Brawl #2 - Round 1 [Voting Phase]

[Chapuz]

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Write your thoughts on Ethics as an EtG player and/or forum member.

Special Rules: Please limit to under 250 words (we will be using The Word Count Tool for validation). Submissions breaking these rules will be disqualified.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

Ethics.
It is extremely hard to find out if someone is cheating over the internet, which is why, as forum players, honesty is essential for any PvP event to go smoothly.
It also helps increase the satisfaction of winning – who wants to win knowing that they only won because they cheated?
It’s more fun for everyone if people play fair.

SO PLAY NICE.

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

As a forum member, you must have good ethics to integrate. This is true for most communities, in real life or not. If you have good ethics, you integrate fast in the community, and if not, then good luck with that.
I personally have a few rules that I use to differentiate between members with good ethics and members with bad ethics.

Rule #1: Be fair

No one likes people that cheat or break rules; you just steal the fun from others that want to play fair. In Elements the Game this mostly applies to competitive PvP. It's easy to cheat but it's also easy to find out someone that cheats.

Rule #2: Be agreeable

Communities don't like people that are not agreeable, that's for sure. Being agreeable helps you integrate faster, and helps you feel better staying in the community, where everyone likes you.

Rule #3: Don't be a "Drama Llama"

No one likes people that do useless drama everytime they don't like something, usually a ruling on a PvP event match. Drama is not needed in communities.

Rule #4: Don't get into others' fights

If two players get in a forum fight don't get in the fight. The best you can do is to report what you find as a personal attack.

So, if you follow these rules, I see no reason why would someone consider that you have bad ethics and you are more likely to stay in the community, feeling well and confident.

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

People are competitive. It’s something you get used to, seeing it day after day. We all want to win, whether it’s the World Cup or a pie-eating contest. Of course, competitions have rules, but ethics is more than that.

Fair play, really, is two things: one, don’t break the rules, and two, don’t do anything that hurts your competitors without directly helping you. The first should be obvious; the second is more subtle, because anything that hurts the people you’re against pretty much by definition helps you. It’s the reason throwing bananas is not an acceptable strategy in the 100-meter dash. Or the reason that, if you wanted a job someone else would probably get, you shouldn’t give them fake but convincing advice for the interview. (“Talk for as long as you can about your new baby, it’ll make you seem like a sympathetic person.”) You should only win by your hard work and talent, not by how badly your competitiors failed.

You have to admit, though, it would be pretty fun to watch nine olympic sprinters slide and collapse all over each other.

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

BESTOFALL    : I am going to p0wn the hell out of you
AvgPlayer      : whoa, such confidence
BESTOFALL    : I have three ruby dragons out. Haha, noob noob noob
AvgPlayer      : ...
BESTOFALL    : continue hiding behind you dims, your afla is useless. Booooo, my dragons will kill you soon idiot
AvgPlayer      : please stop being such a jerk
BESTOFALL    : BooBoo. Just lose, and admit defeat. Stop stalling already. I want to play another game
AvgPlayer      : Please just be patient
BESTOFALL    : F*%^ you. you are the worst player I have ever seen.
*AvgPlayer fractals condor with thunderstorm*

Do not swear, do not curse. If you are winning do not taunt. It is even more shameful when the table turns on you

MrGood        : good luck have fun
MrNice          : you too
MrGood        : Ok, i think this is going to be a desynch
MrNice          : lets play the ai and get a screenshot
MrGood        : I won on my side
MrNice          : me too, let's replay
MrGood        : desynch again.. looks like we have to play ai again. I won on my side though
MrNice          : I lose This game is yours
MrGood        : Oh no... oh my god
MrNice          : what happen?
MrGood        : I think I have one upgrade too much.
MrNice          : seriously? you mean it's an illegal deck?
MrGood        : ya.... I lost this. It is your win
MrNice          : ..... you are really honest, thanks

MrGood is being very ethical and he pratices sportmanship. If everybody is like MrGood and follows the golden rule, elementsthegame will be a better place to play in.

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

The Recipe to an Ethical Forum Member

Three Ingredients!

• Patience
• Fearlessness
• Humility

Details:
         
           Patience – The most difficult ingredient to have, patience often isn’t a natural trait, and sometimes patience doesn't have a place. In Elements the Game Forum, patience is a necessity. Not all members are in your time zone, so when you post your incredible 60-card AI1 farmer, at least half of the forum is sleeping. When you post, give that thread at least 24 hours for a response; in the meantime post in another couple threads.
 
            Fearlessness — Speaking from experience, I was terrified to post on the forums. I’m looking around seeing these legendary members with colored names while I have my measly two in the “Introduce Yourself” section. Don’t be afraid! Everyone wants to see this community grow and prosper, so as more people post, activity increases. Activity increases productivity, and the forums thrive--all directly impacted by your posting. Have a deck idea? Have a really off-topic philosophy? Want to defend your vote for a certain Brawl submission? Go and post them all!
 
            Humility – Maybe you’re a member of the community with a mean PvP streak. Congratulations! Honestly, we’re happy for you, but don’t go around declaring yourself King of PvP, chatting with the name TheVictoriousPvPer, or talking down to all who have less trophies than you. You will definitely be congratulated many times over, but keep your head to a decent size and keep your posts uplifting and humble.

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

As a leader, and really, for all other members of the community, Ethics is something we follow, though, we often don't think too much about.

Ethics are largely influenced by our culture, upbringing, beliefs, and associates. These things mold who we are and how we view the world. Within a community, such as, the one built around Elements, what we say and do, can influence many other people.

While our view may differ from those of others, we can still remain as a solid community.

The main thing to remember would be this: Don't be quick to take offense and think about the feelings of others.

There are members from many different countries and languages that contribute to the community and, even though English may be our first language, it may not be for them. Sometimes things get lost in translation, quite literally. If our first thought is forgiveness, then anger usually never comes up.

A community that doesn't fight, will be one that lasts for a long time.
Let's help Elements be one of those…..

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Make a deck that represents War as a whole. Write a little explanation about why you chose that deck.

Special Rules: Decks must be playable in-game. Voters will be highly encouraged to take originality and potential winnability into consideration.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61o 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 80j 80j 80j 80j 80j 80j 8pu

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

z54saz64vcz24viz24vjz24vl5635905bu5ib5lm5oh5rk5upz26u36u571b7dm7ds80i80l8pj

I chose this deck as a accurate representation of war as a whole for several reasons. Firstly I chose to build a rainbow deck as this represents the teams that participate in war, i chose a strategist style deck as it represents the changing strategies needed to beat each respective team, the salvagers is within this deck as it represents the salvage of war which plays a key role within war to allow teams to adapt to their weaknesses, the even number of upgrades represents the average number of upgrades a deck can have plus the usage of relics, the five elements that have upgrades other than Supanovae represent the teams that have won war and how many times they have won war, the deck is a war legal entropy deck as it 50% entropy cards, chaos seeds allow the representation of rng and the off element cards are what i feel are the reprsentative cards of each element.

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

7q2 7q2 7q2 7q2 7q2 809 809 809 809 809 809 80d 80d 80d 80d 80d 80d 80i 80i 80i 80i 80l 80l 80l 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 81q 8ps

Like all wars there are massive explosions and big surprises the deck containing both.  The massive explosions are represented by those of the ball lightning, and the surprises are those of the fate eggs.  In combination of fractaling both you can have large damage out put for low cost.  This deck goes with the War Event, in that it represents the winning element, as well as abiding by the rules of vault.

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4sa 4sa 4sa 4sa 4vh 4vh 4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 52q 52q 590 590 590 590 590 590 5f6 5f6 61o 61o 61q 623 623 63a 63a 8pm

When asking myself, what war is all about, I came up with 3 most important points:
 - Reading your opponents moves and trying to counter them (aka. Mindgating)
 - Testing Decks over and over again. (Since no opponent was picked, I went for AI3 here)
 - Having fun with your team.
Well, this didn't really help to build a deck, except that I now knew I had to add a couple Mindgates, even if they weren't too useful for the gaming itself. After a little mindstorming, I had another idea: 12 elements representing the war Teams. But since I thought it'd be pretty lame to just add 12 Dragons and a few Mindgates, I went for a different approach: Take the elements of the winners to make the bow. Aether, having won twice now, came in handy since I intended to use mindgates anyway. Fire won twice as well, Entropy and Death won each once. Last but not least, Earth as my home team in war will always be the winner of my heart, so I'll pick the mark of Earth.
With this, I already had a rough idea of what my deck should look like. After building a couple different decks, going back and forth, rolling over and tinkering with the decks, I finally decided on the unupped Grabbow, because it is one of the strongest PvP rush decks and every team should have one. Unupped, because with the exception of the master, war was originally intended to be completely unupped. Also, it had a way better winning chance against AI3 than the other decks.

Winability:
avg ttw Ai3: 11.5; 70% (by XenoSim, 400 Matches)
avg ttw Ai3: 8.6; 92% [4 Losses: Pharaoh, Steam, FFQ, Mono Gravy] (self tested, 50 Matches)

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

Are your soldiers brave enough to fight?

Are they ready to sacrifice themselves for the final victory?

The Reality of War

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

52m 52m 52m 52m 52t 52t 710 710 710 710 710 710 711 711 716 716 71b 71b 71d 71d 71k 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 7dm 7dm 7do 7do 7do 7ee 7ee 7ee 7ee 8po

You are facing an unknown army. Your resources are limited. Maybe you should deploy some scouts first to see what your rival got.

After a few rounds of battle, you will have a general picture of how this would turn out. Find the right timing, and show the opponent how brave your soldiers are.

Always keep an eye to the ever-changing battlefield environment. Deploy your commander for some real damage, while using your explosives and napalms wisely to clear the path for your soldiers.

Keep an eye on fallen soldiers. Even in death, brother in arms fallen in battle provide protection, as their memory strengthen those that remain. Make good use of what they had left.

Think carefully before you let your general and her pets enter the battlefield. Once they are dead, you might just lost the only chance to win the battle!

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

The War Machine

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4so 4so 4so 4so 4so 4vl 4vl 50u 50u 50u 5f6 5f9 5f9 5fc 5fc 718 718 718 71d 71d 808 808 808 808 80d 80d 80d 80i 80l 80l 8pk

"Six Wars have raged on the Elemental Lands, yielding only four victors: Fire, Entropy, Death, and Aether. These four Elements gathered to make The War Machine, a deck filled with the most powerful cards the Elementals had used in the Wars."

As the text hints, the cards in the deck are all chosen from among the most used cards in War for each of the respective elements. Each War is represented by five cards. Fire and Aether have 10 cards each, due to them having two victories. The elements are also in the order of their respective victories:
Fire -> Entropy -> Fire -> Death -> Aether -> Aether

(If you don't happen to have 5 Fire Marks, you can swap them out for Burning Pillars instead.)

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Create a card that can make you win in a different way than currently exists (other than reaching 0 HP and deckout)
Write a description of the mechanic if it is necessary.

Special Rules:
All card submissions must follow the CIA Guidelines, with one important exception: NO card art alowed. You can say and explain anything about the card in <100 words.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

NAME: The Inevitable ELEMENT: Death COST: 4 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Lasts 200 turns.  Remove a turn when an action is done. You win when turns equal 0.  Destroy this when targeted.	NAME: The Inevitable ELEMENT: Death COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Lasts 200 turns.  Remove a turn when an action is done. You win when turns equal 0.  Destroy this when targeted.

ART: None IDEA: Captain Scibra NOTES: An action is anything and everything: drawing a card, playing a card, a card being activated or attacking (i.e. cards like Scorpions do two actions when attacking), or a creature dying.  Any targeting of this card results in immediate destruction, including non-destructive Protect Artifact and Steal, and other potential effects found in the CI&A. SERIES:

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

NAME: Conquest ELEMENT: Earth COST: 5 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Take over 1 empty enemy creature slot each turn, starting from their last. If you own the entire field, you win.	NAME: Conquest ELEMENT: Earth COST: 4 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Take over 1 empty enemy creature slot each turn, starting from their last. If you own the entire field, you win.

ART: IDEA: Hyroen NOTES: Only takes over empty creature slots. It takes enemy slot 23 first, then slot 22, etc. Takes 1 slot from the enemy per Conquest. SERIES:

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

NAME: Soul Eater ELEMENT: Death COST: 5 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 2|3 TEXT: : Corrupt the enemy quanta by 2. Win if this reaches 30. Stored quanta can fight corruption.	NAME: Soul Eater ELEMENT: Death COST: 3 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 2|3 TEXT: : Corrupt the enemy quanta by 2. Win if this reaches 30. Stored quanta can fight corruption.

ART: IDEA: OldTrees NOTES: On the opponent's turn, before their pillars generate quanta, their corruption will increase by 2. Then the corruption will decrease by 10% (rounded down) of their largest quanta pool. Larges quanta pool Corruption change per turn 0-9 +2 corruption 10-19 +1 corruption +10 more -1 more corruption I sought to maximize the interactions between the players. I let the opponent use stored quanta to fight corruption in case they forgot to bring CC.   I made combos require a duo for balance. I went with the Decay theme but a Drowsiness theme would have also fit the creeping mechanics. SERIES:

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

NAME: Pandemic Worm ELEMENT: Death COST: 6 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 1 | 4 TEXT: If there are 8 or more poison counters on Pandemic Worm when your opponent draws a card, you win.	NAME: Pandemic Worm ELEMENT: Death COST: 6 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 1 | 6 TEXT: If there are 8 or more poison counters on Pandemic Worm when your opponent draws a card, you win.

ART: IDEA: Team Light NOTES: Named after a certain game where Madagascar is a pain. Aflatoxin Counters count as Poison Counters. The clause is set to the opponent's draw so it must either survive the end of the turn with all of those poison counters or be used with Shard of Bravery to hasten the opponent's draw. The ability, Pandemic, can be removed by Lobotomize. SERIES: Brawl #2 - Round 1

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

NAME: Commune with Nature ELEMENT: Life COST: 9 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: If you have no creatures and no other permanents in play when you draw a card, you win the game.	NAME: Commune with Nature ELEMENT: Life COST: 8 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: If you have no creatures and no other permanents in play when you draw a card, you win the game.

ART: IDEA: russianspy1234 NOTES: SERIES:

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

NAME: Glory of Atlantis ELEMENT: Water COST: 5 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: If, at the beginning of your turn after next, you control 5 or more underwater creatures, you win the game.	NAME: Glory of Atlantis ELEMENT: Water COST: 5 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: If, at the beginning of your next turn, you control 5 or more underwater creatures, you win the game.

ART: IDEA: Anarook NOTES: First card text means the permanent has to remain for 2 turns; eg. play it - wait through next turn - then able to activate Upgraded must remain alive until your next turn. (think unstable gas); play it - wait till next turn to activate Gives the opponent at least a small window to counter. Effect persists if conditions are unmet. SERIES:

[Chapuz]

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Completely redesign art for an Armory card you think it is needed before getting into the game.

Special Rules: Only use original or royalty-free art. Provide credit where necessary. Use of work from other members of the Elements Community (even with permission) is strictly forbidden.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

WOLF Wolf | Wolf

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

TORNADO Tornado | Tornado

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

CARD NAME Warthog | Warthog

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

Living Weapon | Biological Weapon http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,30401

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

Wailing Spirit | Banshee Wailing Spirit | Banshee

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

Skeleton Regent Skeleton Regent | Skeleton King

[/center]

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Revamp the Newbie Area to improve newbie experiences. No formatting restrictions.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

Revamp the newbie area:

   

• So, I think to revamp this area we should first take every tutorial that was made before the 1.30 patch and move it to the outdated tutorial section. Secondly we should break down each tutorial for new players and put them into different catorgories such as different decks that can be made from all starter decks from each element, we could make a section for this and categorize each element into its own thread like the deck building section. While doing this we could have the masters of each respective element review and see if they agree with the deck choices or the information that a forum member might add to their own element like a review so to speak.
• As for the mentor program I think it's a bust, it never took off too well whenever it first started so I'm unsure what to do with it, maybe make it into a newbie tourny zone or a competition based idea like we have around the forums. Some forum events might be too advanced for new players so they get discouraged about it, this might be a better way for them to get a feel of the PvP enviroment, the good kind in the community not the random shit talkers in RPvP.
•   As far as the introduce yourself section I say it's fine as is.
•   I mainly want to focus on the tutorial sections, I feel like we need to have a bigger push as to get new players there maybe a hyperlink to the newbie zone from inside the game itself so people that aren't aware of the community (kong kinda) can still get the information and a link to the community to help them through any tough time they might be going through, game-wise. The tutorials I feel we should leave in this section as of now are: How to pick a rare weapon, How to make a donation, How to build a deck using the import code, Money management, Game mechanics, Elements videos, and i'm on the fence about 5 things every element player should know. As we keep those in its own section I say we create a new section of each specific element on how to approach the game based on what you picked. Most tutorials say pick such and such element because it's the cheapest or the easiest starter, but some people just aren't like that.

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

“Whatever's wrong, you know if it's worth fixing or not. If it is, then fix it. If not, leave it alone and move on.

- Cherrie Lynn, Leave Me Breathless

    I know that for some my recommendation might not be appealing, but please consider the reasons I give for it before you decide. My "revamp" for the newbie section is to remove everything except for the tutorial section. There are currently 3 subforums in the newbie section: Introduce yourself, Mentor program, and Tutorials.

    Introductions
    I know that there are newbies who actually post in the introduction section, but have you visited it recently? The entire first page of introductions spans 2 weeks of real time, and that is including returning veterans. We're definitely getting more than 25 people in 2 weeks, which means:

• newbies are ignoring the subforum or the entire newbie section
• newbies are too lazy to make an introduction post

Neither of these problems are things we can really fix as it depends on who comes to the forum.

    Additionally, as research for my task, I PM'd the entire first page of newbies (23 people at that time) in the introduction subforum both to find out if they were still active and to ask what they thought and wanted out of the newbie section. Five people replied in the 4 days between when I thought to PM them and when I decided it was time to submit the task. In other words, the newbie section wasn't really doing its job of helping forum retention (keeping newbies logging in and active on the forum). I'll cover the suggestions that were in the replies below, after I evaluate the tutorials subforum.

    Mentor Program
    People always think of the mentor program when they think of the newbie section and wonder why it's dead. The answer is pretty simple: it was also not helping forum retention. Unfortunately, I could not, for the life of me, find the thread where SG stated that she had ran a statistical test on whether or not it was helping. But first, what was the mentoring program? It was created in the thought that maybe newbies would like someone to help guide them through the game and forum and it worked like this:

• A newbie would apply to be an apprentice and chose a time slot convenient for them
• The mentor manager would assign a mentor
• The mentor would contact the apprentice
• The mentor would guide apprentices through 6 steps (of which I wasn't able to find any description of) that were preapproved by the council (and SG)

The problems were varied:

• There were unavoidable scheduling conflicts that would arise due to real life, even with attempts to reduce the conflicts by placing mentors and apprentices in the same time zones.
• Some of the mentors were not told what the steps were
• Newbies would choose not to participate
• Apprentices would leave partway through the 6 steps due to loss of interest or some other reason

    The mentor program has also been discussed multiple times without success:

• Like here
• Or here
• Or here

These threads are old simply because no one seems to be able to gather interest in restarting the program, with or without tweaks. There are even older threads, but that's just beating a dead horse.

    Tutorials
    The tutorials honestly haven't been maintained for a while, but I feel that it's still making a difference. From May 1st to May 5th, the (non-outdated) tutorials received a total of 801 views. Some of them might be from us forum experts, but this is hardly a trivial amount. There are problems here too, but these seem fixable:

• There are a limited number of topics. We don't have tutorials on stuff like making a good bronze arena deck, for example.
• The tutorials need to start getting updated again
• The tutorial subforum needs a thread to keep track of the tutorials that are available so that newbies aren't looking everywhere trying to find what they want.

    There were some interesting ideas that were brought up in both the newbie PMs and in previously suggested additions to the newbie area and I wanted to discuss the viability as I see them.

    1. An achievement system
This brings up a couple of questions right off the bat:

• Do we limit it to just newbies and why would we do so? If it's not limited to newbies, then it's not made for newbies, is it?
• How will we keep track of achievements?

        Will it be automatic and scripted or will someone have to chase after community members?
            If it's scripted, who will write the scripting, maintain it, and fix problems that users might encounter?
            If it's someone chasing after members, that's horribly inefficient and time-consuming
        It seems kind of stupid to be asking for screenshots for every achievement that is tied to the game.

• What kind of achievements will there be? I got some help from Hyroen for this, but here are some ideas and the problems associated with them

        First tournament - We'll get newbies who don't even read the rules, but otherwise no problems
        First deck submitted - Encourages posting whatever they happen to have without checking if it exists or is even any good. Not a good idea given the lack of quality checking.
        First card idea - Same problem as above. This also gives curators problems.
        Chat-registered - We no longer have blab, so this would be one of those "chase newbies around" type thing.

    2. Newbie Advisor
The problem is pretty simple and straightforward. If the newbies have any questions, it's FAR easier and faster to ask in chat than to wait for a response via PM.

    3. Newbie Tournament

• This would need a TO to set rules and choose from tourney ideas.
• It would be no different from a regular tournament. (I.e. Why exclude the other etg players from the tourney?)
• There might be a lack of participation. We sometimes have enough trouble getting the required 16 people for the weekly tourney.
• It would help keep interest in the forum, but without great rewards, how long would this interest last?

To reiterate, the introduce yourself and mentor subforums aren't really doing much and only the tutorial section is fixable. Therefore, let's fix it by adding more content and see if that will change anything.

My thanks to my team for helping with some ideas and you, the reader for reading this. (Even if you're just glancing through it) Thanks also goes to the people I stole ideas from and to the newbies who replied. (Astrid, Gnaark, Thereallongdono, Kress, and J6U)

P.S. Brawl Organizers should have put in formatting restrictions.

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

Newbie Area Improvements

 It is a fact the newbie area needs improvement. A highly polished and rich in content Newbie Area would highly encourage newer members to pass by and stay active in our community for a longer time. So, here are our suggestions of how to improve it:



Change 1:

Adding an 'Introduction' topic in Newbie Area.



Not be mistaken with the 'Introduce Yourself' topic that already exists; the 'Introduction' topic is going to litteraly introduce newcomers to both Elements: the Game and its forums. An epic intro which starts with an epic image and an epic phrase of "welcome, young elemental!" followed with "you hold rare power in your hands; the power to forge elemental minions to do your bidding, ancient artifacts to assist you and tremendous spells to cast!" or something like that; you know, stuff that makes people feel more comfortable, powerful or unique (working as a community to make a more decent and certain EtG cosmology could really help in this task too). After this intro, the 12 different elements and their aspects will be introduced as well as the basic rules of the game. Finally, forum rules, chat rules and forum sections are going to be mentioned in order to make sure everyone knows how to behave and where to go for further action.

Positives: Pleasant and somewhat relaxing way to introduce aspects & rules of both the game and its forums, as well as making EtG cosmology less vague and alien.

Negatives: 'Too long, didn't read...' reaction from a fair amount of newbies.




Change 2:

Reorganising & improving the 'Tutorials' section.



No matter how awesome the idea of having tutorials is, if these tutorials are of poor quality, low amount of content and disorganised it is not going to help any newbies at all (no offence to anyone who have created and posted tutorials, we are really thankful for that and it would be wonderful if more people followed your example, +rep guys). But improvement is gravely needed here. First of all, in my humble opinion, tutorials should be divided into four different sections; grinding tutorials (where the best techniques for the fastest and most effective farming will be posted), deckbuilding tutorials (where everything around deckbuilding and overall strategy & deck focus is discussed), card-related tutorials (where 'secret' abilities and synnergies with certain cards and their combos will be revealed) and 'other' tutorials (every tutorial that doesn't fit in the above categories falls here). Moreover, a 'general discussion' section will be needed as a place to discuss about tutorials; which tutorials are good and can serve as an example for future tutorials? Which ones are bad and need to be improved? What kind of new tutorials is needed? Are there any tutorials who have grown old, ineffective and, as a result, must be moved to the archive? Finally, a hyperlink leading directly to Elements Wiki main page and another one leading to the Trainer can be more useful than anyone can imagine. It is unfortunate that many newcomers have no idea about Wiki's or Trainer's existence, and they could've learnt a lot from it.

Spoiler for example of categorization of the existing tutorials:

*Grinding

1.29 Newbie Tutorial: Becoming Rich the Fun Way
Money Management
Deckbuilding 101: From Noob to False God Slayer

*Deckbuilding

How to build a deck image using only deck import code (no screenshots needed)
9 Tips for Better Deck Building

*Card-related

What the cards don't tell you...
Which Rare Weapon Should I Pick as a Reward?
Game Mechanics (i.e. The Expanded Rules)

*Other

How to make a donation to Elements.
Elements Videos - For the Newbs!
5 things every Elements player should know

Positives: Better quality & greater variety of tutorials, more effective at guiding newbies.

Negatives: Higher complexity of the 'Tutorials' section, greater responsibility from tutorial-makers and EtG community in general.




Change 3:

Community Recommended Newbie Decks.



I know there is a 'Community Recommended Decks' section, but do you know a lot of newbies having a fully upgraded, rare & ultra-rare arsenal of cards at their disposal? In all honesty, we need completely low-cost, unupped & completely rareless decks (with the exception of the rare weapon that can be easily obtained via completing the quests) which can battle/farm PvP1, AI 2,3,4 and Bronze/Silver League. Sure, you can never do unupgraded & rareless farming as successful as upgraded, full-of-shards farming and its winning rate percentage would seem disappointing in comparison. But still, our community must throw away the 'EtG is just about farming, get used to it or find another game to play' attitude and try to give both low-cost and reliable solutions with decks 100% obtainable from the bazaar; otherwise, we are going to lose even more new players. Furthermore, making the cheapest, fastest, most effective unupped rareless AI3, AI4, FG, Bronze, Silver etc. farmer is always an extremely worthy (and difficult) challenge for every ambitious deck-builder. Of course, a hyperlink leading directly to the original ''Community Recommended Decks' section is more than welcome here.


Positives: Having the most newbie-friendly decks within a single section in the Newby Area means less forum-searching and easier access for any newcomers. Also, this is going to encourage veteran deckbuilers to research even more low-cost farmers.

Negatives: May confuse a few people for having 2 different 'community recommended deck' sections, even if the second one is going to have a whole 'Newbie' to its name. Also, many veterans possibly think that every possible and reliable unupped & rareless farmer has already been invented and don't wish to waste even more time in that area.



Change 4:

Newbie Deck Ideas.



This section will serve as both a 'Newbie Deck Help' and a 'Newbie Deck Ideas' section; here a newbie can post any of his/her decks and receive feedback. This is hopefully going to prevent the careless spamming of already-existing decks at the Deck Ideas section, it shows where the newbies can post their deck ideas (even guiding expert players who wish to guide/advice newbs about their decks) and reducing the massive amount of work Deck Helpers have. In this section, there won't be any need for categorization under mono/duo/trio/PvP etc. and the same deck can be posted twice, since that's actually the reason this thread will be created; to allow newbies to post their 'new awesome deck!', 'amazing FG farmer!', 'my favourite deck!', 'my first upgraded deck!', 'help with this deck please!' and other 'original' deck of theirs, in order to release their deck-posting mania (no offence to newbs). Finally, a link to the original 'Deck Ideas' section would be quite useful here.

Positives: Easier for a newbie to find where he/she must post a deck, thus reducing the needless spamming of the same decks in the 'Post Deck Ideas Here' section.

Negatives: There is a chance this will increase the duties of the Deck Helpers instead of decreasing them. Some newbies will never learn and keep spamming 'new, original, unbeatable' decks in the 'Post Deck Ideas Here' section.



Change 5:

Newbie General Discussion.



 No matter how useless it may sound at first, a Newbie General Discussion thread would greatly help in my humble opinion, mostly due to psychological reasons. Manytimes newbies need to post, talk and communicate and a thread made entirely for them would greatly make them feel more at home within our community. That can hopefully prevent them from feeling like a fish out of the water or being looked down by more experienced community members (no offence, it is just a few newbs feel like dealing with a bunch of elitists). Moreover, it will hopefuly prevent any needless newbie spamming in other areas of the forum.

Positives: A place for newbies to feel more comfortable, a thread to call 'home'.

Negatives: It may isolate some newbs from the rest of the forum activities by sticking in the newbie general discussion more than it should. It may falsely encourage completely useless & harmful spamming in that thread.




Change 6:

Newbie PvP League & Newbie Weekly Tournament.



Newbie PvP League would be a league just for newbs. It is going to act like a normal PvP League, with the following differences:

* Only cards obtainable at the bazaar can be used. This means no upgraded, rare or ultra-rare cards.

* Score of 20,000 or LESS.

* Some cards may be banned in certain cases. If, for example, Ghostmare becomes overused, then GotP or Nightmare may be banned (just an extreme example).

Newbie Weekly Tournament will be like the normal Weekly Tournament, but with the following newbie-friendly differences:

* Only cards obtainable at the bazaar can be used. This means no upgraded, rare or ultra-rare cards.

* Score of 20,000 or LESS.

* An "upgraded" version of this tournament will occur after 5 weeks of normal unupgraded versions (like the normal Weekly Tournament). However, instead of allowing a full arsenal or upgrades, only up to 3 upgraded cards can be used at max and only a single rare/ultra-rare card (no matter if the rare/ultra-rare is upped or unupped).

The above are going to allow a newbie-friendly league and weekly tournament where only low-score, non-veteran players can participate, reducing experience and grinding to a minium.


Positives: More leagues & tournaments, more newbie friendly events.

Negatives: More work for League & Tournament organizers, it may be abused by people who are veterans but join the tournies/leagues as fake noobs and ruin the event.

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

Main board will changed to this:

In the "About the game" board there is going to be a shout out to community recommended decks in a sticky topic looking like this:

And there will be a sticky topic in the "Arranged PVP for newcomers" trying to get new people to make a duel profile which will look like this:

• The mentoring program is going to get removed because it's inactive, and not really needed.
• Outdated tutorials will have two sub boards: one in about the game, and one in about the forums.
• Tutorials will be moved to their respective boards.
• "Introduce yourself" will be kept as is.

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

How to improve the Newbie Area

The Newbie Area is a place where people new to the game come to introduce themselves and read some tutorials about succeeding (spelt correctly?) in the game. It’s great to have the chance to introduce yourself and gather information about the game, but yet I feel this can be improved. How?
I will raise a few suggestions in this little article.

To start with, the suggestion which feels most important to me:


1) A Newbie Advisor staff position
This has so much potential. A specialized staff position, just focusing on the rookies, might be very helpful. Why?

•   No newbies will feel alone – everyone who has introduced themselves will be greeted, gather links to tutorials, and all other non-elements related things.
•   The tutorial section might be okay now, but it can be improved. The Newbie Advisor will moderate the tutorial section, improve the tutorials, lock outdated tutorials and even make new ones.
•   All rookies will get their help, and with good help, the community members will stay in the forums.

2) Revised Mentor System
The mentor system was tried a little less than two years ago, with mixed success. After mentors got their apprentices, the mentors did not get a streamlined guide how to work with the newbies. The mentor system is a great idea, and I hope to see the return of it with better rules and more focus.

So why did it fail? As I mentioned, the mentors did not get a strict guide in how to work with the apprentices. My own experiences with this project was that interest fell pretty quick, both for me and the beginner. It’s just the ”final touch” that misses, which is to make the project more streamlined.

3) Beginner Tournaments
There might be some newbies afraid to play in the official tournaments, due to clever and complicated rulesets added together with many seasoned PvPers playing in them. An unofficial beginner tournaments might help the rookies to start with PvP. With very basic rulesets, no rares and no upgrades, the tournaments can definitely see the light if people are interested in it. Me? I think it’s a great idea.

4) A better Kongregate integration
I know two things. One: Many of the veterans in the game – including myself, found Elements the Game on Kongregate.
Two: Many more would have come if Kong treated the game better, and Elements and Kongregate were better linked. I’m sure there are many kongers who played EtG for the badges, and left after they defeated their first (and last) False God.

Unfortunately, there is not too much the community can do without zanzarino or the Kongregate managers. The positive thing is we can do one important thing: Stay in the Kong chat and do advertising there. A grander community is always great!

Conclusion
Looking away from the Newbie Advisor staff position, there is not too much that has to be done to make the Newbie Area a better place for everyone. If someone would take responsibility over the rookies as the Newbie Advisor, we’ll definitely keep many of our members.
And we all want that, don’t we?

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

Preface: This submission is divided into 2 parts. The "normal text" describes the layout and basic structure of each section, so reading it will give the reader an idea of how we imagine the redesigned Newbie Area. In the spoilers there are detailed descriptions and definitions (basically everything a new player would see ), so if the reader would like to know more (and likes to read a lot of text), then reading them is very much recommended. (Reading only the "spoilerless" version is enough to understand our vision of the remastered Newbie Area.)

The basic idea behind this "Newbie Welcome" post is that it should serve as a great "index" or "compendium"for everything that could interest a newbie. From here, s/he can branch out to other various parts of the forum. This is the starting point where every important aspect of the forum is explained. Given that this is a brawl submission, the format is not exactly as it should be if this were the real thing. We imagine the real "newbie center" to be a separate topic, segmented much like the War rules post, complete with images, and nicely formatted for ease of reading. In any event, this "topic" or "post" should be the first one a newcomer comes across on the forum.

One more thing:The "we" outside the spoilers refers to the whole brawl team, and the "we" in the spolier refers to the council/mentors, as the things inside the spoliers mimic the actual things that should be featured in this newbie- introductory topic.

Welcome to the Elements Forum!

The first thing the new players should see is a warm welcome, as well as a brief description of what is to be found in the newbie area.

Spoiler for welcome and introduction:

Hello, Newcomer, to the official forum of Elements the Game! We are glad you found us!
This topic serves as an introduction to the game, and to the layout, structure and various activities to be found on the Forum, as well an introduction to the chat and the Elements Wiki.
You can skip it if you'd like, but there is much to read here, including starting directions and tips for the game, description of the various parts of the forum, answers to the most common questions newcomers have, a brief introduction to the chat and the wiki, and more.
If you think you have a basic undertanding of the game, then you can try your luck in the PVP events run regularly, or in the different competitions (that require no playing of the actual game, but are fun nevertheless). Beyond the basic in-game tutorials, there are more in-depth guides that help you become an advanced player. You can read about these as well here.

Even if you want to skip this section, and start browsing the forum right away, you should definitely do two things before: Read the Forum Rules and Introduce Yourself. Also, remember, if you're ever lost, or feel you have a question that is unanswered elsewhere, you can always return here, and try to find answers, or request help from a mentor.

We hope you'll enjoy your time on the forum, and you learn a lot of intereting things in the proccess!

On behalf of the Elements Council: (Name of the mentor coordinators)

Table of contents:

1, Composition of the Forum	2, Tutorials	3, Mentor Program
4, Ask a Mentor	5, Elements wiki	6, Elements Chat
7, Elements Social Media

1, Composition of the Forum

Here should be a brief description (and links) of the various parts of the forum and subforums, with emphasis on where to look if the newb has a specific question.
Forum parts detailed include:
- Newbie Area
- Forum and Patch notes
- General Discussion
- "Cards" board
- CIA
- Deck Help
- Deck Ideas
- Opponents and strategy (in particular "Oracle: FG" topics)
- Events and competitions board (emphasis on newbie tournamens)
- In-game troubleshooting and bugs
- Off- topic board.

Spoiler for details (very long):

Here you will find a list and description of the various interesting parts of the EtG forum. You will find links for navigating to the particular subforum or board instantly.
The various sections of interest are:

1, Newbie Area. This is where you are now. You will find the introduction board, the in-game tutorials and information on the Mentor Program here. (more on those a bit later). You can also find the topics related to the Newbie Tournament (*link*) here.

2, Forum and patch notes: You can find the latest information about the forum here and about the game here. Of particular interest in the forum notes section is the Elements Monthly Newsletter, which is an interesting coverage of the latest happenings and events on the forum.
You may notice that all the posts in the patch notes section are made by Zanzarino. He is the lead develpoer of the game (also the sole developer as of now).

3, General Discussion: This is the main board of the forums, every game-related topic that doesn't belong in a specific area has a place here. There are some interesting, stickied topics at the top, such as a forum FAQ and an Elements FAQ, a forum index (a good place to start searching for anything) and a list of staff members.
Below those there are interesting discussions, funny posts, answers to questions, some in-depth game analysis and more. It is always worthy to check out the General board everyday.

4, "Cards" board: Here you can find a topic about all the cards in the game (breakdown by element), as well as the cards currently developed and a history of changes to the cards.

5, Card ideas and art: This board is a gathering of user-submitted card ideas. It is always fun to browse them, and if you have a good idea for a card, then share it here! Before browsing or postingh though, you should definitely read this post in order to understand how the board is structured.
You can also find art made by our members here. Some of us are very skilled and some of their art is even used in the game itself!

6, Deck Help: This is a section where members can post their decks to have them looked at by the community as well as dedicated deck helpers, so the deck can be iproved. If you have a deck idea but don't know how to build it well, or you have a deck that you feel could function better, then you can post it here. Just be sure to read this post before posting your deck.

7, Deck Ideas: This is the collection of the user-submitted decks, broken down by the amount of elements used in them (from mono, all the way up to "rainbow", aka. 5 or more). You can show a deck you made to the community, or get feedback on your deck. If you want to try something new, you can always find the freshest ideas in this section.

8. Opponents, strategy and decks: This section covers the best strategies and decks one should use versus the computer-controlled (AI) opponents found in the game. You can find useful decks against AI0, 1, 2, 3, Half-Bloods (AI4) and False Gods (AI5) opponents as well as succesful arena- farmer decks.
A particularly interesting board is the False Gods board, where you can find simple yet effective decks versus each False God (broken down by gods). As you might know, the Oracle in the game gives you the name of the next False God once per day, so you can use this information to choose a deck that has the best possible results. Each topic called "Oracle:"False God" (started by majofa) contains a deck that is usually free of rare and upgraded cards, yet gives good results versus the particular God.

9, Events and Competitions: This is perhaps the most interesting and fun board. Here you can find all the PVP-events currently running on the forum, as well as information about the ones not currently running. Most of the forum members would agree that the fun in the game lies in participating in events and competitions. Not only this is a great chance to test sour skills and meet other players, but you can also win (in-game or forum-related) prizes! The following are the most important ones:

• PVP Tournaments are held weekly and last only for a couple of hours, so they are great if you have only a short time for playing. There are great in-game prizes including in-game money and super-rare cards, some of them not attainable elsewhere (except PVP League).
• The PVP League is an ongoing series where players fight each other for several months and in the end the ones with the most points win great rewards.
• The PVP Events are a collection of medium-length events, each centered around an interesting ruleset. They can be individual or team-based, and usually last for a month or two.
• War is the ultimate PVP event on the forums. The best players get drafted and divided into 12 teams, one for each element, and then the teams fight until only one remains. Winning a War is a great honor and the greatest accoplishment the forum offers. The decks feaured in war are usually the pinnacle of creativity, and the warmatches between seasoned players are followed widely. War is a team-based event that is several months long.
• Forum Brawl is the "non-PVP war". The participiants are divided into teams, and they fight each other, but not in-game, but in various creative tasks like writing, card and deck designing and art.
• Competitions are much like brawl, but they are not team, but individual events. Participiants can show their creative side here.
• Guilds are not an actual event, but rather an always-active team-based rivalization. The guilds are based on elements, and the guildmembers earh points to their guilds. The guild points can be used to various advantages.
• The Newbie Tournaments (*link*) are a series of tournaments designed for the newer players. They have friendly, easy rules, and doesnt feature too much hard-to acquire cards. You can find more information about them in the Newbie Area (*link*)

These are the most important official events and competitions you should know about.

10, Troubleshooting and Bug Reporting: These boards help you identify and solve the most common in-game problems you might encounter.

11, Off- Topic: Everything non- Elements goes here.

2, Tutorials
In this section we propose some excellent tutorials to the newcomer. We give a brief description about the contents of each one. The list of included tutorials was compiled after a through reading of all posts in the current "Tutorials" section as well as many tutorials, guides and articles posted by the community members elsewhere. Care was taken to sort the outdated tutorials out.
The tutorials are divided into 3 ranks based on complexity and ease of understanding: B- beginner, I- intermediate and A- advanced.
The idea is that the council or mentor coordinator constantly monitors the forum and evaluates all the guides that other players post, while sorting out the ones that become outdated. That way the tutorials section always contains the guides that are the most useful for a new player, without giving them false information.
The list of the tutorials we propose is as follows:

5 things Every Elements player should know (B) by Scaredgirl
9 tips for better deckbuilding (B) by Scaredgirl
Using Quanta Index to determine the optimal number of Pillars in a deck (B) by Scaredgirl
Game mechanics (i.e. the expanded rules) (B) by smuglapse
What the cards don't tell you... (B) by Damokles
Deckbuilding 101 (B) by jmizzle7 (outdated but still works, and is very well-written)
Which rare weapon should I pick as a reward? (B) by plastique
Money management (B) by kevkev60614
Tutorial on Strategies and Synergies (I) by Chapuz
The Way of Fractal (I) by Chapuz
A detailed guide to PSNbows (I) by Acsabi44
Deck Archetypes and Deck-building tutorial (A) by Chapuz
How to evaluate vanilla creatures (A) by 10men
Who is the beatdown? (A) by Acsabi44
Identifying the Optimal Quanta Index (A) by Thurhame

Spoiler for Details:

Plenty of very resourceful players and great theorists contributed with lots of newbie- friendly tutorials, guides and in-depth game analyses so the new player can learn the basics and master the game much more easily. This section is a compilation of the best or most useful of them. The tutorials here are divided into 3 categories based on complexity and easiness of understainding: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

The ones labeled 'Beginner' cover all the basic aspects of the game that you might have questions about. They are easy to read, and understanding them will greatly enhance both your performance and the fun you have with the game.

The 'Intermediate' ones are great if you have the basics of the game down, a moderate cardpool and electrum amount, and you want to broaden your horizons even more. They offer interesting deckbuilding methods and provide new approaches to building and playing a deck.

The 'Advanced' ones are not real tutorials, rather game analysis articles. They cover the finer mechanisms of the game, and they may be a bit harder to understand without a through knoweledge of how EtG works, but these articles can really help you to perfect your deckbuilding and game-playing skills.

Needless to say that guides of great quality may get posted anytime, so be on the lookout for them! Meanwhile, the council will try their best to keep this section up-to date as possible.

The list of the current council- approved tutrials:


1, Beginner tutorials

5 things Every Elements player should know by Scaredgirl
5 very useful tips that relate to the whole EtG experience. Not necessarily in-game tips, but reading them will help you advance faster while avoiding common nuisances.

9 tips for better deckbuilding by Scaredgirl
These are simple tips, but remembering them helps a lot with improving your deckbuilding skills.

Using Quanta Index to determine the optimal number of Pillars in a deck by Scaredgirl
The Quanta Index is a fairly simple method that makes determining the correct amount of quanta sources much easier.

Game mechanics (i.e. the expanded rules) by smuglapse
This is a handy and very well-written compendium of the actual rules and mechanics the game uses while a duel is going on. Knowing the rules well can help you preventing gameplay mistakes or abusing them versus the AI. Even if you cannot memorize everything in this topic, it is still worthy of read.

What the cards don't tell you... by Damokles
Lots of important tibdits and information are not on the actual cards or are vaguely phrased. This collection will help you understand the exact workings of any card.

Deckbuilding 101 by jmizzle7
This very well-written topic may be a bit outdated, but still, it provides an incredibly deep coverage of the first few hours (or even days) of the game. You will find help here from the first time you play the game till you are well on your way on False God slaying.

Which rare weapon should I pick as a reward? by plastique
This topic will give you help with an early and pretty important decision: Choosing your first rare card. Detailed analysis of the rare cards and tips on their uses can be found here.

Money management by kevkev60614
This topic will help you allocate, stockpile and spend your hard-earned electrum coins much more efficiently. Definitely worth a read!


2, Intermediate tutorials

Tutorial on Strategies and Synergies by Chapuz
In Chapuz's own words, "This is a tutorial that shows card combos, synergies, and deck strategies in order to help newcomers see the wide spectrum of strategies that they can use and explore."

The Way of Fractal by Chapuz
An in- depth analysis of the powerful and fun card Fractal that examines the possibilities of the card and discusses some great synergies with it.

A detailed guide to PSNbows by Acsabi44
This guide covers the fine aspects of building and playing a "PSNbow" (pendulum-supernova rainbow deck). How to build one, how does it function, how many cards to allocate to various roles, how many copies of a card to use; how many pendulums; how many creatures; how should one approach playing a PSNbow; it's all here.


3, Advanced tutorials

Deck Archetypes and Deck-building tutorial by Chapuz
A very detailed anaylsis of deck types and archetypes that covers the finer points of deck planning, building, testing and general playing. The article covers the basic characters of deck types, the angle they approach the game from and the focus points one should aim for when designing a deck. The article is extremely detailed and contains lots of references to other in- depth informative posts as well.

How to evaluate vanilla creatures by 10men
This focus of this analysis is the evaluation of Elements creatures, based mostly on their stats, for the purposes of rushing. What does a rush deck look for? What is a good creature to include in such a deck? What are the fine yet important differences between seemingly similar creatures? These questions, and more, are all answered in this very fine topic.

Who is the beatdown? by Acsabi44
This article is about how to assess the dinamycs of a particular duel, and how to position yourself so you can use your cards in the most effective way. This is an Elements rephrase of a very famous MtG- related article.

Identifying the Optimal Quanta Index by Thurhame
This article covers Quanta Index, but in a much deeper way than the ones in the Beginner section, with the introduction of more advanced mathematics.

3, Mentor Program
We want to intorduce mentors to the newbies. Making the whole learning process personal is a great way to ensure that the newcomer stays for much longer. Asking questions to a person is always the greatest and fastest way to get answers quickly and effectively, and a highly qualified mentor might be the best source of information, while providing a link for the newbie into the community. The hierarchy would be the following:

A maximum of 2-3 newbies under a mentor. They would be assigned by one of the (atleast) two mentor coordinators (At least one for USA timezones and one for EU timezones, with one more for asian timezones preferred.)
The roles of the mentors would be to keep in touch with the newbies, help them with everything and inspire them for staying and participating on the forum, chat and in the events. Every mentor should write a littlie introduction (including timezones and online times) that helps the newbies choose their favorite one.
The mentor coordinator would be a council member, could oversee the mentoring proccess, assign newbies to mentors, evaluate and elect mentor candidates, keep the newbie section organized and updated, and host newbie tournaments.

Spoiler for what a newbie should see in this section:

While exploring the game and forums on your own, with the help of tutorials and other sources can be fun and rewarding, nothing is quite as good as a source of information as a qualified mentor who is happy to help you with anything. If you want, we can assign you under such a friendly mentor, who will help you with anything you'd like to know. Here (*link*) you can find the lists and introductions of our available mentors, and here (*link*) you can apply for a mentor. You can choose a mentor if you'd like, and we will take your choice into consideration when assigning a mentor to you. (keep in mind though, that we will consider time zone differences as well. Also, it is beneficial for everyone if the mentor is not too occupied, so we will likely assign one who has no more than 1-2 newbies currently assigned.)

4, Ask a Mentor

We intend to move the "ask a simple question, get a simple answer" topic from General to the newbie area; or rather, start a new one (newbie and mentor- exclusive, titled "Ask a Mentor" or similar) here. The idea is that if the newbie has a simple question to which s/he would like to get a simple answer fast, then this should be the place to ask it. We think that the original topic in the General Discussions proved that this method works.
All the mentors, mentor coordinators and newbies should be able to post here, but nobody else. That should ensure that the answers come from a verified source of information.

5, Elements Wiki
The wiki is a fine and attractive source of information along with the forum, and due to the different format of the two, the wiki is sometimes much easier to read and comprehend. We aim to integrate the wiki better into the forum, and the place to do this should be the newbie area. Interesting, up-to date and nicely done wiki articles should be the preferred reading materials as opposed to the forum posts, which can contain non-verified information and other unnecessary things.
Of course, this would mean that a very through rechecking and sometimes rewriting of the wiki is inevitable. Maybe the wiki coordinators and the mentors could work on this together. It would be also important to keep the wiki updated and to refresh its content when it is due.

Spoiler for introducing the wiki to a newbie:

For futher reading, we can recommend nothing but the Elements Wiki. It is a very rich source of useful information, complete with nice pictures, useful tips, card and deck information and more. It is kept up-to date by our wiki coordinators. Be sure to check it out!

6, Chat
It is vital to introduce the newcomers to the chat very early. For one, it is a very simple and good source of information. Futhermore, the newbies should/will be encouraged to take part in PVP events, and the chat is the place for organizing them.

Spoiler for Hidden:

If you want to know more, want to have a great time, or simply bored, then come hang out with us in the chat! We have an IRC chatroom (called #elementsthegame, or found here)  for general chatting, and a few specialized chatrooms for tournaments and other PVP events. The Newbie Tournaments will be run on the chat as well, so you should get yourself familiarized with it sooner or later. Just keep in mind that the same general rules apply as on the forum itself! Also, it is a nice thing to use the same username as you do on the forum.

7, Elements Social Media
The introduction of Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Youtube channel of Elements (IIRC there is no current official EtG Youtube channel; the council/mentor should make one, showcasing tutorials and neat decks.).

Spoiler for Hidden:

There is more to Elements than the forum and the game! We have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Be sure to register in order to get news and feed about the latest events and happenings. Get the most out of the Elements experience!

[Chapuz]

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Task:

Create a sports broadcaster's play by play of two popular elementalists fighting. No formatting restrictions.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

"Hello again, everyone! This is Bob-"

"-And this is Alice-"

"-Bringing to you, the Underworld League!"

"The Underworld League is a League formed by the people dissatisfied with the current society. Mainly it's composed of minor criminals and cheaters, people who can and will use any trick to win."

"And this time, the League has reached its final!"

"And the final battle is Blarp versus TheInvincible!"

"Blarp is an elemental known for his signature deck which uses-"

"Abuses."

"-abuses shards to stall his opponent out! ... is it "abuse'?"

"Before Zanzarino nerfed them, they are pretty OP, so I'm pretty sure it's abuse."

"You're right. Anyway, his opponent TheInvincible is an elemental known to use some magic to manipulate his track record to hide his lose, which is why his record is a straight win!"

"Quite underhanded, I'll say."

"TheInvincible uses a monofire deck to rack up damage via Ruby Dragon quickly before his opponent can defeat him. And even if he's defeated, he can simply rewind time so the match didn't count."

"Interesting eh? Two of our contestants, fighting here for the title 'Underworld League Champion' and the honor to challenge Zanzarino the True God himself!"

"What will happen if they can defeat Zanzarino?"

"Then Zanzarino will nerf Ruby Dragon or the shards. Or ban them. His call."

"Oh look, the two has shuffled their decks and are ready for the match!"

"As usual, Blarp opens with Quantum Towers and Nova!"

"And from the opposing side, TheInvincible replies with his stack of Burning Tower! He has dragons already in his hand, ready to be unleashed..."

"And it seems like Blarp has also gathered his assorted shards of various colors too."

"First Ruby Dragon hit the field! It spews a fireball straight towards Blarp..."

"Look! Blarp is ready with his Sundial!"

"It seems like TheInvincible is impatient! He unleashed the second Ruby Dragon, but they both waits for the Sundial to wear off!"

"Sundial's duration is over! Blarp uses the white shard to boost his vitality!"

"Ruby Dragon Fire Blast! Ouch, that must be hurt!"

"Hmm? Blarp is playing a red shard, collecting more shards while giving TheInvincible more dragons..."

"He doesn't even attack! As expected from the legendary Blarp, turtling until time's up!"

"TheInvincible summons the third Ruby Dragon! Another clean hit for TheInvincible!"

"Blarp uses a purple shard to defend! The Shard of Sacrifice, summon a death cloud to cover yourself for two turns, switching damage with healing at the cost of a fraction of the user's vitality!"

"TheInvincible's dragons are uncontrollable! They keep attacking even though it heals Blarp!"

"Well, controlling a dragon is very hard, much less three..."

"The death cloud has dissipated! Blarp uses two more red shard, drawing like crazy while also forcing his opponent to draw!"

"Uh-oh! TheInvincible's deck is running thin! Can he decimate Blarp before his time is out?"

"I don't think so! Look at all those Sundials in Blarp's hand!"

"He's chaining them one by one! Come on TheInvincible, where's your Explosion?"

"Ruby Dragons wait. They can't disobey the Sundial."

"Ooh, TheInvincible is furious now!"

"You bet! He's not invincible anymore if he lose!"

"One of the fatal mistakes TheInvincible make is keep summoning Ruby Dragons instead of holding it."

"Yeah, that frees up hand to make the red shard becoming more effective! He also didn't bring any Explosion or Bolt!"

"DING! Time up! Blarp wins!"

"Blarp win via deckout from his red shards, Shard of Bravery, while stalling behind Sundials and Shard of Sacrifice as he raises his lost vitality using the Shard of Divinity!"

"Seems like Ruby Dragon isn't OP after all."

"It is so."

"Well, that's the end of this Underworld League! I'm Alice-"

"-And I'm Bob-"

"-See you next League!"

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

War #6 - Final Battle - deuce22 vs. AnnaMall

Welcome, Elementalists of all ages, to the moment that you’ve all been waiting (a very long time) for! I’m *censored*, and we’re at the glorious Elements Coliseum tonight for the much anticipated final battle of War #6. In one corner of the ring tonight we have the master of Aether, the General of the team looking to become the first ever to defend their War title, weighing in at a slim 30 cards tonight, deuce22! And in the other corner, substituting for kev, looking to keep Air alive for one more round, also weighing in at just 30 cards, AnnaMall! Refereeing tonight’s match will be the esteemed Warmaster Jenkar. He’s calling the fighters in now and giving them some instructions; it seems that he’s calling for a fair fight, which should be no problem; this isn’t leagues.

And now Jenkar is stepping back away from the fighters, the bell rings and the fight has begun! The fighters are circling around each other now, each wary of the other’s awesome elemental power. AnnaMall steps in quickly and throws a left hook, but deuce dodges it. deuce retaliates with a quick one-two, and AnnaMall is forced to take a step back. deuce goes on the offensive now, landing a couple of body blows, but AnnaMall doesn’t look bothered. deuce winds up for the haymaker, swinging with all of his aetheric might, but AnnaMall steps underneath it.

Oh my Zanzarino! What was that? There’s just been a massive explosion here at the arena, and deuce is lying flat on his back. AnnaMall looks unaffected; that must have been an Unstable Gas he just set off! Jenkar steps in and begins the count, but deuce gets up right away, barely rattled. AnnaMall looks to capitalize, launching a flurry of punches. deuce blocks them, stepping backwards, and it looks like he’s lost the momentum in this fight. But wait... there’s not just one deuce anymore. He's split into two! I think we may just be in a parallel universe here! This fight isn’t over yet, ladies and gentlemen.

The deuces are closing in on AnnaMall, who is looking more and more tired by the moment. It’s not looking good for Air. The real deuce has just landed what looks like a devastating blow on AnnaMall; he collapses to the mat, completely out of breath as Jenkar begins his count. The deuces are huddling together now, talking strategy, but it looks like it won’t be necessary, as AnnaMall is still down!
Jenkar has finished his count, and it’s a knockout! Aether has won War #6! The fans are going wild! Aether has defended their title in the heavyweight division!

Well, I’m afraid this brings us to the end of our broadcast. I hope you’ve had a great time listening to the final battle of War #6, and I hope you’ll be tuning in again in a couple of months when War #7 kicks off. This is *censored*, signing off, and wishing you happy False God farming.

 

Spoiler for Team The Crusaderps:

B: Well hello folks, and man do we have a battle for you tonight.  My name "Boom"
WS: And I’m "Whizstick"
B+WS: And we are here to analyze the battle tactics, styles, and weapons of Deuce22 and Kev!
B: Deuce22 is a fricking epic ninja-dog, so he is a force to be reckoned with.  He is also the reigning champion, and it is said he has pure aether coursing through his veins. 
WS: Isn’t that dangerous? Either way, he sounds like a total BADASS.
B: Not only can Deuce explode things by looking at them, he is such a badass that he carries 3 entire swords, although it appears he is only trained to use one at a time.  Also, Deuce can very quickly gain energy by summoning a supernova with explosive force
WS: Woah, don’t think I want to mess with him anytime soon.
B: Correct, and since Deuce is the master of an alternate dimension, he is able to conjure up a copy of anything on the field, in fact, he is so adept in the conjuring arts, he can summon 3 entire dragons!
WS: Who the hell needs 3 dragons? One is scary enough!
B: Yet another power of Deuce is the ability to catch his opponents in quicksand.  It is believed that he learned this ability after defeating the warriors of earth, but only he knows for certain.  This power can drastically slow down his opponent’s offense and defense, and can give a huge advantage.
WS: Slowing down the opponent sounds kind of wimpy, I would rather just use those dragons to incinerate anybody who stands in my way.
B: Don’t overlook tactical gameplay.  Finally, the last weapon of Deuces arsenal, attributed to his powers as a ninja, is the ability to steal any permanent he chooses.
WS: Wait, so instead of just blowing shit up, he can take it for himself as well?
B: That’s right.  Also worth mentioning is Deuces apparent control over trolls.   He keeps a tight rein on Hainkar(a)ga, which is an impressive feat in itself.
WS: Pfft, that’s nothing, I can control trolls too, just gotta smell worse than they do.
B: Well ok, then, if you say so.  The challenger appears to be Kev, who seems to be a badass looking face in the clouds.
WS: Does that mean Kev is god?
B: I really have no clue, but I think we are about to find out.  Kev seems to focus around the air element, although he has had a past affinity for fire.
WS: Does that mean hes going to blow sh*t up?
B: Most likely.  Anyway, Kev’s most interesting skill is the ability to summon prostitutes out of nothing.  These prostitutes are quite deadly, and they have a secret skill…
WS: Does it involve blowing?
B: Actually yes, but not what you’re thinking.  These young nymphomaniacs are able to blow shit up with their farts!
WS: You mean they sneak in all seductive, then all of a sudden… BANG!?
B: Even the strongest men soon fail to the powerful combination.  Kev also combat’s Deuce's sword mastership with a bow, and is a fantastic archer.
WS: I think I would rather have the bow than a sword, but you never know.
B: Don’t forget, Deuce actually has 3 swords.  Anyway, back to Kev.  Arguably Kev's most powerful skill is the ability to summon sky dragons.  He has enough power to summon 4 dragons at a time, as well as 2 wyrms, which are pretty much just mini-dragons.
WS: WOAH! And I thought that Deuce was awesome, Kev seems to be able to do much more damage.
B: Also of note is Kev’s ability to rely on his team mates.  He can instantly swap places with anybody he chooses, which is quite a useful skill. 
WS: Sounds kinda cool, but I still like the dragons better.
B: And with that, let us see how these two fare when pushed against each other.  Let the battle begin!
*epic music*
B: And it looks like Deuce is starting out on the offensive first, as he quickly forms a supernova and whips out a sword. 
WS: Look at how fast Kev is moving though!
B: It looks like Kev already has a wyrm out, but Deuce is heading at it with his sword.  Who will win? Sword or beast?
WS: Wow! Looks like that beast isn’t flying anymore!
B: True, and now Kev is notching an arrow into his bow, what is Deuce going to do?
*Boom*
WS: Looks like that bow isn’t a problem anymore, jeez, having the ability to just blow stuff up, sure is useful, I could use that to get rid of traffic or something.
B:  It looks like Deuce copied Kev’s wyrm, and he seems to know how to control it as well, both of the now-grounded critters are locked in a fight to the death, and suddenly, Deuce brings out a dragon! Kev counters with another wyrm!
WS: But I wonder who wins, the dragon or the wyrm?
B: Oh my god! It appears that Deuce just threw two of his swords, and spearing Kev’s wyrms in place, while he charges Kev with his dragon.
WS: This isn’t looking good man.  Oh wait, what just happened?
B: It appears that Kev just switched places with Annamall, who is quickly summoning his courtesans. 
WS: Damn they are hawt!
B: The nymphs are approaching Deuce, and he seems quite distracted…
WS: I bet his training didn’t prepare him for this, but still, what a man, getting laid in the middle of a battleground.
B: Deuce doesn’t seem to be falling for it, he just copied one of the nymph himself.
WS: Damn, who needs to bring your own girls when you can just take somebody elses?
B: At this point Annamall has a couple of nymphs out, and they are passing gas as quickly as they can, but Deuce is exploding them prematurely, before enough pressure has built up to cause any damage. 
WS: Hah! I bet Deuce does explode prematurely!
B: Deuce is cutting his way through dragons, wyrms, and women, with his own dragon and harem behind him.  Annamall doesn’t have his bow and is looking almost defensless! Can he turn this around?!?
WS: Oh look! What is he doing?
B: It appears Annamall just summoned another dragon and nymph, but Deuce just copied it! Now he has 5 dragons and a nymph on the field!  I don’t think that Annamallcan withstand the onslaught. 
*Bright Flash*
B + WS: Oooh! Ahhh! 
B: And it appears we have a winner!  Deuce unleashed the fury of his woman-farts, and blew Annamall away!
WS: Wait, what happened to Kev then?
B: Look closely, it appears that Annamall actually was Kev, just in disguise!
WS: Woah, neat trick, too bad it didn't help.
B: True.  Thanks folks for coming out, and I'm sure this battle is one for the ages.  Deuce holds his mastership over the other elements once again.
WS: Wait, what the hell is that canadian flag doing in the stands? These guys are both Muricans???

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

[1] wins the toss and, wait, has RNG gone crazy or are they really playing 30 aether pendulums?!
[2] follows with a less impressive 4 pends, a healthy start for their life duo.
Turn three sees [1] get the first damage with a lobo, proving that they're not suiciding this round.
[2] drops a 6th pendulum and attempts to lessen the damage with an ice shield.
Oh and now they retaliate with a Forest Scorpion, shame it won't be poisoning much.
[1] responds with a Dim Shield, a little early by my reckoning.
And this second Spirit won't be doing much either. That lobo is really pulling its weight this match!
I may have spoken too soon folks, [1]'s gonna need another damage source if it wants to get past [2]'s new Staff.
The 2nd Dim comes down and they're holding 2 cards back. I spy a chain!
Another pair of Spirits from [2] get an immediate loboing.
3rd dim and a pillar come down on [1]'s side, leaving them 3 cards in hand.
And another 1|1 Spirit with no hopes of growth.
[1]'s 60 water is starting to look dangerous. Perhaps those cards in hand aren't Shields at all.
And they draw another pillar. There can't be many quanta sources left in that deck.
[2] raises their Spirit count to 5 while [1] finally draws a creature, though Mind Flayers seem a tad redundant here.
And the final Spirit comes down.
That single poison counter is really working hard, it's done a wopping 11 damage so far.
[1] plays a second Flayer but still can't make any headway on [2]'s HP since the other is under ice.
Look out though, their water has hit 75. Prime bolting time!
And [2] screws up, dropping a Scorpion against a shield. I would have expected better from such a top level player.
3rd Flayer joins the fray and we're finally seeing some change in [2]'s health. Is it all too little too late though?
And a fourth but with 3 of them frozen, we won't be seeing much action here.
[2] finally reaches 70 water and triple bolts their opponent, freezing the Lobotomizer and reducing their health to 42. With only 6 cards left though, I can't see them getting rid of the rest.
And [1] is still drawing quanta sources...
At last, the final Dim shield, [2]'s gonna have to really work hard in their last turn if they want to win this one.
The lobotomiser unfreezes, with [2] having gained little from its time under ice. I can't help but wonder if those bolts could have been put to better use earlier on.
Again they drop a scorpion against a shield...
And [1] adds insult to injury with an Ice Dragon assault.
With no cards left in deck, [2] drops a Dragon of <he/she> own and leaves the now defenceless [1] on 17HP but despite their valiant last ditch effort they've has run out of deck and lost.

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

The Battle

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of the Card Game Channel, all card games all the time! This lovely evening we have a fabulous event happening for you: the master of Air, Jenkar, versus the up-and-coming Raknej, and we promise that this will be a good one. But before we start, here's a little background on the two contenders. Jenkar, current master of Air, staffer, and long time veteran of Elements the game. Recent trends show he likes to stick to the Mono-Air Rush, trusting his Wyrms and Fog Shields to do the job. On the other side we have Raknej. Not much is known about him, unfortunately, but reports have shown he likes to use Mono Darkness to take down his opponents, though he seems to like using un-nightfalled Vampires as his only creatures.
Anyways, enough of that. What are these two players who have grinded their way to the top playing for? Well, they are playing for the love and admiration of everyone in the Elements kingdom, of course!

Oh, the contestants are online right now! They're at their computers... entering PvP Duels... searching for each other... still searching for each other... still searching for each other... Oh drat. The servers seem to be down right now folks; it seems to happen a lot at the most inopportune times. Never fear, they'll get it eventually. And.... and.... and.... they're off--- No, never mind, still connecting...

five minutes later

Aaaaand they're off! Here's the coin toss right now, Jenkar has won the coin toss, Jenkar will be playing the first cards of this intensifying match! He's playing his Air towers, oh good. Now his Wyrm. What a splendid start! Now comes Raknej. Okaaaaay... he doesn't seem to have any towers, but instead is playing Darkness pillars... did he get the memo? Jenkar should have no troubles winning this game. Oh, now it's Jenkar's turn again, and he's playing a Fog Shield, one of the most powerful shields there is folks! Blocking 40% of all attackers, this single card may be the bane of Raknej, and his recently-drawn Vampire seems to be having troubles getting passed this very powerful card. This should be over soon, folks, as Jenkar appears to have just drawn another Wyrm, and another, and another, while Raknej seems to be having draw issues with his lone vampire. This is the pinnacle of excitement, isn't it! But now, a word from our sponsors.

Hello there, Elementer! You look down. Are Dimensional Shields ruining your chances of ever winning a game? yes ):Well then, do I have a solution for you! You do? Of course I do. It's called Deflagration. For a measely 27 electrum, your Dimensional Shield problem will disappear! Thanks Deflagration! No problem, Elementer. Just remember Deflagration: When you would rather explode something out of existence than have to deal with it™.

Welcome back! Due to the break, we're jumping ahead to turn 10, where Jenkar now has four Wyrms out and enough quanta to last him a lifetime and Raknej is still stuck with one vampire. Raknej has but a handful of health left, and we expect this exciting match to be over in just another turn. Unless... wait... is that a Steal? Raknej just stole Jenkar's Fog Shield everyone! This is exhilerating! Raknej now has Jenkar's only Fog Shield and seems to have given himself a second chance in defeating Jenkar once and for all! Jenkar seems unphased, however, because what are the chances of four creatures all missing due to a shield that blocks 40% of attackers. Look at that, what a good man. Jenkar is already messaging "Gg" to his opponent, as both have to know that the end is near. Jenkar is ending his turn and... what's this!? All of Jenkar's Wyrms have missed the target, folks... Raknej has another turn! What seemed to be a shot in the dark has paid off for Raknej: Jenkar will have to work another turn before defeating him. But we're sorry, folks, we're going to have to cut to commercial break. Just remember that you're watching Jenkar versus Raknej only on the Card Game Channel, all card games all the time!

Cost of Devourer: 56 electrum. Cost of Fractal: 64 electrum. Playing both at the same time to fill up your field with quanta-draining worms, effectively making your opponents' net quanta production virtually zero: now that's priceless. There are somethings electrum can't buy, for everything else, there's Elements.

Aaaaaand we're back! Welcome back, everyone. Despite what I said about Jenkar being able to quickly defeat Raknej, it seems now that the tides have turned. Right now, Jenkar has all six Wyrms out, three cards left, and well over 50 HP. Raknej, on the other hand, has but three Vampires out, still being protected by his stolen Fog Shield, eight cards left, and has 40 HP left, well within Jenkar's kill zone. However, Jenkar seems to be having problems getting attacks to hit Raknej... by the time he gets two hits in a row, Raknej's Vampires have healed up the damage. Seems to be that every turn is exactly the same... Jenkar sends a smug "Gg" to Raknej just before diving all of his Wyrms, then proceeds to hit with one of the Wyrms at most. He must know that he has just three turns left before Raknej would win by deckout, but even when he just ended his turn right now, only one Wyrm hit. This is going to be a close one. Raknej now has 30 HP and seven cards left opposed to Jenkar's 50+ HP and now two cards left... and now with one card left. Now he... he seems to be taking advantage of his 60 seconds to move, and the suspense is killing me! Here we have Jenkar, veteran, struggling to beat the noobish Raknej, and he cannot seem to do it! He's ending his turn and... what's this? He missed again! Now we have Raknej finally drawing another vampire and he's playing knowing the only thing he can do is hope he has enough HP in case Jenkar's attacks land. I can hardly contain my excitement! Now we have Jenkar drawing his final card, Raknej has 56 HP left, four HP within Jenkar's kill zone! This is it, folks! Not two, not three, but all six of Jenkar's Wyrms have to defy the 40% odds and make it through the powerful Fog Shield. He's ending his turn... he's ending his turn... there goes one Wyrm in! Now two! Four Wyrms have made successful attacks! Five! All six Wyrms' attacks have landed! Jenkar has won the game, Jenkar has won the ga-- hold on one second... Raknej appears to have one HP remaining! Did Jenkar... did Jenkar not dive all of his Wyrms? Now it's Raknej's turn... you can clearly tell that he is as bewildered as I am! He's... okay now he's typing something into the messanger. He must have realized that he just won and is being sportsmanlike by letting Jenkar know that he put up a good fight. Okay folks, the soon-to-be Champion's message is coming through! What inspiring words of inspiration has he said!? It's coming in... it should be appearing in front of me at any minute... it's here!

"lol no0b u misd 1"

Well, there we have it folks, our new champion, Raknej. Goodbye ladies and gentlemen, thanks for watching, and remember that you saw this battle on Card Game Channel, all card games all the time!

The Card Game Channel was brought to you by Firestall, you play it today, you regret it tomorrow™.

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

ZsoZso: Lads and Gentlewomen, Welcome to the Elements VR-Stadium, where the crowds are gathering to Spectate the Final of the 24th Elements War!
WIIDGC: What a magical number we reached in the year 2024, twice the number of elements.
ZsoZso: Indeed, we are witnessing history in the making.
WIIDGC: Speaking of history: Let's tell the young Elementalists -- who know EtG only as the full immersion Virtual Reality Fantasy game -- how Elements was played back in the ancient times.
ZsoZso: Haha, you ARE asking an ancient player. <wink> Yes, I was there when we played on a desktop computer, in a web browser, clicking on cards with a mouse -- none of this VR helmet stuff.
WIIDGC: Yes, we are playing Yu-gi-oh style now.
ZsoZso: Now, there is another ancient game! I don't think today's teenagers know about that either. Yu-gi-oh, Magic the Gathering and many of the other old CCGs are all gone and forgotten.
WIIDGC: Ha! They never stood a chance. Anyways, let's take a quick look at how Elements has changed since the first War.
ZsoZso: During the first War, each element had an average of, get ready for this, 15 cards!
WIIDGC: How did we survive back then??
ZsoZso: Players could see through the whole meta in their head without a strategy-analyzing Super-AI.
WIIDGC: Now each element averages around 65 cards, vaults were increased to over 5000, and each team boasts a, then mind-boggling, 30 players!
<cscsscssscc>
ZsoZso: We've just got word that the vaults have been checked and verified to be legal, and the Generals are on their way to the battle arena now.
WIIDGC: That's right, Annele leading Darkness getting their first crack at glory, while Life is looking to complete a dynasty with their 4th War win in 6 years.
ZsoZso: And Team Life is led by none other than the recently returned old veteran player, willng3.
WIIDGC: There are so many Elementalists logged into Spectate that I'm worried the servers might not keep up.
ZsoZso: Oh, I remember when the servers borked on every weekly tournament back in the 2D days...
WIIDGC: The fight is about to begin. The Oracle tosses the coin. As it flips in the air, the atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them.
ZsoZso: willng3 wins the coin-toss. I see some Aether Towers rising up behind him. You don't suppose he is going to play Frogtal?
WIIDGC: Believe it or not, his more-than-decade-old deck of fame still PWNs -- augmented with some new toys.
ZsoZso: Spectators can already see the Giant Frogs jumping around on the grass of the field.
WIIDGC: Look, he is casting the Fractal spell, the Frogs multiply, sucking his Life quanta dry.
ZsoZso: Annele summons a Black Dragon. If she has more of those, they may out-damage willng3's Frogtal, does he have an answer to that ?
<Suddenly the air crackles as lightning strikes from willng3's hand>


WIIDGC: Wow, he tackled that dragon like Michael Strahan!
ZsoZso: There is another old sports reference our youngsters will not understand.
...
ZsoZso: He energetically swings his bat: ITS A HOOOOME-RUUUN!!!
WIIDGC: Hey you are on the wrong sports channel! Get back to Elements!
...
ZsoZso: Look up! What's that dark cloud descending on the arena ?
WIIDGC: Annele must have played Shadow-Storm. You can see a swarm of small vampire bats sucking the life out of the Frogs.


ZsoZso: But where is willng3? He just disappeared.
WIIDGC: Of course, he Phased Out, you know the modern version of the DimShield-noob tool.
ZsoZso: OK, then he is invincible for a while but what of his killed Frogs? He has no more damage.
WIIDGC: Watch out! Here comes the Genesis card, giving new life to the Frogs.
<bzzzz>
ZsoZso: Now the whole stadium is phasing out, or what?
WIIDGC: Looks like we are losing connection--server borked?
ZsoZso: No, its a complete BLACKOUT! We lost power.
WIIDGC: Did you say BLACK out? Sounds like Darkness wins this one!
ZsoZso: Huh? But how on Earth did she crash the entire World-Wide Smart-Grid?
WIIDGC: We may never find out...

Spoiler for submissions:

Spoiler for Tasks:

There is a newbie entering the chat, he knows nothing about the game and is extremely annoying. Recreate the chat log.

Please limit to between 100 and 500 words (we will be using The Word Count Tool for validation). Submissions breaking these rules will be disqualified.
Chat lines may start with the name of the speaker, which counts as a word.

 

Spoiler for Team AbSTRACT:

<noobie> has entered chat
I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU ALL
SO BEWARE MY WALL OF TEXT
this game looks fun,
I mean, just look at those curves on the home page.
'dey fancy.
So howcome when i hit the play now button nothing is saved?
<other> That's just for trying it out.
<noobie> WAT? Let me try it again.
<other> .. You don't have ears, do you?
- a few minutes later -
<noobie>
i refreshed the page
and it didn't save yet again
It must be broken or something
Let me try again
<other> No!
No no no no no!
Do you not get it?
You're like a stupid bull ramming a wall over and over again
Now go clean up your head before I sick the janitor on you.
<noobie> HEY NOW!
I JUST WANTED A HUG
IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
now stahp
stahp talking
U R interrupting my wall of text
Now
Where wus I?
<other> /me sigh
<noobie> /me growls
<other> please get out of here
before you're kicked
<noobie> not until you nerf this card
<other> what card? (<-- 174 words)
<noobie> mana pillar
<other> *snaps fingers* It's nerfed. Now go. Please
<noobie> not until you write a poem about it
<other> no
<noobie> write me a poem
<other> Oh, cry me a river, why don't you?
<noobie> not until you dance like a chicken for me
<other> wtf? Are you high or something?
<noobie> very
-end-

 

Spoiler for Team Entropony Cowboys:

@Caliindu Swings The Banhammer

[22:00] == n00b [~n00b@elementscommunity.org] has joined #elementsthegame
[22:00] <@n00b> Rawr
[22:00] <@n00b> Jenkar : NOM
[22:01] <Jenkar> YOUR FACE NUB
[22:01] <+Helston> Evening Jenkarp.
[22:01] <Jenkar> Licks Vaggers
[22:01] == I'msooooooOP [~IRIS@655-15-028-633.dr73.clbg.wv.frontiernet.net] has joined #elementsthegame
[22:01] <I'msooooooOP> This game is really Bored me!!
[22:02] <Vaggers> Licks Jenkar
[22:02] <Vaggers> Nom Nom
[22:02] <@Calindu> So the game is bored you? Weird…
[22:02] <@Calindu> Ohai nub
[22:03] <I’msooooooOP> This sooooo boring game
[22:03] <I’msooooooOP> I need better cards
[22:03] <I’msooooooOP> Where do I get cards???
[22:03] <@n00b> grinding AI 3 and then buy the cards in the bazaar
[22:03] <I’msooooooOP> AI 3??????????
[22:03] <I’msooooooOP> Whatis That?
[22:04] <@Calindu> Level 3 Opponents, the Elders
[22:04] <I’msooooooOP> I can't beat them!!!! they are impossible
[22:04] <I’msooooooOP> I never win against dimensional shield
[22:04] <I’msooooooOP> that Shield is even more OP than me!!
[22:04] <Vaggers> nah, just get PC
[22:05] <I’msooooooOP> ...
[22:05] <I’msooooooOP> PC? I allready have a computer duh...
[22:05] <@n00b> PC= Permant Control...
[22:05] <I’msooooooOP> I have Gravity earth deck
[22:05] <I’msooooooOP> do gravity and earth have PC?
[22:06] <@Vineroz> yes, SoFo and Pulvy
[22:06] <I’msooooooOP>I don't have that cards
[22:06] <I’msooooooOP> I do new match now
[22:09] <I’msooooooOP> lost AGAIN
[22:09] <I’msooooooOP> I NEEEED HELP
[22:09] <I’msooooooOP> Stupid game
[22:09] <I’msooooooOP> YOU GIVE ME CARDS PLEASE
[22:10] <I’msooooooOP> GIVE ME CARDS
[22:11] <@Calindu> you can't trade cards between players
[22:11] <I’msooooooOP> THIS GAME IS SOOOOO BAD
[22:11] <I’msooooooOP> AND NOBODY WANTS TO HELP WITH ME
[22:12]  * Calindu corects gramar mistake again
[22:13] <I’msooooooOP> GRAMMAR NAZI CAN'T SPELL HIMSELF
[22:13] <I'msooooooOP> GO BACK TO SCHOOL
[22:13] <@Calindu> Don't be a "Drama Llama"
[22:13] <I'msooooooOP> YOU SOUND LIKE MY MOM
[22:13] <@Vineroz> "If you don't shut up I'm gonna shut you down" <-- does that sound like a joke
[22:14] == I'msooooooOP was kicked from #elementsthegame by Calindu [Because that's what admins do]
[22:15] <!Higurashi> Why kick when you can troll.
[22:15] <@Calindu> I had to murder him
[22:15] <@Calindu> He was correcting my mistakes.
[22:16] <@n00b> Ah
[22:16] <@n00b> Fair enough
[22:16] == Vineroz [~vineroz@elementscommunity.org] has quit [Quit: IRC sucks]

 

Spoiler for Team Fire:

The newbie=newbie02
[23:42] == <newbie02>  [~IRIS@adgh-06-90-36-372.catv.broadband.hu] has joined #elementsthegame
[23:43] <newbie02> Dis game sux
[23:43] <Carmaby> Sorry, but who the hell are you? What's your problem?
[23:43] <Edwardnosparky> LoL
[23:43] <monsterkitty> What’s the matter?
[23:44] <newbie02> All deck full shit, the gameline booooooooooooring. I wait yrs to get 1 pillar play. Why cant I use as much as I want!!!? WHYYY???
[23:44] <Carmaby> You can use more pillar
[23:44] <newbie02> Idiot, you can only use 6/card. How amateur you are?
[23:44] <Edwardnosparky> LoL
[23:44] *monsterkitty grabs popcorn with cheese
[23:44] <Carmaby>  Except pillars -.-”
[23:44] <newbie02> With pillars
[23:44] <Carmaby>   Except
[23:45] <newbie02> YOU CAN USE ONLY 6/CARD YOU BIG IDIOT!! 66666666666666
[23:45] <Aethrial21> Worship the power of Caps Lock! Caps Lock, save our unpleasant soul from burning hell and purge us to the heaven of incandescent right!
[23:45] <ARTHANASIOS> Amen!
[23:45] <Edwardnosparky> Watch out Aethrial21, the 6 is the number of Satan!!!!  He’s Satan!!!
[23:45] <Carmaby>  Am I forced to answer or I can ignore this?
[23:45] <monsterkitty> *crunch* *crunch* No, you can’t. There are commercials on my TV, so I’m bored
[23:45] <Carmaby>  Thanks for the help
[23:45] <newbie02> WHAT’S YOUR ANSWER, IDIOT AMATEUR!!!
[23:45] <Aethrial21> Save us, the god of Caps Lock!!! I’m praying for you!!!
[23:45] <ARTHANASIOS> Why should I bother saving you?
[23:47] <Carmaby>  Didn’t your starter deck use 10 pilllars?
[23:47] <newbie02> I DUNNO I SOLD IT FOR BETTA CARDS!!!
[23:47] <Aethrial21> PRAY, PRAY!!!!

[23:47] <newbie02> Kay, I got it
[23:47] <Carmaby>  Have you ever tried to take more pillars inside?
[23:47] <newbie02> No, Im not a cheating asshole like you
[23:47] <Aethrial21> Couldn't a moderator do me a favor and ban 'this' from chat?
[23:48]  *Aethrial21 has been banned from chat due to obscenity
[23:48] <Edwardnosparky> FAKE!!!! There’s no moderator!
[23:48] <Aethrial21> :’(
[23:48] <Extraterressialgrav>  Mmmmkay, and Pends? Or GR?
[23:48] <newbie02> What’s GR?
[23:48] <Aethrial21> This guy is absolutely hopeless. Gnome Rider
[23:49] <newbie02> Hey, arent you banned? So go back or I call the moderator again
[23:49] <Edwardnosparky> Pure LoL for you
[23:49] <newbie02> Which card is LoL?
[23:49] <Edwardnosparky> LoL
[23:50] <Aethrial21> Doesn’t (Anti)matter. Couldn’t resist
[23:50] <Edwardnosparky> And the Pundemonium begins
[23:50] <Extraterressialgrav> It’s SoF*cking tiring
[23:50] <Aethrial21> We can do this for all Eternity. Rewinds me back to old times
[23:50] <Edwardnosparky> Watch out for not Overdriving yourself.
[23:51] <newbie02> Theres no card called Overdrive!!!!! I watched the whole Baazar!! You moron!!!
[23:51] <Aethrial21> Plz someone kill this guy. http://z0r.de/1934
[23:51] <Extraterressialgrav> It's not that easy. You can't kill the idiots. There are too many on the world.
[23:51] <monsterkitty> I think I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow the anime-con starts *.* Wish luck to my new dress.
[23:51] <Aethrial21> Who R U dressing?
[23:51] <newbie02> Hehh, nolifers...
[23:51] <monsterkitty> Rangiku from Bleach.
[23:51] <monsterkitty> Pardon me, but you are eleven yrs old, depressing us on the chat at noon and I'm the nolifer?
[23:52] == <newbie02> [~IRIS@adgh-06-90-36-372.catv.broadband.hu] has quit [Quit: Web client closed]

 

Spoiler for Team Expensive Clocks:

[14:41] == Chatlurker2 [rvsr@131.7.sun.ef] has joined #elementsthegame
[14:44] <Chatlurker2> dead chat is dead
[14:45] == NewbLoops [nfc@333.3.dtr.b] has joined #elementsthegame
[14:45] <NewbLoops> hi!
[14:46] <NewbLoops> I have question help pleaseeeee
[14:48] == timeguy [fyef@453.2.trr.du] has joined #elementsthegame
[14:48] <timeguy> ‘sup chat
[14:48] <FlamingBoy> TG
[14:48] <PVP1Troll> ohai time
[14:48] <+hollierthanthou> greetings timefella
[14:49] <+SnottyVet> timeguy, you applied for the council? that’s cute
[14:49] <+hollierthanthou> well he held a staff position for 2 years now and is qualified
[14:49] <NewbLoops> hi snottyvet can I ask u something
[14:49] <+SnottyVet> that position died when MummifiedLegend left
[14:49] <timeguy> maybe you should apply then
[14:50] * PVP1Troll butters popcorn
[14:50] <NewbLoops> snottyvet u pro?
[14:50] <NewbLoops> can I ask u something whats the best element to win
[14:50] <+SnottyVet> who’s making those fart noises anyway?
[14:50] <PVP1Troll> lol
[14:52] <NewbLoops> hey snotvyet
[14:55] <NewbLoops> help please I wanna be pro
[14:55] <+SnottyVet> srsly guys, cool it with the fart noises, not funny
[14:55] <+hollierthanthou> c’mon now, don’t be mean SV
[14:55] <+hollierthanthou> what can I do for you, my little, little friend?
[14:55] <NewbLoops> I wanna to know whats the best deck in the whole game
[14:56] <+hollierthanthou> oh my
[14:57] == ProWannaB [carc@139.2.dur.v] has joined #elementsthegame
[14:57] <ProWannaB> hi
[14:57] <NewbLoops> so what can i use to beat all the decks
[14:58] <ProWannaB> Perhaps I can help you NewbLoops, what are you playing?
[14:58] <NewbLoops> I played for 5 days i’m all over that AI2
[14:58] <NewbLoops> I treid AI3 to buy more cool cards but I keep losing
[14:58] <ProWannaB> what are you using right now?
[14:59] <NewbLoops> I got a killer deck wit 6 anubis 4 phase dragons (in a couple of days i’ll prolly buy more) 5 amobinations 6 forest scorpion 6 dimensional sheilds
[14:59] <ProWannaB> … ok. Maybe you should try to downsize your deck
[14:59] <NewbLoops> wait I’m not done 4 devnian dargons 5 mummies 6 plages and some pillars
[14:59] <ProWannaB> sure. Take a look at some AI3 decks in the Decks section of the forum
[14:59] <NewbLoops> how do i forum
[15:00] <ProWannaB> www.elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,4535.1.html those are my decks, that’s all you’ll ever need to grind AI3. And FG. And arena. And to win BL, CL, budokan, war and pretty much any tourney.
[15:00] <NewbLoops> cool how many tourneys did u win
[15:00] <ProWannaB> nah I’m way past tournaments
[15:03] <PVP1Troll> uhh, NewbLoops would you like to duel later?
[15:03] <NewbLoops> sure pvp
[15:03] <PVP1Troll>  oh you’ll have so much fun
[15:04] <+SnottyVet> @PVP1Troll are you going to use your Ragequit-in-bloody-tears? I want screenies of that
[15:04] <NewbLoops> what are you talking about guys
[15:04] <PVP1Troll> nothing, don’t worry
[15:04] <NewbLoops> hey why do u all have cool nick colors
[15:05] <NewbLoops> can I change my color
[15:05] <FlamingBoy> gawd… he’s probably from kong
[15:05] <NewbLoops> kong rulez
[15:05] <FlamingBoy> kong is for bored housewives that need to kill time until the pool boy arrives
[15:05] <PVP1Troll> oh so your mom showed you Kong?
[15:05] <FlamingBoy> kong is full of silly noobs using monodark I HATE THEM
[15:06] <+hollierthanthou> @FB I brought you here from kong, your user is iloveponies89 iirc
[15:06] == FlamingBoy [erwer@2342.3.uto.oj] has quit [Quit: Web client closed]
[15:09] <NewbLoops> what can I do to beat AI3
[15:11] <NewbLoops> this is bullshit
[15:13] <NewbLoops> heyyyyyyyyyyyy
[15:14] <NewbLoops> fadssdfasdfsdfsfs
[15:14] <@PatientMod> please, control yourself
[15:14] <NewbLoops> FSDFWEFSDFASDFASFS
[15:14] <NewbLoops> WHY CANT YOU HELP MEEEEEEEEE
[15:14] <NewbLoops> U ARE ALL IDIOTS
[15:14] == NewbLoops was kicked from #elementsthegame by PatientMod  [enough]
[15:15] <PVP1Troll> noobie be crazy
[15:15] <timeguy> he’ll fit right in
[15:15] <PVP1Troll> yeah

 

Spoiler for Team Surf Ninjas:

Session Start: Mon May 06 10:42:05 2013
Session Ident:#elementsthegame
[10:42] ->> You joined channel #elementsthegame
[10:42] ->> Topic is: Welcome to the official channel for Elements the Game! /join #etgtournaments for tournaments and chat games. Elements Tutorials: http://bit.ly/11eFZV9 | Apply for Guilds! http://bit.ly/13jPl3H | Now Hiring: Trials Overseer! http://bit.ly/ZPJcw9
[10:42] ->> Topic set by n00b!~IRIS@elementscommunity.org on 28-04-2013 07:46:14
[10:42] ->> Channel Modes are: +CKLTgntj 6:6
[10:42] ->> Channel created on 01-01-2013 03:29:29
[10:42] <+Skotadi> well that was decided already
[10:42] * n00biedraggon (~IRIS@elementscommunity.org) has joined #elementsthegame
[10:42] <n00biedraggon> hello
[10:43] <TheAccuso> Even if it was decided, we still should discuss it
[10:43] <@Vineroz> I think we're past the point of discussing it
[10:44] <n00biedraggon> HELLO
[10:44] <n00biedraggon> I NEEED HLP
[10:45] <@Vineroz> what do you need noobie?
[10:45] <n00biedraggon> I JUS STRTED PLAYNN & CANT FIGURR WHICH ELEMNT IS BEST
[10:46] <@Vineroz> Turn off your caps lock plz
[10:46] <+Hyroen> there really isn't one best element
[10:46] <n00biedraggon> i can't bleve that not wit 12 diff emelnts 1 must b btr than the others
[10:47] <@Vineroz> really, there isn't one best element
[10:47] <n00biedraggon> i plyed ether but it was no goood
[10:47] <Pella_YUnoFB> ROFL ... You can't possibly be serious!
[10:48] <n00biedraggon> wut
[10:48] * n00b (~IRIS@elementscommunity.org) has joined #elementsthegame
[10:48] * ChanServ sets mode +o n00b for #elementsthegame
[10:48] <@n00b> Rawr
[10:48] <Pella_YUnoFB> Aether is probably the most overpowered element in the entire game.  If you couldn't do well with Aether, you must have been doing something wrong.
[10:49] <+Hyroen> hey n00b
[10:49] <n00biedraggon> i dont get it
[10:49] <Pella_YUnoFB> Exactly.
[10:50] <@n00b> Hey Hyro
[10:50] <n00biedraggon> hyroen
[10:50] <+Hyroen> yes n00biedragon?
[10:51] <n00biedraggon> u said hey 2 me
[10:51] <+Hyroen> No, I didn't
[10:52] <n00biedraggon> yes u did u said n00b
[10:52] <@n00b> He meant me
[10:52] <Pella_YUnoFB> Oh, great.  Now there are two of them. *sigh*
[10:53] * Afdarenty (~IRIS@dshe426-15-83-9.range802-03.btcentralplus.com) has joined #elementsthegame
[10:54] <n00biedraggon> SO IS SOME1 GONNA HELO ME OR WUT
[10:54] <@n00b> You need a helo? I'm not sure we can get one here.
[10:54] <n00biedraggon> HELP I NEED HELP WUT IS TEH BEST EMELNT
[10:55] <@n00b> There isn't one best element. Have you read the tutorials in the forum?
[10:55] <n00biedraggon> i did the thing in teh game
[10:56] <Pella_YUnoFB> n00biedraggon If you look at the very top of the chat window, there's a link for Elements Tutorials.  Go look there, then come back.
[10:56] <n00biedraggon> NO TATS STOOPID I ALREDY DID THE TUT IN TEH GAME WHY I GOTTA READ SUMTHIN ELSE NAO
[10:57] <@n00b> Because that's where the best infrmation is
[10:57] <@n00b> *information
[10:57] <n00biedraggon> Y CANT SUM1 JUS TELL ME????????????
[10:58] <@Vineroz> please turn off your caps lock n00biedraggon
[10:58] <Pella_YUnoFB> n00biedraggon n00b is telling you the best stuff.  That link is where I got all kinds of good information when I got started.
[10:58] <n00biedraggon> OK FORGET IT WUT DECK SHUD I USE AGINST FALS GOD
[10:59] <+Skotadi> dragg ur prob not going to beat FG if u just started
[10:59] <n00biedraggon> bulshyte any deck can beat any deck i lerned that plying magic wut deck
[11:00] <TheAccuso> Alright n00bie try this deck - all unupped http://elementscommunity.org/tools/deck/?deck=z25l8z55l9z15laz35lkz561oz4622z563a8pu
[11:00] * Pella_YUnoFB chuckles
[11:01] <n00biedraggon> cool thx
[11:01] * n00biedraggon (~IRIS@elementscommunity.org) Quit ( Client Quit )
[11:01] <TheAccuso> I hope I'm still here when he figures it out

[Astrid]

Yay, Newbie tournament! I think that's a great idea.

[Jen-i]

As someone who's interested in Brawl but isn't on a team it would make my job as a voter easier if the challenges were listed in this thread as well. I have to open the round 1 topic to see what the contestants are trying to do and then vote on their results in this thread - just seems like more work. I guess I'm lazy

I just posted here, cause I want you to facilitate my laziness.

On another note: my votes seems to have been messed up somehow - as I voted for 2 winners in the Artist task but they appear under the card designer title and I still have votes to cast for the Artist Task. I may have messed up (seems to be a week like that for me) but there seems to be no way to unvote and fix the problem.

[Chapuz]

Players can now change their votes.

Also, added the tasks in the end of the last task post. Thanks Jen-i for the suggestion!

[Naesala]

I shouldnt post stuff when sick.

I dunno if there is a way to fix votes, maybe Chapuz will be able to help. As for challenger tasks, we could try putting them in a spoiler perhaps, though there is a limit on how much can be in each post apparently so we might need to make even more posts to get it and all the submissions.

[vrt]

Artist Task Review

First things first, I'm incredibly impressed by the overall quality of entries this round. great work!

  Team Darkness
I'm not sure what to make of this one, it's kind of all over the place as it is. I'm not sure why there's a Life mark on the moon, it's not really doing anything for the overall look. However, there's more issues bothering me about this piece. First off is the wolf's face.. It strikes me as 'derpy' for lack of a better word. There's not really a lot of definition to it, and the lack of depth makes a ferocious look into.. Well, Moon Moon. The lack of depth is possibly my main overall concern: Between different distances, the levels and saturation don't change. In example, the background wolves are just as pure black as the one right in the foreground, and that really hurts it when it comes to depth of field.

  Team Entropwny Cowboys
The middle half of this picture is bloody brilliant. If the whole of it was finished to this standard, this would've been the clear winner. However, the top seems a bit block, almost as if you didn't know where to go with the shape of it. Obvious advice here is; references, references, references. The bottom part, where the tornado touches down, misses texture and detail. There's a lot of smudginess where I expect grit and detail. Work it up to look more like the center and you'd be golden.

  Team Fire
I absolutely love the concept, but it needs work. Don't get me wrong, it's executed pretty well, and there's no glaring major errors, but there's a bunch of small ones. Most striking is the lack of contrast, resulting in a lack of definition. I'm also not sure what's up with his neck area, but the flat shading means there's not a lot of dimension there. The other issues are mainly abut the fur - is it long fur stuck to the body? That's what the texture suggests, but the silhouette has tufts of short fur instead. All of the character could do with some more defined texture. The posing and character are awesome though - I really do love that!

Team Crusaderps
Fantastic work. The light is dynamic, the textures are well-defined, and the concept really works. A little less contrast and a little more detail in the blade part would've helped it, but overall, this is wonderfully executed. Great job.

  Team Expensive Clocks
Very close, again. This piece is well-composed, the colors work, but there's 3 major issues that stop it from being as good as it could be. First and foremost, the lineart. Light and shadow should define shapes, not lines, and it feels like a bit of a cop-out. A fully rendered figure (and hair!) would've been a great step forward. The other issue is her anatomy; it's not entirely consistent. The proportions (face to body, fingers, waist to torso) are off, and that doesn't make the figure very convincing. Finally, the swirl around the figure splits below her, and that doesn't work - it creates a sense of movement in two directions and leads the eyes away from the figure. A more circular shape would work a lot better. Despite the nitpicking, still among the best concepts in this round.

  Team Surf Ninjas
I'm not convinced at all here. The skeleton isn't anatomically correct, and the shading is flat. There's some awkward shapes in both the figure and (especially) the sword. The armor (and Aether propaganda) shows you're capable of a lot more. I expect you to show a lot better the next painting round, because I know you can do it.



I strongly recommend everyone voting based on their own taste and perception of beauty. This is merely my own.

[Astrid]

The other issue is her anatomy; it's not entirely consistent. The proportions (face to body, fingers, waist to torso) are off, and that doesn't make the figure very convincing. Finally, the swirl around the figure splits below her, and that doesn't work - it creates a sense of movement in two directions and leads the eyes away from the figure. A more circular shape would work a lot better. Despite the nitpicking, still among the best concepts in this round.

The proportions look distorted because I wanted her to look distorted. She is dead and disfigured.

The clothing was supposed to look like a gown that was blown up and at the viewer by wind.

[Jocko]

Artist Task Review
  Team Surf Ninjas
I'm not convinced at all here. The skeleton isn't anatomically correct, and the shading is flat. There's some awkward shapes in both the figure and (especially) the sword. The armor (and Aether propaganda) shows you're capable of a lot more. I expect you to show a lot better the next painting round, because I know you can do it.

I had 3 exams during this week, so I only got a couple hours to pull that. I know its not good, and there's a lot to improve, i just didn't have the time, and I wanted to at least submit something for my team.

[Astrid]

I had 3 exams during this week, so I only got a couple hours to pull that. I know its not good, and there's a lot to improve, i just didn't have the time, and I wanted to at least submit something for my team.

I had 3 finals too. Bad week for a few people. XD

[Jen-i]

Is is possible that the order in which the tasks are presented can be changed each round. I find my attention grows shorter as I get to the final few tasks and would like to give them better attention. And while its my intention to read them in full later this week and vote then, I don't always live up to my intentions, and I'd rather not ignore the poor writers every round.

Again, just remember I'm lazy, and you can help me