Featured Community Member

[Calambar]

Ginyu
New Master of Gravity
Tournament Organizer
Dragonball lover (yay!)
fan
Nice guy, would meet him again

Can you share with us why you chose the name you use?
I love Dragonball and Dragonball Z. A long time ago, my parents bought me the game "Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors" for Game Boy Colour. My favourite charakter to play became... yeah, Ginyu, obviously.

How did you first discover elements?
When I was in 12th grade at school, a friend of mine who I regularly played chess with showed me a new game he found. He was very fascinated of the huge diversity and all the possible combinations, and I became interested. He doesn't play anymore, but I stucked on it.

Was gravity your starter element, or if not, how did you come to be a gravity fan?
To be honest, I can't remember what element I started with. My friend advised me soon to go with Firefly Queen/Bond combo for EMs, and I made my first money with it. Later on, because of my fascination of the antiquity, I went to a deck based around Pharaoh's, and built a Time/Gravity duo. It was the first deck I upgraded cards for and I played it for a very long time. Even though I built a lot of different decks to try different combos, both Time and Gravity became a favour of mine.
This had not changed when I joined the community. However, when I learned competitive deck building (actually learning by doing), my interest in Gravity grew. From my earliest childhood, I has always been fascinated by astronomy, and I discovered tons of different and viable combinations. Guardtal became my favourite deck in War #8. And the following War, I will play a lot more Gravity cards.

What was the most tense moment you've experienced in Elements play?
Probably my last War match. I faced inthisroom, playing with a Mono Aether against Ghostmare. My deck didn't rely too much on Fractal, so I was able to be fast enough to get an early 2-0. I should mention that I had to win in order to keep my team alive. Then, however, things changed. itr's desperativeness began to develop as well, and games went closer. It was 2-2 when I just needed another mid-game hitter to make it almost won, but he kept gaining RT/NM to deny my draw just enough to win barely.

What do you believe led to your success in the recent Trials?
A lot of work and enthusiasm. I put in tons of time analyzing the meta for Phase 2, making a strategy for what to do in Phase 1, and was zealous enough to do much more to become bonus points. In my final match, I took hours over hours trying to realize montrossen's best shots and finding counters for them, that aren't too situational. That payed off; and the enthusiasm is not gone yet.

What staff positions, if any, would you most want to hold?
Tournament Organizer. I love to bring new ideas and hosting tournaments to make people have fun and give them changing little metas every week to keep them here until zanz finally returns.

Gravity's had its ups and downs in War; do you believe this War's changes will help or hurt your team?
It's time for Gravity to shine, to quote Discord. From what is known of the new War rules, Gravity will benefit a lot and be able to bring a lot of new decks. Also, SoFo covers up PC to perform a real control element, that will be able to do anything it needs to do.

With  the addition of shards to War, do you think you can lead Gravity to a win? What's your strategy for doing so? (MeowMeowCat)
 I don't think I can win War. I know it. A new sharded meta brings a lot of new decks, and roles and sideboards, if anything comes true, will make it much more strategical than the last time; and I like it strategical. Gravity has a lot of potential and shards will bring even more. My strategy? Choosing a great team, working hard, winning a lot.

Who would you use Body Change on and why? (You must select a community member). (CrockettRocket)
 Not sure if he counts, but my main target would be zanzarino. I could balance some cards and add a lot more to fresh the game up. Otherwise, there is not really anyone who I would target, as I like how I improved more and more on my own, and are now considered to be top tier at PvP by a lot of players as well as having a lot of great contacts. I may target some people for short amounts of time to have fun, though. I like confusing people in a funny way from time to time; and Body Change would help a lot.


Which  female community member do you feel the closest to you? Or which female  community member do you like the most? (by Submachine)
Haha Sub, your question didn't disappoint. Actually, there are not a lot to pick from. There is Higu, who gave me some useful advice last War and a person who is always there when you need her. Then, DANI, someone who is always ready for a League Match, brings up versatility in matches, but with the ability to freeze everyone's blood when raging. Also, Discord, who began like an annoying newbie, but changed fast to a very active addition to our community who I like to talk with and see her growing. Her potential is great.

You're usually very calm and collected. Under what circumstances do you rage usually? Or do anything really crazy? (anonymous)
Sometimes, I rage when RNG decides to troll me continuosly over several games. My rage always keeps verbal, I never shattered anything because of being enraged. Overall, it takes a lot to make me really angry, especially to another person. Years of having to deal with different kinds of trolls in real life and as a chat/forum moderator hardened me a lot.

What members of the community do you most look up to?
This is hainkarga, who became some kind of mentor for me in War #8. He showed trust in drafting me, and afterwards he put up a lot of time for discussions and explaining me how this and that was going. I improved my playstyle and overall skills a lot in this time. Without him, I wouldn't have had that great War experience and lots of fun.

[Submachine]

My questions never disappoint. ^^
It was a nice Newsletter overall.

[Calambar]

September 2015

theelkspeaks
New Master of Earth
Council Member
League Organizer
Guildmaster
Newsletter Writer
Nice guy!

A standard question, how have you discovered Elements, what was your starter deck and do you have any favourite element?

I discovered Elements around May 2011, right when I was graduating from high school, when a friend of mine from the track team and the unofficial board game club recommended it to me.  He played on Kong and was a forum lurker, but didn't post here often and didn't mention here to me.  I played on Kongregate for a few months but ultimately forgot about it.  In January of 2014, I was looking for a game I could get some progression in by grinding in small amounts of time, and remembered Elements.  I went googling after it, found the community, and never looked back.  My favorite element on my 2011 account was , and on 2014 was first , then later .  Now, I would say that I consider , , and my favorite elements, probably in that order.

Congratulations on the Earth Mastership! As a Master of Earth, how do you intend to win War? (MeowMeowCat)

Earth is amazing at bending but not breaking, and that's a characteristic that serves a team well over the course of War.  War is ultimately a game of attrition, one that you win by not losing.

If you could be reincarnated as an elk, would you? If not, what animal would you be reincarnated as instead? (You may choose human if you please). (CrockettRocket)

I've always loved animals and nature in general, but if I were to be reincarnated as an animal, I'd rather be either a falcon or a hawk.  I've always had an attachment to the idea of flying.

How hard is it to maintain all these positions and the related responsabilities? Did you ever feel you might burn out? (Jenkar)

I generally do the variety of positions because they excite me and because I love this community! I also love working with spreadsheets, as you may have noticed from several of the projects I've been involved with.  Sometimes the time gets a little pinched, especially if it overlaps unluckily with Real Life or with each other, but on the whole it never makes me feel like I want to quit (only sometimes to wish for a time turner).

Why did you choose your username? If you simply like elks, what makes them special for you? (Ginyu)

Years ago, on a chess website, I used as a username  the initials of those who had various quotes on a coffee mug next to my computer in the basement.  It was an unpronounceable name that looked something like elkwjcdv, and was shortened to elk by others.  When I started playing on a poker site and a different chess site, I decided to keep the most pronounceable part and switched to elk12429.  I later went to register for a site that didn't allow numbers in the name, and kept the "elk" part I had grown to like, but decided to use theelkspeaks instead.  I've kept the name ever since, though I still have a few accounts named elk12429, jimfinn, or rr0520 (two other old names) on various sites.

As for my feelings towards elks and other hoofed animals, my fondness for them has grown from the name being mine, rather than the reverse.


Shard of Integrity will be a mostly unplayable card in the upcoming War. Do you think this puts Team Earth on a disadvantage, or is Earth able to use off-element shards in a way good enough to keep track? (Ginyu)

I'm not 100% convinced that Shard of Integrity is unplayable, though I do think that the high price put on shards lowers the disadvantage we face if it does turn out to be unplayable.  I think that Earth is in a better position than in previous wars, but a lot will depend on whether we assemble a good and cohesive team.

On a similar note, how do mark cards affect one of Team Earth's strongest cards in War, Earthquake, that got Team Earth pretty far in the first War? Should they be restricted in some kind for War and other PvP Events? (Ginyu)

I'm generally in favor of restricting cards (whether Marks, Shards, or Nymphs) as little as possible.  They're part of the game, and in large events players should learn to play them or beat them.  I believe that restrictions, however, are very useful for creating unique metagames for players to solve, as I intend to explore thoroughly in my next event, Double Double Double Double.  I see the goal of restrictions not as removing things that are too powerful, but instead creating holes where there weren't before and taking away holes that exist so as to see which players can best theorycraft a given ruleset.

Recently, you had huge success in high reputated PvP Events, namely as Vize-World Champion and Master of Earth. If a new player would ask you how to achieve this, what would you answer? (Ginyu)

I think the biggest key to success has been in knowing the event and focusing on what makes that event unique.  In World Championships, the most unique factor was the escalating upgrades over the course of the match, so I focused on optimizing my deck order based on the number of upgrades allowed.  I also generally tried to use less mindgating attempts than in previous attempts and focus on solid play; I believe that trying to get too cute based on opponent tendencies can often lead one to disaster, though some level of mindgating is needed at high levels of play.  In Trials, the key to winning was efficiently allocating my Element usage across my phase 2 matches.  Allocating element usage was the key feature of Phase 2, and basing when I played which element on the banlists both in element and of the head to head matches gave me the best chance to win.  I specifically banned borderline unplayable cards in-element so that I could guarantee access to powerful cards I expected to not have the opportunity to play out of element.   Remembering the previous Trials' finals, I knew that in the finals, Meg would have to play stalls to win with an upgrade disadvantage of that magnitude, despite that going against his usual playstyle.  In order to keep the pressure of my upgrade advantage on Meg, I tried to focus on stallbreak and PC in my deckbuilding for the finals, to the point of naming my decks "Steals," "Deflags," "Pulvy," and "Butterfly" in my deckdoc.  Meg actually put up a very strong fight in the finals given the upgrade disadvantage, but that was a hard margin to overcome.

Do you have any favorite non-music youtube channel? If yes, what is it? (Submachine)

While I'm not a game developer myself, I've always loved the game design videos from Extra Credits.  I watched all of their design episodes to date once I discovered them, and check in every month or so to catch up on anything I've missed.

Also, what is your favorite music? (Submachine)

My music tastes vary wildly, from metal (especially Dragonforce), to pop and a capella, to movie soundtracks (especially Pirates of the Caribbean, which I once arranged a medley of for two friends and I on sax/sax/trumpet).  My current favorite Youtubers are Peter Hollens and Nick Pitera, both of whom produce amazing medleys and a capella renditions of songs.  Parodies and referential songs such as Soviet Tetris, This Is War, and Catherine the Great (Poker Face) also occupy much of my music listening time.

What staff position do you like mostly and why?

My favorite staff position is probably being League Organizer, as I love working with spreadsheets and formulas, and I'm hoping to bring forward a new and exciting surprise soon related to Leagues.  I see Leagues as the backbone of Elements PVP, and I love having an official role in it.  Newsletter Writing gives me an outlet for creativity that I love to have, however, as does designing new PVP Events.  I tend to think of my staff positions and unofficial projects as all part of what I do within the community rather than as discrete entities.

You made interesting Elements-related podcasts and you have got a really nice voice. Have you ever thought about working on the radio?

Not radio specifically, but I went to a voice acting talent search years ago, and have thought several times about working in audiobooks. 

What is your favourite RL activity?

I like a variety of RL activities, but my current favorites are playing board or card games (most notably, Stratego and Risk for the former, Magic and Poker for the latter), driving, and running long distance.  I hope to run marathons someday, but I got a little out of shape in university and need to build my endurance back up.


Final Elements and RL-related thoughts for the community?

I just want to say a final thanks to everyone who's helped me along the way, from community members like Odii, rob, Acsabi, Jen, and dragons, who helped me get started playing seriously, to people like Zephyr, ddevans, Treldon, and Krzys who put in so much of their time to keep things as amazing as they are today.  I can't possibly name everyone who's helped make my life in this community amazing, but I'll add a final shoutout to ji412jo and Afdarenty, who drafted me to Brawl and War teams when I was still relatively new and helped me become part of the social fabric of the community.  Good luck to everyone in all that you do, and remember the spirit of : stay the course, weather the storm, hold strong, endure.

[Zyardran]

October 2015

antiaverage
Forum Admin
The man who fixes things
Skydiving Entropy Sloth
The man that never sleeps
As cool as sloth can be

Why Anti-Average and not just Average? How difficult is the work of being an admin? Why is your avatar a beaver with glasses, and why are the lenses of the glasses entropy marks? (ARTHANASIOS)

My username is from when I was around 12 years old. I was trying to come up with a name that fit me at the time for my AOL Instant Messenger account. I couldn't find a word that I liked, so I made one up with the meaning I wanted. I believe I was going for something like: someone who prefers people and things that are a bit different. I suppose some of that sentiment still applies, but I've grown a lot since then and the name feels a bit childish now. I think this sort of story resonates with a lot of people. Identity is mutable, it grows as you grow, and changes as you change. But sometimes we are stuck with bits of our past, and that's okay. It's part of our story.

Being an admin is more time consuming than difficult. The hardest parts are the same things that make daily life a challenge. Tedious tasks are boring for me, so it takes extra energy to get them done. Interesting puzzles get me excited, like building new features into chat, so usually those are more likely to get done. People are complex, a mix of rational and irrational, so working with others to find a stable and positive solution can sometimes take a lot of energy and patience. But ultimately helping others has always made me feel good, so in the end the work is worth it. It helps that my fellow admins are such awesome people, so that makes whatever is left as my job easier.

Scaredgirl (before disappearing and becoming a series of guest posts) had an avatar of former UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste edited to have the Mark of Death in her sunglasses. As a joke, I found an image of a sloth wearing some classy shades and edited it to use the Mark of Entropy. I have the sloth facing left so it can look at Arianny. Scaredgirl was an inspiration to many of us early Elements newbs, sharing decks that became our first False God grinders and duel fighters. My avatar is both a parody homage, and a thank you.

{௵_௵}ノ <(Follow your dreams.)

You chose to put Entropy in your avatar's sunglasses. Is Entropy your favorite element? If so, why?

I like playing with all the Elements (except Mono-Water and Mono-Earth *yawn*). However, Entropy is special to me.

I usually rationalize a bit too much, I approach things a bit more analytically or cerebrally than is necessary or even makes sense. I think I grew up overvaluing predictability and black-and-white, this is right and this is wrong thinking. I wanted to learn as much as I could, and thought that meant memorizing specific facts and patterns. It took me a while to realize the issues with this and break out of that shell. Life is messy and complicated. Nothing is certain. And that's not at all a bad thing.

We absolutely could not survive as a species if we were static. We have to grow and change, together and as individuals. We have to allow for variation. We could not have progress without differences, without mutation from the previous iteration. Seek out the odd, the people and ideas that challenge your current world view, your current thought process. Accept disorder even as you work towards order. Learn from everything around you. Be open to new experiences. Be open to failure and its important lessons.

The Entropy element is all about this. You can lay out your best plan, and it might go horribly wrong, the dice might not fall in your favor. Or, it might succeed fantastically. The chaos of Entropy is exciting. Mutations are always a surprise. Shard of Serendipity is like opening a present. Entropy breaks up the monotony of the grind, it increases the thrill of the duel, and it has a cat. Who doesn't love cats?

I'll leave you with one of my favorite lyrics, a reminder to myself to not overthink things and to accept the unpredictability of life, and of the element Entropy.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

What's the best and/or worst pun someone has made for your name? (Rutarete)

I don't get name puns all that often. When I do, they've never really been good or bad, just obvious. Nothing memorable comes to mind. Unrelated to my username, my favorite pun is:
Why is it hard to explain a pun to a thief? Because they're always taking things literally.

How did you become admin for this forum? (ZephyrPhantom)

Some time during August 2013 the hosting for the forums lapsed. I was around and offered to transfer the data to my host. I worked with UTAlan to obtain the files. Quickly my server was flooded by the excited traffic of the Elements community, and so had to upgrade the server. Eventually we settled in on September 6th, 2013, and an anonymous donor helped to get that first year paid for at the higher rate. During that time I also acquired the domain from UTAlan.

Since I had access to all the files, I started making mods for the forum. Eventually people asked to get the old chat system back, and so I also re-hosted Blab and have been modding that ever since. Doing all this work, having access to everything anyway, and being available is probably what led me to eventually being given admin status.

Why haven't you quit being an admin yet? What keeps you here, and why do you like being an admin (if you like it if course)? (anonymous)

I like to tinker, so there has always been a motivation to help out a community by improving the software they use. Granted, SMF and Blab aren't all that great, but we get by and it's amusing to try and deal with what we have. Hopefully we can move to better software entirely at some point.

But most of all, the community is what keeps me going. There are so many interesting people with their own stories. Everyone has an idea of how best to help Elements grow, and we all hope together that the game will survive and flourish. The OpenEtG project is also incredibly exciting. I wish I would donate more time to that project, but it's amazing to see how much people care.

I like being in a position to help, and I hope I am succeeding. Anyone is free to PM me, my door is always open. Let me know what I can do for you.

Where did you learn to code? (Espithel)

I read about HTML and JavaScript on the Internet in order to build a website when I was about 8 years old or so. I also started copying, by hand, line by line, TI-83 BASIC games into my calculator. I'm sure that story is familiar to some of you. Eventually there was a summer class available to learn C and C++ at a local college that didn't mind a 12 year old in the room. I taught myself other languages until I got to college and worked on a Computer Science degree. So it's been a little bit of everywhere, like any language.

I believe anyone can code. I think it should be required in school. It helps with critical thinking and logic, and it can be a ton of fun to learn how to control your computer. You play on it every day, why not learn how it works?

Where do you see the future of this beloved website? (TribalTrouble)

My hope is to eventually move us to better forum and chat software, but honestly it's hard to see a future without the game we support being developed. My bigger hope is that Zanzarino will one day find more time or hire someone or just allow a volunteer to help to improve the game. There are some bugs to take care of and servers to fix, but it takes time and people. There are at least a few programmers in the community who would be happy to sign an NDA and lend a hand. Maybe we'll get lucky and that will happen. I also have faith in the OpenEtG project eventually becoming viable, but I'm not sure the whole community will move to it. It's a fan project, but I think it's a strong sign that Elements is worth supporting. The future is a bit muddy right now, so it's up to us to figure out what it will be.

What's your fondest memory in the community?

With the support of Calindu and serprex, I fought through a great match against Odii Odsen in Round 2 of War 7:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/round-2-167/(entropy-sld)-antiaverage-3-2-odii-odsen-(darkness-gen)/

That match included an amusing battle where I had a turn 1 Singularity and... well, you'll have to read the report

If technology and money weren't limiting factors, what are some additional cool ideas you'd have liked to see in the community or forum?

Big stage, ESPN coverage of War with live duels. Why not? If we had enough money, I'm sure we could arrange a way to bring the game up to speed with modern standards. There are plenty of interesting synergies in the cards. There is a community champing at the bit for content. It could work. But it really would need a large team and a lot of time and money. Underlying that vision are server upgrades, networking code improvements, game balance tweaks, and support for mobile. I know we all see a ton of potential in Elements, and I hope that we can one day realize that potential.

Do you believe forums can survive without Zanzarino which means without  EtG updates?

So far, I do believe it's possible. It's not guaranteed, and it's definitely a stretch, but I think this community has done incredibly well supporting a competitive and creative environment for a game that is basically developmentally dead at the moment. There is still plenty of interesting play going on, but I would really love to see the game grow. Thank you so much to our wonderful Competition Organizers, Tournament Organizers, League Organizers, Forum Game Organizers, Card Curators, Brawlmasters, Guildmasters, Warmasters, Newsletter Writers, Social Network Managers, and all the other Staff through the years who have helped keep things interesting, motivating, entertaining, and inclusive for all the Elements fans. And of course the biggest thank you to all the people taking part in the events. You all have done an incredible job keeping this place alive and kicking even without a Lead Developer. This community is astounding.

What drove you to join the community?

I came to the game via Kongregate when they featured the badges in July of 2010. Someone in Kongregate chat eventually guided me to the forums, and the deck builders of the community published some amazingly creative builds. I also became interested in development changes as Zanzarino would post about them. Eventually it was obvious that the forums were the place to be, and so I joined. I was mostly a lurker for the longest time, but the inviting community eventually helped me get out of my shell. I'm still not much of a poster, but I'm always happy to talk in our official chat or on Kongregate

Why did you name the chat bot AveragePotato, why not antiAveragePotato? (semi-permalink)

I am not the originator of AveragePotato. I did not name him. But I used to live in the IRC channel where he would let me know about new posts on the forums. When we moved to the new version of Blab, I couldn't live without him. UTAlan scripted the IRC bot in order to take the place of the old forum ticker that Xenocidious made for the old version of Blab hosted prior to the IRC days. I liked the bot method better than the ticker, so I scripted a bot for our new version of Blab.

As for the name, I'll let vrt explain:

Right around when we started the first Council, we had a little joke with Dragoon1140 and DesertKnight about how most users weren't much smarter than the average potato. When Council members were appointed, 1140 and I decided to give them their official 'potato names' (eg. Potato1140, Potaeto Hate, Kurotato, etc). We're now keeping the joke alive with our friendly neighborhood bot.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Also, Chapuz told me that Peru is where to find potatoes after an apocalypse. So you know where to look if the potatoes ever go missing.

Do you still play Elements or you are here only for admin stuff?

I still play It might not be as much as I used to, but I got about 30,000 score during September. I've been lazy about building arena decks, but I still grind AI and am open for fun duels. I still get excited when people make deck posts, enjoying seeing their creativity or their discovery of old ideas that are still interesting and relevant. I will pretty much always try out a deck that someone posts in the forums, the official chat, or Kongregate chat. I know it's hard to stay interested in games that are not under active development these days, but when I grew up, games were released and then that was it. There was no DLC, there were no expansions, replay-ability was a big deal in ratings. I think Elements has great replay-ability, and I'm still happy to play it.

Any closing remarks for the community?

I want to extend a big thank you to everyone for your patience and support. I know I haven't been the most consistent Admin, but every time I'm around, you always make me feel welcome. This is a great community filled with creative, intelligent, helpful, and thoughtful members. A lot of you work much harder than I ever could. I know we have our rough moments, but we have such a great support network for working through the bad times. We are all here to play a game, relax, and have fun. Try not to take things too seriously. Be good to each other. I'll see you in chat

Thanks for talking and for your work as an admin!

You're very welcome, thanks for inviting me to this interview! As an aside, this month is a big deal for me. I was invited to the Wingsuit Formation World Record attempts in Perris, California. I'll be gone October 12th through the 19th helping set a new wingsuit world record. Wish me and my fellow wingsuit pilots luck, I'll share the pictures when I get back. If you're ever curious about skydiving or wingsuiting, hit me up in chat, I'm happy to answer any questions. I challenge all of you to try skydiving at least once, and consider getting your license. It's an often misunderstood sport, and far safer than you might imagine. It's also one of the most beautiful things you can do. Blue skies, everyone

Update:
Antiaverage did successfully help set the Largest Wingsuit Formation World Record along with his 60 other teammates and 3 cameramen on October 17th 2015. In the record jump pictures, he is in the second row from the front, on the left when viewed from above. You can also see him smiling in the door at the beginning of the record video. Some of the news sources (with video) include:
Buzzfeed
EaveningStandard
Mirror Online
Newsweek
Yahoo!
U.S. News & World Report
The Press Enterprise

You can see solo pictures of him in The Official Member Pictures Thread.

[Ginyu]

That is the best interview I ever read.
Good luck to you and your teammates to grab the World Record!

[Calambar]

Fippe94
Card Curator (Cygnia coder)
Former Master of Death (8th Trials)
  fan
Brawl #3 Winner
Brawl #4 Boss
OEtG dev
A nice guy with purple hair


Hello Fippe94! Let's start with the standard question. Why Fippe94? How did you come up with your forum name?

I have used this as my username in pretty much every website I have signed up for, and the origins are very simple. Fippe is a nickname for my real name, and I was born in ’94. (As for which century, I will leave that as an excercise for the reader)

How did you find Elements the Game? Also xray1424 asks what is your favourite element? (xray1324)

I found it through Kongregate. I got the first badge in April 2010, but I didn’t stay for more. (Continuation in the next question).
As for my favourite element, it’s Death. I like Death’s focus on poison and death effects.

What drove you to join the community?

Later, near the end of 2011, I picked the game up again, and got the rest of the badges. I found the forum when looking for decks, and lurked for while. Shortly after I found its tournaments and events, and decided to join the community.

You were previously Master of Death, and lead Death in War. Do you have plans to Trial or compete in War any time soon? (MeowMeowCat)

Most likely, I will go for trials, and attempt to retake my title as Master. As for War, I do not know, maybe yes, maybe not. It might also depends on the results of the Trials.

You were one of the winners of Brawl 3, when you were in the team Divine Light. You were also the boss of team Ragnarok in Brawl 4. How do you recall those events and what do you think about Brawl in general? Do you plan to participate in Brawl 5?

I do recall Brawl 3 as being more fun than Brawl 4, probably because I find the role of Deck Builder more fun than most of the various task you get to do as a Boss. Brawl is pretty fun, but the worst thing about it is when people start to get inactive, which always happens. It’s the same with War of course, but it can be harder to properly fill someone else’s role in Brawl than it is to play another War match.
I will probably join Brawl again, but we’ll see when we get there.

What's a day in the life of a card curator like? (godofdeath500)

Well, I am not quite a ”normal” card curator. My work is almost entirely related to coding of Cygnia. So a normal day is me looking through what cards that have to be added, pick one to add (the easiest ones first ) and then code it in. Then fix bugs related to the implementation. Then fix newly found bugs related to old cards. Then fix more bugs. (I.e. like every software ever).

You are the one of OEtG developers. How did you learn to code? Do you have any future plans connected to coding?

I had done a little bit of coding by myself earlier, but I really started learning in school at the age of 16. As for future plans: I am currently studying Computer Science at University, so I am definitely expecting some programming in my future

As one of the main forces involved in the on-going development and implementation of the oetg versions, what are your top 3 reasons an Elements player should consider adding oetg to their online gaming experience? (anonymous)

-   It shares the same core gameplay as Elements, so if you like dueling in that, you’ll probably like OpenEtG too.
-   Opposite to my previous points, there are also lots of new things in OpenEtG (the whole game except for the actual duels is different), so even if you have played Elements to death you can enjoy this too, since it is a different game.
-   The game is still being updated regularly (mainly by serprex currently).

Which part of Cygnia are you most proud of? (Clean0nion)

I don’t know if I can pick anything here. All the base code of Cygnia comes originally from OpenEtG, and most of that code is written by serprex, not me. Most of my openEtG code are features in openEtG, not in Cygnia. If I had to pick something, I’d pick Fae and Meteorite, because they were among the trickiest cards to implement. (So far at least… You card creators aren’t really making my life easy you know >_>)

What is your favourite activity in the free time?

Play video games, programming and be with friends. Also I have spent a lot of time the past few weeks looking through Once Upon A Time, so I guess I’ll pick that one too right now.

You're always so positive; so what are your worst characteristics or habits when you're angry? (CrockettRocket)

Well, this was a hard question, I don’t really know what to answer. Sorry for a bad answer, but I rarely get angry and no satisfying answer to the question comes to mind.

Could you tell me a pun you particularly like? (Basman-1453)

I am pretty bad at actually remembering jokes I hear >_> I do like ”Cat ate” jokes in Swedish, but most of those are pretty much untranslatable. Here is one that can be translated though:
Cat ate car, became Jaguar.

Which gate would you choose to go in? (Submachine)

Spoiler for details:

Imagine that you are on an island with nothing more than 3 gates and a sign. The sign says that the gates are called Aura Gate, Azure Gate and Sphere Gate. Two of them sends you to a cage in the bottom of the ocean, while the third gate brings you back to civilization. The gates also have hints, which might not be enough to figure out which gate you need, but they will help to give you the right idea.

The first gate says:

• Aura Gate is not next to me.
• You need to go in Sphere Gate.

The second gate says:

• Azure Gate is telling lies.
• Aura Gate would say that it's to the left of Azure Gate.

The third gate says:

• Two gates are telling lies.
• I am Sphere Gate.

Some notes about the gates:

• A gate either always lies or always tells the truth.
• The first gate is the leftmost gate, the second is the middle, while the third is the rightmost.

Here is my answer, spoilered in case the readers want to think about it themselves first:

Spoiler for my answer:

The middle one.
The only Truth/Lie configuration that doesn’t lead to a contradiction is that the third gate lies, the first two tells the truth. Following that, you will see that the middle gate is the Sphere Gate, and thus the correct answer.

What would be your final words for EtG and OEtG players, and the community in general?

Seeing as how we still have regular events and stuff on the forums, that is a clear proof the community will stay alive quite a bit longer, even without Zanz or patches.
If you still want to play with some new cool cards, be sure to try out Cygnia!
As for OpenEtG, I haven’t done much work on it lately. The game is basically a complete game in my eyes now, so I simply haven’t felt as motivated to work on it as before. It’s also pretty slow over there, but the game isn’t dead. I will probably do more work on it eventually, and maybe even start work on the story mode...

[JonathanCrazyJ]

EDIT: Please also specify if you want your name next to the question or you want to be anonymous (not recommended though, don't ask questions you can be ashamed of ).

Ask questions you can be ashamed of.

[Submachine]

You shouldn't sort them if you get too many questions. It's the best if the interview questions have large variety, imo.

It never happened I got TOO many questions anyway ;] - Krzysiekxd

[Solaris]

EDIT: Please also specify if you want your name next to the question or you want to be anonymous (not recommended though, don't ask questions you can be ashamed of ).

Ask questions you can be ashamed of.

This is still relevant.

[Calambar]

December 2015

JonathanCrazyJ
Competition Organizer
fan
Craze guy (really, it's not a typo!)
Proud actor
Overall nice and crazy guy

Hello JonathanCrazyJ! Are you really a crazy guy?
What is the origin of your username? (Clean0nion)

They let me out of my straight jacket when I want to play a League match. Most of the time. I blame losses on having to press the space bar for 'end turn' with my nose.
Actually my username is fairly straightforward. My name is Jonathan Craze. Seriously, that's my actual surname. CrazyJ is my usual internet tag, but I believe that was taken when I set up my ETG account, and I made my forum name the same as my IGN. I actually like JCJ more than CrazyJ now too


It's a time for second another standard, but important question. How did you find Elements the Game and this community?

It's a tale as old as time. Boy meets game, game meets boy, game takes over life. Started playing through badge-hunting on Kongregate in my 3rd year of University 5 years ago, but never got into the community. Did a tonne of farming with CCYB, Shakar's Revenge, Instosis and my own Pre-V.1.32 Pharaoh Rush and burnt out. I remembered the game last year just before brawl, got into the community this time, and can't see myself ever buring out again


Development has been at a standstill for years. What makes you still be actively involved in the game? (anonymous)

Well, it probably helps that despite having started playing it 5 years ago, my rejuvenated interest is only about 1 year old. However, I would say my interest now transcends the actual game, and is rooted in my involvement in the community. The Competition Section is awesome and you should ALL GO THERE. I also have several long term goals, including redeeming my 4-5 loss in the Water Trials Final against ddevans96. I still have nightmares.

If you were zanz, what one change would you make to the game?(Clean0nion)

Can I say two? Servers and Spectate.

How does a daily process of Competition Organizer look like?

It's more weekly. We always want to have a competition up, and immediately start a Vote upon its completion. The actual writing of the comps takes a lot of time and effort. I went a bit overboard on my first constructed competition, making it an epic team-competition adventure, but it has seemed to go down brilliantly (4 submissions on such a large, team comp is something I am really happy with). It's in the voting phase as we speak, so the winner will have been announced as you read! Other than that, we keep up the Hall of Fame, design and distribute prizes, and ddevans96 and I sometimes cuddle. It's in our job description.

Is there any particularly sweet memories with Water-based decks which has made it your favorite element? (Basman-1453)

Actually it wasn't an entirely Water based deck. It was that CCYB was my first FG farmer, and it was one particular card, which remains my favourite shield. Permafrost. So good, I just loved the futility with which a hoard of FG-controlled creatures would be rendered totally useless with just a couple of Antimatters, some SoG and a beautiful, majestic Permafrost. Once I started my journey into Water as an element, I loved the way it could synergise with literally any of the other elements. I also love how long you can spend tweaking Nymph Tears decks to make the quanta balance and splash cards just right.

How do you feel about water in real life? Do you like to swim, do you drink water every day, do you like when it rains, etc. (Submachine)

I live in Brighton, England right by the sea. If the weather is nice, I walk 2 minutes to the beach with a book, a sandwich and a fold up chair. Rain, however, nope. I have mild S.A.D. so if the weather is bad it can affect my mood. I am a water lover, but I prefer to look at it than be in it

What is your favourite kind of happiness, and the kind of happiness that you feel represents you best? (Clean0nion)

This is actually a really insightful question. One of my happiest memories of my father who passed away in 2007, was after a play I performed in, and it was simply "I'm really proud of you." I think, being a performer at heart, my happiest form of happiness is feeling applauded. If I feel proud of producing a performance, a joke, or... anything really, then my most fulfilling form of happiness is when anyone applauds me for it. [censored] is nice too.

If you had to choose a female community member, who would you date? Assume that none of you are in a relationship, even if you are. (anonymous)

Yeesh who turned up the heat? Actually as many of you know (as you'll see by the next question) I just got engaged in real life! But I said I'd answer anything sooo... I'd have to say I value humour hugely in a long-term relationship. And nobody has a closer approximation of my slightly deranged sense of humour than Naesala. She gets me. I mean she understands me - I don't mean she physically gets me.

Spoiler for I realise I obviously break a lot of hearts with that answer. I mean, who doesn't want to get with this?:

Spoiler for Honestly, my fiancee is so goddamn lucky. We even did a cute photo-booth thing once.:

Regale us with the super-awesome story of how you proposed to your fiance. (anonymous)

Well first I learnt dutch over a period of about 6 months, so I could ask her parents in their language if I could marry their daughter. They both speak perfect English too, but it was a nice gesture. I bought the ring (i'll give ring description for the girls later) about a month before I proposed... and 7 hours later she found the receipt. Captain Subtle right here. In that conversation she extracted from me that I had been planning to propose on our planned weekend to London to celebrate our 5th anniversary. I nearly proposed then and there out of sheer embarrassment, but she told me to "just do what i was going to do."
Our anniversary plan was to do a jazzed up, super posh version of our 1st date (where we went bowling (an activity), went for a meal, went for some cocktails and then walked along the Quay in Exeter. For our anniversary we were going to watch a musical, go for a really REALLY fancy meal, then cocktails, then walk along the river in London.) I planned to propose as we walked along the river in London.
As the day got nearer, I realised that, knowing her, with all of the great things we had planned, she would just spend the whole day worrying/wondering "is he going to do it now? now? NOW?" so I changed my plan.
On our actual anniversary, we were just going to have a meal at home. I cooked a 3 course (well, 2 course + chocolate mouse) meal. We were listening to Postmodern Jukebox, an amazing Swing cover band on youtube, and I was trying to stop her from getting up to go do the washing up lol, which would somewhat kill the mood. They don't have a huge array of romantic songs, so I waited until one came on that was at least not completely un-romantic, and got down on one knee. At which point she squealed "OH YOU'RE DOING IT NOW!", and went to turn off the music. Fair enough, if she didn't want music at all that's ok... except she hit backspace by accident and started playing their cover version of Barbie Girl. Yeah. Is that 'our song' now?

Oh right, the ring.

Spoiler for Sparkly Expensive Thing:

After a couple of years of subtly asking questions here and there, I knew she wanted a ring with some colour, rather than just a plain diamond, and I also knew she wanted a second-hand ring. I spent about 10 hours over 3 days looking, and I thought that the usual Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald gemstones were all really really dark. Even Sapphire is a dark, royal blue, and she has quite a light skin tone. I settled on Aquamarine, which is a beautiful light blue colour which i know she loves. And even though she had said she didn't necessarily need them, I wanted to get her diamonds too. Even just little ones.
Technical details: It is a 9 carat yellow gold ring. The Diamonds are each 0.75 karats, so it has a total of 15 points. The setting is pronged, and the setting prongs of the diamonds are white gold, not yellow, as that allows them more sparkle.

What was the proudest moment of your life? (Linkcat)

I'd say anything I have done in my acting career. It's incredibly difficult to get anywhere as an actor, because of the sheer number of people who you have to compete with. Most professional roles have an average of 4000 people apply, and they will audition 50-200 people. For. ONE. Part. Take your pick from:

Spoiler for Production Photos:

And if you want a listen of me singing the solo of "Aint No Sunshine" in a massive Soul Choir, here's the link.

What is your deepest darkest secret?

Honestly I'm quite an open person, I rarely hide things, even my mistakes. It might come from being the youngest of 6, so I have watched 5 older siblings, and whenever we screw up, it's always best to talk about it than bottle it up. Only thing I can think about it I used to smoke a lot, and now smoke occasionally, but still more than I should, and a bit more than my fiancee knows! (though not many more )

That's really boring. I should have said something like "I dress up in women's clothing" or something.

Spoiler for A Strange Night-Out at University:

How do you spend your free time? What is your favourite RL activity?

You've probably gathered I love singing, so playing Guitar sort of goes with that. I'm also really into Football (or Soccer), supporting Manchester United. I play Fantasy Football, and actually write occasional articles for Fantasy Football Hints blogs and publications.

Tell us a random interesting fact about thyself!

I have a 3rd nipple. No, seriously.

Please tell community some final words!

"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts."
-William Shakespeare

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
-T.S.Eliot

"I have a plan, sir."
...
"Well, I'm afraid it'll have to wait. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman round here?"
-Captain Blackadder

Thanks for talking

I feel violated.

[Calambar]

January 2016



MeowMeowCat
Tournament Organizer
  fan in  disguise
Has a cute pair of ears
He is really a cute cat
Even more cuteness? Blah...

-Please tell us a short history of your presence here.
Well, in September of 2014, I was talking to skyironsword] on Kongregate, and somehow, these forums came up in the conversation. I popped into chat, as a lowly little guest, and just watched things flow by. Eventually, I made an account, but then took a hiatus for some reason. I don't think I made a post, just kinda stuck around in chat. Eventually, in May of 2015, I came back to the forums, and you guys have had to deal with me ever since.

-Why did you choose your username? Also, why do you think cat-related nicknames are so popular on the forum? (Submachine)
I chose my username because, at the time, I quite liked cats. I still hold a particular fondness for them. As for why cat related nicknames are so popular? I guess cats are just popular in general, and people like them. I mean, Egypt used to place them on the same level as gods, so, they must mean something .

-What breed of cat are you? Your accent is that of a normal house cat but your coloration is most unusual. (dracomageat)
Norwegian Forest Cat.

-What is the thing that distinguishes you the most from the numerous other cats out there? (Jenkar)
Well, generally my ability to talk tends to set people off. Maybe that I'm biped, too.

-If you had to change your name to another animal and vocal sound, what would you switch it to? (mathman101)
I believe that the obvious choice here is WoofWoofDog.

-How many lives do you have again? If you lost one or more, how did it happen ? xD (rogerluc)
I have 8 lives. I fell asleep in the Otyugh pit. Once. ONCE. If Naesala stabbings count as well... I'm probably down to -13.

-How do you enjoy being a TO? What is your favorite part about being a TO? (mathman101)
I really enjoy being a TO, actually. I can't really pick just one thing, so I'll make a list.

• My partners in crime, mathman101 and Ginyu. You guys rock, and you made it so easy for me to integrate!
• Actually hosting tournaments themselves, and all the shenanigans that happens in the Tourney room when there's a 5 AM tournament
• Creating the tournament concepts themselves

-Any advice for future TOs? (Hyroen)

• Don't procrastinate
• Advertise the tournaments. There's always the chance that someone hasn't seen it / a new member might be interested, but isn't aware
• Try to get the tournament posted by Wednesday at the latest. If you don't have one up by Friday, just throw up a speedbuilding tourney. Everyone loves speedbuilding
• Love what you do, and love who you do it with. Cooperation is key.

-You applied for a few Staff positions before you got TO if I recall correctly. Is there a particular reason you wanted to be a staffer so much, and how are you enjoying your new responsibility? (anonymous)
I guess I just wanted to give back the community, and keep it moving forward. I love my new responsibility, really. It gives me something to do when I wake up in the morning, instead of slamming my alarm and rolling back over. It's quite enjoyable, too, if you like what you do.

-If you weren't TO, what would be your next pick as a staff position? (kinkykitten624)
Probably Newsletter Writer. I actually have quite a knack for writing; I just don't show it as much on these forums.

-What are your aspirations regarding the community/events? Master? General? Do you think you will take part in Brawl? (JonathanCrazyJ)
I have a lot of aspirations. Maybe an unhealthy amount.

• Master & General of Light
• Win War
• Top 3 in Leagues
• Win a Weekly Tournament (curse you, worldwideweb3!)
• Win one of RootRanger's PvP Events

Maybe that wasn't as much as I thought. As far as Brawl, I'm undecided. If a Brawl Boss speaks out to me for something, I'll likely post an application.



-In a theoretical universe where other planets are habitable to humans (or cats ), which planet would you choose to live on? (mathman101)
Saturn! Saturn is cool. I like the rings, really.

-Are you as crazy in real life as in this game? (rogerluc)
I'm actually kinda quiet in real life. So, despite my hair doing whatever it wants, I'm actually pretty mild mannered.

-Are there any Eastern musicians that have snared your attention lately? (Basman-1453)
I couldn't even name one if my life depended on it.

-Do you still remember Damselbro? Well, he's asking you now.  What did you find so charming in 'him'? I remember I barely said anything, but I still made an impact. Can you please tell me what you remember? (anonymous)
DAMSELBRO I LOVE YOU, COME HOME BABY  In all seriousness, Damselbro was just... a bro. Your quotations around 'him' make me think that Damselbro is actually a Damselsis, and that's okay. I remember I had a cat around my property, once. I named him Toby. Toby was a bro, like Damselbro. Well, eventually, Toby got really fat and looked like a chipmunk. Toby was actually a girl. Toby is Tori now.

What I remember about Damselbro? He was chill. He was suave. Ladies wanted him. Men wanted to be him.


-If you were to ask someone else a newsletter question...what would it be? And what would be your answer to that same question? (Silver Emerald)
I could go full paradox on this question, and ask the question that you asked me, but I won't do that. Generally I ask a question about the person's Mastership or their intentions for War, but as I don't have a name in mind, I'd probably ask... "What do an Elite Otyugh and an Abomination have in common?" My answer? "They both die to a Thunderbolt!".

And now the series of questions from Jenkar:

-What element do you feel represents you the most (not necessarily your favorite, eh)?
I have to say Aether. Aether represents equilibrium; a sense of balance. I like balance. Aether is also kinda majestic, really. Have you seen my hair? That's majestic too.

-What is your favorite and least favorite emoticon?
Chatwise? is my favorite, and is my least favorite. THE EYES ARE OFF CENTER. WHY DO YOU DO THIS, EMOTICON.

Forumwise? is my favorite, and  is my least favorite. It just looks creepy to me.

-If a tree commits a murder in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
How can nobody be around when someone murders something else? I mean, isn't murder a process with 2 people? Is that the purpose of this question? So, yes, it makes a sound.

-What do you like and dislike the most in an individual?
Their personality.
Their personality.
Personality is a two way street. If you have a nice personality, great. If you have a terrible/self-centered personality, not great.

-Tell us a random fact about a butterfly.
Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.

-What's the scariest story you've ever read/seen?
I generally don't read scary stories. I'm a scaredy-cat. With that said, the Jeff the Killer story + picture tends to make me paranoid for about an hour.

-What is your opinion about vegetarianism?
I'm a cat. I'm practically a carnivore.

-Have you ever considered solipsism as a way of thought?
Until I -just- looked it up, I had no clue what solipsism was.

-Any final words in this interview for the community?
Join a tournament! Win a Mark! Join another tournament! And also, thank you to everyone involved for making this happen, and thank you everyone in the community for making me want to stick around

Thanks for answering!
Thank you for asking! Stay awesome, everyone!

[Calambar]

Hello all faithful, ocasional and new readers of Featured Community Member thread!

I would like to announce that a February interviewee is going to be my fellow Newsletter Writer

Discord

and you have the only chance to ask her a question!

To do so you have absolutely no time left.. Thanks for your contribution!

Please don't ask your questions here! Instead, send me PRIVATE MESSAGE.
(We don't want to make questions public before official release).

Please note that Newsletter writers have the right to sligthly edit your question (in terms of grammar style etc., not the actual contect), ignore it if they feel it is inappropriate or if they get too many questions (then they need to select the best ones).

Don't hesitate, but send me questions! (Please title your message "Question for Discord").

EDIT: Please also specify if you want your name next to the question or you want to be anonymous (not recommended though, don't ask questions you can be ashamed of ).