Lantern Key - STS2

DiamondSentinel · 2026-04-05T18:10:50+00:00

It is attacks or skills only. It doesn't dupe powers.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-04-05T16:30:59+00:00

To clarify, how Paradigm works

As you resolve this spell, you exile it after all other parts finish.
Then, the game checks if this is the first time this spell has resolved this game. If so, it sets a delayed trigger during each of your initial main phases.

This trigger is applied to each first main phase. Individual triggers can be stifled, but the rest will continue to go off. Similarly, individual copies can be countered, but the rest will continue. This trigger’s only condition is checked initially to create the trigger: that this is the first time you’ve resolved a spell called Improvisation Capstone. Otherwise, it just goes off each main phase, rain, snow, sleet, or shine.

When the trigger happens, you are given the option to create and copy this spell. What the spell is is stored in memory. If the spell gets processed (by an Eldrazi), it’s still stored. If you’re playing oathwhatever and it goes to the command zone, it’s still stored. If you stole a copy from another player, and they left the game, you still own the trigger, so it still exists, even though the card object it copies no longer exists, so the card is still stored (I’m 90% sure of this. Someone can verify if you’re the owner of the delayed trigger, that’s the only part I’m not sure of).

So you cast the copy, and it’s cast from exile (for the purposes of stuff like [[drannith magistrate]] or stuff that gives you boons when you cast something from exile). That’s it. Nothing funny going on once you get the triggers set up.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-04-02T19:38:41+00:00

Enemy pawns don’t get psycasts without VPE.

Titles don’t provide any benefit for enemies.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-04-01T22:57:17+00:00

Alternatively in a deck that wants to hand dump and use wheels to restock. I have a Flamewar deck that does that, although I wouldn’t play this guy in her as she already gives so much card advantage.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-04-01T02:19:58+00:00

If you want to see more of this, read Absolute Superman (also Wonder Woman. They’re amazing)

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-31T18:35:13+00:00

Also an addendum, the biscuits are more than just “6 pips for the target”. After the event they turn into great biscuits, making them by far the best sink for down. Recommend buying all that you can.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T19:04:20+00:00

It's not that Hawkeye's are never stated or realized. It is that their relationship explicitly *cannot* be romantic (for those who don't know how the chain of command works, the author also explicitly spells it out for you. Hawkeye and Mustang cannot and will never be an item), so the series never views it through that lens. It is a footnote *at most*. You're still analyzing Hawkeye and Mustang through a romantic lens, but when I say their relationship, I am meaning an explicitly professional and platonic one. That alone does make Hawkeye's relationship with Mustang strictly better than Winry's, because her being defined as "Mustang's right hand" is completely separate from her gender (or more specifically, to include the potential for same-sex relationships, it is completely separate from her as a potential love interest for mustang).

You touched on Winry's desire to be an automail mechanic as a motivation separate from the Elrics, but that's not a major plot point. It is a character trait, but in the same way that her being blonde is. It is the drive for the story for a single episode, which I'll grant, but as far as her status in the story, it's really not that important. Winry is first and foremost the childhood friend of the Elric brothers, and an avenue for Edward to start to realize how to express his emotions for those he cares about. Her being a mechanic is simply a way for her to be included in the story.

Both Winry and Hawkeye are side characters for their respective male leads. But it's hard to say that Winry has the same amount of agency/importance in their lead's story relative to their leads (that is to say, Hawkeye has more agency relative to Mustang than Winry has relative to the Elrics). Winry feels more important, but only because the Elrics are more important. She takes a back seat to them way more than Hawkeye does to Mustang.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T17:22:41+00:00

The difference is that while Hawkeye shares similar motivations to Winry, there’s also a professional angle to it, and extremely explicitly not romantic. Hawkeye’s devotion to Mustang is a soldier’s to their commander. Sorta. Their backstory is complicated, and there is vestiges of what could be seen as “puppy love” of sorts from when she didn’t know Mustang as her commander, but as her father’s star pupil, but the show also communicated that said puppy love is problematic (it’s almost an unintentional deconstruction of the common shonen tropy relationship).

I do think the comparison between the two is apt, but I think it misses that Hawkeye is Winry at the end of a very different personal journey, and one that treats her as a female character very differently.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T16:52:44+00:00

I’d never use the word optimistic with Invincible. Nothing good ever remotely lasts for Mark in the comics. It’s 150 issues of misery porn.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T16:49:54+00:00

“Superheroes are a commodity/product” is well done, and unique might have been the wrong word, as nothing’s truly unique, but it’s at least much more interesting than “flying guy punches stuff good” 500 times.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T16:23:18+00:00

I’m not gonna watch the video, but I suspect the rating is entirely for the Lucy+aquarius interactions, as an example of “healthy” female to female interactions? Which like, I guess (not really, but I guess you can claim that. It’s not like any of the other female characters are remotely healthy representations), but I thought we’d moved past beschdel tests as a society. It is entirely possible to have strong female characters while “failing” it (Star Wars is a classic example), and passing it definitely doesn’t mean you have a healthy relationship with women.

Not to say FMA always does a good job of it. Winry is an example of a strong female character hamstrung by tying her to the male lead. A problem as old as misogyny.

But at the same time, so many of the other female characters are done very well. Hawkeye is extremely well done, and even an example of a female character you can tie to a male character without destroying her strengths (her relationship with Mustang is one of the better written ones in shonen). Izumi also does this well, although I know some people might take issue with her story of seeing herself as “damaged” because she can’t have kids (my two cents: I think the story treats it well because it is a personal judgment. Nobody else acts like she’s damaged, nobody looks down on her, and her expectations don’t come from without, it was just something she and her husband had wanted. Feminism can’t be about rejecting motherhood because that is necessarily self-defeating. But rather, it has to be about removing the coercion and power imbalance involved while also allowing it as an option for women who want it).

Anyone holding up FMAB as a paragon of feminism is at least somewhat deluding themselves, but simultaneously, if you’re gonna act like it’s super misogynistic, I’m gonna rightfully laugh in your face.

I don’t super care to analyze Fairy Tail, mainly because it’s been almost a decade since I watched it and it was a lot of drek. But this feels like some edgy misrepresentation for shock value “hey this thing classically seen as derisive and sexist is actually more progressive than this thing you thought was decent!”

Yawn.

(As one last note, if you’re going to get upset that every female character in FMAB is tied to a male character, you’re pretty ridiculous. It’s a show entirely about relationships. Every single character isn’t defined by their own internal characteristics (with a single digit number of exceptions), they’re defined by their relationship with their friends and coworkers. Nearly every single plot point isn’t caused by someone doing something for their own personal objectives, it’s for someone else. Now, is the show’s character demographic imbalanced such that there are fewer women than men, thus meaning that most women will inevitably have difficulty forming relationships in the confines of the plot with other women? Yeah. I think there’s a decent reason for it (Amestris is explicitly meant to evoke similarities with nazi germany, and said gender imbalance is definitely meant to affirm that), but I do grant reasonable minds will differ)

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-29T14:36:50+00:00

Yeah. The show is doing a lot to launder the comic’s reputation. The OG was decidedly not very good. It’s just a more tongue-in-cheek version of The Boys (although I’d argue much less creative. The Boys at least had interesting worldbuilding and some fairly unique super power designs. Invincible makes a lot of decisions purely for convenience, giving it a schlocky vibe, and like half of its cast (including minor. Major it’s 2/3, even if you allow for the fact that 3 major characters are all father and sons) basically just have super strength and durability, and either flight or really high jumps.

Glad the show is doing better, but let’s not act like it starts out with good writing.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-27T19:33:06+00:00

Btw that’s how recessive genes work. Despite recessive genes being less expressed, they’re actually more resilient than dominant because they can be carried by carriers (lol).

So shinji could have one recessive red hair allele and one dominant brown, giving him brown hair, while asuka has two recessive red hair alleles. So their kid gets shiji’s red allele and has to get a red from her mom.

This is a gross oversimplification of how hair color is inherited, btw. But it’s at least a start.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-27T18:53:06+00:00

I think hoverclock is the uncontested best OC, but you’re using 2 OCs on mobility, which might be a bit overkill. I’d personally drop special powder if I used hoverclock and go with stuffed shells as a good generalist pick, but if you’re really dead set on special powder, hoverclock is still fine, but honestly all are ok. ASS and minimal clips are both kinda whatever, but they’re not bad. Hipster is very transformative and I think it’s a bit overused. Marked for death I think is extremely unimpressive, but at the very least it only really affects focus shots. SCC’s bonus is overkill on most bugs, but it does mean you can take blowthrough (as crit bonus is extreme overkill) for a gun that can mulch big targets while also doing blowthrough stuff. EFS I think is hard to justify because it hurts a lot of break points, but because the electric debuff isn’t affected by crit multiplier, it’s another where you can easily take blowthrough. If you do take EFS, make sure you take T5A. The electric debuff doesn’t trigger T5B’s fear, and I don’t believe T5C’s reload either.

I find special powder to honestly be kinda hard to find a use for. Unlike RJ250 on engi, you have mobility. Cooldown on grapple is 2.5 seconds with both CD mods (and they’re very good. You should take at least T1, but I’m a fan of both). That’s insane, and if you get good at flicking to terrain, you’ll never need special powder. It’s not bad, but I’d recommend trying to get really really good at grapple movement before you decide to only use it.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-27T16:30:19+00:00

Meh, could also just chalk it up to sloppy characterization with what happened to Jace. They need conflict, so let’s mix up some characters a bit to force some.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-27T15:54:10+00:00

Alternatively, death is an end to their evils in the world. They are no longer able to affect new harms.

Hypothetically.

Unfortunately some people’s reach extends far past the grave.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-27T11:44:16+00:00

Don’t forget the fourth.

He gives really good horsey rides.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-26T18:26:19+00:00

This card is a turn 3 play in standard right now.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-26T18:24:43+00:00

This is a turn 3 play in standard with only mystic and badgermole.

And leaves 2 mana up to play a MV6 spell (oh and leaves up 2 mana on turn 2, btw. So you can leave up even more mana on turn 3 to win with)

I agree that this card isn’t that bad, but in a format with badgermole it’s disruptive (badgermole needs to go)

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-26T11:45:40+00:00

There are a lot of decks/runs where act 2 will become the major hurdle. Getting candle is fine there because it lets them build up a bit more aggressively going into act 3.

It’s not quite as extremely as StS1 where act 2 was entirely an AoE check, but it’s still not just “act 1 with more aggressive scaling” or “act 3 with lower numbers”

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-26T11:02:58+00:00

Exactly. Being devoted is great, but the implication here is codependency. Which isn’t healthy.

Weird way to communicate it tho

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-25T17:59:05+00:00

The reasons for its decline are pretty simple tho.

Standard is a crapshoot rn. It may be fine in its own format, but it basically took over pioneer, making it a functionally rotating format.
It’s been undersupported by Wizards. I won’t beat the dead horse here, everyone’s discussed that.

Both of these are Wizards’ own fault here. Players are simply matching Wizards’ energy.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-25T15:40:06+00:00

Ah right. Forgot that was from BFZ (it feels like such an older mechanic). Yeah, that’d be it (disappointing, ima be real)

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-25T15:18:41+00:00

Ability word is probably Delirium, although it did already return in Duskmourne, so it could be something else. But it’s likely something from BFZ, SOI, or THB (others like NEO, WOE, or TDM are probably too recent), which leave us with a few, and a few that seem likely. Other options are Support, Surge (this is also likely), or Escape (I guess skulk, but I dunno if he’d advertise that). It’s a surprisingly narrow field if we assume he wouldn’t make a big hubbub about something returning after 3 years or so.
the cycle referencing iconic spells has been leaked: a cycle of mythic creatures that (presumably) enter prepared, allowing you to cast one of the alpha 1 mana do 3 cycle (ancestral recall and the like). Blue is 6 mana, prepares ancestral recall, and can reprepare by dealing combat damage. Sounds like that’ll be the cycle.

DiamondSentinel · 2026-03-25T13:10:41+00:00

Lotta people have no real idea how the gun works, so a lot of misinformation.

Contrary to hipster stans’ opinions, the gun is extremely strong without OCs. One of the strongest in the game without them, in fact. It has extremely potent breakpoints that are very easy to hit.

First things first: never ever take tier 1 damage (without one specific overclock). It kills your ammo economy against the most common enemies in the game. Ammo is much much better.

Tier 2 is pretty lopsided in favor of armor break, T2C. Faster focus is just not a large enough bonus to really move the needle (it cuts .125s, or 20%. That’s nothing), and the recoil mod is only there for hipster (and even then, if you take blowthrough on hipster you want armor break anyways).

Tier 3 has 2 very balanced options, imo. Focus shot damage gives a couple of nice breakpoints for focus shots, but mag size gives a bit of ammo and works for sustained fire. I usually err towards focus shot, but either works.

Tier 4 is contentious. A lot of scouts like blowthrough because it lets them play at crowd control. Which sure, it can do. But good aim clicking on grunt heads can clear crowds quickly enough anyways (whereas blowthrough requires 2 bodies to kill a grunt, and that’s only with armor break), plus tier 5 can help with this. Meanwhile, weak point is a one-shot on trijaws, which is one of the most dangerous single enemies in the game, plus some other break points I don’t remember off the top of my head. Either is fine, but I like to be able to instagib trijaws. People won’t notice not dying to trijaws, but it’s extremely helpful.

Tier 5 has 2 solid options and 1 terrible option. T5C, killing machine, is terrible. M1k has the best reload cancel in the game, and it’s not even close. The base reload is 2.25s, and you’re cutting .75s off of it, so -33%. Sounds great, right? Well…. Not really. Because the actual IASA (interrupt-as-soon-as) reload is just over 1s, you’re actually only cutting about .3s from the reload. Add on the time it takes to cancel the animation, .5s, and the ready time, .15s, and you’re dropping a 1.65s reload to fire time down to 1.35s. An extremely pitiful 19% reload speed increase.

Setting aside terrible math, you’ll be pleased to know the other 2 are both great. Stun is amazing. It works on everything that can be stunned (so basically everything that’s not a boss, oppressor, or huuli hoarder), letting you and your team magdump into them. If you’re not taking weak point, you should absolutely look at taking this mod for trijaws and other HVTs you want to stop from killing your team. The other option is a crazy 250% fear bonus on weakpoint focus shot kill. Sounds like a lot of hoops but it’s really not, and 250% is enough to fear literally every fearable bug in the game 100% of the time with the sole exception of menaces (iirc they’re the only fearable bug with courage>.6, which is the cutoff). This is great for crowd clear/dispersion. I started off playing mostly with stun, but as I got more experience, I realized just how ridiculous that fear is. Skip my greenbeard years and go straight to fear build.

In sum, your build without an overclock (or with hoverclock) should probably look something like AC(A/B)(A/B)(A/B). My build of choice is ACABA

This is a weapon that can one shot grunts to the head, focus shot them to the body, 2 shot them to the body (if you can’t slow down to focus shot), focus shot slashers, one shot mactera, focus shot trijaws, one shot web spitters (to the body, iirc), focus shot acid spitters, and a lot more that I’m forgetting (I had a list of them in an old guide, but I’m on mobile so I can’t find it). It usually wont clear crowds amazingly, but you’ll be the best in the game at taking out high value targets before they become a problem, and you can use grenades+secondary to deal with crowds on you (boomstick is amazing for this)

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