10th Trials - Phase 3: Community Vote

[Zawadx]

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 (and in the General questions 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.

[JonathanCrazyJ]

JCJ's Phase 3 Answers

Spoiler for Answers from 'Questions for All':

Spoiler for dark ripper:

Hello people! Imma ask some "getting to know you" questions.

1.For everyone: Is the element you are trialing for your favourite element? if its not then which is and why didnt you trial for it? If it is then which is your 2nd favourite and would consider trialing for it next time if you dont win these trials?

2.For everyone: Do you value higher the general of an element in war or the element itself? (for example your favourite element is  but STANDIN became the master of  would you want to join the great master STANDIN or your favourite element no matter what general it has?)

3. For everyone: On the other side of the coin. As a general yourself, would you value higher more active players that may not hold your element as their favourite or players that have your element as their favourite but arent so active-or there are other problems-?

4. Masters Only: how would react if you had the lowest votes out of everyone in phase 3?

5. Challengers Only: assuming you make it to the finals. How would you react if the master didnt draft you in the coming war?(considering you want to be in the same team)

6. Last question for everyone: Why do you want to win trials? Why do you want to be a master?

thank you. kthxbai

1. It is 100% my favourite element. My 2nd favourite is probably , I love Poison Counters in general, and Bone Wall, and the synergy it has with Chrysaora. But no, I will not be trialing for anything other than Water in Trials 11.

2. While I am incredibly grateful to ddevans for many things, one of which is cementing my love of water, if he were to come back next trials and go for a different element, i would certainly stay with Water. In the same way that I support Manchester United, and didn't start supporting Real Madrid when David Beckham moved clubs.

3. I would try to create a good balance in my team between cross-element Vets who's knowledge of the meta and the weaknesses of other elements would be invaluable in mindgating, and some less decorated Water lovers. Activity, however, is something I would look closely at. It is a Team Game, and I don't want my team to have to carry no-shows.

4. N/A

5. Well, Bas says he likely won't be able to general, so this is hypothetical. However, I would respect their decision as the master of the element I love. I would play 100% for whichever element I ended up playing for, and use that experience to grow as a player, so that the following Trials I might be found worthy enough to lead the team myself. I would also not hold it against them if the roles were reversed the following war.

6. I want to win trials because I believe I have a lot to offer Water as a general, and because I dearly want to be found worthy to become master of my favourite element.

Spoiler for Jenkar:

@All : Analyse your performance in trials so far (both phases) in a critical manner. Where did you go right? Where did you go wrong? What would you change if you could? You have 4 hours. (if someone wants me to answer this, pm)

Phase 1: I am pleased with how I went about phase 1. I put a lot of effort into my tasks and I believe they all demonstrate good knowledge of cards, decks, and synergies. The only task I could be happier with is "Starting Your Own Little War". I think the premise behind the rules is interesting and would be fun to play, but if I had more time I would try to balance the three categories better.

Phase 2: I am satisfied with the amount of game wins I achieved in Phase 2, 10/12 (or 7/9 if you discount free Dm wins), but I am not particularly pleased with my performance. RNG played a part, but a few of my decks were not quite tweaked as much as I would have liked. My RoL/Hope attempt could have been made with only 12 water cards, for example, which would have made it much more reliable. Also, using it at all was because I over-thought my options. I should have stuck with my plan, and used Dims/Fractal.
Positively, I was pleased with my "Crying for Craters" deck, which used Nymph Tears to create Air Nymphs, which I believed were unexpected by my opponents. I was also pleased with the balance of my Grabbows and PDials, and my SoFo/Gravity Pull deck "Pulled into the Abyss".

Spoiler for Afdarenty:

And some questions for all trialists:
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, will you be the War General?
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, will you be the Brawl Boss?
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, what are your goals? What is the minimum that you could achieve that you'd look back on and say 'Yes, I did a good job there'? Please be realistic.

• Absolutely. I have experienced War with Water as a Soldier, and experienced leading a Team in Brawl (which we won). I believe my strengths lie in team-building, and I am looking forward to hopefully creating a vault which will be competitive. We included too many decks with more of a gimmick last time around. Some of them can be dropped in favour of more powerful decks, especially as we didn't make enough use of shards and the tinkerer ability.
• 100%. Abyss Brawlers need to defend their title (though maybe with a different name)! Brawl is one of my favorite aspects of the forums, and I love throwing myself at them and giving them all of my energy.
• Water has under-performed in war, imo. It may be tough for us to compete for the win, but I believe with the right vault, a top 6 finish is the least we should be aiming for, especially with Shards. I'd be proud of a top 5. I also hope that by creating a fun, sociable dynamic in our War team, I will encourage more people to affiliate themselves with water. I'd be pleased if my mastership encouraged more challengers for the next Water trials, preferably a full set!

Spoiler for Submachine:

For all trialists for all elements:

- How would you represent yourself in a comic if you wanted to be recognized, but without saying anything in the comic? Describe your looks.
- How would you represent your element's "essence" as a character in a comic? Would it have a gender? Describe its looks.

Well, Krzysiekxd has already done the former for me, it would be criminal not to use his!

I'll answer the 2nd question first though. I'd see water as a superhero that can find itself anywhere, and become corporial in the form of Ice. When a child is crying, the tears can jump off of its face and leap into action. A swimmer is drowning... the waves lift him up and carry him safely to shore.
Sort of like how the Agents can be anyone in the Matrix, but... more moist.

Spoiler for justaburd:

Chirp trill chirp chirp?

Warble?

P.S. Really more for the challengers: What do you think you'll do better than the current master?

As dd is not defending, I feel no need to answer this, because we are not fighting for votes. Dd was an excellent master, i'll leave it at that

Spoiler for Aves:

If you become/remain master, who is going to be your favorite minion?

I have no minions, I would simply be the funnel through which the water flows.

Spoiler for Higurashi:

To all: How has your favorite element affected your life?

If you're not in Trials for your favorite element, let me know so I know whom not to vote for.

Tough question, because I don't know how much I agree that my favorite element 'should' affect my life outside of, well, elements. IN elements, however, Water has affected me hugely. I felt warmly embraced by dd and water in Brawl #4 as a new(ish) member of the community. It was already my favourite element, and this act of trust cemented my devotion to water. I have never turned back.

Spoiler for CleanOnion:

My question is as such: What's your favourite idea?

I like the idea of a Perpetual Motion Device. Such a thing is physically impossible (or rather ludicrously improbable), but would solve the world's energy crisis. The idea is to have a device that can be used to produce energy, through motion, but that will continually work without input:

Example:



Water doesn't work that way, genius.

You could argue tidal power (a form of hydropower that transfers the energy obtained from tides into electricity), is, in essence a perpetual motion we could harness. This is not the case, as it is dependent on Lunar gravitational pull, and is not constant. Although not yet utilised to its full potential, tidal power could be one solution to the global energy crisis. Tides being more regular than solar and wind power.

Spoiler for Answers to Water Questions:

Spoiler for CleanOnion:

When I was in my mother's womb, I was wet, in a bubble of Amniotic Fluid.
When I was 2, I wet myself at Disneyland.
When I was 3, I was being irritating while my mother was trying to bathe me. She said "Oh, you're such a pest!" I said "I not pest. I Donny (Jonny)". I did not get out of my bath.
When I was a teenager, I showered, sometimes.
When I turned 18, my friends threw me in a river.
When I was 19, I learned to scuba-dive.
When I drink, I spill.
When I sleep, I drool.
But the wettest I have been was in Trials #9, when I lost to dd by one single game. The tears nearly drowned me.

Spoiler for ddevans96:

jcj: How did that loss change you, as a water player and potential master? How do you anticipate a loss to Basman, should it happen, changing you in those aspects?

That loss filled in almost all of the gaps in my water knowledge. I happened upon a great deck, Shipwrecker, but i also made some grave mistakes. My use of the Water/Light stall was laughable now I look back on it. In general, it taught me that it doesn't matter how good your decks, or your plan is, if it has too many counters. Or rather, too many counters that your opponent has access to.
The lessons I learned in that battle were part of the reason I won World Championship 2016. I approached the ruleset much more analytically, and especially late on in matches, I speedbuilt decks according to the options I knew my opponent had left to them.
As a potential master, War was as enlightening for me. The final taught me it is important to demonstrate creativity and global love for the cards in your element as a Master, but a General requires you to use that knowledge of your element and apply it to the other elements, to isolate your most powerful decks and combos, ruthlessly discriminating against your more niche decks.
A loss to Basman is certainly a possibility, as he proved in Phase 2. I doubt it will change a huge amount in terms of my understanding and outlook on Water, and it certainly won't change my devotion to water. If I lose, I will follow him wholeheartedly into War.

Spoiler for ji412jo:

How well can you swim?

In truth, I am not the greatest swimmer. I do much better underwater than floating upon it. The bounteous beauty the sea conceals is better seen beneath the waves, scuba diving, than simply watching light reflect off its surface.

Spoiler for RavingRabbid:

Do you even deserve my vote?

No. I don't. I have not earned it yet. I have proven my devotion to water, I have proven I am a good PvP player, and I have proven I have the ability to lead a team, but neither I, nor Basman 'deserve' the vote of one of the greatest past Water Masters. Neither of us 'deserve' your vote, but we both hope you'll see fit to give it to one of us anyway

Spoiler for Discord:

Do you eat fish? Cos y'know, they're from the water, and water is your element?

Monday's fish day.

Spoiler for Spielkind:

What's the difference between a duck?

What's your favourite deck?

Will you play for water if you will not be MoW?

What's the difference between a duck?

What's your favourite deck?

Will you play for water if you will not be MoW?

To truly understand a duck, you must look at how it interacts with. They are very different, but only if you look closely. Ducks have large beaks called 'bills' whereas. Do you see the difference? Let me try again. The feet of ducks are webbed, so that they can get more purchase on the water, and find it easier to swim. On the other hand. Also, we must look at.
Ducks are great.

My favourite deck is hard to pick. I go through phases, but Shipwrecker will always have a special place in my heart.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55r 596 596 596 596 596 5j2 5j2 5j2 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77f 77f 77f 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gk 7gr 7gr 7gr 7gr 7gr 7hi 7i6 7i6 8pl

If the General wants me, Team Water will always be my first choice.

Spoiler for Aves:

Questions

Water had a rough time in the standings last War. What do you think was your biggest flaw, and how do you plan to improve on it?

JcJ, awesome Brawl stuff. What advice would you give to the fallen?

Water made a lot of mistakes in vault building. We included too many gimmicky decks because they were cheap, and too many decks which were decent/average in pre-shard meta and just lame in shard meta. Additionally, rather than thinking about each opponent, and what we would want to actually play against them, we just built a string of decks. This meant that when it came to "what shall we play against X" We didn't really have enough options, so we ended up having to brutalize decks to find a new idea we were happy with.
Once it got into the matches we made further errors, both in under-testing and more importantly in trying to create odd decks like this one, which not only were janky, but wrecked actual decks we included in vault like our Light Stall.
Personally, my errors were in taking too much of a back seat. I did a lot of work, but not enough off my own back, rather I allowed myself to simply be a work horse for dd. Now, I'm not saying that dd's ideas were bad, FAR from it, but I know I could have contributed much better as a 'two heads are better than one' influence, rather than asking "what can I do" too many times. Part of this is because it was my first war (and my god did I learn a lot - i can't wait for the new one to come along) and part of it was because I still believed my own knowledge to be inferior to dd's. In reality, his knowledge of Water was still superior to mine, but I had great overall meta knowledge which could have been used more in vaultbuilding against specific elements, as I mentioned before.

Now Brawl question:
First, THANKS! I love brawl and was proud of my work, and the work of the team. Advice to the fallen... communication is key, if people need to go AFK, that's absolutely fine, but simply saying "I don't think I'll be able to do my task this week" means somebody else can take up the slack. Getting work done as early as possible is key too, because leaving your the task to the last minute assumes that there will be no problems whatsoever with other peoples tasks. If you CAN do it early, no it early. This also means you can give feedback to each other and improve tasks, after all, it's a team game, not just a collection of individual competitions. Finally, your submissions need to have something about them to stand out. If you are confident that you can do the current task with absolute outstanding quality, then do. If you think others might have the edge, then make it have one of the following qualities:
Comedy (such as Krzy's Oracle / Nymph poster)
Innovation (such as Silver_Emerald's 'you are in a locked room, escape' task where he wrote it as a DOS text game)
Skill - find a way to include something you're great at (such as my use of music in various tasks, and making a balloon Pirate Sword for Espithel's 'design a sword' task)

[Basman-1453]

* Basman-1453 reserves this post for his Phase Three answers.

Here lies Phase One stuff, in case anyone's interested.

Spoilers flagged "Answered by point" will have my answers written in cyan, bold, and italicised (think my WPSIC emphases) inside the quotes.

Spoiler for Questions for Trialists of All Elements:

Spoiler for Jenkar:

@All : Analyse your performance in trials so far (both phases) in a critical manner. Where did you go right? Where did you go wrong? What would you change if you could? You have 4 hours. (if someone wants me to answer this, pm)

P1: I'm pretty satisfied with my Task 1 writings. My only nags with Task 2 is I wish I included a brief what-to-expect against each FG. And then there was Task 7. Physs successfully got into my nerve by banning NT (I admit that a number of decks I planned I deem as good has NT as a vital part of the deck) and 3-0'd me. As for Fip, my biggest mistake was probably banning RT other than, say Bone Wall (the other Death deck I planned was Speed Poison, so banning Poison was outta the question).

P2: Overall, my biggest mistake would probably be having my denial rainbow ("Cleansed Crystal Judgement"/DBHBow and "Trilithon Shake"/DisQuake) too heavy on denial and not enough on creature and played them too much on the first week (or so) of Phase 2 (basically pre-Fip, IIRC), being emboldened by CCJ actually winning a game against JCJ (har har, we get it). Then again, perhaps choosing unlocks solely for its elemental unlock without regard to upgrade unlock is probably not an optimal choice, haha ^^;

Spoiler for Afdarenty (answered by point):

And some questions for all trialists:
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, will you be the War General?
Twelfth Master of Water, perhaps. Eleventh Master of Water, I won't. Or, rather, I can't afford to due to RL affairs (assuming Tenth War's auction starts on August, chances are I'm in the college-to-workplace limbo by then).
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, will you be the Brawl Boss?
I don't think I can spare much energy for actively Brawling XP
If you become the 10th Master of your Element, what are your goals? What is the minimum that you could achieve that you'd look back on and say 'Yes, I did a good job there'? Please be realistic.
Normally, I'd answer 'do decent in War (say, by not being in the bottom third)', but since I'm expecting not to be able to participate, nevermind marshal an entire team, for Tenth War~ ^^;

Spoiler for Submachine (answered by point):

For all trialists for all elements:

- How would you represent yourself in a comic if you wanted to be recognized, but without saying anything in the comic? Describe your looks.
A bit stout, strong without body-builder-style bodies (face it, when you see them during shows, those body-builders are at their weakest ^^;), preferably with a good beard.
That last one was probably my religious background speaking, though XD
- How would you represent your element's "essence" as a character in a comic? Would it have a gender? Describe its looks.
If the twelve elements are going to be molded into supervillains (I'm going this way mostly since JCJ went for the superhero approach XD), I see water as normally an unassuming folk, but have the muscles to brute-force things though physically weaker beings and the smarts to prey on less intelligent beings, and the versatility is what makes them problematic to face.

Spoiler for CleanOnion:

My question is as such: What's your favourite idea?

To have inter-fandom quarrels stop. I mean, there are so many topics worth quarreling over than fictive works that would have minute impact on global society (say, vaguely-defined 'terrorism' [both on the genuine acts of terror itself and how vague it is defined], famine, poverty, war, et cetera).

Spoiler for dark ripper (answered by point):

Hello people! Imma ask some "getting to know you" questions.

1.For everyone: Is the element you are trialing for your favourite element? if its not then which is and why didnt you trial for it? If it is then which is your 2nd favourite and would consider trialing for it next time if you dont win these trials?
Yes, it's my favourite element. My next-favourite element, though ... it's a tough one to fix firmly (it ocillates between Death and Time, at least). For Mastership though, I guess I found my watery home since Ninth War XDD

2.For everyone: Do you value higher the general of an element in war or the element itself? (for example your favourite element is  but STANDIN became the master of  would you want to join the great master STANDIN or your favourite element no matter what general it has?)
The element itself, unless I really resent the current General XD
For example's sake, let's assume I want to be drafted into Team Darkness next war. Then I'll list Darkness high on the auction form unless I have really bad bloods with its General.
(And no, being defeated fair and square don't usually give me bad bloods, it gotta be something else entirely. Something like what a certain someone did during Ninth Trials of Light, for example. (Well, that one will earn most folk's, if not everyone's, bad blood ....))

3. For everyone: On the other side of the coin. As a general yourself, would you value higher more active players that may not hold your element as their favourite or players that have your element as their favourite but arent so active-or there are other problems-?
Depending on the 'other problems', ofc. Then again, all other things being equal, I found I prefer active player that may not hold the element as their favourite. Activity is a pretty serious issue for team events like War and (especially) Brawl.

4. Masters Only: how would react if you had the lowest votes out of everyone in phase 3?
Water had no defending master. I wonder if I should just cut this question out of the quote :/

5. Challengers Only: assuming you make it to the finals. How would you react if the master didnt draft you in the coming war?(considering you want to be in the same team)
Well, so what? I'll do my best for the General that drafted me, then. (Then again, please note that I don't think I can spare the energy for Tenth War for reasons I wrote on Afda's question. We'll see what happens on Eleventh War ^^;)

6. Last question for everyone: Why do you want to win trials? Why do you want to be a master?
For the kicks, mostly XD
But in the off-chance that I managed to Master it, I'll give it the best I can spare (again, remember that I don't think I can spare the energy for Tenth War XP)

thank you. kthxbai

Spoiler for Aves:

If you become/remain master, who is going to be your favorite minion?

I've yet to watch Despicable Me. I don't have an answer for now.
Srsly, though, I don't really believe in someone being someone else's minion in this kind of forum.

Spoiler for Higurashi (answered by point):

To all: How has your favorite element affected your life?
Aside of the obvious survival aspect? () Nothing very philosophical.

If you're not in Trials for your favorite element, let me know so I know whom not to vote for.
Apparently, it's safe to say that at least two out of three Trialists of Water are Trialling for their favourite element. The third one's last appearance on the Forum was in mid-May '16 as I'm typing this, so~ XD

Spoiler for justaburd:

Chirp trill chirp chirp?

Warble?

P.S. Really more for the challengers: What do you think you'll do better than the current master?

I have genuinely no idea XD

Spoiler for Questions for Trialists of Water:

Spoiler for CleanOnion:

Admins can remove this if need be

MoW applicants: What makes you wettest?

TBH, I'm sweating a lot. Oughta be the tropics, haha ^^;
BTW, that's a sneaky application of color=transparent. ¬.¬

Spoiler for ddevans96:

Basman: While I'm familiar with your talents and personality from having you on my war team, and believe that you would be a great master, jcj is like myself before my mastership - the community knows a lot about him and they are fond of him. Without comparing yourself to him, explain why you believe you would be a good master.

Trick answer: I don't. Especially since I (suspect I) have issues with inferiority complex (in fact, good luck figuring whether it was my humility or my inferiority complex speaking when I said "I don't" earlier). To muddy the water further (fine, we get it), as I have answered on Afda's question, I don't think I can participate in, nevermind lead a team for, the Tenth War due to RL affairs.

Spoiler for ji412jo:

How well can you swim?

Decent enough not to drown in a 150 cm deep pools (I'm about 170 cm tall). I don't have the bravery to try swimming in a 2 meter deep pool, though ^^;

Spoiler for RavingRabbid:

Do you even deserve my vote?

I don't. Thing is, my 2016/1 League records were shady, my best WT placement was the third place if I remember correctly, and yet I had the balls to try Trialling for Water I must look like a nutcase. At least I think I'm not a scrub, if my silly attempts to cram DisQuake/DBH into Rainbow-compliant deck were any indication.

Spoiler for Discord:

Do you eat fish? Cos y'know, they're from the water, and water is your element?

Rarely. Thing is, on the herbivore-to-carnivore sliding scale, I'm leaning more on the herbivore scale, with the carnivore scale filled mostly by processed meat, egg, and dairy product XP

Spoiler for Spielkind (answered by point):

What's the difference between a duck?
Some ducks weigh as much as a witch. Others~ not so much #IYKWIM

What's your favourite deck?
I guess there's that one deck I'm particularly fond of, and that'd be Death/Water NT. It was my first serious Bronze grinder, and I found a 7/8 attacker for 4 Water and a Death Pill/Pend with a nice ability a steal. (In fact, a mod of it ended up being my MVD for Phase 2 XD)
Outside of Water-based decks, I found I like Eternity/Devonian/Ghost rush and PhoenixBolt as well, to cite some examples XD

Will you play for water if you will not be MoW?
Yep. Assuming I can spare the energy for Tenth War in the first place (which is highly unlikely), that is. ^^;

Spoiler for Aves (answered by point):

-snip-
Questions

Water had a rough time in the standings last War. What do you think was your biggest flaw, and how do you plan to improve on it?
I must admit that aside of playing the assigned game, I contributed so little to the team (partly due to weak 'net, partly due to me being a noob by then (I had so little, if any, meta knowledge by the time I rolled up for W9 Auction)) that I honestly don't know where I should start improving.

-snip (the question snipped was meant for JCJ, not me XD)-

Basman, what do you think is your greatest strength, and how will you use it to lead to greatness?
Silly creativity, if my gimmicky attempt to cram DisQuake into Water-dominant Rainbows and naming every single deck planned for Phase Two after Touhou's spellcards were any indication. Oh, and tampering that creativity with practicality. (That last one is something one should have to have any chance to success, though XD)

Also, some of your formatting is missing from answers. Just a heads up ^^
* Basman-1453 wonders which, if any, formatting went silly. O.o

I mean, if you meant some patches of unitalicised texts, I would've italicised them if the rest of the text wasn't.

[CleanOnion]

Admins can remove this if need be

MoW applicants: What makes you wettest?

[ddevans96]

But the wettest I have been was in Trials #9, when I lost to dd by one single game. The tears nearly drowned me.

jcj: How did that loss change you, as a water player and potential master? How do you anticipate a loss to Basman, should it happen, changing you in those aspects?

Basman: While I'm familiar with your talents and personality from having you on my war team, and believe that you would be a great master, jcj is like myself before my mastership - the community knows a lot about him and they are fond of him. Without comparing yourself to him, explain why you believe you would be a good master.

Dm: How are you feeling?

[MyNameIsJoey]

How well can you swim?

[RavingRabbid]

Do you even deserve my vote?

[Zyardran]

Do you eat fish? Cos y'know, they're from the water, and water is your element?

[Spielkind]

What's the difference between a duck?

What's your favourite deck?

Will you play for water if you will not be MoW?

[andretimpa]

What's the difference between a duck?

and what?

[JonathanCrazyJ]

What's the difference between a duck?

and what?

Pfft, Gravity Elementals just don't get it.

I will work hard to answer your insightful question Spiel

[andretimpa]

What's the difference between a duck?

and what?

Pfft, Gravity Elementals just don't get it.

I will work hard to answer your insightful question Spiel

3deep5me