9th Trials - Phase 3: Community Vote

[Zawadx]

Phase 3 - Community Vote

It's time to vote for your favorite Master candidate!  Every community member has one vote. You can change your vote 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 do not have any preference for who should be Master, or cannot decide between the candidates, 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 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.

[theelkspeaks]

This is my post for answers and my phase one link, which is right here.

Phase 1 copied:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Spoiler for Requirements:

Spoiler for Phase 1:

Spoiler for Task 1:

- Developing War Tactics
-
- I actually think the tactics associated with this event card have a top/middle/bottom split rather than a top/bottom split.  Both top teams and bottom teams will prefer the extra upgrades even at the cost of salvage - the top to better protect their lead by not losing, and the bottom to avoid risking elimination.  Teams in the middle however, trying to actively catch up to the top, might choose to keep their salvage and forego upgrades in order to gain ground on teams above them in matchups they feel confident in their counters for.

It also poses a very interesting question to teams to ask how confident in their counters they are in each match in a round.

Spoiler for Task 2:

-Your Own Little War
-http://elementscommunity.org/forum/pvp-tournaments/post-your-tournament-ideas-here/msg1189578/#msg1189578

A possible deck would be

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 590 590 590 590 590 590 591 591 591 591 593 593 593 593 5rk 5rk 5rk 5rk 8ps

Pillar heavy metagame -> EQ is awesome
Shriekers chosen over golems for superior reach
Graboids have synergy with the rules by allowing another use of mark quanta
RT nullifies threats of many other elements
Bonebolt is a major threat in the meta, but should lose to keeping grabbies burrowed

Spoiler for Task 3:

-Waging War against the False Gods

-Counter to Divine Glory

Would you like to not just beat, but 500 HP EM Divine Glory?  I have the deck for you!

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58o 58s 58s 58s 58s 58s 592 592 592 592 592 594 594 594 594 594 594 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5aa 5li 5li 5li 5li 5li 5li 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 8pq

DO NOT Protect your pillars/pends.  That's how you die! (His explosions will have no valid targets and clog his hand, making him draw slower than you.)  Just calmly deck him out while EA-ing Titanium Shield and your Santcs.  Save SS as long as you can

Spoiler for War/Brawl Bonus:

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/round-1-246/(air-sld)-theelkspeaks-3-2-(light-sld)-cheesy111/ (Air)
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/brawl-auction/auction-process/msg1181028/#msg1181028 (Fire)

Two more PVP Links (in addition to War above)
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/12-lives-battle-results/12-lives-3-round-1/


http://elementscommunity.org/forum/pvp-world-championship/pvp-world-championship-2014-top-4/msg1188306/#msg1188306

Spoiler for ji412jo:

oh wow. here i got to choose between brawl teammates. Sure will tear me apart.

Speaking of teams, tell me the 3 most important qualities a teammate should have in your opinion. say a war teammate.

Probably activity, proactiveness, and team spirit - it's important to be available to be contacted, to be on top of the team's goals for the week, and to not cling just to your own ideas but to work with your teammates so that the whole team can perform its best as a whole.  These characteristics apply to both Brawl and War.

Spoiler for jonathancrazyj:

Question: What single card from any other element do you wish was in earth and why, and post a "mono" deck assuming that card was earth.
The idea is to find a new purpose for an earth deck, not to just make a normal deck more quanta balanced.

Farenheit, I think, would be the answer.  Earth already has some decent tools for quanta ramp decks, with Gnome Rider to accelerate it's own quanta, EQ to deny the opponent's, Stone Skin to Gain massive health, and Diamond Shield to survive long enough for the ramp process.  A deck built around these cards, however, wouldn't have a good and safe way to damage the opponent currently, so here's a new Quanta Ramp deck that Earth could play if it had Farenheit.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

778 778 778 778 778 778 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77e 77i 77i 77k 77k 77k 77k 77k 77k 77l 77l 77j 77j 77j 77c 77c 7dn 7dn 7dn 8pm

Spoiler for dark ripper:

holy cow. most diffucult community vote for me. both friends, one more experienced but inactive and the other less experienced but extremely active.. hmmm...

okay, here's some questions.

Elk:
-if one of your players in your war team started lose interest or being inactive how would you deal with it?
-would you rather draft experienced players with loyalty to the element but no clue about activity or active players that may not hold earth as their fav element-and why-?


To both:

Assuming the game wont change till next trials, are you going to trial again for earth?

I would try to encourage them to focus on their games even if they can't focus on the team as a whole, and try to keep my team a friendly place to chill around.  I prefer experience and activity first, much more than loyalty.  I believe that most of the strong PVPers are good enough to be flexible to any element's strengths.

Should I win, I will certainly defend my title next Trials.

Spoiler for CCC:

Does the vault feel emptier with no antlions or no iridium wardens?

No Iridium Wardens feels much lonelier - Wardens are one of the useful stalling cards in earth's arsenal and can even act as CC if buffed.  Antlions, while sometimes nice especially upped, can usually be covered by grabbies or golems if they are missing.

ALL ELEMENTS QUESTIONS

What element do you hate the most and why?

I don't really hate any element, but if I have to pick one it would be .  In my play experience time can do so little on its own or as the larger half of a duo, and is mostly only worthwhile for splashing RT into other decks like my beloved Shriekerquake.  SoR Pharoahs is an exception, but so much of play is shardless or shard-restricting that I rarely see power from time other than as a splash.

What does your element represent and mean to you outside of the gameplay? What has it done for you, and what would you do for it as a Master?

Earth represents sturdiness and resilience to me.  I've been through a number of challenges in my personal life, and the characteristic that I'm most proud of is my ability to keep pressing on even when times are difficult.  Earth connects with me on that level because cards like Stone Skin, Basilisk Blood, and Diamond Shield really represent an ability to turn a seemingly bad situation and turn it on its head.

In a less metaphysical sense, has also been one of the core elements in my playing career.  I made my first season of BL a success, reaching 3rd place on the last day of the season and scoring several upsets over players like Jen, dragons, and Vang, using several somewhat unusual decks.  Two of my bread and butter decks that season were a Shriekerquake and It's a Trap, both of which relied fundamentally on earth cards to succeed.  My "CC Grabbow", a slightly customized version of It's a Trap, gave me opportunities to surprise opponents and have draws in any given scenario - almost every game I played it in, a timely BB was enough to win (whether it showed up or not often determined the match). 

If you win Trials, will you lead your team into the upcoming war?

If not, please explain why.

If so, please describe your leadership style and how you will organize and motivate your team members.

I absolutely will.  My leadership style focuses on finding players around me who have experience and focusing on the early days of each round to prepare our decks and leave time for revision.  Checking in with team members regularly is key to group success.

If your element has never won a war, why do you think that is?  (underpowered elements, bad generals/team, bad rng, etc)

If your element has won a war, what makes you think YOU can do it again?

I think that teams of the past have tunneled a little too hard on certain key decks like SBLAD/Immortal and Grabbows, and become too predictable.  I think that with less predictable, but still solid, decks, can win a war.

brawl, where do you stand on it and do you think you will be able to be a brawl boss?

brawl, where do you stand on it and do you think you will be able to be a brawl boss?

Good question, might I add: Do you think masters should represent their elements in Brawl?

I think that masters ought to represent their elements in Brawl if they feel capable of being a good leader in Brawl, though Brawl usually has fewer than 12 teams.  As a member of two Brawl teams already and a person who considers Brawl one of the biggest highlights of forum life, yes I plan to lead a team in Brawl should I become master.

[JonathanCrazyJ]

Question: What single card from any other element do you wish was in earth and why, and post a "mono" deck assuming that card was earth.
The idea is to find a new purpose for an earth deck, not to just make a normal deck more quanta balanced.

[MyNameIsJoey]

oh wow. here i got to choose between brawl teammates. Sure will tear me apart.

Speaking of teams, tell me the 3 most important qualities a teammate should have in your opinion. say a war teammate.

[theelkspeaks]

Question: What single card from any other element do you wish was in earth and why, and post a "mono" deck assuming that card was earth.
The idea is to find a new purpose for an earth deck, not to just make a normal deck more quanta balanced.

If I were to choose a card like Farenheit, would the card text also become per 5 earth quanta (under the rules of this thought experiment)?

[JonathanCrazyJ]

Yes, though cards with abilities DIFFERENT from their element would keep the element of their ability:

Upgraded Hourglass becomes 4 to play, 1 ability.
Mind Flayer becomes 2 to play 1 ability.

[theelkspeaks]

All questions are now up to date.

[dark ripper]

holy cow. most diffucult community vote for me. both friends, one more experienced but inactive and the other less experienced but extremely active.. hmmm...

okay, here's some questions.

Elk:
-if one of your players in your war team started lose interest or being inactive how would you deal with it?
-would you rather draft experienced players with loyalty to the element but no clue about activity or active players that may not hold earth as their fav element-and why-?

Meg:
-If you could change one thing about last war regarding player attitude/performance what would it be(you may include thyself if you want)?
-Why do you think earth has never won a war?

To both:

Assuming the game wont change till next trials, are you going to trial again for earth?

[CCCombobreaker]

Does the vault feel emptier with no antlions or no iridium wardens?