Featured Community Member

[ddevans96]

By fans, you mean just you, right furbs?

* ddevans96 sits on Drake

I can be your fan :3

[ARTHANASIOS]

I will be your fan too!

[Drake_XIV]

And thus, Drake_XIV gains votes for Trials.

[furballdn]

And thus, Drake_XIV gains votes for Trials.

Interviews as propaganda? What is this madness?!?

[plastiqe]

deuce22
Master of Aether
Grandmaster

Q: What is the story behind your forum username and avatar?
For my username, deuce was a nickname given to me by my high school buddies because my last name ends in the suffix II ("the second"). The 22 was added because "deuce" is usually unavailable for most games, so it's my typical username for most games.

For my avatar, it's a picture of my dog, Cameron, when he was a puppy (guessing 4-6 months old or so). The ninja headband was added because I was obsessed with a music video by Die Antwoord called "Enter the Ninja" at the time. Not really sure why I decided to use it as my avatar, but probably because it's uniquely mine.

Q: What is your favorite activity on the forums?
War. It was the only event I wanted to be a part of when I first joined, and it's the still the focus of my pvp participation. There is no other forum activity that is quite like it. Pretty much all the friends I've made in the community have been on my war teams, so my devotion to this game and this community is entirely attributed to this event.

Q: What is your favourite activity when you're not playing Elements?
I'm a big golfer. I actually rate golf courses for Golfweek Magazine.

Q: Favourite Katy Perry song?
I actually am not a Katy Perry fan at all. I just love the gif of her with the shakeweights. Although, if I had to pick a song for the sake of answering the question, I'd probably pick Firework because of the music video. I really don't like any of her songs, lol.

Q: Ninjas vs pirates?
Rhetorical questions are rhetorical

Q: Favourite Aether Card and why?
This is a tough one. If I had to pick one, it would probably have to be fractal. It is arguably the most powerful card in aether's arsenal. The ability to add up to 8 creatures in your hand instantly is very OP. It can be used in rushes, domins, quantacontrol, and stalls. It is almost never a dead card.

Q: What is your most memorable PvP match?
There's been a few over the last 2 years, but the top of my list is probably my epic comeback against PlayerOa last war in round 11. We modded our grabbow to have about a 50/50 shot against trollmare. Game 1 I didn't draw any novas, and game 2 I didn't draw any grabbies. I remember thinking I couldn't get lucky 3 games in a row and that our war was likely over. Ended up having perfect draw in game 3, then he had 1 pend draws in games 4 and 5. Game 4 was close, but he only drew 1 creature in game 5. After that, we went on to easily beat 10 men in round 12 to win war.

Q: What advice would you give to a player that is an aspiring Grandmaster?
"Victory belongs to the most persevering." That was our team motto last war, and it ended up being 100% applicable. Every team is going to go through rough patches where you lose several valuable cards and winning war seems impossible. It's easy to go inactive, but the teams that go on to win war are those that keep their head up and continue to work hard and fight for every win. To quote Galaxay Quest, "Never give up, never surrender"...but suicide may be strategic

Q: Name one interesting fact about yourself that nobody in the community knows about.
I used to be obsessed with Stargate. So much so that I played Stargate TCG Online. I think there was about 50 people in the world that played the game. I think I spent almost $1000 on that game too (I was an idiot). The main reason I spent money on the game was that you could win money from tournaments, and you can redeem online sets of cards for real cards that they mail to you. Unfortunately, the game died just as I was getting good at it, so I never won a tourney. But I was able to finally receive my card sets almost 2 years after the game died, lol.

Q: If zanz gave you the keys and you could change one thing about the current version of Elements, what would it be and why?
I would probably make nymphs/marks slightly more accessible through quests or something. I'm awful at balancing card games, but pvp can be a bit unfair when some players have tons of nymphs/marks and others have hardly any. But with regards to 1.32 and the proposed shard changes, I would keep them "other" cards, but I would make it so that shards can't be used in arena decks (and maybe pvp1 and pvp2).

Q: If zanz then forgot to take the keys back what would most like to see added to the game?
I'm awful at this sort of thing, but the easy answer would be to add a lot more cards to the game. The more cards out there, the more balanced the game becomes (statistically speaking). Also, I would add something to the quest line.

Q: What is your Elements new years resolution for 2013?
Try not to complain about RNG as much... But that's gonna be REALLY difficult.

Q: Final word for your legions of Aether fans out there?
You're welcome  8)

[Jocko]

Great guy, great interview. I had the pleasure to work with him in two wars, and he's as skilled in strategy as nice to talk to.

[Opsinis]

n00b
Member of 5th Council
Tournament Organizer
Guildmaster

Q: How did you come up with such a nickname?
Long story, though it basically had me going and making an account on a game where I didn't want to be recognized by the people I knew (before that, my only "account" thing that I made was for Runescape, like five years ago), and I wanted to draw some pity/I'm very unimaginative, so what better way to say that you're a noob than to have your username reflect so (my original username was Iman00b8)?

Q: So, are you a Gen 1 man? Or do you love all Pokemon?
I have a confession. I haven't actually played Gen I pokemon save LeafGreen/FireRed. The earliest and first Pokemon I played was Crystal (Gen II), though the internal battery died very soonly, and I was never able to beat it. However, I do own Pokemon Emerald, which I have put quite a bit of time into, even doing some interesting takes on Nuzlocke (though I always end up starting over once its beaten, as that game get any harder after being beaten, or at least in matches that give creatures exp). So, to answer your question, I love all pokemon, though the Gen I ones do hold a special place in my heart, especially Bulbasaurs with optical issues.

Q: What was your motivation in becoming a Tourney orgainzer?
In all honesty, I had never thought I'd become or even want to be a TO. What I had wanted to be was a Warmaster, and that was the first position I had ever applied for. Though, as you know, I didn't get it. A while later, I heard that TOs were being hired, and after a little urging from a certain someone who shouldn't be named, I applied. However, even though I had never thought I'd want to be a TO, I absolutely love the position and hope all tourneygoers love the work that I, along with ddevs and Viney, put into it.

Q: What is your favorite elements related activity? (i.e. PvP, chat, forum jazz?)
Honestly, I'm not sure. I'd have to say chatting, as I haven't been involved in forum-related/PvP events much during my time here, and I enjoy speaking with all those nubfaces out there . Besides that, I'd say staffing. I haven't been a staffer for very long (~September, I think), but I enjoy being able to work on things that only a few people see for the time being, and then releasing them to the community (the most common of these being tournaments).

Q: You claim to love gravy, so what is your favorite Gravity card and why?
This is actually a hard one for me, but I think I would say Otyugh. It's one of the best forms of CC, and it brings Gravity's stereotype of being "fat" to reality, having the devour skill take to cast. Besides that, it is the backbone to one of if not my favorite Gravity-based deck: Nomwall. That was the only deck which I have won with in War (yes, I'm 2 and like 6 in War, winning those two games in War 5), and I love using it in the few times I PvP.

Q: When you aren't on the forums, what is favorite thing to do?
Honestly, not too much, as my life is been busy due to classes (what I'm doing most of the time I'm in chat). However, one thing I do enjoy doing is watching/going to sports games, and I usually try to go to a Twins game when I have open time.

Q: What is your favorite war moment?
Easy. War 4, after suffering bad rounds due to a semi-inactive Team Gravity (which included nils, vagman, Jenkar, Vineroz, and myself), PuppyChow became active for the first and only time, helped make decks, and then Gravity went 5-0 in that round. Though my favorite part was what happened after that. There was celebration thread posted, which had to get heavily-censored due to the... contents of the posts in that thread. That, by far, was my favorite War moment.

Q: How has this war been so far working under willng3?
Fun. I'd finally been able to get to know will, and I was pleasantly surprised when he decided to go as far as he did for me for War. It's fun working under him, as he works way harder than I would've thought to keep Team Life as a whole functioning, and at least thus far in Round 1 it has shown .

Q: For all the curious people, how will guilds make change for the better?
In all honesty, it's the participants who will be the ones to decide how much change will happen when the release of Guilds happens. Guilds will not be fun nor will they be helpful if players refuse to cooperate. However, if they do, Guilds will be a place of some fun PvP-based and Forum-based events, where players and teams will be rewarded points if they win, and said points can be used to get some perks, as well as the team with the most points after a certain time being deemed the semi-winner (don't really know what else to call it since points will fluctuate a lot). It will hopefully encourage Guildmembers to encourage newer players that they have to take part in said PvP/Forum-based competitions, and hopefully this will give newer players a jump start into the community.

Q: What is it like being a council member?
Fun. I like being able to decide what things to add (the biggest being Guilds), or even deciding who is able to get what new staff positions. As Councilers, we get to see not only what other Councilers see in applicants, but what the applicants see in themselves. To get a position, much of the time you need to say why you are the better choice over another person, and sometimes you can truly see what a person is like when they have to list their strengths and things that make them stand out.

Q: Name one interesting fact about yourself that nobody in the community knows about.
I would say my age, which, though this may come as a shocker to all, it is not actually -7000. However, my age will stay hidden for a time more, so don't get your hopes up . Umm, besides that, how about the only reason I started playing Elements was for the Kong badge, and it ended up taking me so long to beat a FG, that I became addicted to the game in the process (and yes, I did grind FGs using Liquid Antimatter until about -10000 score).

Q: What is the one thing in Elements that makes you tic and you would love to change?
Honestly, the one thing I have to say about this is making shards only work when upgraded. I know it's not as bad now, as they have elemental affinity and Zanz has taken some steps to make sure they're not abused in arena (giving a cap for the number of SoSacs AI will play in one game, for instance), but I have always viewed shards as, in a way, being a more-elite rare, and I always liked how they only worked while upgraded 'back in the day'. So yeah, if I could change one thing, that's really the only thing that comes to mind.

Q:What would you add as well?
Hmm... for what I would add? I'm not really sure, besides more cards overall and possibly more foil cards that one could get from donating (with vrt somehow getting a cut, I'd say, as he has worked his ass off creating a lot of this artwork). As to more cards, I wouldn't mind if each element had another shield (or at least the ones with only one shield), just because, when having one type of shield, things are more limited. Now, I'm not what anyone would call an Elements expert, and I've slowly started to gravitate (that one's for you, nils) towards the Community-part of Elements, and hell, I have even stopped looking at the Buff/Nerf Card sections, and only view the general GS&F maybe a few times a month. So, if you were to take the answer to this and the question before more seriously, or expect me to try to figure something out for those, I'd gladly pass, as that's not what I do. So, yeah, were I to suggest something, I would suggest what I suggested above. But, what will most likely happen, I will probably end up finding an idea from someone that really stands out and stay with them. I'm not a creative nor innovative guy half the time, and I'm better at critiquing than creating.

Q: Any last words?
Probably one of the things that you see on staff hiring threads: don't be afraid to apply for positions. Yes, there is a good chance you will not get what you apply for if you are very new and/or inactive, but it shows that you want to help. Being in Council, we notice when people have applied for multiple things. Also, try to be active in chat as well as the forums (which is directed to the newer players interested in becoming staffers)... most often your personality is better conveyed through realish-time chat than through forum posts, and even when you are in chat, we are more-easily able to see that you are active, as much fewer of us watch the "Who's Online" thing at the bottom of the forums than those who notice when people come to chat. My final thing on that topic is don't be afraid to ask questions. Everyone has been in that state where they are new to the game or the community and have some questions. Whether it be about upcoming staff positions, War, or even how often tournaments are, feel free to ask about them, and it is even sometimes better to ask in chat than to post a thread on the forums.

[ddevans96]

Chapuz
Brawlmaster
OTK Boss
Newbie Helper

Q: Why did you choose your nickname?
A: My real name isn't common in my country and South America in general, and sounds like a girl name for most of the people that never heard it before. When I was about 15 years old I entered a chat where I used my name as nickname. Unluckly, too many people were in that chat entering room by room asking girls for virtual sex. As I got tired of being confused by a girl, I changed my nickname for the first funny male character that came to my mind: Chapulín Colorado, an old Mexican TV program. Some time passed and it was damn long, so I abreviated it to Chapu or Chapuz.

Q: For the longest time, you had a Voodoo Doll combo as your avatar. Is that your favorite combination?
A: Voodoo Doll has one of the most badass creatures images in the whole game. There were some others I liked when I reached 200 posts, but this one was rarely used and easy to see when fast scrolling.
I also used to farm FGs with Shak'Ars Revange and have always liked annoying people in PVP1 with that combo, so when I found TheManuz was making his Custom Marks, I asked him to make one with the Voodoo Doll, BB and GP, which I have used until I created Pure Dolls much time later, which includes Adrenaline and Purify as combo cards. Vineroz had the amability of adding them into my avatar mark. The one I am using now is just a temp for War 6.
Oh yes, it's my favourite combo.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Q: Why did you want to become a Brawlmaster?
A: I enjoyed a lot playing Brawl #1, specially as Off-Topicker. Boosters to that joy were the amazing team I had and the teamwork in Titanpad, where everyone was helping everyone in every task. As almost every player, I had my own suggestions for Brawl #2 and thought about many aspects of the game that could be improved. More than that, I want it to grow as a massive community event and wanted to give more potatoes than just playing. You will find a pair or surprises when you read Brawl #2 rules.

Q: What is your favorite Elements related activity? (i.e. PvP, chat, Forum jazz?)
A: Chat, definitely. Annoying noobs in PVP 1 with hilarious decks and suggesting them to enter to the forums is another thing I like spending some time in. It is also a good scenario to test some crazy ideas which, some of them, ended up in the forums.

Q: You have been known to create threads to help newbs. Did you get any help when you started out?
A: There are actually 2 types of newbie threads I have made so far: Tutorials/guides and Unupped/semi unupped PVP fun decks/FG farmers.

About decks, my help was mainly the Decks sections, as at the beginning I didn't enter to the chat other than just for asking stuff.
When I started, as every noob in the forums, I looked only for unupped decks and cursed every single person that made upgraded decks because they were damn expensive to build (before knowing FGs were beatable with a simple Fire Bolt OTK). I like making FG farmers (and decks in general) as unupped and rareless as possible for that newcomers that don't have the electrum (yet) to make fully upped decks. The forum needs unupped support for vets too!

The reason I made those guides and tutorials is simple: The Tutorial section is a potential tool to make much more newcomers get into the game and community instead of getting scared the first pair of days and leaving the game for ever. They are just the potatoes I can give to the community to grow making something I enjoy. Unluckily, the Tuts section is underestimated by some council members and hasn't been updated (yet) with the worthy tutorials there are in the rest of the forums.

Q: When you aren't on the Forums, what is your favorite thing  to do?
A: Getting into the chat, ofc! I also like playing tennis, hanging out with friends, going to bars and raping old people, as everyone does.

Q: Penguins or Ostriches?
A: The other day I saw a movie where a girl was beautiful and fan of penguins, so penguins. Oh wait, I just saw a mod of Minecraft that has ostriches. Ostriches then.
Too... much... pressure...

Spoiler for Hidden:

Q: How are you functioning underneath PlayerOa this war?
A: Actually, Oa has been pretty busy up to now, so the one that is leading us most is Cheesy111. He is a damn good Lieutenant and I enjoy reading his thinking lines about deckbuilding. I think I'm learning about it, guess we will have to see it in War 7.

Q: What was the inspiration for becoming the OTK meistro you are today?
A: As I said before, my first FG grinder was the old Fire Bolt OTK. It was pretty boring, I must admit, but it was the only newbie way to get fast electrum and make my first upgraded experiences (I loved, love and will always love Timebow FG grinders)
The deck that actually inspired me was a Dragoon's one, the one I took Limitless Speed's combo from. 200 damage? A single turn? No Fire Bolts? Welcome style!
I also found OTK a funny strategy to play PVP 1 with, letting my opponent tell me -several times- I'm a noob while I imagine their faces reading a "Bye, noob" message and watching their HP reach zero in an instant. The best part is when they face me again some minutes later.

Q: You have been known to create some trolling decks as well. What is your favorite one?
A: The one that has given me the biggest joy has been a simple unupped version of the a simple unupped version of the Ragequit Factory, as I could receive the biggest amount of insults per game on average.

Q: Which card has the best art?
A: I couldn't decide if I had to pick only one. Let's just say vrt is OP in this and deserves one of the tallest altars in the whole community..

Q: How has the War experience been for you so far?
A: Noobish, as a common first-war trainee. I am learning a lot about competitive meta and counterdeckbuilding though, so I wish I can do better in War 7.

Q: Name one interesting fact that people in the community don't know.
A: Peru has over 3k of different types of potatoes, so if there's an apocalypse and the world is nearly destroyed, you know where the potatoes reserve is. Interesting, huh?

Q: What is something in Elements that you dislike and would get rid of?
A: Nothing at all. Maybe Round 3 of War 6.

Q: What would you love to add to the game?
A: Just more cards that offer new synergies and mechanics, there are lots of them in CI&A. Dual Buckler -or any of its viable variations- is an example.

Q: Any last words?
A: Thank you for choosing me as the member of the month. Just that, no more boring interview for now =D

[TribalTrouble]

I think Chapuz doesn't like interviews :p

[Opsinis]

mrpaper
Master of Earth
War General
PvP Veteran

Q: Why choose the name "mrpaper"?
A: I used to play an rpg online game called Fiesta.  I used to be a healer and people we're laughing at mage's armor calling it paper armor.  I always found that comparison funny so I used that when I built a mage in the same game.  I enjoyed the name a lot and getting some fun with the character and having some praises for the cool name so I decided to keep it for a new game called elements!

Q: Have you always loved the element of Earth?
A: Almost, when I started I picked gravity as starting element for no real reason.  I soon got to enjoy the power of pulvy with the duo.  But I didn't like earth that much then because I couldn't really use all the earth cards at their full potential.   But as soon as I got most of the unnupped cards, earth was a favorite.

Q: If you had to choose between a mono, duo, trio/qaud, or rainbow deck which would it be, and why?
A: I hate trio/quads, they are too unstable.  If I have to choose among the others, I'd say rainbow because the numbers of possibilities are limitless so more fun... bring the party!

Q: What was your favorite moment in the Trials that led to your becoming the Master of Earth?
A: The moment when I saw I had a good majority of the votes, not so much for the points, but mostly cause it meant the community believed in me which meant a ton to me.

Q: What is your favorite Elements-related activity? (i.e. PvP, chat, forum shuff?)
A: PVP by far! I love preparing decks for all sort of events.  Once in a while I get in a mood where I chat a lot, sometimes not so much though I always talk a lot during every war I've been into.  As for the forum stuff.. well I respect those who keep the community alive by getting involved in this, but I'm more here for the game.

Q: When you aren't doing Elements-related things, what are you doing?
A: Digging earth ofc    More seriously though, I'm a lot into sports and since I'm canadian... it's hockey of course, whether it's playing or watching a game with a cold beer (if you're under 18, and reading this... I meant soda!).

Q: What's the luckiest you've been in one match playing Elements?
A: I've been known a lot for some unbelievable luck so it's hard to pick.  But the most luck I had is in a pvp2 game facing a turn 1 discord who failed all game long against a mono aether deck where I drew no dims and still won... go figure!

Q: Earth had a good run this war, but in the end, Aether ousted your team. Would you say that this War has been a learning experience for you? 
A: Every war has been, but this was my first war in earth team and there will be some little adjustments next war...  then again it's not like we need to change everything.. a few more wins vs aether would have change our fate and maybe the fate of the whole war.

Q: Rock, paper, or scissors?
A: Whatever you picked... I just ninja and edit this post with paper/rock/scissors and  you lost... sorry

Q: What is your favorite Earth card, and why?
A: Basilisk blood... it such a good cc card, especially if facing high hp cards where lightning or bolts won't be enough.

Q: Name one interesting fact that people in the community don't know. 
A: I'm part of wars since war 2, and people may know I've been trying to go for aether mastership before, but it ain't because I wanted it more than earth... I applied for earth at first but my score wasn't that high and there we're too many applications.  So in the end I made a run for aether since it was the only element that had free space left (most were afraid of fighting Higurashi at the time).  I lost but made a bit a name for myself and mostly had fun.

Q: Penguins or Ostriches? 
A: As a hockey fan... Pittsburgh Penguins!

Q: What is something in Elements that you are not fond of, and would eliminate or reduce? 
A: I hate the fact that the leagues don't encourage the participation and go for the averages of wins.. it sure doesn't help the community to stay active and grow.. but I know many don't feel the same.

Q: What would you love to see in the game?
A: Much much more cards, but in particular, one powerful thing I was always thrilled to use in mtg I'd like to see here is the ability to force the opponent to discard cards.. it's such an evil way to win!

Q: Any last words?
A: Am I dying yet?????.... arrrrrgggghhhhhhh...  I'll be back!

[TribalTrouble]

notice the reordering of the r/p/s. Also, paper doesn't die, it shreds.

[blarp]

ALRIGHT GET A MOVE ON ALREADY! Whose in charge of doing these? There should be 1 a week not 1 every monthish!

I did one the fly one with Rutarete in chat. Took about 25-30 minutes and was fun for all involved. (If you want a transcript ask) If you need someone to do more interviews, hit me up.

I suggest at minimum, have the war generals all interview at least 1 person on their team for a start. We can get a whole years worth in two weeks.