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.

[JonathanCrazyJ]

Jonathancrazyj Phase 3 Community Vote

Phase 1
Phase 2

Questions and Answers

Questions From This Thread

Spoiler for ji412jo:

Water is sometimes seen as an element that can synergize well with everything, with the obvious synergize on certain creatures. 
My question is : which element do you like the less to duo with water?

I love this question - there are excellent decks to be made from duoing water with all elements so I will interpret the question as my personal least interesting, rather than least effective.
I think it has to be . I am a big fan of clear, clever and complex synergies. While great time/water decks can be made, most rely simply on the individual strengths of the cards/elements, rather than combining mechanics for an extra effect. The closest I could come in my Phase 2 decks won in its game against Zso_Zso:

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5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ig 5ig 5ig 5ig 5ig 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 5rg 7gk 7gr 7gr 7h0 7i6 7i6 7q0 7q0 7q0 8pp

This had a partial synergy, in that the precognition draw power allowed me to draw more pillars to sustain nymph creation. I loved this deck, it was effective, but it still feels a little forced, a little less interesting, and for that reason, is my answer.

Spoiler for theelkspeaks (1st):

Which card in is most underused (comparing actual use in competitive play to your opinion of its true strength), and provide an example of a deck that uses that card.  The deck in question may have any number of elements present and any total number of water cards, so long as your example deck contains at least 3 copies of the named card.  Be sure to specify the purpose of the deck (i.e. is it intended for Leagues, Leagues with shards, War, or a specific PVP Event in recent memory?).

Interesting question - mainly because the current meta has been going for so long that cards are pretty much exactly as good as people think they are.

Having said that, a card I really like, but is often overlooked simply because it needs the right conditions in order to flourish, is the Steam Machine.
The unupped version is actually sometimes better because of the lower quanta cost, and still being out of thunderbolt range, but I want to focus on the upgraded version.

This is the deck I created, for upgraded, shardless PvP play, or in other words, CL. I also decided to put my money where my mouth is, and actually use it in CL. It won against Worldwideweb3 (though I lost the match 2-1 (he beat a catatitan deck with dischole in the decider).

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5fc 5fk 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dg 7dk 7dk 7dk 7dk 7dk 7dk 7dm 7dm 7dn 7dr 7dr 7f2 7f2 7f2 7f2 7f2 7f2 7f2 7h2 7h2 7h2 7h2 8pp

The problem most Steam Machine decks have is that they end up focusing too much on water cards such as freeze and octopus to provide the stall that Machines need to get going, and actually end up under-funding their machines.
The meta is full of stall decks and hard CC such as thunderbolt which the Phoenix deals with fairly well, but it still gets hindered and often outdamaged. Unless you somehow kill a machine, it's damage potential just keeps growing. This machine version of PhoenixBolt has the advantage of having NO creature damage cap. Sundials leave you an extra turn to grow your extremely CC resistant machines, and grow your quanta for eventual bolt CC or killing blow.
obviously it has weaknesses, all decks do, but it makes for a surprisingly effective Domination deck.

On the same turn as this killing blow screenshot I used 2 bolts to get his health down.

But is Trident underused? It might be neglected by new players, but in top level PvP (I'm basing off of WC) Trident decks are quite common if is available for the match.

WC actually requires diversity to succeed, because of the high level of play, but a lot of events don't. The latter events are where Trident is used less than I feel it should be, especially leagues, which has very little diversity, and where one player who is definitely not new said in chat the other day that Trident is useless in. Furthermore, a lot of people at all levels of experience still consider Trident to be the worst rare weapon.

I redirect your question to jcj, for the sake of equality: But is Steam Machine underused?

Well, in an open meta it is almost NEVER played. It might occasionally be splashed as one card in a stally rainbow, but doesn't find its way in speedbows, and nobody ever makes a deck focusing on them.
Trident on the other hand is actually really heavy in both BL and CL metas now. I have used Serpentine 7 times in CL so far (it is 3-4, but I have pulled it out against some very bad match ups). And I have faced it in BL about 4 times so far (it usually kicks my arse, it's awesome).
It is a great card, and I do understand why you think it is used less than its potential. The same can easilly be said of Steam Machine, however.

Spoiler for rob77dp:

Which elements best counters Water mono/duo vs. mono/duo, besides Aether?

While water in general suffers against stall decks unless we are prepared to counter them, most elements are capable of making a stall deck of sorts, so I will focus on other things.
I think other than Aether, the elemnt we have most to fear from is Air.
Our only flying creature is our Dragon, which, though mildly CC resistant, is usually not our best option for damage in an un-upped meta. When upped, its hp lowers into Thunderbolt range, so we are less likely to pack them. Coupled with our lack of PC, Wings becomes very powerful.
One of our most powerful cards in mono/duo metas is our Trident/Poseidon. Unfortunately, air has means of quanta generation through Dragonflies.
While our CC of Freeze and Octopus have the ability to shutdown a field of creatures, the Octopuses (Octopi?) are killed off en masse by Thunderstorm and Air can skip the creature field completely with Unstable Gas.
Finally even our sturdy upgraded Abyss Crawlers are polished off in two hits, as with most other creatures we have, by Eagle's Eye

All in all, leaves us a lot to think about.

Spoiler for Frozengaia (1st):

To all:
<- Compare using a deck of these and another element as opposed to an in-element nymph you want, assuming you have those in-element nymphs. Would you ever use NT as a replacement to an actual nymph of a card you have?

Essentially this is a toss up.
Using Nymphs sometimes make things easier to quanta balance without having to destroy a pillar. Often Tear-nymphs can be created faster though, and if you are willing to wait and target a Pillar first you can create more Nymphs, to the point where they are no longer a splash card, and can instead have a strategy completely designed around them.
In general, splashing a Tear or two in a deck that ALREADY needs water for its strategy (Example: Swallow) is better than using the Nymph itself, but creating a duo with water simply to splash nymph tears is nowhere near as effective as using the nymphs themselves.

And what about NT versus Nymph Queen?

Unupped = Queen better (1 more quanta without the pillar destroy)
Upped = Tear cheaper so faster to get out.

Any Situation = Queen allows you to make nymph-spam decks WITHOUT needing water pillar/pends. You could have all pendulums of other elements, a water mark, and still get out Nymph Queens (Better balanced / reliable, but slower to get going, you would need another strategy in the deck to facilitate stalling to the Queen)

Spoiler for Basman-1453:

*) Aside from its lack of PC, do you think Water has any other noteworthy problems?

PC would solve so many of our problems it's a hard question to answer, but I'd say that our ability to stall-break is very situational. Steam machine is a niche card, and requires perfect mind-gating to crack a stall. With regards to our deck-building capabilities, something that gave us healing (other than purify) would open up a lot of deck-building possibilities and would combo well with our freezing ability, and growth creatures.

*) In your opinion, which element pulls the least effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?

I have answered my least interesting duo, least EFFECTIVE duo is probably gravity. There just isn't much to get out of a water / gravy duo. BH / Trident would be nice but requires earth, Why use Oty when we have Squid, and there just isn't much of a reason to go with gravy unless rules force you to.

*) In your opinion, which element pulls the most effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?

Earth. Serpentine. Effective in all metas. Total pain to play against.

Spoiler for theelkspeaks (2nd):

If you could add one card to water, with the stipulation that it must be balanced and must not have a different element in its ability cost (if there is an ability cost at all), what would it be?

Well, obviously Permanent Control. But PC in this game is very focused in it's element thematically, so it has to be something good in that respect.

NAME: Capsize ELEMENT: Water COST: 4 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Return up to 3 of your opponent's permanents to their hand.	NAME: Wreck ELEMENT: Water COST: 4 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Return up to 3 of your opponent's permanents to their hand.  Draw a card.

ART: IDEA: jonathancrazyj NOTES: -Will not target Pillars/Pendulums. -If opponent does not have space in their hand, the permanents are shuffled into their deck. -Order of permanents selected: --Shield Slot --Weapon Slot --Other permanent slots in the order in which they were filled SERIES:

This card was inspired by a Card in MtG called "Sea God's Revenge".
Rather than being hard PC, this serves as a delaying PC, which fits the theme of water (freezing, Poseidon, squids)
I feel this fits the need for PC, creates a few exciting deck ideas (This+Nightmare+RT), fills a gap in the market for softer PC, and fits the theme of water.

Spoiler for Frozengaia (2nd):

Do you consider NT quanta denial?

Err unless I knew an opponent needed one more quanta to play something and it was very late game, giving them a Nymph for a Pillar is a bad trade-off. There are situation uses, true, but nobody has ever made a Nymph Queen/Devourer deck. If i want to destroy Pillars/Pends, I'll use a Trident

Spoiler for Corri:

To all: Why should I vote for you? Why do you think you would be a better Master/General than your competition? Or do you think somebody else would be better for this position?
What cards should be changed/add to make water more competitve?

Many Questions.
You should vote for me because I have game experience, but am fairly fresh in the community, and still have the drive that some of the longer-standing members have lost. I'm not saying I am more qualified, or more worthy. But I am qualified and worthy enough, and just, maybe a little, more hungry.
I might make a better master and general for this reason. I am a capable person, and have a lot to put into this game. I think in any team game it is useful to have someone who is good at co-operation and diplomacy. In these things I excel. The rest I have answered in previous answers.

As far as changes to water go. PC. Again, I don't want to flog a dead horse - I have answered these in other questions.

Thanks for your interest, I welcome any further questions

Spoiler for CCCombobreaker:

Does the vault feel emptier with no mind flayers or no chrysaoras?

Well, Chrysaoras are awesome, so them.
Mind Flayers are great too tbh, but any deck that uses them can use something else instead, either for the same purpose (lobo. Or Octopus for CC rather than ability control) or just by using those slots for something with a different purpose.

Questions From "Questions for all Elements" Thread

Spoiler for Willng3:

What element do you hate the most and why?

Since this question is ambiguous, I will avoid mechanics I don't like (because, tbh I have played the game so much I like and respect all the elements for their roles in deck combos) and instead answer thematically and aesthetically.
Life. It's just dull. Frogs and plain Healing and Empathy. Even half of its Dragons are made of leaves. And what the hell is a Cockatrice?

Spoiler for Higurashi:

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?

Outside of Gameplay, I owe everything I have got out of this community, and everything I plan to continue to put into it, to . I was nervous joining the community, all of the old veterans are a little intimidating, but thankfully I was pursuaded to join Brawl. And one of my greatest strengths is that when I am involved in something, especially if others rely on me, I put everything I can into that thing. Dd drafted me into Frostbite Borealis . And Water, which was my favorite element anyway, indelibly marked itself on my heart.

As Master, I will give full commitment and dedication to War and Brawl. While I might lack experience in War itself, I have a good understanding of elements meta leaving me capable in deck building, and (it seems) very good at PvP. But my real strength is in team-building and diplomacy. I will certainly create a good group dynamic, and allow us to enjoy ourselves and relish the competition. I am also not 'proud' or selfish, and will delegate responsibility and trust in the opinions of more experienced team members as General. I believe a winning team does not necessarily have the most powerful General, but the General who inspires his troops.

Plus, y'know, outside elements, I drink water. It helps me live.

Spoiler for trashduke:

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 went over this in Higs answer, but HELL YES.
However, I will be seeking a strong EXPERIENCED lieutenant to complement my leadership. Those scarred by war have a lot of experiences and wisdom to impart - but so long as they are present, there is no need for them to lead.
My leadership style is diplomatic and nurturing, but focused. I would never say "yeah that's fine" to something that wasn't, but I would never slam someones idea without explaining myself.
I am excellent and creating a good atmosphere, and working out the strengths of people I am leading. I am also good at problem solving and finding a working group dynamic individual to the group itself. If I have people who are very strong-minded, I set up a forum where people can express their ideas without feeling aggressive or insulting. If I have a group that is very indecisive i am capable of making executive decisions that represent the best ideas we have come up with. Equally I am able to simply be a moderator/arbitrator if people are able to democratically come to a conclusion themselves.
My leadership is like water. I allow the best to rise to the surface. And mercilessly drown my enemies.

Spoiler for dragonsdemesne:

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?

Water has never won. The way that war is run with a vault leaves us susceptible to running out of the cards we need to match up with certain elements. This war looks like many rules will differ, and certainly if we can use shards it will shake up a lot of the War meta. One reason I would make an equally good master to previous / current masters / challengers, is that nobody will be quite sure of the mechanics of the War meta this time, and I certainly won't be lulled into a false sense of security - or be overly fearful of particular decks that we may not even face this time.

Spoiler for dawn to dusk:

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

It's awesome. I love it.
I will be able to be a brawl boss. While I excel at writing, and was the highest scoring writer of the competition, I am proficient in the other categories. This year, Ddevans96 was busy and unable to do his boss task in two rounds, through no fault of his own, and I stepped up and did them for him at the last minute.

Round 3 Forum Expert Boss Task: Did it in the last hour or so of the submission window (or at least my last waking hour), came 3rd (1st and 2nd were 1st equal) but got BOTH Expert votes.
Round 6 Artist Boss Task: This was done ASAP because we were going for (and got) the event card points for submitting all tasks quickest, and it was also a little rushed. I came 2nd, and again got BOTH Expert Votes.
These scores were on tasks that were not my primary task of the round, and if they had been I would have been able to put far more time and effort into them. As it was, I was proud to do as well with them as I did.
Again, brawl is about team work and co-ordination. Two things I excel in.

Spoiler for Naesala:

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 Brawl Boss role requires a very rounded ability, and some (very good) masters may not suit the role.
I think that whichever masters wish to make a brawl team (couldn't fill 12 teams i don't think) should take up the role of Boss for the auction process, but should be allowed to swap roles with one of their team members between the end of the auction and the beginning of round 1.
Only one swap is allowed, and swapping any other roles in their team is not allowed.

[ddevans96]

Previous Votes: Trials 6 || Trials 7 || Trials 8

All questions will be answered in the thread.

[MyNameIsJoey]

Water is sometimes seen as an element that can synergize well with everything, with the obvious synergize on certain creatures. 
My question is : which element do you like the less to duo with water?

[ddevans96]

Water is sometimes seen as an element that can synergize well with everything, with the obvious synergize on certain creatures. 
My question is : which element do you like the less to duo with water?

In a duo, Gravity. While they do have synergy, our strongest synergies with Gravity require the assistance of a third element.

[theelkspeaks]

For all candidates:

Which card in is most underused (comparing actual use in competitive play to your opinion of its true strength), and provide an example of a deck that uses that card.  The deck in question may have any number of elements present and any total number of water cards, so long as your example deck contains at least 3 copies of the named card.  Be sure to specify the purpose of the deck (i.e. is it intended for Leagues, Leagues with shards, War, or a specific PVP Event in recent memory?).

[rob77dp]

All:

Which elements best counters Water mono/duo vs. mono/duo, besides Aether?

[Espithel]

To Blacksmith:
You were a Master of Earth once. Why the change?

To all:
<- Compare using a deck of these and another element as opposed to an in-element nymph you want, assuming you have those in-element nymphs. Would you ever use NT as a replacement to an actual nymph of a card you have?

And what about NT versus Nymph Queen?

[Basman-1453]

To all candidates:
*) Aside from its lack of PC, do you think Water has any other noteworthy problems?
*) In your opinion, which element pulls the least effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?
*) In your opinion, which element pulls the most effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?

[ddevans96]

For all candidates:

Which card in is most underused (comparing actual use in competitive play to your opinion of its true strength), and provide an example of a deck that uses that card.  The deck in question may have any number of elements present and any total number of water cards, so long as your example deck contains at least 3 copies of the named card.  Be sure to specify the purpose of the deck (i.e. is it intended for Leagues, Leagues with shards, War, or a specific PVP Event in recent memory?).

Trident/BB, or Serpentine as I label it, is in my opinion the single most powerful deck we have access to in a lot of situations. It would be viable in basically every metagame as a decent change-of-pace deck, at the very least. In Water Trials, specifically, it's a monster if not played around.

All:

Which elements best counters Water mono/duo vs. mono/duo, besides Aether?

In general, Air. Wings is very powerful against us, due to no airborne damagers other than our dragon, they  large amount of CC to handle those, and our lack of PC.When you factor duos into the equation, however, the answer because less clear. I might still say Air when with PC cards, but I'd consider also Entropy and Darkness due to how well-rounded they are.

To all:
[Nymph's Tears] <- Compare using a deck of these and another element as opposed to an in-element nymph you want, assuming you have those in-element nymphs. Would you ever use NT as a replacement to an actual nymph of a card you have?

And what about NT versus Nymph Queen?

Yes, in certain situations, using Tears to create nymphs over putting that specific nymph in your deck is preferrable. The reason for this is because, when built as such, you have the option to create a Queen, to cover for nymphs particularly weak to CC by making more of them, and to assist nymphs with low damage. We also have natural access to powerful defensive options the other element may synergize well with.

As for NT vs Queen, comparing unupgraded to upped, Tears is 7 to make that first Queen, but playing Queen from hand is 8. But you lose one more pillar with Tears, so in general, I recommend using Tears when you have a surplus of of water pillars, and Queen when you don't. Upgraded, the cost difference becomes two, so you would normally just run Tears.

To all candidates:
*) Aside from its lack of PC, do you think Water has any other noteworthy problems?
*) In your opinion, which element pulls the least effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?
*) In your opinion, which element pulls the most effective duo with Water (and why would that be)?

1) I don't, honestly. We have multiple forms of damage, including power, swarm, spell, and stallbreak. We have strong defenses. We have direct synergy with 6 elements and indirect synergy with the others without being reliant on them, but we also have potent mono cards. PC is our only hole, but it's a big one.
2) As stated above, Gravity. To elaborate, this is because there's not a lot of strong synergy between them directly. I grew fond of Accel Crawlers testing it for Phase 2, but personally I think our best Gravity decks are Nymphcord and Frozen Catatitans, both of which are trios.
3) The most effective duo deck, in my experience, is Trident/BB, but the most versatile combination is Water/Darkness. Squid has natural synergy with the typical Darkness domin cards, SoP combos well with both Vampires and Devourers, our 13 attack dragon is great with LS, and all of these love Cloak.

[Zawadx]

For all candidates:

Which card in is most underused (comparing actual use in competitive play to your opinion of its true strength), and provide an example of a deck that uses that card.  The deck in question may have any number of elements present and any total number of water cards, so long as your example deck contains at least 3 copies of the named card.  Be sure to specify the purpose of the deck (i.e. is it intended for Leagues, Leagues with shards, War, or a specific PVP Event in recent memory?).

Trident/BB, or Serpentine as I label it, is in my opinion the single most powerful deck we have access to in a lot of situations. It would be viable in basically every metagame as a decent change-of-pace deck, at the very least. In Water Trials, specifically, it's a monster if not played around.

But is Trident underused? It might be neglected by new players, but in top level PvP (I'm basing off of WC) Trident decks are quite common if is available for the match.

[ddevans96]

But is Trident underused? It might be neglected by new players, but in top level PvP (I'm basing off of WC) Trident decks are quite common if is available for the match.

WC actually requires diversity to succeed, because of the high level of play, but a lot of events don't. The latter events are where Trident is used less than I feel it should be, especially leagues, which has very little diversity, and where one player who is definitely not new said in chat the other day that Trident is useless in. Furthermore, a lot of people at all levels of experience still consider Trident to be the worst rare weapon.

I redirect your question to jcj, for the sake of equality: But is Steam Machine underused?