Well, we're out of the War. I'd like to say something cliche like at least we didn't come in last, but I don't think that's doing anything justice.
I don't like the thought of our loss being due to inactivity, specifically MY inactivity especially considering that at that the beginning of the War I had stated I would be able to hold everything together for those who weren't here. But my how I was wrong, War coincided with the absolute worst time during the week for me and there wasn't much I could do but let most of the work fall onto the shoulders of a few workhorses.
I don't know if I'm going to participate in another War. It has nothing to do with losing like we did this time; there are always ways to prevent that, but I just don't want to make a dedication to something and then not have the time for it. I didn't used to think this was possible, but now I see I was wrong. I'm also starting to get weary of War. I was under the impression that being responsible for my own team would charge me up from the burnout I experienced from the last one, but it never happened. This is likely going to harm my chances during the next Trials, but I really don't care; I have no intention of being dishonest. But I won't give up my title without fighting to the death (slight pun intended).
Anyways, aside from my failure, I wouldn't let this War keep you down. It's problematic for Life in War because we somehow have to come up with ways to counter all of our numerous weaknesses as an Element and continue to surprise our opponents at the same time. Sure, we could have made some better deck choices, but it's always easy to see what we should have done looking back on the past. I'll definitely be using this War as a learning experience for myself though.
I really hope the rules change for the better next time. All in all the Event has turned out pretty even because of all of the Event Cards designed to lessen the disadvantages of the higher earlier discard system, but the snowball effect that they have in the beginning of the Event is a problem for teams like us, especially since there are so many cards that we need in order to remain competitive and to field a legal deck. This also doesn't include the fact that since none of us know what on earth to expect from the Event cards, it's pretty darn easy to feel discouraged and/or hopeless after several losing rounds. If people start losing motivation because they don't think they have a chance of winning, then what point is there in continuing the Event at all? I think that this is always going to be a problem in War and as no one wants to be the loser, it's impossible to stop this loss of motivation from occurring unless the Event is perfectly balanced in every team's favor...which isn't possible until each of the Elements is balanced and that's far from happening at the present moment unfortunately.
I'd like to take the time out and say something about each of you as far as what you've done for the time, but admittedly I just haven't spent enough time with you all for this to be anything worth your reading time, again, blame my inactivity for that. So instead I'm just going to thank you for all of your work and for those of you who picked up all the slack during my absence; no one asked you to do the tasks assigned to your general, so our mistake during our final round should never fall on your shoulders.
I hope to work with you all again in the future, hopefully this time during a time where I can actually be of some use to you. May the frogs be with you!
