@All: What does being a Master mean? What kind of traits will you exemplify as a Master?
Being a Master means being a player willing to represent your element as the public-facing face, being willing to help new players who wish to learn more about your element, and being diplomatic and understanding under nearly all circumstances. I believe that I have the temperament and background to be a Master that can represent Earth in a positive light through both mentoring and through engaging with others in a non-hostile manner.
@All: Pick a character, real or fictional, to personify yourself. Justify your answer.
There are a number of fictional characters that I enjoy comparing myself to, but in the context of Trials, I'll go with Julian Delphiki (aka Bean) from the Ender's Game books. He's a tactician who has some ability to focus on the larger scale strategies but is at his best when he's allowed to narrow in on small squadrons. In a similar manner, while I have some ability to plan my course through a PVP Event such as Trials, PVP Championships, Sacrifice, or any of the other events I've played in, I'm at my best designing and playing decks for individual games and matches. When I first became master, I used my bans in a manner that enabled me to leverage my upgrade advantage, and built decks to counter MegroN's best remaining plays, counting on the strength of my upgrades to cover me against any suboptimal plays, and this worked exactly as planned. In the PVP World Championships of 2014-15, I deliberately engaged in less mindgating than many of the other top players and focused on the tactics available to me based on the elements and upgrades. Likewise, relative to other players on the forum, I place a greater emphasis on in-game tactics and game-planning, and less emphasis on mindgating. I win or lose on my ability to use my gameplans to their fullest potential. Sometimes, you have to realign the way you think, and remember that the enemy's gate is down.
In terms of personality, Julian is patient but severe, and tries to take his time to think through what needs to be done, before acting in a complete manner. I am (generally) a pretty even-tempered person, and a person who believes in planning things out carefully. When I design events on the forum, I write up my rulesets and seek extensive feedback to iron out all possible problems, and then I prepare to host it. While I can't compare to Julian's raw intellect, I at least do try to match his patience and his willingness to determine his best course of action before, rather than while, executing it.
@Trialists who have previously competed in a different element: A wise woman once asked for this specific category of people to tell them, so she knows who not to vote for. (Well, actually she asked if you're trialling for your favourite element, but eh, it's a similar category. While I might not be as drastic as her, loyalty is an important aspect of being a Master for me. Why should we see you as a representative as the element you have chosen, rather than any others, that you have trialled for prior?
I entered the trials of
in my first Trial, because at that time, light was my preferred element. I was still a fairly new player, especially to the forums, at that time, and there were things about light that drew me to it. In my second Trial, I switched to my current favorite element,
. I successfully became Master, and said that I would always defend a mastership that I held, because I believe that loyalty demands that of me. I did in fact do so when playing in my third Trial, but was ultimately struck down by my former mentor and former master himself, Blacksmith. While I believe that losing to Blacksmith in that Trial was an honorable result, and considered myself "allowed" to choose a new favorite if any other element struck my fancy, I decided that I was still the "Warden Guy", and that
was still where I belonged. Thus in my fourth overall trial, and my third consecutive Trial of Earth, I remain in my new element, and should I win the Mastership, will certainly remain in it for the next Trial as well.
Poll
