5th Trials - Phase 3 - Community Vote

[kev]

Phase 3 - Community Vote

Phase ends when above poll expires.

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.  Feel free to ask the candidates difficult questions to help you make your decision.

For reference, here are the 5th Trials Standings (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,35936.0.html) and Phase 1 Submission (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,35922.0.html) threads.

[Kuroaitou]

I'll answer my own question below after a few days/hours or so.

Q: “Considering our matches against Aether weren’t so… favorable, if you were to become master of time, and the exact same ‘rules’ were implemented for the next trials, what 3 cards would YOU ban for time challengers (when facing each other) and aether challengers (when they battle time)? Or would you keep them as is, considering the bans as test for the Time players to find crazy innovative decks to fight our mortal enemies?”

[Calindu]

Q:"Since GotP came, a lot of people used it for the ability and being a good mid creature, what would happen if Time wont be able to use GotP, what would be the creature used?"

[pikachufan2164]

Or would you keep them as is, considering the bans as test for the Time players to find crazy innovative decks to fight our immortal enemies?

Fixed

[Kuroaitou]

Q:"Since GotP came, a lot of people used it for the ability and being a good mid creature, what would happen if Time wont be able to use GotP, what would be the creature used?"

In terms of the mid-attack creature? Or the ability?

I guess in terms of the former, there 'technically' is no middle-ground besides that of the Golden Nymph (a rare), or using Deja Vu and or Scarabs for quicker forms of damage. As much as Pharaoh and the Devonian Dragon (to me) are awesome creatures with either fun abilities or impressive damage potential, I personally think that the only way to get around the loss of GotP would be falling to quick attackers (again, Scarabs) in order to do pull off the offense. Deja Vu are too frail (and also too reliant on their skill), while the other creatures I mentioned are simply too expensive/rare for many players.

I don't consider Fate Egg a part of this equation due to its randomness. ^^;

Or would you keep them as is, considering the bans as test for the Time players to find crazy innovative decks to fight our immortal enemies?

Fixed

Oh you.

[Onizuka]

10 men: I am not sure if you answered this somewhere else, but why no phase 1? Do you still want to keep the title, or do you only want to have another final trials battle?

Oa and Vin: Critique Kuro's avatar and past avatars that he provides in time. Translation will also be provided. (Thanks Kuro!)
Kuro: Why did you choose these avatars?

[Vineroz]

Who are you? I am Vineroz, a regular Elements addict since 2010 Jan. What are your achievements in the community? My first PvP experience War 3 UW tournament PvP Events Draft II (a member of the winning team), TCOBO, Metamorphosis, TPvP #4, HPPvP, Grid #2, WoE (Team Time) Weekly Tournaments Won 1 out of 32 participations since April 2011 PvP Leagues Champions League in 2011/3 and 2012/1. Finished last place in the last season because I used so many original decks. War 4 Picked into Team Gravity, and helped the team to obtain 8th place. Why are you joining Trials? I love this game. I have spent so much time in the last 2 years in this game, and I feel like I can contribute to the community. I actually did some serious thinking before joining trials as this is not only showing a commitment to the element but also a responsibility to promote it in the community. I am really not sure if I have that quality in me. Considering I am in the last semester of university life and I would probably not going to involve in any PvP events after graduation (because of work and timezone restrictions), I decide to give it a go. I won't say I love time. But I do see time as the most important element around our lives. It is not physically existing like Fire or Earth, nor conceptual like Entropy or Aether. It is there, but unnoticed by most of us. I like how this game interprets time, with the ability to hasten or rewind. The true master of time is the one that can freely manipulate time, whether in the game or in real life, and this is what I always dreamed of.

Q: “Considering our matches against Aether weren’t so… favorable, if you were to become master of time, and the exact same ‘rules’ were implemented for the next trials, what 3 cards would YOU ban for time challengers (when facing each other) and aether challengers (when they battle time)? Or would you keep them as is, considering the bans as test for the Time players to find crazy innovative decks to fight our mortal enemies?”

• Ghost of the Past: I was always wondering if GotP is banned is a good idea, because it has such an important role in 's offense. And it turns out almost every game we put at least one GotP in the deck.
• Dimensional Shield: In the trials games I feel that Dimensional Shield could be very powerful, combining with RT as control. It can also paired with Fractal for damage.
• Steal: Steal is a good ban from 10 men I think. It reduces the risk of playing permanents, which is what needed to rely on.

• Dimensional Shield, Devourer: These are obvious. If these cards are not banned can hardly win a game.
• Phase Spider: This one is interesting. In upped form, they are superior in attacking. Banning this card encourage challengers to build some more rushy decks, which is an underestimated aspect in 's decks.

Q:"Since GotP came, a lot of people used it for the ability and being a good mid creature, what would happen if Time wont be able to use GotP, what would be the creature used?"

I am expecting Dragon as the main attacker. Nymph and Anubis are viable options too. Generally Nymphs > Anubis because they have one more attack and a useful in-element ability, but as they are so rare Anubis would be the only option left. Note that many people doesn't treat Anubis as an attack force, but in the restricted meta game Anubis actually has good stats. It is resistant to CC, and its attack is not too shabby. Pharaoh has the ability to spam scarabs which has advantage in mid-late game, but its problem is a bit too slow. Deja Vu and Fate Egg are simply too fragile and weak.

To conclude, I would choose Dragon/Nymph as the main attackers, with Pharaoh as support.

Critique Kuro's avatar and past avatars that he provides in time.

Junior avatar: Sundial is a strange choice. Although it was a game-breaking card, not many people chose it as an avatar. As oppose to Hourglass (hasten) or RT (RT), Sundial represents an "on-hold" status, which revealed the RL situation of Kuro, as he said he actually just came back from a pretty rough year, and the only thing that he wanted badly was for 'time to stop', so that he could catch up and recuperate, rather than having everything around me fall apart. (Kuroaitou, 2012). It shows that Kuro was lacking confidence in his life.
From the second avatar onwards, it was the same broken hourglass, with the darkish background. From his PvP history, he was even in Team Darkness in 2 wars, which made people think Kuro likes Darkness more. But they were wrong. Kuro always put time on the first place. He has been loyal to time. He had joined time trial for 4 times, trying to master the skills of time, and ultimately recovering what he had lost. And not until this point I found out how similar we are.

[Kuroaitou]

Translations of kanji for the last two: 'Kuroaitou' (in Yellow), 'Curator' (in Sandy Beige).

The avatars represent an aesthetic representation of my fascination with Time. Initially (like my personality), I chose Sundial over the Hourglass as my Junior avatar for two main reasons: 1) everyone else seemed to be using the Golden Hourglass as their avatar or Nymphs or other main Time cards, and 2) at that moment in my life, I was actually at a 'standstill' with what I was doing. In real life, I actually just came back from a pretty rough year, and the only thing that I wanted badly was for 'time to stop', so that I could catch up and recuperate, rather than having everything around me fall apart.

The last 3 avatars are expansions of that 'wanting time to stop' concept; instead of using the Sundial though, I used the broken hourglass instead to show that the sand (in the picture above) has actually stopped flowing because of the glass having fallen apart.

I'm at the point in my life where I've let myself break in order to recover properly, rather than trying to preserve the cracks in order to keep 'maintaining' the current system.

With each new derivation (the 3rd one being the main one), there was a subtle change. The first was simply symbolic; the second including my transformation into a Card Curator and thus I added kanji to emphasize my name and also what my task was to demand me of, and the third was my slow 'corruption' (or should I say coercion? XD) into the Darkness element and appreciation of its ties with Time.

[MrBlonde]

10men - why didn't you do any of Phase I? Do you REALLY want to be master again or are you just defending your title?

For the rest of you 10men is one of the best players in elements. How are you comparable to him?

[DevilLoss]

time was always a mid tier element for war coming between 8-5 place what changes do you feel need to be done or better implemented to make time come in the top 3 and or win war?

[MyNameIsJoey]

for 10 men : Are there really 10 of you?

For everyone: I have only very lately learned to love time.
1- what makes time a bit less popular?
2- Drawing is an awesome ability, why isn't it enough to make time win wars?
3- If you could add a card to time, what would it be?

[Vineroz]

10men is one of the best players in elements. How are you comparable to him?

I know 10 men since the top50's, as he was always the #1. I was in 10 men's team in Draft II, which we won under his leadership. But as I was still a newbie in PvP I didn't learn much about him. It was CL last season and in War 4 I realize the ability of 10 men as a PvP player in Elements.

To be honest I cannot compared to him in any aspect, as he had great achievements in this game. I might not have the dedication he had (to constantly farm for high score), but I consider myself a competent PvP player. If I have the honor to face 10 men in the final battle, I would say it is a 50/50 game.

time has always come close to the top in war espcially in this last war but before that time was always a mid tier element for war coming between 8-5 place what changes do you feel need to be done or better implemented to make time come in the top 3 and or win war?

War is a big event that requires a variety of strategies. 10 men's team displayed great skill from choosing team members, deck building and deck's choice in War 4, which earn them a 4th place. Of course the event cards can be decisive, but I think time can get enough support from off-element cards to come in top 3 easily.

For everyone: I have only very lately learned to love time.
1- what makes time a bit less popular?
2- Drawing is an awesome ability, why isn't it enough to make time win wars?
3- If you could add a card to time, what would it be?

1. Time has never been unpopular. Back in the old days when SGbow sweeps through the whole community, people learnt the power of time, especially Hourglass and Eternity. It is true that time never had been the shining element in popular decks, usually just appearing as a support role. This is time's nature I am afraid, existing unnoticed, but possibly deadly when you trigger its power.

2. While drawing is an awesome ability, it doesn't work that well in unupped meta game, especially when time is the main element in the deck. Unupped Hourglasses are expensive quanta-wise combined with time's creatures. With the current rules, there are good decks that can be built base on Hourglasses (Look at Ghostal), but its power is still limited.

3. I like my card submission Big Crunch:


"In physical cosmology, the Big Crunch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_crunch) is one possible scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the metric expansion of space eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately ending as a black hole singularity." -- Wikipedia

All creatures are rewound from the last creature slot to slot #1. Removes poison to prevent poison spam before Big Crunch. Rewind part affects both sides. Drain all of your quanta.
Card art by me
Maybe it needs some balance in its current form, but I like how it perfectly fits the theme of time.