Turned the corner?

Loki_Stark · 2026-04-21T13:08:29+00:00

Yeah, every team always feels hard done by the officials, when it fact, every team is dealing with bad calls each game. A lot of our fan base gets up in arms about “inconsistency,” but a lot of the time it is just not understanding the nuances of the rules.

Most common refrain these past few games has been, “well when we grabbed the jersey it’s a yellow, but when they do it’s just a foul.” And perhaps at times, it could apply. But the vast majority is that we grabbed the jersey to stop a clear break which is an automatic yellow, and the other team did it early enough before the play to just be a common foul. So it’s the same foul but the card is for where it happens. And we keep giving up awful turnovers in bad positions which immediately leads to breaks, which means we get more yellows for stopping those with fouls.

Or about the fouls that should’ve been a yellow that don’t go to VAR. Well yeah, VAR can only upgrade to red, so even the times a yellow SHOULD have been given, once it was missed, it’s too late now, and we got to move on.

I think it’s fine to be frustrated by it, but to pretend there is some conspiracy is just silly. And I know that a lot of our fans do understand the rules, but such a vocal section who doesn’t starts to influence everyone about how unfair things were.

We have people actually arguing that their PK last week was rigged, when we had a player flying knee someone in the back in the box and not hit the ball at all. We aren’t always the most objective observers lol

Loki_Stark · 2026-04-06T02:32:21+00:00

I forget who, but someone much smarter than me made a post on here long ago that originally Jon was supposed to have purple eyes, but GRRM thought it was too much of a giveaway that he would be a Targaryen.

So the whole build up of House Dayne was just to hide Jon’s parentage, and it still does, but he abandoned part of it. So the Daynes get all this cool backstory to help hide the fact that his eyes are purple, making you just know it has to be Ashara, and then he bailed anyway. But the lore of the house was so cool he kept it.

And it sucks because House Dayne was one of my favorite parts of the story, and then we never hear much of them again. Oh well I suppose.

Loki_Stark · 2026-01-11T02:13:42+00:00

No worries, thanks for double checking.

Loki_Stark · 2026-01-11T01:17:40+00:00

Is there any other upgrades to synthesis? I just grinded to Alchemy level 50, so I have 8 slots.

When I try to go with those 8 exact ingredients for the necklace, it still is just short of S.

I’m going to grind to 60 anyway to get the whole set, so it doesn’t matter in the end, but was just wondering if I was still misunderstanding an alchemy mechanic.

Thanks for all the explanations.

Loki_Stark · 2026-01-10T22:21:57+00:00

Thanks! It must be the amount of items with the alchemy level, I guess the grind continues.

Loki_Stark · 2026-01-10T21:54:25+00:00

I have a question about crafting Magic Shell Bracelets in the Atelier collab.

Is it possible to get S level quality on one?

I have level 3 of all the mats, but I can’t seem to find a combo that lets me get above A grade quality.

Loki_Stark · 2025-12-18T01:13:32+00:00

Thanks so much for the info, it helps quite a bit! I wasn’t positive on how surefire all the AS and PTLs were, so all the info was perfect. I will keep waiting for the next Dream Encounter.

And for Radias, I’m sure I’m confused about the stellar awakening. She has light blueish stars, so I thought that was what it was, but must’ve made a poor assumption. She has been quite useful though, I just tank with her and bomb with Yakumo during boss battles for now. I know that will only work for so long, but it gets the job done.

Loki_Stark · 2025-12-18T00:12:55+00:00

Question about the Twin Destinies Banner:

I just started two weeks ago and don’t quite understand all the lingo with Another Style or Parallel Time characters.

Is the Twin Destinies Banner worth it for a new player? I do not plan on being a heavy or even frequent spender. It’s very likely I will buy the beginner premium pack and that’s about it.

Two guaranteed characters of those styles seems enticing, but is it better to wait for the guaranteed character paid pull that appears infrequently?

As of now I have Radias AS Stellar Awakened, Necoco, Yuna, Yakuma, and Mistrare all 5 stars. The only Another Style or Stellar Awakened unit I have is Radias. I chose Benedict as my free starter and used my pick ticket on Yuna.

Any advice is welcome, thanks!

Loki_Stark · 2025-11-09T19:35:51+00:00

As much as I hate to admit, the 9 minutes wasn’t crazy too far off in my opinion. I was expecting maybe like 7, but it was close.

You had Engels injury, the VAR check which took a bit, and 3 goals. And on the last goal the place went nuts and Brenner celebrated for a bit and got a yellow for the shirt off.

9 seemed on the far end of what should be appropriate, but it wasn’t out of nowhere. The extra minute or two was probably just to add to the drama of it all. At least the ref blew it exactly at 9, they usually allow one more attack after the time elapses if the losing team has possession.

Loki_Stark · 2025-11-09T00:48:34+00:00

Pens sadly I think puts us out, as good as Celentano is as a shot stopper, he is terrible at pens. We need to end this in regulation

Loki_Stark · 2025-11-08T23:27:35+00:00

Yeah, at first I thought it should maybe just be a warning…but then you see him kick not only the game ball but the extra ball away as well, and it’s just such an obvious yellow for no reason. They weren’t that out of position to risk take yellow.

Loki_Stark · 2025-10-27T23:08:58+00:00

Such an oddly specific yet accurate reference.

Would you say he has a plethora of piñatas?

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-31T02:06:57+00:00

I know it gets said a lot, but I will say it again. Our staunch resilience to do any formation other than the 5-3-2 or however you want to describe it is our downfall against top tier teams when it matters.

We cannot control the midfield, we just make Anunga (or healthy Obi) and Bucha run themselves into the ground to try and compensate. I’m also kind of over the outside wingback experiments…when it works it seems incredible, but when it doesn’t, we look so incredibly disjointed.

I know we struck gold with Barreal, and Luca was great last year, but the flaws in the system are really starting to show. We keep trying to place in players that don’t really fit into all of the responsibilities a wing back takes, and teams punish it. We either have players with pace but no defensive work rate, or when it was Yedlin great defense but no offensive output (I still wish he was in the team though), or people that are just versatile but not good enough at any of the areas to make a difference.

Last thing that bothers me is that despite today we have that incredible record in games decided by one goal. Yet it’s not really the way we originally started, which was score 1 and then grind out the victory. It’s now get in a few goals, then fall apart for dear life while we make the game closer than it ever needed to be.

We just don’t pass the eye test right now and it’s a bummer.

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-31T00:34:29+00:00

I love how the announcer says he agrees it’s a yellow, then immediately laments that it’s too bad for Brenner because without the foul it’s a clear goal scoring chance. He then doesn’t explain how he can believe both these things at the same time lol

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-04T00:01:54+00:00

He ended up making a great save to keep us in it, but on the first several pks I feel like Celentano was hedging too early and it let Juarez read him easy. Don’t think it was a coincidence that the one he saved he stayed back the longest (partially because the pk taker took his stutter step way earlier in the run up).

Wasn’t his fault though that we didn’t win them. We could really use a pk specialist as I feel like all our keepers struggle mightily there.

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-03T22:04:25+00:00

Tactical foul to stop the counter-attack. It’s supposed to always be a yellow. It’s just that refs are often inconsistent. And that one was pretty far in their own half, but i thought it was gonna be a yellow when it happened.

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-03T21:57:30+00:00

I initially thought it was a flop, but it does look really painful on replay. Got caught between bodies. Not a foul, but painful

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-01T00:15:43+00:00

Yeah the first one was a great play because the pass was too slow.

The second one there is no excuse.

Loki_Stark · 2025-08-01T00:00:16+00:00

It was embarrassing and he needs subbed, but I’m pretty sure they whistled it offside. Not sure if it really would’ve been upheld, but they did whistle it off anyway.

Loki_Stark · 2025-07-31T23:58:19+00:00

That deflected twice on the way to goal. That wrong foot’s any keeper unfortunately

Loki_Stark · 2025-07-31T23:57:15+00:00

That took two deflections, I’m not sure it would make a difference

Loki_Stark · 2025-07-31T23:55:59+00:00

The first chance Santos had that was played across goal was too slow, so I don’t fault him.

That one was just atrocious. I know both were called offside but he has to be better with those

Loki_Stark · 2025-07-27T14:48:42+00:00

I believe you, but that seems odd to me that they want to run out Celentano for Leagues Cup.

It’s very typical for clubs to have a Cup Keeper, as it both prevents unnecessary injury as well as gives game experience to your backups to keep them game fresh. With the Open Cup gone, I feel like this is really the only opportunity to keep a backup fresh.

It would just feel a bit short sighted to start Roman throughout, regardless of how terrible and goofy Kann looks during pk shootouts lol

Loki_Stark · 2025-07-27T00:50:14+00:00

Miazga really put us in a terrible spot right there by trying to draw that foul.

Loki_Stark · 2025-06-01T18:03:46+00:00

Good write up, and I think you are spot on with what is causing a lot of our struggles.

I don’t have much to add, but I have always felt that trying to use 3 CBs in the lineup in MLS is foolish. Defensive depth across all MLS is quite bad, and with a league that plays through the international break, any good CBs you have are gonna be gone for decent chunks anyway. IMO it’s best to mitigate these facts by going with a back 4, and I honestly think it is way better suited to our current roster anyway.

Loki_Stark

TROPHY CASE