you went to Target or Walmart hoping to find Prizm basketball only to find it out of stock, there’s a good chance Tyrone had it, and you never had a chance of buying it.

“It was so easy back then,” he says. “They’d come in, put the shit on the shelves, snap a photo with their phone to show they did their job — then immediately pull it back down and buy it.” To the distributors, Tyrone’s merchandisers were doing their jobs, to the public they just thought they were too late and missed out on the cards. No one was the wiser, except for the merchandisers and Tyrone.

“I’d meet them at the end out their route, give them a stack — normally double what they paid, and everyone was happy.” As far as he sees it, Tyrone thinks the merchandisers got the better end of the deal. They just needed to meet him and make some quick money, he had to do the leg work to move the cards on the back end, but with prices skyrocketing it was worth it.

It wasn’t long before demand outstripped Tyrone’s supply, even having most of an east coast state in his pocket. He needed to expand, and began hitting up friends and family members in other states, bringing them into the fold. Before long he had numerous states, stretching from the east coast as far Texas in his network. Everyone giving kickbacks to merchandisers, sending the product to him, and profiting as he became able to sell product online for four times their value, sometimes even more.

“I was making less, because everyone needed a cut — but who cares. I was clearing $10k a month easy.”

Flipping fat packs and sealed product was nice, but the real money came in when Tyrone started getting his hands on hobby boxes. Larger, 12 pack boxes which brought more money, and more opportunity. “I can make stupid money on a case break, you don’t even know.”

A box, or case break, is a multi-participant venture in which a large number of people essentially gamble by buying pseudo-shares in a mass opening. Let’s say someone has a case of Prizm, you might pay $500 to get randomly assigned a team, then get every card from that team opened in a case.

For the individuals participating, it was a potential gold mine. Lucking out and getting the Pelicans could mean landing a five figure Zion Williamson card, at the expense of someone who got assigned the Hawks, and coming away with nothing. Trae Young isn’t worth big money, so Atlanta is seen as a dud slot. For people like Tyrone, selling the slots represents no risk — and all upside.

“Let’s say I’m paying three grand a case. I’m turning around and making five times that it in a break.”

With everyone desperate to open product hoping of landing a chase card, Tyrone was just in it for economics. “I’ll leave the gambling to the gamblers,” he says, “sure I’ll open something now and then for fun, but nah, moving sealed is where it’s at.” Soon, not even his vast network was enough to keep him in the cards he needed.

The fever spread from basketball into everything else. First football, then baseball, and finally Pokemon. “Pokemon makes me too nervous man,” Tyrone says to a friend who suggests they start buying it up, “we don’t know shit about those. I mean, can we break it? I don’t know. I know Luka and Ja, not Squirtle and shit. I’ll stick to what I know.”

“You have no idea how dirty this all is.”

As far as Tyrone saw it, he was providing a service. It had become impossible for anyone to get sealed product without spending thousands on boxes, and he felt that private card shops were cracking everything they were getting and selling singles online. Even then, he felt a little bad about what he was doing. “It sucks man, like I remember collecting cards as a kid,” Tyrone tells me, “none of these kids have a chance at buying packs. It’s all being eaten up.” As far as he was concerned, if Tyrone wasn’t scalping cards, someone else would — so why not him?

A large impact on the card market came not from flippers like Tyrone, but from Wall Street. During the economic downturn caused by the Covid pandemic, an increasing number of investment bankers were looking to diversify their portfolios with collectibles, and basketball cards were at the top of the list. Grading services like PSA and Beckett, once tapped only by enthusiasts trying to secure their most valuable cards, were now being flooded with requests to grade from big-dollar firms, aiming to solidify their investments.

“You have no idea how dirty this all is,” a lanky man named “Tom” calls from the back room as he assembles as eBay order. “I know this goes all the way through the system. I know Wall Street is talking to Panini and they’re engineering all this. Shit, I think ESPN is in Panini’s pocket too, pushing these players they know are signing.”

“Man, you’re tripping,” Tyrone says, rolling his eyes, not buying Tom’s conspiracy theories. “Don’t listen to him, I mean shit IS dirty, he right about that — but nah, nothing like that.”

Whether you believe the wild theories floated by collectors or not, it’s unquestionable that there’s a massive card shortage and it’s pushing prices through the roof. If you want to find a rare Zion Williamson rookie card now it’ll take not a few hundred bucks, or even a few thousand — but a second mortgage on your house.

Card collectors were tracking the price spikes daily, but when word got out to the general public that there were five- and six-figure cards being pulled from packs, it started a frenzy. Go to any store that stocked cards and you’d find empty shelves, people who were never interested in cards before were lingering around the section, looking to quickly make four times their purchase in a matter of hours be reselling online.

Word of Friday stocking got out. It wasn’t long before there were lines down the sidewalk, in the middle of a pandemic, of people waiting for store doors to open to they could rush the card rack. “My people started getting scared,” Tyrone said, referring to his merchandisers. “Not like they were afraid of getting hurt or nothing. They just didn’t want the drama of pulling the shit off shelves, someone reporting them and losing their jobs.” Soon the merchandisers started to pull out of their deals, no longer interested in the risks the quick money brought. It became more and more difficult for Tyrone to secure large numbers of cards.

This is the harsh reality of the #Pokemon TCG right now. It’s a mess pic.twitter.com/3RnbeGz07A

— Pokémon News (@TrainerINTEL) May 22, 2021

Then the news came cards were being pulled from shelves. “Nobody was ready for that. Shit, I don’t think Panini or Bowman were ready for that,” Tyrone says. Overnight the network he’d cultivated for years collapsed, but this wasn’t a man who looked like his world was crumbling around him — rather, he seemed calm. “I knew it was coming, just not this way. I have plans, believe me I have plans. Just not ready to talk about that yet.”

While Tyrone pivots to whatever he’s doing next, on Friday May 21, one week after pulling cards from the shelves, Target opened them up again for online-only sales. This time with strict limits to how many packs and boxes people could buy, effectively killing the scalping market. A great day for general consumers, and perhaps the nail in the coffin for those who made a living off cards in the last few years.

When reached for comment Target corporate said they had nothing to add to the card situation beyond their initial statement posted in stores.

Okay, so let me tell you about a little movie called “The Gamers: Hands of Fate.” And yeah, the title might seem off-putting at first, but be assured, it’s actually pretty good. For one, it’s not actually about video games, and secondly, it’s story is all about deconstructing and calling out the “nice guy” attitude and general way female nerds are treated by male nerds.

So, the movie is technically a sequel to the movie “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”, but knowledge of the previous movie isn’t necessary to follow this one. So I’ll just jump right into the plot:

The movie starts with a group of typical fantasy adventurers entering a villain’s lair and confronting said villain. They have some banter, until...the cell phone of the party’s sorceress starts ringing. Yes, it’s of course revealed that the whole thing was just part of a D&D (well, actually Pathfinder) campaign. To make it short: The game ends prematurely because everyone has other obligations. This annoys our...”hero” for the movie, Cass. His fellow players try reassuring him that “it won’t be a year until [they] game again.“

Cue irony.

Yes, the next time they find themselves around the table in the back room of the game store owned by their bard (well, the bard’s player obviously), is indeed a year later. And it turns out the game again falls flat because said bard player didn’t count in that they’re having a torunament for a TCG that day. Cass is furious and starts raging about how stupid TCGs are...until Natalie walks in.

Natalie is attractive, feisty...and also the only girl at the tournament. Cass immediately falls for her, but she’s obviously only there to play. Oh yeah, and some asshat playing at the tourney throws sexist bullshit at her while she registers for the tournament. Said asshat is promptly thrown out.

After Natalie is done registering and goes to find her seat at a table, Cass impulsively also registers for the tournament, buys a starter deck (since he never played before), and bribes his buddy so that he and Natalie square of in the first round. He embarrasses himself, tries to get a date with Nat, she rejects him. However, it’s important to note that both Cass’ advances as well as Natalie’s rejection are pretty sincere. Cass obviously doesn’t want to seem like a creep, and Natalie doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. But obviously, the plot doesn’t stop there. And I’m gonna start summarizing huge chunks of the plot now.

Natalie makes it to the finals, but is defeated. Cass tries to comfort her, and at the same time also to get a date with her. She declines again, but says that, if he wins the world championship of that card game, she’ll go out with him. While it was meant as a joke, Cass takes it serious, starts learning the game and actually becomes quite good at it.

The rest of the movie takes place during the championship and shows Cass soaring through the ranks and becoming the last hope of the core fans of the game, since he’s the only one who seems to be able to stand a chance against a team of players who are using an overpowered strategy specifically to drive the core fanbase away from the game. However, Cass initially doesn’t give a shit about that, since he only takes part in the tournament to get with Natalie. Something Natalie directly calls him out for, btw.

Anyway, of course he eventually comes through, wins the tournament, and even rejects going on a date with Natalie when she adresses the point, even admitting that going on a date with someone just because they promised it to you as a prize would be pretty douchey. While the movie ends with the two going on a more platonic date, it’s left open whether or not they end up together.

Okay, now to the actual analysis of the anti-sexist themes in the movie.

It’s pretty clear which side the movie stands on when they introduce a background character that harasses a female gamer just for being woman, just to immediately punish him and essentially display him as a whiny idiot. The face of the store clerk who throws him out is amazing, btw. But of course, the main point is Cass’ relationship to Natalie.

Cass, while definitely being more of an anti-hero, generally treats Natalie with respect. He doesn’t directly act in the typical “wahhh, why won’t she have sex with me”-way, he isn’t demanding, he doesn’t really act repulsive. When he first tries to get a date with Natalie, he drops his usual cocky attitude and asks her out in a genuine way, even asking her to teach him the game (or, in other words, actively asking her to share her interests with him, instead of pushing his interests on her, or acting like they’re made for each other just because they share the very general interest of tabletop gaming). Natalie even points out that “[he’s] cute, sure, [he] speak[s] in complete sentences, and [she’s] reasonably sure that [he] bathed in the last 24”, thereby technically being attractive to her, however, as she says: She’s there to game. She makes it clear that she’s just there to play her card game, not to find a boyfriend (even if she doesn’t say it that way explicitly, it’s pretty obvious she means it that way).

Later on, she calls Cass out even more. Hell, I’m just gonna quote her whole “The Reason You Suck” speech here:

“Right. You’re here for a piece of ass. Oh, I’m sorry? Is that not the entire reason you came to GenCon? Don’t have a stroke. I get it. Hot Gamer Chick. The latest in fantasy fucktoys. Another game to be won, and walked away from. Don’t need to know anything else, do you? Bet you don’t, right? Know anything else about me. At all. ... Yeah. That’s about what I thought. And you wonder why I think you’re a joke.“

There’s even a subplot in the Extended Edition, involving another character, Lodge, who in the previous movie was actually shown to be more sympathetic, which also resulted in him getting together with the new female player in their D&D group. So yes, this character is portrayed as more sympathetic...but his subplot actually mirrors Cass’ main plot to a degree. See, without going into too much detail, his main conflict is that he thinks he doesn’t deserve his girlfriend because he didn’t “earn” her, because he didn’t do anything special to win her over, and since he’s a nerdy guy who was raised on media all about heroes going on epic quests to save princesses, that really makes him question his relationship. And while in more typical narratives, this idea of not feeling good enough for your partner and wanting to “earn” their love would be shown to be noble, especially when contrasted with Cass’ quest of essentially just wanting to get into Nat’s pants, the movie shows how similar these mindsets are. And in case you don’t get it yet, let me tell you about that very first scene of the movie, where the Pathfinder group’s characters are confronting the villain and demand he free the princess, so the heroes can (and I quote!) “depart with [their] prize”, to which the villain - sarcastically! - responds “for women are prizes to be won...am I right?”

Maybe this all seems more like rambling, so let me try to put this together in a more coherent form:

The movie is great at deconstructing the “nice guy” trope by showing Cass as a guy who, for the most part, is still an actually nice guy. He tries to look his best in front of Natalie, and even when he fucks up, he seems genuinely upset at that fact. Yet, throughout the entire movie, his attitude is shown to be wrong. Him rejecting to go on a date is portrayed as positive character development. This, especially when shown with the more “typical” sort of sexism shown in the beginning, is supposed to show that even more “noble” types of sexism...are still sexism. The central theme of the movie, which in my eyes is especially shown when Natalie first rejects Cass despite his good qualities, seems to be: 

It doesn’t matter how nice you are, or how nerdy she is. She’s not there to be your Manic Nerdy Dream Girl, you’re not there to be her Nerd In Shining Armor. Usually, she just wants to game. So let her. 

A Downward SPYRAL - October 2017 Banlist

SPYRAL Double Helix has been legal in TCG tournament play for ten days.  I’d like to remind everyone of that before we begin.

SPYRALs had a humble beginning in The Dark Illusion, starting off as a fun little archetype with good types and attributes, being moderately fast and good at gaining card advantage, but lacking a serious win condition or boss monster.  Many builds from this time until Maximum Crisis (ab)used the deck’s easy access to powerful Synchro monsters, but several hybrid builds topped as well (notably a few including Zoodiacs, since every deck had a Zoo hybrid during that format).  It was pretty obvious that SPYRAL Quik-Fix was a broken card, but all you could do with it without banishing it after reviving it off of its own effect was search and make a Rank 1, and Sylvan Princessprite was good, but didn’t go anywhere (and it was also released a full two years later than in the OCG, but that’s another thing).

Then we got the Link Strike Starter Deck and Code of the Duelist, and suddenly it became possible to revive Quik-Fix off of its own effect, get a search, make a Rank 1, use that card’s effect (Ghostrick Dullahan halves ATK and Sylvan Princessprite excavates a card and adds it to hand if it’s a spell), then use that as a Link material to get the Quik-Fixes you used safely back in grave.  And now there was very little difference between Quik-Fix and an archetypal Level Eater (minus the whole, you know, level eating), provided you had the resources, as far as spamming Links goes.  Note that Level Eater is limited in the OCG.

Then we got word of archetypal Link Monsters, and then, in Circuit Break, we got Double Helix, allowing for a free Special Summon of any SPYRAL monster from the Deck.

There have been two weekends’ worth of tournaments since CIBR’s release, and SPYRAL took an overwhelming majority of the tops in each one I can remember (each had 27-29 SPYRAL decks in the top 32) with only minor differences.  Every deck in top 32 was main decking playsets of Ash Blossom (for everything), Ghost Ogre (for SPYRAL Resort) and Droll & Lock Bird (to stop your opponent’s plays in their tracks), alongside one Maxx “C” (to sack games going second) and oftentimes one D.D. Crow (searchable off of a Rank 1) or a few copies of Psy-Framegear Gamma (negates hand traps and monster effects). That’s about 12-14 handtraps before you even get into the archetypal cards, and these cards were in EVERY.  SINGLE.  DECK.  You basically had to win the die roll and/or do unspeakable things to their hand in order to win, so the only other deck that took a significant number of tops during this time was Trickstars, a deck with a two card combo that banishes your hand as soon as you search/draw a card outside of the Draw Phase, or a three card combo that banishes your hand as soon as you enter the Standby Phase.

A typical SPYRAL board ends on a Firewall Dragon with two or three co-links and a Bagooska in defense position acting as a Skill Drain on legs for anything that isn’t a Link Monster, more or less, plus usually a Utility Wire (strictly better Phoenix Wing Wind Blast).  In the OCG, it frequently ends on Tri-Gate Wizard, which can negate any card among other things, but the Structure Deck in which it was released hasn’t made its way over yet.  In this sense, you could say we never got full power SPYRALs, but then again, the OCG hit Gofu months ago.

I have more to say about the absurdity of the deck, but I’ll save that for the discussions of the actual cards.  There were only four hits this time.

Limited:

Blackwing - Gofu the Vague Shadow

Much like Daigusto Emeral, this is an archetypal card that saw nearly zero play within its own archetype.  Until Links came around, of course, and we got the ruling that Tokens were valid Link Materials, thus making Gofu a one-card Decode Talker or Missus Radiant that doesn’t consume a Normal Summon.

Opinion on this card has been surprisingly divided.  Opening Gofu is nuts, but every single one you draw after the first is useless unless you’re running Allure of Darkness, since you can’t even Summon it unless you control no monsters.  As it turns out, there’s not really a second turn against good boards of Link monsters, so the advantage is just way too high.  This card also breaks the Crystron link we’ll be getting in maybe three years, but there’s no doubt it would have been hit by then, so better sooner than later.

SPYRAL GEAR - Drone

SPYRAL Quik-Fix

These cards did not serve the same purpose, but they were limited for the same reason: they’re both valid targets for Machine Duplication, which led to insane plusses off of drawing it alongside either of these cards (or any card that searches them), and with a combined nine copies of SPYRAL Resort, you would usually open both, so really the Machine Duplication was the inconsistent part.  Machine Duplication with Quik-Fix gets three searches, and Drone stacks the deck so there isn’t even any guessing involved with the Super Agent effects.  Both combos can immediately make Double Helix with a monster left over.  So why didn’t they hit Machine Duplication?  In truth, it’s not actually that broken of a card for two main reasons.

1. These are basically the only relevant targets for the card, so hitting it would fuck over decks like Deskbots etc, which is totally undeserved (though this hasn’t stopped them in the past, see Emergency Teleport and ROTA.)

2. Ash negates it.  People have been seriously playing Double Summon instead for exclusively this reason.  I wish I was joking.

So that’s that.  Quik-Fix was expected, but I didn’t see them hitting Drone.  Good riddance though, the deck can search both of these cards just fine at one copy.

Set Rotation

Starting from humble beginnings as a short print Common in Maximum Crisis, Set Rotation rose to fame as soon as Field Spells started becoming common enough to play around (i.e. when Zoodiacs were banned, since Zodiac Sign is hilariously bad). Set Rotation gives both players a different face-down Field Spell and locks either player out of activating a new one as long as either player controls one of the ones placed there by Set Rotation’s effect.  The method through which this works means it can’t be negated by Ash Blossom, so that’s already a plus, but this card also gives a tremendous boost to strategies that involve multiple Field Spells, beginning at first with rogue choices like Fire King Island Kozmo, then extending to decks that ran it as an extra three copies of Terraforming, such as ABC.  Most recently, CIBR gave us Destrudo and thus a 1.5 card combo of any Normal Summon-able monster and either Terraforming or Set Rotation that essentially pays 3,000 LP for an Ancient Fairy Dragon and a search on any Field Spell.  This all happens before you start your usual combo off of a Field Spell, and also puts one into your grave to be copied with Pseudo Space later should you so desire.

One application of the card that deserves mention is the Set Rotation lock, which uses the card to give your opponent either Oracle of Zefra or Gateway to Chaos, which both have a mandatory search on activation (i.e. you can’t activate the effect if you don’t have any valid targets in deck).  Doing this locks your opponent out of their Field Spells unless they manage to break it, which has led to some interesting consequences.

Successfully activating the cards will break the lock, so in the OCG, people started siding (or maining!!) copies of Zefrathuban and Lord Gaia the Fierce Knight as targets for Oracle of Zefra and Gateway to Chaos, which led to a 50-50 between every game as players sided out Set Rotation targets depending on what they thought the opponent was going to take out or put in.

In the TCG, as it turns out, a lot of the new SPYRAL players didn’t really know how to play their deck, so we over here got many reports of players locking themselves out of field spells in their opening plays.  The contrast is hilarious.

In any case, this is both a hit to the consistency of Field Spell-based strategies and a nerf to SPYRALs, so it’s more than welcome.

And that’s it.  I didn’t expect this post to get so long, but it’s shorter than the last one at least. 

What will the next format look like?  Probably just like the post-Zoo ban pre-CIBR format, though there’s really no guessing based off of OCG trends since they’re still firmly in SPYRALtown.  Who knows.  Whatever happens, we’re stuck with this list until January, so we might as well get used to it.  I’m pretty happy with it.  Except for the fact that they didn’t hit Trickstars.

Until next time.