Forum Brawl #5 - Round 4 - Voting Phase

[rob77dp]

Where did the "took 31 seconds" post disappear to? 

[Espithel]

What you people also have to remember is you can still validly vote on something even if it >IS< misinterpreted.
Last brawl, my team won a writer's task by making an hilarious infomercial when we were supposed to right a review for a high-tech elements gadget.

Inb4 we get third again by doing nothing due to strategic pity-votes

No, if you want to complain about misinterpretation this round, complain about Gaia's Pride pretending that 3 different cards share a single, unified mechanic, then going on to say that this non-mechanic can be added onto vanilla creatures without actually explaining how because they don't share a mechanic.

Or how LoS made only one card.

Or how Chaosomes and I share the same mechanic and Abyss Brawlers and I share the same card. That was a fun coincidence.

As for FHM's late DB/Writer tasks, they'll be up later today as late submissions (We promise this time). They just weren't finished and I had already spent 12 hours on the computer by the time deadline was almost there. Fabian would've murdered me if I didn't do the artist task, and I'm a lazy numnut who needs juuust a little bit more time.

ALSO CAN WE HAVE SOMEONE WHO'S CAPABLE OF DOING AN ARTIST TASK NOT BE ILL PLS
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Kthanx
e.e

[JonathanCrazyJ]

ALSO CAN WE HAVE SOMEONE WHO'S CAPABLE OF DOING AN ARTIST TASK NOT BE ILL PLS
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Kthanx
e.e

I actually think your submission for art (minus the self-deprecation and spoilers) is pretty sweet tbh lol

[Solaris]

The criteria you place your vote on is yours alone, of course, but what russianspy said was basically it. We choose to interpret the task as "Make an elements themed alphabet" -- the alphabet in our submission being the standard 26 of the english alphabet, and then we applied an elements theme to each letter. Could we have made cool looking arcane symbols and called them letters that correspond to various phonemes? Certainly, and plenty of teams have done a fine job of it. But is that the only valid way to approach the task? I respectfully disagree.

Spoiler for CleanOnion and Physsion:

[13:35:56] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: you have a range of options - you could either make a new font with elements-like symbols (as hinted at in the description)
[13:36:20] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: or you could just arrange Elements things alphabetically, as hinted in the title of the task
[13:37:05] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: you  could make a song to the tune of "ay bee cee dee ee eff gee", ( /  twinkle twinkle little star / baa baa black sheep, it's all the same  tune)
[13:37:20] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: consider it like an Artist task where the theme is Alphabet
[13:37:58] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: maybe inspiration will strike you elsewhere
[13:38:27] CleanOnion [»] Physsion: maybe make a whole new method for etg creatures to share ideas

Edit: Arum, I assure you that we took much longer than 30 seconds to complete our submission.

Edit2: I do take all credit for FHM's submission though

Edit3: Alright, alright, that one did take like 10 seconds to type out.

Spoiler for proof:

Thief! I took your idea and turned it into something beautiful.

[randomperson123]

Community Vote Round 4 by randomperson123

Boss & Writer A Toadally Newtral Team: Definitely the best out of all of them. Gaia's Pride: Definitely one of the better stories in the sense that you could tell that it actually followed the theme, and you have to applaud them for writing a twist that caught me completely off guard! Artist Fiery-Hot Mixtape: Definitely a rather creative way of creating a landscape; it also looks pretty great to boot. Abyss Brawlers: Definitely a rather funny and creative twist on the prompt. CD League of Shadows: Definitely an interesting, if rather complicated, mechanic. Abyss Brawlers: One of the more interesting mechanics. DB A Toadally Newtral Team: I really liked this deck and the reasoning for it, and it looks like a good deck too. League of Shadows: Does a good job of relating to the hero (Batman) and also seems to be a pretty good deck in terms of games. FE The Chaosomes: Definitely an interesting alphabet that relates to Elements pretty well. Also pretty creative, too. I like it! League of Shadows: Definitely one of the better Elements "alphabet books" made for this competition. Bonus Abyss Brawlers: Definitely like all the detail put into these cards! League of Shadows: Of the other submissions, this one is the best.

[Calambar]

JCJ forgot about the most important card in our Force Element cards collection (Bonus task):

[OldTrees]

Ooh, I am liking this Card Design task.
Augment
Feedback
Corruption
Biological
Counter Tactics
When Targeted

I guess I am just partial to thinking on the mechanic level. Will vote later

[Basman-1453]

Community Vote Round 4 by Bas

Boss & Writer Gaia's Pride (Man, dem twist X) ) A Toadally Newtral Team (A shame, really, that Light don't really have many options for direct offense, particularly unupped ><) Artist Fiery-Hot Mixtape (Went the extra AU for a 3D work, eh?) The Chaosomes (It's hard enough to choose the second out of two, really, since LoS also managed to snare my attention XP) CD League of Shadows (I swear, this is the second time this Brawl that I found myself wondering "Why did this mechanic not available in the actual game?" (OK, dedicating a Biological flag just for a few interactions can be daunting, but there were even more esoteric cases in the game (Mitosis Long Swords, anyone? )) Abyss Brawlers (Bring more traps than It's A Trap! into the game! ) DB League of Shadows (I am impressed, LoS. How did you outlast Miracle's countless Miracle? XD) Gaia's Pride (It's not everyday you see an NFL homage in a freakin' PSNBow. And not too shabby one, IMO ... or maybe not, it can do with at least one less Pegasus. And I don't know squat about NFL XP) FE A Toadally Newtral Team (It's not meant to be a 1-1 replacement of Latin script, I assume?) League of Shadows (By leagues the better alphabet-book, but see Thoughts) Bonus Abyss Brawlers (See the spoiler under Thoughts for more questions that would be more appropriate if it's asked in the CI&A part) League of Shadows (You should've brought him to our Forum as well, not just the game )

Spoiler for Thoughts:

Bosses and Writers:
TC: ... no background story to their debate? (And even the Great Zanzarino have a start and an end)

AB: At least Hermes doesn't have a no-brainer counter (I'm glaring at you, Serket~) :p

LoS: Damnit. I swear I don't know deuce personally (never mind knowing him IRL), but I always found him speaking the Master of Aether's lines in my head! XD
Artists:
AB's entry is so HILARIOUS BEYOND WORDS that they certainly deserve an honorable mention here
Card Designers
GP: I don't think I'm going to like Augmentation mechanics, especially if they're also in-element relative to one of the three elements with 'incremental-bolt' (Fire, Water, and Darkness).

TC: Interesting. Regarding Uncontrolled Flame, I assume that (1) you'll be damaged when you buff UF, and (2) whoever buffs UF takes damage. Are they right?

ATNT: As much as I don't really like Augmentation mechanics, I think I'm going to like Corruption mechanics even less, especially in conjunction with hand-denial tactics like Nightmare, SoBrav, or Silence. Sorry ><

FHM: Personally, I don't think your entry and TC's the exact same. TC have explicitly declared that their mechanic is a passive ability (meaning, no overwriting/Lobotomizing it). Since there were nothing said about whether your mechanics is a passive or an active one, I'm inclined to assume that your mechanic is an active ability.
Deckbuilders:
TC's entry doesn't look like it can even treat its symptoms, considering how few pillars they have compared to the deck size. ><

AB: Eh? Napalm was a female? (I'm not their contemporary, and I've always assumed that Napalm was a male)

ATNT: There are times when your wisdom can be used against yourself. Is that aspect intentionally added into the deck?
Forum Experts:
TBH, this time my vote is composed of 'one best new alphabet system' and 'one best alphabet-book'.
If I have to disregard alphabet-books style entries and have to choose ones where new writing systems are depicted, I'm seriously considering to choose FHM at the second place (the second, since the first is certainly still ATNT's). No, this is not a joke. As someone who's aware of multiple kinds of scripts -- Javanese abugida, Greek alphabet, Cherokee syllabary, and Japanese syllabaries (yep, syllabaries; Japanese is actually written with a mixture of one ideography system (kanji, which is pretty much borrowed from Chinese hanzi) and two syllabary systems (hiragana, katakana)), for example -- I take a great deal of fuss about alphabet simplicity.
That being said, TC's entry is easily vying against FHM's very bizzare entry for the second place among the 'alphabetic' systems (even with my assumption that they're going abugida with this script); despite their rather complicated consonants (which was a rather big turnoff for me), tons of thought have certainly went into this. However, IMO, AB's entry fares better as a ideographic system than a syllabary or abugida one, nevermind an alphabetic system.
Bonus II

Spoiler for CI&A-style questions for AB:

Mind Control/Jedi Mind Control: Does the Lobotomy happpens before the target start to attacking their master, after they started to attack, or after they finished attacking?

Force Lightning: Can they dispel Cloak?

Wookie: What if there is only one enemy in the field? Can the ricochet injure an immortal being?
(I'm seeing Force/Entropy Wookie-centric domins going to fare better than Water/Air Toadfish-centric domin XP)

(I was going to raise up a fuss about FracThal, but since it's going to be at least a trio (Force/Aether/Light) to actually harness their ability, I guess I shouldn't XP)

GP: to a SW-blind me, I don't really think it's really Star-Wars-ish. And don't give Gravity players ideas to run Grav Salv/SoVo decks!

TC: Simple, elegant. To help matters to your cause, Zaw is actually a BM (a temporary one, admittedly, but I digress). XP

LoS: Being Reigned by Darkness isn't necessarily being reigned by the Dark Side of the Force, though

ATNT: Another simple entry, but~ is Tim cosplaying as Yoda? XD

[JonathanCrazyJ]

Mind Control/Jedi Mind Control: Does the Lobotomy happpens before the target start to attacking their master, after they started to attack, or after they finished attacking?

Force Lightning: Can they dispel Cloak?

Wookie: What if there is only one enemy in the field? Can the ricochet injure an immortal being?
(I'm seeing Force/Entropy Wookie-centric domins going to fare better than Water/Air Toadfish-centric domin XP)

(I was going to raise up a fuss about FracThal, but since it's going to be at least a trio (Force/Aether/Light) to actually harness their ability, I guess I shouldn't XP)

MC: Lobo happens as you use the spell
Lighning: would remove cloak, as all other AoE, sorry, missed that on card.
Wookie: if only one enemy, will be hit twice. Immortal creatures can't be hit, similar to how AOE doesn't hit them. Toadfish can stack poison, so after turn 2 they become more totally damaging than wookie, and more controlled.
Yeah i thought of fracThal too, but the cost and trio I deemed prohibitive enough

Had fun doing that task

[rob77dp]

-snip-
Bonus II
-snip-
GP: to a SW-blind me, I don't really think it's really Star-Wars-ish. And don't give Gravity players ideas to run Grav Salv/SoVo decks!
-snip-
[/spoiler]

The task was revised by CO to be "Sci Fi" related and not strictly Star Wars related. That is why you see a not-very-SW submission from GP. (Thanks, overall, for the very in-depth revelation about your votes, Bas!)

[russianspy1234]

That being said, TC's entry is easily vying against FHM's very bizzare entry for the second place among the 'alphabetic' systems (even with my assumption that they're going abugida with this script);

Indeed.  It's supposed to have the vowels directly under the consonants, but time ran short.

[Zawadx]

Comments on Boss/Writer task. Onlky task I'm really qualified to critique. I'll post my thoughts behind votes for other tasks too, though they prolly won't be as detailed. Hope this is enlightening!

Boss/Writer

This task should be pretty fun to write for, as it allows you to do almost whatever you like with style while still being interesting with the restraints. It does make it very hard to objectively judge though, so I will use how much I liked the story as the main measure. I'm also interested in how '
Elements Philosopher and Elements Religious Figure ' are portrayed, so bonus points if you can nail that.

ATNT: Fairly standard perspectives from the Philosopher and Priest, which kinda falls flat as their conversation isn't very substantial. Their discussion might be about war strategy, but it's very light on that topic too. What I'm saying is, your story failed to develop a consistent tone/theme/message. It lightly touched a philosophical debate but that felt like it was the musing of one person, not two (the stances were too passive, it was more of a negotiation than an argument to me). The topic of stalling o not stalling could've been strengthened with some actual strategy or a proper depiction of war. You could bring up the cost of lives, the price paid in hopes and dreams, something more than just banter which sounds trivial.

TC: That… was pretty hard to read. You could've at least put in quotation marks to make it apparent who was speaking. Aside from that, I like how you condense on the topic. The personalities are flat too, though they at least consistently follow their trope. I like the arguments used, they do resonate somewhat. It'd be better if it were a bit more fleshed out, but that might've made it lose its charm.

GP: The subject is quite fascinating, and the interpretation of the characters is very interesting. Sadly it's downhill from there :/
The biggest problem in the piece is the perspective. You're using the third person and  present tense, so the writing acts like a cinematic showing the exact events happening in the room impartially. But then the adverbs come and mess up the impartial view, so it seems like you're reading this through someone's view. But whose view is it? At first it follows the girl, showing the father as cold and the girl as innocent and helpless. But for the last line it suddenly changes to the father, showing that he does have emotions. After he says "Your mother, frankly, is irrelevant." This exchange really confuses the piece, and I've learned the hard way that confusing the piece is the worst thing a writer can do. I recommend acknowledging that the first time you write is for yourself (so go crazy) but the rewrite is for the reader (so you need to ensure it's decent to read).
All in all, good debate and good characters. If you could kink out the writing flaws and make the final exchange more clear, it'd be a great story! Good work.

AB: The start of the piece… is kinda bad. You keep using wordy phrases and often the words used seemed wrong. It's not even a style which fits the oracle. You should try to improve your descriptions.
After that I was hooked. The dialogue flows perfectly, the words perfectly fitting the speaker and their actions. The argument is engaging and the conclusion is satisfyingly deep. And the characters are very well thought out. I suppose the description did lower my expectations and enhance the dialogue, so perhaps it all works out in the end? Great job.


LoS: I try not to bring formatting into a judgement of writing skill, and I mostly ignored ATNT and GP's color modifications (though they did make it a bit easier to read). But when you changed the font here, the writing became harder to read easily. You forced the reader into taking notice and working through your story, and so you should reward them for it. But the tone set in the introduction, in the story or in the argument don't reflect the strict discipline laid down in the font. That was a disappointment.
The description at the start of the tale is a bit heavy-handed, which is discouraging on top of the font. The storyteller's story is pretty immersive, though the long paragraphs are hard to follow with the font. But at the end, the story just seems to be half-assed. The entire empire collapsed just because of a debate about Dim shield? Or it just collapsed under complaints? It kinda… sounds like a story which you say to a kid on the road to keep them occupied, without having to worry about the effects. The argument is decent, but it isn't supported by very good characters.
In the end, the story is promising and actually decent. But all the little flaws add up, which kinda tells you that the story isn't working (if it were, all the flaws would fade instead of popping up at the surface).
 
"Fiery-Hot Mixtape: No submission" : Well that's a shame.