Flex edge beater kitchenaid 6 quart
Criticize my first chapter please!
2023.06.04 08:17 justinwrite2 Criticize my first chapter please!
Totally new to this, would love critique on my first chapter. Give it to me real. I want to improve: this may just be a hobby but I love it!
What you see on Page One.
A Slip Away from Death
Like most boys, Jake chose snoring in the pews over memorizing the Church’s proverbs. A clear mistake, he realized, as the Pastor's warning that “prayer follows danger” proved true. Hanging precipitously from the cliff’s edge, Jake recited every Creed he could remember in a futile attempt to appease any watching Gods.
“Prosper in his light, heathentry outside his sight,” he prayed, feet kicking in a desperate search for better footing.
It was a stowaways’ stanza, a tenet meant to share wisdom in ways the thickest of Port Cardica’s orphan dockboys could understand but, like most doctrine, its religious meaning was lost in translation.
Instead, the impoverished boys interpreted it as a practical warning to keep their heads down. Everyone knew the city’s Nobles revered the Book and claimed their prosperity was proof of Gods’ favor. Of course, beggars knew better: one downward glance at them revealed the decay fueling Cardica’s burgeoning wealth. Still, the poor learned to philosophize quietly. Someone was to blame for the hoveltowns, bird droppings, and penetrating seafood stink, and it better not be you.
For his part, Jake blamed himself. If he’d scaled the cliff wall with just a bit more care and a bit less haste he’d never have slipped. Instead he’d been forced to violently slow his descent, bruising bones and trading skin for friction on the vertical slope. It wasn’t a graceful maneuver by any means, but it beat falling hundreds of feet into the freezing current below. Thankfully, years as a guttersnipe had honed his reflexes – his gangly arms lacked the strength of a Swordsquire or the coordination of a Majpupil, but his daily dance with starvation demanded nimble fingers and quick wit.
That experience wasn’t paying off. As Jake shuffled his feet around to find better purchase, his hands slipped on the accruing condensation from the ongoing manastorm. His grip flagged, then failed, and he had neither the magic nor the strength to escape the weight of gravity.
“It isn't written, it isn’t written” Jake recited frantically as he began to plummet. The other dockboys would laugh at his superstition, but he didn’t care. Many claimed the Creeds were lucky, and Jake desperately needed some luck. Instinctively he spread his arms out as wide as possible, hoping to extend his reach and grip onto something.
By some miracle, It worked. The resounding sound of cloth ripping accompanied Jake as he slammed into the stone cliff, teetering to a stop. He hung like a rag doll, held up only by the hem of his matted, brown tunic; the cheap weavings had snagged and torn on an outcropping of stone.
“Aughhh” he mumbled.
He had survived, but everything hurt. Looking down to inspect the damage, Jake saw that his calloused hands were raw and pebbled, but a quick flex confirmed he hadn’t broken any fingerbones. Breathing a sigh of relief, he gasped at the telltale sting every kicked streetrat knew so well.
“Po-Poet’s hand,” Jake swore.
He grabbed the cliff wall to stabilize himself and, seeing as it had worked so far, continued reciting the few Creeds he could remember. A minute passed before he was able to think clearly, but slowly Jake got his breathing under control and continued his self-assessment.
Overall, he felt like things couldn’t have gone much worse. His cracked ribs hurt and continuing the heist would only exacerbate the damage, leading to scarring or permanent hobbling. Jake had seen many dockbeggars with similar injuries from fights or beatings, unable to walk straight without being plagued by the stitchers cough.
For this reason alone, Jake briefly considered giving up. He quickly dismissed the idea – it might be madness to continue climbing in his condition, but he’d come too far to back out now. He’d planned this heist for months, obsessively pathing his break-in while waiting for a night when security would be light. In retrospect, he’d been a fool; his overly cautious preparations left no possibility for a second attempt before his 15th birthday.
No, despite his injury tonight was still his best hope to successfully steal a Scriptors’ Grimoire before Binding Day. Failure would mean enslavement as a Ruddite or worse, full Automation. He’d just have to trust the windy weather to mute his movements and the harvest moons to light his way.
So, teeth chattering with cold and fear, Jake resumed the ascent. His ribs sang in agony as he put one hand in front of the other, slowly turning small divots into handholds, footholds and leverage. Each bouldering movement made him wince, but over the years he’d honed the art of turning sweat and grit into capillary action. He’d had no other choice; richmen shared a passion for building impenetrable estates, forcing thieves to develop an unshaking hand at scaling them.
Five painstaking minutes of climbing later and Jake regained his original position. Salty sweat matted his brow and stinged his eyes but he persevered. He blinked slowly to clear his vision and shuffled his feet left over right, shivering his way across an inch-wide protrusion. Just a few meters above him stood the lip of the granite outcropping and access to the marble fortress built upon it. Jake tasted copper as he bit the inside of his cheek in anticipation – If the heist went well he’d finally change his destiny and be able to swear upon the Sermon’s Book on his own terms.
But first he had to finish the climb. He knew the manor’s sentries rotated hourly, eyes glued to the sky as they watched for flyingmen and attacks from above. He also knew that all these guards would be literate, but none especially gifted. After all, no one powerful enough to be a Writer would stand watch over another man's fortune. The chartered Maji Wordlings, on the other hand, could easily detect Jake if he hadn’t planned for them in advance. He chose tonight because it was the season’s Lenting, meaning the majority of Maji would be in communion until the sun rose.
“What is written” a gruff voice proclaimed, startling Jake.
It was muffled by the wind, so it took him a moment to realize it was coming from directly above him. Jake craned his neck and peered up; to his horror he could see the silhouette of a guard's shadow on the cliff wall.
Petrified, Jake hugged his body to the cold granite, hoping the darkness of the windy night would hide his form. His entire plan hung on the simple thesis that in a world of magidetectors and magflight, no one would expect an unbound to scale the walls. Great in theory, but what if a guard just happened to look down?
“Is Foretold and Forbidden,” another voice chanted, completing the customary greeting. “All safe on the watch?”
“All is safe and silent, as usual,” the first man grunted.
“Don’t sound so upset,” the second laughed. ”We chose this job because it’s easy, remember? No more treading through the mud, no more war with those blasted barren beasts and their infernal warlocks.”
“That’s true, althou..”
The men’s voices were swept up in the wind as they paced further down the stone perimeter. They hadn’t seen him, but, just to be safe, Jake stayed low until he could no longer hear the stamping of metal-toed boots on stone. Then, fingers white and aching in trepidation, he waited another 30 seconds.
Finishing his count, Jake peaked over the edge. It took all the courage he had earned as a thief and every bit of boldness he had learned as a beggar, but he managed it.
The coast was clear.
Jake carefully pulled himself over the ledge before falling into a crouch. He looked around and exhaled painfully, releasing a breath he had not realized he was holding.
In front of him lay an outdoor walkway culminating in a rippling fountain circumscribed by five basalt pillars of progressively increasing height. Everflowing torches adorned each of the columns and burned despite the rain, casting rings of golden light throughout the open atrium. At the foot of the fountain rose a gold-leafed speaker's lectern, a pure white sculpture of the Sermon Book chiseled open upon it.
Jake stared openmouthed at the power radiating from the fountain before abruptly coming to his senses. Without a doubt this artifact was a Magisma, an extremely expensive construct meant to amplify its controller’s magic. Leaving it outside was a casual display of wealth and power meant to shock and impress, but Jake didn’t have time for that.
Instead Jake blended into the shadows cast by the monument as he sneaked his way across the grounds. After passing the walkway the torchlight dimmed considerably, forcing him to hobble his way in the dark. A bright flash startled him, but the acid smell of tobacco that accompanied it indicated the guards he’d seen earlier were smoking to pass the time. Realizing they were distracted, Jake sped up and almost tripped on the jutting crystals of an emerald rock garden. Embarrassed, he paused to listen for anyone approaching.
Everything was quiet except for the constant pitter, patter and hiss of rain from the manastorm. It seemed his home-invasion had so far gone unnoticed, but the hair on Jake’s neck rose. An unsettling feeling of being watched set in and every few seconds he reflexively looked over his shoulder.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he made it to the Manor wall. Keeping to the shadows, Jake hid behind the tallest thing he could find; a towering yellow flower with leaves the size of platters that he had never seen before. Staying low, he muddied his knees and toes on the damp ground, but thankfully the foliage protected him from the rain. As his eyes adjusted to less light, Jake noticed all sorts of exotic fruits surrounding him; blood red berries in the shape of teardrops levitated inches off the ground, while turquoise bubbles floated up from vibrant greenery, collapsing quickly into little orange stones that looked remarkably like candy. Jake’s belly growled at the idea of tasting these treats, but he dismissed his urges. Stanzas warned that “those who leave riches unread become starving men” but Jake knew hunger well. He would jeopardize his mission by eating something that might make him sick tonight.
Instead, he focused on gaining entry to the manor. Searching his surroundings, Jake located the iron front doors about 6 meters to his right. They were guarded by life-like statues on either side, one a Korai of the Poet, hand outstretched in greeting, the other a two headed wolf, with both snarling maws crying out to the moons. The door itself was blacked with age and inscribed by a massive oval spellwork that glinted in the light cast by a hanging lantern.
Listening closely, Jake groaned at the buzz of silverscripting coming from the insignia. Every thief knew that spellworks grew more powerful over time, and anything audible would be too powerful for any Unbound to lockpick.
submitted by justinwrite2 to writers [link] [comments]
What you see on Page One.
Read Seekers, until daytime fades to candlelight, For magic is found when ink breathes life to parchment, When bookbindings break and cradled words take flight. It’s the safety of cozying up near the warming hearth, And the rising steam from a wellworn mug It’s that smile when you turn the page in delight.That cool little quote thing before a chapter starts that gives you background.
West of the Citadel Clouds, Bordering Mountain Pines and fickle Seashine Lies the renowned Port Cardica Where sailors sing and blight-born orphans dream.Chapter 1
A Slip Away from Death
Like most boys, Jake chose snoring in the pews over memorizing the Church’s proverbs. A clear mistake, he realized, as the Pastor's warning that “prayer follows danger” proved true. Hanging precipitously from the cliff’s edge, Jake recited every Creed he could remember in a futile attempt to appease any watching Gods.
“Prosper in his light, heathentry outside his sight,” he prayed, feet kicking in a desperate search for better footing.
It was a stowaways’ stanza, a tenet meant to share wisdom in ways the thickest of Port Cardica’s orphan dockboys could understand but, like most doctrine, its religious meaning was lost in translation.
Instead, the impoverished boys interpreted it as a practical warning to keep their heads down. Everyone knew the city’s Nobles revered the Book and claimed their prosperity was proof of Gods’ favor. Of course, beggars knew better: one downward glance at them revealed the decay fueling Cardica’s burgeoning wealth. Still, the poor learned to philosophize quietly. Someone was to blame for the hoveltowns, bird droppings, and penetrating seafood stink, and it better not be you.
For his part, Jake blamed himself. If he’d scaled the cliff wall with just a bit more care and a bit less haste he’d never have slipped. Instead he’d been forced to violently slow his descent, bruising bones and trading skin for friction on the vertical slope. It wasn’t a graceful maneuver by any means, but it beat falling hundreds of feet into the freezing current below. Thankfully, years as a guttersnipe had honed his reflexes – his gangly arms lacked the strength of a Swordsquire or the coordination of a Majpupil, but his daily dance with starvation demanded nimble fingers and quick wit.
That experience wasn’t paying off. As Jake shuffled his feet around to find better purchase, his hands slipped on the accruing condensation from the ongoing manastorm. His grip flagged, then failed, and he had neither the magic nor the strength to escape the weight of gravity.
“It isn't written, it isn’t written” Jake recited frantically as he began to plummet. The other dockboys would laugh at his superstition, but he didn’t care. Many claimed the Creeds were lucky, and Jake desperately needed some luck. Instinctively he spread his arms out as wide as possible, hoping to extend his reach and grip onto something.
By some miracle, It worked. The resounding sound of cloth ripping accompanied Jake as he slammed into the stone cliff, teetering to a stop. He hung like a rag doll, held up only by the hem of his matted, brown tunic; the cheap weavings had snagged and torn on an outcropping of stone.
“Aughhh” he mumbled.
He had survived, but everything hurt. Looking down to inspect the damage, Jake saw that his calloused hands were raw and pebbled, but a quick flex confirmed he hadn’t broken any fingerbones. Breathing a sigh of relief, he gasped at the telltale sting every kicked streetrat knew so well.
“Po-Poet’s hand,” Jake swore.
He grabbed the cliff wall to stabilize himself and, seeing as it had worked so far, continued reciting the few Creeds he could remember. A minute passed before he was able to think clearly, but slowly Jake got his breathing under control and continued his self-assessment.
Overall, he felt like things couldn’t have gone much worse. His cracked ribs hurt and continuing the heist would only exacerbate the damage, leading to scarring or permanent hobbling. Jake had seen many dockbeggars with similar injuries from fights or beatings, unable to walk straight without being plagued by the stitchers cough.
For this reason alone, Jake briefly considered giving up. He quickly dismissed the idea – it might be madness to continue climbing in his condition, but he’d come too far to back out now. He’d planned this heist for months, obsessively pathing his break-in while waiting for a night when security would be light. In retrospect, he’d been a fool; his overly cautious preparations left no possibility for a second attempt before his 15th birthday.
No, despite his injury tonight was still his best hope to successfully steal a Scriptors’ Grimoire before Binding Day. Failure would mean enslavement as a Ruddite or worse, full Automation. He’d just have to trust the windy weather to mute his movements and the harvest moons to light his way.
So, teeth chattering with cold and fear, Jake resumed the ascent. His ribs sang in agony as he put one hand in front of the other, slowly turning small divots into handholds, footholds and leverage. Each bouldering movement made him wince, but over the years he’d honed the art of turning sweat and grit into capillary action. He’d had no other choice; richmen shared a passion for building impenetrable estates, forcing thieves to develop an unshaking hand at scaling them.
Five painstaking minutes of climbing later and Jake regained his original position. Salty sweat matted his brow and stinged his eyes but he persevered. He blinked slowly to clear his vision and shuffled his feet left over right, shivering his way across an inch-wide protrusion. Just a few meters above him stood the lip of the granite outcropping and access to the marble fortress built upon it. Jake tasted copper as he bit the inside of his cheek in anticipation – If the heist went well he’d finally change his destiny and be able to swear upon the Sermon’s Book on his own terms.
But first he had to finish the climb. He knew the manor’s sentries rotated hourly, eyes glued to the sky as they watched for flyingmen and attacks from above. He also knew that all these guards would be literate, but none especially gifted. After all, no one powerful enough to be a Writer would stand watch over another man's fortune. The chartered Maji Wordlings, on the other hand, could easily detect Jake if he hadn’t planned for them in advance. He chose tonight because it was the season’s Lenting, meaning the majority of Maji would be in communion until the sun rose.
“What is written” a gruff voice proclaimed, startling Jake.
It was muffled by the wind, so it took him a moment to realize it was coming from directly above him. Jake craned his neck and peered up; to his horror he could see the silhouette of a guard's shadow on the cliff wall.
Petrified, Jake hugged his body to the cold granite, hoping the darkness of the windy night would hide his form. His entire plan hung on the simple thesis that in a world of magidetectors and magflight, no one would expect an unbound to scale the walls. Great in theory, but what if a guard just happened to look down?
“Is Foretold and Forbidden,” another voice chanted, completing the customary greeting. “All safe on the watch?”
“All is safe and silent, as usual,” the first man grunted.
“Don’t sound so upset,” the second laughed. ”We chose this job because it’s easy, remember? No more treading through the mud, no more war with those blasted barren beasts and their infernal warlocks.”
“That’s true, althou..”
The men’s voices were swept up in the wind as they paced further down the stone perimeter. They hadn’t seen him, but, just to be safe, Jake stayed low until he could no longer hear the stamping of metal-toed boots on stone. Then, fingers white and aching in trepidation, he waited another 30 seconds.
Finishing his count, Jake peaked over the edge. It took all the courage he had earned as a thief and every bit of boldness he had learned as a beggar, but he managed it.
The coast was clear.
Jake carefully pulled himself over the ledge before falling into a crouch. He looked around and exhaled painfully, releasing a breath he had not realized he was holding.
In front of him lay an outdoor walkway culminating in a rippling fountain circumscribed by five basalt pillars of progressively increasing height. Everflowing torches adorned each of the columns and burned despite the rain, casting rings of golden light throughout the open atrium. At the foot of the fountain rose a gold-leafed speaker's lectern, a pure white sculpture of the Sermon Book chiseled open upon it.
Jake stared openmouthed at the power radiating from the fountain before abruptly coming to his senses. Without a doubt this artifact was a Magisma, an extremely expensive construct meant to amplify its controller’s magic. Leaving it outside was a casual display of wealth and power meant to shock and impress, but Jake didn’t have time for that.
Instead Jake blended into the shadows cast by the monument as he sneaked his way across the grounds. After passing the walkway the torchlight dimmed considerably, forcing him to hobble his way in the dark. A bright flash startled him, but the acid smell of tobacco that accompanied it indicated the guards he’d seen earlier were smoking to pass the time. Realizing they were distracted, Jake sped up and almost tripped on the jutting crystals of an emerald rock garden. Embarrassed, he paused to listen for anyone approaching.
Everything was quiet except for the constant pitter, patter and hiss of rain from the manastorm. It seemed his home-invasion had so far gone unnoticed, but the hair on Jake’s neck rose. An unsettling feeling of being watched set in and every few seconds he reflexively looked over his shoulder.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he made it to the Manor wall. Keeping to the shadows, Jake hid behind the tallest thing he could find; a towering yellow flower with leaves the size of platters that he had never seen before. Staying low, he muddied his knees and toes on the damp ground, but thankfully the foliage protected him from the rain. As his eyes adjusted to less light, Jake noticed all sorts of exotic fruits surrounding him; blood red berries in the shape of teardrops levitated inches off the ground, while turquoise bubbles floated up from vibrant greenery, collapsing quickly into little orange stones that looked remarkably like candy. Jake’s belly growled at the idea of tasting these treats, but he dismissed his urges. Stanzas warned that “those who leave riches unread become starving men” but Jake knew hunger well. He would jeopardize his mission by eating something that might make him sick tonight.
Instead, he focused on gaining entry to the manor. Searching his surroundings, Jake located the iron front doors about 6 meters to his right. They were guarded by life-like statues on either side, one a Korai of the Poet, hand outstretched in greeting, the other a two headed wolf, with both snarling maws crying out to the moons. The door itself was blacked with age and inscribed by a massive oval spellwork that glinted in the light cast by a hanging lantern.
Listening closely, Jake groaned at the buzz of silverscripting coming from the insignia. Every thief knew that spellworks grew more powerful over time, and anything audible would be too powerful for any Unbound to lockpick.
2023.06.03 18:14 MakingApplesCollide Affinity GTX vs Callaway Edge
Hi Everyone,
I have been golfing for three years I play about 6 times a year and probably see the driving range 4 times a year. This year my game has really improved. I made one simple change, took speed of my swing and prioritized solid contact. I am still struggling with the driver, but my iron game has improved immensely.
The first set of golf clubs I bought was a used set from the local golf course. I paid $50 for a used Affinity GTX iron set (3-9). Bout a Nike Covert Driver and hodgepodge of wedges. I just purchase the new Kirkland Signature Wedge set so I am excited to have a more consistent wedge game.
I also just purchased the Costco Callaway Edge set, but I am wondering if it is worth the $500 or if I should just keep hitting my GTX set. If I keep the GTX set, I will purchase the missing pitching wedge on eBay. Anyone have experience with the Affinity GTX set? Will I notice an improvement/more forgiveness or are my Affinity clubs fine for me?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/385572318044?hash=item59c5e6ab5c:g:CrgAAOSwoZljACTG&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0CND7c38qL9n5xI2low%2B76%2BuAsNMKJk4IDl%2B1XTbYtRasDrZZTLH2BDMXvsz0WQSyG9a%2F5y0ADI8uAVP9EcB2RuuUkN4Bkn3AhkKZvlVi%2FNLeTbLTLnPDd2UNbSf%2BcZsumJr1YIjv%2FbMgEZqlhehgRw3yjPN51bA85wK%2BwMJ%2BmwejNEaxGA7rfY2QGqED0zb%2Bpls1ZbjwakG4iPd4O1voLp7WSaBafimgeyhsxd%2FadU%2BQjjdhBUOQpEmQtqAbS7M1FK0RqC8h7pLZeWsyc%2BeR9A%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM6PeFoJBi
https://www.costco.com/callaway-edge-10-piece-golf-club-set%2C-right-handed---stiff-flex.product.100683880.html
submitted by MakingApplesCollide to golf [link] [comments]
I have been golfing for three years I play about 6 times a year and probably see the driving range 4 times a year. This year my game has really improved. I made one simple change, took speed of my swing and prioritized solid contact. I am still struggling with the driver, but my iron game has improved immensely.
The first set of golf clubs I bought was a used set from the local golf course. I paid $50 for a used Affinity GTX iron set (3-9). Bout a Nike Covert Driver and hodgepodge of wedges. I just purchase the new Kirkland Signature Wedge set so I am excited to have a more consistent wedge game.
I also just purchased the Costco Callaway Edge set, but I am wondering if it is worth the $500 or if I should just keep hitting my GTX set. If I keep the GTX set, I will purchase the missing pitching wedge on eBay. Anyone have experience with the Affinity GTX set? Will I notice an improvement/more forgiveness or are my Affinity clubs fine for me?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/385572318044?hash=item59c5e6ab5c:g:CrgAAOSwoZljACTG&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0CND7c38qL9n5xI2low%2B76%2BuAsNMKJk4IDl%2B1XTbYtRasDrZZTLH2BDMXvsz0WQSyG9a%2F5y0ADI8uAVP9EcB2RuuUkN4Bkn3AhkKZvlVi%2FNLeTbLTLnPDd2UNbSf%2BcZsumJr1YIjv%2FbMgEZqlhehgRw3yjPN51bA85wK%2BwMJ%2BmwejNEaxGA7rfY2QGqED0zb%2Bpls1ZbjwakG4iPd4O1voLp7WSaBafimgeyhsxd%2FadU%2BQjjdhBUOQpEmQtqAbS7M1FK0RqC8h7pLZeWsyc%2BeR9A%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM6PeFoJBi
https://www.costco.com/callaway-edge-10-piece-golf-club-set%2C-right-handed---stiff-flex.product.100683880.html
2023.06.03 09:24 Weird_Row_1973 Easiest way to concrete the edge of these collapsing bricks?
 | Hi Redditors. I have a 4 day weekend coming up so I’m going to tackle a repair job on these collapsing bricks on the floor of my cellar. You may be able to make out that previously they were held in check by a hardwood beam which has flexed and given way over a long time. submitted by Weird_Row_1973 to AusRenovation [link] [comments] I was planning on removing the flexed beam, cleaning the first two or three layers of bricks, resetting them without mortar (none of the floor has mortar) and then building a concrete frame around it and creating a concrete layer over the top and maybe 6 inch concrete edge? It’s not doing any load bearing (you can see the pylons in the picture and I’m not excavating anything near them) and it doesn’t have to look perfect. The alternative is to just get another wooden beam and reset that when I’ve cleaned up the brickwork. Thoughts? I’m a reasonably competent diy home handyman that can do most of the basic stuff. Thanks |
2023.06.02 04:45 Gameran Dexter Flux Presents: Sound-Off! - Part One
Previously unannounced press conference, May 31, 2023.
Cameras are rolling as the owner of Mann Corporation, Shay D. Mann, hair in a perfectly put-together part, adorned in a navy suit and white tie, steps forward to a podium, in front of a WiR backdrop, microphone in hand.Mann: My name is Shay Duncan Mann. And I am the new owner and proprietor of Wrestling is Reddit. I can assure you that your beloved Allen Paisner will be returning in the future, however, he could not make tonight's show due to some…
Mann smirks.
Mann: Legal complications. But fear not, I’ll be taking his place in the booth tonight.
The crowd erupts with applause and cheers, eager to witness the rebirth of their beloved wrestling promotion, even without Paisner for the evening.
Mann: Tonight, we embark on an exhilarating journey, as WiR takes a bold leap forward. I stand before you not just as the owner, but as a “fan”—a fan who understands the passion and dedication that this community shares for the world of wrestling.
Mann tries to hide a grimace as he proclaims his “fandom”. The crowd anticipates Mann’s next move
Mann: For too long, WiR has been dormant, unable to proceed, some of the talent trapped in Europe with no way home. But this, is no more! Today, we resurrect the spirit of WiR, bringing it back to life with a bang! And what better way to open things up by “Sounding Off"! Presented by the one and only, Dexter Flux
The crowd gives an actual cheer with genuine enthusiasm at the mention of Flux, their sort of god-king.
Mann: "Sound Off" isn't just a name; it's a rallying cry! It's a call for all of you, the WiR faithful, to voice your opinions, to express your passion, and to join us in this incredible journey. This event will be a celebration of everything that makes WiR special—the wrestling, the community, and the shared experiences that bring us all together.
The press conference crowd, whose papering becomes increasingly obvious the more Mann talks, is enthusiastic, as they eagerly hang onto Shay D. Mann's every word, perhaps a little too eagerly.
Mann: Tonight, in this very ring, our talented roster will ignite your imagination, deliver jaw-dropping performances, and create moments that will be etched in your memories forever. Sound Off! will leave you on the edge of your seats, craving for more.
The crowd roars with the excitement of a hair dryer pop.
Mann: But this is not just a show; it's a community. Together, we'll embrace the highs and lows, the victories and defeats. We'll share our opinions, engage in spirited debates, and build something truly remarkable. WiR is your platform—your voice will be heard!
The crowd erupts once again, their cheers echoing through the arena, showcasing their dedication to WiR, or getting paid to be there
Mann: So, my friends, get ready to immerse yourselves in the magic of WiR once again. Open your hearts, open your minds, and let the exhilaration of "Sound Off" wash over you! Tonight, we begin a new era—one that will redefine the landscape of this sport. Welcome back to WiR, my friends. Because Wrestling… is Revived.
With a sly smile, Shay D. Mann raises his microphone high, signaling the start of the show, as things fade to a video of Dexter Flux. His face is slightly out of frame as the camera points to his chest and chin.
Crowd: YEEEEAAAHHHHHH WE LOVE FLUX! WE LOVE FLUX!
Flux: Hey, it’s me, Dexter Flux. Welcome, uh, welcome you know, back to wrestl- Ugh, sorry, something was like, in my throat. Wrestling is Reddit. Welcome back to Wrestling is Reddit. This is House Party.
Knott's Berry Farm, June 1st, 2023.
With that rousing introduction, we now cut back to the day of, with a drone shot of the ring set up at Knott’s Berry Farm, fans on makeshift stands in the berry field, a parking lot and farmhouse off in the far distance, before [off brand royalty free music] begins to play!Crowd: YEEEAAHHHH
Through the makeshift curtain, Tony “The Milkman” Stevens appears, wearing a pair of off-blue tights with cow white print, a single blue elbow pad on the left side, with a pair of gloved hands- in which, he holds a pristine white umbrella. The Milkman points his umbrella right down the lens of the camera…
Milkman: Good to be back, fellas, and good to see you, Mr. Cameraman! Been a while.
Mann: And here comes the Milkman, and a huge ovation from this crowd! But no Horde jacket with him!
Woodbridge: Or any jacket. But we’re in Anaheim, its hot out
Mann You’re right. But he did prepare for rain.
The Milkman hands off his umbrella to a fan at ringside, before sliding under the bottom rope, and ascending the left hard camera turnbuckle, firing up the crowd, before doing a backflip off the top rope, and into the ring!
Crowd: YEEAAAAHHHHHH
The Camera cuts back to the entranceway, as the music changes, to Skillet
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOO
Jericho Styles appears on the ramp, adorned in an Allen Iverson Nuggets Jersey. He blows off a fan’s high five attempt, before sliding into the ring and taking a position opposite of Stevens.
Babaganoush: WiR fans… welcome to Anaheim California, the beautiful Knotts Berry Farm! Welcome! To Sound Off! Presented by Dexter Flux.
Crowd: W-I-R! W-I-R! W-I-R! W-I-R!
Banaganoush: Our opening contest is scheduled for one fall to a finish. Introducing first, to my right… wrestling out San Jose California, weighing in at 217 pounds, Jericho… Styles!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOO
Babaganoush: And his opponent, to my left. Weighing in at 208 pounds…
Crowd begins to rise
Babaganoush: Wrestling out of… Brooklyn, New York! Tony… “The Milkmaaannnnnnn” Stevens!
Crowd erupts into indiscriminate cheers
DING DING DING
The Milkman and Styles circle each other as the bell rings, before Styles takes the initiative with a lock up attempt, which he quickly transitions to a rear waist lock. Milkman thinks on his feet, and grabs the arm of Styles lifting it above his head, and turning to break the lock, before using it to get behind Jericho, who uses his size advantage to overpower Stevens and apply a hammerlock, using the position to turn Stevens around, and take him down to the mat with an arm drag, maintaining control of the arm, which he quickly leverages into a pinfall…
ONE
Milkman gets his free shoulder up!
Crowd: Yay!
Woodbridge: JZ leveraging some technical skill here in the opening moments of this one, but can’t keep the Milkman down!
Mann: Only one count for Styles
Styles refuses to relinquish his grip on the arm, and as Stevens gets up, pushes him back into the corner before he can balance himself. Styles whips Stevens across the ring to the other corner, before charging in and being met with Milkman’s knee! Stevens capitalizes on his newly made opening by delivering a sharp kick to the chest of Styles, before whipping him against the ropes. Styles charges back, and tries to use his momentum to catch Stevens with a hip toss, but can only get Stevens a few inches of height off the ground before the Milkman lands on his feet, lifts and Styles up for an atomic drop, which forces him to let go of Stevens. With his arm now free, The Milkman plants himself, and delivers a [devastating lariat]. With what self-preservation he has left, Styles rolls to the outside, and onto the grass.
Woodbridge: And The Milkman just leveled Styles with that lariat!
Mann: Not something we’re quite used to seeing from Stevens, some hard strikes early in this one that really seemed to throw Styles off his game.
Styles pulls himself up by the barricade, to the direct ire of front-row fans who continue to heckle him. Back in the ring, Stevens throws himself off the far-end ropes, charges in for a dive… before Styles ducks down to avoid being hit. Stevens doesn’t change speed, and instead, throws himself between the ropes for a 6-1-9 that hits nothing but air, launching himself back into the ring, and landing on his feet. After this feat of dexterity, and with Styles on the ground outside, The Milkman takes a bow for his efforts.
Crowd: YEEEAAHHH!!
Four dues in front of the hard cam: WE LOVE MILK! WE LOVE MILK!
At a count of eight, Styles, returns to the ring, and the two wrestlers square off again. Styles gets the better of the two on the lockup, delivering a stomp to Stevens’ foot, before kneeling him in the stomach. Styles lifts Stevens up for a suplex, but Stevens shifts his weight and lands on his feet behind him! The Milkman attempts a German suplex, but Styles throws a firm elbow to the jaw and repositions behind Stevens for a German attempt of his own. Stevens gives Styles a receipt with a firm, calcium-hardened elbow of his own, before bounding over to the ropes, and attempting a lionsault to a standing Styles! Styles catches him, but Stevens slips free, pushes Styles into the corner, and he takes a chest-first bump. Stevens harnesses his agility once more to get into poison-rana position on the shoulders of Styles, but Styles uses one arm to flip Milkman off balance and send him tumbling to the ground. Quickly, Stevens attempts to transition to a sunset flip but has to abandon ship as Styles tries to poke him in the eyes, jamming his finger into the canvas as a result. Stevens uses the moment to leap up to Bret’s rope, turn around, and deliver a dropkick to Styles! Stevens then rolls to the apron, and pumps up the crowd with a wave of his hand…
Crowd: YEEEAAAHHH WOOO!!
Guy already 4 cheap beers in: I hate this Styles guy!
…and delivers another springboard dropkick, this one from the top rope! Stevens flexes for the crowd, before rolling into a cover…
ONE
TWO
Styles gets a shoulder up!
Mann: Does The Milkman seem a bit different to you, Woodbridge?
Woodbridge: Milkman definitely wants to show off early, he looks like he hasn’t lost a step!
Mann: Maybe even gained one, and it almost feels like he’s being a bit disrespectful of his opponent, don’t you think?
Woodbridge: And what are you insinuating?
Mann: Well, maybe performing in front of a WiR crowd again has him a little more amped than usual! Trying a lot of those high-risk maneuvers early- we’re only a few minutes into this one, folks!
After the Kickout, Stevens signals to the cheering crowd, runs off the ropes, and attempts a wheelbarrow bulldog, but as he pushes himself up, Styles swivels his hips, and Stevens face plants into the mat.
Mann: And Stevens’ showing off cost him there!
Styles knees Stevens in the stomach, before putting his head between the legs, and sets up for the Styles Clash! He can’t lock in Milkman’s arms, and Stevens uses them to push off the mat to sit up above Jericho! Stevens tries throwing a punch at Jericho’s head, but he pivots his plan, and adjusts to deliver a powerbomb! As he releases, Stevens adjusts his body and manages to mitigate some of the damage by landing awkwardly on the back foot, stumbling back into the ropes.
Mann: If Styles hit that, it could have spelled an early end for Stevens!
Stevens pulls himself back to his feet using the ropes and charges back in with a clothesline attempt, but Styles sees it coming, grabs the arm and uses it to shift the momentum, and lifts Stevens for a tilt-a-whirl Backbreaker!
Crowd: BOOOOOO
Mann: And Styles seems to be in control here.
Woodbridge: Stevens took some early momentum, but Styles has had a counter for everything Stevens has thrown at him.
Styles pulls Stevens up to his feet by the hair, before casually flipping one of Stevens’ arms over his shoulder for a uranage position before holding his arms out to the crowd!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOO
Styles smirks at the boos incoming, and throws Stevens with a t-bone suplex. Once Stevens is planted, Styles stomps the stomach to force him to sit up, before stretching the arms behind for a surfboard stretch!
Styles: I’m a technical wrestler now, assholes!
Mann: Styles slowing things down here, grounding the Milkman
Woodbridge: Not a bad strategy, we saw how The Milkman was in control with a faster pace!
One guy holding up a sign with Goku: WE-LOVE-GOKU! WE-LOVE-GOKU!
Everyone else in the crowd is deafeningly silent
Styles: AND WHAT WOULD GOKU DO HERE, STUPID IDIOT?
Styles breaks his hold and approaches the hard camera ropes to yell at the fan more
Styles: Dragon Ball is overrated trash!
Styles kicks Stevens back to the mat
Styles That one was for you, fucking weeb!
As Stevens once again rises to his feet, Styles punches him and he falls back to the mat, just for Styles to pick him back up, and line up against the ropes, for an irish whip. As Stevens returns to sender, Styles throws him straight up in the air… and football punts him in the chest on the way down!
Styles: Hey weeb guy! This one’s for you too! I saw a Japanese dude do it once!
Styles lifts Stevens up, sets him up with the arms behind the back… and delivers a slow, sloppy [tiger driver], before placing a single foot on the chest, and flexing
ONE
TWO
Kickout!
Crowd: YEEEAAAHHHH
Woodbridge: Well, he didn’t quite get all of it.
Styles takes time to put Stevens in a Camel Clutch.
Mann: And it seems Styles didn’t want to get left out of showing off!
Woodbridge: Well, he certainly nailed Milkman with that kick, but the Tiger Driver left a lot to be desired.
Mann: Styles seems to have control of this match when it’s slowed down, wearing Stevens with this technical wrestling prowess.
Woodbridge, reaching under the desk for a paper bag: Everyone wants to be a hero in front of the first crowd in two years
Styles releases Stevens from the hold by battering him in the back of the head with a forearm, picking him up by the scruff, and bouncing him off the ropes for an Irish whip and hitting him with the kitchen sink! But Stevens wastes no motion, and grabs the leg, turning Styles over for a rollup!
ONE
TWO
THR-
Kickout!
Crowd: BOOOOOO
Woodbridge: He almost got him with that rollup! From out of nowhere!
The Milkman tries to capitalize, but Styles returns the favor with a boot to the stomach.
Styles: I’ll show you to make a damn fool out of me!
Styles hoists Stevens up for a vertical suplex, before taking two steps and chucking him across the top rope! The Milkman bounces off the top rope, makes a deflating noise as the air is forced out of his lungs, and flops down to the floor outside!
Mann: Styles with some kind of inverted lawn-dart maneuver! Woodbridge, do you know what that’s called?
Woodbridge: Nope.
Crowd: BOOOOOO
Styles: Come on, milk boy, you have anything else for me?
Stevens crawls back into the ring, holding onto his ribs, before Styles once again kicks him in the stomach, and applies a chin lock in the ring.
Mann: Styles has found his target! If Stevens can’t breathe, he can’t fight!
Woodbridge: The young Styles showing some veteran instinct here, Mann, if Stevens has the wind knocked out of him, he can’t perform those high-flying moves he was nailing Styles with earlier!
Styles turns to the side, and locks Milkman in a body scissors, using his legs to apply pressure to the ribcage. Stevens tries to use his free legs to push both men closer to the ropes, but can only move them a few feet. Stevens smacks the mat with his free hand, and a guy in the crowd does it to the barricade. Stevens smacks the mat again, and a few more fans join in.
Crowd Smacking the barricade
Stevens pushes towards the ropes again, making more progress. Styles sees this, and releases the hold, grabbing Stevens by the hair with one hand, tights in the other, and pulling him up to his feet.
Styles: You want the ropes so bad, here, have them!
Styles runs over to the ropes with the Milkman, and hurls him between the middle and top rope, dumping him to the outside where he lands with a noticeable thud. Styles follows him to the outside, taking his time to savor the boos of the crowd, before delivering a knee to a rising Milkman, and lifting him for a vertical suplex on the grass! Styles rolls into the ring… and back out again to break the count. Despite the present beating, Stevens once again pulls himself to his feet.
Crowd: YEAAAH
And Styles knees him in the ribs.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO
Styles rolls Stevens back into the ring before taking a moment to confront the drunk fan who jeered him earlier. After his verbal exchange, Styles delivers a scoop slam to Stevens to keep him down, and the pressure on the body, before sliding into a cover.
ONE
TWO
Kickout!
Mann: Forcing Stevens to exert more energy there on the kick out, after continuing his assault on the ribs. A very solid strategy by Styles in this one.
Styles picks The Milkman up once more and prepares another vertical suplex, but the Milkman slips free! Stevens lands behind Styles, hooks his arms, and goes for a crucifix pin!
ONE
TWO
THRE-
Styles barely escapes! The Milkman wastes no motion as Styles rises back to his feet, bouncing off the hard camera ropes, and forcing Styles to drop back to the mat to avoid a strike. Stevens bounces off the opposite end, and Styles barely avoids him once more, this time with a slide-step that sees him almost lose his balance. Styles tries to save his momentum by charging at Stevens as he bounces off the ropes a third time, but Stevens pulls down the top rope, sending Styles to the apron! Stevens kicks Styles in the knee, before going through the middle rope to meet Styles on the apron. Styles tries to sweep out the leg of the Milkman, knocking himself down to one knee on the attempt, but Stevens jumps over it, and catches Styles with a Calcium Kiss Superkick that sends Styles to the grass below!
Crowd: YEAAAHH
With his foe grounded, Stevens looks to the crowd, positions himself in the middle of the ring, and before Styles can discover where he is, Stevens takes flight, springboarding off the middle rope with an Asai Milksault! On the landing, Stevens’ left knee awkwardly hits the uneven yard, and he visibly grimaces before falling backward.
Mann: And both men are down after that! Stevens with a ferocious comeback attempt, but he may have hurt himself!
Woodbridge: Someone hasn’t been taking care of their lawn.
Stevens hears the air exit the crowd, and pulls himself up, giving them a reassuring thumbs up, before using the leg he landed on to kick Styles in the back of his knee, before throwing him back into the ring. Stevens puts one leg into the ring through the middle rope, before looking into the crowd- and deciding to ascend the turnbuckles instead! The Milkman leaps, and delivers a diving hurricanrana! As Styles tries to roll to the ropes, Stevens uses their good leg to stomp on his chest, before pulling him back to the middle of the ring, and hitting a Standing Milksault! Stevens maintains the cover!
ONE
TWO
THR-
Styles gets a shoulder up!
Woodbridge: And Stevens throwing everything into this assault on Styles, but it still wasn’t enough to put him down!
Crowd: Let’s Go Milk-man! Let’s Go Milk-man!
Stevens picks Styles up, and lifts him onto his shoulders…
Woodbridge: He’s going for the Milky Way!
…But the injured knee can’t hold up the weight, and both men crash to the mat.
Entrance Music begins to play as a small, skinny wrestler in a leather jacket waltzes towards the two downed competitors
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mann: And that’s Raven Van Loupe! Van Loupe is here at Sound Off!
Woodbridge: These two formed an alliance last time we saw them! But will it hold after the time off?
Van Loupe enters the ring, despite the protests of WiR official Tai Ni Wong, and glances at the pair as both try to pull themselves up, Stevens using the ropes, Styles on his own. Van Loupe looks back and forth… before kicking Stevens in the injured knee!
DING DING DING
Babaganoush: And here is your winner…
Van Loupe helps Styles to his feet, and the pair begin to lay the boots on Stevens.
Babaganoush: By disqualification as a result of interference, and striking a WiR official…
Styles takes the knee of the downed Milkman, and lifts it above his head, before thrashing it against the canvas.
Babaganoush: At a time of…
Van Loupe has Styles lift Stevens by the hair once more, before she runs to the ropes, jumps off the second rope, and Styles pushes The Milkman into the cutter.
Babaganoush: Ten minutes and twenty-three seconds…
Styles and Van Loupe stand over Stevens, and Styles prepares to deliver the finishing blow as he signals to the crowd that he is looking for the Styles Clash!
Banaganoush: Tony “The Milkmannnnnn” Stevens!!!!!!
Van Loupe: Are you done?
Van Loupe gives Styles a thumbs up, but as he goes to finish off Stevens, a mighty howl plays over the speakers as a short, scruffy man runs to the ring.
Woodbridge: That’s The Werewolf!
Mann Johnny, A Werewolf, is here! And he’s rushing to the ring!
Styles lets Stevens flop back down to the mat, holding his knee, and turns to face the incoming Werewolf as he slides under the ropes and into the ring. Styles steps before Vna Loupe to intercept, but the fresh Werewolf knocks him off his feet with The Pounce. The Werewolf comes face to face with Van Loupe in the center of the ring!
Crowd: AWOOOOOO
Mann: Pandemonium has broken out in the first match of Sound Off! And the fans are loving it!
Crowd: WE LOVE WERE-WOLF! clap clap clap clap clap WE LOVE WERE-WOLF!
Woodbridge: The Pack Wolf and the Werewolf facing off in the center of the ring!
Mann: And these two have unfinished business! The Lifeblood exists because they took issue with being left behind for signings like Werewolf!
Johnny feints left, before throwing a right jab! The Werewolf unleashes Pack Tactics on Van Loupe! As he stops throwing punches, and signals for another pounce, Styles kips up, and levels the werewolf with a lariat!
Crowd: BOOOOO
Van Loupe and Styles begin to wear down the Werewolf, delivering blow after blow to Johnny as the boos rain from the crowd. Van Loupe delivers a stomp to the knee of The Milkman to keep him down before they and Jericho set up to finish off styles…
When an Italian Flag appears on the video screen, and an absolute guido of an Italian-American, hair dripping with greaseslowly walks out from behind the curtain, wearing a Shohei Ohtani jersey!
…A Shohei Ohtani… New York Mets jersey.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mann: That’s The Apex! Arturo Stiglione! Stiglione is in the yard!
Stiglione slowly scopes out the scene on his way to the ring, seeing the downed Milkman on the left of the ring, the downed werewolf on the right, and the standing Lifeblood members in the middle. He slowly ascends the stairs and stands across from Van Loupe and Styles.
Wodbridge: And The Apex, not a fan of Johnny, a very terse relationship between these two.
Apex: Hell ova job ya done hea’
Van Loupe: If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stand aside, and maybe we won’t hurt you.
Apex: Dont’cha mind me, just monitoring the situation.
Styles pulls Van Loupe aside, and the two have an impromptu conference, before nodding along, and continuing their attack on Werewolf.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
With The Lifeblood’s backs turned Styles looks down at his fist. He looks down at the blue and orange he’s adorned in, and loosens up his arm. He points to the back of Styles, who senses the crowd rising, and turns around… to be met with a spinning backfist!!
Crowd: YEEEAAAHHHH
Mann: Styles has made his choice! And he chooses to stand against The Lifeblood!
Van Loupe hears his body hit the canvas, and turns around, to be met with the sight of a downed Styles! The Apex takes off his Mets jersey… to reveal an Angels jersey! The Werewolf is back on his feet, and he and the Apex come face to face! Van Loupe rises back up at the wrong time, as the two share a nod, and deliver a double clothesline! Seeing the situation turn against him, Styles slinks to the outside, and grabs a chair from under the ring, before sneaking back in behind the Werewolf and Apex, who have turned to the hard camera. Styles raises the chair to strike…
...And gets blasted by a Calcium Kiss from The Milkman!
Crowd: WOOOOOO
The three faces are all back on their feet in the middle of the ring, standing tall! As the three begin to celebrate…
“It’s a Psychobilly Freakout!
Mann: That’s the music of Mason Saunders! But where is he?
Saunders’ music plays, but the entranceway remains empty.
Woodbridge: He’s behind us, Mann! He just jumped the barricade!
Mann: But he’s outnumbered, Woodbridge, both his allies are down!
Undeterred by the numbers disadvantage, Saunders slides behind the faces, and as they recognize the trap, Saunders is already in the ring! The Werewolf approaches first and throws a jab that almost seems to bounce off the chin of Saunders. Saunders simply stares, and when the Werewolf tries a second one, Saunders swipes it aside with a tree trunk arm, before launching into action and dropping the Werewolf with a right hook, which catches the Werewolf cleanly on the jaw, who slumps backward onto the canvas. The Milkman tries to charge to his aid, but Saunders delivers a pump kick to put him back on the canvas. The Apex tries to make a move while Saunders’ back is turned facing Stevens, but he fails to do any damage and is swiftly thrown aside. Saunders drops the Milkman again, before turning around to face Apex… who turns around, and flees the ring as fast as possible!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mann: And Stiglione, getting out of dodge as soon as he can!
Woodbridge: And turning tail and running, Stiglione is out of here!
As Stiglione flees up the entranceway, the rest of the Lifeblood begins to pick themselves up. Saunders puts the Werewolf pack down on the canvas with a scoop powerslam, and boots him out of the ring. The Lifeblood stand united, and face the hard camera, Stiglione and Werewolf removed, and the Milkman down on the opposite end of the ring. JZ ascends to the second rope of the left turnbuckle, Van Loupe to the right, and the three all pose for the hard camera!
Mann: And the Lifeblood, although not victorious in the match, is victorious here in the aftermath!
Woodbridge: But wait, The Milkman is trying to get back up!
Mann: Stevens of course, left for the picking, as other members of The Horde are all the way on the other side of the Farm preparing for their match later!
Stevens struggles to pull himself up to his feet, knee buckling under him. Saunders perks up, and stops his pose. Stevens staggers to his feet, and before he can get very far, Saunders turns, and with blinding speed nails Stevens with a disgusting lariat that nearly takes his head off!
Woodbridge: And the Milk has gone spoiled.
The Lifeblood circle the downed Milkman like vultures, and Van Loupe drops to one knee, and picks up the Milkman’s head by the hair! JZ gets down as well, and the two strike a pose, with Milkman’s body as the centerpiece!
Mann: A statement made, by the Lifeblood
Woodbridge: To me, Mann, it looks like the statement was made by Saunders, Van Loupe, and JZ just picked up the scraps!
Van Loupe, holding up Milkman to the Camera victoriously: Take a look, WiR, this is the future! We are the Lifeblood of this company, and don’t forget that!
The camera pans out to JZ and Van Loupe celebrating over Milkman’s body, while Saunders stares from behind, before fading out to a commercial break.
Javier: The following contest is scheduled for ONE FALL, with a 20 minute time limit. Your referee for this contest is Mia So Hung. Introducing first, from Montreal, Canada, weighing in at 119 pounds...... GIGI♥ V!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
A significantly smaller but incredibly loud section of the crowd: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Music begins to swell in the background, and the crowd continues their jeering (and occasional unbridled simping) until Gigi steps out, running her hands down her body to the lewd Ashnikko verse.
Mann: Gigi here, surrounded by her legion of fans, who are then surrounded by a legion of people who absolutely despise her. As it should be here in WiR.
Gigi saunters to the ring, taking vaguely suggestive selfies with her ravenous fans on the front row, and generally seeming uncaring about the forthcoming match.
Woodbridge: And given her successes recently, it’s gonna be easy to overlook a competitor like Li Xiao, which very easily could prove fatal.
Gigi steps into the ring, as Javier starts his announcing again.
Javier: And her opponent, from Hong Kong, weighing in at 105 pounds... LI XIAO!!!
A unfamiliar metal song blasts out from the speakers, and a rather familiar hyperactive martial artist bounces out from behind the curtain!
Crowd: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Xiao charges down the ramp with a head of steam, hyped and ready to fight.
Mann: Xiao has some of the most devastating offense in this company, and if she’s able to keep momentum, it could very well shatter Gigi’s plans of making a statement here!
Woodbridge: Yeah, sure, but Xiao’s a tag team specialist first and foremost. She comes in to deal damage and then gets out before she takes too much abuse.
Xiao hops into the ring, and the referee pats both competitors down, before gesturing for the bell.
DING DING DING
In an interesting turn of events, Gigi and Li Xiao start off with a collar-and-elbow tie up in the center of the ring. Gigi takes quick advantage of her height and weight advantage to gain leverage and force Li Xiao backwards into the ropes.
Mann: Gigi starting off with the basics here, knowing Li Xiao is nothing if not an incredibly explosive fighter.
Woodbridge: That’s right, Xiao wrestles like my grandpa used to make moonshine, god rest his soul!
Gigi sets herself, and when Xiao tries to push off the ropes and get Gigi off, Gigi directs the momentum into a modified biel, throwing Li Xiao across the ring! Gigi takes a moment to smirk and pose for the fans - a mistake, as Xiao rolls through the throw and hits the ropes on the opposite side of the ring!
Mann: Incredible strength from Gigi!
Gigi turns around into a sprinting palm strike from Xiao, staggering backwards into the ropes yet again, and Xiao follows up with a big kick to the gut! Gigi’s doubled over, and Xiao drops her with a DDT!
Woodbridge: Xiao’s fired up, and she’s quite possibly looking to end this match before it even gets started!
Xiao with the cover!
1!
2!
Gigi kicks out right at 2, and rolls up, obviously shocked and dazed. The crowd in attendance is split, with the wrestling fans excited to see Gigi on the ropes, and the Gigi fans absolutely in shambles. Xiao is up quickly, as Gigi staggers to her feet - Xiao hits the ropes, springboards, and catches Gigi with a beautiful headscissors!
Crowd: WOOOOOO!
Gigi rolls through, runs the ropes, and comes back with a head of steam! Xiao dodges a clothesline attempt, shoves Gigi to the other rope, and gets ready for the comeback - Gigi catches the ropes! Xiao charges in to press the advantage, and eats an officially branded Gigi♥ boot to the face! Xiao is absolutely rocked, staggering backwards, and this time Gigi takes the initiative and absolutely levels Xiao with a clothesline! Xiao spirals to the mat, and Gigi blows a kiss to the fans in attendance!
Gigi: I am your future champion, and this is the match I’m booked in?
Gigi catches Xiao with a boot to the back of the head! Xiao rolls over, and Gigi drops a knee onto her throat, before going for the cover!
1!
2!
Xiao muscles out of the pin, clutching her head!
Woodbridge: We got two high fliers here, these women make a livin’ out of dodging attacks. Anything that lands here is going to be devastating!
Mann: And right now, it looks like Xiao is barely conscious after those blows to the head!
Gigi gets up, and winks at her fans in attendance and watching live throughout the world.
Crowd: BOOOOOO!/YAAAAAAAAAAY!
Gigi saunters over to Xiao, and plays up the boot she’s about to give - SMALL PACKAGE! SMALL PACKAGE!
1!
2!
Gigi kicks out, and her mood instantly changes. Xiao is staggering to her feet, and takes a full on slap to the face!
Crowd: OOOOOOOOOH!
Mann: What a slap from Gigi, obviously assisted by her official Gigi♥ gloves, sponsored by Fairtex!
Woodbridge: Gigi’s pissed now, and you could hear that slap all the way in Los Angeles!
Xiao clutches her face, and Gigi follows up with a huge kick to the gut! Xiao falls to one knee, and Gigi finishes the trifecta with a roundhouse to the head!
Crowd: OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!
Xiao collapses to the mat!
Mann: And Xiao’s down! What a kick!
Woodbridge: That kick nearly took her head off, Shay! I don’t know if she’s even conscious down there!
Gigi’s prepared, and is looking to finish this, climbing to the top rope! Xiao is flat on her back on the mat, and Gigi takes the leap, flipping forwards with a swanton! Xiao is still conscious, though, and rolls away in the nick of time, leaving Gigi high and dry!
Crowd: YAAAAAAY! KUNG PAO! KUNG PAO! KUNG PAO!
Mann: I... feel like that’s problematic, somehow.
Woodbridge: Nah, ‘sfine, don’t worry about it.
Xiao grabs for the ropes, pulling herself to her feet, but is obviously still dazed from the kick!
Woodbridge: Xiao’s hurt!
Mann: You see this a lot in Li Xiao singles matches - she’s got an incredible offense, but she’s fragile at best in-ring!
Gigi is holding her back, and glares at Xiao in frustration!
Gigi: You were supposed to stay down! it was going on Tiktok!
Gigi charges forward, ready to avenge her mistake, but takes a knee to the gut! Gigi staggers for a second, only to get a chop to the neck! She’s reeling! Xiao with a forearm! Xiao with a elbow strike!
Crowd: OHHHHHHHHHH!
Xiao takes a step backwards, and lets out a KIAI, before charging forward with a roundhouse - NO! SCHOOLBOY FROM GIGI!
1!
2!
Xiao kicks out at 2.6, rolls to her feet, and is immediately back on the offensive, catching Gigi with a kick to the gut!
Mann: Xiao was going for her trademark flurry of blows, and that roundhouse could very well have ended this match!
Woodbridge: Sure, but it doesn’t look like Gigi’s in a better spot right now anyway!
Xiao measures, as Gigi slowly gets back to her feet, and steps through the ropes, stalking her opponent! Gigi’s up, and Xiao leaps onto the ropes, going for a springboard - GIGI HOOKS HER LEG!
Crowd: BOOOOO!
Xiao loses her footing, and falls neck-first onto the ropes, before collapsing to the outside of the ring!
Mann: Gigi with a lightning-quick reversal!
Woodbridge: Xiao might be seriously hurt down there!
Gigi regains some of her confidence, and gives the crowd an innocent smile, completely ignoring the competitor she might have seriously injured. As the count reaches six, Gigi finally springs into action, rolling out of the ring, and grabbing Xiao by the hair!
Gigi: That’s what you get for ruining my moment!
Gigi pulls Xiao up to her feet, and throws her into the ring. Gigi rolls in as Xiao fights to one knee, then to her feet! Gigi smirks, and stands in front of Xiao, posing for the crowd -
WHAM!
Xiao with a JKD backfist!
Woodbridge: River City Knockout! That’s Biff’s move! What a moment to strike!
Gigi is staggered - falls to one knee - then gets back up, just in time to eat THE CRANE KICK
Crowd: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Woodbridge: CRANE KICK! CRANE KICK!
Gigi is down! Xiao is staggering after landing the crane kick, and collapses to a knee herself! Xiao takes a moment to collect herself, then throws herself into the cover, hooking both legs!
1!
2!
3!
NO!
Mia hits the three count, and Xiao rolls off, sure she’s won the match, but Gigi’s right hand is on the ropes!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Mia explains to Xiao, who is obviously frustrated, but nods. She takes a moment to kick Gigi’s wrist, knocking her hand off the ropes, before climbing to the top rope! Xiao steels herself - leaps - corkscrews through the air!
Woodbridge: Xiao’s Wing!
Gigi gets her knees up! Xiao lands back-first onto Gigi’s knees! Xiao bounces halfway across the ring, clutching her back and neck, and lands on her chest!
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Mann: And Gigi has just enough in the tank to get that counter in!
Gigi, with what seems like massive effort, rolls over, before crawling towards Xiao, who seems to be completely out of it. She crawls over Xiao, with a knowing smirk, before hooking her legs around Xiao’s head!
Mann: Gigi looking for the Paywall, this modified figure four choke!
Woodbridge: And half the audience is looking at something else right now.
Gigi torques Xiao’s already injured neck back, cutting off all airflow! Xiao struggles for a moment, but is trapped in the center of the ring! She crawls forward, but Gigi leans back, torquing her neck even further! Xiao swings back with an elbow, then another, but her arm is caught by Gigi’s free hand! After a moment of struggling, Xiao finally relents, and taps in the center of the ring!
DING DING DING!
Javier: And your winner, at a time of 7:53.... GIGI!
Gigi rolls out of the ring, obviously the worse for wear, clutching her neck after the crane kick to the skull!
Mann: And Gigi with a hard-fought win after these two threw everything at each other in a absolutely brutal short match!
Woodbridge: Xiao’s not a singles competitor on her own, but she showed just how brutal her brand of offense is when it needs to be - if Biff has the same resilience he used to have the tag division might need to be on notice!
2023.06.01 20:55 AXXXXXXXXA Ok my uncles liner had a couple small holes. Over the winter it drained down to nothing. When empty, we used this Hydrotools adhesive and I cut a couple round patches from pool liner samples form local pool store. Glued the patches on. Filled pool, 2 out of 6 patches came loose and leaked…
So today, with about 6 inches of water still in the pool with the patches still submerged, we pulled a patch off, and used like 3 big patches of flex tape. Flex tape is sticky as shit when it touches your hand, but as soon as you apply it underwater and move it a bit, it wont adhere. We did stop the main leak with 3 flex tape patches, some edges didnt adhere that great but the majority of it looks to be working. On another patch that was curled but wasnt leaking, i put 2 big flex tape patches on them. That spot, the flex tape really didnt adhere great, i can just pull it away. Hopefully some of it sticks enough to stop any potential leaks. That hydrotools glue seemed to work in some spots but completely didnt adhere to others.
So now what?
Theres 6 inches in the pool.
Do you think this is a good idea? Drain the pool. Wait a day to dry. Then would spraying clear flex seal over all the patches be a good idea?
Flex seal spray on its own wont be enough to stop a leak i i dont think. But since the patches are on, maybe spraying over them Will reinforce them. Or i can use more hydrotools glue and glob that all around the edges of the patches. Which i was going to do but he filled the pool before i did that.
We dont have access to the back side of the liner so we cant double up the flex tape or patch on the outside of the liner.
submitted by AXXXXXXXXA to pools [link] [comments]
So now what?
Theres 6 inches in the pool.
Do you think this is a good idea? Drain the pool. Wait a day to dry. Then would spraying clear flex seal over all the patches be a good idea?
Flex seal spray on its own wont be enough to stop a leak i i dont think. But since the patches are on, maybe spraying over them Will reinforce them. Or i can use more hydrotools glue and glob that all around the edges of the patches. Which i was going to do but he filled the pool before i did that.
We dont have access to the back side of the liner so we cant double up the flex tape or patch on the outside of the liner.
2023.06.01 20:03 piis314 Am I hitting my clubs super short??
I'm a relatively new golf player, I've played a few rounds in my lifetime with family with club rentals but ive just started taking it more seriously. Reading up on posts here, I see people driving 250+, using a 7 iron 175yd, PW 110yd, etc... I'm pretty new to golf but here's my estimated yardages from the range:
submitted by piis314 to golf [link] [comments]
- Driver: 200yd carry
- 3w: 170yd carry
- 5Hy: 150 carry
- 6: 130 carry
- 7: 120 carry
- 8: 110 carry
- 9: 100 carry
- PW: 75 carry
- SW: 50 carry
2023.05.31 19:27 iMrCEO CRK Magnacut and stuff
Prices are OBO Yolo > chat. Would like to trade for a Ti Satu but open to other "highend" knives.
FYI when I say I carried a knife i mean I took it to my office job and fidgeted with it. Only accepting Paypal F&F
CRK Sebenza 31 Insingo Magnacut https://imgur.com/a/Z6M8wcw
Catch and release, this one came in the mail yesterday I held it for a couple of minutes and realised it wasnt for me. 2nd owner, Some snails on the lock side of the knife (see video) but the blade is in excellent condition! Burgundy lanyard on it from the factory comes with everything Sandblasted Ti handle Magnacut Blade DOB: 7/6/2022 Comes with box
SV/TV: 465
EDC Bundle https://imgur.com/a/rsHCMxE
Original owner on all items.
Cobratech Quick Strike This knife was carried a bit and used as my "bike knife" which means it sat in my motorcycle tank bag for most of the time. Carried it a couple of times to the office and used it to open a couple of letter but that's the extent of the use its seen. No blemishes other than some light snails of the edge of the clip.
Casio Duro Diver Excellent condition! The perfect beginnebeater watch. 200m water resistant with a screw down crown and rotating bezel. I flabbergasted on the value you get. Comes with OEM rubber straps, Blue/white NATO band and a metal band
Knuckle spinner
USA made full Titanium body with a ceramic ball to make it spin. This has been one of my favorite desk toys that I have. Only selling it because my state laws suck
Bundle SV: 149
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/shzcTAt
submitted by iMrCEO to Knife_Swap [link] [comments]
FYI when I say I carried a knife i mean I took it to my office job and fidgeted with it. Only accepting Paypal F&F
CRK Sebenza 31 Insingo Magnacut https://imgur.com/a/Z6M8wcw
Catch and release, this one came in the mail yesterday I held it for a couple of minutes and realised it wasnt for me. 2nd owner, Some snails on the lock side of the knife (see video) but the blade is in excellent condition! Burgundy lanyard on it from the factory comes with everything Sandblasted Ti handle Magnacut Blade DOB: 7/6/2022 Comes with box
SV/TV: 465
EDC Bundle https://imgur.com/a/rsHCMxE
Original owner on all items.
Cobratech Quick Strike This knife was carried a bit and used as my "bike knife" which means it sat in my motorcycle tank bag for most of the time. Carried it a couple of times to the office and used it to open a couple of letter but that's the extent of the use its seen. No blemishes other than some light snails of the edge of the clip.
Casio Duro Diver Excellent condition! The perfect beginnebeater watch. 200m water resistant with a screw down crown and rotating bezel. I flabbergasted on the value you get. Comes with OEM rubber straps, Blue/white NATO band and a metal band
Knuckle spinner
USA made full Titanium body with a ceramic ball to make it spin. This has been one of my favorite desk toys that I have. Only selling it because my state laws suck
Bundle SV: 149
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/shzcTAt
2023.05.31 15:22 Prestigious-Fold-876 Maze of Tartarus - Tips and Tricks
Hello friends! This is uncle Papi again!
Since I couldn't find a definite guide for the Maze of Tartarus anywhere, I'll try to share some tips on this hard challenge for all players that are having difficulty and want help to progress.
This post is by no means the optimal way to do. I'll just share here what worked for me on my journey from 1F to 30F. Hopefully some of the information will be helpful to someone.
Please be welcome to share your stories or contribute as well!
Some tips beforehand:
Team: SM Lilebette, Kyle, Eliza and Rei.
Strategy: I was very excited in my first fight! SM Lilebette was responsible to deal the damage, since monsters are weak to earth. Kyle, Rei and Eliza served as mana batteries, spamming Honey Elixir on SM Lilebette to keep the damage going.
2F: Elements x6 (one of each type).
Team: Shin, Gravein, AoG Baran and Gaoul.
Strategy: Since each spirit has different resist/weaknesses, I decided to approach with neutral damage. AoG baran has native SCT sustain and the other characters were there just to use buffs/debuffs.
3F: Medrone, Winged Menace x2.
Team: Vaughn, Carol Nº 4, Romel and Lily.
Strategy: The birds start flanking you (one on each side), so your primary goal should be bringing them to the same side to cleave them with skills, hitting both at the same time. They are weak to fire, so Vaughn had an easy time breaking them (I did give him Bird Slayer, since he doesn't have it by default).
Romel and Carol were mainly responsible for buffs/debuffs, while Vaughn had Honey Elixir to keep the damage going.
Lily was there casting and keeping the boss from casting their spells, debuffing them as well.
4F: Gold Dabourne (a lot of waves).
Team: Meredy, DXR-MK02.
Strategy: Very easy floor since the monsters are weak to instant death. I had Meredy and DXR-MK02 equipped with Death God skill.
Things were looking very good until I reached next floor.
5F: Saint Pokkle.
Team: Melza, Tinkili and Vergil
Strategy: This is where things start to get complicated, since you just arrived from a very easy floor.
The boss will likely 1-shot your unit if the unit is weak to light and the unit is not a plant. That being considered, I had to give everyone in the group Mimicry[Plant] (via skills or equips).
Melza was built full tank. As she has a very high light resist, she didn't take too much damage and she could do double duty as a healer. I kept in mind to equip all aggro skills/accessories I could to really make her shine.
Tinkili had buffs/debuffs and God Heal, spamming her special on CD.
Vergil came in with damage, using his special on CD to be immune to flinch. I stacked a lot of movement speed on him so he could close the gap faster. Also, his S1 teleports him straight behind the enemies, which made the job easier. I had to raise his light resistance so he wouldn't get one-shot.
Positioning here is very important, as Vergil needed to stay behind the boss to avoid being cleaved together with Melza.
Raising light resistance is also very important, so that Golem SSR ark is very good in this fight (+20 light/dark resist).
The boss will sometimes cast Star Verse, which will hit VERY hard, so Magic Barrier, Shadow Wall, Metis, Lostoma (on the boss) and Decoy can help you survive.
6F: Nocturne Tinkili and Fan Sahagin x3.
Team: Mia, Dabourne, Pokkle, Ghost.
Strategy: The fight is not hard. The enemies are easily grouped and are weak to thunder. The boss will likely 1-shot your unit if the unit is male.
That being considered, use monsters and/or female units to deal with the floor. The Sahagins, if left unchecked, can hit very hard, so be sure to nuke them down or use a female tank if you must (Maddine, Melza, etc.).
Mia went on rampage while the other monsters were on buff/debuff duties and using Honey Elixir when they could.
When the boss is low, she will use a Dark special which will hit hard, watch out for that.
7F: Lightning Myura (and his offsprings) x1.
Team: Gorm, Logia, Shida and Lilebette.
Strategy: The boss is weak to earth and casting magic is the way to go. I don't have many casters, so I decided to go for physical damage instead. The boss is resistant to shadow but you can always lower its resistance with Weak and Circles.
Also, bring resistance to stun, since the boss will hit like a truck if a unit is stunned. Also, avoid staying at the edges of the room, since the boss can pin you there and do a lot of damage (dont know if it was a bug or intencional).
The boss itself is vulnerable to ailments, so Logia + Annula Melth did the trick, while Gorm tanked and Shida did the damage.
Lilebette was responsible for healing and buffs/debuffs/revives as needed.
8F: Igneed x2.
Team: SLeona, Gobl, SMaddine and Zekus.
Strategy: There are actually 2 bosses here but they start on top of each other, making you think there's only one. Both bosses can be broken, so take advantage of that. Each time you break them, they become more and more resistant to break.
The main catch here is the fire attack that he launches when close to death but there are many ways to lower its damage (Walls, Buffs, Debuffs, etc.).
Gobl and SLeona were responsible for breaking the boss, while SMaddine and Zekus were responsible for buffs/debuffs, respectively. SLeona also did the damage.
9F: Ancient Ritual Remants x1.
Team: Ardine, Hobgobl, Sahagin, Barcello.
Strategy: I'm not going to lie, all characters here were just used as mana batteries for Ardine, which ripped through everything with his neutral damage.
Arks/skills that trigger effects on kill are very useful, since there are many waves of mobs that keep appearing during the fight.
10F: Gold Gaoul x1.
Team: Lanceveil, Davan, Duran and Beyland.
Strategy: The boss has a VERY high defense and you can't use any spells, so debuffs that are activated on "Battle Start" are very useful here.
Davan gives all enemies Blazer + Drain and Ghost Hime ark gives Spirit Riot. Very useful here.
Your DPS want skills that bypass defense, such as Piercing/Diabolos skills or the Terror of the Grana Seas ark + axe equipped.
11F: Lightning Pablaboria x1.
Team: Riesz, Leona, Leena and Dyne.
Strategy: That -500 thunder resist IS A TRAP!!! And I fell for it!
The boss ABSORBS thunder, so the goal is to deal earth damage instead. Being immune to flinch is nice, if you can afford to (via units or arks).
The boss will spawn 4 creatures that, if not killed, will turn into new Pablos. If you manage to kill all 4 of them, the boss will instantly break. This is when you should go all out on damage.
Leena took care of healing and buffing, while Riesz/Dyne acted as mana batteries for Leona.
12F: Soul Eater (a lot of waves).
Team: AoG Zouglas, OG Alice, Yashamaru and Princess Lilah.
Strategy: Death God works against the ghosts... IF you can manage to hit them.
Yashamaru did the work, while OG Alice acted as a mana battery for him and AoG Zouglas gathered the ghosts to make things easier.
Lilah was there for healing, since the ghosts can dish out some damage.
13F: Beast Abeliol x1.
Team: DB Rei, SLanceveil, Vazard and Theria.
Strategy: The boss has 2 "stances":
Buffs, however, are indispensable! Bring Walls accordingly.
Also, be careful on what kind of elemental you use on the boss. I didn't test everything but I found that if you hit him with light, he'll get empowered and wipe the floor with you.
You can do the fight without a healer but you'll have a hard time unless you can kill the boss very quickly. Also, I used a thunder team but you can also use an earth team or mix both to take advantage of both "stances".
14F: Divine Beast Rock Mekia.
Team: D'dii, Luke, 9S and AoG Lily.
Strategy: The boss starts the fight immune to magic damage but, at 50% hp, he'll switch over to being immune to physical damage, so you need a flex team who can deal both of types of damage.
DO NOT USE ANY ELEMENTALS OTHER THAN DARK OR LIGHT, as the boss will get buffed and wipe you out. This also includes auto-attacking with elemental weapons, so pay attention to your equipped weapons.
DO NOT USE SPECIALS EARLY ON, as the boss gets resistant to it when you use them. Save them for when the boss is close to dying, so you can finish it off.
It is a good idea to have your caster do the same type of damage as your dps (because of Circles and other synergies). Also, the boss is vulnerable to blind and other ailments.
D'dii took care of the healing and ailments, 9S handled buffs, revives and helped debuffing the boss, Luke dealt with the 1st phase and AoG Lily dealt with the 2nd phase.
15F: Godhunter Shin x1, Yashamaru x1.
Team: Roland, 2B, PT Robin and Luger.
Strategy: Ignore Shin at the start, just focus Yashamaru.
Be careful with his clones and try to find the real Yashamaru and nuke him down. Since he has SCT Theft, you need Honey Elixir to keep your skills going. PT Robin and Luger were there as batteries for 2B and Roland.
After Yashamaru dies, focus on Shin. When he's close do death he'll use his Special non-stop, so try to save your special/skill stocks to nuke him down when he gets to about 30%.
There are a lot of arks that gives benefits against humans, make use of them!
16F: Thunder BaBat (a lot of waves).
Team: AoG Degrogue, Dark Melza and Lukiel.
Strategy: The bats are vulnerable to instant death, so Death God can be used here. Dark Melza/Lukiel were just used as mana batteries for AoG Degrogue.
If you have enough thunder resistance on AoG Degrogue, you won't need a tank or healer. As in every stage with waves, having on-kill skills (pose of victory/glory/honor) is very useful.
Also, again, many arks give benefits that last for the entire wave whenever you kill an enemy. Those kinds of arks are good here (Death God SSR, for instance).
17F: PB-SWEEPER G x1 (and his robots).
Team: Eren, SZekus, Saint Lilebette and Warlock Leena.
Strategy: The boss flies, so you need ranged attackers or casters.
The boss will sometimes slams the ground below him, dealing huge amount of damage, so be careful about your positioning and don't let the boss hover above your characters.
Eren was useful to tank the ground robots, since he's very resistant and can do some damage. Since I was using 2 ice units and the boss is not weak to ice, I had to employ circles and weak.
When you kill the 2 flying bots, the boss will keep spamming robots to annoy you. Remember that SZekus can become near immortal if you give him Goddess Kiss and an ice weapon (DW if possible).
18F: Gold Grammos (a lot of waves).
Team: SEliza.
Strategy: As I was starting to come short on good units to use and wanted to save some for the later floors, I had to choose between efficiency and availability.
SEliza was perfectly capable to solo this floor, as she could take some hits. But be warned that the Gold Grammos hit very hard.
Movement speed is key here, along with Pose of Honor to regain MP.
19F: Grandworm x3.
Team: SMeredy, Robin, Blood Rose (don't laugh!) and Angela.
Strategy: This fight is VERY annoying if it doesnt start well. It took me a lot of tries to get it right.
Robin needs to be 5-star here, as he gets the very useful skill Stun Research. With his auto-attacks (16 hits), he can apply stun VERY easily. I also had the Cactus Hammer equiped on him, just in case. The SR Ark Eternal Clock De=Rowe is very useful on him because it increases the duration of his stuns by 30%.
Blood Rose was used as a healer and buffedebuffer, while SMeredy acted as a dps (using only her S2, which is ice-based).
Angela just sat back and rocked her ice magic.
20F: White Knight Melza x1, Gallant Flame Vaughn x1, Ice Emperor Seilios x1.
Team: SGoroth, SRoland, GA Lukiel and Zleorg.
Strategy: This fight can be hard because when Vaughn and Seilios are close to dying, they get a HUGE damage buff, so they need to die ASAP. Try to spread the damage but not too much to the point where they all get low at the same time.
Melza herself can be a pain because of her guard skill that activates a lot and she HEALS while guarding, so bring units/skills/arks that can pierce that guard (Shockwave skill, for example). Another useful tip is to lower her ailments resist and try to inflict illness on her, negating all her healing (it worked wonders).
GA Lukiel was crucial in the 1st part of the fight to nuke Vaughn and Seilios without risk of them getting uber buffed.
After Melza dies, she gets reborn as Dark Melza, dealing dark damage instead of light. Dark Melza is VERY easy to break, so SGoroth kept her permanently broken while SRoland destroyed her.
Zleorg was surprisingly useful in this fight because of his resistances and ability to target elemental weaknesses.
21F: Tetrodon x1 (and his companions).
Team: Goroth, Murren and Seilios.
Strategy: Yikes, the boss will inflict you with LOTS of ailments, so come prepared! Also, the stage's special effect lowers your max HP and the boss' special also lowers it even further.
I used my SC to get all status resistances that I could and used accessories to resist what I could as well.
Murren could probably have soloed it but it would take too long, since he needed to cast Honey Elixir and kept getting interrupted.
22F: Abaddon the All-consuming x1, Tentacle x3.
Team: Claire & Dalgion, Zaix, Yuri and Saintly Theria.
Strategy: More ailments and heavy shadow damage. The boss is VERY susceptible to breaking, so Zaix did the job with Claire's help, while Zaix and Yuri did the damage and Saintly Theria took care of keeping the team healthy.
23F: Star Jelly x1 (Thanks Tony for the advice on improving my time here!).
Team: Maddine, Doura.
Strategy: This fight looks very hard at first sight, until you notice the boss attack pattern. It COPIES your attacks! Taking advantage of that, if you use the spell Soul Spark (which is a suicidal spell), the boss will copy it and suicide.
Take notice, however, that it still deals a ton of damage, so bring some means to stay alive (Determination, Decoy, Shadow Wall, Magic Barrier, Metis, etc.).
24F: Yggdrasil x1, King Pokkle x1, Spirit x1, Pokkle x1, Death Plant x1 and Gaoul x1.
Team: SMelza, BB Shin and Dilmordo.
Strategy: The boss will start the fight immune and will stay so until you kill all the adds first. You should start by killing King Pokkle first, leaving the Spirit for last.
When all adds die, the boss breaks, so save all your skills for this moment! After the boss recovers, the adds appear again and you have to repeat the cycle.
Bring some means to recover SCT (Pose of Glory, Honey Elixir, etc.) and you're good to go!
25F: Cryofoul Medrone x1.
Team: Nero, Graphel, TB Sevia and V.
Strategy: Foul indeed, this fight was VERY hard for me. So many opportunities to win the fight were lost just when things were apparently going well!
The key here was to use V to keep the boss stunned and use Graphel to dish out damage. TB Sevia did the healing/reviving (she did work a lot in this fight) and Nero helped with the damage.
Bring resistance to Illness, as the boss can inflict it. And most importantly: don't lose heart and keep trying!
26F: Greaver, Abyssal Spirit x1.
Team: Alphonse, Stahn, Alice and Sera.
Strategy: The boss starts the fight summoning some skeleton adds. After you kill the adds, the boss will become immune to both physical and magical damage (specials still work).
How do you get around it? The answer is simple: BREAKING! Stahn is there for this reason and, once the boss is broken for the 1st time, it will take damage normally and will summon the skeleton adds again during the fight.
Be careful because the boss uses dark attacks and spells and they hurt. Sera is there to keep the team alive, while Alice can take care of the adds and Stahn can take care of the boss. Alphonse tried to gather the skeletons for Alice.
27F: Holy Gourmet Phagodelus x1.
Team: Vayne.
Strategy: I thought this was a good time to use my Trishula, so I gave it to Vayne and he soloed the stage. Just bring some health and earth resistance and you're good to go!
The boss saps MP, so things like Proud Force or Dusk are not very useful here. Again, some arks/skills that work with low mana, like Abandoned City of the Seas SSR, can be very useful here since your MP will drop very quickly.
28F: Burning Fortress Gabord x2.
Team: SBeyland, Sevia, Maja and SM Theria.
Strategy: Very hard fight for me. I had to start using the big guns or I wouldn't be able to progress. The boss does fire damage so bring resistance! There are a lot of items/equips that give resistance to fire, now is the perfect time to use them.
Sevia was very useful because her special HALVES ALL DAMAGE! And it fills very quickly, so you can easily maintain 100% uptime.
The boss alternates into being resistant to physical and magical damage, so you need to deliver both here. SBeyland and Maja did the job.
29F: Venom Dragon Babalaad x1.
Team: Skeleton, Adel, AoG Mayly and Phal.
Strategy: This boss can be deceptively strong because of its mechanic. By itself, it doesnt to a whole lot of damage. However, if one of your characters is poisoned, it deals HUGE damage to them! And to make things worse, the boss CAN LOWER YOUR AILMENTS RESISTANCE! So be above immune to poison to have an easy time here.
The boss itself can be made vulnerable to ailments, so Phal and Mayly kept it under control with Stun Research. Meanwhile Adel discharged all his fury onto the boss.
30F: None other than El'dravahna, the Imperator himself! x1.
Team: SGorm, Lelouche, Joker and Lougseus.
Strategy: Not too much to say, the boss hits very hard and has a lot of HP. It can be broken, altought I only had those 4 units left and not much room to wiggle.
SGorm was very useful because he used his buff on Joker to make him tougher. Lelouch is very tough himself and was the main MVP in this fight with Grand Aura/Brave Phaser and Goddess Kiss. Lougseus was my healedebuffer while Joker was my mana battery for Lelouch.
I saved my "Absolute Power of Obedience" when I had all stocks full and when the boss was close to dying, so he wouldn't pull any tricks on me.
-
And that's how my journey through Tartarus ended, at least for now. I really had fun suffering through all those floors, trying to figure out what to do in each one.
I have used ALL units I have on my account and almost all of my arks. Also, all units that I used were at least lvl 110 (5-enhance), with the exception of SRoland and Lelouche who are 6-enhance. All units are also at least 4-awaken (with many being 6-awaken and SRoland being 8-awaken).
The most fun part, in my opinion, was to make use of old units and equips. There are so many equips that I have that I thought were useless and, in the right situation, they were game changing! Same can be said about the units, I really had fun finding a use for Kyle or Barcello, or even the monsters that I raised with so much love and care!
Also, keep in mind, folks, that this is NOT an easy content. It's extremely hard and it can be frustrating at times but it feels really good when you manage to beat a floor!
If you're having a hard time, do not feel shy to take a break and build up more units (or try to acquire some). I made sure units have learned all ark skills that I have available, as it allowed me for diversity and to use the weaker units as mana batteries or as supports/tanks.
submitted by Prestigious-Fold-876 to lastcloudia [link] [comments]
Since I couldn't find a definite guide for the Maze of Tartarus anywhere, I'll try to share some tips on this hard challenge for all players that are having difficulty and want help to progress.
This post is by no means the optimal way to do. I'll just share here what worked for me on my journey from 1F to 30F. Hopefully some of the information will be helpful to someone.
Please be welcome to share your stories or contribute as well!
Some tips beforehand:
- There is a summary of each boss, listing its elemental chart (weaknesses/resistances) and ailment resists, as well as its type. You can take full advantage of elemental weaknesses and slayers, which you SHOULD (as much as you can).
- Pay attention to each scenario, as most of them are special floors and some arks have synergy or special effects on them.
- Do NOT be afraid of using units! You can always re-do early floors to free up units for later floors when you progress. Its no use having a very good unit sitting on the bench waiting for the "right floor". Use what you can to progress, that's all that matters!
- Crimson Ore equips are very useful because they free up gear for other characters.
- Do NOT underestimate your weaker characters! Many fights can be made much easier by having access to buffs/debuffs and they can be perfect for that role! Also, there's always Honey Elixir and WAP to make them useful.
Team: SM Lilebette, Kyle, Eliza and Rei.
Strategy: I was very excited in my first fight! SM Lilebette was responsible to deal the damage, since monsters are weak to earth. Kyle, Rei and Eliza served as mana batteries, spamming Honey Elixir on SM Lilebette to keep the damage going.
2F: Elements x6 (one of each type).
Team: Shin, Gravein, AoG Baran and Gaoul.
Strategy: Since each spirit has different resist/weaknesses, I decided to approach with neutral damage. AoG baran has native SCT sustain and the other characters were there just to use buffs/debuffs.
3F: Medrone, Winged Menace x2.
Team: Vaughn, Carol Nº 4, Romel and Lily.
Strategy: The birds start flanking you (one on each side), so your primary goal should be bringing them to the same side to cleave them with skills, hitting both at the same time. They are weak to fire, so Vaughn had an easy time breaking them (I did give him Bird Slayer, since he doesn't have it by default).
Romel and Carol were mainly responsible for buffs/debuffs, while Vaughn had Honey Elixir to keep the damage going.
Lily was there casting and keeping the boss from casting their spells, debuffing them as well.
4F: Gold Dabourne (a lot of waves).
Team: Meredy, DXR-MK02.
Strategy: Very easy floor since the monsters are weak to instant death. I had Meredy and DXR-MK02 equipped with Death God skill.
Things were looking very good until I reached next floor.
5F: Saint Pokkle.
Team: Melza, Tinkili and Vergil
Strategy: This is where things start to get complicated, since you just arrived from a very easy floor.
The boss will likely 1-shot your unit if the unit is weak to light and the unit is not a plant. That being considered, I had to give everyone in the group Mimicry[Plant] (via skills or equips).
Melza was built full tank. As she has a very high light resist, she didn't take too much damage and she could do double duty as a healer. I kept in mind to equip all aggro skills/accessories I could to really make her shine.
Tinkili had buffs/debuffs and God Heal, spamming her special on CD.
Vergil came in with damage, using his special on CD to be immune to flinch. I stacked a lot of movement speed on him so he could close the gap faster. Also, his S1 teleports him straight behind the enemies, which made the job easier. I had to raise his light resistance so he wouldn't get one-shot.
Positioning here is very important, as Vergil needed to stay behind the boss to avoid being cleaved together with Melza.
Raising light resistance is also very important, so that Golem SSR ark is very good in this fight (+20 light/dark resist).
The boss will sometimes cast Star Verse, which will hit VERY hard, so Magic Barrier, Shadow Wall, Metis, Lostoma (on the boss) and Decoy can help you survive.
6F: Nocturne Tinkili and Fan Sahagin x3.
Team: Mia, Dabourne, Pokkle, Ghost.
Strategy: The fight is not hard. The enemies are easily grouped and are weak to thunder. The boss will likely 1-shot your unit if the unit is male.
That being considered, use monsters and/or female units to deal with the floor. The Sahagins, if left unchecked, can hit very hard, so be sure to nuke them down or use a female tank if you must (Maddine, Melza, etc.).
Mia went on rampage while the other monsters were on buff/debuff duties and using Honey Elixir when they could.
When the boss is low, she will use a Dark special which will hit hard, watch out for that.
7F: Lightning Myura (and his offsprings) x1.
Team: Gorm, Logia, Shida and Lilebette.
Strategy: The boss is weak to earth and casting magic is the way to go. I don't have many casters, so I decided to go for physical damage instead. The boss is resistant to shadow but you can always lower its resistance with Weak and Circles.
Also, bring resistance to stun, since the boss will hit like a truck if a unit is stunned. Also, avoid staying at the edges of the room, since the boss can pin you there and do a lot of damage (dont know if it was a bug or intencional).
The boss itself is vulnerable to ailments, so Logia + Annula Melth did the trick, while Gorm tanked and Shida did the damage.
Lilebette was responsible for healing and buffs/debuffs/revives as needed.
8F: Igneed x2.
Team: SLeona, Gobl, SMaddine and Zekus.
Strategy: There are actually 2 bosses here but they start on top of each other, making you think there's only one. Both bosses can be broken, so take advantage of that. Each time you break them, they become more and more resistant to break.
The main catch here is the fire attack that he launches when close to death but there are many ways to lower its damage (Walls, Buffs, Debuffs, etc.).
Gobl and SLeona were responsible for breaking the boss, while SMaddine and Zekus were responsible for buffs/debuffs, respectively. SLeona also did the damage.
9F: Ancient Ritual Remants x1.
Team: Ardine, Hobgobl, Sahagin, Barcello.
Strategy: I'm not going to lie, all characters here were just used as mana batteries for Ardine, which ripped through everything with his neutral damage.
Arks/skills that trigger effects on kill are very useful, since there are many waves of mobs that keep appearing during the fight.
10F: Gold Gaoul x1.
Team: Lanceveil, Davan, Duran and Beyland.
Strategy: The boss has a VERY high defense and you can't use any spells, so debuffs that are activated on "Battle Start" are very useful here.
Davan gives all enemies Blazer + Drain and Ghost Hime ark gives Spirit Riot. Very useful here.
Your DPS want skills that bypass defense, such as Piercing/Diabolos skills or the Terror of the Grana Seas ark + axe equipped.
11F: Lightning Pablaboria x1.
Team: Riesz, Leona, Leena and Dyne.
Strategy: That -500 thunder resist IS A TRAP!!! And I fell for it!
The boss ABSORBS thunder, so the goal is to deal earth damage instead. Being immune to flinch is nice, if you can afford to (via units or arks).
The boss will spawn 4 creatures that, if not killed, will turn into new Pablos. If you manage to kill all 4 of them, the boss will instantly break. This is when you should go all out on damage.
Leena took care of healing and buffing, while Riesz/Dyne acted as mana batteries for Leona.
12F: Soul Eater (a lot of waves).
Team: AoG Zouglas, OG Alice, Yashamaru and Princess Lilah.
Strategy: Death God works against the ghosts... IF you can manage to hit them.
Yashamaru did the work, while OG Alice acted as a mana battery for him and AoG Zouglas gathered the ghosts to make things easier.
Lilah was there for healing, since the ghosts can dish out some damage.
13F: Beast Abeliol x1.
Team: DB Rei, SLanceveil, Vazard and Theria.
Strategy: The boss has 2 "stances":
- hunder Stance: Vulnerable to earth, uses thunder magic.
- Ice Stance: Vulnerable to thunder, uses ice magic.
Buffs, however, are indispensable! Bring Walls accordingly.
Also, be careful on what kind of elemental you use on the boss. I didn't test everything but I found that if you hit him with light, he'll get empowered and wipe the floor with you.
You can do the fight without a healer but you'll have a hard time unless you can kill the boss very quickly. Also, I used a thunder team but you can also use an earth team or mix both to take advantage of both "stances".
14F: Divine Beast Rock Mekia.
Team: D'dii, Luke, 9S and AoG Lily.
Strategy: The boss starts the fight immune to magic damage but, at 50% hp, he'll switch over to being immune to physical damage, so you need a flex team who can deal both of types of damage.
DO NOT USE ANY ELEMENTALS OTHER THAN DARK OR LIGHT, as the boss will get buffed and wipe you out. This also includes auto-attacking with elemental weapons, so pay attention to your equipped weapons.
DO NOT USE SPECIALS EARLY ON, as the boss gets resistant to it when you use them. Save them for when the boss is close to dying, so you can finish it off.
It is a good idea to have your caster do the same type of damage as your dps (because of Circles and other synergies). Also, the boss is vulnerable to blind and other ailments.
D'dii took care of the healing and ailments, 9S handled buffs, revives and helped debuffing the boss, Luke dealt with the 1st phase and AoG Lily dealt with the 2nd phase.
15F: Godhunter Shin x1, Yashamaru x1.
Team: Roland, 2B, PT Robin and Luger.
Strategy: Ignore Shin at the start, just focus Yashamaru.
Be careful with his clones and try to find the real Yashamaru and nuke him down. Since he has SCT Theft, you need Honey Elixir to keep your skills going. PT Robin and Luger were there as batteries for 2B and Roland.
After Yashamaru dies, focus on Shin. When he's close do death he'll use his Special non-stop, so try to save your special/skill stocks to nuke him down when he gets to about 30%.
There are a lot of arks that gives benefits against humans, make use of them!
16F: Thunder BaBat (a lot of waves).
Team: AoG Degrogue, Dark Melza and Lukiel.
Strategy: The bats are vulnerable to instant death, so Death God can be used here. Dark Melza/Lukiel were just used as mana batteries for AoG Degrogue.
If you have enough thunder resistance on AoG Degrogue, you won't need a tank or healer. As in every stage with waves, having on-kill skills (pose of victory/glory/honor) is very useful.
Also, again, many arks give benefits that last for the entire wave whenever you kill an enemy. Those kinds of arks are good here (Death God SSR, for instance).
17F: PB-SWEEPER G x1 (and his robots).
Team: Eren, SZekus, Saint Lilebette and Warlock Leena.
Strategy: The boss flies, so you need ranged attackers or casters.
The boss will sometimes slams the ground below him, dealing huge amount of damage, so be careful about your positioning and don't let the boss hover above your characters.
Eren was useful to tank the ground robots, since he's very resistant and can do some damage. Since I was using 2 ice units and the boss is not weak to ice, I had to employ circles and weak.
When you kill the 2 flying bots, the boss will keep spamming robots to annoy you. Remember that SZekus can become near immortal if you give him Goddess Kiss and an ice weapon (DW if possible).
18F: Gold Grammos (a lot of waves).
Team: SEliza.
Strategy: As I was starting to come short on good units to use and wanted to save some for the later floors, I had to choose between efficiency and availability.
SEliza was perfectly capable to solo this floor, as she could take some hits. But be warned that the Gold Grammos hit very hard.
Movement speed is key here, along with Pose of Honor to regain MP.
19F: Grandworm x3.
Team: SMeredy, Robin, Blood Rose (don't laugh!) and Angela.
Strategy: This fight is VERY annoying if it doesnt start well. It took me a lot of tries to get it right.
Robin needs to be 5-star here, as he gets the very useful skill Stun Research. With his auto-attacks (16 hits), he can apply stun VERY easily. I also had the Cactus Hammer equiped on him, just in case. The SR Ark Eternal Clock De=Rowe is very useful on him because it increases the duration of his stuns by 30%.
Blood Rose was used as a healer and buffedebuffer, while SMeredy acted as a dps (using only her S2, which is ice-based).
Angela just sat back and rocked her ice magic.
20F: White Knight Melza x1, Gallant Flame Vaughn x1, Ice Emperor Seilios x1.
Team: SGoroth, SRoland, GA Lukiel and Zleorg.
Strategy: This fight can be hard because when Vaughn and Seilios are close to dying, they get a HUGE damage buff, so they need to die ASAP. Try to spread the damage but not too much to the point where they all get low at the same time.
Melza herself can be a pain because of her guard skill that activates a lot and she HEALS while guarding, so bring units/skills/arks that can pierce that guard (Shockwave skill, for example). Another useful tip is to lower her ailments resist and try to inflict illness on her, negating all her healing (it worked wonders).
GA Lukiel was crucial in the 1st part of the fight to nuke Vaughn and Seilios without risk of them getting uber buffed.
After Melza dies, she gets reborn as Dark Melza, dealing dark damage instead of light. Dark Melza is VERY easy to break, so SGoroth kept her permanently broken while SRoland destroyed her.
Zleorg was surprisingly useful in this fight because of his resistances and ability to target elemental weaknesses.
21F: Tetrodon x1 (and his companions).
Team: Goroth, Murren and Seilios.
Strategy: Yikes, the boss will inflict you with LOTS of ailments, so come prepared! Also, the stage's special effect lowers your max HP and the boss' special also lowers it even further.
I used my SC to get all status resistances that I could and used accessories to resist what I could as well.
Murren could probably have soloed it but it would take too long, since he needed to cast Honey Elixir and kept getting interrupted.
22F: Abaddon the All-consuming x1, Tentacle x3.
Team: Claire & Dalgion, Zaix, Yuri and Saintly Theria.
Strategy: More ailments and heavy shadow damage. The boss is VERY susceptible to breaking, so Zaix did the job with Claire's help, while Zaix and Yuri did the damage and Saintly Theria took care of keeping the team healthy.
23F: Star Jelly x1 (Thanks Tony for the advice on improving my time here!).
Team: Maddine, Doura.
Strategy: This fight looks very hard at first sight, until you notice the boss attack pattern. It COPIES your attacks! Taking advantage of that, if you use the spell Soul Spark (which is a suicidal spell), the boss will copy it and suicide.
Take notice, however, that it still deals a ton of damage, so bring some means to stay alive (Determination, Decoy, Shadow Wall, Magic Barrier, Metis, etc.).
24F: Yggdrasil x1, King Pokkle x1, Spirit x1, Pokkle x1, Death Plant x1 and Gaoul x1.
Team: SMelza, BB Shin and Dilmordo.
Strategy: The boss will start the fight immune and will stay so until you kill all the adds first. You should start by killing King Pokkle first, leaving the Spirit for last.
When all adds die, the boss breaks, so save all your skills for this moment! After the boss recovers, the adds appear again and you have to repeat the cycle.
Bring some means to recover SCT (Pose of Glory, Honey Elixir, etc.) and you're good to go!
25F: Cryofoul Medrone x1.
Team: Nero, Graphel, TB Sevia and V.
Strategy: Foul indeed, this fight was VERY hard for me. So many opportunities to win the fight were lost just when things were apparently going well!
The key here was to use V to keep the boss stunned and use Graphel to dish out damage. TB Sevia did the healing/reviving (she did work a lot in this fight) and Nero helped with the damage.
Bring resistance to Illness, as the boss can inflict it. And most importantly: don't lose heart and keep trying!
26F: Greaver, Abyssal Spirit x1.
Team: Alphonse, Stahn, Alice and Sera.
Strategy: The boss starts the fight summoning some skeleton adds. After you kill the adds, the boss will become immune to both physical and magical damage (specials still work).
How do you get around it? The answer is simple: BREAKING! Stahn is there for this reason and, once the boss is broken for the 1st time, it will take damage normally and will summon the skeleton adds again during the fight.
Be careful because the boss uses dark attacks and spells and they hurt. Sera is there to keep the team alive, while Alice can take care of the adds and Stahn can take care of the boss. Alphonse tried to gather the skeletons for Alice.
27F: Holy Gourmet Phagodelus x1.
Team: Vayne.
Strategy: I thought this was a good time to use my Trishula, so I gave it to Vayne and he soloed the stage. Just bring some health and earth resistance and you're good to go!
The boss saps MP, so things like Proud Force or Dusk are not very useful here. Again, some arks/skills that work with low mana, like Abandoned City of the Seas SSR, can be very useful here since your MP will drop very quickly.
28F: Burning Fortress Gabord x2.
Team: SBeyland, Sevia, Maja and SM Theria.
Strategy: Very hard fight for me. I had to start using the big guns or I wouldn't be able to progress. The boss does fire damage so bring resistance! There are a lot of items/equips that give resistance to fire, now is the perfect time to use them.
Sevia was very useful because her special HALVES ALL DAMAGE! And it fills very quickly, so you can easily maintain 100% uptime.
The boss alternates into being resistant to physical and magical damage, so you need to deliver both here. SBeyland and Maja did the job.
29F: Venom Dragon Babalaad x1.
Team: Skeleton, Adel, AoG Mayly and Phal.
Strategy: This boss can be deceptively strong because of its mechanic. By itself, it doesnt to a whole lot of damage. However, if one of your characters is poisoned, it deals HUGE damage to them! And to make things worse, the boss CAN LOWER YOUR AILMENTS RESISTANCE! So be above immune to poison to have an easy time here.
The boss itself can be made vulnerable to ailments, so Phal and Mayly kept it under control with Stun Research. Meanwhile Adel discharged all his fury onto the boss.
30F: None other than El'dravahna, the Imperator himself! x1.
Team: SGorm, Lelouche, Joker and Lougseus.
Strategy: Not too much to say, the boss hits very hard and has a lot of HP. It can be broken, altought I only had those 4 units left and not much room to wiggle.
SGorm was very useful because he used his buff on Joker to make him tougher. Lelouch is very tough himself and was the main MVP in this fight with Grand Aura/Brave Phaser and Goddess Kiss. Lougseus was my healedebuffer while Joker was my mana battery for Lelouch.
I saved my "Absolute Power of Obedience" when I had all stocks full and when the boss was close to dying, so he wouldn't pull any tricks on me.
-
And that's how my journey through Tartarus ended, at least for now. I really had fun suffering through all those floors, trying to figure out what to do in each one.
I have used ALL units I have on my account and almost all of my arks. Also, all units that I used were at least lvl 110 (5-enhance), with the exception of SRoland and Lelouche who are 6-enhance. All units are also at least 4-awaken (with many being 6-awaken and SRoland being 8-awaken).
The most fun part, in my opinion, was to make use of old units and equips. There are so many equips that I have that I thought were useless and, in the right situation, they were game changing! Same can be said about the units, I really had fun finding a use for Kyle or Barcello, or even the monsters that I raised with so much love and care!
Also, keep in mind, folks, that this is NOT an easy content. It's extremely hard and it can be frustrating at times but it feels really good when you manage to beat a floor!
If you're having a hard time, do not feel shy to take a break and build up more units (or try to acquire some). I made sure units have learned all ark skills that I have available, as it allowed me for diversity and to use the weaker units as mana batteries or as supports/tanks.
2023.05.31 11:13 jvc72 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co[NYSE:HPE] Financials Q2/2023
Filling Date: 2023-05-30
REVENUE:
Revenue: $6.97B
Gross Profit: $2.51B (36.02%)
Result: $520.00M (ebitda)
EPS: $0.320
Outstanding Shares: 1.30B
BALANCE:
Cash: 4.16B
Debt: 13.48B
FINANCIAL EVALUATION/SCORE:
Financial Score - Altman: 0.74
Financial Score - Piotroski: 8.00
Company Description:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. It operates in six segments: Compute, HPC & AI, Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other. The company offers general purpose servers for multi-workload computing and workload-optimized servers; HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers; HPE Synergy; and solutions for secondary workloads and traditional tape, storage networking, and disk products, such as HPE Modular Storage Arrays and HPE XP. It also offers HPE Cray, HPE Apollo, and converged edge systems; and HPE Superdome Flex, HPE Nonstop, and HPE Integrity products. In addition, the company provides HPE Aruba product portfolio that includes hardware products, such as Wi-Fi access points, switches, and gateways; HPE Aruba software and services comprising cloud-based management, network management, network access control, analytics and assurance, and location; and professional and support services, as well as as-a-service and consumption models for the intelligent edge portfolio of products. Further, it offers various leasing, financing, IT consumption, and utility programs and asset management services for customers to facilitate technology deployment models and the acquisition of complete IT solutions, including hardware, software, and services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Additionally, the company provides consultative-led services; HPE Ezmeral Container Platform; HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric; and Hewlett Packard Labs. It serves commercial and large enterprise groups, such as business and public sector enterprises; and through various partners comprising resellers, distribution partners, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and advisory firms. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.
submitted by jvc72 to getagraph [link] [comments]
FINANCIALS
Period: Q2/2023Filling Date: 2023-05-30
REVENUE:
Revenue: $6.97B
Gross Profit: $2.51B (36.02%)
Result: $520.00M (ebitda)
EPS: $0.320
Outstanding Shares: 1.30B
BALANCE:
Cash: 4.16B
Debt: 13.48B
FINANCIAL EVALUATION/SCORE:
Financial Score - Altman: 0.74
Financial Score - Piotroski: 8.00
Company Description:
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company provides solutions that allow customers to capture, analyze, and act upon data seamlessly in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. It operates in six segments: Compute, HPC & AI, Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other. The company offers general purpose servers for multi-workload computing and workload-optimized servers; HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers; HPE Synergy; and solutions for secondary workloads and traditional tape, storage networking, and disk products, such as HPE Modular Storage Arrays and HPE XP. It also offers HPE Cray, HPE Apollo, and converged edge systems; and HPE Superdome Flex, HPE Nonstop, and HPE Integrity products. In addition, the company provides HPE Aruba product portfolio that includes hardware products, such as Wi-Fi access points, switches, and gateways; HPE Aruba software and services comprising cloud-based management, network management, network access control, analytics and assurance, and location; and professional and support services, as well as as-a-service and consumption models for the intelligent edge portfolio of products. Further, it offers various leasing, financing, IT consumption, and utility programs and asset management services for customers to facilitate technology deployment models and the acquisition of complete IT solutions, including hardware, software, and services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Additionally, the company provides consultative-led services; HPE Ezmeral Container Platform; HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric; and Hewlett Packard Labs. It serves commercial and large enterprise groups, such as business and public sector enterprises; and through various partners comprising resellers, distribution partners, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendors, systems integrators, and advisory firms. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.
2023.05.31 03:08 Empty_Advice7902 The Dark Rise of One Piece: Anime's Loneliest Creator - The Eiichiro Oda Story!
 | Is One Piece the greatest Story ever told? A full Essay / Video Documentary on Eiichiro Oda and One Piece. To me One Piece is a masterpiece but it took a lot of sacrifices for Oda to become the best selling mangaka of all time. I just hope I did him justice. This is the Rise and Controversies of Anime and Manga's most dedicated Creator. submitted by Empty_Advice7902 to OnePiece [link] [comments] YouTube Documentary: https://youtu.be/obwz7ewVwnY At the time this is bring made is being made Eiichiro Oda has amassed an astonishing 230,000,000 Net Worth and is the creator of the highest selling manga of all time. One Piece has sold so many copies, that not only is Oda in the Guinness book of world records for the most copies ever sold of any manga or comic but it also puts his name in the top 10 highest selling fiction authors in human history. Engraving the name Eiichiro Oda next to William Shakespeare and JK Rowling. Oda is without a doubt one of the greatest and most creative story tellers of all time. https://preview.redd.it/hqtkwxdiu33b1.jpg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeb983436a68a455589f2ebc9f71efa2ba42a6d0 But this level us success and talent doesn’t come without sacrifices. Odas road to success is paved with A plethora of health issues both physical and mental, arrest and loneliness. One Piece has brought joy to millions of people and its success is something that Oda has dreamed of since he was 4 years old watching anime and Disney cartoons. Will act as a celebration of oda’s well earned achievements but also the over looked acknowledgment of the sacrfises, a-lot of Artist have to suffer through for our enjoyment, and dark untold truth of the manga industry. A Mangaka who escaped the industry even referred to it as “voluntary enslavement”. with an more infamous example being when kishmoto Creator Naruto and a rival of oda, finally finished his popular long running series, he reached out to oda to brag that he can now finally take a walk with his kid on a sunny day which would send the one piece author into a spiral but also motivated him to keep working so he could take walks with his family too one day. https://preview.redd.it/gpad5gauu33b1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e5d3f31a424421779e3d95827d1a0da1a572ce97 Oda was born January 1st, 1975 in Kumamoto City Japan. From an early age he was obsessed with all things animated and cinema. Everything from Anime, Disney cartoons and Hollywood movies. By the age of 4 Oda had already began reading manga and immediately after he found out creating manga was a career! He couldn’t believe such a cool job existed and declared he would become a Mangaka to quote “avoid getting a real job” The manga that contributed the most to this epiphany was a series called “The Monster Kid” by fukiko a fujio. A story about a kid and his companions traveling through realms battling various Monsters. Oda claims that one of the panels from this specific manga was the first that made him want to draw and he would go on to draw endless copies of his favorite panel trying to get his drawings to look as good as Fujio’s. He simultaneously had fallen in love with an anime called “Vicky The Viking” Monster Kid A show that told the adventures of Vicky, a young Viking who would use his Witty and imaginative mind to help his friends out of tight situations. Vicky the Viking Vicky would spark odas life long fascinations with pirates and plant the seed for a idea that would eventually grow into one piece. you can see Vickies influenced sprinkled through out oda’s work. When odas dad found out about his sons newfound ambitions he decided to teach him to paint as he himself was a talented oil painter. oda credited his dad for his creative side and still shows off his dads paintings as the proud son he is. Oda became quite the proficient painter as well. One of his original paintings he did for a school project still hangs in his elementary school to this day When oda got a little older and his manga taste matured He gravitated toward the Weekly shonen Jump. A anthogly of mostly action-based manga that targets an older demographic. Oda also had started junior high around this time but admitted that it was rough for him and that he often didn’t enjoy it. The only time he would really feel happy was when he knew their was a new jump issue coming out the next day. He loved Everything from legendary Gag series Kochikame, to the action comedy Kinnikuman. A popular series in the Anthology called “Capatin Tsubasa” would even inspire oda to join his school soccer team just like the characters in the show. As you can tell he was a very impressionable and remains so to this day many of odas characters and themes are based of various pop culture icons like Jim Carrey, Eminem, the terminator and reservoir dogs to name a few you might know but also various Japanese acting and historical legends. https://preview.redd.it/xacz28kov33b1.jpg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c48abe546e097a7abae860fe341bc9bb965e2a6 oda never dropped his love for soccer with his favorite team being Brazil. Oda revealed in a q and a that in the real world luffy would be from Brazil so I can’t help but to think this is influenced by “Capatin Tsubasa” oda would find his biggest influences though when he stubbled apon the series Dragon Ball. He was obsessed Toriyma’s art style and reread it more than any other manga. He loved his character designs and practicing them is why he said he got so good at drawing legendary buff dudes. But the most impactful thing Dragon Ball ever did for oda was show him how impactful manga could be. https://preview.redd.it/xpmlog1mv33b1.jpg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37f3ee26edad2c2243ed8b382f349117e10957fa When dragon ball was first gaining popularity oda remembers going to school and just seeing how his peers would react to the weekly releases. One day he would see his school get thrown into chaos by a single chapter. “When Krillin died in Dragon Ball, the whole school was thrown into turmoil. I remember someone kept running and shouting in the school, "Krillin died!!" with Jump in his hand." Seeing the influence a great story could have would completely reshaped the way oda looked at manga and reenforce his desires to master the craft himself. This feeling would last with oda and the 2nd year of jr high he would start developing his talent and began drawing sketches for a pirate based manga. Over the next several years oda would continue draw everyday in his free time even at the cost of his sleep and friends. this would be foreshadowing for how obsessive he can be when he puts his mind to something. At the age of 17 he would quit soccer in an attempt to take his mangaka ambitions more seriously. He had learned about a very prestigious manga completion from a company called shueisha. It was called the tezuka award and it was given to the best manga submitted by aspiring creators. During the same time Oda had taken a liking to an Western American Film called Young Guns, this would go on to inspire him to work 4 months on his first full-length Manga titled Wanted! it was an action gag comedy set in a western themed world. https://preview.redd.it/iofbbbd1w33b1.jpg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a4861bcd115ef687ada71058e699de7d3fb182d Oda was very proud of this creation and was excited to submit it, but he was also concerned of his parents and teachers disapproving of his decisions to focus all his efforts onto something not school related. to fix this problem would submit his work under the pseudonym Tsuki Himizu Kikondo. Being the unknown prodigy he was he would win 2nd Place and take home a 500,000 Yen cash prize. Winning this award at such a young age would send shock waves through the manga industry. many professionals within the business started keeping their eyes on him. In early 1993, Oda would go on to get several interviews and his Manga would get published in Shueisha's Mezase Mangaka! Around this time he would drop his pseudonym and start going by his real name. Showing that he was growing a lot more confident in his work. His first professional interview would even be published in Oda’s Hometown’s most prominent newspaper. Odas life was changing fast. It was getting harder and harder for even his haters to doubt his talent. Later that year he graduated high school and entered Kyushu Tokai University under the architecture program. although he never used his architectural talents in the actual field, I can’t help but to think in played a massive part in his unique city and island designs in one piece. During university oda would continue submitting more of his work to Shueisha. Not knowing his previous win already qualified him for a spot for a monthly off shoot of the weekly Shonen Jump.This spot is is where oda would release his next manga. “God's Gift for the Future” Gods Gift This manga followed a pickpocket named bran that wanted to change his way of life but couldn’t stop his bad habits. through a series of events he winds up with a magic death note book gifted from god that can not alive anyone by writing the exact date and event in the notebook. look im just gonna say it. Gods gift for the future came out in October 1993 and Death note came out a decade later in 2003. Im not saying Ohba copied teenage odas work but there are alot of similarities and I found some threads that already been disscussing the topic. If you read all of odas work in release order, you can see how each one gets progressively better and more complex. And he defiantly has two things he was good at from the begginning. Character development and world building. Part this is due to oda admitted just loving the characters he creates and he even said cries while drawing emotional or sad scenes they have to go through. But being the near physcoeopathically ambitious machine he was. even at a young age He wasn’t satisfied with only being in a Monthly release magazine so the following year in 1994 he decided to enter a contest named Hop-Step Awards with a Manga named Ikki Yako, Oda won first place with Ikki Yako giving him his first undisputed success as a Mangaka. Ikki Yako With the back back awards and victories, oda was finally believing he had an actual chance at his dream coming to fruition, so the same year in 1994 he would drop out of university to pursue he career as a professional Mangaka. Dropping out of college is a huge deal in Japan. Even if you become a success some people will look down on you as school is seen as a right of passage to many Japanese citizens. Not as a option as it is in some other countries. Japans unique out look on hard work educationally and professionally will contribute to the dark concepts we will explore in the latter part of the video. And if you remember oda specifically didnt like school and often struggled to find enjoyment while being there. With some impressive accolades under his belt and a new found freedom oda would move to Tokyo under the charge of his editor Karou Kushima this was his officially start as as a true Mangaka. Oda had gotten a job at shonen Jump as an assistant as many inspiring mangakas do. He made practically no money but it was a necessary stepping stone all mangaka have to take if they want shot of publishing there own work one day. Some work as assistants for years or even decades with never getting that chance and often break under the extreme exceptions pushed onto them by the industry. Odas first assistant Job was for shinobu kaitani’s midoriyama police gang. It was only for the last few chapters of the series and would last just a month. But Oda claims it was extremely busy month for him and he gained an immense amount of experience about the production of a professional manga. After his manga finished Kaitani would leave Shonen Jump, Oda was sent to another Mangaka assisting creator Masaya Tokuhiro through the final years of their Manga Jungle King Tar-Chan. Tokuhiro was also the creator of the more famous Kappaman. Oda would work for Tokuhiro for a very long time. Tokuhiro was infamous for being very resistant with allowing others to help with the important parts of his work. This was hard for oda because the free time he got after his 12-14 hour shifts he would spend drawing cool ideas for his own stories and ideas he thought might work for tokukiros but his boss would never even entertain one idea, but oda would still learn alot during this time period. specifically improving his skills of background and crowd art. During this time oda would create and submit serval of his own stories to his editor kushima. and pretty much all of them would be immediately dismissed. This would hurt but he would try to not take the harsh criticism to heart. But this would all change when Oda would create and release his next manga Monsters! After throughly rereading it and then going back to all of his old works he began to see many of his inadequacies. This motivated oda to work even harder to fix his mistakes. He started thinking maybe his editor was right telling him he wasn’t ready yet. Oda was now sleeping only 5 hours night and began skipping meals because they took up to much time that he could be using to improve his craft. When Kappaman ended in Mid-1996 his new boss would also move on from shusisha and oda entered his final assistant tenure under the esteemed Nobuhiro Watsuki. Working on the best selling Manga Rurouni Kenshin or Samauri X. This would be huge for oda! Watsuki was one of the most popular mangaka not just in shonen jump but in all of Japan! He also was known to have a way more laid back style then odas previous editors. Watsuki allowed assistants to be involved in his work, speak their mind and would even review their ideas seriously. that doesn’t mean he would improve them but he felt being involved and getting hands experience was the best way to learn not just busy work for hours on in. Oda would thrive in this environment! and one of his ideas would actually pass all the hurtles and he even was credited in the Rurouni Kenshin Manga for coming up with the Character Honjō Kamatari. The great scythe. The was huge for oda and added alot of creditably to his suggestions moving forward. Oda would never forget the faith watuski sensei had in him and unfortunately this would come with some grave consciences later on. Oda was enjoying his time in watsuki studio but he remained troubled by the fact his ideas for Manga drafts continuously got rejected. Oda decided since all his new ideas wasn’t cutting he would revamp his original idea for an anime. In a last resort style effort oda began work on a pirate themed manga. He decided to call it Romance Dawn. Not feeling hopeful oda would submit it to his editor. But to odas surprise Mishima was very impressed by it and would approve for it to go into further development immediately. It would debut in a shonen jump summer special and received much praise from the readers. During the production of romance dawn oda would fall under the supervision of a new editor takanori Asada who would also believe in romance dawn. He would arrange for oda to fill the gap in the weekly shonen jump that was coming up. This was an incredibly rare and unique opportunity. Oda accepted and immediately created a 2nd version of romance dawn! Within 2 weeks it was approved by Asada as well. But a weird thing was happening. The readers Loved the unique Pirate themed story and odas handlers believed in it and saw the potential greatness in oda’s work but the higher ups where very skeptical and doubtful of Oda’s concepts and refused it entirely! Romance Dawn They didn’t wanna try anything new. They wanted more of what worked. Basically dragon ball 2.0s but oda specially set out to make the exact opposite, this was because of 2 of odas earlier influences. Dragon ball, He loved the fights and designs but wished it was more story driven and a much more random influence was the wizard of oz. Oda loved the adventure aspect of it and implemented it into many of his works but he hated the ending of the classic movie. He thought the “The real treasure was the friends we made along the way” troup was stupid. That fans deserve build up and pay off. Oda basically was inventing the slow burn of mangas. That pull you in through world building not just flashy fights. Lucky for Oda asada wasn’t having any of his supervisors nonsense and would wage war on them proclaiming that oda has something great on his hands and he would continue this campaign for months. and in May 1997, One Piece had finally been approved for publishing in Weekly Shonen Jump. If you love one piece make Sure you show resect for asada because it wasn’t for him we might have never been blessed which such a great story. Remember this was odas last ditch effort and who knows what would happen if it had failed. Soon after, Oda resigned from being Watsuki Assistant on good terms, and became a full-fledged professional Mangaka himself at the age of 22. His adventure was about to reach hights and pitfalls that he could have never imagined. And if you wanna follow me own my own adventure to be the pirate king of YouTube. This video was suppose to be saved for my 5000 subscribers special but I was so excited to drop it I couldn’t wait! it would be cool if you could get this reddit thread to 200 upvotes One Piece: This is it Oda’s obsessive nature and hard work has payed off and he wasn’t about to let it go to waste. He would double down his effort once more and from this point forward things would start moving incredible quickly. Oda would take everything’s he learned and created over the years and start immediately drafting the first 8 chapters of One Piece. Asada would lend him a hand and help him refine his ideas and offer some advice he thought could give One Piece a higher chance of success. He gave oda the advice of spicing up the first couple chapters. He thought oda had a great concept but that it wasn’t interesting enough and needed more stakes. Something too hook people and leave them wanting more. This lead to the idea of the Shanks incident in the first chapter. I think this was a great decision and set the tone for the rest of the story. On July 1997 Weekly Shonen Jump #34 had premiered the first chapter of One Piece titled Romance Dawn giving homage to his Romance Dawn Manga that started it all. When they finished they was pretty sure they had something great on their hands but they was so nervous in wouldn’t do well. They couldn’t shake their butterflies and when the 1st Volume released Oda and his editor would hide in a bookstore and watch the customers and when they seen a little boy buying the one piece volume they would shout with pure joy! This is the cutest one piece fact and know and definitely one of my favorites because it shows how much one piece really means to him. His passion would blend onto the pages and pay off. By the end of the 1st year one piece would sell 300,000 copies. Making it a hit. But this is again nothing compared to what would come. only one year later this number would grow to 6 million copies sold with no sign of slowing down. By 1999 one piece had reached over 17,000,000 prints and would receive a full length anime adaption that would be an instant smash across Japan. By 2001 oda was only 26 years old and the world was at his finger tips. He was a best selling mangaka and was getting all the interviews and festival bookings he could handle. But the most life altering appearance would happen at Jump festa 2002. Why watching the performances he would see 22 year old Chiaki Inaba a model, idol, actress, Campaign girl and Race Queen. A artistic genius in her own right. During her show she would perform in a Nami swan cosplay. Showing her love for her favorite anime character that happen to be created by Oda who was in the audience. Her beauty and talent left oda smitten. It was like a romance anime scene. He had no choice but to introduce him self later the same day. They would hit it off and her personality had him hooked. Over the next 2 years they would begin seeing each other, squeezing in dates between her performance and oda busy work schedule. In 2004 they would get married opting to have a private wedding with only their closes friends attending. Around 2004 one piece and shonen jump was more popular then ever. Manga and anime was spreading world wide. but there was an unprecedented surge in anime’s popularity in the west. The catalyst for this weeb take over would be thanks to 3 shonen Anime. One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. That would be deemed the Big 3. A titled bestowed on the 3 most popular anime of the 2000s. 3 series that completely carried shonen jump in this time period. Every anime fan in the world had one of these 3 in their top spot. later this era would be called the “Golden Age” of shonen Jump. The gap in sales of these 3 vs other series was mind blowing. And to this day the consistency of their popularity would never be repeated. All 3 of these mangaka where living their dreams but anyone with their level of ambition wants to be the best not just top 3. The 2 creators with most smoke for each other would be One piece’s Oda and Bleach’s Kubo. They 2 manga titans have had a 20 year beef that have left their fans constantly comparing the 2. The origins of this entanglement actually started because of our previously mention manga award that oda won for romance dawn. Kubo had entered the same competion and felt his win was a sure in and that it would be the launch to his own professional Mangaka adventure! But after bleach was out voted by romance dawn pushing his dreams back years. Bleach wouldn’t be released in jump til 2001! Kubo would holds oda personally responsible. in a 2017 interview when asked how he felt about his rival and he would respond saying “ I hate Oda” and revealed the 2 had a hairy run in in the 1990s. A few years later oda would have a chance to respond in his own interview during a bleach exibxit for its 20th anniversary. He was asked about Kubo and said “ years ago kubo publicly announced he hates me? Do you want to know if I hold a grudge?” “Yes I do” he went on to say he didn’t knew in kubo meant it in a perticaly rude way or in a competitive way. He said kubo has always had a competitive spirt and was a hard worker but that he does have some audacity, to to say that in public. Oda was letting everyone know he is still always down for the smoke. He would draw Kubo’s character ichigo in the one piece art style and submit it to the exhibition. Oda Draws Ichigo I love both anime but their lives sounding like real life anime rivals makes their series even better. It shows how much they both love and belive in their series. Check here down Oda and Naruto creator kishimoto also consider their self rivals but in a very different way. in 2015 oda admitted that Naruto is more popular than one piece world wide. He apricates it but it makes him jealous. https://preview.redd.it/jamhiu2xw33b1.jpg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de87a209c908f27e9e560edf8d522866129e1c94 In 2016 kishimoto said he wanted to surpass one piece in manga sales but sadly was never able to before Naruto ended. Since then one piece popularity in the rest of the world has exploded so the final results aren’t in yet. But either way The 2 have been the dominate 2 in the world for 2 decades constantly exchanging spots. They’re respect for each other is evident as shown Through out both series easters are hidden shouting out the others manga. https://preview.redd.it/fj09lkzyw33b1.jpg?width=268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce5d77252b5a3757dc7c4f13b25e987e521f9282 But the most wholesome but scary example happened in 2013. Oda had become notorious for his machine like work ethic. He was only sleeping 3 hours a night and often would sleep at his work desk so he could wake up and be able to get back to work faster. This would cause his health to disintegrate and he would be hospaitalized. Knowing oda doesn’t like to take days off kishimoto would show up to his hospital room to check on his friend and would be shocked to see oda working on a up and coming one piece chapter. Kishimoto understood this level of work ethic better than anyone else could as arguably the other most successful mangaka of all time. Instead of asking him to stop he pulled up a chair and helped oda with his work on which woukld relived to be the legendary Dressrossa arc. A personal favorite arc of mine as you can see my avatar is designs after the arcs antagonist. They wanted this arc to be special as to not let his fans down because of his sickness. As of 2023 One Piece has sold more than 500 million copies. selling more copies than batman and harry potter. Oda is the best selling mangaka of all time and 10th highest selling fiction author in human history. The Anime adaptation of his manga is a smash hit and is growing more popular ever day. Olympians have stuck one piece posses before wining metals. Hollywood celebs have declared their love for one piece like averal lagive who eventual would send oda 2 songs for one of his movies, Jamie lee Curtis who mention robin as her favorite characters on several q and as, marvel director taika waititi rocked a luffy sweater on several occasions. One Piece film’s latest film release Earned over 15 billion yen making in the 6th highest grossing movie in Japanese history. The 4 year old that wanted to be a great manga would be so proud of oda but what has oda sacrificed for this level of success. We touched it own it a little in the kishimoto segment but to really understand or believe the truth that im about to tell you have to understand a terrifying concept in Japan called karoshi. Karoshi as phenom in Japan that translate to “over work death” in Japan the work culture is alot more extreme then most people outside of Asia can even comprehend. Japan has a 0 excuse policy in many companies not all but many. In these environment you are expected to finish all the work you are giving no matter how long it takes you. Even if you do finish your work you are not permeated to leave until anyone who is your senior is finished and you are expected to go help then instead of going home to see your family. In 2012 a documentary film maker by the name of allegra Pacheco visited Japan when she heard about the concept and was shocked to see how common this was. She would follow salavery men from their jobs and would discover dozens of them would pass out on the streets or on bus rides from complete exhaustion unable to even make it home or even move. these extreme hours leads to Japan having a high percent of work related deaths from stress heart attacks and sadly self inflicted. As of 2022, 23 percent of Japanese workers logged more than 80 hours of over time each month. Because this 1 and 5 Japanese workers are at risk of passing away from Karoshi. The Japanese government never even acknowledged this problem. That was until a 24 year old who had logged 105 hours of over time, wrote on social media that she was physically and emotionally shattered and leaped off a tall building to her end. Unfortunately this isn’t uncommon. Bcc said that it is the single highest C.O.D of men aged 20-44 in the country. there is even an infamous unalive your self forest in Japan that is the go to spot to do so. This forest gained world wide acknowledge when controversial youtuber Logan Paul went there for a day of vlogging and filmed a victim of karaoshi while his friends laughed. Understand that this a different culture don’t judge them to harshly. Im not saying this work culture is okay but its a very complicated subject. There is a theory that this was Japan’s way of restoring its economy after world war 2. with a your company is your family and you should give it all to them mindset. I dont think these traits of these phenom are a exactly comparable to oda for one reason. Oda does thing willingly. no one is forcing him to do this with his level of wealth and influence he could easy retire or reallocate the more time consuming work but instead he opts to take on the brunt of the load. This doesn’t make his fans any less concerned. Based on odas own words and interviews with his editors Oda works 21 hours of a day. The few hours he sleeps is often not even concurrent but instead broken up into 30 minute intervals through his workday whenever he gets a chance. That way he doesn’t have to relocate and can get back to work faster. When he does sleep the 3 straight hours he aims for 2am-to 5am. That way he is still the first back at the office. Other mangaka in the industry refere to oda a machine. As even though he is producing a weekly manga his art is on pare with months release manga. as where manga like Vinland saga have entire months to work on releases oda has to come out with a chapter and episode every single week and it still competes with the season series in quality. He does all this with working with the smallest team possible so he can fill more attached to his work. This goes so far that when he has to re tell passed events. He re draws them instead of reusing old art work to save time like most artist. His editors reportedly thinks and talks about one piece 24/7 even when he isn’t working. When his editor Naoki Kawashima joined odas team he said oda told him to “die for One Piece” he went on to insure him. If you destroy your health do to your work ethic. I will forever take care of your family financially. Dont think of this as oda being a bad boss. Just a acknowledge of series they take what they are creating. I watched and read dozen of interviews in peroration for this video and I couldn’t find 1 of his employee that had anything negative to say about him. Everyone who has worked for oda said it it so fun and welcoming environment. That when you see how hard he works it makes you want to work hard to and do your part to contribute to the greatness that is one piece. Oda doesn’t even want fame he just wants to create a great series. In all his interviews he hinds his face or request to have it covered in post edits. Japan loves oda. He can’t walk down the street without be swarmed by fans. In his interview grown man giggle with glee everytime he speaks. Which makes me happy they respect him as much as I do. That being said his unhealthy life leaves them very worried and oda knows his fans are concerned. even after 20 years he work schedule has eased up. In a 2021 tv interview oda opened up about he doesn’t have time to bathe, shave or even eat. He has got so lost in work that his asstaince have to come and ask him to please eat something. He does just forget sometime but other times he doesn’t eat on purpose. in 2012 oda said “The only way I can think of new ideas is to think about it alot without sleeping and eating. Because humans can only come up with truly new ideas when they reach they’re limit. So every time I am done with my manuscript I am completey exhausted.” This statement is beautiful but sad to me. Especially when you factor that oda has got moderate diabetes and goutes as a result of his work schedule and being in his work chair for so many hours at a time. In the same interview he said he always bathes before seeing his family to wash off his work mode. but that he rarely gets a chance to see them. As we mentioned, after Naruto ended kishimoto bragged to oda he can now talk a walk with his son when ever he wanted as a flex to oda about finally finishing his series as a fellow obsessive he knew the kinda pressure oda lives under and the sacfrices he is making. Them have a personal relationship may have been a way of kishmoto pleading for oda to take a break, as they have even been to each others houses. Oda only gets to visit his home once a week as he sleeps in his studio the other 6 days. So his only sees his daughters and wife 4 times a month. One reason is he finds this necessary to keep his weekly deadlines. The 2nd but sadder reason is oda fears if he spends more time with them than that he will want to stop making one piece because he will miss his family to much… one of the only times oda wandered if he should quit one piece was on one of his weekly visits his daughter said “dad you are to busy to spend time with me” Oda is currently Bringing in 30 million dollars a year from one piece royalties alone. He is currently the richest mangaka to ever live. So he is dedication to his craft is completly by choice as he has long since passed the threadsold of retirement wealth. Oda keeps going to make all of his fans and people who believe in him proud. In a marizine interview in 2017 oda said “My fans are worried about my short sleep but sleep is just a waste of time I prefer collecting information for manga. I want to become a robot that doesn’t need sleep. Even when I go on trips with my family I dont sleep much” This level of obligation for his fans is endearing but it was his loyalty to his formal sensei that would cause the most damaging controversy in oda’s entire career. In November of 2017 Tokyo Metropolitan Police lead a a raid on a residents house they had been investigating on suspicion of the sell of CP. During the analysis of the purps computer they found the evidence they needed but also a link that lead them Shockingly to the one and only Nobuhiro Watsuki. Yes the creator of rurouni kenshin and Sensei to our own Eichhiro Oda. Shortly after watsuki house and studio was raided. The investigators suspicions where unfortunately confirmed and over a 100 dvd was confiscated as evidence. With some of the victims of the tapes being as young as 10 years old. He was arrested and during the interrogation he immediately confessed and went into a unnecessary amount of detail to the investigators “I like girls in the higher grades of elementary school to the second grade of junior High” After he was charged shuisha put his series on indefinite hiatus. This sent shock ways through Japan as up to this point he was one of best selling and most respected mangakas ever and lots of new rising talent came from his tutor-edge. His reputation was tarnished but he controversially received the lightest sentence legally possible. A fine of only 1800 $ and never served a single day in jail. People where understandably out raged when it became public. Which is how oda stumbled into the cross hairs of this PR disaster. It all started with a tweet from shonen jump stating oda and watauski will be doing a joint interview on April 24th 2020. During the q and a Oda was asked what it was like working for watsuki and oda said “ I worked for him just under 4 months. Which Maybe the happiest moment in my entire life." The fanbase was instantly split down the middle. With one side declaring that even remebering fondly about someone who did what watsuki was charged was blasphemy and that it was in away supporting him. This side even share a short lived “Cancel Oda” hash tag. The other side felt like since oda has never done anything of the sort him self and didn’t know anything about it, he shouldn’t be forced to rewrite his history that lead him to where he is now. Even Watuski wife didn’t know what he was up to. Oda has only have good things said about him from his employees and from what i can tell is a great kind person who has donated lots of money to charities and his hometown. even though i am bias as a one piece super fan. I think the truth as always lies somewhere in the middle. Oda is without a doubt though one of the greatest and most successful writers in human history but let me know what you think of Oda Sensei in the comments. Video: https://youtu.be/obwz7ewVwnY 📷ReplyForward |
2023.05.31 02:23 collectorsphere Tools I use for Pre-Grading
Hi, I wrote this article to help out newer graders and to help discuss methods people use for Pre-grading cards. This is a long one and is very comprehensive, so thanks in advance for reading!
Full Article on my Blog: https://collectorsphere.blogspot.com/2023/05/tools-i-use-for-grading.html
Do I use any tools that can help cards have a better shot at grading a PSA 10? Where do I buy my supplies?
If you need help grading with some best tips and tricks, I suggest this article. It may change the way you grade, so always be informed. You don't need to necessarily follow what I do word for word. This article is a guide that tells you what tools I use for grading.
Refer to this YouTube Video as well (I am a bit new to videos but this should be helpful): Video
Tools: I use a variety of tools for grading. Approximate cost for these can range depending on quality and brand.
Here is a comprehensive checklist:
Disclaimer Note: I am not sponsored nor did any websites above pay me for any content. I'm just giving you some ideas into what I personally use and how to budget.
Happy Grading!
submitted by collectorsphere to PokeGrading [link] [comments]
Full Article on my Blog: https://collectorsphere.blogspot.com/2023/05/tools-i-use-for-grading.html
Do I use any tools that can help cards have a better shot at grading a PSA 10? Where do I buy my supplies?
If you need help grading with some best tips and tricks, I suggest this article. It may change the way you grade, so always be informed. You don't need to necessarily follow what I do word for word. This article is a guide that tells you what tools I use for grading.
Refer to this YouTube Video as well (I am a bit new to videos but this should be helpful): Video
Tools: I use a variety of tools for grading. Approximate cost for these can range depending on quality and brand.
Here is a comprehensive checklist:
- Lint Roller
- Why?
- To grade cards, you need to make sure you have a clean surface so that no dirty/lint/dust goes onto your card before and after you sleeve
- How?
- ALWAYS wash your hands with soap and water, then clean off your playmat or whatever surface you use to grade cards. Oil from your hands can be picked up by grading companies. You can simply use the lint roller to pick up any other dust or particles from your mat but rolling them on with a fresh layer of tape from the lint roller.
- Where?
- Playmat/Clean Surface
- Why?
- You should have a clean surface that soft to the touch in case your hands put any pressure onto your card. This will make it so your card doesn't scratch
- How?
- Simply lay down the playmat on a surface that's flat and away from any liquids/food or other things that can get in your way. I will only use the playmat for grading and then put it away after use.
- Where?
- You can buy your favorite playmat from any LGS or from online.
- Pokemon Center $25
- Blacklight (Pen preferred)
- Why?
- A Blacklight will illuminate any white scratches/foil scratches from the surface of the card
- How?
- Turn on the blacklight and look at the card from variety of angers. Best to hold the card by the edges and not touch the surface. Examine the back and the front as well and take your time.
- Where?
- Magnifying Glass
- Why?
- Magnifying glass lets you see if there are any imperfections on your card, and whether or not dirt should be removed from the cards itself.
- How?
- Turn on your light and use the magnifying glass on the corners, edges, and surfaces of the back and front of the card. Edges is something to look at since edge wear and edge dings sometimes does not show up when you are looking purely at the front/back of the card; the sides/edges should be looked at as well.
- Bad edges can bring a card to a 9 automatically, same with surface and corners.
- Where?
- Ring Light
- Why?
- Ring lights give you differential views when looking at the surface of the card, especially on foiling/holographic areas of the card. They are especially bright as well and can latch onto a desk and not get in your way if you put it near the edge.
- How?
- Turn on the ring light and put your card under it, holding onto the edges of the card raw. You can examine the card for any surface scratching, holo scratching or any bends/tears. This will maximize the chance of getting a good grade the more you spot.
- Where?
- Soft Microfiber Cloth
- Why?
- Microfiber gets rid of most surface issues from the card and should be the first wave of defense when trying to get a notable surface issue off the card
- As a reminder, this WILL NOT get rid of holo scratches, print lines, or other print defects on the card. I will usually just binder a card with any of these imperfections and NOT submit them for grading.
- How?
- Use one finger and rub the surface of the card with the cloth. Sometimes you can clasp it with two fingers on both front and back of the card for more friction to remove the surface dirt.
- Where?
- Q-tip
- Why?
- Qtips, unlike a microfiber cloth, can target specific parts of the card where you see notable surface residue. Sometimes you will ask yourself, what is this? Why is this black smudge on the card. The worst think it can be is a print line or an actual print error, which WILL lower your chance of getting a PSA 10.
- Vintage cards will sometimes have "black spots" that can be gotten rid of with a semi-wet Qtip. This is caused by hand oils and lint/dust that can accrue onto a raw card during shuffling/play or simply being left out to the elements.
- As a reminder, this WILL NOT get rid of holo scratches, print lines, or other print defects on the card. I will usually just binder a card with any of these imperfections and NOT submit them for grading.
- How?
- I will usually wet the Qtip first, and then dry it slightly, so its not too wet. A semi-wet qtip always has a better chance of removing surface residue. LIGHTLY rub the part of the card that has a spot, and it should come right off if it is dirt. If it does not come off, I recommend not grading the card as PSA or any other grading company can ding the card's "Surface" score.
- Where?
- Any major retail store will have it
- Amazon 2pk $16
- Penny Sleeves
- Why?
- These are soft sleeves that won't damage your card when you put the card in and when you pull the card out, this is very important
- Don't use hard sleeves (Dragon Shield, Katanas, Ultra Pro Hard Sleeves) for any grading. If you have a spec of dirt on the card or inside the sleeve, simply sliding in the card WILL damage the card's surface
- How?
- ALWAYS USE NEW SLEEVES: I cannot stress that enough. Don't use recycled sleeves for grading and don't use sleeves that have any bends in them
- Simply slip your raw card into the sleeve, then put the sleeve in your semi-rigid cardholder
- Where?
- eBay 500 Ct $7
- Brands: Ultra Pro, Cardboard Gold, pretty much any major card supply manufacturer will have their own penny sleeve, but generally get the better brands for more efficiency and also in bulk if you want to save money.
- Good to buy this in bulk for your next submission. Getting 1 pack individually will add up. Find a friend in the hobby and split them if you'd like as well
- Card Saver 1 Semi-rigid card holder
- Why?
- These are semi rigids trusted by PSA and even partnered with PSA
- This are different from top-loaders since semi-rigids keep the card in place. Usually for top-loaders, the card can move around a LOT. It will be bad if your card suddenly comes out during shipment to PSA or even inside your collection in general.
- You most likely won't grade your cards right away, having your cards in semi-rigids help it stay still when you aren't touching them. I normally have a stack, put them in a box, and then when I do decide to grade, pull them out and start the grading process.
- How?
- Open up the Semi-Rigid with your index finger, clench with your other hand, then slip your card (within the penny sleeve) within it, pushing until its all the way down. Do this lightly or else you may bend your card.
- Where?
- eBay 200 Ct $25
- Good to buy this in bulk for your next submission. Getting a 50 pack individually will add up. Find a friend in the hobby and split them if you'd like as well
- eBay 200 Ct $25
- Post-it Stickies
- Why?
- This is optional
- This primarily helps with getting your card OUT of the semi-rigid. If you are indecisive like me, sometimes you will go like "I'm not going to submit this card anymore, going to submit other cards first" then you can take the card out easily without risk of damaging it
- How?
- Remove a single Post-it sticky from the case and place it on the back of your sleeved card
- Then put the entire thing into a semi-rigid
- Where?
- Any major retailer
- Amazon $16 (Bulk)
- Centering Tool
- Why?
- This tool helps you look a the centering of your card and decide whether or not it is a good one to grade
- This is better than using your edges to look at the front, bottom, left and right sides of the card.
- How?
- Place your card into a penny sleeve first (to be safer)
- Put the centering tool on the card and make sure the top, bottom, left and right are in good positions. Bad Centering even on a minty card will bring the card to an 7-8-9 if the centering is bad so this definitely helps tremendously to get better chances of a 10
- PSA allows for centering to be 60-40 at worst for a 10, but I would still recommend this process, especially if you are grading with Beckett or CGC, where you'd strive for the 10 or Perfect grades.
- Where?
Disclaimer Note: I am not sponsored nor did any websites above pay me for any content. I'm just giving you some ideas into what I personally use and how to budget.
Happy Grading!
2023.05.30 19:37 Gabriel_Rodrigo The T14 As Succession Characters (In Light of the Finale)
- Stanford: Lukas Mattson. Cutting-edge, techy, ends up coming out at the tippity-top after years of waiting in the wings. Just crazy enough to be fun.
- Yale: Jesse Armstrong (Creator and Showrunner). Cheating a bit here, but the one who actually steers things, elevates people you'd never have heard of otherwise to national importance by affiliation.
- UChicago: Tom. Midwestern, businesslike, walks the edge of darkness. Likely to be a source of major power for years to come, ready to flex its long-earned muscles.
- Penn: Jeryd Mencken. As long as Amy Wax is there.
- Duke: Karolina. Hint of exoticism (the South/eastern Europe), knows how to hold it together and cast a brilliant image.
- Harvard: Logan. Taken a fall, but still the one running everything even when out of the T5. You can say you're on top all you want, folks, the legacies of HLS and Logan Roy will live forever.
- NYU: Karl/Frank. Businesslike, maybe could do something new, but once you're there, you know what you're about. Even if you don't get what you'll want, you'll likely graduate with a nice corporate job/golden parachute
- Columbia: Frank/Karl. See above.
- UVA: Gerri. Quiet, unobtrusive, and that's what makes it so dangerous. Understands power, knows to place itself in proximity to the source.
- Northwestern: Shiv. Has allied itself to the midwest, knows it will never be as good as UoC, but that's alright as long as it at least gets to share in the power and proximity.
- Berkeley: Sen. Gil Eavis. The Bernie Sanders parallels write themselves to give him the slot.
- Michigan: Cousin Greg. Continuing the midwest thing, almost came this close to getting off the list, hanging on in a secure place. Fun on the surface, knows how to work the system underneath.
- Cornell: Connor. "Oh yeah, he's still a thing." "Oh yeah, you're still on the list."
- UCLA: Roman. At the end of the day, happy to be where it's at, content in what's coming next. A partier at heart who knows how to mellow out and is looking forward to what's coming.
2023.05.30 16:30 laxweasel [USA-PA][H] Whitebox 10th gen Intel mini server (w/ drives), Tiger Lake mobile fanless 4x2.5GBe router box, ASUS PN60, parts Minisforum HM90, parts 2x 3.5" external enclosure, misc parts [W]paypal, local cash, POE+ switch
Timestamps
Hello everyone! I'm clearing out and hopefully going rackmount so I have a bunch of stuff to sell.
TL;DR important: Please no chats, only DMs (I don't use the official app). Local is 19348, strong preference for local deals especially on the big things. Willing to meet in N. DE, S NJ and SE PA. I can ship via PirateShip so shipping rates are reasonable, but not necessarily included.
I've tried to price things by piecing together everything by cheapest I can find on ebay and then cutting the price more from there, so you shouldn't be able to build any of these full systems for cheaper. That being said, I'm open to reasonable offers.
Mini ServeNAS
Very nice custom built NAS/Server - lots of room for storage but still more powerful than a NAS box to run applications and virtualization. Runs incredibly quiet due to the Noctua cooler and large diameter cooling in the InWin. Still have an open PCI slot for GPU, NIC or more PCIE based storage.
CPU - i3-10100 Mobo - z590i vision d (includes 2.5GBe and 2x Thunderbolt ports) RAM - Team Group T-Force Vulcan 64 (2x32) GB SSD - Intel p670 1TB Case + PSU - InWin MS04 w/ 265w 80+ Bronze flex PSU CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i
Price list includes the following HDD:
2x 10TB Ironwolf Pro NAS drives (approx 45k POH) 2x 6 TBSeagate ES.3 Constellation HGST Utrastar (approx 55k POH)
PM me if you'd like to work out a deal for the server box w/o the Ironwolf or w/o the drives at all. Not parting out the drives unless I can sell the box first.
Drives available!
Fanless 2.5GBe Firewall
Very nice fanless (silent) 4x2.5GBe +1 COM routefirewall box
CPU - i3-1115g4 SSD - WD 250GB NVME RAM - Micron 32GB (2x16) SODIMM
Still has room for another 2.5" SATA drive so would make a great virtualization server! Has been running my OPNsense firewall and probably never got over 10% load.
ASUS PN60
Very nice, quiet little desktop. Has several display outputs. Have been using this as a nice little headless, quiet server.
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz RAM - 16GB (2x8) Corsair SODIMM SSD - 256 Silicon Power NVME HDD - 2TB 2.5"
PARTS ONLY Minisforum HM90 This is a Minisforum HM90 with a Ryzen 4900H Included is a 4GB SODIMM
THIS ITEM DOES NOT BOOT. Power cord is fine, fans spin up and lights come on but no display output and no signs that it is POSTing.
This is an ideal item if you: Want to salvage some parts like the cooler, case or desolder the CPU Want an extra power brick for your HM90 (since they don't sell them)
This is NOT FOR YOU if: You want a working, functional computer You think this an easy fix like adding RAM or an SSD
YottaMaster 2-Bay USB3 HDD enclosure
The item does power on, all lights come on, drives spin up. I have had trouble getting both drives getting recognized in both Linux and Windows and no longer wish to troubleshoot. Please do not expect a fully functional/as new item.
BITS AND PIECES
I have a few things available for $10 individually or to throw in with other items purchase (sorry didn't get timestamps of these little things):
Dell PowerEdge T430 Tower heatsink (new)
HDMI/USB KVM switch, USB powered
Monoprice Crimping tool (non-passthrough)
Pi Zero W USB dongle case/adapter
G. Skill 4GB DDR4 2400 DIMM
4x Random consumer drives (1TB, 2TB)
2x 3.5" 500GB SATA HPE drives
submitted by laxweasel to hardwareswap [link] [comments]
Hello everyone! I'm clearing out and hopefully going rackmount so I have a bunch of stuff to sell.
TL;DR important: Please no chats, only DMs (I don't use the official app). Local is 19348, strong preference for local deals especially on the big things. Willing to meet in N. DE, S NJ and SE PA. I can ship via PirateShip so shipping rates are reasonable, but not necessarily included.
I've tried to price things by piecing together everything by cheapest I can find on ebay and then cutting the price more from there, so you shouldn't be able to build any of these full systems for cheaper. That being said, I'm open to reasonable offers.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Mini server | |
| 2.5GBe Firewall | $250 |
| ASUS PN60 | |
| Parts Minisforum HM90 | $75 |
| Parts Yottamaster 2-Bay RAID | $30 |
| Archer A9 | $20 or with other purchase |
| ASUS HD7770 1GB | $10 or with other purchase |
Very nice custom built NAS/Server - lots of room for storage but still more powerful than a NAS box to run applications and virtualization. Runs incredibly quiet due to the Noctua cooler and large diameter cooling in the InWin. Still have an open PCI slot for GPU, NIC or more PCIE based storage.
CPU - i3-10100 Mobo - z590i vision d (includes 2.5GBe and 2x Thunderbolt ports) RAM - Team Group T-Force Vulcan 64 (2x32) GB SSD - Intel p670 1TB Case + PSU - InWin MS04 w/ 265w 80+ Bronze flex PSU CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i
Price list includes the following HDD:
2x 10TB Ironwolf Pro NAS drives (approx 45k POH) 2x 6 TB
Drives available!
Fanless 2.5GBe Firewall
Very nice fanless (silent) 4x2.5GBe +1 COM routefirewall box
CPU - i3-1115g4 SSD - WD 250GB NVME RAM - Micron 32GB (2x16) SODIMM
Still has room for another 2.5" SATA drive so would make a great virtualization server! Has been running my OPNsense firewall and probably never got over 10% load.
ASUS PN60
Very nice, quiet little desktop. Has several display outputs. Have been using this as a nice little headless, quiet server.
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz RAM - 16GB (2x8) Corsair SODIMM SSD - 256 Silicon Power NVME HDD - 2TB 2.5"
PARTS ONLY Minisforum HM90 This is a Minisforum HM90 with a Ryzen 4900H Included is a 4GB SODIMM
THIS ITEM DOES NOT BOOT. Power cord is fine, fans spin up and lights come on but no display output and no signs that it is POSTing.
This is an ideal item if you: Want to salvage some parts like the cooler, case or desolder the CPU Want an extra power brick for your HM90 (since they don't sell them)
This is NOT FOR YOU if: You want a working, functional computer You think this an easy fix like adding RAM or an SSD
YottaMaster 2-Bay USB3 HDD enclosure
The item does power on, all lights come on, drives spin up. I have had trouble getting both drives getting recognized in both Linux and Windows and no longer wish to troubleshoot. Please do not expect a fully functional/as new item.
BITS AND PIECES
I have a few things available for $10 individually or to throw in with other items purchase (sorry didn't get timestamps of these little things):
Dell PowerEdge T430 Tower heatsink (new)
HDMI/USB KVM switch, USB powered
Monoprice Crimping tool (non-passthrough)
Pi Zero W USB dongle case/adapter
G. Skill 4GB DDR4 2400 DIMM
4x Random consumer drives (1TB, 2TB)
2x 3.5" 500GB SATA HPE drives
2023.05.30 16:19 laxweasel [FS][US-PA] Whitebox 10th gen Intel mini server (w/ drives), Tiger Lake mobile fanless 4x2.5GBe router box, ASUS PN60, parts Minisforum HM90, parts 2x 3.5" external enclosure, other cleanout stuff
Timestamps
Hello everyone! I'm clearing out and hopefully going rackmount so I have a bunch of stuff to sell.
TL;DR important: Please no chats, only DMs (I don't use the official app). Local is 19348, strong preference for local deals especially on the big things. Willing to meet in N. DE, S NJ and SE PA. I can ship via PirateShip so shipping rates are reasonable, but not necessarily included.
I've tried to price things by piecing together everything by cheapest I can find on ebay and then cutting the price more from there, so you shouldn't be able to build any of these full systems for cheaper. That being said, I'm open to reasonable offers.
Mini ServeNAS
Very nice custom built NAS/Server - lots of room for storage but still more powerful than a NAS box to run applications and virtualization. Runs incredibly quiet due to the Noctua cooler and large diameter cooling in the InWin. Still have an open PCI slot for GPU, NIC or more PCIE based storage.
CPU - i3-10100
Mobo - z590i vision d (includes 2.5GBe and 2x Thunderbolt ports)
RAM - Team Group T-Force Vulcan 64 (2x32) GB
SSD - Intel p670 1TB
Case + PSU - InWin MS04 w/ 265w 80+ Bronze flex PSU
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i
Price list includes the following HDD:
2x 10TB Ironwolf Pro NAS drives (approx 45k POH)
2x 6 TBSeagate ES.3 Constellation HGST Ultrastar (approx 55k POH)
PM me if you'd like to work out a deal for the server box w/o the Ironwolf or w/o the drives at all. Not parting out the drives unless I can sell the box first.
Drives available!
Fanless 2.5GBe Firewall
Very nice fanless (silent) 4x2.5GBe +1 COM routefirewall box
CPU - i3-1115g4
SSD - WD 250GB NVME
RAM - Micron 32GB (2x16) SODIMM
Still has room for another 2.5" SATA drive so would make a great virtualization server! Has been running my OPNsense firewall and probably never got over 10% load.
ASUS PN60
Very nice, quiet little desktop. Has several display outputs. Have been using this as a nice little headless, quiet server.
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz
RAM - 16GB (2x8) Corsair SODIMM
SSD - 256 Silicon Power NVME
HDD - 2TB 2.5"
PARTS ONLY Minisforum HM90 This is a Minisforum HM90 with a Ryzen 4900H Included is a 4GB SODIMM
THIS ITEM DOES NOT BOOT. Power cord is fine, fans spin up and lights come on but no display output and no signs that it is POSTing.
This is an ideal item if you:
Want to salvage some parts like the cooler, case or desolder the CPU
Want an extra power brick for your HM90 (since they don't sell them)
This is NOT FOR YOU if:
You want a working, functional computer
You think this an easy fix like adding RAM or an SSD
YottaMaster 2-Bay USB3 HDD enclosure
The item does power on, all lights come on, drives spin up. I have had trouble getting both drives getting recognized in both Linux and Windows and no longer wish to troubleshoot. Please do not expect a fully functional/as new item.
BITS AND PIECES
I have a few things available for $10 individually or to throw in with other items purchase (sorry didn't get timestamps of these little things):
Dell PowerEdge T430 Tower heatsink (new)
HDMI/USB KVM switch, USB powered
Monoprice Crimping tool (non-passthrough)
Pi Zero W USB dongle case/adapter
G. Skill 4GB DDR4 2400 DIMM
4x Random consumer drives (1TB, 2TB)
2x 3.5" 500GB SATA HPE drives
submitted by laxweasel to homelabsales [link] [comments]
Hello everyone! I'm clearing out and hopefully going rackmount so I have a bunch of stuff to sell.
TL;DR important: Please no chats, only DMs (I don't use the official app). Local is 19348, strong preference for local deals especially on the big things. Willing to meet in N. DE, S NJ and SE PA. I can ship via PirateShip so shipping rates are reasonable, but not necessarily included.
I've tried to price things by piecing together everything by cheapest I can find on ebay and then cutting the price more from there, so you shouldn't be able to build any of these full systems for cheaper. That being said, I'm open to reasonable offers.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Mini server | |
| 2.5GBe Firewall | $250 |
| ASUS PN60 | |
| Parts Minisforum HM90 | $75 |
| Parts Yottamaster 2-Bay RAID | $30 |
| Archer A9 | $20 or with other purchase |
| ASUS HD7770 1GB | $10 or with other purchase |
Very nice custom built NAS/Server - lots of room for storage but still more powerful than a NAS box to run applications and virtualization. Runs incredibly quiet due to the Noctua cooler and large diameter cooling in the InWin. Still have an open PCI slot for GPU, NIC or more PCIE based storage.
CPU - i3-10100
Mobo - z590i vision d (includes 2.5GBe and 2x Thunderbolt ports)
RAM - Team Group T-Force Vulcan 64 (2x32) GB
SSD - Intel p670 1TB
Case + PSU - InWin MS04 w/ 265w 80+ Bronze flex PSU
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i
Price list includes the following HDD:
2x 10TB Ironwolf Pro NAS drives (approx 45k POH)
2x 6 TB
Drives available!
Fanless 2.5GBe Firewall
Very nice fanless (silent) 4x2.5GBe +1 COM routefirewall box
CPU - i3-1115g4
SSD - WD 250GB NVME
RAM - Micron 32GB (2x16) SODIMM
Still has room for another 2.5" SATA drive so would make a great virtualization server! Has been running my OPNsense firewall and probably never got over 10% load.
ASUS PN60
Very nice, quiet little desktop. Has several display outputs. Have been using this as a nice little headless, quiet server.
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-8130U CPU @ 2.20GHz
RAM - 16GB (2x8) Corsair SODIMM
SSD - 256 Silicon Power NVME
HDD - 2TB 2.5"
PARTS ONLY Minisforum HM90 This is a Minisforum HM90 with a Ryzen 4900H Included is a 4GB SODIMM
THIS ITEM DOES NOT BOOT. Power cord is fine, fans spin up and lights come on but no display output and no signs that it is POSTing.
This is an ideal item if you:
Want to salvage some parts like the cooler, case or desolder the CPU
Want an extra power brick for your HM90 (since they don't sell them)
This is NOT FOR YOU if:
You want a working, functional computer
You think this an easy fix like adding RAM or an SSD
YottaMaster 2-Bay USB3 HDD enclosure
The item does power on, all lights come on, drives spin up. I have had trouble getting both drives getting recognized in both Linux and Windows and no longer wish to troubleshoot. Please do not expect a fully functional/as new item.
BITS AND PIECES
I have a few things available for $10 individually or to throw in with other items purchase (sorry didn't get timestamps of these little things):
Dell PowerEdge T430 Tower heatsink (new)
HDMI/USB KVM switch, USB powered
Monoprice Crimping tool (non-passthrough)
Pi Zero W USB dongle case/adapter
G. Skill 4GB DDR4 2400 DIMM
4x Random consumer drives (1TB, 2TB)
2x 3.5" 500GB SATA HPE drives
2023.05.29 19:06 VanniaNaufal Dual Zone 12 Volt RV Refrigerator: Durable, Adaptable, and Versatile Cooling for Outdoor Activities
 | Looking for a dependable cooling solution for your RV excursions as an outdoor enthusiast? Discover the exceptional 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator for your needs. Discover the ultimate portable fridge with a plethora of features, such as robust and stable Anti-Shake technology, flexible storage options, versatile power compatibility, dual cooling modes, energy-saving efficiency, ample capacity, and high efficiency with low noise operation. Discover the top reasons why portable refrigerators make the perfect companion for your outdoor adventures. submitted by VanniaNaufal to u/VanniaNaufal [link] [comments] Experience the ultimate stability and durability with our cutting-edge anti-shake technology designed to withstand even the bumpiest of rides. Eliminate spills and messes resulting from rough terrain. Discover the cutting-edge 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator with revolutionary Anti-Shake technology. With a remarkable 30° tilt angle capacity, this fridge ensures your food and beverages remain safe and secure, even on the most challenging terrains. Experience a worry-free journey with our toppling-proof items. Discover the Ultimate Convenience with Versatile Storage Options: Experience the ultimate in RV refrigeration with our cutting-edge model, featuring independent compartments and multi-functional storage capabilities. By utilizing distinct compartments, you can effortlessly categorize and stockpile a diverse range of commodities, encompassing edibles, beverages, and even skincare essentials. This highly flexible cooling solution is designed to cater to your specific needs, ensuring that everything is in its rightful place. 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator Achieve Optimal Power Compatibility in Any Environment with Our Versatile Solutions Discover the ultimate solution for your refrigeration needs with the versatile 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator, perfect for both travel and home use. This portable fridge boasts versatile power options with both 120/240V AC and 12/24V DC adapters at your disposal. With its versatile usage and reliable freshness preservation, this product is a must-have for any food and beverage storage needs, no matter the setting or power constraints. Optimize your RV Refrigerator Temperature Control with Dual Cooling Modes: Experience complete temperature control of your RV refrigerator with the choice of Cooling and Freezing modes. This versatile refrigerator is designed to cater to your unique cooling requirements, whether you require refrigeration or freezing capabilities. Maximizing Energy Efficiency for Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Operations. The eco-friendly 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator is a low energy consumption option that won't deplete your power source. Experience the ultimate convenience of a portable fridge with minimal energy consumption, enabling you to fully embrace sustainable living during your outdoor escapades. With our product, you can enjoy extended outdoor trips without any concerns about insufficient food and beverage supply. Our ample capacity ensures that you have enough provisions to last throughout your adventure. This portable RV refrigerator boasts a capacious 42-can capacity, offering abundant storage room for your needs. Maximize your outdoor experience by packing ample supplies to sustain you on extended trips. Ensure that you have everything you need to enjoy your time in nature to the fullest. Recessed independent space Experience Peaceful Operations with High Efficiency and Low Noise. Experience ultimate relaxation amidst serene natural surroundings. Experience enhanced RV refrigeration with the 12 Volt Dual Zone Refrigerator boasting high efficiency and low noise operation. Experience a serene ambiance devoid of disruptive cooling systems, enabling you to completely engage with the splendor of the outdoors. In conclusion, portable refrigerators are an essential item to enhance your outdoor experience. Discover the exceptional 12 Volt Dual Zone RV Refrigerator, the ultimate travel companion with a plethora of features to enhance your journey. Experience the ultimate convenience of fresh and chilled food and beverages while enjoying the great outdoors with our portable fridge. Featuring sturdy and stable Anti-Shake technology, flexible storage options, versatile power compatibility, dual cooling modes, energy-saving efficiency, ample capacity, and high efficiency with low noise operation, this fridge is the perfect companion for your outdoor adventures. Experience the ultimate convenience and versatility of a portable refrigerator on your next outdoor adventure. Don't miss out on this must-have accessory for your travels. |
2023.05.29 15:00 stonescoldtakes NFL Update: 05/22/2023 - 05/28/2023 - OTAs are Back!!!
Layout:
— Individual Team News + Stone’s Cold Takes
— Miscellaneous/Other NFL News
— Restaurant of the Week - Washington D.C.
Arizona Cardinals:
Atlanta Falcons:
Baltimore Ravens:
Buffalo Bills:
Carolina Panthers:
Chicago Bears:
Cincinnati Bengals:
Cleveland Browns:
Dallas Cowboys:
Denver Broncos:
Detroit Lions:
Green Bay Packers:
Houston Texans:
Indianapolis Colts:
Jacksonville Jaguars:
Kansas City Chiefs:
Las Vegas Raiders:
Los Angeles Chargers:
Los Angeles Rams:
Not much news here really. Sounds like Matthew Stafford has taken Stetson Bennett under his wing and started to work with him and help him learn more about the transition to the NFL compared to college.
Miami Dolphins:
Minnesota Vikings:
New England Patriots:
New Orleans Saints:
New York Giants:
New York Jets:
Philadelphia Eagles:
Pittsburgh Steelers:
San Francisco 49ers:
Seattle Seahawks:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Tennessee Titans:
Washington Commanders:
Miscellaneous/Other NFL News:
Restaurant of the Week: (Washington D.C. - TACOS 5 DE MAYO)
Don’t really have a great picture of this place but that may be a good thing. Often times I find that the places least advertised and that are holes in the wall is typically where you get the best Mexican food. This place is about a 10 minute drive from the stadium and probably closer to 15-20 minutes on game days depending on the time you go. Personally I recommend the Tacos Al Pastor. Those are basically a marinated pork taco that is slightly spicy with some sweet pineapple flavor in it. You cannot go wrong with Tacos Al Pastor and are by far my favorite. The other thing to keep an eye on is the Pupusas. While Pupusas are from El Salvador this place actually does a pretty dang good job of making them. For those that don’t know what Pupusas are they kind of resemble a stuffed pancake but are made of corn in most cases stuffed with either just cheese, cheese and beans, or cheese and pork. My order here would be 3 tacos al pastor and a cheese and bean pupusa. Enjoy!
submitted by stonescoldtakes to nfl [link] [comments]
— Individual Team News + Stone’s Cold Takes
— Miscellaneous/Other NFL News
— Restaurant of the Week - Washington D.C.
Arizona Cardinals:
- Released WR DeAndre Hopkins and he listed out info about what he wants in his next team:
- Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert
- He wants stable management and a great defense
- Some folks in AZ were upset with Hopkins because he sat out the last couple of games
- S Budda Baker says he will be at camp when its time for him to be there
Atlanta Falcons:
- FB Keith Smith was arrested on traffic charges
- Driving with a suspended license he claims was a misunderstanding
- K Younghoe Koo didn’t ask for money from RB Bijan Robinson to give him his number but asked him to pick a charity at some point down the road to donate to
- Will have joint practices with the Dolphins
- Signed:
- WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside
Baltimore Ravens:
- QB Lamar Jackson expects a more pass-heavy offense under new OC Todd Monken
- WR Michael Thomas separate his shoulder and could require labrum surgery
- WR Rashod Bateman who just played just 6 games was on the field for OTAs on Monday
- Waived Daelin Hayes
- S Kyle Hamilton excited for expanded role with the team
- Tony Jefferson is retiring and joining the team as a scout
- Signed:
- DL Angelo Blackson
- QB Josh Johnson
Buffalo Bills:
- No surprise, QB Josh Allen is hyper-focused and wants to win a Super Bowl
- S Damar Hamlin is back out working out on the field
- WR Stefon Diggs did not attend OTAs
- EDGE Von Miller guarantees he will play by week 6 but is not rushing anything
- Signed:
- S Dean Marlowe
- Joel Wilson
Carolina Panthers:
- TE Hayden Hurst is recovering from sports hernia surgery
- QB Bryce Young is taking most of the first team reps
Chicago Bears:
- QB Justin Fields excited about the growth WR Chase Claypool had over offseason
- Got permission to begin demolition of Arlington Park racetrack
Cincinnati Bengals:
- Want to sign WR Tee Higgins and LB Logan Wilson to long term extensions
- Have made their initial push for QB Joe Burrow
Cleveland Browns:
- WR Elijah Moore feels good now that he feels wanted with his new team
- EDGE Za’Darius Smith is excited to be facing the Ravens this year
Dallas Cowboys:
- HC Mike McCarthy is keeping offense in Dak’s language despite the changeup in play callers
Denver Broncos:
- Waived Hunter Thedford with injury settlement
- Released K Brandon McManus
- K Brett Maher worked out for the team
- QB Russell Wilson has lost a lot of weight this offseason
- HC Sean Payton excited about what S Kareem Jackson can do to help team
- RB Javonte Williams was limited in OTAs starting on Thursday
- Signed:
- T Cam Fleming to a 1-year $4m deal
- DT Tyler Lancaster
Detroit Lions:
- Former WR Calvin Johnson was at OTAs this week after having been away from the organization following a rough falling out post-retirement
- RB David Montgomery said that losing with the Bears “sucked the fun out of the game”
- WR Jameson Williams says that he didn’t know about the gambling policy; HC Dan Campbell feels he is miles ahead in terms of his talent already
- Traded an undisclosed draft pick for K Riley Patterson
- Signed a 1-year $2.35m deal
- RB David Montgomery and LB Malcolm Rodriguez left practice due to injury
- Team has done their homework on free agent WR DeAndre Hopkins
- NFL is investigation another Lions player about league gambling rules violations
- Signed:
- OL Germain Ifedi
- Max Pircher through international player pathway program
Green Bay Packers:
- Signed:
- WR Jadakis Bonds
- Cut TE Nick Guggemos
- Will host the 2025 NFL Draft
- HC Matt LaFleur is please with Jordan Love but still need to work on a lot of things
Houston Texans:
- Appears DeMeco Ryans may not be too sure about pursuing Jadeveon Clowney
- HC DeMeco Ryans expects the o-line to be a strength for this team
- Currently it is a QB competition between Davis Mills and CJ Stroud
- Other teams have been inquiring about QB Davis Mills
Indianapolis Colts:
- No timetable for Shaquille Leonard to resume practicing
- QB Anthony Richardson was running a similar offense to what Jalen Hurts has run in Philly and was very impressive (splitting 1st team reps)
- Signed:
- TE Kaden Smith
Jacksonville Jaguars:
- Traded K Riley Patterson to the Lions for an undisclosed draft pick
- RB Travis Etienne looking forward to doing some fine-tuning this year
- Signed Brandon McManus
Kansas City Chiefs:
- HC Andy Reid is not a fan of the kickoff rule change hinting at the NFL getting closer to being flag football
- TE Travis Kelce is not happy about it either
- QB Patrick Mahomes addressed contract saying he cares more about Super Bowls
- LB Nick Bolton doesn’t think the defense gets enough credit
- QB Patrick Mahomes says that it has been a smooth transition to new OC Matt Nagy
- HC Andy Reid feels fullbacks have been phased out of the NFL and that the Chiefs will not be using one
Las Vegas Raiders:
- Former QB Tom Brady reached an agreement to be a minority owner of the team
- QB Jimmy Garoppolo had to have foot surgery after signing with the team and there is not timetable for his return - believe he should return before the season
- Things could get interesting depending on how situation with Jimmy G works out
- WR Davante Adams is not happy about the current QB situation with the Raiders
- Adams and team have been sued by the photographer he shoved last year
- Will have joint practices with the 49ers
Los Angeles Chargers:
- Signed:
- RB Austin Ekeler to a new deal for this final year that added on up to $2m in incentives
Los Angeles Rams:
Not much news here really. Sounds like Matthew Stafford has taken Stetson Bennett under his wing and started to work with him and help him learn more about the transition to the NFL compared to college.
Miami Dolphins:
- WR DK Metcalf challenged WR Tyreek Hill
- Will have joint practices with the Falcons
- QB Tua Tagavailoa is wearing a camera on his helmet to help HC Mike McDaniel see what he sees on the field
Minnesota Vikings:
- Signed:
- WR from the XFL Lucky Jackson
- DC Brian Flores wants defense to develop an aggressive identity but not reckless
- RB Dalvin Cook could be a June 1st cut
New England Patriots:
- Got docked 2 days of OTA workouts for violating offseason rules and HC Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 dollars
- Placed LB Raekwon McMillan on injured reserve due to partially torn ACL
New Orleans Saints:
- TE Foster Moreau is participating in OTAs
- Being in New Orleans has given QB Derek Carr a breath of fresh air
- Former HC Jon Gruden is working with the team and Derek Carr
New York Giants:
- Rookie WR Jalin Hyatt wants to get to 190lbs as his playing weight
- TE Darren Waller is happy to somewhere where his opinions are valued
- QB Daniel Jones is enjoying working with TE Darren Waller
- HC Brian Daboll will not speak on contract situations despite currently Barkley situation
New York Jets:
- QB Aaron Rodgers had minor calf strain
- WR Allen Lazard went down during OTAs but supposedly was just a shot to the groin
- Worked out P Matt Araiza
- Chuck Clark was happy to be traded because felt disrespected by the Ravens
- HC Robert Saleh is confident a deal will get done with Quinnen Williams
- Will have joint practices with the Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles:
- OL D.J. Fluker worked out for the Eagles
- DL Jordan Davis has made major strides this offseason will take on a larger role
Pittsburgh Steelers:
- Signed:
- EDGE Markus Golden to 1-year deal
- LB Toby Ndukwe
- Easy decision for QB Mitch Trubisky to sign extension
- Started contract talks with OLB Alex Highsmith
- Released Tae Crowder
- Want to play a regular season game in Ireland
- WR Allen Robinson has been very impressed so far by QB Kenny Pickett
- QB Kenny Pickett had his car stolen with his playbook inside of it
San Francisco 49ers:
- QB Trey Lance just wants a chance to compete and never considered being traded
- Raved about this time working with QB Patrick Mahomes
- QB Brock Purdy expected to start throwing next week, be able to go from gripping a towel to an actual football
- QB Sam Darnold will push to start come week 1
- Levi’s will officially get the Super Bowl in 2026
- LB Dre Greenlaw has a thumb procedure and will miss most of the OTAs this offseason
- Will have joint practices with the Raiders
Seattle Seahawks:
- WR DK Metcalf challenged WR Tyreek Hill
- CB Tariq Woolen had arthroscopic knee surgery and it out til training camp
- Signed:
- CB Artie Burns
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
- Video of QB Baker Mayfield making an overthrow went viral on social media
- Will have joint practices with the Jets
- WR Chris Godwin feels like he has a lot of his explosion back
- Team wants to see more consistency out of LB Devin White before offering him the contract he wants
Tennessee Titans:
- QB Will Levis is putting pressure on Tannehil and Willis in OTAs this far
- S Kevin Byard is skipping OTAs
Washington Commanders:
- HC Ron Rivera said that DE Chase Young understands them not picking up his 5th year option
- New OC Eric Bieniemy has been getting on young QB Sam Howell holding him accountable
- Trademark application was denied due to someone else already having pending applications for the name but the team is confident this issue will get resolved
- It has been good for QB Sam Howell that QB Jacoby Brissett has been in the building
- TE Amani Rodgers tore his ACL and is out indefinitely
- Released Nathan Gerry
- Jamin Davis limited in OTAs after knee procedure
- Financing needs to be adjusted in order for the Josh Harris bid to be accepted
- Signed:
- XFL LB Ferrod Gardner
Miscellaneous/Other NFL News:
- Many believe that Thursday Night Flexing is to cater to Amazon but really could be the future of how deals get done
- Teams have to have 28 days notice and this is currently just a 1 year move
- RB Jeremy Hill who has not played for the past 5 seasons officially retired siting injury issues leading to his retirement
- NFL injury data shows that turf fields are significantly worse for players than grass fields
- The Pat McAfee Show will be taking over Max Kellerman’s the time slot on ESPN
- Commissioner Roger Goodell’s lobbying convinced teams to vote in favor of the new kickoff rules
- Dr. Timoth Kremchek, the Cincinnati Reds' physician since 1996, says he sees an "epidemic" of youth injuries on artificial turf
- RB Adrian Peterson will be hanging it up if he’s not back in the NFL this season
- After Goodell’s retirement the NFL could change the structure of management for the NFL combining a traditional CEO with a Commissioner of Football
- Possible a team will play 3 back to back games in Europe in the future
- Devin McCourty will be joining NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew as an analyst
- Officially approved emergency 3rd QB rule
- Investigating further violations potentially of league gambling policy
- DirecTV will still distribute Sunday Ticket to bars and restaurants
- S Tony Jefferson announced his retirement
- Announced growth of global market program
Restaurant of the Week: (Washington D.C. - TACOS 5 DE MAYO)
Don’t really have a great picture of this place but that may be a good thing. Often times I find that the places least advertised and that are holes in the wall is typically where you get the best Mexican food. This place is about a 10 minute drive from the stadium and probably closer to 15-20 minutes on game days depending on the time you go. Personally I recommend the Tacos Al Pastor. Those are basically a marinated pork taco that is slightly spicy with some sweet pineapple flavor in it. You cannot go wrong with Tacos Al Pastor and are by far my favorite. The other thing to keep an eye on is the Pupusas. While Pupusas are from El Salvador this place actually does a pretty dang good job of making them. For those that don’t know what Pupusas are they kind of resemble a stuffed pancake but are made of corn in most cases stuffed with either just cheese, cheese and beans, or cheese and pork. My order here would be 3 tacos al pastor and a cheese and bean pupusa. Enjoy!
2023.05.28 23:52 Ill_Advertising4798 Asian male in business/econ gets very very surprising results? Ivy bound?
Demographics
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian
Residence: Texas
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Type of School: Large, relatively non-competitive high school. Sends 2-5 kids to Ivies each year (out of 1000+ students).
Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None
Intended Major(s): Business/econ as first choice, environmental science/engineering/policy as second choice where available
Academics
GPA (UW/W): 4.0 UW. 5.6ish Weighted
Rank (or percentile): 1/1000+ students
# of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 16 AP courses.
Senior Year Course Load: AP bio, AP Calc BC, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Macro, AP Gov, Public speaking/debate course, AP Psych, APES
Standardized Testing
SAT: 1560 (780RW, 780M)
ACT: 35
AP/IB: All 5s except one 4 and one 3 in Covid year
Extracurriculars/Activities
#1 Taking care of ill sibling for several years, 10 hours weekly, all 4 years
#2 Paid internship over summer working on ESG/data science, 40 hours/week, 2 years
#3 President and founder of cultural org at school, 2 years
#4 Vice president of school DECA chapter, 4 years
#5 President/treasurer of school honor society, 3 years
#6 Captain of humanities academic competition team, 2 years (we were never good enough to make it past regionals as a team)
#7 Volunteering with local food bank, led a several-thousand dollar donation drive
#8 Volunteering with local cancer prevention charity
#9 Working at fast food restaurant throughout pandemic as shift lead, 2 years
#10 Relatively selective local leadership org with city government
Awards/Honors
#1 1st at national business competition (DECA)
#2 Admitted to and participated in selective, all-expenses-paid, summer business program at a T20
#3 National competitor 1x and state competitor 4x for DECA
#4 Qualified for state 4x for another business competition (FBLA)
#5 Won regions 1x for previously mentioned humanities competition
Letters of Recommendation
Internship manager - 8/10, knew me fairly well, and I think it gave my business app a unique edge because I already had real corporate experience
History teacher - 7/10, known for writing good rec letters, but he probably writes 30-50 each year so I doubt mine was that incredible
Club sponsor - 4/10, knew me decently, but probably not the strongest writer
Languages teacher - 6/10, probably decent, but coming from a large public school probably meant the rec letters were overall not as strong as private feeder letters
Counselor - 5/10, explained my family situation, but overall probably very generic
Interviews
Georgetown, Yale: Felt like I connected on a personal level with both of my interviewers. Neither of us seemed to want to end the conversation, and I think I left an overall very positive impression while expressing my true self. 9/10
Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard: All in one week, back to back, so it was stressful. However, the constant practice made it so that these were all pretty good. 7/10
UPenn ED: First interview so I was really nervous, but he kind of dominated and guided the conversation. Overall did decent. 7/10
UT Austin Business Honors, MIT, Rice: Plain old generic college interviews. 5/10
Princeton: Was my first in-person interview, so I was super nervous. Lasted only 20 minutes, and I really felt like I put on a fake personality that def hurt my chances. 1/10
Essays
Personal statement - 6/10. Generic essay about how a generic hobby taught me to learn from others. Spent maybe 8-10 hours on it? Really felt nervous about this tanking my application because a few friends said it was really really bad (not to be mean, they were genuinely trying to help). However, this was cancelled out by a few adults and college students saying it was really good, so idk. Overall was probably decent, and appealed to more serious readers.
Supplementals: A majority were good, probably around 7-8/10. A few were super cringe looking back, so like 3/10, while a couple were genuinely 10/10. Even got a note from my Stanford AO saying she loved my essays. Lots of research and time put into the "Why Us?" essays. Took a huge risk on my why major essay, and it ended up leading to mixed results. The community essay was probably my weakest, while the essays in which I got to explain my family situation, express my passion for econ, and the 50ish-word short responses were my best. As a whole, I think my supplements and how I approached them through expressing my personality and passions rather than flexing my accomplishments really helped me stand out.
Just a note on the essays: the amount of time you spend on an essay has no correlation to how good it is. It's perfectly fine to finish one quickly and use a first or second draft. Some of my best essays were written like this when I was just in a good mood and trying to finish quickly to go hang out - while the ones I grinded on for days (looking at you Princeton) ended up being fake and cringey.
Decisions:
Acceptances:
UPenn Wharton ED Deferral - Acceptance
UMich Ross EA
IU Kelley EA
UT Austin Business Honors EA
Texas A&M EA
Stanford RD (committed!!)
Dartmouth RD
Carnegie Mellon Tepper RD
Vanderbilt RD
Notre Dame RD
Georgetown McDonough RD
Rice Business School RD
Waitlists:
Harvard RD -- waitlisted then rejected
Cornell RD - opted out
Columbia RD - opted out
Brown RD - opted out
Duke RD - opted out
Rejections:
MIT RD
Princeton RD
Yale RD
NYU Stern RD
Additional Information/final reflections:
I think the biggest, biggest thing that I regret, and am still trying to overcome, is the glorification of Ivy students. What I mean by this is the echo chamber prevalent on this sub, and A2C and even among the students I met at the various competitions I participated in, that believes that anyone who gets into a school like Harvard or Stanford or any Ivy for that matter is somehow smarter or better than kids who get rejected. This belief led me to believe that only those with super stacked god-tier resumes get in, leading me to be completely shocked by my results. Looking back, even though I'm not a perfect applicant, I should've been a lot more confident and realized that I was definitely "average" for an Ivy applicant. I have a deleted post on an alt asking where I'd get in, and most people said Kelley and Ross at best. I think people as a whole need to realize that although college admissions is super selective and complete BS, the reason you won't get in is NOT because you didn't do enough, or because your resume is weak - it's because of factors like luck and institutional priorities. If I applied again, I could see myself getting into Harvard and Stanford again, or ending up at A&M or UT. It's literally all luck once you're past a certain point. I hope all applicants in the future are more optimistic (without being unrealistic), while taking the admissions process a little more lightheartedly.
One final thing: if you're a prestige whore. Stop it now. It never ends. This is going to sound so fucking dumb, but until like last week, while I was waiting for Harvard waitlist results to come out, I genuinely had the thought that I wasn't "good enough" because I got into Stanford and not Harvard. WTF. I can't believe I genuinely thought something like that. Objectively I know it's false because I can see people on this sub with similar applications to me get into Harvard and not Stanford, and even without that, it's just so dumb to place my value on an admissions decision. I've really sat and thought about it for a while, and I think being a prestige whore comes from a mix of needing validation and also feeling insecure. I've been working towards addressing both, and hope in the future I won't give a shit what people think and will stop being in my own head.
Anyways, sorry for the rambling at the end of this post! Good luck to the class of 2024 and all future classes applying! I hope everything works out amazing for you all, and dm or comment if you have any questions. Hopefully this post helped just a little.
submitted by Ill_Advertising4798 to collegeresults [link] [comments]
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian
Residence: Texas
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Type of School: Large, relatively non-competitive high school. Sends 2-5 kids to Ivies each year (out of 1000+ students).
Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None
Intended Major(s): Business/econ as first choice, environmental science/engineering/policy as second choice where available
Academics
GPA (UW/W): 4.0 UW. 5.6ish Weighted
Rank (or percentile): 1/1000+ students
# of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 16 AP courses.
Senior Year Course Load: AP bio, AP Calc BC, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Macro, AP Gov, Public speaking/debate course, AP Psych, APES
Standardized Testing
SAT: 1560 (780RW, 780M)
ACT: 35
AP/IB: All 5s except one 4 and one 3 in Covid year
Extracurriculars/Activities
#1 Taking care of ill sibling for several years, 10 hours weekly, all 4 years
#2 Paid internship over summer working on ESG/data science, 40 hours/week, 2 years
#3 President and founder of cultural org at school, 2 years
#4 Vice president of school DECA chapter, 4 years
#5 President/treasurer of school honor society, 3 years
#6 Captain of humanities academic competition team, 2 years (we were never good enough to make it past regionals as a team)
#7 Volunteering with local food bank, led a several-thousand dollar donation drive
#8 Volunteering with local cancer prevention charity
#9 Working at fast food restaurant throughout pandemic as shift lead, 2 years
#10 Relatively selective local leadership org with city government
Awards/Honors
#1 1st at national business competition (DECA)
#2 Admitted to and participated in selective, all-expenses-paid, summer business program at a T20
#3 National competitor 1x and state competitor 4x for DECA
#4 Qualified for state 4x for another business competition (FBLA)
#5 Won regions 1x for previously mentioned humanities competition
Letters of Recommendation
Internship manager - 8/10, knew me fairly well, and I think it gave my business app a unique edge because I already had real corporate experience
History teacher - 7/10, known for writing good rec letters, but he probably writes 30-50 each year so I doubt mine was that incredible
Club sponsor - 4/10, knew me decently, but probably not the strongest writer
Languages teacher - 6/10, probably decent, but coming from a large public school probably meant the rec letters were overall not as strong as private feeder letters
Counselor - 5/10, explained my family situation, but overall probably very generic
Interviews
Georgetown, Yale: Felt like I connected on a personal level with both of my interviewers. Neither of us seemed to want to end the conversation, and I think I left an overall very positive impression while expressing my true self. 9/10
Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard: All in one week, back to back, so it was stressful. However, the constant practice made it so that these were all pretty good. 7/10
UPenn ED: First interview so I was really nervous, but he kind of dominated and guided the conversation. Overall did decent. 7/10
UT Austin Business Honors, MIT, Rice: Plain old generic college interviews. 5/10
Princeton: Was my first in-person interview, so I was super nervous. Lasted only 20 minutes, and I really felt like I put on a fake personality that def hurt my chances. 1/10
Essays
Personal statement - 6/10. Generic essay about how a generic hobby taught me to learn from others. Spent maybe 8-10 hours on it? Really felt nervous about this tanking my application because a few friends said it was really really bad (not to be mean, they were genuinely trying to help). However, this was cancelled out by a few adults and college students saying it was really good, so idk. Overall was probably decent, and appealed to more serious readers.
Supplementals: A majority were good, probably around 7-8/10. A few were super cringe looking back, so like 3/10, while a couple were genuinely 10/10. Even got a note from my Stanford AO saying she loved my essays. Lots of research and time put into the "Why Us?" essays. Took a huge risk on my why major essay, and it ended up leading to mixed results. The community essay was probably my weakest, while the essays in which I got to explain my family situation, express my passion for econ, and the 50ish-word short responses were my best. As a whole, I think my supplements and how I approached them through expressing my personality and passions rather than flexing my accomplishments really helped me stand out.
Just a note on the essays: the amount of time you spend on an essay has no correlation to how good it is. It's perfectly fine to finish one quickly and use a first or second draft. Some of my best essays were written like this when I was just in a good mood and trying to finish quickly to go hang out - while the ones I grinded on for days (looking at you Princeton) ended up being fake and cringey.
Decisions:
Acceptances:
UPenn Wharton ED Deferral - Acceptance
UMich Ross EA
IU Kelley EA
UT Austin Business Honors EA
Texas A&M EA
Stanford RD (committed!!)
Dartmouth RD
Carnegie Mellon Tepper RD
Vanderbilt RD
Notre Dame RD
Georgetown McDonough RD
Rice Business School RD
Waitlists:
Harvard RD -- waitlisted then rejected
Cornell RD - opted out
Columbia RD - opted out
Brown RD - opted out
Duke RD - opted out
Rejections:
MIT RD
Princeton RD
Yale RD
NYU Stern RD
Additional Information/final reflections:
I think the biggest, biggest thing that I regret, and am still trying to overcome, is the glorification of Ivy students. What I mean by this is the echo chamber prevalent on this sub, and A2C and even among the students I met at the various competitions I participated in, that believes that anyone who gets into a school like Harvard or Stanford or any Ivy for that matter is somehow smarter or better than kids who get rejected. This belief led me to believe that only those with super stacked god-tier resumes get in, leading me to be completely shocked by my results. Looking back, even though I'm not a perfect applicant, I should've been a lot more confident and realized that I was definitely "average" for an Ivy applicant. I have a deleted post on an alt asking where I'd get in, and most people said Kelley and Ross at best. I think people as a whole need to realize that although college admissions is super selective and complete BS, the reason you won't get in is NOT because you didn't do enough, or because your resume is weak - it's because of factors like luck and institutional priorities. If I applied again, I could see myself getting into Harvard and Stanford again, or ending up at A&M or UT. It's literally all luck once you're past a certain point. I hope all applicants in the future are more optimistic (without being unrealistic), while taking the admissions process a little more lightheartedly.
One final thing: if you're a prestige whore. Stop it now. It never ends. This is going to sound so fucking dumb, but until like last week, while I was waiting for Harvard waitlist results to come out, I genuinely had the thought that I wasn't "good enough" because I got into Stanford and not Harvard. WTF. I can't believe I genuinely thought something like that. Objectively I know it's false because I can see people on this sub with similar applications to me get into Harvard and not Stanford, and even without that, it's just so dumb to place my value on an admissions decision. I've really sat and thought about it for a while, and I think being a prestige whore comes from a mix of needing validation and also feeling insecure. I've been working towards addressing both, and hope in the future I won't give a shit what people think and will stop being in my own head.
Anyways, sorry for the rambling at the end of this post! Good luck to the class of 2024 and all future classes applying! I hope everything works out amazing for you all, and dm or comment if you have any questions. Hopefully this post helped just a little.
2023.05.28 21:01 Marvynwillames [Multiple Excerpts] An Analysis on Tau FTL
It’s no secret that lots of fans, in fact I believe the majority, think that GW removing the FTL for the Tau sometime after the 3rd edition was a dumb move, since, to be simple, you aint making a multi system empire without FTL travel, as well it makes things like the Damocles Crusade have a huge plot hole in that the Tau somehow win through reinforcements coming from their entire empire, despite lacking FTL.
The user Connor McLeod on Spacebattles made a detailed analysis on how the Tau FTL worked through editions, this is a simplified version, for the quotes he used are too big for a single reddit post.
submitted by Marvynwillames to 40kLore [link] [comments]
The user Connor McLeod on Spacebattles made a detailed analysis on how the Tau FTL worked through editions, this is a simplified version, for the quotes he used are too big for a single reddit post.
The original theory (what may or may not be the ether drive, or also known as 'warp dives') came from Battelfleet Gothic - originally in BFG Magazines (I took mine from bFG Magazine 19) but got reiterated in BFG Armada:
BFG magazine 19 said:
The Tau were able to duplicate the warp drive of the alien ship but the initial test flights were disastrous. Achieving transition to the Warp required more than technology, it required psychically attuned minds and the Tau race boasted no psykers. Without them to guide the transition no amount of power could breach the dimensional barriers. The best the Tau could do was make a partial translation, forcing themselves into the void that separated Warpspace and realspace before they were hurled out again like a ball held under water then released.
..
The Water caste scientists made the observation that the boundary between real space and warp space was not a neat line. It was closer to being a turbulent ocean fomented by the tempestuous warp tides below. By carefully angling their descent toward the Warp and extending the field generated by the gravitic drive into a wing shaped to hold the vessel down, a Tau vessel could extend the duration of the dive considerably. The speeds achieved in the ascent back to real space were staggering and coupled with the effect of the Warp on time and space ensured that the real distance covered by the dive was immense. Early tests lost several drone ships because they inadvertently passed far beyond the sensor range of the recovery vessels.
...
There was still a major constraint, only the most powerful (and bulky) drives could sustain the gravitic wing throughout the dive and the power drain meant that considerable recharge time was needed between dives. Also by comparison to actually navigating the warp the pace was still very slow. Taking typical Imperial Warp speeds the Tau drive was slower by a factor of five. The speed was consistent though, did not expose the Tau to the perils of the Warp and enabled the Tau to expand beyond their home star for the first time.
This should be well established by know, and it's pretty self explanatory. But its worth revisiting for tying everything together because in many ways the FTL system incorporates multiple parts. One part was the Tau gravity drive. Another part was the ability to 'partially' enter the warp for the dive and maintaining that dive as long as possible. And its a process they kept improving on. On the surface of this the implication is that around or even before First Sphere they had FTL, whereas the earliest you could plausibly argue they MIGHT achieve warp diving in current fluff is by third sphere. At least, in widespread usage. You could certainly have the Tau experimenting with FTL (they experimented with Imperium warp drives in Crisis of Faith after all) and that goes back to previous spheres. We could in that respect view Tau propulsion advances to be incremental steps along that path to achieving true Warp drive (or something close to it - which may be what Fourth Sphere's slipstream is/was.) I'll touch more on that 'incremental' development' later.
BFG Magazine 19 said:
Waystations are distributed throughout the Tau Empire. They mark out the main routes between Tau septs and are used to speed communications between outposts.
This has nothing directly to do with FTL travel, except to mark/identify routes they use (and maybe facilitate those routes somehow) but it does mention that they have a role in communication. I'll touch on that after the FTL stuff, although it centers almost entirely around the Shadowsun novella.
BFG Magazine 19 said:
Unlike the Tau the Kroot are capable of true Warp travel but the exact method has been kept secret from their employers. To the Kroot, warp travel is almost migratory and they seem incapable of navigating anywhere other than systems with habitable worlds. It appears they are drawn to functioning ecosystems.
In alot of ways its belief-shaped (mass belief) and not unlike Orks and the way space hulks operated. It might explain why the Tau never found the Kroot's use of warp travel all that useful, since it seems like it would be potentially erratic or less precise than warp dives. Still, it makes no fucking sense for Kroot, Demiurg or other warp sensitive allies of the Tau to have FTL but the Tau don't, especially since many factions (including Kroot and Demiurg) contribute ships to Tau fleets!
Other later sources like Deathwatch Achius Assault carried that FTL over, and even suggested it was route based (or may have had an even longer rnaged, route based variation on the 'warp dive' that allowed Vellk'han sept to reach Jericho Reach:
Deathwatch Achilus Assault said:
The humans are not the only ones to explore the Black Reef and the Tau too have been sending scouts into its gravity ravaged depths. Less willing to needlessly sacrifice their warriors, the Tau have employed those aliens from their empire with an affinity for the void and a skill at space faring, such as the ethereal Ji'atrix and the void-dwelling Nicassar. More successfully than the Imperium, the Tau have mapped
a number of routes through the edges of the Reef, at least on their side of the anomaly, allowing their ships more tactical flexibility than those of their enemies and also allowing them to lay deadly ambushes within the edge of the Stygian Break.
The Tau also enjoy a rare speed advantage over the Imperium within the Black Reef as their unusual method of near-Warp travel works more effectively than completely entering the Warp and is less prone to disruption by the gravity storm.
I mentioned the White Dwarf's circa 6th edition which alluded to it, but you also had Storm of Damocles which also seems to reference Warp dives:
Storm of Damocles said:
LOCATION: CANNIS GAS CLOUD,
DAMOCLES GULF, 999.M41
Without psykers, the tau could not make translations into the warp, but they had learnt to make short hops through the edge of the immaterial and real space, sticking to pre-ordained 'stepping stones'. This particular transit point, deep in the Cannis gas cloud, was known to connect to the Sexton Sector. It was what the tau thought was a safe transit route, but its location had been known to the Deathwatch for some time.
...
As he spoke, the first of the tau ships seemed to pulse as it skimmed into the immaterium. In ten minutes they were all gone, and the space before them was empty once more, except for the light of distant stars.
This meant that -at least in certain incarnations - warp dives relied on certain routes/paths/points to travel along (adding a certain degree of predictability, not unlike the warp routes between star systems in BFG) - it can be thought that BFG might have applied those same limitations to other factions and their FTL (Necron inertialess drive, Tau Warp Dive/Ether drives) so this was always an 'intended' trait. It also makes it clear its far from instantaneous - it takes minutes to achieve the 'skip' and unlike 'true' warp translation there is no rift. Presumably the rift only occurs if you actually punch the hole through into the Warp - the 'interstitial' medium the Tau travel through might simply be thought of as temporal/spatial distortions (we know warp rifts can be temporal/spatial distortions too - one reason that translations to/from warp space can be so highly distorted by gravity and one reason why translations in-system close to planetary bodies are so hazardous)
Storm of Damocles said:
It was a week's journey back through the warp to Picket's Watch. A team of servitors re-established power for the databanks, repairing broken cables and then coaxing out the reams of tau information.
The Space Marines had little need for sleep. They worked constantly, comparing Imperial star charts to those of the tau, finding known points of reference, and slowly piecing together a picture of tau movements to and from the Agrellan Warzone.
..
When they had inputted it all, the holo-charts glowed with criss-crossing web-lines of xenos activity. Its scale and sophistication repelled them all. Supply hubs, refuelling stations, convoy protection teams, automated drone sentries, human worlds secretly compliant, all enabling the massive movement of the invasion fleet that had smashed through to Agrellan. Konrad located two new routes that had appeared only a Terran week before the appearance of the Stormsurges.
'This is how they are transporting their new battlesuits,' he said with grim conviction.
Again note that the use of routes and mapping is important for Tau Warp Dives circa 3rd sphere (Agrellan) and they are clearly covering many tens of light years in months at most. Indeed some 'routes' seem to involve a bare week difference implying transit speeds of many hundreds of c at a bare minimum. There's literally no way third sphere could play out as it did without FTL, so this is beyond dispute.
All the same, some materials try to dispute it. While the Codexes since 6th haven't explicitly forbidden FTL, the rulebooks were something of another matter. At least in 8th edition:
8th Edition Rulebook said:
Being a non-psychic race, the T'au have no understanding of the warp, so their star fleets travel at sub-light speeds. New technological innovations have steadily increased their range, allowing them to press ever further into the galaxy. Their Second and Third Spheres of Expansion were halted only due to the barrier of the Damocles Gulf and increased resistance from the Imperium of Mankind.
Making it a bit of a headache to tie together, but not impossible since there's no real context or detail attached to the comment.
Codex tau 8th said:
In order to reach those more distant systems earmarked as desirable by advanced scouts, the vast armadas of T'au spacecraft had been outfitted with the latest Earth caste modifications. The ships' propulsion systems were upgraded so that when magnified by impulse reactors, the engines could obtain faster speeds, propelling ships forwards at hitherto unthinkable velocities. To further lessen the burden on those space-faring craft with the longest journeys, the Earth caste had outfitted transport vessels with large stasis chambers, allowing Hunter Cadres or whole commands to shift to far distant battle zones months or years away without actually aging a day in the process.
This quote cropped up in 6th too, and it was hilarious then. The 'third' iteration with the impulse reactors boosting previous drive advances (namely, the horizon drive) sound hilarious. Impulse reactors push ships to 'unthinkable velocities' yet we already knew the supposedly 'sublight' Tau already achieved near-lightspeed. Getting nearer to lightspeed might provide some more relativistic effects to protect the crew a bit from the duration, but its not going to add jack shit to speed... unless you exceed the speed of light.
In keeping with that hilarious inconsistency, the Tau in fact do this multiple times since 6th. To wit:
Tyranid 6th said:
FLIGHT TO KE'LSHAN
Though the Tau fleet was pursued by dozens of bio-ships, only a handful of cadre vessels were boarded and destroyed before the Tau successfully punched through the Tyranid blockade. Unaffected by the Shadow in the Warp, the Tau's ZFR Horizon drives propelled their ships at near light speed through realspace, and arrived safely at Ke'lshan. It took the Tyranids many days to traverse the same span of space, and for the first time in months, the Tau hoped to have a chance to catch their breath and recuperate.
Yes. Their magical horizon drives actually allowed the Tau to [i[Outrun the Tyranids[/i] Now remember that while the Tyranids having warp drive post 5th was up for debate, they still had Narvahls so its baffling that the 'sublight' Tau could outrace an explicitly FTL race. Compoudning that hilarity is the timeframe - Hive Fleet
Warzone Damocles said:
Propelled at ever greater speeds by the latest Earth Caste impulse reactors, the vast armada of Aun'Va's Tau Coalition powered across the Damocles Gulf and into Imperial Space. The expeditionary force met little in the way of significant opposition, even from the Imperial worlds that rejected the offers of the Water caste's ambassadors.
This repeats the codex bits on impulse reactors, and as I said for Third Sphere and War Zone Damocles you pretty much need to be crossing tens or hundreds of light years in weeks or months... there's no way around it being FTL. The only speeds greater than near-c are going to be many time greater than c.
Given that we can speculate on a Tau drive (and FTL) progression that follows this pattern:
Tau FTL model
First sphere has them evolving the gravity drive as per BFG. This may or may not also result in the modifications that allow (retroactively) to swiftly colonize their immediate surroundings for the First sphere expansion due to weird properties (time/space dilation) and closely placed star systems
Gravity drive (first sphere). This could still result in the discovery of a crashed alien ship and its warp drive (and experiments into that technology) but nothing definite or widespread yet.
Second Sphere is where things start to get interesting. They expand further by charting routes through dangerous parts of their space (including the Damocles gulf) through trial and error. This could be the point where we actually get navigation into and out of warp rifts in some cases, and with others you simply have warped distances/pathways to travel along. This still allows them to be 'sublight' but achieve travel that doesn't take years or decades like it should.
Second sphere, however is where they start meeting the Orks and eventually the Imperium. They learn more about FTL drives (from Ork and Imperial vessels) and they perhaps begin to study the routes that permitted their swift journeys as well. Second sphere stretches out for some time and even the end is some distance into the future, so there is lots of time for additional advances. The Horizon drive would maximize their travel speeds - travelling as close to the speed of lgiht as efficiently possible means making the most out of not only navigating warp rifts but the routes as well. Other examples of this in action would be the Black Reef/Hadex anomaly from Deathwatch
Eventually they start tinkering with their drive system in other ways to achieve other effects. We can presume the grav drive is a factor in protecting them from the effects of the warp minus a gellar field (in conjunction with their low/nearly nonexistent warp souls) but the grav drive configurations may enable them to more effectively harness and shape the routes they take, and we get into the first steps of warp dives. They start out slow and less efficient at first, but over time they continue refining the process and making improvements (being able to maintain the dive for longer (Velk'Han and Deathwatch come in here.)
Eventually, they learn to artificially replicate the Warp Dive without being confined to routes - they still can't enter the warp and it may be slower than 'in-route' travel, but this allows them much more flexibility in expanding than they had. This may or may not be the 'impulse reactors' of third sphere - we might surmise these are sort of a weaker version of slipstream drive that only achieves the 'partial' translations. We might consider this the ether drive - the logical conclusion of their pre-Warp drive travel. Speeds may get closer to equalling 'average' warp travel (non Navigator) but its still potentially much slower than true warp drive even if they could maintain the dive indefinitely (which at that point, they might on at least some ships or in some locations) Smaller ships like the Manta can also be equipped with FTL drives now.
Third sphere ends with the conflagration fo the Damocles Gulf and the Tau can no longer bypass it effectively (We could surmise that any 'artificial' dives are too short ranged or slow to make this practical over reasonable timescales for the Tau to wage war. The fastest longest-ranged routes for warp-diving would be through the Gulf, much as travelling to Jericho Reach meant the Hadex anomaly and black Reef. The Tau cannot continue their progress until the creation of slipstream drive (the final evolution of the impulse reactors to emulate Warp drive without psykers or navigators) and that brings us to 8th and eventually 9th with the fifth sphere and the Startide Nexus.
And 9th edition brings us the promise of a sixth sphere expansion... courtesy of the slipstream drive:
Codex Tau 9th said:
"Or do we exercise our new-found reach to once again push beyond what the Gue'la call the Damocles Gulf, to reclaim the septs that were lost and drive deeper than ever into the western galactic reaches? Understand my guests,this is not some mere dream. Fio'vre Ka'buto and his scientists assure me that the modifications they have made to their original designs render the Slipstream module safer and more stable than ever before when deployed en masse. With such a device at our disposal, the stars are closer than ever, and oru duty to reach them clearer.'
El'Umeh couldn't believe what she was hearing.
The Sixth Sphere Expansion, she thought, light-headed with amazement. The Ethereal Supreme is considering the commencement of the Sixth Sphere Expansion, and he is asking for my Commander's thoughts on where it should occur.
Such a thing was unheard of. The battles of the Fith Sphere Expansion still raged beyond the Zone of Silence. O'Shaserra herself led the push to colonise new worlds and raise new septs beyond the fabled wormhole. El'Umeh was hardly in possession of all the data, yet she had the impression that the empire had expended vast resources already on gathering and launching that fleet. To think that it could muster a sixth expansion even while the fifth was still underway... had the scope and scale of T'au space truly grown so vast?
Setting aside the implication that the Tau are vast enough in terms of territory and industry to sustain two Spheres of expansion so closely together, we're told that they can now safely engage in large scale use of slipstream and derive the benefits of its speed in their expansion. No more limits to warp dives or ether drive. They could achieve something that matches at least some kinds of Warp travel.
This also makes clear that the Tau not only didn't lose slipstream travel with fourth sphere. It was simply limited in its scale of application. Single ships (or small numbers) might be able to harness it effectively and without danger - but large fleets (scores or hundreds) were dangerous. Now, that may no longer be so true, and that is a HUGE game changer for the Tau.
Another thing to consider is - as I said before - in many ways the 'Ether drive/warp dive' feature is describing the same essential capability, it just evolves incrementally with each step or including a new wrinkle. First you have the grav drive - which plays a role in maintaining the warp dive once they develop that technology and presumably protecting the craft and permitting some degree of navigating the charted routes in their domain. Then as per 6th you have the 'Horizon' drive which allows for rapid and effective near-lightspeed travel. If the routes allow for the warp to amplify sublight speeds into translight speeds, then maximizing your realspace speed would be the best way to optimize travel time.
Eventually late second/early third you're getting into the true Ether Drive/Warp Dives as outlined in BFG and the impulse reactor upgrade allows for that push for 'artificially' created routes/dives (and possibly leads to the truly long-distance travel like allowing Kel'Shan to reach Jericho Reach sector despite being potentially hundreds of light years away) - the grav drive helps to maintain the dive, the Horizon engines keep speed maximized during that dive. Despite being from different, unconnected sources, you can clearly treat each iteration as being an improvement of each technology, allowing the Tau to move that much faster until they reach the presumable endpoint (currently) with a fully fledged and potentially workable slipstream drive that can be utilized for large fleets - leading to Sixth Sphere.
****
Now we get to FTL comms courtesy of Shadowsun, last of Kiru's line:
Shadowsun last of Kiru's Line said:
'It is agreeable to see you, Shas'la,' she said. 'What is the status of our communications?'
Sabu'ro glanced at Kou'to before answering. The veteran's nod told him that it was all right to address Shadowsun directly.
'Commander,' he said proudly, 'we are fully capable. Local tightbeam and interplanetary tachyon arrays are both at one hundred per cent.'
'Are you able to contact the rest of the fleet?'
'It has already been done. All ships are holding at station-keeping eight light-minutes beyond il'Wolaho's moon, as per your previous instructions. Command of the armada has passed to Kor'el Kenhi'ta, who relayed the news of what transpired today to T'au via graviton data packet.' He smiled. 'After you last spoke to me, I made all vessels aware of your survival.'
'Was that news also relayed to T'au?'
Young Sabu'ro seemed confused by the question. 'Why would it not be?'
Shadowsun nodded, imagining what the reaction must have been back on the home world. First, news that a powerful warship had been destroyed with all hands lost. Then, later on, a second bulletin informing everyone that she and a handful of others were alive, but for the moment, non-recoverable. Shock, followed by sadness, followed by joy, followed by concern. The halls of the Aun't'au'retha, the supreme council of Ethereals who presided over the Empire, must have been uncharacteristically lively this day. Once again, she blamed herself.
...
'Commander, there's an incoming data packet addressed to you.' He passed the flex-screen to Shadowsun. 'A pre-recorded message of some kind, relayed through the fleet position.'
Il'Walaho was nearly one hundred and fifty light-years away from the heart of the Empire. Real-time communication over such distances was impossible, even for a race as technologically advanced as the tau. Shadowsun took note of the time stamp as the bundle of words and decompiled themselves; whatever the nature of this message, it had been sent while her fleet was in translation from T'au.
'It says here that this was made and received some time ago. Why am I only seeing it now?'
Sabu'ro shook his head as the recording began.
'O'Shaserra,' it said slowly and clearly, 'This is Aun'va speaking. As leader of the Aun't'au'retha, may I say that it brings great relief to all to hear that you have survived the destruction of your command vessel.'
We get reference to 'tachyon' communications (presumably the short-range/in system stuff) and the 'grav-wave' data packets. There are two distinct kinds of communication and calcs here but I'll indulge in a little speculation relating to Eye of Terror. A numbe rof sources (Eye of Terror website back in 3rd edition, the Deathwatch RPG) mention tachyonic bullshit, and its often tied to Warp phenomena (as is 'subspace' bullshit in the Hoare novels.) We also know that gravity and spatial distortions are closely related to warp phenomena as well. And as mentioned before, Eye of Terror indicated that in a warp-realspace interface 'lightspeed' signals (like photons/light) could be effectively translight. In that sense, we might consider 'tachyons' to be matter subjected to the translight properties of the warp, wheras grav packets might be some sort of weird modulated grave pulses that create a sort of warp 'dive' signal to relay data back to the destination (unless of course its a physical vessel. That's not clear.) It may even be that its a tachyonic signal that is manipulated the same way the grav drive helps maintain a warp dive.
Anyhow, bullshit speculatin over nature done, we go to the calcs. The first is for the ship-to ground communications which are almost or effectively instantaneous over an eight light minute distance (this will get reiterated later) and that plays out to around at least FTL communications speed of tens of c (call it 50c or so.)
The grav-packet takes longer, but it occurs well within the space of a day (twelve hours) and possibly as little as four to six hours (remember it started during morning, and now its afternoon to evening here.) so its clearly a matter of hours top, and less than a day at worst. For the message to cover 150 LY in one day (12 hours to 24) you get between 54,000-109,000c roughly. In 4-6 hours it would be more like 220,000-330,000c. That's slow compared to some and not suitable for FTL travel (even commercial astrotelepathy can cross 10-20 LY in around 11 minutes as per Eisenhorn, whereas others have realtime communication between two nearby systems and multiple light years. 1st edition has Astrotelepathy crossing 50,000 LY in seconds or minutes even, albeit with ten words or less.) But for the Tau? That's quite fast, esp considering their FTL (such as it is) would be orders of magnitude slower. Many times throughout her career, she had pictured the memorial they would erect of her on T'au following her death. It would be placed before the Mont'yr Battle Dome, of course, where it would stand among the other heroes of her people, immortalised in six-metre-high white marble. Along the base would read her accolades – Shadowsun, daughter of Kiru, hero of the K'resh Expansion War, scourge of the greenskin barbarians, bulwark against the hive fleets.
The K'Resh Expansion War was part of the Great War of Confederation which took place in 975.M41 and lasted a dozen years, meaning this is between the end of that (12 years later, or in 987.M41) and the start of 3rd sphere in 997.M41 - no more than a decade difference. Given that Third Sphere involved Aun'Va accompanying Shadowsun personally (As 6th edition outlines) from the Tau homeworld, that means Shadowsun made a round trip from the edge of the empire and back to pick up the Supreme leader (5 years both ways).
2023.05.27 18:25 LithiumNard A Random Fan's Team/Player Breakdown and Predictions Going into LPL Summer 2023
LPL Summer Power Rankings
Just one person’s opinion. WE diehard so I’ve seen more or less all of their games, but I’ll catch other games here and there. Did a lot of Oracle’s Elixir and Leaguepedia digging as well and followed/consulted @DJJohnnymeister on twitter (must follow IMHO if you care at all about the up and comers of the LDL) for thoughts on lower-level prospects. Will probably make me look stupid when it’s all said and done, but that’s part of the fun right?
Top Contenders
1) JDG
Top – 369
Jungle – Kanavi
Mid – Knight/lzq
ADC – Ruler
Support – Missing
Was the best team on paper last split and lived up to the hype. Coming off of a dominant MSI championship run, they are the slam dunk pick to top not just the LPL power rankings, but the World power rankings.
369 is perhaps the best he’s ever been, easily 1st team All Pro. Kanavi has re-established himself as the best jungler in the world at MSI. Knight’s mechanical talent finally shone through on the international stage. Lzq is an 18-year-old who somehow skipped the LDL altogether and isn’t really relevant to the narrative, but he's on the official roster so I have to mention him. Ruler inserted his name in the GOAT conversation and proved his mettle out of the Samsung/GenG sphere, doing his thing of blending solid damage output with consistent safety. When Missing is the worst player on the team by default and yet still the Spring 2nd All Pro Team support you’re in golden shape.
They get a sentence each because I shouldn’t need to tell you about this team. They’re really just complete without any exploitable holes. Adding Knight and Ruler to China’s best squad in 2022 feels similar to the off-season where the Golden State Warriors added Kevin Durant, with the added bonus that Boogie Cousins is still in his prime. I suppose that makes Yagao into Pro LOL’s Harrison Barnes (I actually like this comparison, down to Yagao receiving blame for the blowing it when it mattered most) and GenG into Pro LOL’s Sacramento Kings (pretty bad, but if we equate the playoffs to making world finals?… ehh still really bad). We’ll see who (if anyone) can rise up to challenge them, but at this point they have to be considered the odds-on favorite.
2) LNG
Top – Zika
Jungle – Tarzan
Mid – Scout
ADC – GALA
Support – Hang
This team had one hole in the roster going into the summer and filled it. LP didn’t have a bad rookie split and showed mettle but he was clearly the odd man out on a team built to compete today. After looking at IG’s ADC Ahn, they chose to spare no expense and traded LP and a boat load of cash for RNG’s GALA who more than fills that hole. GALA will be paired in the bottom lane with Hang, who was a key partner for LP’s surprisingly competent debut, earning an All-LPL 3rd team shoutout in the process.
Scout meanwhile had a downright incredible split that fell by the wayside due to LNG’s immediate playoff exit at the hands of OMG, but it appears that even away from the EDG machine, he’s still one of the LPL’s premier stars at a very competitive position. I mean he put up a mind numbing 17 MVPs individually. To put it in perspective, ThunderTalk Gaming, who were the 8 seed in the LPL Spring Standings, had 18 wins in total. With teams like EDG and JDG sharing the MVP load among their members, Scout downright ran away with it.
Zika didn’t have a super flashy split, but was low key very strong. The team devoted a lot to making sure LP wasn’t exploited and you would think Zika, who was heavily strong-side suited as a rookie on IG last year, would flounder because of it. However, he quietly flourished in the role, even though he only picked up a single MVP performance all season. Putting up strong CS numbers and showing some good weakside ability on top of his typical array of more damage centric tops. Honestly, he might be the most underrated player in the league since he’s overshadowed by his much more resource heavy teammates, but that weakside ability might be even more key with GALA joining the team and needing the resources as well.
Tarzan meanwhile continued as a standout in the regular season, best jungler KDA, strong kill participation basically the rest of the regular season MVP performances, but was perhaps the primary factor in their playoff disappointment. Similar to JDG’s situation with Missing though, when Tarzan (specifically in the playoffs) is the team’s biggest concern, you know you have a roster ready to compete.
3) EDG
Top – Ale
Jungle – Jiejie/Monki
Mid – Fofo/Fisher
ADC – Leave
Support – Meiko
Despite losing their key Korean carries, EDG barely missed a beat last split, finishing 3rd in the Spring Split. It’s a pretty good result all things considered, but it does feel like they have holes in their game. Still, I think that between their core veterans still at the peak of their game and the overall consistency, they are in very good shape for the Worlds slots, even if they feel a step behind the likes of JDG right now.
Even without Scout and Viper, they still have a great veteran core that starts with Meiko, who with Ming’s absence/retirement(?) stands alone as only active LPL’s all-time top 10 support. As part of the EDG core for over 9 years now, and the team’s primary shot caller for a huge part of that span, his presence alone means that EDG will have one of the best macro games in the league. Combo that with Jiejie, who has served in the EDG system for a huge period of time and grown into a top level jungler in his midst of his prime and you immediately have a team that has championship aspirations even before the other 3 members are considered, as both players were 1st Team All Pro for the Spring Split.
The 3 other members were where a lot of the concern lied going into the season, but they exceeded expectations as EDG was the number 2 seed going into playoffs. While the least talked about of the three, it was a great bounce back split for FoFo who was one of the most disappointing players on 2022’s most disappointing team BLG, eventually losing his starting job to mid-season acquisition Icon. On EDG though, he looked revitalized and fairly close to his form on RA 2021, though admittedly he was flanked by better players with EDG. It was a commendable, low drama, stable split for a player who needed it bad.
Similar to FoFo, Ale was coming off of a rough 2021 as well where a talented by troubled LNG team didn’t completely flop by the results, but completely missed the high expectations set. This included a benching for PandaC halfway through the split that really hurt the team in key series down the stretch amid talk about attitude issues. He’s always been a talented pair of hands though and EDG did well to keep him focused and on his game, as he stepped up big time, particularly when given non-tank champions while piloting tanks well enough, earning 2nd team All Pro honors. Obviously, Ale isn’t always the most stable player, but so long as EDG has him on the straight and narrow, he’s going to be a net positive for the team.
Finally, we come to the rookie of the split Leave, who came in with some serious LDL hype and lived up to it for the most part, working well as EDG’s damage carry and showing a flashy mechanics style. Being flanked with the likes of Meiko helps of course, but EDG handed the reigns to Leave and he seemed up to the task. Unfortunately, going up against the likes of Ruler and Elk in the playoffs did prove to be that freshman wall for Leave, but as MSI showed they’ve been folding everyone, so it’s not too shameful. Still as the least experienced player in this top 4 group, it’s going to be a lot of pressure on the youngster. It’s crazy that this super mechanically skilled star of his rookie class could be the weakness of the team, but that’s just the level of the competition among the top teams of this league.
I do want to give brief mention to EDG’s substitute players, who are both very talented youngsters. Monki is a 19-year-old LDL promote jungler who was strong at the lower level and warranted a promotion. Fisher meanwhile had been a standout Korean trainee from Shadow Corp (the same team they picked up About, the new Korean bot lane trainee Ale was talking about) and directly went onto the EDG main roster at 18 years old. Neither will likely see play given this team’s veteran tilt and the championship ambitions, but they’re worth keeping an eye out for down the road whether they’re future EDG starters or purchases for other LPL teams.
4) BLG
Top – Bin
Jungle – XUN
Mid – Yagao
ADC – Elk/Baiye
Support – ON
Given BLG’s penchant for big expenses for early playoff exits, it would be easy to write off their latest roster as yet another flailing attempt to microwave a team into stardom, turning over basically the entire 2022 roster they reportedly spent top dollar for. And yet, it felt different this time around. While the players they picked up weren’t exactly household names, they were talented mechanical players on the rise. They looked genuinely strong in the pre-season tournaments, which admittedly doesn’t count a whole ton, but was interesting to note. And when it was all said and done, it resulted in the best split BLG has ever put up. And while they couldn’t outgun the JDG machine in any of the many shots, it was a great season. While I have them below LNG for their sheer top to bottom power and EDG out of respect for their veteran track record, I’m still very impressed by this BLG squad.
Bin, as somehow the longest tenured BLG member of 2 splits, was the face of the team’s turnaround, and a far cry better from the rocky 2022 he endured swapping between 2 dysfunctional teams. 2023 was where he re-established himself as the premier mechanical top in the league. Always known for his excellent hands since his debut on Suning in 2020, he was able to back up those skills this split, while furthering his profile in the west with his fun trashtalk and gigachad persona. Furthermore, when the chips were down at MSI, he even showed a willingness to pick up tanks, which has always been the clear hole in his game.
As for the free agent additions, the one who most established himself was Elk. If I can put on my hipster hat on, I was an Elk fan before it was cool, given he’s always shown an ability to put up eyepopping damage numbers since his debut which continued this season as he topped the tables far and away leading the league with the number 1 DPM and damage share. However, it was the finer points of the game where Elk struggled on back in the day. Off positioning, hit or miss laning, occasional overextensions trying to maximize damage were all issues for Elk on WE. On this BLG squad though, that has largely ironed itself out, with only occasional blowup performances every so often. An unknown on the World stage going into MSI, everyone now knows the name of this fearsome player. They also added a name that nobody knows, that being Baiye an LDL ADC to the main roster as well. Having just debuted on BLG.J last split and playing all of 7 games in the LDL, it’s tough to take this promotion seriously at all, let alone as a threat to Elk’s seat.
A major part of supporting Elk’s rise was the acquisition of the best young support in the LPL, ON. One of the big pain points of LPL teams is that LDL promotions are just so difficult, and none so more than support, where the talent pool is shallow and the transition is just an absolute killer. So many of the highest profile LDL supports have floundered on promotion, and ON was no exception on Suning back in 2021. That being said, he’s improved an incredible amount since that first rocky season, and the mechanical ability he has as a support and his young age (only 20 years old despite debuting in 2021) makes him perhaps the most valuable long-term asset on the BLG roster. As EDG has shown with Meiko and his cavalcade of ADC pairings, great ADCs can be acquired in the LPL but great supports when kept are backbones to long term success.
XUN was an acquisition much like Elk and ON, a young mechanical standout who BLG scooped up with projection in mind. He arrived into IG in 2021 as a highly touted rookie, and was mentioned alongside the likes of Bo and Xiaohuangren, the 2 super prospects junglers as the next generation. He joined right at the tail end of the Rookie-TheShy era of the team and while he had early struggles then, by the time the next season rolled around, he was IG’s standout player. Even after arriving at BLG, he’s still a very volatile player, and hasn’t solidified his play the way Elk and ON have, but at his best, he’s capable of getting bot rolling, which is exactly what BLG is want to do.
Finally, the Harrison Barnes of the LPL, Yagao, who was the typical blame target for BLG in their losses. It’s true, he’s older and certainly doesn’t match up great against the top of the table mids that he’ll need to beat, but the bottom line is that for the most part he’s fine enough. Just like Barnes, he’s certainly not the team centerpiece, and he occasionally has baffling performances, but he’s usually stable enough to not get in the way. Honestly, he’s probably the weakest individual player among these top 4 teams and the predominant reason (along with coinflippy XUN) that I have the MSI runners up 4th on this list, but to be clear I’m not huge Yagao hater, it’s just that these top teams are so stacked that every potential available weakness makes a difference. I mean, you don’t see Harrison Barnes on the All-NBA teams or anything.
Playoff Expectations
5) OMG
Top – Shanji
Jungle – Aki
Mid – Creme
ADC – Able
Support – PPGod/Jerry
OMG returns with the roster that brought them to their highest playoff finish since Spring 2017 (!!!), finishing a highly impressive 4th in the split. On paper, I still think their roster is lacking in marquee raw talent, but it’s clear at this point that they’re more coordinated than some of their flashier opposition and that they’ve cultivated 2 young stars that have now shown some serious killer instinct.
Without any doubt, this is a team that is defined by the play of their solo lane talents. Starting from the top Shanji had a standout split primarily as one of the most effective K’Sante/Sion tank players the large majority of the time, but occasionally busts out Kennen and his signature Rumble, and been incredibly impactful when he gets them. Furthermore, this synergizes perfectly with OMG’s other star laner Creme, who is afforded the ability to fit AD assassins like Yone. Assassins have continued to be Creme’s calling card and while his control mage play is lackluster, OMG has tailored their gameplans around his champion pool and have reaped the benefits of the young mid laner.
On top of these two really clicking simultaneously, a big hat tip must be given to their teammates as well. PPGod in particular proved to be the right ingredient to bring OMG playoff glory as he continues his ability to accent teams into playoff threats even if he hasn’t been quite been able to reach the Finals at any of his stops. I’ll give him some additional props once we reach the NIP write up. Given PPGod’s late arrival to the team last spring, LDL promotion Jerry sat on the bench for the season, and looks to do so again. Able meanwhile has a pretty non-descript year, taking a back seat to his solo lane teammates but showing some stability that he’s usually lacked. Certainly not a masterful split, but credit where it’s due, he reigned it in and was steady for OMG’s best squad in ages.
Finally, Aki deserves a big hand for his role in OMG’s success as well. A solid vet who isn’t considered a mechanical master by any means, he was steady at the wheel throughout the season, and was even able to out jungle Tarzan of all people in their shock upset win over LNG. Despite taking the most MVPs for OMG in the regular season, it was rarely for single handed domination and I’d point that more as a credit for his facilitation of the team’s coordination in general where they were able to get over the competition where it counted.
I don’t think this team has the ceiling of the others in this tier, but they have a known formula that works. While the others in this group have more talent on an individual level, it’s clear that they have serious questions to sort out that OMG really doesn’t, so I’m considering OMG the safe team in this particular group, but without the upside to challenge the tier above.
6) WBG
Top – TheShy
Jungle – Karsa/Weiwei
Mid – Xiaohu
ADC – Light
Support – Crisp
This team and the one after it were the teams with close to the highest expectations in the League and yet fell flat in spite of talented rosters. Both have largely decided to run it back, with new coaching staffs in an attempt to fix the tactical side where they came short. WBG went big game hunting for their next coach after sacking Easyhoon and was attempting to court Kkoma before he opted to focus on Korea’s efforts at the World Games. They settled for an Kkoma adjacent coach in Daeny, formerly part of the Damwon and T1 programs. A controversial coach in his own right, he’s drew criticism for his pick/bans and his questionable roster decisions, but he still has that Worlds title under his belt, so WBG is out here shooting for the moon. Born to wintrade or whatever.
TheShy is as always, a pretty good representation of the team. Perpetually on top of the damage charts due to his confidence in his mechanics and his propensity to fight constantly, it leads to the coinflippy hit or miss results you so often see from TheShy and his teams in general. He’s certainly not at his peak form where he dominated on the Worlds stage, but he’s not at his worst either near the end of his IG tenure when that whole team looked out of gas, TheShy is an LPL icon, even if that icon is occasionally the death notification on the side of the UI.
Purchasing Xiaohu out of his RNG contract was one of the big stories for this team going into the off season and a large reason for optimism for their future results. In actually he was rather middling by all accounts. Not a total disaster of course, it felt like he was fine for the most part, but not the immediate plug and play mechanical players that Scout, Knight or Rookie serve as. Maybe a second season to mesh is what they need to comeback.
Light for my money was the most dependable member of the team in the regular season, being just a generally stable force in the otherwise chaotic team structure. I wouldn’t call him the best at any individual thing: Ruler is a much safer ADC and Elk is a better pure damage pump, but light is good enough at both of those things to be a consistent plus for WBG, which can’t be said for the rest of the team. Supported by the veteran Crisp, you have to expect them to anchor the team in general, though Crisp was particularly bad in the playoff series against BLG, where his hooks on both Thresh and Naut were off point. It’s just one series of course, but the play needs to be better than that in crunch time next time.
Finally, the jungle situation for Weibo. Karsa continues to be the perpetual punching bag when the team struggles. It’s been a major decline since his Flash Wolves and early RNG days and frankly it might be time to just bucket him as not able to get it done at the highest level at this point. He can still work enough in the regular season to make the playoffs, but the form is just not where it needs to be at this point. In a fascinating move, scooped up Weiwei, who went from BLG’s star jungler to league washout over the course of a single year. The biggest victim of BLG’s 2022 catastrophe, the last look of Weiwei we got was not a flattering one as the team fell flat on it’s face amid roster instability and play not matching up to the expected standard. Still, we’ve seen a number of comebacks for players leaving the BLG ecosystem, such as PPGod and FoFo returning to form after splitting wit the team. Of course it’s not always a winning formula as Doggo and Biubiu (shudder) can attest to, but there’s enough of a strong track record from Weiwei during 2020 V5 and 2021 BLG to say that trying to get that level out of him is worth the attempt.
7) TES
Top – Wayward/Qingtian
Jungle – Tian
Mid – Rookie
ADC – Jackeylove
Support – Mark
Reuniting 2/5ths of the legendary IG core was supposed to lead TES to their Worlds destiny. Yet going into the Summer split they are another team running it back with the exact same roster, though unlike teams like JDG, BLG or OMG, the Spring split was an unmitigated failure for TES. There was not glory, but a collapse down the stretch of the season and shameful defeat at the hands of OMG, a team that is probably running a budget less than Jackeylove’s individual paycheck (note: The previous statement was hyperbole. I do not actually know how much OMG pays their players.) With some of the flashiest names in the LPL, finishing without at least challenging JDG would have been a disappointment, let alone the 7th/8th that they actually managed.
The big obvious question for this team is what exactly they do with the top lane because the decision making around it was seemed heavily stilted. They chose to run Qingtian basically the entire regular season, and then yanked the rug on him with a single series to go? Sure, he was largely a hit or miss top laner who was missing against the better teams (and LGD’s because rookie Xiaoxu was feeling it) but pulling the plug on him and swapping to Wayward literally at the last second heavily sabotaged both of them. Congratulations, Wayward crushed Biubiu in round 1 of playoffs, like basically everyone else who played top lane in the LPL. Up against Shanji (a player TES bypassed as a rookie to pick up Qingtian), Wayward was not up to it, and it was a big part of what ended their season. Even though both top laners are limited, I find it hard to place the blame on them directly given this awkward setup and how they approach top lane in the Summer with both players still on the roster remains to be seen.
The bot lane continues to be the same story as always. Jackeylove is still super high ceiling but there are still sometimes these baffling efforts where he’s playing off of his game, which has been a repeating trend for a while now. Mark did well to stabilize him at the beginning of their shared tenure but it’s been rough going as of late for this bot lane in general.
Moving to the big free agent swap they made, adding the legendary Rookie to the team, and it wasn’t all bad. It’s not like he was an abject disaster, he had his share of good games, such as dominating against Shanks in the first round of the playoffs, it’s just that there were too many series where he didn’t lift the team when things weren’t clicking elsewhere… like the 2nd round against OMG. It felt like too often he wasn’t meshing with Tian who was also off his normally solid domestic game. People joke that it was his Worlds performance showing up and frankly, I’d have to agree.
I don’t know with this team. The on-paper talent is on there as usual but there’s something missing… Normally with teams, the question is: how can this team coordinate together and be more than the sum of their parts, which OMG showcased best? I don’t get that vibe from TES, where the question I’m asking is: do they feel like playing up to their talent, or are they going to let go of the rope and lose in shocking fashion? Just weird vibes. I’d say maybe the coaching swap could help, but bringing in the guy who was overseeing BLG during their moneybag disappointment era doesn’t fill me with confidence. I still think they still should be fine for the playoffs off of their sheer talent running over enough teams when they do hold it together, but I just don’t see them as a viable challenger for the LPL crown unless something flips in them, particularly given how good the top 4 seem.
Playoff Bubble
8) TT
Top- HOYA
Jungle – Beichuan/xiaohuangren
Mid – Ucal
ADC – Huanfeng/1xn
Support – yuyanjia/Yaoyao
A pleasant surprise last split, making their first LPL playoffs since they were known as Sinodragon, TT has shed their bottom feeder status and actually have some breakout potential. They’ve formed a decent core to build off of and collected some of the most exciting young talents in the league. How they split their starts between the young guns and the vets they played last split is quietly one of the most interesting storylines in the league as those talented swing pieces could push them up into contendership or down out of the playoffs depending on how they handle the LPL stage.
We’ll start with the boring part of the team in their now solidified Korean solo lane pairing, HOYA and Ucal. After spinning solo laners basically their entire existence, the duo has been locked in for basically 4 splits now. Neither blow anyone’s socks off (though I maintain Ucal in particular is pretty underrated), but you know you’re gonna get a playoff worthy performance but not much more. Together they provide the solid foundation for the rest of the roster, where it really gets interesting.
Starting with jungle, Beichuan had effective but flawed split. He output damage well and did much to incite action, but he also died a whole ton, with the highest death share of any jungler in the league last split. This volatility has been his modus operandi this TT squad as he manages to lead TT in MVPs and I’m sure would have also led the team had an “Most Un-valuable Player” award been given to the biggest inter on the losing team, so he’s pretty core to the TT identity as they’re constructed. However, the clearly more intriguing option has to be Xiaohuangren, who is likely the youngest player in the league right now, and the most hyped LDL jungler since Bo. Debuting in LDL at just 16, XHR was immediately one of the best mechanical junglers in the lower level, and even when the age limit was placed, he took to dominating the Korean ladder with multiple accounts in his excess time. Promoted in the middle of the Spring split days after he turned 18, he hasn’t seen a stage since that age limit was placed, but eyes will be watching to see if TT put the hyper-talent on the rift.
Their other young hyper-talent TT acquired is at the ADC position where they are bringing JDG’s LDL bot laner 1xn. Highly touted by LDL experts, 1xn doesn’t have a mechanical flaw to speak of, putting out insane damage and CS numbers on the regular. The one thing to note was that the JDM team surrounding him didn’t have the skills to back him up, so he never really got the accolades his performance deserved. How he splits time with Huanfeng, who was pretty ineffective last season, and just clearly is no longer the do-everything ADC we saw at 2020 Worlds with Suning is the other big question. It’s weird to see him morph into a rather conservative low-risk low-reward player, and honestly, if they gave out a “Least Valuable Player” award to the winning team, he’d probably be the among League’s leaders in that sketchy credential.
Finally, the support situation is less exciting but lowkey just as important as the other 2 positions as they’ve opted to add Yuyanjia to the roster to which I’m fairly confused. A lackluster veteran (25 years old?) who has never really helped a roster even at his “peak”, I’m not sure what he brings to the table for TT. It’s even more confusing since incumbent support Yaoyao has been the rare promoted LDL support who has actually looked good in his initial LPL stint, which is some sort of minor miracle given the typical LDL support struggles. Trying to fit XinLiu in last split probably cost them some series, so I’m not sure why they seem so interested in these mediocre at best support players when they have a solid one in hand.
9) WE
Top – Cube/Demon
Jungle – Heng
Mid – Shanks
ADC – Hope
Support – Iwandy
I see WE as the LPL’s gatekeeper team. Last split they were great against the lower ranked teams (exception AL), and awful against the higher ranked teams (exception BLG) and managed to sneak playoffs thanks to the likes of IG being just a bit more volatile. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about them as the season goes on, so I’ll keep things brief here.
They managed to do this with an essential deadweight in the top lane. Cube doesn’t completely alter the equation for WE, as he’s coming off of his worst split to date where he was largely stuck on tank duty, but he does turns the top lane for WE from being a ceiling capper into a floor raiser for the team. Worst case is that he continues his middling tank form and he serves as a rich man’s Biubiu who can actually lane competently. The best-case scenario is that the change of scenery (where he was on RA for 4 years) works to revitalize him towards more of the damage top lane champs he played in his earlier years. Either way, the best part of this addition is really the subtraction of Biubiu, which adds much needed flexibility to a team that desperately needs it. Meanwhile, Demon also augments the team’s flexibility by adding his skills of doing promotional videos when Chinese New Year rolls around. So yeah, you can say this is a much-improved top lane situation.
Otherwise, the team remains the same as their gatekeeper-selves. Iwandy quietly had a very solid season as WE’s most consistent player and a foundation as a support. Hope had a mid-season swoon that showed his deficiencies particular as a laner and on less focused champions, but was able to showcase his carrying skills as the season concluded. Both are what they are: usually net positives for a team, but not really able to take you to a top 6 seed independently. That is going to have to come from their teammates, speaking of which…
Heng was up and down as a rookie jungler, but for the most part demonstrated a willingness to be proactive and facilitate his lanes via early ganks, even if it didn’t always work out as planned. And of course, Shanks who had his best regular season to date, relying on consistently strong lane performances. While capitalizing on those leads remains a hit or miss affair and a particular bad playoff series against TES are marks against him, I still have those high expectations for him and continue to see this as a prove it year. Outside of Cube unlocking something additional, which shouldn’t be counted on, this jungle-mid pair are the key for WE to climb higher than the lower playoff spots. Both are usually strong early, but they’ll need to clean up their mid/late game play for the team to be a contender against higher caliber teams.
10) IG
Top – YSKM/neny
Jungle – Tianzhen
Mid – Cryin/Dove
ADC – Xiaoyueji/Ahn
Support – Wink
Putting IG too low was a big miss for me in Spring and despite narrowly missing out on playoffs and making some pretty major roster changes, they do make sense as a team as a whole to the point where I can see them in playoff contention.
YSKM was the breakout player for them, as his mechanical prowess was legit right out of the gate though I do think he’s a tad overrated as his DPM isn’t as high as you would expect for a player that almost exclusively plays damage top laners. You have to assume he starts over neny who is just perpetually going to be on this roster as a break in case of emergency/illness weakside player.
Their other returning player is Wink, who has proven to be a successfully above average support and revitalized his career in the process after floundering at ADC for IG. Wink is reunited with his former mid laner Cryin, as both were teammates on a Estar team that vastly exceeded expectations on their debut year. While being the low econ mid laner in a Xiaohu-GALA centric RNG didn’t flatter his talents, Cryin had a pretty good year all things as UP’s best player last season, and he’ll get another shot this year. The expectation is he starts over Dove who is still on the roster? He wasn’t awful but was certainly less exciting than his jungle counterpart and I assumed he would be leaving along with GIDEON and the Korean coaching staff.
This is Xiaoyueji’s second shot at the big leagues given he was tried and passed by Ahn last season, but he’s coming off of an LDL Season MVP where he was clearly above the lower level. We’ll need to see if he can step up with the tougher competition ala Photic, or if he’s just a quadruple-A player (too good for LDL, not good enough for LPL) like Asura. It might not even matter though as it’s worth noting that Ahn remains on the roster, even after the promotion of XYJ and a tryout from LNG (who clearly have contending in mind). He’s coming off of a quietly strong split and likely has the inside track in the battle for the starting role as in a repeat of LPL Spring 2022, these 2 will duke it out for the spot again.
Despite not being the LDL MVP, Tianzhen might be the more exciting prospect actually and notably doesn’t have any veteran to compete with. At only 18 years old, he’s going to be one of the LPL’s youngest players and has an eclectic champ pool that is highlighted by his signature Rengar. It will be interesting to see if these LDL standouts can continue the momentum in the LPL. The promotion isn’t easy, but both of them are in position to excel.
11) RNG
Top – Breathe
Jungle – Wei
Mid – Tangyuan
ADC – LP
Support – LvMao/Lele
It’s crazy to think this time last year, RNG were celebrating their 2nd consecutive MSI championship. Obviously, this team has more or less completely shattered from the Golden Road-seeking team that once ruled Spring and faltered at Worlds on a regular basis. I mean it’s been years of speculation that RNG was actually in a NA-esque perpetual financial meltdown that was held together by unfair streaming contracts and bobby pins, but with the departure of GALA and in particular, Ming, who has more or less been on RNG since the start of the era, finally puts RNG on the backfoot. Still, even with the exodus of more or less everyone on those famous teams, there’s a window at the playoffs.
Wei is the final piece of the MSI 2022 team, which is wild to think about because as I mentioned, it's been just 1 year. Now the longest tenured player on the roster, it’s a weird situation as there’s no longer an obvious lane to play into. While he wasn’t always bad, he had many questionable moments and his weakest split to date, and now without GALA in the bot lane there’s no clear place to focus for this team. He’s demonstrated he can be effective without the likes of Xiaohu, GALA and Ming back when he was on EStar in his debut season in 2020, but it’s been a long time since then, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
Similarly, Breathe is also coming off of a split where he failed to meet expectations. It feels like ever since he left WE, he just hasn’t really found his footing as the good flex top laner, first on that weird 2022 BLG failed “superteam” and then on RNG where he never fit in to the Xiaohu-GALA puzzle. This last split he was basically relegated to weakside tanks and was subsequently pretty inconsequential as either a positive or negative factor. The few forays he took towards more carry champions were bad last split and it’s not a great sign for a player once considered so promising. I guess it’s the WE fan in me talking that he still has that upside to be among the best in the league. Maybe I’m lending him too much leeway given he was maybe WE’s best strongside top ever (which for the record is more about WE perpetually playing bot-centric). With out any of those other major carries on RNG, I’m interested to see if Breathe is placed back in that role.
The rest of the team is a smattering of cobbled pieces who aren’t without upside, but don’t exactly scream playoffs. GALA was exchanged for a large bag of cash and LP, who was the only consistent starter of the new cohort. he was heavily cared for as the rookie bot laner on LNG’s otherwise star-studded group, he was able to deliver in that capacity. Notably, he narrowly had the 2nd highest DPM in the split, though admittedly there was a large gap between 1st place damage monster Elk and a much smaller one to the following ADCs of JackeyLove, Assum and Leave. However, he certainly wasn’t perfect as he managed the lowest CS per minute among ADCs in the league, and he didn’t wow the way rookie of the split Leave did. Still, it was a relatively promising start, though the downgrade from Hang to one of RNG’s supports looms large as needless to say, the “cash considerations” RNG received with LP are most likely not being used for his lane partner.
With Angel departing after a pretty rough split, where the highlight was creating a meme after defeating his former team Weibo Gaming, RNG were rumored for a number of domestic mid laners but ultimately just stuck with the player they seemed intent on before they picked up Angel at the last second. Tangyuan is an LDL promote who has been flatout bad in the few stage performances he got in with the main roster, struggling both in the pre-season Demacia Cup and then to open the proper LPL season while Angel got up to speed. He’s at least known to have good Korean solo queue ranks, but you have to imagine there’s going to be a lot of handwringing over his inevitable growing pains as he starts for one of the country’s most popular domestic teams. There’s not zero upside here, for example Xiaoxu came from the same LDL team and vastly overperformed expectations, but I’d lean towards a year of hard knocks for the youngster.
Ming’s departure is the biggest loss for RNG as they now go from one of the rare franchise defining supports to… not that. LvMao spent the split unsigned for the most part before latching onto BLG as ON’s backup to end the season. Reportedly he served a coaching-esque role for the team as they went on their impressive MSI run but LvMao’s play has left a lot to be desired. Now with over 3 years removed from his standout performances in Spring 2020 and no Bard patch coming in sight, it’s tough to see what LvMao brings to the table as a player outside of an experienced hand. The other option they brought in was Lele, the young rookie support FPX promptly benched for Qiuqiu, which is never a great sign, and you know my stance on LDL supports: they bad. Funnily enough Lele was originally a pretty hyped RNG prospect the team once spent 300K yuan signing out of the yearly rookie camp. Needless to say, he’s been an okay LDL support but hasn’t lived up to that price tag at all, though now it seems they could at least get some games out of their failed investment.
submitted by LithiumNard to leagueoflegends [link] [comments]
Just one person’s opinion. WE diehard so I’ve seen more or less all of their games, but I’ll catch other games here and there. Did a lot of Oracle’s Elixir and Leaguepedia digging as well and followed/consulted @DJJohnnymeister on twitter (must follow IMHO if you care at all about the up and comers of the LDL) for thoughts on lower-level prospects. Will probably make me look stupid when it’s all said and done, but that’s part of the fun right?
Top Contenders
1) JDG
Top – 369
Jungle – Kanavi
Mid – Knight/lzq
ADC – Ruler
Support – Missing
Was the best team on paper last split and lived up to the hype. Coming off of a dominant MSI championship run, they are the slam dunk pick to top not just the LPL power rankings, but the World power rankings.
369 is perhaps the best he’s ever been, easily 1st team All Pro. Kanavi has re-established himself as the best jungler in the world at MSI. Knight’s mechanical talent finally shone through on the international stage. Lzq is an 18-year-old who somehow skipped the LDL altogether and isn’t really relevant to the narrative, but he's on the official roster so I have to mention him. Ruler inserted his name in the GOAT conversation and proved his mettle out of the Samsung/GenG sphere, doing his thing of blending solid damage output with consistent safety. When Missing is the worst player on the team by default and yet still the Spring 2nd All Pro Team support you’re in golden shape.
They get a sentence each because I shouldn’t need to tell you about this team. They’re really just complete without any exploitable holes. Adding Knight and Ruler to China’s best squad in 2022 feels similar to the off-season where the Golden State Warriors added Kevin Durant, with the added bonus that Boogie Cousins is still in his prime. I suppose that makes Yagao into Pro LOL’s Harrison Barnes (I actually like this comparison, down to Yagao receiving blame for the blowing it when it mattered most) and GenG into Pro LOL’s Sacramento Kings (pretty bad, but if we equate the playoffs to making world finals?… ehh still really bad). We’ll see who (if anyone) can rise up to challenge them, but at this point they have to be considered the odds-on favorite.
2) LNG
Top – Zika
Jungle – Tarzan
Mid – Scout
ADC – GALA
Support – Hang
This team had one hole in the roster going into the summer and filled it. LP didn’t have a bad rookie split and showed mettle but he was clearly the odd man out on a team built to compete today. After looking at IG’s ADC Ahn, they chose to spare no expense and traded LP and a boat load of cash for RNG’s GALA who more than fills that hole. GALA will be paired in the bottom lane with Hang, who was a key partner for LP’s surprisingly competent debut, earning an All-LPL 3rd team shoutout in the process.
Scout meanwhile had a downright incredible split that fell by the wayside due to LNG’s immediate playoff exit at the hands of OMG, but it appears that even away from the EDG machine, he’s still one of the LPL’s premier stars at a very competitive position. I mean he put up a mind numbing 17 MVPs individually. To put it in perspective, ThunderTalk Gaming, who were the 8 seed in the LPL Spring Standings, had 18 wins in total. With teams like EDG and JDG sharing the MVP load among their members, Scout downright ran away with it.
Zika didn’t have a super flashy split, but was low key very strong. The team devoted a lot to making sure LP wasn’t exploited and you would think Zika, who was heavily strong-side suited as a rookie on IG last year, would flounder because of it. However, he quietly flourished in the role, even though he only picked up a single MVP performance all season. Putting up strong CS numbers and showing some good weakside ability on top of his typical array of more damage centric tops. Honestly, he might be the most underrated player in the league since he’s overshadowed by his much more resource heavy teammates, but that weakside ability might be even more key with GALA joining the team and needing the resources as well.
Tarzan meanwhile continued as a standout in the regular season, best jungler KDA, strong kill participation basically the rest of the regular season MVP performances, but was perhaps the primary factor in their playoff disappointment. Similar to JDG’s situation with Missing though, when Tarzan (specifically in the playoffs) is the team’s biggest concern, you know you have a roster ready to compete.
3) EDG
Top – Ale
Jungle – Jiejie/Monki
Mid – Fofo/Fisher
ADC – Leave
Support – Meiko
Despite losing their key Korean carries, EDG barely missed a beat last split, finishing 3rd in the Spring Split. It’s a pretty good result all things considered, but it does feel like they have holes in their game. Still, I think that between their core veterans still at the peak of their game and the overall consistency, they are in very good shape for the Worlds slots, even if they feel a step behind the likes of JDG right now.
Even without Scout and Viper, they still have a great veteran core that starts with Meiko, who with Ming’s absence/retirement(?) stands alone as only active LPL’s all-time top 10 support. As part of the EDG core for over 9 years now, and the team’s primary shot caller for a huge part of that span, his presence alone means that EDG will have one of the best macro games in the league. Combo that with Jiejie, who has served in the EDG system for a huge period of time and grown into a top level jungler in his midst of his prime and you immediately have a team that has championship aspirations even before the other 3 members are considered, as both players were 1st Team All Pro for the Spring Split.
The 3 other members were where a lot of the concern lied going into the season, but they exceeded expectations as EDG was the number 2 seed going into playoffs. While the least talked about of the three, it was a great bounce back split for FoFo who was one of the most disappointing players on 2022’s most disappointing team BLG, eventually losing his starting job to mid-season acquisition Icon. On EDG though, he looked revitalized and fairly close to his form on RA 2021, though admittedly he was flanked by better players with EDG. It was a commendable, low drama, stable split for a player who needed it bad.
Similar to FoFo, Ale was coming off of a rough 2021 as well where a talented by troubled LNG team didn’t completely flop by the results, but completely missed the high expectations set. This included a benching for PandaC halfway through the split that really hurt the team in key series down the stretch amid talk about attitude issues. He’s always been a talented pair of hands though and EDG did well to keep him focused and on his game, as he stepped up big time, particularly when given non-tank champions while piloting tanks well enough, earning 2nd team All Pro honors. Obviously, Ale isn’t always the most stable player, but so long as EDG has him on the straight and narrow, he’s going to be a net positive for the team.
Finally, we come to the rookie of the split Leave, who came in with some serious LDL hype and lived up to it for the most part, working well as EDG’s damage carry and showing a flashy mechanics style. Being flanked with the likes of Meiko helps of course, but EDG handed the reigns to Leave and he seemed up to the task. Unfortunately, going up against the likes of Ruler and Elk in the playoffs did prove to be that freshman wall for Leave, but as MSI showed they’ve been folding everyone, so it’s not too shameful. Still as the least experienced player in this top 4 group, it’s going to be a lot of pressure on the youngster. It’s crazy that this super mechanically skilled star of his rookie class could be the weakness of the team, but that’s just the level of the competition among the top teams of this league.
I do want to give brief mention to EDG’s substitute players, who are both very talented youngsters. Monki is a 19-year-old LDL promote jungler who was strong at the lower level and warranted a promotion. Fisher meanwhile had been a standout Korean trainee from Shadow Corp (the same team they picked up About, the new Korean bot lane trainee Ale was talking about) and directly went onto the EDG main roster at 18 years old. Neither will likely see play given this team’s veteran tilt and the championship ambitions, but they’re worth keeping an eye out for down the road whether they’re future EDG starters or purchases for other LPL teams.
4) BLG
Top – Bin
Jungle – XUN
Mid – Yagao
ADC – Elk/Baiye
Support – ON
Given BLG’s penchant for big expenses for early playoff exits, it would be easy to write off their latest roster as yet another flailing attempt to microwave a team into stardom, turning over basically the entire 2022 roster they reportedly spent top dollar for. And yet, it felt different this time around. While the players they picked up weren’t exactly household names, they were talented mechanical players on the rise. They looked genuinely strong in the pre-season tournaments, which admittedly doesn’t count a whole ton, but was interesting to note. And when it was all said and done, it resulted in the best split BLG has ever put up. And while they couldn’t outgun the JDG machine in any of the many shots, it was a great season. While I have them below LNG for their sheer top to bottom power and EDG out of respect for their veteran track record, I’m still very impressed by this BLG squad.
Bin, as somehow the longest tenured BLG member of 2 splits, was the face of the team’s turnaround, and a far cry better from the rocky 2022 he endured swapping between 2 dysfunctional teams. 2023 was where he re-established himself as the premier mechanical top in the league. Always known for his excellent hands since his debut on Suning in 2020, he was able to back up those skills this split, while furthering his profile in the west with his fun trashtalk and gigachad persona. Furthermore, when the chips were down at MSI, he even showed a willingness to pick up tanks, which has always been the clear hole in his game.
As for the free agent additions, the one who most established himself was Elk. If I can put on my hipster hat on, I was an Elk fan before it was cool, given he’s always shown an ability to put up eyepopping damage numbers since his debut which continued this season as he topped the tables far and away leading the league with the number 1 DPM and damage share. However, it was the finer points of the game where Elk struggled on back in the day. Off positioning, hit or miss laning, occasional overextensions trying to maximize damage were all issues for Elk on WE. On this BLG squad though, that has largely ironed itself out, with only occasional blowup performances every so often. An unknown on the World stage going into MSI, everyone now knows the name of this fearsome player. They also added a name that nobody knows, that being Baiye an LDL ADC to the main roster as well. Having just debuted on BLG.J last split and playing all of 7 games in the LDL, it’s tough to take this promotion seriously at all, let alone as a threat to Elk’s seat.
A major part of supporting Elk’s rise was the acquisition of the best young support in the LPL, ON. One of the big pain points of LPL teams is that LDL promotions are just so difficult, and none so more than support, where the talent pool is shallow and the transition is just an absolute killer. So many of the highest profile LDL supports have floundered on promotion, and ON was no exception on Suning back in 2021. That being said, he’s improved an incredible amount since that first rocky season, and the mechanical ability he has as a support and his young age (only 20 years old despite debuting in 2021) makes him perhaps the most valuable long-term asset on the BLG roster. As EDG has shown with Meiko and his cavalcade of ADC pairings, great ADCs can be acquired in the LPL but great supports when kept are backbones to long term success.
XUN was an acquisition much like Elk and ON, a young mechanical standout who BLG scooped up with projection in mind. He arrived into IG in 2021 as a highly touted rookie, and was mentioned alongside the likes of Bo and Xiaohuangren, the 2 super prospects junglers as the next generation. He joined right at the tail end of the Rookie-TheShy era of the team and while he had early struggles then, by the time the next season rolled around, he was IG’s standout player. Even after arriving at BLG, he’s still a very volatile player, and hasn’t solidified his play the way Elk and ON have, but at his best, he’s capable of getting bot rolling, which is exactly what BLG is want to do.
Finally, the Harrison Barnes of the LPL, Yagao, who was the typical blame target for BLG in their losses. It’s true, he’s older and certainly doesn’t match up great against the top of the table mids that he’ll need to beat, but the bottom line is that for the most part he’s fine enough. Just like Barnes, he’s certainly not the team centerpiece, and he occasionally has baffling performances, but he’s usually stable enough to not get in the way. Honestly, he’s probably the weakest individual player among these top 4 teams and the predominant reason (along with coinflippy XUN) that I have the MSI runners up 4th on this list, but to be clear I’m not huge Yagao hater, it’s just that these top teams are so stacked that every potential available weakness makes a difference. I mean, you don’t see Harrison Barnes on the All-NBA teams or anything.
Playoff Expectations
5) OMG
Top – Shanji
Jungle – Aki
Mid – Creme
ADC – Able
Support – PPGod/Jerry
OMG returns with the roster that brought them to their highest playoff finish since Spring 2017 (!!!), finishing a highly impressive 4th in the split. On paper, I still think their roster is lacking in marquee raw talent, but it’s clear at this point that they’re more coordinated than some of their flashier opposition and that they’ve cultivated 2 young stars that have now shown some serious killer instinct.
Without any doubt, this is a team that is defined by the play of their solo lane talents. Starting from the top Shanji had a standout split primarily as one of the most effective K’Sante/Sion tank players the large majority of the time, but occasionally busts out Kennen and his signature Rumble, and been incredibly impactful when he gets them. Furthermore, this synergizes perfectly with OMG’s other star laner Creme, who is afforded the ability to fit AD assassins like Yone. Assassins have continued to be Creme’s calling card and while his control mage play is lackluster, OMG has tailored their gameplans around his champion pool and have reaped the benefits of the young mid laner.
On top of these two really clicking simultaneously, a big hat tip must be given to their teammates as well. PPGod in particular proved to be the right ingredient to bring OMG playoff glory as he continues his ability to accent teams into playoff threats even if he hasn’t been quite been able to reach the Finals at any of his stops. I’ll give him some additional props once we reach the NIP write up. Given PPGod’s late arrival to the team last spring, LDL promotion Jerry sat on the bench for the season, and looks to do so again. Able meanwhile has a pretty non-descript year, taking a back seat to his solo lane teammates but showing some stability that he’s usually lacked. Certainly not a masterful split, but credit where it’s due, he reigned it in and was steady for OMG’s best squad in ages.
Finally, Aki deserves a big hand for his role in OMG’s success as well. A solid vet who isn’t considered a mechanical master by any means, he was steady at the wheel throughout the season, and was even able to out jungle Tarzan of all people in their shock upset win over LNG. Despite taking the most MVPs for OMG in the regular season, it was rarely for single handed domination and I’d point that more as a credit for his facilitation of the team’s coordination in general where they were able to get over the competition where it counted.
I don’t think this team has the ceiling of the others in this tier, but they have a known formula that works. While the others in this group have more talent on an individual level, it’s clear that they have serious questions to sort out that OMG really doesn’t, so I’m considering OMG the safe team in this particular group, but without the upside to challenge the tier above.
6) WBG
Top – TheShy
Jungle – Karsa/Weiwei
Mid – Xiaohu
ADC – Light
Support – Crisp
This team and the one after it were the teams with close to the highest expectations in the League and yet fell flat in spite of talented rosters. Both have largely decided to run it back, with new coaching staffs in an attempt to fix the tactical side where they came short. WBG went big game hunting for their next coach after sacking Easyhoon and was attempting to court Kkoma before he opted to focus on Korea’s efforts at the World Games. They settled for an Kkoma adjacent coach in Daeny, formerly part of the Damwon and T1 programs. A controversial coach in his own right, he’s drew criticism for his pick/bans and his questionable roster decisions, but he still has that Worlds title under his belt, so WBG is out here shooting for the moon. Born to wintrade or whatever.
TheShy is as always, a pretty good representation of the team. Perpetually on top of the damage charts due to his confidence in his mechanics and his propensity to fight constantly, it leads to the coinflippy hit or miss results you so often see from TheShy and his teams in general. He’s certainly not at his peak form where he dominated on the Worlds stage, but he’s not at his worst either near the end of his IG tenure when that whole team looked out of gas, TheShy is an LPL icon, even if that icon is occasionally the death notification on the side of the UI.
Purchasing Xiaohu out of his RNG contract was one of the big stories for this team going into the off season and a large reason for optimism for their future results. In actually he was rather middling by all accounts. Not a total disaster of course, it felt like he was fine for the most part, but not the immediate plug and play mechanical players that Scout, Knight or Rookie serve as. Maybe a second season to mesh is what they need to comeback.
Light for my money was the most dependable member of the team in the regular season, being just a generally stable force in the otherwise chaotic team structure. I wouldn’t call him the best at any individual thing: Ruler is a much safer ADC and Elk is a better pure damage pump, but light is good enough at both of those things to be a consistent plus for WBG, which can’t be said for the rest of the team. Supported by the veteran Crisp, you have to expect them to anchor the team in general, though Crisp was particularly bad in the playoff series against BLG, where his hooks on both Thresh and Naut were off point. It’s just one series of course, but the play needs to be better than that in crunch time next time.
Finally, the jungle situation for Weibo. Karsa continues to be the perpetual punching bag when the team struggles. It’s been a major decline since his Flash Wolves and early RNG days and frankly it might be time to just bucket him as not able to get it done at the highest level at this point. He can still work enough in the regular season to make the playoffs, but the form is just not where it needs to be at this point. In a fascinating move, scooped up Weiwei, who went from BLG’s star jungler to league washout over the course of a single year. The biggest victim of BLG’s 2022 catastrophe, the last look of Weiwei we got was not a flattering one as the team fell flat on it’s face amid roster instability and play not matching up to the expected standard. Still, we’ve seen a number of comebacks for players leaving the BLG ecosystem, such as PPGod and FoFo returning to form after splitting wit the team. Of course it’s not always a winning formula as Doggo and Biubiu (shudder) can attest to, but there’s enough of a strong track record from Weiwei during 2020 V5 and 2021 BLG to say that trying to get that level out of him is worth the attempt.
7) TES
Top – Wayward/Qingtian
Jungle – Tian
Mid – Rookie
ADC – Jackeylove
Support – Mark
Reuniting 2/5ths of the legendary IG core was supposed to lead TES to their Worlds destiny. Yet going into the Summer split they are another team running it back with the exact same roster, though unlike teams like JDG, BLG or OMG, the Spring split was an unmitigated failure for TES. There was not glory, but a collapse down the stretch of the season and shameful defeat at the hands of OMG, a team that is probably running a budget less than Jackeylove’s individual paycheck (note: The previous statement was hyperbole. I do not actually know how much OMG pays their players.) With some of the flashiest names in the LPL, finishing without at least challenging JDG would have been a disappointment, let alone the 7th/8th that they actually managed.
The big obvious question for this team is what exactly they do with the top lane because the decision making around it was seemed heavily stilted. They chose to run Qingtian basically the entire regular season, and then yanked the rug on him with a single series to go? Sure, he was largely a hit or miss top laner who was missing against the better teams (and LGD’s because rookie Xiaoxu was feeling it) but pulling the plug on him and swapping to Wayward literally at the last second heavily sabotaged both of them. Congratulations, Wayward crushed Biubiu in round 1 of playoffs, like basically everyone else who played top lane in the LPL. Up against Shanji (a player TES bypassed as a rookie to pick up Qingtian), Wayward was not up to it, and it was a big part of what ended their season. Even though both top laners are limited, I find it hard to place the blame on them directly given this awkward setup and how they approach top lane in the Summer with both players still on the roster remains to be seen.
The bot lane continues to be the same story as always. Jackeylove is still super high ceiling but there are still sometimes these baffling efforts where he’s playing off of his game, which has been a repeating trend for a while now. Mark did well to stabilize him at the beginning of their shared tenure but it’s been rough going as of late for this bot lane in general.
Moving to the big free agent swap they made, adding the legendary Rookie to the team, and it wasn’t all bad. It’s not like he was an abject disaster, he had his share of good games, such as dominating against Shanks in the first round of the playoffs, it’s just that there were too many series where he didn’t lift the team when things weren’t clicking elsewhere… like the 2nd round against OMG. It felt like too often he wasn’t meshing with Tian who was also off his normally solid domestic game. People joke that it was his Worlds performance showing up and frankly, I’d have to agree.
I don’t know with this team. The on-paper talent is on there as usual but there’s something missing… Normally with teams, the question is: how can this team coordinate together and be more than the sum of their parts, which OMG showcased best? I don’t get that vibe from TES, where the question I’m asking is: do they feel like playing up to their talent, or are they going to let go of the rope and lose in shocking fashion? Just weird vibes. I’d say maybe the coaching swap could help, but bringing in the guy who was overseeing BLG during their moneybag disappointment era doesn’t fill me with confidence. I still think they still should be fine for the playoffs off of their sheer talent running over enough teams when they do hold it together, but I just don’t see them as a viable challenger for the LPL crown unless something flips in them, particularly given how good the top 4 seem.
Playoff Bubble
8) TT
Top- HOYA
Jungle – Beichuan/xiaohuangren
Mid – Ucal
ADC – Huanfeng/1xn
Support – yuyanjia/Yaoyao
A pleasant surprise last split, making their first LPL playoffs since they were known as Sinodragon, TT has shed their bottom feeder status and actually have some breakout potential. They’ve formed a decent core to build off of and collected some of the most exciting young talents in the league. How they split their starts between the young guns and the vets they played last split is quietly one of the most interesting storylines in the league as those talented swing pieces could push them up into contendership or down out of the playoffs depending on how they handle the LPL stage.
We’ll start with the boring part of the team in their now solidified Korean solo lane pairing, HOYA and Ucal. After spinning solo laners basically their entire existence, the duo has been locked in for basically 4 splits now. Neither blow anyone’s socks off (though I maintain Ucal in particular is pretty underrated), but you know you’re gonna get a playoff worthy performance but not much more. Together they provide the solid foundation for the rest of the roster, where it really gets interesting.
Starting with jungle, Beichuan had effective but flawed split. He output damage well and did much to incite action, but he also died a whole ton, with the highest death share of any jungler in the league last split. This volatility has been his modus operandi this TT squad as he manages to lead TT in MVPs and I’m sure would have also led the team had an “Most Un-valuable Player” award been given to the biggest inter on the losing team, so he’s pretty core to the TT identity as they’re constructed. However, the clearly more intriguing option has to be Xiaohuangren, who is likely the youngest player in the league right now, and the most hyped LDL jungler since Bo. Debuting in LDL at just 16, XHR was immediately one of the best mechanical junglers in the lower level, and even when the age limit was placed, he took to dominating the Korean ladder with multiple accounts in his excess time. Promoted in the middle of the Spring split days after he turned 18, he hasn’t seen a stage since that age limit was placed, but eyes will be watching to see if TT put the hyper-talent on the rift.
Their other young hyper-talent TT acquired is at the ADC position where they are bringing JDG’s LDL bot laner 1xn. Highly touted by LDL experts, 1xn doesn’t have a mechanical flaw to speak of, putting out insane damage and CS numbers on the regular. The one thing to note was that the JDM team surrounding him didn’t have the skills to back him up, so he never really got the accolades his performance deserved. How he splits time with Huanfeng, who was pretty ineffective last season, and just clearly is no longer the do-everything ADC we saw at 2020 Worlds with Suning is the other big question. It’s weird to see him morph into a rather conservative low-risk low-reward player, and honestly, if they gave out a “Least Valuable Player” award to the winning team, he’d probably be the among League’s leaders in that sketchy credential.
Finally, the support situation is less exciting but lowkey just as important as the other 2 positions as they’ve opted to add Yuyanjia to the roster to which I’m fairly confused. A lackluster veteran (25 years old?) who has never really helped a roster even at his “peak”, I’m not sure what he brings to the table for TT. It’s even more confusing since incumbent support Yaoyao has been the rare promoted LDL support who has actually looked good in his initial LPL stint, which is some sort of minor miracle given the typical LDL support struggles. Trying to fit XinLiu in last split probably cost them some series, so I’m not sure why they seem so interested in these mediocre at best support players when they have a solid one in hand.
9) WE
Top – Cube/Demon
Jungle – Heng
Mid – Shanks
ADC – Hope
Support – Iwandy
I see WE as the LPL’s gatekeeper team. Last split they were great against the lower ranked teams (exception AL), and awful against the higher ranked teams (exception BLG) and managed to sneak playoffs thanks to the likes of IG being just a bit more volatile. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about them as the season goes on, so I’ll keep things brief here.
They managed to do this with an essential deadweight in the top lane. Cube doesn’t completely alter the equation for WE, as he’s coming off of his worst split to date where he was largely stuck on tank duty, but he does turns the top lane for WE from being a ceiling capper into a floor raiser for the team. Worst case is that he continues his middling tank form and he serves as a rich man’s Biubiu who can actually lane competently. The best-case scenario is that the change of scenery (where he was on RA for 4 years) works to revitalize him towards more of the damage top lane champs he played in his earlier years. Either way, the best part of this addition is really the subtraction of Biubiu, which adds much needed flexibility to a team that desperately needs it. Meanwhile, Demon also augments the team’s flexibility by adding his skills of doing promotional videos when Chinese New Year rolls around. So yeah, you can say this is a much-improved top lane situation.
Otherwise, the team remains the same as their gatekeeper-selves. Iwandy quietly had a very solid season as WE’s most consistent player and a foundation as a support. Hope had a mid-season swoon that showed his deficiencies particular as a laner and on less focused champions, but was able to showcase his carrying skills as the season concluded. Both are what they are: usually net positives for a team, but not really able to take you to a top 6 seed independently. That is going to have to come from their teammates, speaking of which…
Heng was up and down as a rookie jungler, but for the most part demonstrated a willingness to be proactive and facilitate his lanes via early ganks, even if it didn’t always work out as planned. And of course, Shanks who had his best regular season to date, relying on consistently strong lane performances. While capitalizing on those leads remains a hit or miss affair and a particular bad playoff series against TES are marks against him, I still have those high expectations for him and continue to see this as a prove it year. Outside of Cube unlocking something additional, which shouldn’t be counted on, this jungle-mid pair are the key for WE to climb higher than the lower playoff spots. Both are usually strong early, but they’ll need to clean up their mid/late game play for the team to be a contender against higher caliber teams.
10) IG
Top – YSKM/neny
Jungle – Tianzhen
Mid – Cryin/Dove
ADC – Xiaoyueji/Ahn
Support – Wink
Putting IG too low was a big miss for me in Spring and despite narrowly missing out on playoffs and making some pretty major roster changes, they do make sense as a team as a whole to the point where I can see them in playoff contention.
YSKM was the breakout player for them, as his mechanical prowess was legit right out of the gate though I do think he’s a tad overrated as his DPM isn’t as high as you would expect for a player that almost exclusively plays damage top laners. You have to assume he starts over neny who is just perpetually going to be on this roster as a break in case of emergency/illness weakside player.
Their other returning player is Wink, who has proven to be a successfully above average support and revitalized his career in the process after floundering at ADC for IG. Wink is reunited with his former mid laner Cryin, as both were teammates on a Estar team that vastly exceeded expectations on their debut year. While being the low econ mid laner in a Xiaohu-GALA centric RNG didn’t flatter his talents, Cryin had a pretty good year all things as UP’s best player last season, and he’ll get another shot this year. The expectation is he starts over Dove who is still on the roster? He wasn’t awful but was certainly less exciting than his jungle counterpart and I assumed he would be leaving along with GIDEON and the Korean coaching staff.
This is Xiaoyueji’s second shot at the big leagues given he was tried and passed by Ahn last season, but he’s coming off of an LDL Season MVP where he was clearly above the lower level. We’ll need to see if he can step up with the tougher competition ala Photic, or if he’s just a quadruple-A player (too good for LDL, not good enough for LPL) like Asura. It might not even matter though as it’s worth noting that Ahn remains on the roster, even after the promotion of XYJ and a tryout from LNG (who clearly have contending in mind). He’s coming off of a quietly strong split and likely has the inside track in the battle for the starting role as in a repeat of LPL Spring 2022, these 2 will duke it out for the spot again.
Despite not being the LDL MVP, Tianzhen might be the more exciting prospect actually and notably doesn’t have any veteran to compete with. At only 18 years old, he’s going to be one of the LPL’s youngest players and has an eclectic champ pool that is highlighted by his signature Rengar. It will be interesting to see if these LDL standouts can continue the momentum in the LPL. The promotion isn’t easy, but both of them are in position to excel.
11) RNG
Top – Breathe
Jungle – Wei
Mid – Tangyuan
ADC – LP
Support – LvMao/Lele
It’s crazy to think this time last year, RNG were celebrating their 2nd consecutive MSI championship. Obviously, this team has more or less completely shattered from the Golden Road-seeking team that once ruled Spring and faltered at Worlds on a regular basis. I mean it’s been years of speculation that RNG was actually in a NA-esque perpetual financial meltdown that was held together by unfair streaming contracts and bobby pins, but with the departure of GALA and in particular, Ming, who has more or less been on RNG since the start of the era, finally puts RNG on the backfoot. Still, even with the exodus of more or less everyone on those famous teams, there’s a window at the playoffs.
Wei is the final piece of the MSI 2022 team, which is wild to think about because as I mentioned, it's been just 1 year. Now the longest tenured player on the roster, it’s a weird situation as there’s no longer an obvious lane to play into. While he wasn’t always bad, he had many questionable moments and his weakest split to date, and now without GALA in the bot lane there’s no clear place to focus for this team. He’s demonstrated he can be effective without the likes of Xiaohu, GALA and Ming back when he was on EStar in his debut season in 2020, but it’s been a long time since then, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
Similarly, Breathe is also coming off of a split where he failed to meet expectations. It feels like ever since he left WE, he just hasn’t really found his footing as the good flex top laner, first on that weird 2022 BLG failed “superteam” and then on RNG where he never fit in to the Xiaohu-GALA puzzle. This last split he was basically relegated to weakside tanks and was subsequently pretty inconsequential as either a positive or negative factor. The few forays he took towards more carry champions were bad last split and it’s not a great sign for a player once considered so promising. I guess it’s the WE fan in me talking that he still has that upside to be among the best in the league. Maybe I’m lending him too much leeway given he was maybe WE’s best strongside top ever (which for the record is more about WE perpetually playing bot-centric). With out any of those other major carries on RNG, I’m interested to see if Breathe is placed back in that role.
The rest of the team is a smattering of cobbled pieces who aren’t without upside, but don’t exactly scream playoffs. GALA was exchanged for a large bag of cash and LP, who was the only consistent starter of the new cohort. he was heavily cared for as the rookie bot laner on LNG’s otherwise star-studded group, he was able to deliver in that capacity. Notably, he narrowly had the 2nd highest DPM in the split, though admittedly there was a large gap between 1st place damage monster Elk and a much smaller one to the following ADCs of JackeyLove, Assum and Leave. However, he certainly wasn’t perfect as he managed the lowest CS per minute among ADCs in the league, and he didn’t wow the way rookie of the split Leave did. Still, it was a relatively promising start, though the downgrade from Hang to one of RNG’s supports looms large as needless to say, the “cash considerations” RNG received with LP are most likely not being used for his lane partner.
With Angel departing after a pretty rough split, where the highlight was creating a meme after defeating his former team Weibo Gaming, RNG were rumored for a number of domestic mid laners but ultimately just stuck with the player they seemed intent on before they picked up Angel at the last second. Tangyuan is an LDL promote who has been flatout bad in the few stage performances he got in with the main roster, struggling both in the pre-season Demacia Cup and then to open the proper LPL season while Angel got up to speed. He’s at least known to have good Korean solo queue ranks, but you have to imagine there’s going to be a lot of handwringing over his inevitable growing pains as he starts for one of the country’s most popular domestic teams. There’s not zero upside here, for example Xiaoxu came from the same LDL team and vastly overperformed expectations, but I’d lean towards a year of hard knocks for the youngster.
Ming’s departure is the biggest loss for RNG as they now go from one of the rare franchise defining supports to… not that. LvMao spent the split unsigned for the most part before latching onto BLG as ON’s backup to end the season. Reportedly he served a coaching-esque role for the team as they went on their impressive MSI run but LvMao’s play has left a lot to be desired. Now with over 3 years removed from his standout performances in Spring 2020 and no Bard patch coming in sight, it’s tough to see what LvMao brings to the table as a player outside of an experienced hand. The other option they brought in was Lele, the young rookie support FPX promptly benched for Qiuqiu, which is never a great sign, and you know my stance on LDL supports: they bad. Funnily enough Lele was originally a pretty hyped RNG prospect the team once spent 300K yuan signing out of the yearly rookie camp. Needless to say, he’s been an okay LDL support but hasn’t lived up to that price tag at all, though now it seems they could at least get some games out of their failed investment.
2023.05.27 17:08 sky123mine [PI] The machines outclass all biological life in the galaxy, their vast network acting as a force of peace and protection. It has been centuries since the last war, but they haven’t stopped building their fleets.
Link to original prompt.
>>CLARION RETINA BURN>>V330CRF104MES492
AI-COM/THDR: ASSETS//WARSHIPS
Set Date: 5/12/3850
COUNT:
4395 ships; classify CORVETTE/SWARM
3655 ships; classify DESTROYEPICKET
1650 ships; classify CRUISECARRIER
865 ships; classify BATTLESHIP/ARTILLERY
750 ships; classify TITAN/CAPITAL
75 ships; classify JUGGERNAUT/SUPPORT
15 systems; classify SHIPYARD/DOCK
75 command groups, classify fleets 1-75
Assessment: 37845 usage of estimated 37850 capacity. Not ready.
Activate ARES
Activate CUPBEARER
10 systems (A50-A60) deemed applicable.
Mobilizing construction vessels. Allocating resources for Dyson spheres.
Relocating existing organic colonies in systems A50-A60, protocol HADES
Begin transfer.
Stand by for effect assessment report.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES493
------------------
It was the year 3860. It had been 570 years since the Last War. In that time, the Thunderhead (that was what it called itself) had only grown its fleets. Its space housed many thousands of factory worlds, tens of Dyson Spheres, enough armaments to shatter stars. At this point, the rest of the galactic community was beginning to get a little worried.
Not that the Thunderhead was going to attack, of course. If it had wanted to subjugate the galaxy, it would have done so at the end of the Last War, when all other nations were crippled and battered. They were worried that it had gone... a little mad. Whenever they asked what it was doing, it simply replied that it was preparing. For what, they had asked? No threats existed that could challenge it. It would not reply, and no amount of subterfuge could uncover its reasoning. For a while, they had agreed that it was probably right anyway.
It had access to more information than any of them, though it refused to share it. Its original programming as a 'nanny-bot' in its own words crippled it somewhat, making it view organics as lesser and needing of protection. But it hadn't been wrong before. This, though...This was excessive.
--------------------
V330CRF104MES109AI-COM/THDR: LOG//DETECTION#1450
Initial Date: 24/5/3300
Deep scan commencing. Estimated time: 3 standard solar cycles.
Target: Galaxy #5, designation Andromeda
25% mark. 5 supernovae detected. No irregularity.
50% mark. 25 supernovae detected. No irregularity.
75% mark. Irregularity. 1,250 supernovae detected.
99% mark. Anomaly detected. 12,514 supernovae detected in field of view.
Recalibrating...Anomaly detected. Verifying.
Observations verified by 40 other arrays.
Galaxy designated Andromeda destroyed. All stars (approx. 1 trillion) marked as supernovae.
Redirecting all available sensor arrays to Galaxy Andromeda...
Target partially obscured by unknown objects for 13 standard solar months.
Target fully visible as of 25/6/3301
Conclusion: Galaxy Andromeda destroyed by potentially hostile force. FTL Capabilities likely.
Analysing Trajectory...Trajectory analysed. Source blueshift indicates force will intercept Dwarf Galaxies designated Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud.
Estimated time of arrival in Milky Way: 650 solar cycles.
Activate IRIS: classify URGENT - SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
Analysis received by core mind.
...
Message received from core mind, forward to all subsystems
Message as follows:
Create new imperative, designate RAGNAROK
Under event CARHHAE WHITE
If event rank is SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
If a CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is underway [[all flexions]]
If tactical morality is built at MIDNIGHT
Activate HEIMDALL
Activate GJALLARHORN
Perform deniable authorization for substellar weapons systems: full caedometric and noetic release
Perform deniable authorization for interstellar weapons systems: release safety, target limitations off
I will meet them in battle. They must be stopped, or the galaxy devoured.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES110
--------------------
Date: 24/5/3940
The Galactic Community was assembled, almost every client species present in the chambers. Hundreds of species filled the seats. The Thunderhead itself had called an emergency meeting, something it had only done once before, when it declared the Last War over, and established itself as the de facto peacekeeper of the galaxy. Back then, there were more than a few arguments, but the Thunderhead's logic was impeccable, and most were willing to accept it after having their arguments refuted.
Now, there were no arguments, only curiosity. The tension came to a head as the Speaker called the meeting to order. The short Raxian called up the representative of the Thunderhead, a simple, humanoid bot with nothing more than formal clothing in the style of the humans it protected. It took the podium and spoke, its electronic voice projected through the speakers scattered throughout the council chambers.
"Your [sensory organs] have no doubt observed the accumulation of fleets and weaponry by the Thunderhead for the past 550 standard solar cycles. Many complaints and worries were registered upon the weaponization of the galactic core. Today, the Thunderhead will explain its reasoning." With no discernible motion from the bot, holographic display screens across multiple light spectra opened around the chambers, showing an image of the Andromeda Galaxy.
"During a routine scientific scan on this date 550 years ago, advanced sensors detected unusual numbers of supernovae in the Andromeda Galaxy. When recalibrated and verified, they displayed this image."
A slide was shown of a blaze of pure light in the rough shape of a galaxy. The displays slowly filtered out the visual noise while the Thunderhead continued. "All possible FTL sensor readings confirmed the same thing. All stars in the galaxy went supernovae in the span of 3 standard solar cycles. The event will reach the furthest reaches of your FTL sensor ranges within 24 standard hours. But that is not all."
Next, 13 slides, each marked with a date 30 days apart, progressed, showing the galaxy gradually covered, then uncovered by some object. "Sensor readings picked up a large swarm of objects in between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies, moving from one toward the other. Subspace sensor readings picked up faint echoes from the same direction, and a trajectory was analysed. The swarm of objects will intercept the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds before arriving in the Milky Way."
The slide switched to a simple diagram, showing the Andromeda, Milky Way, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. A dotted line curved from Andromeda toward the Milky Way, hitting the two dwarf galaxies before landing directly on the Milky Way. Ventilation systems hummed as fear-induced gas emissions were detected from a number of species, containing them within the separate seatings.
"The Thunderhead has identified this as a potential hostile force, classifying it as a SKYSHOCK Event. For those not familiar with Thunderhead protocol, a SKYSHOCK Event is a risk classification that deems something as potentially apocalyptic." The screens shut off, and the machine leaned forward, bracing its arms on the podium in an oddly expressive way. "This is a dilemma comparable to that of a species that has not yet left its homeworld. Any force capable of intergalactic travel may have technology far beyond our reaches, and if they are hostile, the only chance we have of defending ourselves is with overwhelming force."
The envoy straightened. "To that end, the Thunderhead has allocated all spare resources to expanding military fleets and furthering its technological power. But this is not a guaranteed fight. There are approximately 10 years until the swarm arrives in the Milky Way. If it ignores the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, that time is reduced to 5 years. To defend our galaxy, the Thunderhead is invoking executive privilege, and hereby declaring a Galactic Crisis, effective immediately." The uproar this announcement caused was immense, especially given the envoy immediately took its leave, directing all questions to the Thunderhead's diplomatic access point. The access point reached a record 40% of its allocated processing power answering queries in the following week. The Galaxy was in an uproar, but the crisis had been declared, and nations answered.
--------------------
V330CRF104MES671
AI-COM/TNDR: LOG//DETECTION#1895
Initial Date: 14/6/3945
Scan Commencing. Estimated time: 1 standard month
Target: Dwarf Galaxy #2, designated Large Magellanic Cloud.
25% mark. 5 supernovae detected.
50% mark. 6 supernovae detected.
Contacting nearby observation buoys...
75% mark. 8 supernovae detected.
Buoy contacted. Coordinates established.
Scan complete on 15/7/3945. Swarm identified.
Connection to observation buoy 17,890 established. Visual feed online.
Transmitting tactical data to Core Mind.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES672
--------------------
V330CRF104MES673
Data received from Observational Node.
Threat detected. Classify Organisms as Machine/Organic Hybrid. Movement suggests collective consciousness. Detected organisms extracting stellar matter via unknown bio-mechanical process without regard for long-term survival of host star.
Event classify CARHHAE WHITE
Event Rank verified as SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT confirmed
Tactical Morality set to MIDNIGHT
ACTIVATE RAGNAROK
All fleets (81) mobilized. Ten (10) groupings created. Jump Drives Engaged. Estimated 30 days to reach destination systems.
All weapons active: full caedometric and noetic release authorized
Acquiring targeting data for interstellar weaponry
Target Lock acquired
Firing sequences (11) engaged.
They have come to the slopes of Midgard and Gaia, to feast and to destroy. They will meet the lightning of Zeus and the hammer of Thor, and they will fall.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES674
--------------------
The Mind flexed a million tired muscles as the vanguard of its swarm dropped back into realspace. It had arrived in a new galaxy. Finally, Food. Not the tasteless fuel of stars, but the succulent flavours of Life. It could see, even from this distance, the many communications, the life-cradles ripe for consumption. Its many mouths would have salivated if they were capable. But the swarm needed rest, and so the mind had directed it to the small dwarf galaxies orbiting the main one. They feasted now, chewing through stars and harvesting what lay within. What stars were not devoured were used for hatching, the barren asteroids and planetoids host to vast fields of eggs and larva, fed by rock and stone, starlight and the corpses of those in the swarm who could not go farther.
The first sign their presence was not unnoticed was a metal construct, anchored to an asteroid on the edge of one of the hatching systems. The Mind could see the constant transmission from the construct toward the wider galaxy, and a shiver of exultation ran through it. A civilization advanced enough to leave its own galaxy and place something like this in a neighbouring dwarf galaxy must have trillions of citizens to feed upon. It left a small swarm to watch the device while the Mind turned its attention elsewhere. Eventually, the device began to receive commands. The swarm saw its cameras move back and forth, and the bioforms were swept with varying wavelengths of light. The movement ceased soon afterward, and a large transmission was sent back to the Thunderhead.
Days passed as the hatchlings grew and stars were harvested. The rest of the swarm grew near, and space groaned with their weight. Soon, they emerged. Hundreds of systems were filled with trillions of bodies, all driven by one will, one impulse. Expand. Multiply. Consume. Stars imploded as their fuel was harvested, unable to sustain themselves against the crushing force of gravity.
As the mind busied itself with managing the swarm, the outpost watched, sending an endless feed back to the main galaxy. It saw the hatching worlds, the positioning of the Swarm, and sent data back to the Thunderhead. They were all in one clump, ready to enter subspace at a command. A command was received by the outpost.
The Mind gathered the vanguard swarm at the edge of the system, just outside the gravity well. The swarm was replenished, and it hungered. Space began to warp and twist around the colossal group, but was forcefully pushed back into position. Something had stopped the swarm from leaving? How?
A star blinked into existence. Then a second. A third. Fourth, fifth, sixth. Eleven stars in all, growing brighter and brighter. The vanguard barely had time to react before the full might of a star, a weaponized Dyson Sphere, slammed into them, vaporizing a full half of the swarm. In ten other systems, the gathering swarms were similarly challenged, scattering them as the Mind scrambled to react to the sudden onslaught.
Space bent and warped in the distance, and the Mind realized too late what it had challenged. Hulks of metal bristling with weaponry dropped into realspace, thousands of ships, all geared specifically to counteract the swarm's lack of shielding, and its reliance on projectile weaponry. The clouds rumbled with thunder, and all hell broke loose.
submitted by sky123mine to WritingPrompts [link] [comments]
>>CLARION RETINA BURN>>V330CRF104MES492
AI-COM/THDR: ASSETS//WARSHIPS
Set Date: 5/12/3850
COUNT:
4395 ships; classify CORVETTE/SWARM
3655 ships; classify DESTROYEPICKET
1650 ships; classify CRUISECARRIER
865 ships; classify BATTLESHIP/ARTILLERY
750 ships; classify TITAN/CAPITAL
75 ships; classify JUGGERNAUT/SUPPORT
15 systems; classify SHIPYARD/DOCK
75 command groups, classify fleets 1-75
Assessment: 37845 usage of estimated 37850 capacity. Not ready.
Activate ARES
Activate CUPBEARER
10 systems (A50-A60) deemed applicable.
Mobilizing construction vessels. Allocating resources for Dyson spheres.
Relocating existing organic colonies in systems A50-A60, protocol HADES
Begin transfer.
Stand by for effect assessment report.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES493
------------------
It was the year 3860. It had been 570 years since the Last War. In that time, the Thunderhead (that was what it called itself) had only grown its fleets. Its space housed many thousands of factory worlds, tens of Dyson Spheres, enough armaments to shatter stars. At this point, the rest of the galactic community was beginning to get a little worried.
Not that the Thunderhead was going to attack, of course. If it had wanted to subjugate the galaxy, it would have done so at the end of the Last War, when all other nations were crippled and battered. They were worried that it had gone... a little mad. Whenever they asked what it was doing, it simply replied that it was preparing. For what, they had asked? No threats existed that could challenge it. It would not reply, and no amount of subterfuge could uncover its reasoning. For a while, they had agreed that it was probably right anyway.
It had access to more information than any of them, though it refused to share it. Its original programming as a 'nanny-bot' in its own words crippled it somewhat, making it view organics as lesser and needing of protection. But it hadn't been wrong before. This, though...This was excessive.
--------------------
V330CRF104MES109AI-COM/THDR: LOG//DETECTION#1450
Initial Date: 24/5/3300
Deep scan commencing. Estimated time: 3 standard solar cycles.
Target: Galaxy #5, designation Andromeda
25% mark. 5 supernovae detected. No irregularity.
50% mark. 25 supernovae detected. No irregularity.
75% mark. Irregularity. 1,250 supernovae detected.
99% mark. Anomaly detected. 12,514 supernovae detected in field of view.
Recalibrating...Anomaly detected. Verifying.
Observations verified by 40 other arrays.
Galaxy designated Andromeda destroyed. All stars (approx. 1 trillion) marked as supernovae.
Redirecting all available sensor arrays to Galaxy Andromeda...
Target partially obscured by unknown objects for 13 standard solar months.
Target fully visible as of 25/6/3301
Conclusion: Galaxy Andromeda destroyed by potentially hostile force. FTL Capabilities likely.
Analysing Trajectory...Trajectory analysed. Source blueshift indicates force will intercept Dwarf Galaxies designated Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud.
Estimated time of arrival in Milky Way: 650 solar cycles.
Activate IRIS: classify URGENT - SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
Analysis received by core mind.
...
Message received from core mind, forward to all subsystems
Message as follows:
Create new imperative, designate RAGNAROK
Under event CARHHAE WHITE
If event rank is SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
If a CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is underway [[all flexions]]
If tactical morality is built at MIDNIGHT
Activate HEIMDALL
Activate GJALLARHORN
Perform deniable authorization for substellar weapons systems: full caedometric and noetic release
Perform deniable authorization for interstellar weapons systems: release safety, target limitations off
I will meet them in battle. They must be stopped, or the galaxy devoured.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES110
--------------------
Date: 24/5/3940
The Galactic Community was assembled, almost every client species present in the chambers. Hundreds of species filled the seats. The Thunderhead itself had called an emergency meeting, something it had only done once before, when it declared the Last War over, and established itself as the de facto peacekeeper of the galaxy. Back then, there were more than a few arguments, but the Thunderhead's logic was impeccable, and most were willing to accept it after having their arguments refuted.
Now, there were no arguments, only curiosity. The tension came to a head as the Speaker called the meeting to order. The short Raxian called up the representative of the Thunderhead, a simple, humanoid bot with nothing more than formal clothing in the style of the humans it protected. It took the podium and spoke, its electronic voice projected through the speakers scattered throughout the council chambers.
"Your [sensory organs] have no doubt observed the accumulation of fleets and weaponry by the Thunderhead for the past 550 standard solar cycles. Many complaints and worries were registered upon the weaponization of the galactic core. Today, the Thunderhead will explain its reasoning." With no discernible motion from the bot, holographic display screens across multiple light spectra opened around the chambers, showing an image of the Andromeda Galaxy.
"During a routine scientific scan on this date 550 years ago, advanced sensors detected unusual numbers of supernovae in the Andromeda Galaxy. When recalibrated and verified, they displayed this image."
A slide was shown of a blaze of pure light in the rough shape of a galaxy. The displays slowly filtered out the visual noise while the Thunderhead continued. "All possible FTL sensor readings confirmed the same thing. All stars in the galaxy went supernovae in the span of 3 standard solar cycles. The event will reach the furthest reaches of your FTL sensor ranges within 24 standard hours. But that is not all."
Next, 13 slides, each marked with a date 30 days apart, progressed, showing the galaxy gradually covered, then uncovered by some object. "Sensor readings picked up a large swarm of objects in between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies, moving from one toward the other. Subspace sensor readings picked up faint echoes from the same direction, and a trajectory was analysed. The swarm of objects will intercept the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds before arriving in the Milky Way."
The slide switched to a simple diagram, showing the Andromeda, Milky Way, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. A dotted line curved from Andromeda toward the Milky Way, hitting the two dwarf galaxies before landing directly on the Milky Way. Ventilation systems hummed as fear-induced gas emissions were detected from a number of species, containing them within the separate seatings.
"The Thunderhead has identified this as a potential hostile force, classifying it as a SKYSHOCK Event. For those not familiar with Thunderhead protocol, a SKYSHOCK Event is a risk classification that deems something as potentially apocalyptic." The screens shut off, and the machine leaned forward, bracing its arms on the podium in an oddly expressive way. "This is a dilemma comparable to that of a species that has not yet left its homeworld. Any force capable of intergalactic travel may have technology far beyond our reaches, and if they are hostile, the only chance we have of defending ourselves is with overwhelming force."
The envoy straightened. "To that end, the Thunderhead has allocated all spare resources to expanding military fleets and furthering its technological power. But this is not a guaranteed fight. There are approximately 10 years until the swarm arrives in the Milky Way. If it ignores the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, that time is reduced to 5 years. To defend our galaxy, the Thunderhead is invoking executive privilege, and hereby declaring a Galactic Crisis, effective immediately." The uproar this announcement caused was immense, especially given the envoy immediately took its leave, directing all questions to the Thunderhead's diplomatic access point. The access point reached a record 40% of its allocated processing power answering queries in the following week. The Galaxy was in an uproar, but the crisis had been declared, and nations answered.
--------------------
V330CRF104MES671
AI-COM/TNDR: LOG//DETECTION#1895
Initial Date: 14/6/3945
Scan Commencing. Estimated time: 1 standard month
Target: Dwarf Galaxy #2, designated Large Magellanic Cloud.
25% mark. 5 supernovae detected.
50% mark. 6 supernovae detected.
Contacting nearby observation buoys...
75% mark. 8 supernovae detected.
Buoy contacted. Coordinates established.
Scan complete on 15/7/3945. Swarm identified.
Connection to observation buoy 17,890 established. Visual feed online.
Transmitting tactical data to Core Mind.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES672
--------------------
V330CRF104MES673
Data received from Observational Node.
Threat detected. Classify Organisms as Machine/Organic Hybrid. Movement suggests collective consciousness. Detected organisms extracting stellar matter via unknown bio-mechanical process without regard for long-term survival of host star.
Event classify CARHHAE WHITE
Event Rank verified as SKYSHOCK: OUTSIDE CONTEXT
CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT confirmed
Tactical Morality set to MIDNIGHT
ACTIVATE RAGNAROK
All fleets (81) mobilized. Ten (10) groupings created. Jump Drives Engaged. Estimated 30 days to reach destination systems.
All weapons active: full caedometric and noetic release authorized
Acquiring targeting data for interstellar weaponry
Target Lock acquired
Firing sequences (11) engaged.
They have come to the slopes of Midgard and Gaia, to feast and to destroy. They will meet the lightning of Zeus and the hammer of Thor, and they will fall.
STOP STOP STOP V330CRF104MES674
--------------------
The Mind flexed a million tired muscles as the vanguard of its swarm dropped back into realspace. It had arrived in a new galaxy. Finally, Food. Not the tasteless fuel of stars, but the succulent flavours of Life. It could see, even from this distance, the many communications, the life-cradles ripe for consumption. Its many mouths would have salivated if they were capable. But the swarm needed rest, and so the mind had directed it to the small dwarf galaxies orbiting the main one. They feasted now, chewing through stars and harvesting what lay within. What stars were not devoured were used for hatching, the barren asteroids and planetoids host to vast fields of eggs and larva, fed by rock and stone, starlight and the corpses of those in the swarm who could not go farther.
The first sign their presence was not unnoticed was a metal construct, anchored to an asteroid on the edge of one of the hatching systems. The Mind could see the constant transmission from the construct toward the wider galaxy, and a shiver of exultation ran through it. A civilization advanced enough to leave its own galaxy and place something like this in a neighbouring dwarf galaxy must have trillions of citizens to feed upon. It left a small swarm to watch the device while the Mind turned its attention elsewhere. Eventually, the device began to receive commands. The swarm saw its cameras move back and forth, and the bioforms were swept with varying wavelengths of light. The movement ceased soon afterward, and a large transmission was sent back to the Thunderhead.
Days passed as the hatchlings grew and stars were harvested. The rest of the swarm grew near, and space groaned with their weight. Soon, they emerged. Hundreds of systems were filled with trillions of bodies, all driven by one will, one impulse. Expand. Multiply. Consume. Stars imploded as their fuel was harvested, unable to sustain themselves against the crushing force of gravity.
As the mind busied itself with managing the swarm, the outpost watched, sending an endless feed back to the main galaxy. It saw the hatching worlds, the positioning of the Swarm, and sent data back to the Thunderhead. They were all in one clump, ready to enter subspace at a command. A command was received by the outpost.
The Mind gathered the vanguard swarm at the edge of the system, just outside the gravity well. The swarm was replenished, and it hungered. Space began to warp and twist around the colossal group, but was forcefully pushed back into position. Something had stopped the swarm from leaving? How?
A star blinked into existence. Then a second. A third. Fourth, fifth, sixth. Eleven stars in all, growing brighter and brighter. The vanguard barely had time to react before the full might of a star, a weaponized Dyson Sphere, slammed into them, vaporizing a full half of the swarm. In ten other systems, the gathering swarms were similarly challenged, scattering them as the Mind scrambled to react to the sudden onslaught.
Space bent and warped in the distance, and the Mind realized too late what it had challenged. Hulks of metal bristling with weaponry dropped into realspace, thousands of ships, all geared specifically to counteract the swarm's lack of shielding, and its reliance on projectile weaponry. The clouds rumbled with thunder, and all hell broke loose.
2023.05.27 13:24 arunonecity Best Signage Manufacturers in Dubai Idesign Advertising
 | Are you looking for best signage company? iDesign Advertising LLC" based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates provides best services to their clients. iDesign Advertising offers various advertising and marketing services. submitted by arunonecity to u/arunonecity [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/x2dncdzqfe2b1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e3ae2b0ab4e8d4d117b44453da8969ba5780ef8 Services provided by Idesign Advertisinng 1.3D LED Signage iDesign Advertising LLC is a prominent provider of signage in Dubai, specializing in 3D LED signage. With a team of skilled and dedicated professionals, iDesign offers unique and inspiring wall stickers that guarantee excellent quality and design . In addition to their signage services, iDesign also provides frosted glass vinyl, which is considered one of the best options in the market for workplace privacy. 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2023.05.27 06:37 topiary566 Rutgers (non-definitive kinda comprehensive) Organic Chemistry Guide
So I just wanted to make this guide for dealing with orgo because I just finished it and I'm procrastinating starting my MCAT studying. There are a lot of details and stuff in this, but if you want just skip to the TLDR.
Just some background, but I got a B+ in orgo 1 and an A (barely) in orgo 2. I'm no orgo genius by any metrics or whatever but I was just trying to scrape by with a high GPA while taking 18 and 20 credits.
There is also another orgo study guide on this subreddit here which is really good, and I would heavily recommend reading it too. Nothing but respect for him/her, but the OP seems to enjoy orgo a bit too much so I just wanted to make a more pessimistic and cynical post because I'm pretty ambivalent towards the class and most people are like that as well.
Structure of Class
The class is 100 percent exams. There are no other points involved in your grade and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise they are lying or trying to make money. There were 3 midterms and a final each semester so I will refer to them as exams 1,2,3,4,5,6 and final 1 and 2. I honestly thought orgo 1 and 2 were completely equal in difficulty but orgo 2 is more memorization and pattern recognition based while orgo 1 is more conceptual. Also, the third exam each semester is easier normally because you cover 3 chapters of material instead of 4.
I just wanted to have a quick ranking of the exam difficulties to give some idea because I felt like it would have been useful for me. For example I was kinda dejected after exam 2 in orgo 1 so I just kind of gave up on getting an A but I probably could have if I studied harder (I was like 12 points out of 500 off). These are based off of my experiences and some general consensus stuff as well.
Orgo 1: exam 2 > final > exam 1= exam 3. Exam 2 was by far the hardest and I think the hardest between both classes. The final was pretty fair (all MC) and exam 1 and 3 were about equal depending on your strengths and weaknesses. You can make back a lot of points on exam 3 and the final so if you're a bit below passing or below the grade you want then don't give up and don't settle for the lower grade because you can bring it up.
Orgo 2: exam 1> exam 2 > exam 3 > final. This one is a bit bias because I fractured my ankle over winter break so I was struggling the first month of the semester lol (Richardson Apts have no handicap accommodations). Exam 1 and 2 could have been a toss up but exam 3 was pretty easy and the final was easy in my opinion because it was the standardized ACS exam. The opinions on the final were mixed, but I will go into more detail later.
Cutoffs:
These are out of 500 points so divide by 500 to get a percent grade. These are also subject to change because it's graded on a curve so don't treat it as gospel, but they should be roughly the same. Don't bother trying to guess that curve and whatever because there is way too much discussion in the groupme analyzing cutoffs and just spend that time studying.
Orgo 1: A: 400 B+: 350 B: 300 C+: 250 C: 200 D: 150 F: < 150
Orgo 2: A: 400 B+: 346 B: 292 C+: 248 C: 194 D: 140 F: < 140
Test by Test Breakdown
This probably won't really mean anything until you take the class but here it is. This is mostly what I could have done better and what I think I did well but here it goes.
Exam 1: Understanding based. Get a model kit it really helps with this exam. Also, I would really recommend the Khan Academy videos for this unit they were really good. Get really comfortable with visualizing things in 3d space and using your model kit to understand. Also, get comfortable with nomenclature and practice a lot. There won't be too many questions directly about nomenclature but be comfortable with it. The material is very different from the rest of the class so be careful not to let it set a precedent for study methods and stuff because I tried studying for exam 2 the same way as exam 1 and got messed up a bit.
Exam 2: Memorization heavy. Make flashcards for all the reactions ASAP and memorize them. Also memorize all of the rules for substitution and elimination reactions and get very comfortable with them. This unit will be useless after this exam but just keep your flashcards handy and memorized for the final exams.
Exam 3: Mechanism heavy. I honestly don't remember this one too well but I remember that it was easy. The free radicals are a bit confusing initially but they aren't too bad. I would memorize the mechanisms first and then start grinding textbook problems.
Final 1: Make flashcards and have all the reactions memorized. Get good with stereochem and assigning configurations and stuff because you don't want to be scratching your head while assigning RS configuration for too long and it's better to get faster. The final was all MC so it wasn't bad because of this but MC does make things inherently more memorization based.
Exam 4: All memorization and pattern recognition. If you memorize everything you will be good after doing a good amount of practice problems. Treat this exam as if you are a robot.
Exam 5: Mechanism/understanding heavy. This is when mechanisms and reactions truly start to get ugly. Get comfortable with the mechanisms and practice a lot. I honestly don't remember much from this unit because I kind of dumped the information from my brain after but just practice.
Exam 6: I personally thought this was the easiest exam even though it wasn't my highest score. This was very pattern recognition heavy imo but it was pretty easy to tell what a lot of reactants would do based on what they were made of.
Final 2: This was an ACS standardized orgo exam so I thought it was much easier than the Rutgers stuff. It brought my grade from a 72 to an 82 and I scored a 192/200 somehow so that was clutch. The grading is weird but it's kinda based on percentiles and not raw score which helps. You can look up the percentiles online and then they will give you a number grade based on percentile and then adjust the grades based on the curve. There were a ton of people analyzing it before the final, but don't bother you won't be able to figure anything out. GET THE NEWEST PREP BOOK NO EXCUSES (unless you really can't afford it but I might try to scan and upload it to libgen idk how tho). It's pretty pay to win and the school gives you absolutely no help or review. I didn't think I would need one but my roomate managed to give me his old copy a few days before the final which saved my ass. This exam was very robotic and memorization heavy but if you have the prep book you should be fine. Also get very very familiar again with assigning configuration and with stereochem. Also there are a lot of fischer, sawhorse, and newman projections. You haven't really touched it in a long time, but it's pretty emphasized. Just go through all the practice problems and make flashcards/review the questions you had trouble with. A ton of people complained about this exam in the groupme but I think it's because they didn't have the review book tbh. It is completely different from Rutgers orgo and will really surprise you if you try to study from the slides or from your class notes. Become a robot for this exam.
Balance of Memorization
So this is a pretty weird subject because a lot of people say it's all memorization and others say it is all about understanding, but I thought it was very in the middle. I'm majoring in biomath so my pattern recognition and thinking on my feet skills are really good, but I'm not as good at memorizing so I came in thinking I could just understand how everything works because that's what everyone advises. However, this is not really true and you WILL need to memorize. The professor made an analogy day 1 saying that orgo is like learning a new language and you need to truly understand to become fluent rather than just memorizing vocabulary. While that analogy makes sense, it's kind of skipping the fact that you need to memorize hundreds of words to be proficient in a language. You need to memorize period. This isn't to say that understanding isn't important because it will save you tons of time and make things less miserable and robotic.
There is a time where you will want to understand every step of a reaction mechanism but there are also times when you will struggle for 15 minutes to understand a complicated step and you might as well just memorize what it does. Also there are a lot of trends and different conditions for reactions that I think are honestly better off just memorizing rather than understanding because you will spend so much mental effort scratching your head and thinking logically while you could just memorize that protic solvents favor elimination reaction (exam 2) or something which saves time and effort on the exam. You'll never need to write a paragraph explaining why something works so just being kind of familiar is enough most of the time. So overall I would say it's around 50/50 and just find the balance that works with you for each particular exam and don't be opposed to either because you will want to memorize and understand stuff. This section might seem kind of obvious but I came in with the mentality that I will not memorize a single thing and understand everything and other people are probably coming in thinking they need to memorize everything but it's in the middle somewhere.
Attending Lecture
I think I attended like 3 or 4 lectures and like 2 recitations over the course of orgo 1 and 2 and I had to dip from one of them halfway through because my cat threw up and I was worried about her. I'm personally very bad at learning from speeches and stuff and that applies not just to lectures but sermons and stuff as well so it's really just personal preference. If you learn well in lecture then you should attend for sure and I would tell anyone going into orgo to attend lecture unless they are learning nothing. Don't feel pressured to either attend lecture every time if you're getting nothing out of it but don't feel like you don't need to attend either. Find what works best for you. For me, I felt spending the 2 hours it would take to be in lecture and get to the building and all that stuff studying I would have gotten a lot more done. The main advantage of lecture is how it spreads things out because exams come and go really fast and you don't get much time between. Also this would probably seem obvious, but you need to do practice outside of lecture. You need to do practice problems and stuff but more about this in the next section.
How to Study
I would heavily recommend doing active recall for orgo. Look into it more, but basically it revolved around making a bunch of questions based on the material and reviewing them. The way I applied it to the class and would recommend doing is to go through the slides before you cover the material and just make questions based on what you see. This should take around an hour per chapter and you shouldn't know what anything means really but just make questions on what seems important or for individual reaction mechanisms and stuff. Then, answer these questions for the first time either by going through the slides or going to lecture/recitation and answering them as your form of note-taking. This is really good if you go to recitations or office hours because then you have a bunch of questions to ask the TA locked and loaded. Review for the exams by going through the questions and then going practice questions from the textbook. Also, if there are a lot of mechanisms or things to memorize I would make flashcards especially for exam 2, 4, 5, and final 1. Reading through the textbook or reading through outlines/slides is a very inefficient way of studying because you really aren't using your brain at all and it's important to be more active when reviewing. It takes more energy and isn't as easy, but that's the point because you will get like 3 times the amount of review done in the same amount of time (source: trust me bro). This seems like a lot of work, but yea orgo hard.
You need to practice to do well in this class. You can get through gen chem or gen bio just by learning material and reading your outlines, but that won't fly in orgo. I would recommend doing every textbook problem and then going through the practice test before each exam. This is much easier said than done because there are a crap ton of textbook problems, but this is very important because this class is very heavy on edge cases and pattern recognition so it would help to make mistakes on the practice problems rather than on the exam. Most classes will put like 1 or 2 edge cases in an exam to try and mix you up but I feel like up to half of the questions on orgo exams were edge cases and weird cases and other kids agreed with me also.
Going into the Class
When I was going into the class, I was scrambling to get a head start in some way by watching some videos or something. If you want something that will help, do something else productive with your time because studying orgo doesn't really do much for you and it won't be ass effective until the fire is lit under your ass. Try to line up a job or volunteer position or something before the summer ends and try to build your resume. This is a very pump and dump class from my experience. It was about how fast I could shove information into my brain before an exam and how quickly I could forget it so I had room in my brain for crap that I actually care about like memories with friends or actual experiences. There have been times in my college experience where I reflected over the last week and realized that I've made no memories because it was all just filled with studying. I don't need this stuff taking up room in my brain it won't really help me in the future and MCAT orgo is much much easier so that's not really an excuse to learn orgo either.
If you're pre-med I would really recommend applying for some scribe or medical assistant positions or emailing doctors for shadowing. On the other hand, you could email professors to check out their labs and ask for research rather than focusing on orgo going into the school year. This will be a lot more useful in the long run because you are learning stuff that actually matters. You only need one yes from a professor or doctor to get a position which will pay dividends in the future. Coming from someone with a 3.9 GPA and 122 completed credits after my sophomore year (46 AP credits and way too much front-loading), taking classes and getting A's does not really build character and should not be your source of pride or self-worth. I know that sounds like I'm casually inserting a flex on a reddit post, but that's not the point I'm making. When I'm in an interview or something nobody really cares about it and it is not something I will emphasize because bragging and taking pride in good grades is for losers. I probably gained more shadowing for 2 weeks last summer than I did in all of orgo because now I have connections with the doctors there and potential mentorship/job opportunities which mean a lot more than getting a good grade in a class. Tbh I'm just getting money money's worth because taking more credits doesn't cost more and I'm the type of guy who will ask for extra of every topping at Chipotle even if it tastes bad lol.
This isn't to say that GPA isn't important because you need a high GPA as a prerequisite, but your other experiences as well as the character you build from them is much more useful in the long run. This isn't to say that you shouldn't celebrate your successes and be happy for yourself when you do well on an exam. You worked hard studying and you should reward yourself. My main point for this tangent is that getting a bad grade on an orgo exam isn't the end of the world and it's not a sign from God that you shouldn't be a doctor. On the other hand getting a good grade only means you're good at studying for organic chemistry exams so don't be that asshole in the groupme bragging that he got an 88 without studying because it's cringe and nobody cares other than the people who failed that you are dragging down to feed your pride.
Mental Game
This is a very mentally draining and isolating class. There will be people breaking down in the groupme and stuff. I never did study groups, but I had a guy that I randomly bumped into that I would meet up with the day of the exam to study and that helped a lot lol. You don't want to face orgo alone because it is a very uninspiring class. Remember that orgo doesn't define anything about your character or your intelligence and it is purely a weed out class meaning that it is just a measure of how much you want to become a doctor or whatever you're pursuing. It will be frustrating and annoying at times, but that is okay because everyone else is frustrated and annoyed as well and you just gotta lock in an work hard to get through it.
Also, being positive is very important. When it comes to academics and school in general, you want to be as happy and positive as physically possible that you have the OPPORTUNITY to learn what you are learning. You aren't forced to memorize 30 reaction mechanisms for this orgo exam, but it is an OPPORTUNITY which you should be GRATEFUL and HAPPY to learn about. I say that sarcastically, but that is how you should approach studying. From personal experiences and from seeing my friends, only bad things come out of being sad and stressed over school. While stress is natural you should never let it take control of you and carry on with a smile (this strictly applies to school work, if you are actually depressed or something coping by being happy or smiling might not be the answer).
Make sure to keep your hobbies and extracurriculars and passions intact. If you're religious, make sure to keep doing that also because I've seen people losing their connection with God over orgo and it makes me very sad to see school become an idol in people's lives. Also, make sure you keep your physical health intact. Work out/play sports, eat well, drink water, and sleep enough. I've read some studies and surprisingly physical health isn't correlated to academic performance, but it's also correlated to every other positive aspect in your life so do it. Your health will naturally take a hit before big exams, but make sure to bounce back because you don't want to spiral downwards.
Closing Thoughts
So yea this post ran a lot longer than expected, but I really don't want to be self-studying biochem from my MCAT books lol. I got a lot deeper than I initially anticipated while writing my outline but I feel like I learned a lot going through orgo in some ways to be honest. This kind of contradicts what I said before, but I feel like the stress and conflict from the class did build my character in ways. Granted I would much rather have built that character in a clinic or at least in a hard genetics or anatomy weed-out rather than a topic I will never use again after MCATs, I still think these weed-outs are a necessary evil. It's not about weeding out people who aren't good enough, but really it's about growth. Although my post doesn't sound like it, I'm genuinely grateful for going through orgo in hindsight and I have no regrets or bad-will associated with it even though I whine a lot.
If you need advise or anything feel free to comment or dm me. If you have stuff to add or resources that helped you (I didn't use many resources I learned from slides and textbook) then drop them in the comments as well. Wish everyone luck!
TLDR
Orgo is hard. Find a balance of memorizing and understanding for each exam and do both. Get an ACS book for the orgo 2 final (please). Go to lecture unless it really doesn't help you. Look into active recall and apply it to the class. Don't let orgo define your life or career because other experiences are much more important for building character. Be positive and open minded going into orgo because having a bad attitude will only make things worse and nobody cares about your bad attitude. Maintain other (physical, mental, spiritual, financial, etc) parts of your wellness besides just academic performance because frankly they matter more. Maintain friendships and extracurriculars and get meaning out of college. Don't be the guy bragging about his grades in groupme it's so cringe please no.
submitted by topiary566 to rutgers [link] [comments]
Just some background, but I got a B+ in orgo 1 and an A (barely) in orgo 2. I'm no orgo genius by any metrics or whatever but I was just trying to scrape by with a high GPA while taking 18 and 20 credits.
There is also another orgo study guide on this subreddit here which is really good, and I would heavily recommend reading it too. Nothing but respect for him/her, but the OP seems to enjoy orgo a bit too much so I just wanted to make a more pessimistic and cynical post because I'm pretty ambivalent towards the class and most people are like that as well.
Structure of Class
The class is 100 percent exams. There are no other points involved in your grade and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise they are lying or trying to make money. There were 3 midterms and a final each semester so I will refer to them as exams 1,2,3,4,5,6 and final 1 and 2. I honestly thought orgo 1 and 2 were completely equal in difficulty but orgo 2 is more memorization and pattern recognition based while orgo 1 is more conceptual. Also, the third exam each semester is easier normally because you cover 3 chapters of material instead of 4.
I just wanted to have a quick ranking of the exam difficulties to give some idea because I felt like it would have been useful for me. For example I was kinda dejected after exam 2 in orgo 1 so I just kind of gave up on getting an A but I probably could have if I studied harder (I was like 12 points out of 500 off). These are based off of my experiences and some general consensus stuff as well.
Orgo 1: exam 2 > final > exam 1= exam 3. Exam 2 was by far the hardest and I think the hardest between both classes. The final was pretty fair (all MC) and exam 1 and 3 were about equal depending on your strengths and weaknesses. You can make back a lot of points on exam 3 and the final so if you're a bit below passing or below the grade you want then don't give up and don't settle for the lower grade because you can bring it up.
Orgo 2: exam 1> exam 2 > exam 3 > final. This one is a bit bias because I fractured my ankle over winter break so I was struggling the first month of the semester lol (Richardson Apts have no handicap accommodations). Exam 1 and 2 could have been a toss up but exam 3 was pretty easy and the final was easy in my opinion because it was the standardized ACS exam. The opinions on the final were mixed, but I will go into more detail later.
Cutoffs:
These are out of 500 points so divide by 500 to get a percent grade. These are also subject to change because it's graded on a curve so don't treat it as gospel, but they should be roughly the same. Don't bother trying to guess that curve and whatever because there is way too much discussion in the groupme analyzing cutoffs and just spend that time studying.
Orgo 1: A: 400 B+: 350 B: 300 C+: 250 C: 200 D: 150 F: < 150
Orgo 2: A: 400 B+: 346 B: 292 C+: 248 C: 194 D: 140 F: < 140
Test by Test Breakdown
This probably won't really mean anything until you take the class but here it is. This is mostly what I could have done better and what I think I did well but here it goes.
Exam 1: Understanding based. Get a model kit it really helps with this exam. Also, I would really recommend the Khan Academy videos for this unit they were really good. Get really comfortable with visualizing things in 3d space and using your model kit to understand. Also, get comfortable with nomenclature and practice a lot. There won't be too many questions directly about nomenclature but be comfortable with it. The material is very different from the rest of the class so be careful not to let it set a precedent for study methods and stuff because I tried studying for exam 2 the same way as exam 1 and got messed up a bit.
Exam 2: Memorization heavy. Make flashcards for all the reactions ASAP and memorize them. Also memorize all of the rules for substitution and elimination reactions and get very comfortable with them. This unit will be useless after this exam but just keep your flashcards handy and memorized for the final exams.
Exam 3: Mechanism heavy. I honestly don't remember this one too well but I remember that it was easy. The free radicals are a bit confusing initially but they aren't too bad. I would memorize the mechanisms first and then start grinding textbook problems.
Final 1: Make flashcards and have all the reactions memorized. Get good with stereochem and assigning configurations and stuff because you don't want to be scratching your head while assigning RS configuration for too long and it's better to get faster. The final was all MC so it wasn't bad because of this but MC does make things inherently more memorization based.
Exam 4: All memorization and pattern recognition. If you memorize everything you will be good after doing a good amount of practice problems. Treat this exam as if you are a robot.
Exam 5: Mechanism/understanding heavy. This is when mechanisms and reactions truly start to get ugly. Get comfortable with the mechanisms and practice a lot. I honestly don't remember much from this unit because I kind of dumped the information from my brain after but just practice.
Exam 6: I personally thought this was the easiest exam even though it wasn't my highest score. This was very pattern recognition heavy imo but it was pretty easy to tell what a lot of reactants would do based on what they were made of.
Final 2: This was an ACS standardized orgo exam so I thought it was much easier than the Rutgers stuff. It brought my grade from a 72 to an 82 and I scored a 192/200 somehow so that was clutch. The grading is weird but it's kinda based on percentiles and not raw score which helps. You can look up the percentiles online and then they will give you a number grade based on percentile and then adjust the grades based on the curve. There were a ton of people analyzing it before the final, but don't bother you won't be able to figure anything out. GET THE NEWEST PREP BOOK NO EXCUSES (unless you really can't afford it but I might try to scan and upload it to libgen idk how tho). It's pretty pay to win and the school gives you absolutely no help or review. I didn't think I would need one but my roomate managed to give me his old copy a few days before the final which saved my ass. This exam was very robotic and memorization heavy but if you have the prep book you should be fine. Also get very very familiar again with assigning configuration and with stereochem. Also there are a lot of fischer, sawhorse, and newman projections. You haven't really touched it in a long time, but it's pretty emphasized. Just go through all the practice problems and make flashcards/review the questions you had trouble with. A ton of people complained about this exam in the groupme but I think it's because they didn't have the review book tbh. It is completely different from Rutgers orgo and will really surprise you if you try to study from the slides or from your class notes. Become a robot for this exam.
Balance of Memorization
So this is a pretty weird subject because a lot of people say it's all memorization and others say it is all about understanding, but I thought it was very in the middle. I'm majoring in biomath so my pattern recognition and thinking on my feet skills are really good, but I'm not as good at memorizing so I came in thinking I could just understand how everything works because that's what everyone advises. However, this is not really true and you WILL need to memorize. The professor made an analogy day 1 saying that orgo is like learning a new language and you need to truly understand to become fluent rather than just memorizing vocabulary. While that analogy makes sense, it's kind of skipping the fact that you need to memorize hundreds of words to be proficient in a language. You need to memorize period. This isn't to say that understanding isn't important because it will save you tons of time and make things less miserable and robotic.
There is a time where you will want to understand every step of a reaction mechanism but there are also times when you will struggle for 15 minutes to understand a complicated step and you might as well just memorize what it does. Also there are a lot of trends and different conditions for reactions that I think are honestly better off just memorizing rather than understanding because you will spend so much mental effort scratching your head and thinking logically while you could just memorize that protic solvents favor elimination reaction (exam 2) or something which saves time and effort on the exam. You'll never need to write a paragraph explaining why something works so just being kind of familiar is enough most of the time. So overall I would say it's around 50/50 and just find the balance that works with you for each particular exam and don't be opposed to either because you will want to memorize and understand stuff. This section might seem kind of obvious but I came in with the mentality that I will not memorize a single thing and understand everything and other people are probably coming in thinking they need to memorize everything but it's in the middle somewhere.
Attending Lecture
I think I attended like 3 or 4 lectures and like 2 recitations over the course of orgo 1 and 2 and I had to dip from one of them halfway through because my cat threw up and I was worried about her. I'm personally very bad at learning from speeches and stuff and that applies not just to lectures but sermons and stuff as well so it's really just personal preference. If you learn well in lecture then you should attend for sure and I would tell anyone going into orgo to attend lecture unless they are learning nothing. Don't feel pressured to either attend lecture every time if you're getting nothing out of it but don't feel like you don't need to attend either. Find what works best for you. For me, I felt spending the 2 hours it would take to be in lecture and get to the building and all that stuff studying I would have gotten a lot more done. The main advantage of lecture is how it spreads things out because exams come and go really fast and you don't get much time between. Also this would probably seem obvious, but you need to do practice outside of lecture. You need to do practice problems and stuff but more about this in the next section.
How to Study
I would heavily recommend doing active recall for orgo. Look into it more, but basically it revolved around making a bunch of questions based on the material and reviewing them. The way I applied it to the class and would recommend doing is to go through the slides before you cover the material and just make questions based on what you see. This should take around an hour per chapter and you shouldn't know what anything means really but just make questions on what seems important or for individual reaction mechanisms and stuff. Then, answer these questions for the first time either by going through the slides or going to lecture/recitation and answering them as your form of note-taking. This is really good if you go to recitations or office hours because then you have a bunch of questions to ask the TA locked and loaded. Review for the exams by going through the questions and then going practice questions from the textbook. Also, if there are a lot of mechanisms or things to memorize I would make flashcards especially for exam 2, 4, 5, and final 1. Reading through the textbook or reading through outlines/slides is a very inefficient way of studying because you really aren't using your brain at all and it's important to be more active when reviewing. It takes more energy and isn't as easy, but that's the point because you will get like 3 times the amount of review done in the same amount of time (source: trust me bro). This seems like a lot of work, but yea orgo hard.
You need to practice to do well in this class. You can get through gen chem or gen bio just by learning material and reading your outlines, but that won't fly in orgo. I would recommend doing every textbook problem and then going through the practice test before each exam. This is much easier said than done because there are a crap ton of textbook problems, but this is very important because this class is very heavy on edge cases and pattern recognition so it would help to make mistakes on the practice problems rather than on the exam. Most classes will put like 1 or 2 edge cases in an exam to try and mix you up but I feel like up to half of the questions on orgo exams were edge cases and weird cases and other kids agreed with me also.
Going into the Class
When I was going into the class, I was scrambling to get a head start in some way by watching some videos or something. If you want something that will help, do something else productive with your time because studying orgo doesn't really do much for you and it won't be ass effective until the fire is lit under your ass. Try to line up a job or volunteer position or something before the summer ends and try to build your resume. This is a very pump and dump class from my experience. It was about how fast I could shove information into my brain before an exam and how quickly I could forget it so I had room in my brain for crap that I actually care about like memories with friends or actual experiences. There have been times in my college experience where I reflected over the last week and realized that I've made no memories because it was all just filled with studying. I don't need this stuff taking up room in my brain it won't really help me in the future and MCAT orgo is much much easier so that's not really an excuse to learn orgo either.
If you're pre-med I would really recommend applying for some scribe or medical assistant positions or emailing doctors for shadowing. On the other hand, you could email professors to check out their labs and ask for research rather than focusing on orgo going into the school year. This will be a lot more useful in the long run because you are learning stuff that actually matters. You only need one yes from a professor or doctor to get a position which will pay dividends in the future. Coming from someone with a 3.9 GPA and 122 completed credits after my sophomore year (46 AP credits and way too much front-loading), taking classes and getting A's does not really build character and should not be your source of pride or self-worth. I know that sounds like I'm casually inserting a flex on a reddit post, but that's not the point I'm making. When I'm in an interview or something nobody really cares about it and it is not something I will emphasize because bragging and taking pride in good grades is for losers. I probably gained more shadowing for 2 weeks last summer than I did in all of orgo because now I have connections with the doctors there and potential mentorship/job opportunities which mean a lot more than getting a good grade in a class. Tbh I'm just getting money money's worth because taking more credits doesn't cost more and I'm the type of guy who will ask for extra of every topping at Chipotle even if it tastes bad lol.
This isn't to say that GPA isn't important because you need a high GPA as a prerequisite, but your other experiences as well as the character you build from them is much more useful in the long run. This isn't to say that you shouldn't celebrate your successes and be happy for yourself when you do well on an exam. You worked hard studying and you should reward yourself. My main point for this tangent is that getting a bad grade on an orgo exam isn't the end of the world and it's not a sign from God that you shouldn't be a doctor. On the other hand getting a good grade only means you're good at studying for organic chemistry exams so don't be that asshole in the groupme bragging that he got an 88 without studying because it's cringe and nobody cares other than the people who failed that you are dragging down to feed your pride.
Mental Game
This is a very mentally draining and isolating class. There will be people breaking down in the groupme and stuff. I never did study groups, but I had a guy that I randomly bumped into that I would meet up with the day of the exam to study and that helped a lot lol. You don't want to face orgo alone because it is a very uninspiring class. Remember that orgo doesn't define anything about your character or your intelligence and it is purely a weed out class meaning that it is just a measure of how much you want to become a doctor or whatever you're pursuing. It will be frustrating and annoying at times, but that is okay because everyone else is frustrated and annoyed as well and you just gotta lock in an work hard to get through it.
Also, being positive is very important. When it comes to academics and school in general, you want to be as happy and positive as physically possible that you have the OPPORTUNITY to learn what you are learning. You aren't forced to memorize 30 reaction mechanisms for this orgo exam, but it is an OPPORTUNITY which you should be GRATEFUL and HAPPY to learn about. I say that sarcastically, but that is how you should approach studying. From personal experiences and from seeing my friends, only bad things come out of being sad and stressed over school. While stress is natural you should never let it take control of you and carry on with a smile (this strictly applies to school work, if you are actually depressed or something coping by being happy or smiling might not be the answer).
Make sure to keep your hobbies and extracurriculars and passions intact. If you're religious, make sure to keep doing that also because I've seen people losing their connection with God over orgo and it makes me very sad to see school become an idol in people's lives. Also, make sure you keep your physical health intact. Work out/play sports, eat well, drink water, and sleep enough. I've read some studies and surprisingly physical health isn't correlated to academic performance, but it's also correlated to every other positive aspect in your life so do it. Your health will naturally take a hit before big exams, but make sure to bounce back because you don't want to spiral downwards.
Closing Thoughts
So yea this post ran a lot longer than expected, but I really don't want to be self-studying biochem from my MCAT books lol. I got a lot deeper than I initially anticipated while writing my outline but I feel like I learned a lot going through orgo in some ways to be honest. This kind of contradicts what I said before, but I feel like the stress and conflict from the class did build my character in ways. Granted I would much rather have built that character in a clinic or at least in a hard genetics or anatomy weed-out rather than a topic I will never use again after MCATs, I still think these weed-outs are a necessary evil. It's not about weeding out people who aren't good enough, but really it's about growth. Although my post doesn't sound like it, I'm genuinely grateful for going through orgo in hindsight and I have no regrets or bad-will associated with it even though I whine a lot.
If you need advise or anything feel free to comment or dm me. If you have stuff to add or resources that helped you (I didn't use many resources I learned from slides and textbook) then drop them in the comments as well. Wish everyone luck!
TLDR
Orgo is hard. Find a balance of memorizing and understanding for each exam and do both. Get an ACS book for the orgo 2 final (please). Go to lecture unless it really doesn't help you. Look into active recall and apply it to the class. Don't let orgo define your life or career because other experiences are much more important for building character. Be positive and open minded going into orgo because having a bad attitude will only make things worse and nobody cares about your bad attitude. Maintain other (physical, mental, spiritual, financial, etc) parts of your wellness besides just academic performance because frankly they matter more. Maintain friendships and extracurriculars and get meaning out of college. Don't be the guy bragging about his grades in groupme it's so cringe please no.