8th Trials - Phase 3 Community Vote [Gravity]

[CCCombobreaker]

Phase 3 - Community Vote

It's time to vote for your favorite Master candidate!  Every community member has one vote. You can change your vote at any time as long as there is still time on the clock.

Vote based on who you think would make the best Master of that element. Do not vote based on who is the best player or who you know personally. Try to pick someone who you think would help the community the most as THE representative for their element.  If you do not have any preference for who should be Master, or cannot decide between the candidates, please select the "None Worthy" option. 

To help you make the best decision possible, feel free to ask the candidates questions.  Both challengers and defending Masters ought to answer the questions in this thread to help the voters make the best possible choice.  Please put all your answers in a single post (employing spoiler tags is recommended).  Also, challengers should include in that post a link to your Phase 1 submission post.


Questions and answers may begin now that this topic is posted.
Voting will begin when the polls are up at the official start of Phase 3.
Phase 3 ends when poll expires.

andretimpa's responses
Captain Scibra's responses

[andretimpa]

Phase 1

Spoiler for why you should vote for me:

I think my greatest merit over Scibra is that I can guarantee that I'll be an active master. I can also be an insanely hard worker (I'll let Oa speak on my behalf) and I think I have proven this last Brawl that I can lead a team (bring a team with half the people missing, starting at last and ending 1 point behind the winners IS something).

My greatest flaw is that in terms of experience in war I can't deny that he's been around for a longer time and that I have never been in team gravity.

In terms of PvP duels I'd say he's still a wildcard to me, I had never faced him before our trials match and I won't be understimating him just because I 3-0'd him (I think that match reflects more a better planning on what unlocks to use in phase 1 and how bans ended up working in an element with 2 players)

Regarding the 2 big responsabilities of a master, I'm using nested spoilers (sue me)

Spoiler for War:

The main impact that the result of this trials will have in team gravity is who is going to pick the team. If I win, I'll probably try to get Scibra in my team (his experience will come handy, I don't deny this) and I hope that if he is the winner, I managed to convince him that I deserve a spot in the team too.

Spoiler for Brawl:

Let me put it this way. I'm not just entering the next Brawl, I'm winning it

Spoiler for Summary:

If you vote for me, all your wildest dreams will come true.

Spoiler for vrt:

Dear candimen,

We all know Otyughs look best in a suit and tophat. What fashion advice do you have for a Graviton Mercenary?

A cane and a monocle, of course. We are all gentlemen here.

Spoiler for jijo:

to all gravity trialists:

Which one of you is the fattest?

I'm quite skinny actually, ~60kg weight, ~1.75m height

Spoiler for Kaker:

What dish that you cooked was the one you were most pleased with? and why?

Rice, salt cod and chickpeas. It is a personal favourite and brings me good memories. (even if it takes forever to cook and unsalting the cod needs to be done a day in advance)

Spoiler for Laxa:

Realistically, do you think you can topple aether? Whats so new/not new this time (more important part)?

On one hand, aether got really close to lose the last war. But on the other this may have been due to the particular rules of it (the other 3 top teams just ganged on it on Round 9 and we almost got away with it).

I think the greatest change is that deuce will be WM and so aether won't have his mad mindgating skills (unless deuce wins and gets Higs to be general. Then things could get ugly).

Andretimpa: Regrettably, I did not bit on you last war, however, do you think that your time with time helped you? Do you think you would have benefited more from being on Gravity? Explain please.

Being in gravity would have been my first choice, but working with Oa is always pleasant and I got the opportunity to see torb in action before he left us all, so I think it was a good experience. It took me some 2-3 rounds until I got the hang of things and could start giving more useful suggestions and I ended up doing most of the intelligence work for the team. One interesting thing of being in a different team is that you get some insight on what in each element scares that team (by first hand experiencing that fear), which might come handy facing imo.

Spoiler for dragons:

I don't really expect a serious answer to this, since I don't think it's possible, but with the foil chimera allowing use of more than six chimeras in a deck, can you think of any way to abuse this fact in a practical deck?

Who needs foils, when you can use chimeratal 8)

On a serious note, I can't think of a serious deck using more than 3 chimeras (and even then it is probably overkill).

I guess you could try a combo with high HP creatures to build a shield and keep feeding it with more chimeras and creatures, but the quanta cost is prohibitive.

Spoiler for Frozen:

Dear gravity finallists:

Name the fourth gravity card that comes into your head.
I've been trying for 10 minutes to think of a good question for this, but I just can't.
You get it easy, compared to my time and light questions.
ENJOY >:U:<

Saphire Charger.

Well, that was easy.

Spoiler for TT:

Pick one symbol, card, deck, picture, user, etc. that you feel truly embodies everything gravity is all about. Explain your reasoning behind this decision.

I can quite put my finger on just one thing, so instead I'll just explain what I think gravity is about.

Gravity is about gaining long term flexibility and control at expense of speed. Gravity decks are slower to start than their counterparts (specially monos, even more so unupped) but they focus in different form of gaining control (we have denial, CC, can get around some types of CC, momentum is soft PC and our hard PC is so strong it needs to banned almost universally) and effects like gravity pull and momentum have some very subtle ways of working in flexible ways.

We also have things like break strategies (acceleration), burst damage (catapults) but I'd say our flexible control options are what defines us.

Spoiler for Sub:

Both gravity contestants are ones from the creative kind, so my only chance to pick is to see who's more creative.

timpa What name would you give to a gravity-based Brawlteam if it could be anything? Scibra How would you ensure your war teammates to have fun?

Both Show me how would you format this post to look good? You can rephrase sentences as long as they mean the same and you can use any forum BBCode.

Last Brawl I came up with Team Titans. While it is a good pun and I played with it a bit in the propaganda of my team (before I stepped down to play as a regular), we can go with something a bit more intimidating, like Tidal Force. You know, the thing that creates tides, turns large celestial bodies into rings/asteroid belts and makes you look like spaghetti, just for giggles, right before falling and being forever trapped into a black hole (disintegration is another, less funny, side effect).

You don't mess, with Tidal Forces

Spoiler for farscape:

Everyone I guess has a chance to get a bid. These things depend much more on how the auction is going.

I'm not against new members, but if you can't convince me (on your app) that you won't just pop away after 2 rounds, you'll probably not have my bid (so this would require a bit of work on your part too ).

As for how much, as you have no war experience and I interacted too little with you to get a feel of how you would work I'd say 1 or 2 cards.

Spoiler for Frozen 2:

Dear all gravity triallists:

Okay. Now I have a not stupid question.

Gravity is a pretty awkward element. It has synergies with many elements, but not a lot of their cards are similar to other cards. It's a very unique element.

What element is the most similar to gravity, then?
This can be mechanically similar or flavourfully similar.

That's a really hard question, because the few things gravity shares with other elements are spread over some 3~4 elements.  In my opinion the element that shares the most similarities is earth, namely creatures with above than average HP and a nymph that is able to shut down entire decks. Even so, these 2 elements approach things in a very different way.

As you said, gravity is very unique.

Spoiler for Nae:

Gravity is my favorite element, so you guys are the only ones I'm going to ask things of.

How would each of you go about being a boss for brawl and leading your team in Brawl? Or might you chicken out and not do it? For that matter, do you believe a Master should feel some level of obligation to lead Brawl, just as there is some feeling (though not a demand) that they lead War?

As I said in the first spoiler (why vote in me), I intend to win the next Brawl. I've seen the last 2 slip through my fingers and I think I can change that if I'm allowed to pick the team.

About how I'll lead my team? The same way I lead the Cuckoos in the last 3 rounds, motivating the ones that are still left, covering/delegating the tasks of those that drop out and always trying to keep quality as high as possible, regardless of circunstances.

About masters leading teams, I said more than once that I don't like masters getting dibs as bosses. For 2 reasons: I'm against elemental affiliations, as that only blurs the voting with a hard to remove bias (we had some 2~3 voters like this last Brawl) and what candidates have to do to win Trials traditionally has nothing to do with what is required in Brawl (you only need decent and not high quality submissions to earn full points in the proof of worthiness and the top ones are awarded only 1 bonus point). I think they should all be invited to apply for boss, as they tend to be members that can take responsabilities, but their apps should have the same status as of any regular member that applies.

That being said, I think everyone should give Brawl a shot, but not out of responsability. For me Brawl is about getting out of our comfort zones and learning something new. These lessons are worth much more than a bunch of pixels (aka prizes) and you'll take then with you even after leaving these forums. Brawl is also a great way of spotting the workhorses in our community and it's always good to have 1 or 2 of these in your team (I'm absolutely sure that Brawl was the reason Zso and Oa had a bid war over me last war).

[vrt]

Dear candimen,

We all know Otyughs look best in a suit and tophat. What fashion advice do you have for a Graviton Mercenary?

[MyNameIsJoey]

to all gravity trialists:

Which one of you is the fattest?

[Kakerlake]

What dish that you cooked was the one you were most pleased with? and why?

[Captain Scibra]

Spoiler for vrt:

Dear candimen,

We all know Otyughs look best in a suit and tophat. What fashion advice do you have for a Graviton Mercenary?

Aviator shades and some tattoos.  How about a good cigar too?

Spoiler for ji412jo:

to all gravity trialists:

Which one of you is the fattest?

I am not fat, per se, but I have the highest weight that I am allowed within the Marine Corps (160 lb. at 5'4"), mostly from having a small gut while also having muscular arms and legs.

Spoiler for Kakerlake:

What dish that you cooked was the one you were most pleased with? and why?

Spaghetti.  It had awesomesauce with my special herb concoction.

Spoiler for TribalTrouble:

Pick one symbol, card, deck, picture, user, etc. that you feel truly embodies everything gravity is all about. Explain your reasoning behind this decision.

To me, Gravity is all about using an object's mass to its advantage.  While I speak not of just the card itself, but the entirety of the theme it uses; it is capable of directly influencing trajectory, en mass or singular, defensively or offensively.

Spoiler for Laxadarap:

Realistically, do you think you can topple aether? Whats so new/not new this time (more important part)?

Andretimpa: Regrettably, I did not bit on you last war, however, do you think that your time with time helped you? Do you think you would have benefited more from being on Gravity? Explain please.

Scibra: On the contrary, you were on team Gravity last war.  We obviously did not win last war.  What more do you think you can bring to the table?  Would you have rather been on a different team? Please explain.

Yes.  It would likely take unconventional means, but I've made decks like that before, and they've worked (I blame most of the times they DIDN'T work on some blunders that should not have happened to begin with), and I'd bring that to the table this next war.

Spoiler for dragonsdemsne:

I don't really expect a serious answer to this, since I don't think it's possible, but with the foil chimera allowing use of more than six chimeras in a deck, can you think of any way to abuse this fact in a practical deck?

I see no way of really using even more than one aside from wanting to draw one without requiring drawing your entire deck.  The simple fact is that it doesn't actually boost anything, just assures that the damage goes through, and therefore is solely designed as a finisher, not a burst mechanic.

Spoiler for Frozengaia:

Dear gravity finallists:

Name the fourth gravity card that comes into your head.
I've been trying for 10 minutes to think of a good question for this, but I just can't.
You get it easy, compared to my time and light questions.
ENJOY >:U:<

When I got to number 4 I thought "Titan" but saw Catapult.  Weird.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Both gravity contestants are ones from the creative kind, so my only chance to pick is to see who's more creative.

timpa: What name would you give to a gravity-based Brawlteam if it could be anything?

Scibra: How would you ensure your war teammates to have fun?

both: Show me how would you format this post to look good? You can rephrase sentences as long as they mean the same and you can use any forum BBCode.

I'd be sure that those unconventional decks would be interesting if possible, though of course winning has its own rewards in enjoying a match.

I'll get to the second ('both') question when I'm more awake and able.

[TribalTrouble]

Pick one symbol, card, deck, picture, user, etc. that you feel truly embodies everything gravity is all about. Explain your reasoning behind this decision.

[Laxadarap]

Realistically, do you think you can topple aether? Whats so new/not new this time (more important part)?

Andretimpa: Regrettably, I did not bit on you last war, however, do you think that your time with time helped you? Do you think you would have benefited more from being on Gravity? Explain please.

Scibra: On the contrary, you were on team Gravity last war.  We obviously did not win last war.  What more do you think you can bring to the table?  Would you have rather been on a different team? Please explain.

[dragonsdemesne]

I don't really expect a serious answer to this, since I don't think it's possible, but with the foil chimera allowing use of more than six chimeras in a deck, can you think of any way to abuse this fact in a practical deck?

[Dm]

Voted for andre, simply because Activity. With how many inactive Gravity Generals we've had in the past and how Scibra apparently would only further that trend, I can't really vote for him.

[Espithel]

Dear gravity finallists:

Name the fourth gravity card that comes into your head.
I've been trying for 10 minutes to think of a good question for this, but I just can't.
You get it easy, compared to my time and light questions.
ENJOY >:U:<

[andretimpa]

Answered everything