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.

[Kalinuial]

Sign-up post
Phase 2: Ji412jo 3 - 0 Kalinuial
Phase 2: rob77dp 3 - 0 Kalinuial
Phase 2: Kalinuial 3 - 2 asdw152
Phase 2: DANIEELA 3 - 0 Kalinuial

Spoiler for Joining Trials, Why earth, and Phase 1:

Why did I join trials for the first time?
To gain PVP experience and knowledge.  To learn the ins and outs of an element.  To prepare for a War experience.  To satiate my desire to build decks. 

Why did I choose Earth?
When I started the game many years ago, Darkness was my jam.  Eventually, I learned to explore all elements.  When I connected with the forum community last November, I learned about trials and war.  I knew that if I wanted to participate that I would eventually need to choose an element.  This decision did not come easily to me and was something I reflected on over 6+ months.  The decision to choose  was made right after trials was announced.  I discounted elements I was least interested in first.  The ones I mulled over were .  My decision to choose  was not affected by others' trial choices.  In fact, I'm disappointed there were no other challengers or a master to defend.  I chose earth for a few key reasons.  I've recently entered my early 30s.  As I look at my 20s, what I find I needed/valued the most was stability and security.  I don't need to be rich or a social butterfly.  I don't even need to be respected.  I don't want to be known as talented. What I need is stability/security.  I want to be known as honest, humble, and hard-working. Earth represents the above traits better than any other element.  If you really want to get secure, slap on protect artifact.  I also noticed in my overall game play that earth was always sort of "there".  My favorite duo as an early Darkness player was with Earth.  I probably over-used Earthquake in decks when it wasn't effective just because I "liked the idea of destroying pillars". Even when I have an EQ/Trident and I don't need to destroy opponent pillars, I do it anyway. It feels good.

Phase 1 entry  
I stand by my decision to choose the most difficult task (for me) in order to get in a more scientific/numbers mindset.  I recognize that my artist soul isn't going to cut it alone in PVP.  I have to understand more of the math behind deck building to be a better player.  While not the most enlightening entry, I did put in a lot of time and thought.  That's a habit that will continue with each successive phase in trials, and my PVP play overall.

Spoiler for Phase 2 Summary:

I exchanged bans with Ji412jo and DANIEELA first.  They both had the same elements. I figured I could prepare similar decks against both.  So, I chose the same bans for both.  I could see working around cards like Shard of Sacrifice, but I didn't have a counter for Poison.  Fearing no counter, I banned Poison for both.  I played Jijo before setting bans with Rob77dp and asdw152.  Games 2 and 3 were terrible pillar draws for me.  My decks never got going.  Before I knew it, I was 0-3.  I had a prepped a lot for my match again JiJo maybe 3-4 hour, only to be beat down in 20min.  I wised up a bit and thought more about my bans for rob and asdw.  Instead of thinking about bans in terms of "what can't I stop"  I thought about bans for rob/asdw in terms of "what can I ban so I can do what I want".  I'm happier with the bans I chose for rob/asdw. 

In my 2nd match against Rob, I was mentally ready to go 0-12 overall.  After an 0-2 start, I was definitely ready for 0-12.  However, I had a note in my prep document that said if I was 0-2 to play the Gravity control/catapult deck.  In testing, the deck was doing well and I was trying to refine it.  I won the game (although later I found it was illegal  - more about that soon).  Knowing that Rob had an Aether option left, I was fearing dimensional shield.  So I made sure I had a couple Pulvy's for Game 4.  No dims.  Easy win.  For game 5, this was the first game I felt I had luck on my side.  I had a great opening and Rob didn't draw any shard of sacrifice in the top deck.  A reverse sweep..until I posted my deck and saw that I only had 6 off-element cards in game 3 deck.  This was a surprise to me because of how detailed I was in prep.  I knew that players had played illegal decks before.  I was super careful to check that I had 5 spell cards upgraded + 5 other upgrades, 10 upgrades. I double, triple, quadruple checked.  I also religiously checked that half my cards were in-element.  I admit it did not occur to me that I might not have enough off-element cards.  One stone left unturned.  The result was devastating, wiping out three wins.  However, I don't feel bad about this.  It was a fluke mistake with a big impact.  It's not due to poor preparation.  In fact, I was probably thinking about too much, overall.  What I take away from all this is that I responded to the beat down from JiJo.  I improved how I selected bans, how I prepared decks, and how to anticipate (I wouldn't go so far as to say mindgate) the threats from my opponent's remaining options. 

For match 3, I held tough against asdw and won 3-2, all legally.  After 2 wins (now 1) against solid players, my confidence was back up.  A bit.  I still never doubted that I had much more to learn.  But, I knew that my effort would continually help me with long-term improvements.  For match 4, I lost to Dani.  The bans I selected, as with Jijo, were not well-thought. However, I battled DANI much tougher than Jijo.  I had better decks.  2 losses were closer to a coin-flip and could have gone my way with more luck.


Overall, I'm pleased with phase 2 progress because I didn't give up.  I used what I learned to improve my understanding and decision making.  I think my woeful points from phase 2 do not represent my current ability, but I must accept the result. I'm also as driven as ever.  I'll be the first one, now that phase 2 is over, to coldly analyze my decks and performance. I can see what I was going for strategically and this didn't always work out for me.  It's one thing to test successfully in trainer, it's another to put together 3-5 games with one chance each.

Answered Questions:

Spoiler for ji412jo:

If you could choose who will face you as STANDIN for the final battle, who would it be, and why?

This is very easy to answer because I have been thinking about this.

For an old member, I'd like someone I never met, but I heard his name many times - odii odsen.  I've heard of his legend.  I've seen the trophies next to his name.  Oddly enough, he signed on chat recently.  Maybe he would make an appearance as a stand-in?  I hope he would do stand-in for someone at least.  This game needs a larger core of really good players.  It will keep some of the current top players honest in their effort, and motivate people to be more active.  Mr. Odsen, please don't tell me that logging in each day for Oracle is what satisfies you.  Come back and battle.  Beat me down, and then go on after the big dogs.

For a more current member, I'd like to match against Afdarenty.  He's obviously really good, but especially so at Trials and War.

I've chosen these people because I want to measure myself against the best.  I have no illusions that I measure up to them.  I want to see how far away I am.  While my recent results don't demonstrate this, I've made some monumental gains in my understanding of PVP. Even if I lose in the finals, I want to show that I can prepare better and put up better decks.  I also think I can learn the most by battling the best.  While I may not have enough juice to gain a Mastership this time, one trait that will propel me forward are habits of improvement (study, asking questions, testing, etc).

There are other worthy people I would like to be stand-in, but they are currently trialing.

What is your definition of Leadership

The act of affecting positive or desired change.  Can leadership truly be viewed within the sole confine of one individual?   Leadership exists because of complex interactions between people, places, and ideas. What may count as great leadership in one culture can be utterly futile in another.  One person may be viewed as the designee or de facto "leader" but it's the team that moves forward together or not, and therefore lead together or not.   

Spoiler for Aves:

Becoming a General for War is a large part of the Master title. What sort of qualities would you want to look for in your War team? Give a short list of people you'd like to conscript and how they meet those qualities.

Assuming I was Master, I should address myself as part of the team first.  I'd study, prepare, and test - a lot.  I'd continue my review of past wars, including vault-building, ECs, and of course round-play.  I'd study the "style" of various elements in War.  What I look for in others is similar to myself - active, thoughtful, inquisitive, hard-working.  I'd want a team that wants to communicate openly and share in the study, prep, testing for War.  In fact, I prefer these qualities over a very talented player that can speed-build and just wing it.  I think many players would be great teammates.  I've actually just signed up for my first team event - 3 man PVP.  My first impression is that I love this type of event more than individual events.  In the short time I've had discussions with teammates, I can sense how much better a team can be compared to one individual's skill/thinking.  In my ideal world, none of my teammates are individualist that would take over everything, but also not conformists with no ideas of their own.  For specific names,  it  is too premature considering my present circumstances.

Spoiler for insignificantweeaboo:

Being a newer player do you believe you can meet, or even exceed, the same amount of experience and worthiness as the previous Masters of Earth?

Do you mean right now - for this trial or in the long run?  Being new and experienced obviously don't correlate well, so that's kind of a loaded question .  I think I know what you are getting at though.  A lot of success for the less talented is putting in the work.  In my first PVP event, Sideboard 4, my first round matches included JCJ and Mathman.  They are unquestionably more experienced/worthy PVPers.  However, I put in a lot of time preparing decks and testing.  They didn't and I beat them.  So, while the answer may be no, I don't have the experience/worthiness of previous Masters of Earth, I may be able to outwork them in the long-run.

Spoiler for basman-1453:

If you end up not becoming a Master for your favourite element, will you consider an approach from WMs to General your second-fave/third-fave/what-have-you element? (Quite unlikely, but hey )

  is my favorite element.  (1) It won't happen and (2) I would still say no.  I set out with a task - to Trial successfully for Earth.  If I'm not successful, I absolutely do not deserve to general another element.  I feel the same about others in a similar situation.  Being Master is not the end all be all.  Join as a soldier of your favorite element and contribute to the knowledge base.  That's what I would wish to do.

Spoiler for Arthanasios:

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

In theory, I'd like to say yes.  But in reality, this depends on the Brawl theme and how well  synergizes.  Earth would have fit great with the last Brawl.  I still need to participate in a brawl to truly be able to answer, but my sense is that with creative tasks, I prefer fewer restrictions.  So even if earth was aligned in some way, it would be subtle.

Spoiler for manuel:

u made a wot on how u quit the game for negative comments on a competition u already won
a real future general should be able to argue (i.e prove he is right, strong beautiful and fabolous) against everyone, from opponents to warmasters  rather than quit, are u really really really sure u won't quit again?

Thank you, Manuel, for challenging me with a hard question.  I hope there are tougher questions to come, because there's more to be learned from these types of questions.  First of all let me say that I respect you as a member of the community both for PVP activity and for speaking your mind.  However, I must argue your premise of quitting.

Didn't Deuce, the most decorated general, boycott War twice? Isn't he absent for most of the year?  Is anyone going to say he's not deserving of being a general? It seemed last War that TORB wanted to play for a master he respected - Deuce.  TORB is  master-worthy in his own right.  Kaempfer "quit" the game, too.  But is he not master-worthy because of that?  I think he is worthy.  I think someone with 3 months of experience can be worthy. Players in the community often "quit" in a way.  They boycott, they don't participate, they don't defend their Mastership, or they defend and don't lead war.  Some are absent from the community for longer than I was and are welcomed back with open arms.  There's a lot of reasons for so called "quitting".  Sometimes the reasons are good, and sometimes not.  A common reason is "life is so busy".  Regardless of the reason, it's true that these people were not active. And the same is true of me for 3 months.

Enough of the general, you want to know about me. Here's why I left for about 3 months.  After observing the community for 5 months, I was scared to speak up.  I was new, didn't know much, and afraid I'd say things without knowing ALL of the contexts like some of you folks that been around 5+ years.  I was concerned my concerns wouldn't be taken seriously because I was new.  My ideas for PVP events/tourneys were (rightfully so) shot down because I didn't understand competitive balance.  I was discouraged personally by negative comments after putting in a lot of time and thought into what I was doing.  I was thinking, "geez, you might have a point, but can you be more constructive?  I just got here in the community and don't know the "culture" of what's best or not".  I was also discouraged by the inactivity of the community, unchecked negative comments, muted positive comments, and idle admins/staff.  These are still legitimate concerns.   Keeping my concerns to myself, they grew, and I became unhappy.  Rather than potentially "explode" I decided to leave and get away from the negative feelings/environment.  That's my reason why I left.  I should also mention that it would have been good to have a mentor.  I applied as a mentee in November, but that person (who still logs in each day), did not respond nor is active in the community.  Had I had someone to chat more at length about my experience, I may have worked through the concerns. 

Here's why I returned.  (1) To start speaking up. I have begun to do this increasingly so and plan to insert my voice more often.  (2) To set out to do what I originally joined the forums to do - to gain PVP experience and knowledge.  Non-PVP competitions will be something that are secondary for me moving on.  I'll try to have fun with this.  If people put in negative comments about myself or others, this time around I will speak up either privately or publicly. My concern with these comments is they may not have construct or are unintentionally demeaning. People should understand that what they say does have impact. If they do have construct, I would certainly give serious consideration - such as the comment I am presently responding to.  (3) To gain knowledge in order to help mentor younger players.  This is essential for growing the community.   

Spoiler for spikespiegel:

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?

Earth is stronger at domin/stalling and has sturdy attackers, but is weaker rushing and defending rushes and doesn't have many airborne/skilled creatures.  One card that would be interesting is something like "mass stun" - something related to the major shocks of an earthquake.  This would be a cheap card and stun both players for 1 or 2 turns, not allowing either player's creatures to attack or either player to play a card.  This gives earth additional time to quanta build and get defenses up.  Earth also is begging to get some tree/root type of creature card.  This creature would be airborne or have a nifty defensive skill.

Spoiler for kali:

1. 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.

Aether. Despite having powerful cards, I've had trouble using them effectively in decks.  It's not an element  I reach towards much, especially with duos. Spark, SofW, Psion, Lightning - It's like a girl at prom with a loud sparkling dress.  A bit too flashy for me. 

2.  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?

Masters Mr Muffin and Blacksmith.  For some reason, they seem to have a lot in common.  Both are strong representatives of their elements.  Although I don't know previous Life masters, I suspect Mr Muffin has to be up with the best of them for winning war on the first try.  Blacksmith is a 3 time master of Earth, and one would think had he trialed in all years that he'd be a 5 time master.  Both players know the game well and, as Mr Muffin puts it, can "see the meta".  Blacksmith could really tell the advantage he'd have ahead of time by bans chosen by opponents, so much so that he'd play a few decks over and over knowing he had the advantage in advance.  Another similarity for both players is they are off-beat and I am intrigued by this.  Blacksmith wrote a "Tales of the Baron" narrative before his trials finals, which is really cute.  Mr Muffin has a distinct persona that is different, and hard to describe.  The best I can come up with is he seems aloof and contradictory (within himself). Another commonality is that both players have played multiple illegal decks in trials.   

[MyNameIsJoey]

If you could choose who will face you as STANDIN for the final battle, who would it be, and why?

I'd like it if you chose both an old community member that doesn't come around anymore and someone currently active in the community

[Kalinuial]

If you could choose who will face you as STANDIN for the final battle, who would it be, and why?

I'd like it if you chose both an old community member that doesn't come around anymore and someone currently active in the community

This is very easy to answer because I have been thinking about this. 

For an old member, I'd like someone I never met, but I heard his name many times - odii odsen.  I've heard of his legend.  I've seen the trophies next to his name.  Oddly enough, he signed on chat recently.  Maybe he would make an appearance as a stand-in?  I hope he would do stand-in for someone at least.  This game needs a larger core of really good players.  It will keep some of the current top players honest in their effort, and motivate people to be more active.  Mr. Odsen, please don't tell me that logging in each day for Oracle is what satisfies you.  Come back and battle.  Beat me down, and then go on after the big dogs.

For a more current member, I'd like to match against Afdarenty.  He's obviously really good, but especially so at Trials and War. 

I've chosen these people because I want to measure myself against the best.  I have no illusions that I measure up to them.  I want to see how far away I am.  While my recent results don't demonstrate this, I've made some monumental gains in my understanding of PVP. Even if I lose in the finals, I want to show that I can prepare better and put up better decks.  I also think I can learn the most by battling the best.  While I may not have enough juice to gain a Mastership this time, one trait that will propel me forward are habits of improvement (study, asking questions, testing, etc). 

There are other worthy people I would like to be stand-in, but they are currently trialing.

[Aves]

Becoming a General for War is a large part of the Master title. What sort of qualities would you want to look for in your War team? Give a short list of people you'd like to conscript and how they meet those qualities.

[InsignificantWeeaboo]

Being a newer player do you believe you can meet, or even exceed, the same amount of experience and worthiness as the previous Masters of Earth?

[Manuel]

u made a wot on how u quit the game for negative comments on a competition u already won
a real future general should be able to argue (i.e prove he is right, strong beautiful and fabolous) against everyone, from opponents to warmasters  rather than quit, are u really really really sure u won't quit again?