12th Trials - Phase 3: Community Vote

[worldwideweb3]

Phase 3 - Community Vote

It's time to vote for your favorite Master candidate!  Every community member may vote on only one candidate. You can change your vote(s) at any time as long as there is still time on the clock.

Vote based on who you think would make the best Master of that element. Do not vote based on who is the best player or who you know personally. Try to pick someone who you think would help the community the most as THE representative for their element.  If you believe none of the Trialists should be Master, please select the "None Worthy" option. 

To help you make the best decision possible, feel free to ask the candidates questions.  Both challengers and defending Masters ought to answer the questions in this thread (and in the General questions thread) to help the voters make the best possible choice.  Please put all your answers in a single post (employing spoiler tags is recommended).  Also, challengers should include in that post a link to your Phase 1 submission post.


Questions and answers may begin now that this topic is posted.
Voting will begin when the polls are up at the official start of Phase 3.
Phase 3 ends when poll expires.

[Aves]

A light breeze wanders through the clearing, gently shaking the shrubs that litter the mossy ground. Looking around, you can sense no trace of your objective. Though your map displays a marker, you can discern only the faintest remnants of your intended path: A shorter cluster of trees here, a small clump of exposed stones there. It's as if nature itself had risen up and claimed dominion over the trail you were following. You pause, hesitant in continuing without the steady guidance your visual aid had promised. Your objective should be here, but you can't sense it. Your confusion ends when your hear a faint sound above you. Wingbeats.

All answers will be spoilered here. Good luck, and may the best Air elemental win!

Spoiler for ji412jo:

You have lost your match against a STANDIN. Why should I believe you have what it takes to be master of air if you can't even beat someone who did not sign up for it?

I'll be the first to admit that my PvP was a bit rusty. CCCombobreaker was the first opponent that I didn't speedbuild for in a long while, and the 0-3 results were a good shakeup to get things back into the groove. I strongly credit that loss for my improved performance in the rest of my matches, with an 8/9 in the rest of my 3 matches, the second loss being a 2-3 against Manuel. And to pre-empt the question of why I should be considered worthy if I lost to my fellow in-element contender, I'll say it was a close series and I'm definitely looking forward to the rematch.

Edit: And if STANDIN had been ji412jo like it has everywhere else, I'd totally have won.
What is your definition of Leadership?

Dictionary entries usually have multiple definitions, and for good reason.

Leadership is the measure of your ability to accomplish a set of tasks or objectives. This is the managerial view, of results and actions.

Leadership is the measure of your ability to inspire and challenge others. This is the competitive view, of athletes and players.

Which of these applies to the Master of Air? Is it a managerial position, for leading your War Team? Is it a challenger's position, to dare others to match your example?

I think it's clear that any Master should strive for both.

Spoiler for Basman-1453:

For everyone that Trials not for their favourite element: If you end up not becoming a Master for the element you're Trialling in, will you consider an approach from WMs to General your favourite element?

Darkness is a popular element. I'm sure that even if Torb or Cactus become unavailable, there will be others to pick up the torch. If I win this Trial I will be General for Air, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Whoops, misread the question. Definitely!

Spoiler for CCCombobreaker:

Why did you not ban UG/Blue Nymph?

Banning UG means not banning Shard of Freedom. UG is a nice win condition, but it's not as versatile as SoFree, which can feasibly be used in every duo. I think this is very similar to the question of banning dims vs banning fractal in , where dims are extremely powerful but fractal is far more versatile.

Why did you not run reflective/emerald shields in your stalls?

Honestly, it slipped my mind, and it was banned in some of my other matches. The one time I did end up including them, they didn't have an effect on the game. It's something I'll definitely remember in the future. As I stated in our match thread, it was very illuminating.

In a future match with the same unlocks/upgrades, what cards would you ban?

I'd most likely ban the same things. I don't think the bans were a big issue in our match, only deck choices/builds.

Banning an in-element card is a given, and we've gone over SoFree vs UG above.
Banning nova significantly weakens your : options.
SoP is incredibly strong, and banning it should be a no-brainer on par with SoFree. It's just too powerful given the plentiful cheap creatures and high viability of stall decks.
Miracle is the only ban that I'd consider swapping out for anything else, and imo it remains a strong choice in weakening .

Spoiler for SpikeSpiegel:

Everybody (should) know each Element has its own trait, its strenght and weakness. Being a Master means to know them perfectly.

Said that, explain what's the strenght and weakness of your Element, and, if you had the chance to add just one card (creature, spell, PC, CC, etc...) to your Element, what would it be and why?

Air has strong and quick attackers supported by damage amplifiers and mountains of CC. Fog is one of the best shields in the game, and that's not even getting into the shield bypass options that UG and SoFree offer.

For all that power, it still lacks heavily in defensive measures. Mass CC is a big weakness with all the weak creatures, and blue nymphs can still get zapped or rage potted. If I could add a card to Air, I'd want it to be a penalty trigger, something applied reactively. Our creatures are fragile, and that's fine. But let's throw some automatic shockwaves in response for damaging the flock.

Spoiler for Kalinual:

Which element do you consider the anti-you?  Which ones rubs you the wrong way or resonates least with you personally?  Please help us understand why this is the case.

I don't consider any element to be an anathema. Each has qualities that I can enjoy or like, even an element represented by the slow and plodding Massive Dragon. After all, if elements weren't likeable, then they probably wouldn't be in the game. Maybe that's why we never got void...

Name two previous/current masters (you can include yourself if you wish) who you respect and have been excellent trialists, generals, and representatives of their element.  What traits do these two individuals share?  How are they different?

Physsion and JonathanCrazyJ. For differences, I think Physsion is more laid back while JcJ is more outwardly energetic, but the effect they have on their teams remains the same. Despite their recent inactivity, I can still clearly remember the amount of influence and impact they had on the community when I returned to active Foruming for War 9, with Physsion as the new Master of Darkness and JcJ as Master of Water and Competition Organizer.

Both are fairly strong PvPers, but they also had a way of encouraging those around them to participate more and to focus on the steps it takes to win. Anybody who's seen their teams in action knows that their team members always seemed to be a little more active and energetic than the rest, with excellent sportsmanship to boot-- and the results of War 9/10 and Brawl 5/6 reflect that.

I know that my time with Team Darkness in War 9 was one of the best experiences I've had on this forum, and that quality is something our community needs more of.

Spoiler for ARTHANASIOS:

Will you participate in the next Brawl under the flag of your trialing element?

Possibly, but probably not. Being a CO, Brawl basically acts like a break period for me.

Spoiler for Vangelios:

Aves What happens with your darkside?

By the time I signed up for Trials, a good third of them still had only one participant, and it didn't look like there would be a lot more signups. While I would've enjoyed gunning for that Master of Darkness title, I felt it would be better to increase the number of people competing for titles, instead of pushing potential contenders out of the Final Battle when there are so many empty slots in there already. More people getting Final Battle experience = better challengers next year

Out of the 1-Trialist elements, Manuel was the one with the most experience, and Air one of the elements that I think my name shares a pretty decent connection with, so it was a pretty easy choice from there.

Darkness will always be my favorite element, but I'm sure Torb or Cactus can step up to the plate. 

Spoiler for Afdarenty:

First off, best of luck in the final battle! I'm curious to see how each of you approach it - it seems you both have a very different play style to me.

I would argue that no element has more deck building options than Air. Specifically, cards like OE, Fog, Wings, Shockwave, Thunderstorm, Skyblitz mean that you can play something as basic as a Mono deck in dozens of different styles, each with a different set of strengths and weaknesses. Often, changing a single card can be enough to turn a bad match up into a good one.

I strongly believe that the key to success with Air is to pair the right deck type (e.g. Mono, Dark Duo, Stall, Grabbow, etc) with the right support cards, while still squeezing in enough pillars to make the deck run smoothly.

On that note, why did you choose the decks you played, and the specific cards in those decks during phase 2? In hindsight, would you want to play a different deck? Would you want to build the deck you did play differently? Was the quanta balance okay? Would you make different bans?

I won't ask you to answer these questions for every deck you played - I imagine that would be quite time consuming - but I would like to hear a few thoughts even if all you say is that it was a good deck choice. At minimum I'd like to hear about the following decks, though your thoughts on other decks are also very welcome.

For Aves:

Spoiler for Aves vs STANDIN - Game 3:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

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5c2 5cq 5cq 5cq 5cq 5cq 5cq 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5og 5og 5oh 5oh 5oi 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 5p0 7ms 7ms 7ms 7n3 7n5 7n5 7oe 7oe 7oe 8pn

Spoiler for Aves vs deuce22 - Game 4:

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5oc 5oc 5oc 5og 5og 5oh 5oh 5oh 5oh 5oh 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 718 718 718 718 718 718 71a 71a 7oe 8pk

Thanks Afda! It's always good to have advice from the Master.

That game 3 deck against STANDIN would have gone much much better with a few emerald shields tossed in there, so that point about a single card making all the difference in a matchup is something I've painfully experienced first hand.

Spoiler for Bans vs STANDIN:

STANDIN: Shard of Patience, Miracle, Shard of Freedom, Nova
Aves: Shard of Freedom. Druidic Staff. Steal

Going into that game, I was down 0-2 and I'd already used and ( remaining), while CCC had used and .

With , , and on the table for my opponent, I was expecting either nymphs with water or air, or a stall with light. There was no way that I could outrush nymphs and running a rush or domin into a sancstall would be pretty bad. Out of my remaining options, was the best to stall with. As long as 5 UG didn't enter the field all at once, I could deal with any nymphs that popped up with CC. Of course, that all ended up being moot when his deck had no nymphs at all and just played the UGs straight up. Emerald shield was already mentioned above, so I'll skip that here.

The single blue nymph and Elite Queen technically have the capacity to stallbreak, in case my stall somehow met a bigger stall, though in hindsight they wouldn't stand up to much CC.

Spoiler for Bans:

deuce22: Nova, Fractal, Drain Life, Miracle            
Aves: Sofree, SoSac, steal, BW

In this context, I had and left against , and was up 2-1. I was expecting some sort of PU Chargers or whatever a 50% rainbow without nova looks like. Some sort of Mindgate stall or PUbow?

A mono Air with creatures and no SoFree isn't a good idea into the possibility of dims or lightning, so the only viable mono was UG. Blue nymphs aren't ideal into lobo, and I wanted to shut down whatever creatures he put out quickly-- and relying on UGs alone can be iffy . The other form of damage that can bypass dims? Poison. With that in mind, I decided to go all out with the CC so that no charger, psion, recluse, etc would live long enough to outpace my poisons. In the event that he used immortal creatures, they still have a bad cost to power ratio and the shockwaves can double up for direct targeting.

Besides the STANDIN match, I'm fairly happy with my phase 2 performance, and there's not too much I'd change there in terms of bans or deck choices. I will say that my game 1 deck against deuce was pretty wacky, and could stand for a bit of optimization. When it works, it's a lot of fun against MA! The Pulvy makes dims and lobo moot, and EQ means that all those expensive aether creatures don't get much of a chance to get out. It's always a bittersweet moment when your prediction is correct but your counter isn't.

[MyNameIsJoey]

Let's be hard and blunt right at the start. This question is for Aves.

You have lost your match against a STANDIN. Why should I believe you have what it takes to be master of air if you can't even beat someone who did not sign up for it?

[Manuel]

[DoubleCapitals]

* DoubleCapitals holds up pitchfork

Grudge match!

[MyNameIsJoey]

Edit: And if STANDIN had been ji412jo like it has everywhere else, I'd totally have won.

I bet this is what you expected but.

Prove it.

Let's have someone take our bans.

[worldwideweb3]

@Manuel You get angry at RNG quite a lot. Can you convince us you won't rage quit?

[Manuel]

last time i """""ragequitted""""" was in an event that was supposed to be restarted, with 30% of players that retired after 2 rounds, players that already got byes get even more byes, then pause everything so these players was able to fight against 2 subs popped out of nowhere, then even more byes every round

if things are handled properly and are fair for everyone no one ragequit or simply, think an event isn't fun anymore

-------

Three question series:
Considering you were unlikely to have access to any PC in your matches against STANDIN:
Why did you not ban UG/Blue Nymph?
Why did you not run reflective/emerald shields in your stalls?
In a future match with the same unlocks/upgrades, what cards would you ban?

i can make u the same answer, why ban sofree? against an element strong like air sometimes u can only choose against what u don't wanna die

i would ban same exact cards:

damsels before sofree or ug, is what makes air strong, having a pillar that deals 2 damage, it can be boosted with sofree and sky blitz, turn even the most basic 6 dragon deck in a 12 creature deck, this paired with 2 weapon mean everytime u draw a card, 50% of times u will draw a damage source
i banned rt against u, aves said he lost for rt
bone wall against air = autolose, cutting down a turn is simply too strong against air, u can play around against sosac, i have still some chances to outrush poison
vampire dagger is even stronger than bone wall against air, 6 heal it mean it can counter alone 3 damsels
banning nymph'tears means u lost a stallbreaker and u wasn't able to play efficently any kind of sopa deck with damsels banned at the same time (still, i was expecting it in the last battle with squids, thats why i didn't go with a sov deck)
against aether i had no choice than ban dims

i didn't use reflective because i had no way to predict your bow deck, it could be EVERYTHING, against aves i was sure to not see ug
in general i picked  and  and leave out  just to make people paranoid about stall and made them think 20 times before trying to counter one of my deck

Hey Manu, why after won war in the hardcore mode you are trying on very easy?

probably sofree will be even more expensive (if not banned), same for other key cards, market prices totally destroyed gravity last war; if one of my card cost twice as a normal card i really can't do nothing about it, so it won't be easy at all
hopefully with my 11/12 in trials with always sofree banned i proved that isn't so strong to deserve a ban

On that note, why did you choose the decks you played, and the specific cards in those decks during phase 2? In hindsight, would you want to play a different deck? Would you want to build the deck you did play differently? Was the quanta balance okay? Would you make different bans?

Spoiler for Manuel vs worldwideweb3 - Game 4:

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5lh 5lm 5lm 5of 5of 5of 5of 5og 5oi 5oi 5oi 5oi 5oi 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 5pu 7k1 7k1 7k1 7k1 7mt 7mt 7mt 7mt 7mt 8pq

Spoiler for Manuel vs deuce22 - Game 5:

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4sr 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5oc 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5of 5op 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 7mt 7mt 7mt 7mt 7mt 7mu 7tb 7tb 7tb 8pt

i was expecting a stall with antimatter against www3, speedbuilt it in 2 minutes, forgot on how dragons are actually weak to antimatter even if paired with glories so rip
lost for something like 2 entropy quanta before breaking diss shield and being able to break the second one next turn for not enough quanta
i didn't go for a bigger stall because i was expecting a stall with fractal or a sort of domin with fractal recluse/psions and antimatter replacing dims

against deuce is game 4, i banned both dims and bone wall so i was sure he was going for the strongest deck for trying to go 2-2

like i said in a previous post, i will go for the same bans, the main starting strategy on how i picked decks/elements was:

dark domin and mononymph are too strong in this format, i can go 2-0 before even starting the first game (both decks undefeated after 4 matches)
at that point, all i need to do is a single win, so i played the weakest elements first (against both www3, deuce and cccombo i started the first game with the element they gave to me), using the dark or the mono only when my opponent was ahead; only against www3 i tried to speed the things up because he is evil using my strongest decks and i ended up losing 2-3

Manuel, why are you Trialling for Air? Is Air your favorite element?

i am trialing for air mostly because i played several times in war against air, and i wanted to challenge afda (and phoenix) again; it is a sort of stockholm syndrome or i can't explain it better, if u fight against something you learn is weakness and strenght, and it is like that element belongs to you

i would have trialed for life only if muffin was unable to defend is title and my other ex teammates wasn't going to take the title

[CCCombobreaker]

Three question series:
Considering you were unlikely to have access to any PC in your matches against STANDIN:
Why did you not ban UG/Blue Nymph?
Why did you not run reflective/emerald shields in your stalls?
In a future match with the same unlocks/upgrades, what cards would you ban?

[Vangelios]

Hey Manu, why after won war in the hardcore mode you are trying on very easy?
Aves What happens with your darkside?

[Kalinuial]

last time i """""ragequitted""""" was in an event that was supposed to be restarted, with 30% of players that retired after 2 rounds, players that already got byes get even more byes, then pause everything so these players was able to fight against 2 subs popped out of nowhere, then even more byes every round

if things are handled properly and are fair for everyone no one ragequit or simply, think an event isn't fun anymore

-------

Manuel, you've been grilling us newcomers in Trials.  This is ironic because you are a newcomer to trials, too.  This is the first trials that you've gone beyond phase 1 after withdrawing from Trials # 10 for earth. 

The concern about "quitting" goes right back at you. In fact, you seem to have a history of not following through and rage-complaining.

-Event WWW3 is referring to that you rage-quit
-War 10
-Not finishing Tourney
-Funny, but un-masterlike comments War 11

You are a strong pvp-er.  You're also funny and creative.  But, why should anyone vote for you for Master given a pattern leaving/quitting when it suits you?  Do you not consider the impact leaving mid-way has on others and the event?  Will you continue to be yourself as General? Quit when you're angry or think something is not fair? 

I think you should address this because it's one thing to be this way as a soldier/participant, it's entirely different as Master/General.

P.S.  I found a bunch of these links by searching "Manuel Angry" 

[JonathanCrazyJ]

/grabs popcorn