Lurker > MariaTaylor

getting all three endings is pretty easy. I think I can beat bloodborne in a solid 5-6 hours at this point and that's without even really trying to go fast. I beat it twice already this year. eight times total now. I'm almost done with another challenge run too, although I haven't had much time to play in the last week so the challenge run sort of stalled out.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
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abominable bowman is actually pretty cool if you have one specific beast in your deck that you want to bring back. wish it was more impactful, though. it's like 1/6th of Anyfin can Happen but costs nearly as much and is way slower to activate.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
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Tom Bombadil posted...

also, recommendation: play Yakety Sax over the chase scene

ROFL

the more I think about the chase scene the more I believe it is the worst part of the entire movie

there is never a time when L should be running around chasing Light with a gun
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Game 6: Vs Hunter. I went First. Another weak opener. Wtf. At this point it's just getting outside of the realm of statistical belief. I did a cool little play where I had extra mana left over, so I intentionally fueled Grave Shambler by using my hero power before immediately equipping the weapon I was going to use that turn anyway. Free +1/+1! I played the board really well and kept him in check. Probably the first fun game this run and I think I'd feel that way even if I had lost. Win.

Game 7: Vs Paladin. I went First. Finally got Mistress of Mixtures in my opening hand. I jump onto the board pretty fast and take control quickly. I focus on just using my advantage to kill anything he puts down and prevent himself from fighting back. By turn 7 he seems to think he is not going to win and concedes. This is honestly probably a misplay on his part. He was holding lots of cards and I was holding very few. If he played it out he definitely had a chance to come back. Win.

Game 8: Vs Shaman. I went Second. Got Tinkmaster Overspark in my opening hand. Decided to keep him for the memes. Solid 1 drop and multiple 3 drops. Definitely something you want to see when going second. I coin out Eggnapper on 2, then pop him on 3 before playing the Tinkmaster. He turns my mistress of mixtures into a 5/5 devilsaur. Yessss. I have 10/10 worth of stats on the board on turn 3 and his board is empty. I'm generally against RNG bullshit but this is pretty hilarious, especially since it can actually backfire. And I specifically made the most skilled play possible to lower the chances of it backfiring. He had Earth Elemental created by Stonehill Defender to keep him alive on turn 5. This prevents checkmate but he's still very much in check. Turn 7 lethal. Almost like I'm playing Hunter again. Win.

Think I'll take a break for now. I can continue this run tomorrow morning or something. Glad Tinkmaster actually got to shine, though. I was worried that I just wouldn't draw/play him. Even better that it worked out in my favor but just playing him at all made me smile and brightened my day.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Arena #15
I Was Offered: Shaman/Rogue/Paladin
I Picked: Rogue


The Draft: Medivh as my very first pick of the draft. Ohhh yes. Some solid quality cards. An okay midrange curve. Picked up Tinkmaster Overspark as my very last card of the draft. There will be memes. Funny enough despite me "feeling" like this was a good deck, I actually ended up with a low 64 tier score. Well hm. The one weakness of this deck is that it does not have any super high quality heavy cards. Medivh is basically the top end of my deck. I do have a few spells to support the use of Ateish.

Game 1: Vs Mage. I went Second. Strong opening hand. This ended up being a long term value oriented game which is why I'm surprised I actually came out way ahead when the smoke cleared. Definitely not my typical experience against Mage, especially with a low quality deck. Win.

Game 2: Vs Mage. I went First. He had a very strong opener. He decided to play aggro Mage and try to push face damage. Then I got basically shut down completely by Ice Walker in the mid game. I love when an already top tier class in arena is given a card that can dominate the board and only costs 2 mana to play. This fucker literally had like 3 different freeze effects in the first six turns. That's three UNIQUE cases I'm talking about, not just the Ice Walker. Despite all of this bullshit I managed to pull ahead in the mid game and then he just frost novas my board and puts me back an entire turn. God damn I hate Mage in arena so much. I hate literally every single class card that they have. I hate everything about them. I killed him the following turn and it still pisses me off. The complete opposite of fun. Win.

Game 3: Vs Druid. I went Second. Had to mulligan all of my cards and still only drew one early game. And it was a Loot Hoarder. Yikes. Honestly I doubt it matters what I pulled. He had an aggro druid constructed level opener. I mean, literally, he played power of the wild, a two drop, and mark of the lotus all in the first two turns. Lol. Just what the hell. AND THEN HAD AN OOZE TO DESTROY MY WEAPON. ON CURVE. Things did not get much better from here. Loss.

Game 4: Vs Paladin. I went Second. Holy shit can I stop going second against Tier 1 classes in this run? Drew pretty much as garbage of an opener as last time too, complete with the shitty Loot Hoarder on turn 2. Then he just instantly conceded on turn 1. Well alright then. Win.

Game 5: Vs Shaman. I went First. Bad opening curve again. Despite having plenty of early game cards in my deck, btw. My opponent seems to have disconnected, and did nothing for the first 4 turns. Well, uh. Honestly I cannot say I am having fun right now. Two consecutive games where I get frustrated with terrible mulligans and then I win anyway just to completely random luck. Like, outside of the scope of the game itself luck. Feels stupid to win because some guy's boss came over and started standing behind his desk while he was at work or something. Funny enough my opener was so bad that despite him not playing any cards from turns 1-4, he still put up a good fight. Win.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I messed up one of the strands of his hair, btw. just pointing it out in case you don't notice it later. you can see a little white dot. I probably missed one tiny pixel with the brush when I was sculpting it.

presuming you're going to fill out the line work later, just make sure you cover up the missing spot there

and thanks! I was actually unsure about this one at first. it came out weird and I was thinking of scrapping it. then I decided to put in the extra 10 or 20 minutes to try and fix the problems and I'm glad the final version was worth the effort.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

btw I think different color schemes for these would be pretty cool

like how in neopets you have options between different colors for your pets and you can paint them into different types too
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
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oh man that slugroy looks so cute

great job!

also santa I'll do it later maybe. I do like the idea of you sending me materials and me basing new creatures off of them. this well help prevent me from running out of ideas. as long as I can keep submitting rough versions and having someone else touch them up.

I think I'm good at 'designing' but bad at creating final/polished versions of stuff
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

going to the library today, probably won't be writing for this unless it's much later on.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

5 mana 5/25

seems like a balanced card to me, but it doesn't have synergy with overload...
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Game 4: Vs Rogue. I went Second. Play a 1/2 on turn 1 to make his incoming turn 2 hero power less valuable. Then I block it with a 1/1 taunt for added salt. I have a lot of low cost cards again so I'm a little more careful in trying to extract value from them this time. Make a pretty great Corpse Raiser play to get double value out of a poison minion. Play Voraxx for the first time here, on turn 6. Won the game on turn 7, did not get Voraxx dream or any Voraxx value. Win.

Game 5: Vs Shaman. I went First. Had an okay opening curve, with the understanding that I'd Hero Power on turn 2 but have a 1-2-3-4 play. I drew into another 4 drop, giving me more options for the mid game but not much to do in the early game except play out my cards and hope he doesn't counter/block them. This is too often the case with low quality decks, which is why it often feels like arena games can come down to luck and which match ups you get. Silvermoon Portal summons Prince Keleseth. Not as bad as my last two results, at least... I rush him down and kill him by turn 7. Win.

Hm. Well then. Honestly I already had a theory about the KFT arena meta but these last few runs are really starting to cement it for me. I'll elaborate more later.

Game 6: Vs Warlock. I went First. I had a strong aggro oriented opener but this guy had more and better control tools than any player I've faced so far on this run. This is going to happen as I get further into the gauntlet, of course. It's just a question of whether this is the wall I'll finally hit due to my low deck quality or if I can power through. He gets insane Defile value and basically clinches the game but I play it out anyway on the off chance that I might be able to make a comeback. He plays Bonemare on the following turn. I do not make a comeback. Loss.

Game 7: Vs Druid. I went Second. Got a fairly bad opening hand, too. Tier 1 class opponent, my worst opener, going second. This does not bode well. Better card quality, better synergy, better curve as a result. Oddly enough for this low curve deck I actually end up with a solid turn 7 and turn 8 play. I make a pretty solid desperate late game stand. At this point I can only afford to go wide with my remaining low cost minions. He plays nothing but card draw on turn 10 which seems to be a good indicator that he has no real answers on hand. I set up lethal on board and hope for the best. Actually made a misplay and forgot to press the button, but I apparently played around Spreading Plague by accident. That being said this deck has literally no answer to Spreading Plague. I stalls me out long enough for him to play a second Spreading Plague and just automatically win the game. Loss.

Final Result: 4-3

Prizes:
1 Pack, 85 Gold
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Arena #14
I Was Offered: Rogue/Paladin/Warlock
I Picked: Paladin


Let's try this again. I may regret it later.

The Draft: Servant of Kalimos as my first synergy pick again. This card needs to just be completely removed from the game after they destroy the synergy pool. I am already beyond tired of seeing it. Absolutely atrocious draft aside from that. I got stuck with TWO meanstreet marshalls. Was offered an absolutely disgustingly bad batch of legendaries (ended up picking Voraxx just for stats, and keep in mind that he is OVERCOSTED for his stats - the other two were Nat the Darkfisher and Nozdormu). I did manage to draft a Silvermoon Portal so the voraxx dream might be alive. I did end up with a pretty consistent early game by the end so I may not be in the 0-3 hole just yet, but I am definitely not getting my hopes up with this deck. This ties my other 63 point deck as the lowest ones I have drafted so far this season.

Game 1: Vs Rogue. I went First. Janky opener, fixed by my first few draws. I did have a good starting hand with some options for the first few turns. He slams down fledgling on turn 3. Welp. Guess this is the game where I had a solid opener but just lose anyway due to pure dumb luck in my opponent drawing the nuts. Windfury and Divine Shield adaptations. Devilsaur Egg to block my volatile elemental since now I just risk giving him a 5/5. This has already snowballed well out of control on turn 4. I actually realized I have no other option than to take the 50/50 and I do end up winning. RNG victories always feel so lame and cheap. My meanstreet marshall grows to a 5/10 after I Silvermoon Portal and then Spikeridged Steed it. HAHA. He does at least manage to intentionally pop his Devilsaur Egg later, so that is a bit of a problem. A completely bullshit RNG defeat turns into a completely bullshit RNG victory. And nothing about that feels satisfying. Still hard to complain since I move on to 1-0. Win.

Game 2: Vs Paladin. I went First. I draw Righteous Protector on turn 1, probably the best card in my deck. I get Doomsayer off of Silvermoon Portal, wrecking my own board. Well that's always fun. Amazingly, he intentionally kills the Doomsayer with a Crazed Alchemist. What. Just why. Why. What.
He then essentially trades away his board on turn 6, giving me a clean board and fresh tempo. Which is exactly what the Doomsayer would have done if he had just left it up... I have no cards left and he has a lot though, so he's still in a pretty superior position. Even though the board is literally just me with a big taunt and a poisonous minion hiding behind it. Amazingly he has two copies of Blessing of Wisdom in his hand, right now, and he casts both of them. This game goes to some weird places but I end up with a board full of small minions and he dumps a lot of his extra cards just trying to stay caught up. At this point we're both in topdeck mode but I'm ahead on board and in life total. He concedes. Win.

Game 3: Vs Mage. I went First. I push the board early on pretty hard but do it by drawing a lot of my low cost cards. This leads to my emptying my hand almost right away. With no reload to speak of I'm punished pretty hard when he plays Volcanic Potion. But, I mean, I'm playing against Mage. So what the fuck am I even supposed to do? Pray to the gods of RNG to get matched up against a different class, I guess. Silvermoon Portal summons a Wild Pyromancer that burns itself down to 1 health. That's 0/2 on portals so far. Like every single mage I have faced in arena so far this expansion he has insane elemental synergy. I don't think that's even an exaggeration. You can find some variation of that statement in probably every write up I have done so far against a Mage. No particularly good plays on his part. Just bullshit answers on curve every single turn. The typical Mage arena player. Loss.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

some more interesting notes on why this is a one-sided stomp

the raptor claw is actually pretty dull and lacks the sharp cutting edge needed to even effectively slash. the current belief is that raptors hunted by pouncing on their prey, pinning them down, and using their body weight to hold them in place while feeding.

considering these are much smaller and weigh much less than the samurai their typical fighting style is not going to work here. and since their claws are not actually suited to slashing or cutting they won't be dealing much damage even if they do try to fight in a more conventional way.

the samurai are also going to have a longer reach with the katana. even with a 2 vs 1 advantage the raptors really have no chance.

todbot1 posted...

would a discussion thread before the actual poll be a good idea? nobody really argued this until 5 hours in, and by then it was pretty much decided.

depends on what you want.

a poll is a great way to get large number of thoughtless responses. lack of a poll is a good way to get more detailed and well thought out responses but you're also likely to get far less.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

slugroy 2


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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

and for anyone who has seen the movie

the diner scene is definitely not a confrontation scene. there is never a single scene in the entire manga where L goes "hey I think you are Kira" and Light goes "yes you are right." nothing about this was a proper confrontation between Light and L. the fact that Light just instantly admits that he is Kira the first time they meet is frankly absurd. they skipped over what should have been the majority of the movie and what was the best aspect of the original series and condensed it into a 2 minute scene. yikes.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

XIII_rocks posted...

How was L? He's played by the guy from Atlanta right

one of the better actors in the movie. character has some good moments but ultimately they lose focus. if you want a version of L who is more emotionally invested in things and runs around in 'badass' chase sequences then this version of L is for you. if you wanted a version who would mentally battle against Light and dramatically explain the logic sequences that lead to his deductions you will be sorely disappointed. such scenes are few and far between and they are very dumbed down. there's not even a real confrontation scene between the two in the entire movie.

he's ultimately symptomatic of what is wrong with the entire movie and why the whole thing feels off. but you can say that about any character, really.

the director seems to have haphazardly changed every single character to try and make them more 'appealing' while completely losing sight of the original themes that those characters were supposed to represent. it's even weirder because he does seem to "get" L in earlier parts of the movie but things accelerate toward the conclusion too quickly and at that point things just become way too hands-on as a result.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

bonemare is definitely one of the "you just get lucky if you draft it" cards for this set
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Ultimecia
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Belle
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I actually could tell you were drawing the planet so that's good at least
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

how dare they eliminate alice
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

for some reason I can't remember if I actually picked a champion or not this time. hopefully I did. it would be pretty stupid if I did not. since I remember people posting the links about it and I usually do pick them when these things happen.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

just finished it. I didn't think it sucked. it wasn't great though.

basically served well as some death note fanfiction. someone wanted to tell a story with similar concepts but having little in common with the source material. honestly it would've been better if they just gave the characters all new names. this was obviously supposed to be a different setting, different story, different characters, but then they gave them all the same names which made it feel off.

maybe it's just a psychological thing but I was far less bothered by mia being way different from misa, as opposed to light being nothing like light. if he's not light then don't call him light. nobody in america would name their son that anyway so it's even more absurd.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I have no idea what those are

*google*

apparently messaging apps that normals use to talk to each other...
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Camden posted...

Jesus, was there a bug that let people take their standard decks into arena?

I'm starting to wonder it myself. some of these games I've had so far have been absolutely crazy.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

slugroy 1


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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Game 5: Vs Druid. I went First. Had a fairly strong opener. Played Mukla on 3 again, and Dreadlord in hand before 5. Aw yeah. And when going first that means I was really driving the tempo. Playing him on 5 ended up being pretty awkward but I did bait a lot of removal before playing DD on 7 on an empty board. I go all in on DD, dropping Bonemare on him for a buff, and then push for lethal. It works. Win.

Game 6: Vs Paladin. I went Second. Uh oh. He had Emerald Hive Queen on 1 and I had nothing to answer it. Always annoying. Coined out Darkshire Councilman to try and fight for the board. He also has Sword of Justice. I swear over half the paladins I've faced in arena lately have this card. Was in completely dominant position the entire game then got wrecked by Avenging Wrath. Oh well. Loss.

Final Result: 3-3

For the highest scored deck I have drafted so far this arena cycle. That's Hearthstone for you.

Prizes:
1 Pack
55 Gold
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Arena #13
I was Offered: Mage/Druid/Warlock
I Picked: Warlock


Eh, why not.

The Draft: I am so damn tired of drafting servant of kalimos. FUCK. THE. SYNERGY. POOL. Got King Mukla early on in the draft which was cool, too. Although I hate the idea of giving my opponent bananas and he's really not that overstated. Feels like I'm just setting my enemy up for favorable trades later. I got two Bonemares. Ended up with more of a plateau than a curve. Tons of value cards and heavy late game. Some really good removal tools too for early, mid, and late games. Lack of board clears is going to be a problem since I don't have a strong early or mid game board presence. We'll see how control warlock works out in arena. This is my highest tier score deck so far but I do worry about the lack of 2 and 3 drops. Once again I just was not offered very many, so it's not like this was my fault or anything. I was only offered two 2 drops and I took both of them.

Game 1: Vs Hunter. I went First. As one might expect with this deck, I did not get much early game cards. Hunter is a really bad match up for Warlock, too. Managed to make a solid turn 3 and turn 4 play, however. And I did get a good starting card advantage because of my slow opener and warlock hero power. Mulka on 5 with Drain Life. Kabal Trafficker on Turn 6. I'm in a favorable position from here. Bonemare on Mulka to protect the Trafficker. He concedes. Win.

Man I like to joke about curvestone and face is the place but you really cannot put a price on having some amazing high quality mid game cards to simply dominate the board and make it impossible for your opponent to come back. It didn't even matter that I had no opening play, because my midgame was so overwhelming.

Game 2: Vs Rogue. I went Second. Had a few decent cards that I might play early on, or hold them for later situationally. Obsidian Shard locks down my board to some extent but I'm not really trying to fight for the board anyway. I throw down Tar Lurker to stall the game. Didn't really work all that well honestly. My card quality was higher but he just tempo'd me out hard and forced me to make a lot of awkward plays. Honestly there were so many times when I had an answer in my hand then he did something to make it not work that it almost felt like he could somehow see my hand. Loss.

Game 3: Vs Mage. I went Second. Winning a control game against mage is going to be hard since it entirely depends on whether or not he was lucky enough to draft more broken cards than me. Thought you could win against Mage in arena? Think again. Loss.

Game 4: Vs Druid. I went Second. Manage to curve out pretty well on my low end, which is a good sign for this deck. I always have the mid and late game to back it up because of the way my curve is set up. Despicable Dreadlord on 5 to an opponent's empty board. Love this because it sets me up to always have a favorably DD set up whenever I want one. Plus if he knows that I only need [health-1] attack power to kill anything that he plays, it severely limits his options. Making your opponents turn awkward is a great way to get ahead in arena. This strategy works pretty well and carries me through the midgame in a fully dominant position. Siphon Soul on his last big taunt for lethal. Win.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I'll probably just shift the focus around as needed

thinking about it the scope here is pretty large and I assume you guys are invested enough to want to know what happens. if I just focus on one character they'll miss a lot of stuff and only pick it up from hearsay later on.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I know beast blood pellets are used for a lot of top end/optimized type strategies since you can get your damage insanely high and just kill stuff very quickly and/or stagger lock them... including bosses.

it's not anything I ever really bothered with myself but I've seen some pretty neat videos that make use of it
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

I still play Blooddborne
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Aladdin
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

actually now I agree with santa that the dotted line on the stomach looks a lot better. probably even better than the segmented idea I had in mind. the segmented body parts would be more 'realistic' for a crustacean creature, but make it look very unapproachable. the dotted line around the belly part makes it look more like a plushie, and thus cuter and more pet-like.

also if you want to pay me a flat fee of 10 billion imaginary dollars I would gladly accept
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

neat!

for the record I was also thinking of adding segmented lines either on the stomach section or the full body section, similar to how most crustaceans tend to have plated/segmented body types
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Rainn is also with Lana and Liona
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

any requests for the POV of the final part of the battle?

we've got reggie, Y, hayes, lana/liona all converging here. or I can continue from Kennedy's POV.

if you want me to skip the battle I can start with Martin and get ahead to the next set of stuff. I know at 4 chapters this is the longest battle probably in the history of the series. not sure I even really intended it originally to be this complex but, well, here it is.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

the dark souls of assassin's creed games
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

yeah that looks a lot better. I have no idea how you took my rough drawing and cleaned it up, but it looks good. nose type in the final version is superior.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Arena #12
I was Offered: Warrior/Paladin/Shaman
I Picked: Paladin

Well, uh, that was an easy choice. I've been waiting like 6 drafts for them to offer me Paladin even a single time. And it's not like I was going to pick one of the bottom tier classes anyway. But, jeez, finally. I was starting to think my client might be bugged or something.

The Draft: Get mediocre synergy picks for the billionth time, and find myself contemplating just quitting this game until they fix the god damn synergy pool aka remove it entirely and never try to implement such a bad idea ever again. Had to pick between Flappy Bird and Spikeridged Steed. Feels so bad. Picked up Soggoth and Truesilver later on in the draft. Nice. Since my strategy last time of intentionally picking 2/3 drops did not work since the game did not even offer me any 3 drops anyway, I decided this time to just draft the highest quality cards and then try to smooth out my curve at the very end as best as possible. Was offered one set of really, really bad cards. This seems to just be standard for arena though, at least for me. I know some people can draft medivh, frost lich jaina, and tons of removal spells. But I almost always have 1-3 dead cards in my deck at minimum.

Game 1: Vs Mage. I went Second. Drew a solid opening curve, though. Like most mage decks I play against he has insane elemental synergy, tons of removal, and perfect plays on curve every step of the way. Bonemare on 7. Is literally everyone other than me drafting this in all of their decks right now. Firelands portal for lethal. Loss.

I'm really starting to get pissed off at how many times I've been thrown into completely unwinnable meat grinders at 0-0 lately. This is like the recent arena promotion where every run started at 1-0. Except, instead, every run I'm starting off at 0-1 or 0-2 even because some unlucky asshole is sitting at 0-1 with a 12 win deck because he was also matched up against Ben Brode Jr on game 1 of his draft. Fuck.

Game 2: Vs Warlock. I went First. Shaky opener, but not too bad. He wasted a corrupting mist on turn 2 just to kill a few silver hand recruits. Well alright then. At least there's always the chance to get a few free wins off of bad players. He manages to stall me out with some midgame taunts. This leaves him with a weak board presence however and I simply play out a few snowbally midgame minions and hope at least one sticks. Um, nope. He had Defile. Oh well. Bog Creeper created by Stonehill Defender. Now I'm remembering what actually happens when you play against bad players. Hint: It involves RNG. Loss.

Game 3: Vs Rogue. I went Second. Curve out terribly with no turn 3 or turn 4 play. Exactly what you want to happen while going against tempo rogue. I play as clever as possible but he has lots of high quality cards that are difficult to answer cleanly. Corpse Raiser on Giant Mastodon. Sprint to reload his hand immediately after. Medivh. This absolute moron drafted 2 counterfeit coins and somehow he was still able to get an insane deck. Was he just offered 3 good choices almost every single pick of the draft or something. I topdeck the only 1 drop remaining in my deck. Loss.

Final Result: 0-3

Apparently this is what a tier 1 class is capable of.

Remind me to never play arena during the late night hours ever again, because apparently it's fucking insane.

my average wins just went down an entire point from those two consecutive runs
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

What a great arena run this has been.

Game 4: Vs Mage. I went Second. Arcanologist on 2. Draws a secret. I'm more or less fucked. I make a fairly bad play and dump all of my spells. Although this play kinda sucks, it's the best possible way to play around the fact that he may be holding counterspell right now. Essentially, if he is, it no longer matters. I have no more spells I need to cast. And I did use those resources to keep him off the board. Black Knight on turn 7 to kill my incredibly important taunt. Deathspeaker on 8 to keep his already insurmountable board advantage intact. The guy has twice as many cards as me anyway because his deck quality is leagues better. He does play the secret later. I was mana bind, not counterspell, but my read was still fairly good. He ends the game with 30 life, 6 armor, twice as many cards as me. Loss.

Easily the worst arena experience so far this expansion. Really highlights just how terrible the RNG of who you get matched up against is. Every single opponent I faced was just really lucky with really high quality decks and there was essentially nothing I could do. Even the first opponent I faced clearly also had a high quality deck and just got unfortunate in matching up against and losing to me on his first game. I'm sure he would then go on to pummel a bunch of unlucky scrubs with average decks at 0-1, etc. just further highlighting the insane variance and the huge problem with the current deck variance and how it affects matchmaking so radically.

Final Result: 1-3

1 pack, 30 gold

This could not have been more bullshit if an actual, literal bull had crashed down my door and shit all over my room.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Arena #11
I was Offered: Rogue/Shaman/Priest
I Picked: Rogue


The Draft: While drafting I saw that Vanish had a tier score of literally 11. This makes it even more frustrating that some random rogue had it during that one bullshit game I recounted yesterday. I mean, why would anyone even pick this card. Augh. Overall I got a much nicer curve than my last few drafts. I really focused on picking 2 and 3 drops even from early on in the draft. I got a bit unlucky with 3 drops and didn't end up offered as many as I wanted early on. My late game suffered a bit as a result but my overall deck quality is not much lower than a typical draft right now. We'll see how this experiment goes. Some good combos I picked up... Fire Plume Phoenix (4) into Servant of Kalimos (5). Two copies of the servant, so high potential to get it to go off. Also I got 2 tuskarr Fishermen and 2 Fan of Knives. That means there is some potential to fire off 2 damage Fan of Knives on turn 3/4/5 with some consistency!

Game 1: Vs Priest. I went Second. Good opening hand. My 1 drop answered his 1 drop perfectly, putting me off to a good start. I have backstab to shut down his 2 drop. By turn 8 he has still failed to get any board presence and I just completely flatten him. Win.

Game 2: Vs Priest. I went First. He plays Kazakus right on 4. Kazakus being a synergy card is really fun and good for the meta. He just floods the board with minions and heals them to produce infinite value with his hero power. As if it wasn't already impossible to play around an insanely high value Kazakus potion. Look forward to seeing this card 100 more times in the current arena meta till they fix this god awful synergy pool. Loss.

Game 3: Vs Shaman. I went Second. Had a bad opener with too many removal tools and not enough minions, making it impossible to push tempo. He has Stormforged Axe. Weapons on curve are essentially arena hell. No idea how I will have any hope of getting on the board with this in play. Instead of drawing the minions I need I just draw more removal spells. I only have like 4 in the deck and I'm holding all of them now. At the very least I'm able to use Sap to keep him off the board, but I still feel like I've already fallen behind by turn 4. He has bonemare on 7, possibly the worst situation I can possibly go up against having spent all of my removal. I have to take 7 damage to the face to get rid of the taunted minion without losing tempo. He had Argent Commander and Lightning Bolt for out of hand burst damage to completely flip the board on the following turn. I answer with a big taunt and basically have to hope he doesn't have any hard removal for however long it takes me to regain control of the board. He has Spellbreaker. He also has even more damage from hand, making it not even matter. Loss.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

nova finally got her wish

jack is so sweet
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

yeah I know that feeling. I get way more frustrated when I set up lethal on board against an insane deck against all odds, then they topdeck the 10th bullshit answer of the game... as compared to when I just get rolled over from turns 1 to 8 and lose without a hope.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

And Nova, and Jack, falling together along with the rain.

Nova was holding Jack in her arms as they crashed.

They slammed into Purgatory, and both went limp.

Kennedy, his eyes filled with blood, looked up at the sky.
He was looking at the direction they had just flown away in.
And he could see a strange rain falling down now.

Somehow, he felt sad.
He had just been starting to like Jack.

[Chapter End]

This is turning into one long battle. Hope it ends well!

17. Should Jack have tried to get another ship?
A. Yes, that plan would have worked.
B. I'm not sure.
C. No, it was better that he fought Nova directly.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

He managed to push himself back to his feet and start to back away.
He drew his dagger. It was the last weapon he had left.

Nova suddenly jumped backwards and spun, flipping through the air.
A column of light fired into the ground where she had been standing.
Then it reflected, bouncing off. Jack shot into the sky at an angle while spinning his sword.
He slashed through the space like a tornado... and completely missed.

"Oh. Oh no." Kennedy blinked one of his eyes nervously.

Nova landed on the ground.
She squatted. Her powerful legs preparing to jump.
For Jack? Or for him?
He supposed it didn't matter at this point.
They were both certainly dead.

"Jack!" Kennedy shouted. "Don't come back! Don't-!"

Nova jumped at him and her foot was launched squarely into his mouth.
He felt two of his teeth break as his legs were ripped out from under him.
They fell down, one on top of the other, and her knee smashed into his solar plexus.

Kennedy felt the air knocked out of his chest cavity.
Meanwhile, Nova rolled off of him and rose to her feet.
His hands were numb. His knife was missing. Somewhere.
Hadn't even felt himself drop it.
Nova skidded for a few meters and then came to a stop.
Her eyes narrowed. They were angry. Hungry. Alert.

".... jack... n-...o-...." he tried to cry out but his voice was weak.
His words were caught in his chest.
He wasn't sure if anyone, even Jack could hear them.

Then a column of light shot through Nova for the final time.

Reginald Bartlesby's sword slammed into her collar bone and pierced right through her torso.
It buried all the way to the hilt and then pushed back out the other side.
She threw her arm up, seemingly to try and protect herself, but had completely failed to stop the attack.
Her mouth opened with a sickening cough as blood began to pour out from between her lips.

Then her hand closed.

Around Jack's throat.

Her gauntlet crushed his neck, denting it with one push.
Luckily for Jack he was not mortal and this was not a mortal wound.
However, his Warp Drive was still spinning.

Rather than escaping, Nova hung onto him this time.

They spun across the ground at speed so fast they almost seemed to be made of light.

Jack, however, was in immense pain. And weighed down by the Fairy as she tried to drag him to a halt.
Under duress, he lost control of his movement and they slammed together into a building as they passed.

The Warp Drive faltered and then stopped spinning.

They both soared through the air.

Jack with Reggie's sword stuck in Nova's torso.

Her, holding onto Jack.
She twisted her blade, spinning it, and pointed the sharp end toward him.

"Don't-" Jack managed to spit up the words.
His courage and his sense caught inside of him.
His eyes were shaking now and couldn't focus on anything he was looking at.
"Don't kill me!" he pleaded.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Nova replied.
Blood was dribbling out, down her chin now. But she was smiling.
She pushed her blade into his stomach and then ripped downward.
Whatever was inside of him, it wasn't a stomach, but it was something.
She pulled all of it out and scattered it into the sky beneath them.

Parts of Jack began to rain down on the battlefield below.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

He became nothing more than a column of blue light.
He shot himself down the street, away from her.
It wasn't exactly teleportation but it was fast enough to get him far away from her.
Thinking, then, at that moment, Jack realized something.
There was a different technique he wanted to try.
This was also a thing he had never tried before.
But he was pretty sure... it had much better odds of working.
His Warp Drive began to spin and his form began to glow blue.
Light bent around him but he managed to hold his sword point back.

Then, all at once, he jumped. He was there and he was here.
He was light, but he became solid.

Briefly.

For just a moment.

While he was gone, Kennedy had tried to hit Nova from behind.
She had sliced his weapon in half and driven him away.
He was holding the bladed point of it in two hands clumsily and trying to push her back.
Then with a shriek and a whir, a column of light passed by Nova.
But it didn't just pass.

Because, for a brief second, Jack materialized inside of her attack range.
His blade, pointed backwards, was pulled forward.

There was a ripping sound as Reginald's sword tore into her side.
Then with a screaming pitch, Jack shot away with the Warp Drive still active.

Rather than turning it off, he'd simply powered it down.
The timing was difficult but it seemed he could do it.
Jack, then landed, on the battlements of High Cross.
On the other side of the city.

He'd teleported from one side of High Cross to the other.
Stopping only for a second at the exact spot where Nova was standing.
Just long enough to slash her before passing through.
There was no way she could respond to such a surprise attack!

Kennedy, who had fallen back, was given a moment of respite.
Nova clutched at her side and stumbled away awkwardly as glittering blood shot out of her wound.
Her fanged teeth peeled back into a snarl.
Then her eyes, narrow and filled with hate, fixed on him.
The one who had attacked her was gone already. But he was still here.

Kennedy, on the ground, grabbed a sword from a corpse that had fallen near here.
He leapt to his feet and raised the weapon in front of him.

It took all of his strength and reflexes to repel her first attack.
Even that was so powerful that it knocked him off balance.
He stumbled away, back toward the wall of the great keep.
He ducked not a moment too late as she pressed the assault and slashed horizontally at him.
The stone behind Kennedy was cleaved in half as she tore right through it.
Her hips spun and she followed him, tracking his movements.
Before she could turn her blade and thrust, however, something else happened.

Her body tilted backwards as a column of blue light shot between them.
Kennedy nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get away.

Nova spun from the attack but it was no use. A gash opened up on her cheek as Jack fired past her.

This gave Kennedy the time needed to regain his balance.

He stood with the doorway to his right side.
Should he stay or should he go? No, inside was no good.
Jack might not be able to get in there.

Nova cleaved through the door with lightning speed.
Stone and sparks shot across Kennedy's vision as he raised his weapon and jumped back.
She was .... getting... stronger... as the fight went on!
He was sure of it now!
The blade he had been carrying was sliced in half.
He was left holding the hilt as he was knocked to the ground.
And, for his trouble, she slashed right through both of his arms, cleaving deeply into them.
Blood began to run out from under his torn sleeves while Nova landed and perched.

For a moment, she hesitated.
Kennedy wasn't sure why at first. But he was grateful.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

"Jack!" Kennedy shouted. "Jack, where the hell are you?!"

"I'm right here," Jack said.
The Devil was standing right behind him.

"Can you go get another ship?" Kennedy asked.

Jack thought about it. "If I do that, they might not be able to capture North Port."

"If you don't do that we might die," Kennedy said. Exasperated.
He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Jack. "No. Wait. Don't go."
"You're going to have to stay here and help us fight, then."

Jack pulled free a sword which looked suspiciously like Reggie's sword.
He must have taken it from Bartlesby at some point.
Or maybe Reginald had dropped it.
In any event, the sword looked too big for Jack.
But he didn't seem to lose his balance from holding it.

"I've never tried fighting," Jack admitted. "Do you think I'll be good at it."

Kennedy looked at Nova, who was now barreling toward them.
She reaved, slashed, clawed, and hacked her way through everyone who stood in her way.
"... I hope so," was all Kennedy could say.

Quietly broke and ran as the Fairy came at him.
He tried to slip through the melee and go to where Stein was fighting now.
Honestly, though this seemed cowardly, it was probably the best thing.
He clearly didn't have the power to go up against Nova.
And if he could support Stein that might give them an edge in the troops against troops.
Battle was more likely to be decided that way than a duel between commanders.

Even if Nova smashed his skull here it wouldn't help her much if she was overrun by a hundred soldiers.
That could only happen if his forces triumphed over the husks, though.

He raised his pole arm, readied it, and got into a low stance as she charged.

Jack bent one of his arms at an angle and then pushed his other elbow against the inside of it.
He stood there, casually, and stretched his arms as he waited for the incoming foe.
"Alright then," Jack nodded. "I guess this is it."

Kennedy thrust at Nova, a mere feint, while backpedaling away.
She caught the blade of the pole arm with her sword, turning it, and parried the attack.
Whether that was meant as a feint or a true thrust she would have redirected it.
More importantly, she didn't lose any momentum.
Luckily for Ken he had been moving backwards. He anticipated this might happen.
Just from watching her fight he already knew he couldn't let her get close.
He danced away and to the side, slashing, and tried to force her to stay outside of his striking range.
Most importantly, if she closed within that range, the short sword would make short work of him.
As long as they were fighting at the outside he had an advantage.
But once it changed to an inside battle he would be killed in just a few moments.

Jack, at that moment, wanted to try something he had never tried before.
It was called a flanking attack. Basically, as he understood it, he'd work with his ally.
Try to blindside the opponent and catch her from an angle where she couldn't defend herself.
Her gauntlet slammed into his face, breaking his nose, and he was knocked away.
Liquid began to spurt out of his broken face. Was that oil? Or something else?
It was black. It definitely wasn't blood.
Jack shook his head, trying to regain his senses.

Nova had rounded on him, turning away from Kennedy for the moment.
Realizing she was going to pounce and kill him, Jack only had one option.

He ran away.

FWOOSH!
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png

Kennedy turned back toward the door.
Some of his men had followed him in while others were waiting outside.
The ship was jammed right up against the wall.
This made for an odd defensive structure that didn't particularly help them as much as you'd think.
The enemy could simply walk through the broken hull of the ship, as he had done, and right up to the door.
And whoever had already broken down this door had made easy work of it.
That meant they couldn't simply bar the gate and wait it out in here till help arrived.

Majore, meanwhile, was briefly halted as Nova rode forward to meet him.
"Enemies were approaching from the west," she told him.
She hopped off of her mount, a strange two legged lizard.
One of the many pets she had captured from another dimension.
Nova was a master at corrupting and training beasts, but especially reptiles.
Her ability to tame Drakes had made a huge difference in their many wars up until now.
She had brought three with her to Purgatory, but only one remained.
"I thought you might want to know, so, um, here I am."

Majore looked back that way.
"Okay," he said. He thought about it for a moment.
"Take over here. Just keep up the pressure. I'll go back and meet our new friends in the field."
He wasn't sure what he'd find out there but he had more faith in himself than Nova.
If the opponent was an army worth fighting, he could command his forces to outmaneuver them.
If it was a fight he couldn't win, it might be possible to fall back and hold the city.
Although that would require cleaning up the forces inside pretty quickly.
Leaving Nova in here might take care of that. She was good at cleaning up messes.

For this reason, they ended up trading places.
And when the Chain forces fell back to the ship, they were chased by husks once more.
But it wasn't Majore who led them this time. It was Nova.
Her style was different as well.
Unlike Majore, Nova was more of a fighter.
She was tall and clad in shining armor. She marched right on the front line.
Wielding only a short sword in her left hand, she used her gauntlet on her right to punch and grab foes.
And with the immense strength of a physical type Fairy, and her height, she was powerful enough.
There were not many mortals who could simply charge directly at her and fell her.

Kennedy, frustrated, was forced to go back outside with his men.
They had to fight their way onto the streets from inside of the ship.
Broken wood collapsed around them from the weight and the struggle.

To his surprise, a few dozen men rushed to his aide.
This seemed to be the last of the stragglers who had been trapped inside of the inner keep.
They must have been the ones who battered their way out after killing the enemies trapped in there with them.
Ken was glad to know that his gambit had worked and saved at least a few lives.
Stein and his last remaining knights had fought their way out and got into position to ambush.
Then, when the time was right, they sprung into action to support Kennedy.

Although they were cutting into the far flank of the enemy, Kennedy's own defensive line was failing.

Quietly moved forward and went to the ground.
He touched the cobblestone tiles of the street.
Then, with a burst of power, he would launch them.
One at a time. A plate of solid stone.
Ejected through the air with psychokinetic force.
Whichever foe it collided with, it tended to kill them or knock them off balance.
And an off balance foe was easy for a fellow soldier to move in and strike down.
The hulks were too large to be hampered by such projectiles.
Quietly was nice to have here but he was not a piece that would turn the tide of battle.
And when he tried to shoot one at Nova she cut the projectile in half.

She charged at Ken and Quietly.
---

~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
http://i.imgur.com/haAoNcg.png