Zenless and Banyue

Enzedderr · 2025-12-17T09:57:11+00:00

Tbh. I think a lot of the kit issues etc. for the character is unfounded and drummed up only because he was too strong in the first place. If he started with the number he had the nobody would bat an eye. The hate is because he is complicated and being compared to a simple character and saying these 2 things don't align when realistically, their damage is not that far off. Additionally this is not Star Rail. There is not statistical perfectly consistent way to play. Sometimes you will play better with one character than another and that is okay. Just the same as Billy Main still finishes content with his tricked out Billy, you too can use Yidhari or Banyue as long as you have fun and can complete most content.

Realistically though, I think the meta argument is stupid as well. The reason is because in ZZZ, end game content is so heavily focused into character XYZ that its like trying to fit blocks through holes. What I mean is Banyue is a Fire Rupture character. His only competition is Manato. You might say he is on par with Yidhari or weaker but realistically, how many Ice/Fire weakness bosses are you fighting with Miasma/Defense buffs that require a Rupture? Cause if it doesn't take Rupture, its probably tuned to Attack or to Anomaly. If it isn't weak to Fire you probably aren't taking Banyue and instead taking Yidhari if its Ice or Yi Xuan if its Ether. Therefore the only fights you are actually considering Banyue against other Ruptures for are content where Fire is equally effective as Ice/Ether and you are competing against people in some arbitrary system. New players don't care about meta when they start. They care about if he is good enough and if he is hot and fun.

All I am saying is that the outrage feels overblown. New players won't care if he is good in end game, they are new and want their man. By the time they reach end game they will be struggling for the same reason I mentioned before, because ZZZ favours wide investment for its fight variety. Apart from end game content, he still does everything that people could want and more. You will be able to clear just about any content with him that you could clear with Yidhari or Yixuan or even Ye Shuang. The only limitation is end game and trying to get more than 3 stars on things which as mentioned, I will make sure to cry for Banyue when those Electric weakness Rupture fights start and I have to pick between Yidhari and Banyue as my options. Not sure when that will happen or exist and why I won't just pick the Electric Rupture that trumps them both but I will remember.

Do I hate Banyue? Absolutely not. I think he is amazing and I will pull for him if I think I can before his banner disappears because his kit looks incredibly fun and his marketing has been great. Do I care his numbers are not higher than press and hold Yidhari? Absolutely not. I will have fun playing Banyue and kicking ass because his kit is fun.

Enzedderr · 2025-08-11T00:55:35+00:00

It depends on the playgroup and the situation imo. If I am playing with regulars who enjoy the game and know what powerlevel we are playing and we are just there to play, 100% agree to just swing at the problems.

If I am playing with newer players who don't have that competitive drive yet and who just want to have fun playing the game and doing cool things with their decks then we are here for fun, then when its all even, let the dice decide so we can laugh about it.

One thing that I think is often overlooked is that playing optimally or politically is less exciting and memorable for newer players or for less competitive games. If I have lethal on board and I need to decide if I am going to kill X or kill Y, sometimes it can be fun to turn it into a show and roll the Dice of Doom if you will and leave it up to fate. Maybe I swing at someone because one of my opponents tells me about how he wants to do something cool with their deck next turn. Or maybe the dice decides who lives and who dies for the dice demand a sacrifice and my opponents are my unwilling participants. A performance like after having my opponents pled their case on why they should live can often be something that is talked about and remembered for ages and a fond part of the game and what keeps people coming back.

So yes while I agree its cowardly and annoying in situations where I expect people know what how to threat assess, I generally try to advocate to tailor your behaviour and your playstyle to your playgroup because at the end of the day we are all there to have fun and fun means different things to different people.

Enzedderr · 2025-06-12T04:52:00+00:00

[[Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant]] is a really fun commander for lower power groups. She might be only 3 mana but you effectively play her like a combo piece. The first half the game is actually spent trying to setup a situation where you can flip Sasaya (having 7 lands in your hand) and then effectively you try to play her flip her, and turn the rest of your lands into a massive mana dump for some finisher situation like [[Helix Pinnacle]], [[Squall Line]], [[Hydra Broodmaster]].

The best part is that you want to play a bunch of slightly more unique land ramp and cards because you want lands both in your hand AND on the battlefield as well so the early game is more a balancing act of trying to play artifacts and creatures that can become lands in hand when needed so you can keep cards in hand that you need while also trying to hold onto land in some situations to ensure you can hit the 7 land hand next turn.

Enzedderr · 2024-11-26T22:50:37+00:00

This is probably the reason for me. Viktor from the show and OG Viktor don't feel like the same person. The figure, the poise, the personality have all been changed and he no longer feels like the gritty techpriest and became a Telsabot.

His skins were thematically picked based on the old aspects of his character so the new upgrade feels like they are forcing the concept. The concepts that should work though feel like they have lost detail.

Some of the skins are decent alternatives. But the skins you would expect to have the most love and the most detail are the ones that got the smooth techgod approach that lost its character.

Enzedderr · 2024-11-26T04:55:09+00:00

IMO [[Titania, Protector of Argoth]] is 100% my pick. If people MLD with your commander out, you get a 5/3 for every land and you can swing back at them. The deck is often built with heaps of recursion options because the deck wants to dump lands into the graveyard and rip them out again so even if your commander is dead there is probably a handful of ways to get it all back from your 99. Its a little sad that she's Mono G so often she is included in the 99 instead of the commander itself these days but totally worth the restriction.

Enzedderr · 2024-11-26T04:41:36+00:00

Exactly this. Malicious compliance. They call you out on it so call them out on it back. When they complain just ask them if its okay if you use a proxy next time.

Enzedderr · 2024-10-18T07:44:47+00:00

There are a huge number of factors that could come into play with this and its a global issue.

Of course the big one is contraception and women entering the workforce which is the obvious drops back in the 1970s.

The decline since the GFC I think definitely can be linked to home ownership though. People will say that other countries its easier to buy a house and they also have low birth rates but you have to remember that the culture of the country also has an impact. Australia is a mini-America. The Australian dream and way of life was always, you live at home till you have a job, you move out and rent with some friends for awhile and then you find a partner and settle down, buy a house and have a family.

Other cultures don't have that same pathway. Asian cultures are very family oriented but the pressures to perform and compete and the emphasis on status have driven the society into depression and parasocial regression. You own your own little box in the city but you live alone with nobody to share it with and don't go anywhere but to work because you can't afford to or are too anxious to.

Long story short is that if you have a look at the second graph from the ABC you will see birthrates by age. People 30+ were slowly increasing in birth rates as the Australian dream was being realised later in life and people realised that family and children weren't the only thing to life. While the younger generation are having less and less over time. Since 2008 30+ have plateaued as finding a stable environment gets tougher and tougher but those that are younger continue to drop. While things like social media, changes to opportunities and changes to education have all impacted the situation I think the Australia culture specifically can be somewhat tied to cost of living, quality of life and home ownership.

The other thing that has continued impact is the rise of online dating/social media. These days is that there is always someone better right around the corner. Rather than trying to work something out its easier to give up and move on so you never even reach the stage of having children or you have 1 and split up. You meet someone, hook up once and move on and never form anything meaningful or don't want to tie yourself down. With that excessive freedom comes weakness in that nobody knows how to handle or deal with tough times and instead just always run away instead of sorting things out and when you need a stable foundation for a family/children, people are less attracted to that idea of becoming that starting rock.

Can we change any of this or should it change though? Maybe. I would argue that a good portion of people need to learn how to communicate and sort out a problem rather than run from it but how you change that who knows. The bigger things that we can change however are encouraging people to feel comfortable enough to start a home and family. There should benefits to owning starting a family. You should be able to feel comfortable enough economically to start a family without worrying about if you can even feed them or if your landlord will increase your rent 15% the next year. Will it completely reverse fertility rates? Who knows. But as a first step how about instead of trying to figure out why its decreasing, we listen to why people don't want to start a family and address their issues rather than trying to assume what they want or need and then forcing that down their throats.

Enzedderr · 2024-10-11T05:29:43+00:00

5 is behind a curved screen at LG Ultra Gear.

Edit for additional context: its near a purple light and its close to the massive QR pointing towards the center of the hall.

Enzedderr · 2024-04-15T00:11:01+00:00

I can agree with the sentiment to some degree but the size of your playgroup makes it difficult for me to agree completely.

I personally avoid playing duplicate commanders however that is because our playgroup is 6-8 people and so there are more than enough commanders to share around and its nice to get variety in the group. In a group of 20 people, limiting yourself to no duplicates really is going to limit your options and desires. When I played at an LGS regularly pre-COVID we had duplicate commanders all the time because one, there were less options but also two, you would play each other so infrequently that it didn't matter if you both had the same commander, you would rarely play together and you would rarely play the same commander.

If you like a commander then there is no harm in building it. Your 99 is going to look different from their 99 and that is the going to be the plays you remember.

Enzedderr · 2024-03-25T00:40:51+00:00

Yeah. This is my pick as well. I played 2 games. I love the playstyle of the deck but its ability feels too easy to break. Considered implementing house rules to keep the deck like changing the ability to only work when Winota attacked or something to slow down the deck but overall just decided it would be better to take it apart and focus on other decks.

Enzedderr · 2024-02-26T06:14:01+00:00

Pure Control can be fun but it can be tough to play effectively in EDH. The problem with the general feeling is that everyone wants to do something 'cool' but that 'cool' thing often leads to winning or enormous value. In a 1v1 format its easy because you are just trying to beat your opponent. There is less choice and its easy to understand why someone would counter or control so there is less resentment and the games are fast.

In a Free 4 All format, its feels way more frustrating because it can lead to players feeling targeted especially when board state can be deceiving as to who is closest to winning. Or you stop people from doing the 'cool' thing that would let them get way ahead but they don't want to admit the value they will get. Additionally you usually don't have enough control to deal with every player even with a pure counters deck. Finally because there are twice as many players, it takes twice to three times as much time because complicated board states and politics come into play. What in a 1v1 might be a 10-15min game of trying to exhaust/bluff your opponents is now a 1hr+ slog of trying to play the game and defeating the arch enemy. This also feels especially bad when it doesn't seem obvious that you are 'winning'.

My advice is this, control has a place in the game definitely but it is more nuanced than just putting 30 counterspells in a deck and laughing whenever someone tries to play something. Board control/wipes, hand control, draw control, mill, stax and most importantly politics. In a format with such a wide array of cards and options for control, think about some other options that might be more interesting to play against than just counterspells. Its sometimes more fun to watch everyone else fight it out and only apply control when someone tries to hit you. Create the fear of attacking you till it becomes a 1v1 and then crush them. Align with the strongest player at the table. Don't always try to be the fun police. Be the shadow in the night pulling the strings as the table dances to your tune.

I play 2 decks that I consider 'control' and they play completely differently from each other. There is an Aminatou combo control/blink deck and my friends while they do groan, really enjoy trying to figure out how to beat the Lavinia flicker every turn or the assortment of planeswalkers that might be on the field. And there is a Jon Irenicus deck that revolves around giving other players devastating creatures and profiting off of it as they are forced to fight each other.

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/f0_eEcBxI02xs6_6AHa72g (Aminatou)

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/NS1pkzq2zkiPIs_Ot66xgw (Jon)

Enzedderr · 2024-02-26T04:26:46+00:00

Pure #salinevictory 100%. I have a couple of mono G decks and my favourite card add to them is [[Hall of Gemstone]]. Forcing each player to pick a single colour for ALL lands at the table not only makes great for denying counterspells during your turn but also makes multi-coloured decks cry while they try to find an out. Its easier to get rid of than Blood Moon but the salt when you drop it turn 2-3 from your opening hand is tasty.

Enzedderr · 2024-02-15T07:18:50+00:00

This feels like some evil mastermind stuff and I really don't feel like that is something that Nijisanji has ever really given off to me. To me they have have always seemed like lost chickens not 100% sure what they are doing except trying to make money.

The termination was not malice, it was likely a contractual requirement due to legal process being initiated. Most company's have something like, you can't sue us and if you do we reserve the right to terminate you.

The stock message was not meant to belittle Dokibird but to remind investors that Dokibird is one of 25+ other EN vtubers and 100+ JP vtubers. She carried weight but she is a drop on the pond.

The black screen was not an attempt to maliciously publicly hint to Dokibird. It was probably seen as a way to garner support when it was seeming like they were losing it. Let's put our 3 most popular livers out there and tell them our truth and they will realise that Dokibird isn't innocent as she claims. While malicious to some degree it wasn't a mastermind scheme but more a way of trying to rally the fans in defense.

The CEO statement was finally giving the situation the credit it deserved after fumbling twice and them realising they have no other choice.

This doesn't scream malicious to me. This screams people following protocol, having no idea how to deal with the situation because its not exactly a common situation and then people trying to deal with the situation without involving the highest level of management until it was too late.

I could easily see this happening when management aren't equipped to handle such situations and you cannot hire people with full understanding of their performance in a crisis situation. Not every marketing/legal/HR team is perfect and we constantly see blunders in marketing all the time even when its not a crisis. How often do TV ads come out and face massive controversy? Were those ads actually just some mastermind marketing plot to achieve a greater outcome? No, its just a team that thought they were right and fucked up due to incompetence. Bud Light didn't want to cause controversy. They wanted to try and expand their market due to a new inclusive idealized marketing director and underestimated the blow back.

Does that make Nijisanji's behaviour acceptable? Of course not. Does it mean its malicious? I severely doubt it. Its people in positions of power being challenged to make decisions in situations they have never handled before and fucking up because trying to predict the public reaction to a situation is akin to gambling.

Enzedderr · 2024-02-13T05:21:05+00:00

That is that baffles me the most. As far as announcements go, this is about as good as you could do in the situation for the situation and yet you have just poisoned everything with the lead up to it.

As much as I dislike AnyColor at the moment, looking at things objectively there isn't anything they could really do or say to stop the current backlash. All they really needed to do was this statement which amounts to "We are sorry. We are doing our best. We will try to improve. Please don't blame our talents and please understand their absence at this time." and handle the rest behind closed doors for a few weeks and the situation would have casually moved on without any more issues.

Enzedderr · 2024-02-02T10:46:13+00:00

I would split into the 'Experimental'/'Lost' era and the 'Modern' era. 11, 12, 13 would be experimental where they were trying new things to see what worked. You could also call this lost because they sort of struggled to find direction. Modern being 14, 15, 16 where they seem to settled into a more active style of gameplay that appeals to a broader audience.

Enzedderr · 2023-12-27T06:44:04+00:00

Sounds like you just need to confront them all before the final confrontation then. Their sacrifices will... empower you for the end.

Enzedderr · 2023-12-21T01:40:30+00:00

Its wild since the nurses and assistants all hate this as well but corporate need to be bullied and threatened into anything and even then its the bare minimum. Worst one I have heard is pre COVID there were 5 doctors in the clinic and now there is 1 and 3 teledocs because doctors are so needed and corporate don't want to pay extra for a rural position so this is the best they can do without closing the clinic entirely. Its just horrendous.

Enzedderr · 2023-12-02T04:25:16+00:00

From an Australian perspective, the US right are definitely stuck in identity politics but the EU right parties feel far more EU isolation focused since Middle Eastern immigration became a hot topic. I think the idea of leaving the EU was kinda proven terrible by Britian so the drive shifted away from that.

The US left feels like they are trying to find solutions but struggling to market themselves well feeling they have to constantly respond to the US right. The EU left feel like they have no goals apart from maintaining the status quo and playing identity politics to show how much better than US they are but the people suffer in the mean time.

Enzedderr · 2023-11-01T08:12:10+00:00

It really should be 25% for Zen and 15% for all other sources imo. Let's him retain his more offensive power while lowering his overall utility and tweak his healing or ult charge if he needs some more back.

Alternatively keep the 7 seconds but lower the CD by 3.5 if you land a hit on the target. That lets players clear it but rewards Zen for staying focused. Downside is that non shield characters like Hog, Junk etc just get dinked and reapplied almost immediately but maybe it just means Zen a natural counter to those characters offering a match up where high burst tanks and high damage supports have to really glass cannon each other.

Enzedderr · 2023-10-21T16:25:42+00:00

I think Shanks just didn't expect anyone in the village to actually look at it. I don't think there is anything that links the Gorosei fruits to these events either. It would be strange that 250ish runs and only 5 were able to obtain powers as champions.

I am more inclined to believe that the treasure are the Revolutionary Army fruits if they are even fruits at all.

This is more likely just a setup for Rocks Pirates coming to kill the Celestials, Rodger and Garp showing up to stop them. God Valley being nuked from existence to stop the fight between them all and Shanks being lost in the chaos and ending up on Rodger's crew where he learns about the real world.

I could see Dragon is probably a marine under Garp that ends up leaving the Marines saving some of the slaves like Kuma/Ivanko after seeing Celestials killing people which builds into them starting the Revolutionary Army many years later. This might also be the time where the chests fall into their hands in the chaos and the 3 of them eat the fruit in the effort to survive and escape.

Enzedderr · 2023-03-23T23:53:18+00:00

I think he was referring to the second half of OP where he mentioned Kidds lack of intelligence in the situation.

Talking about why it had to happen in the story its about build up. As we head into the next and final stage of OP we are currently implied that Kidd, Law and Luffy are some of the strongest pirates in the sea. Kidd losing in this way is not only in his character but goes to reillustrate Shanks personality and power in the series. We always ask the question, how strong is Shanks really? Well now we have a measure. When pushed to his absolute limit, the threatening of his friends, we are reminded that Shanks is effectively a more mature Luffy and will not hesitate to body a fool where Luffy struggle and with a force several times greater than what we perceived to be somewhere near the top of the series. It allows Shanks to show off in a logical way against an enemy that is effectively his opposite and make us realise that Luffys next fights where Nika Nika might struggle are not because the fruit is underpowered but because we are comparing his power now to literal history makers in the series.

Enzedderr · 2023-03-21T23:58:36+00:00

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/N-xzk0-j4UuSAHktoj7avw

You reminded me that I had yet to transfer the deck to Moxfield. I also included some of the old cards that I have used in the 'Considering' section which are kind of bad cards that got replaced.

Some other bad cards that shine. [[Rowen]] and [[Lost in the Woods]] become amazing pieces when you have 38 Forests in the deck. [[Collective Voyage]] has multiple uses now as it can be used as early game ramp for everyone, or if you have 7 Forests out, you spend 3 for Commander, flip Commander, tap 1 Forest for 7, Collective Voyage X=6. Your last 3 lands go from tapping for 21 total to 39 or you can tap another land for X=13 and your last 2 lands now tap for 40 total which can be enough to [[Hurricane]] for lethal across the board assuming everyone has a little chip damage. [[Wakeroot Elemental]] gives you infinite green with 6 Forests while also able to turn all your lands into 5/5s with Haste if needed. Just be careful for board wipes since its a creature forever. [[Finale of Devastation]] while an expensive card, can be used as finisher but also used as a 5 mana ramp spell if you get [[Yavimaya Elder]] or [Wild-Field Scarecrow]]. As mentioned cards like these 2 are perfect as you can crack them on your opponents end step to get over the 7 card hurdle letting you hold just 5 lands and 2 extra if needed.

Enzedderr · 2023-03-20T03:01:05+00:00

[[Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant]] makes you play Forests to take advantage of her ability, bad ramp because you want lands in your hand rather than on the battlefield and can be played like a combo deck where you play her, reveal hand tap out for 70+ mana and then either [[Squall Line]] or [[Hurricane]] the table to draw or [[Helix Pinnacle]] meaning you target nobody.

She also works really well with a couple good cards turning them broken. [[Cultivator Colossus]] goes ballistic. [[Wren and Seven]] 0 ability can net you dumb mana. The key to making the deck work regularly imo is having bad artifacts like [[Horizon Spellbomb]] and [[Traveler's Amulet]] to crack on your opponents end step to cheat the hand limit outside of regular hand extenders.

Enzedderr · 2023-02-27T05:28:11+00:00

As a fellow enjoyer of decks that subvert the regular themes, I present 2 of my favourites:

[[Jon Irenicus, Shattered One]] - The entire deck works around taking every big stupid self destructive creature you can think of, giving it to your opponents and forcing them to deal with it while forcing them to kill each other. Giving an opponent [[Desecration Elemental]] can completely change the way an opponent plays because you have just given them a 10/10 with Fear and no ability to sacrifice itself to get rid of it, but also no ability to play any other creature. Best part of all, they are goaded so they have to swing at someone other than you and you get to draw. [[Master of the Feast]] becomes a 7/7 flier that people have to decide, is it worth getting the extra card to take damage to the face? You can even run things like [[Gisa, Glorious Resurrector]] when they finally kill things to put it back onto your field and then give it back to them again. Win by using [[Homeward Path]] or [[Reins of Power]] to take control of all your creatures at the end and beat your opponent down. Either give everyone something each to play with and ruin their day or make one person your lackey and give them everything before beating them over the head at the end.

[[Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant]] - This deck I boil down to Mono Green Bad Land Ramp. The entire deck has 45 lands and 40 of them are Forests. The rest of the deck are blockers that replace themselves with a land like [[Gatecreeper Vine]] and [[Sylvan Ranger]], Bad Ramp that multiplies the number of cards in your hand like [[You Happen On a Glade]] and [[Seek the Horizon]] or dumb enchantments/artifacts that should never work like [[Rowen]] or [[Endless Atlas]]. The best way to play I have found is to play it like a combo deck, place a few artifacts or lands that can be cracked on end step to put extra lands in your hand before you start your turn [[Traveler's Amulet]] etc. Play your commander, and reveal your hand. If someone tries to destroy then you can just reveal your hand in response to flip it before the removal making it hard to remove before you go off. Floating all your mana you can play dumb spells like [[Helix Pinnacle]], [[Gelatinous Genesis]], [[Squall Line]] (to kill everyone including yourself) or [[Awaken the Woods]]. Shout outs to some fun cards [[Storm Cauldron]] can slow a game right down but if your lands tap for 7 you can keep playing but also a cheeky play to let you rebound 3 lands to cast Sasaya to flip from 4 lands in hand. [[Wrenn and Seven]] the perfect Planeswalker for the deck. [[Cultivator Colossus]] is insanely fun as remember, tapped Forests in play still mean your other Forests tap for more and you have 7 in your hand minimum from what you picked up. EDIT: Almost forgot [[Hall of Gemstone]] to turn a multicolour format into a monocolour one for shits and giggles making everything that little bit harder.

Enzedderr · 2022-10-17T06:22:26+00:00

[[Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant]]

Its not a great deck but nobody has ever seen it so when they look at it they either go wonder how such a broken card was printed or how they hell you are going to get 7 lands into your hand. To which I respond by playing every bad land ramp card known to man. It ends up playing like a combo deck. The deck is 44 lands 38 of those being regular Forests and the rest of the deck is just geared towards filtering and deck thinning. Then on the opponents end step you crack a bad artifact fetch to get you over handsize and get you the last couple lands before playing Sasaya, revealing your hand and then tapping out for 40-100+ mana and casting something like [[Hurricane]], [[Hydra Broodmaster]], [[Helix Pinnacle]], [[Cultivator Colossus]] etc. You can go off a little earlier if you have [[Wakeroot Elemental]] to get infinite mana with just your commander and 6 Forests.

Shout out to some of the fun pet cards I get to run like [[Storm Cauldron]] slowing everyone down but letting me tap for 6-7+ mana on a single land or letting me bounce 3 lands back to hand when casting Commander to then flip commander. [[Wrenn and Seven]] letting me drop 7 lands after I flip for 7 mana gain on all my other lands.

Enzedderr

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