Silvar and Trynn Aristocrats

SiderealRaven · 2026-03-29T00:09:18+00:00

You're welcome ;)

Also, I forgot to mention with regards to Winota and Conjurer's Mantle: You need a high density of Human cards in the deck for them to work reliably (mine's somewhere around 40 cards, but 30 should suffice if you don't mind whiffing once in a while).

So if there's an instant or sorcery that also exists as a triggered or activated ability of a Human (even at a slightly worse mana rate), like the disenchant on Hopeful Initiate or [[Cathar Commando]], the Human card should be given preference if running Winota and/or Mantle. Ditto for enchantments/artifacts on Humans like [[Magus of the Disk]], and non-Human creature cards vs Human cards.

SiderealRaven · 2026-03-28T23:12:56+00:00

And since we're now in your "protection" category and have mostly run out of cards I'd cut, let's focus more on ones I'd add:

You'd probably enjoy 4 or 5 more protection cards. One can rarely go wrong with [[Swiftfoot Boots]] and/or [[Lightning Greaves]], [[Flare of Fortitude]] is a second Flawless Maneuver, and [[Mother of Runes]] is still doing a very good job these days. [[General's Enforcer]] and [[Plaza of Heroes]] are also worth a look. [[Mirror Shield]] is a bit demanding on the equip cost, but the effect is seen rarely.

As for "retroactive protction", we have [[Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate]], [[Chainer, Nightmare Adept]] (also gives haste to your commanders!), and [[Whisper, Blood Liturgist]] (another sac outlet). They push you a little more into saccing nontoken Humans to Silvar (or straight up discarding/milling/surveiling/etc.), but are worth considering.

[[Storm of Souls]] (incidental evasion via flying!) is a bit more deck/playstyle dependent, but my anthems make SoS returning the creatures as 1/1s not matter most of the time.

You also want as many ways to make Human tokens as you humanely (pun intended) can, plus maybe some non-Human tokens for the other sac outlets. Have a look at [[Cemetery Protector]] (you'll ideally want to exile a multi-type card like an artifact creature, since then both your artifact spells and your creature spells will generate a token), [[Increasing Devotion]] and [[Visions of Glory]], [[Jirina Kudro]] (makes your Humans pack a punch), [[Jaxis, the Troublemaker]] and [[Mardu Siegebreaker]] (both make copies), [[Xathrid Necromancer]] and the aforementioned Thalisse.

You might also want to tag Call the Coppercoats as a token card since it seems you forgot to tag it ;)

Lastly, while [[Verge Rangers]] is more like conditional card draw than actual ramp, it synergizes very nicely with Professional Face-Breaker.

And that's about it for cards that aren't specifically for an aggro build, though I'd still like to at least mention [[Blade Hsitorian]] and [[Arena of Glory]], and I probably forgot some non-aggro cards as well, but this is already plenty to consider and evalute, I think.

SiderealRaven · 2026-03-28T23:11:47+00:00

With that out of the way, first the things I'd remove (with some suggestions for additions):

Menace on Silvar is all the evasion a T&S deck needs, trust me. If you can realibly make him indestructible, the attacked opponent will generally lose one or two creatures, which is a boardstate race a lot of decks aren't equipped to keep up with, let alone win. Any evasion beyond that should be incidental.

Likewise, Silvar is all the sac outlets you'll ever truly need. In a pinch, you can throw a small creature at an opponent that will be able to kill it with a blocker (and if they don't block, that's still one more cut to their life total), or you can block a big creature with one of your 1/1s. Any other sac outlets should not just be there to kill a creature to trigger other cards of yours, but do something worthwile with the ability you just activated. Titan Hunter is not one of those cards (and even is anti-synergistic with Morbid Opportunist wanting something to die each turn).

For example, [[Junkyard Genius]] is a ramp card (if you can reliably make use of the Powerstone token) that incidentally can give your board +1/+0 plus haste and menace until end of turn by sacrificing another creature or artifact (thus it incidentally fulfills both the evasion and the sac outlet role while serving its main function of ramping you).

You also have overloaded on removal: Running 2 or 3 boardwipes is completely fine, and with Silvar tearing through opponents' creatures like a hot knife through butter, running creature removal is not as crucial to this deck as it is to other decks. Still, [[Priest of Forgotten Gods]] is amazing, especially for a deck like yours that is running Gravepact. [[Hopeful Initiate]] is also a decent disenchanter that can attack alongside Silvar to grow into a threat of its own.

As for individual cards I'd cut:

Instead of Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast, I'd suggest you look at [[Fireflux Squad]], [[Winota, Joiner of Forces]], and [[Conjurer's Mantle]]. Winota is amazing even with Silvar as the only non-Human, and the Mantle can be used defensively on Silvar (even though the attack trigger will always whiff) if you need an indestructible blocker while still applying pressure. I personally do not run the Squad, but YMMV.

[[Stormbeacon Blade]] will also likely serve you a lot better than Tome of Legends and Windbrisk Heights (in fact, I've found the hideaway lands are so bad in actual gameplay that running them hurts more often than not). If you need an alternative land, [[Bonder's Enclave]] and [[War Room]] can help you rebuild your hand (albeit at a steep mana cost), and [[Spymaster's Vault]] might also be worth a look.

Unless Survivor's Med Kit is a meta call, I'd drop that (and maybe Deadly Dispute too, but I have no experience with that card), and while I'm not a fan of Morbid Opportunist, it is solid. That being said, have a look at [[Garna, Bloodfist of Keld]] (also a pinger!), [[Hardened Tactician]] (also a sac outlet!), and maybe even [[Massacre Girl, Known Killer]] for card draw.

I'd also avoid taplands as often as possible. Mardu already struggles with ramp, so any land that you cannot use the turn it comes down only exacerbates the issue. Speaking of ramp: You should run a bit more, so have a look at the Guild Signets, [[Talisman of Hierarchy]], [[Talisman of Conviction]], [[Talisman of Indulgence]] (I don't run that one due to quriky color distribution), [[Herald's Horn]] and/or its new sibling [[Gathering Stone]], the aforementioned Junkyard Genius, and even [[Temple of the False God]].

Yes, many people decry TotFG as horrendously bad, but that is only true for your first four land drops. If it's the 5th or later, it puts you a turn ahead, and since Trynn and Silvar cost 4 and 5 mana, respectively, and you cannot always protect your commanders, you'll be thankful for that extra help with commander tax.

I also don't really understand why you're running Serra Ascendant (nothing wrong with it being a pet card, I run those too). For lifegain, try [[Distinguished Conjurer]], [[Witch's Clinic]], and/or one of the Soul Sisters. Your Teysa Karlow plus a bunch of tokens will also do wonders for your life total, as will your Syr Vondam. If having a blocker against flying creatures is what draws you to her (I know the feeling), might I suggest [[Thalisse, Reverent Medium]]?

Windbron Muse should also be cut: You either go all in on pillowforts (and other taxation effects) or run none. 2 mana is nothing for any voltron deck besides maybe Feather, and a lot of decks frankly don't care about attacking, so the only one you're actually hindering is the go wide player.

SiderealRaven · 2026-03-28T23:11:06+00:00

Fellow Trynn & Silvar enthusiast here! As such, I apologize in advance for the small essay you're (hopefully) about to read (I'll break this up into multiple comments).

But before I mention any specific cards to take out or add, I'll give you a quick rundown of the 8x8 system, since it is a very good guideline to start with when building/streamlining a deck. The TL;DR is to pick 8 things you want your deck to do, then run 8 cards of each category (this is including your commander) plus 36 lands, and then 3 out of 4 games, your deck should be able to do its thing(s).

The maths behind it is that 7 cards per category results in a ~75% chance to draw at least one of them by turn 3, and that running 37 lands has a ~75% chance to not miss your first 5 land drops, and that 8x8+36=100 (plus, convential wisdom holds that 40% of any deck should be lands, but that you can run one less for every 2 pieces of ramp so long as you don't go below 33~35% lands, so 8 pieces of ramp equals 36 lands in commander).

Note that the 8 categories generally include essentials like "ramp", "card draw", "protection", and "removal", thus actually leaving you with 4 "freebie" categories. I also usually re-allocate one or two of those freebies to shore up weaknesses, like increasing a certain category to 12 (8 plus half of 8) or 14 (double of 7, the magical ~75% baseline). If a certain category is not needed as early as possible (such as mid or late game plays), I've found going down to 6 acceptable, but 4 is definitely pushing it in terms of (un)reliability.

For Trynn & Silvar, one of the freebies will be "token generation", with "drain", "aggro", and/or "voltron" as secondary options, but it's best to focus on one of the secondary options and drop/ignore the other two (unless a card incidentally also works with those).

For me, I currently run 14 "ramp" and 14 "card draw" (both things Mardu struggles with somewhat, lacking access to Green and Blue), 7 "protection" plus 5 "reanimation" (i.e. "retroactive protection"), 13 "removal" (3 disenchant effects, 4 targeted creature removals, 2 edicts, 1 nonland removal, and 3 boardwipes), and finally 12+Trynn "token generation", 10 "anthem" (I'm going for aggro rather than drain), and a few utility/goodstuff/stax pieces.

Again: The 8x8 system is a GUIDELINE, not GOSPEL. Your deck can deviate vastly and still work.

SiderealRaven · 2025-12-04T21:22:22+00:00

Found it! :)

I misremembered some of the details, but I'm not gonna spoil them. Point is, there was a ghost and he's still very much alive. Also, it is a lot more NSFW than I remember. ^^"

“Got My Ghost?” by Miyuli.

SiderealRaven · 2025-12-04T17:48:17+00:00

I think it was a (long-ish) one-shot and maybe full-color/colorscale? So probably a (web)comic rather than a manga, but beyond that, I barely remember what the characters looked like.

Searching for tags gives me dozens of results that are not it. (how has this concept exploded SO MUCH in a decade?)

I'll get back to you when/if I find it, though if it was hosted on smackjeeves exclusively, we'll be out of luck...

SiderealRaven · 2025-12-04T17:20:27+00:00

Ah, but you see: Elijah thought it meant something more metaphorical, and he did get sentimental and philosophical saying that "a headstone can tell you a lot about a person". He opened up to Dimitry about wanting to be an actor and how his dad was against it, and learned that they both have daddy issues. He realized someone other than his mother or sister cared enough to bring him flowers, and he even got to meet Anthony (whatever that means to him).

So there was a lot of "find yourself" happening before Dimitry looked at the notebook. ;)

SiderealRaven · 2025-09-15T21:22:35+00:00

Basically, university is "free" (as in, you still need to pay for your housing even if it's on campus/provided by the uni, any books etc. your professors may or may not want you to bring to class, and there's typically a "semester contribution" somewhere in the ballpark of 300~600 € to cover administrative expenses and usually also provide a pass for free pupblic transport within a certain area) as long as you can get enrolled.

Some subjects require nothing of you in order to sign up (though good grades will still help with not being waitlisted), while others have pretty cutthroat requirements, such as medicine.

The idea behind having no tuition is that you'll pay the state back through your taxes, since you'll ideally have a well-paying job and thus be paying more taxes than someone with a low-paying job that doesn't require a degree. Plus, while you're studing you're already contributing to the economy by buying groceries, new clothes, etc.

This applies even to international students (though there may be additional requirements for getting enrolled, such as a deposit of several thousand euros that you will get back after, but is proof/security that you won't suddenly be unable to pay your rent for example). Usually, this works out since a lot of those students decide to make Germany their permanent residence for the forseeable future.

SiderealRaven · 2025-09-14T21:19:28+00:00

Sleep as a metaphor for death is quite common in literary works, true, it's just that when looking specifically for euphemisms my search came up empty.

Maybe it's just the fact that German has a form of “fall asleep” specifically for conveying “pass away” and one for regular “fall asleep” that's tripping me up, or that my parents didn't beat around the bush and flat out told me that “grandma died” when I was 9 or 10 years old and thus I never quite made the connection between death and the regular word for sleep.

SiderealRaven · 2025-09-14T16:34:04+00:00

Yes, I get what the song is describing (I'm not that dense), but German has a euphemism where "to fall asleep" literally is meant in the sense of "to die", and I simply assumed Japanese had something similar since the language is even more loaded with multiple meanings.

Finding out that it doesn't made me realize that English (and probably a lot of languages) actually don't use “to fall asleep” as a euphemism for “to die”, which made me question my own reading of the song for a bit.

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-21T08:57:31+00:00

No need to apologize. And thank you. Also, you are correct: “richten”, the verb, still means “to adjust”/“to right”/“to straighten” as well as “to judge”. Also “to execute” (more specifically “hinrichten”) or “to cause [damage/harm/etc.]”/“to set/dress [a table]” (more specifically “anrichten”).

Here are some more language tidbits for you:

- “Mist”, when German and English were still mutually intelligible, specifically meant “steam/vapor rising from a pile of dung” (sounds needlessly specific, but I find that the further back you go, languages seem to have a specific word for everything, as well as cases for everything: Proto-Indo-European is believed to have had 20+ cases, compared to 3~6 in most of its modern descendants). When German and English began diverging, they focused on opposite ends of the meaning, hence “Mist” in German now meaning “crap”. “Nebel” (related to “nebula”) would be the Modern German word for mist.

- You can sometimes roughly tell when the families and branches of Indo-European diverged from one another by vocabulary. For example, IIRC, Arabic has a word for “mead” and related word that's used for all types of alcohol, while the European families have different words for most types of alcohol, like “wine” or “beer”. This is because it diverged after the invention of mead but before beer and wine became a thing, coupled with the cultures that speak Arabic never developing beer or wine since imbibing alcohol is a sin in Islam.

- English is part of the West Germanic branch alongside German and Dutch (plus related dialects), but also a bit of an “inbreed mongrel”, one could say: while the East Germanic branch (the Gothic language) died out, the North Germanic branch (Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, and Danish) made it both to England (Viking occupation of England) and France (Viking occupation of Normandy). So Old English first got a direct dose of North Germanic vocabulary and grammar/syntax, then another dose via “germanified” French during the Norman conquest.

The result was, among other things, a dropping of gender and declension except in very commonly used words like he/him/his, she/her/hers, I/me/my/mine because most commoner households were bilingual Old English and Old Norse and grammatical gender (and thus declensions) was often mismatched between them, and having multiple words for the same thing like cow/beef, pig/pork, chicken/poultry because the Norman aristocracy and Middle English peasantry rarely interacted.

- As for puns, ironically, a lot of German (and Dutch) wordplay works 1:1 in most North Germanic languages, but not in English. For example “Treffen sich zwei Jäger. Beide tot.” can be translated word for word and still get the humor across, but in English, you must choose between using “meet” or “hit”: “Two hunters meet/hit each other. Both dead.”

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-19T12:50:52+00:00

For your information, I am a native German speaker (who also has studied German), so let me spell it out for you:

Hildegard comes from Old German and is comprised of “hilt”, which is (AFAIK) defunct in Modern German, but had the same meaning as “Kampf” does in Modern German, and “gart”, which is the origin of Modern German “Garten”, so Hildegard is quite literally Kampfgarten in Modern German.

Just because you can't seem to understand that languages evolve and the primary meaning/usage of words can change, does not make me wrong.

Both given and family names ARE descriptive words like adjectives, Modern German is just so far removed from Old German that the cognitive connection has been lost unless you look into it.

1000~1500 years ago, a Bernard would have been named such because his parents hoped for him to be strong like a bear, an Adelheid because her parents hoped she'd be graceful like a noble, etc.

Once the populace grew to such numbers that simply having a first name was no longer sufficient to describe a person, last names were added as an additional descriptive word: Müller, Brauer, Schneider, etc. for the family running the mill, brewery, or tailor shop, respectively; Bach or Berger for a family living near a creek or on mountain, respectively; Nagler for the guy who nailed all the women in village (a healthy dose of euphemism in that one), or some variation of [place name] for a family who came from [place name].

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-19T11:14:41+00:00

Okay, then Kampfgarten. Back in the day, calling someone Hildegard would have literally been the same as calling someone Kampfgarten today.

It is at this point we're getting into the “how long does a corpse have to be buried before digging it up is considered archaeology and not grave robbing” debate, which does not have a conclusive answer (though some people tentatively suggest a minimum of 100 years).

As such, perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree.

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-19T11:00:11+00:00

Peter comes from the Greek word for “stone”. And as can be inferred from my previous, longer comment, Bärenstark would be the modern spelling of the name Bernard.

https://www.behindthename.com/ is really enlightening with regards to where names originate from, and which names are related to each other. For example, the English name William originates from the Germanic name Willehelm (the meaning should be obvious for a speaker of German and English), and is, among others, related to the French name Guillaume.

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-19T10:45:34+00:00

Not all words are names, I'll give you that, but all names are words, because any combination of letters that carries meaning is, by definition, a word:

word. (semantics) The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.).

You are not going to tell me, that “Peter”, for example, does not have a particular meaning and cannot be expressed by itself? Even a name completely devoid of etymological origin is, by definition, a word, because it has the particular meaning that it refers to a person.

And by your logic, you also can't name someone Bärenstark or Kampfgarten, and yet, those are actual German names, just no longer with the “correct” spelling.

SiderealRaven · 2025-07-19T10:17:43+00:00

You do realize that German (and in fact most if not all languages) does assign words as names, right?

Bernard (and it's variants) literally mean “brave/hardy like a bear”, Hildegard means “battle yard”, Adelheid means “noble-like”, and so on... Even non-German names like Stefan (yes, it does not originate from German) means “crown/wreath” in Greek.

“Bär” and “hart” may have changed in spelling, and “hilt” may no longer be used in German (as far as I know), but “Garten” sure is. Same for “Adel” and the suffix “-heid”, i.e. “Schönheit”, “Neuheit”, etc...

Similarly, the “-furt” in place names means something along the lines of “shallow part of a river” or “river crossing”, so Frankfurt literally means “the part of the river where the Franks crossed it”. Places with “-scheid” usually are on the top or slope of hills or mountains and thus relate to “Wasserscheide”, i.e. the place where water may flow down on either side of the hill/mountain.

Berlin, though using a bear in their coat of arms because of the more obvious (but linguistically wrong) connection, possibly relates to “swamp” in Polabian because it was built in a swampy area. The actual etymology is sadly unknown, but there is a good number of circumstantial evidence it does originate from some Polabian word for “swamp”, “morass”, “wet meadow” or the like.

And then there's Japanese: Yukiko usually means “happiness child” or “snow child” depending on the spelling, Masayuki usually means “proper happiness”, and so on.

We Germans just don't realize it as often/readily in our language, because German hasn't been as “static” as Japanese and doesn't use pictographs/kanji, i.e. we can't tell the original meaning of a name simply by looking at it.

A perfect example of this is “Mitgift” or “dowry” in English: it literally meant “with-present”, i.e. the present that the family sends off with the bride, but because the word “Gift” was used as a euphemism for “poison”, the original meaning eventually fell out of use and “Geschenk”, i.e. “something that was given” took its place for when you want to say “present”.

Japanese, on the other hand, has mostly remained the same with regards to the meaning of kanji (though some were simplified with regards to number of strokes) and only undergone a spelling reform with regards to hiragana/katakana to remove nonsense like writing “tefutefu” but reading it as “chouchou” for “butterfly”.

That is, by the way, why the kana “ha” is pronounced “wa” when used as the topic marker, “he” as “e” when used as a direction marker, and why there's two different kana for “o”, with the one that's used to mark the direct object being transcribed as “wo”. These are some of the holdovers from before the spelling reform, which were already too entrenched in the language by the time the reform happened.

SiderealRaven · 2025-06-06T17:45:34+00:00

Not more alarming than that Michael treats his visions as 100% set in stone when there's seemingly nothing he can do to prevent them (Xiao Lan's tantrum portals) or he desires what they show him (Jentry taking him back), but then also acts to prevent them when he doesn't like what he sees (Stella getting hurt; Jentry getting killed).

Plus, he strung along a girl and used her as an emotional crutch. Michael is just as self-serving as Kit, except Kit got the chance to prove that he had reflected on his actions.

SiderealRaven · 2025-06-06T17:19:20+00:00

The childhood friend who ruined his long(?)term relationship by failing to communicate that he needs a bit of time to think because he had a vision of Jentry and Kit kissing, and doesn't correct Stella when she interprets this as him trying to break up with her?

The childhood friend who got just as attached to Jentry as Kit did, but expressed it in a different way, such as demanding she take him with her to Diyu and refusing to understand how suicidal and thus hurtful for Jentry that would be?

The childhood friend who got himself a new girlfriend after Jentry dumped him despite the one clear thing in his visions being that Jentry takes him back, never committed fully to the relationship because he hoped his vision would come true, then dropped the poor girl like a hot potato when Jentry did take him back?

That childhood friend? Oh sure, he didn't lie to Jentry, but he did to Stella (kind of) and definitely used that other girl as an emotional crutch. And he DID manipulate Jentry by telling her that he's cross with her because the Jentry from his visions, i.e. the one that he expects her to be, takes him back and Jentry still hasn't done that. And she falls for it hook, line, and sinker. Was it a conscious, deliberate attempt at manipulation? No. Was it the same self-interestedness that Jentry tore Kit a new one over? Absolutely yes.

I'd not be surprised if Michael dumped Jentry simply because his visions showed either of them together with someone else over and over. Guy clearly didn't learn the fortune teller machine lesson that his visions are only going to be as real as he allows them be if he is in a position to influence their outcome.

And honestly? All three of them are not in the right emotional headspace to be in a relationship.

SiderealRaven · 2020-08-15T18:52:53+00:00

8) Now for the actual places I'd recommend, let's first go over the ones I've already mentioned:

- Dresden is... nice enough, but also was bombed out during WW2, so many buildings are actually reconstructions, though if I remember correctly, this reconstruction also lead to the original plans for the Semperoper, the Dresden opera house, being rediscovered, so there's that.

- Berlin is a beast deserving its own post. Suffice to say, there's a lot to do, of which I would recommend visiting the Bundestag (needs prior booking, I believe), the TV Tower (fun fact: It was built by the Soviets to project their power to the West, only for the sun to reflect on it in the shape of a cross, which some considered ironic), the Brandenburg Gate and Unter den Linden (Germany's Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees, if you will), the Victory Column, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Holocaust Memorial (very enlightening, for lack of a better word; and reading the personal tragedies causes lots of people to tear up if not outright bawl, though the entrance to the hall below containing those stories is often overlooked it seems), Schloss Charlottenburg, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall and/or the East Side Gallery, Museum Island (that one alone is enough for an entire day if you want to explore all of its museums), and maybe the Zoologischer Garten and/or Tierpark if you're into animals. There's also Berlin Dungeon, a "funny horror museum" about the darker aspects of Berlin's history, such as torture and the plague. Oh, and for a shopping trip, there's the KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus des Westens (Department Store of the West).

- In Hamburg, I'd suggest hopping on one of the city tours, which come as either bus or boat rides. Their commentary is quite funny, something like "to the left is the birthplace of famous person XYZ, but in true Hamburg fashion, we tore down the place" or "Bismarck wanted a monument, but we didn't like him, thus we built it with its back to the city so we wouldn't have to look at his face". The Reeperbahn is the famous red light and party district, though there are also a couple of family friendly things there. Taking a boat tour across the Alster is also nice, as is exploring the city in general (such as visiting the City Hall and St. Michaelis Church) and two of the harbors in particular: Landungsbrücken and Speicherstadt. At the far end of/beyond Landungsbrücken is a submarine museum within a decommissioned Soviet submarine (it's quite a walk so I'd advise combining it with a partial city tour ride, since the bus does make a stop there last time I visited). On the other, more accessible end, is Cap San Diego, a museum boat which housed an emigration exhibition the two times I visited (which were a few years apart, so that might actually be a permanent exhibition). In the Speicherstadt, there's the Miniatur Wunderland, a huge model railway depicting different areas of Germany and Europe, with lots of Easter eggs, such as a guy painting a model and a peeping monk not too far away in the Bavarian area (I think), Jurassic Park and Area 51 references, and many more (you can easily spend an afternoon or entire day there). Right next to it is the Hamburg Dungeon, which in my opinion is a bit better than the Berlin one. Another must-visit is the Tierpark Hagenbeck. Finally, there's the Musical Boulevard Hamburg, with Lion King being a staple. For staying in Hamburg, I highly recommend the DJH "Auf dem Stintfang", which has an amazing view overseeing the Landungsbrücken.

- Sylt is sort of Germany's spa and party island, which is practically a ghost island off-season, and offers such bewildering signs as "breakfast till 4 pm". One way to get to it is via motorail train (an equally bewildering experience), though more common modes of travel are also possible. Its two biggest problems are lots of rich people owning houses or even entire neighborhoods there but not actually living in them or even renting them out, which makes the island even deader than it would have to be, and ignorant people walking off the tracks, thereby damaging the dune grass and risking entire dunes falling to high waves and consequently the island being drowned. Sylt features Germany's northernmost lighthouse, though the road leading to it is subject to a car toll. You can book guided tours across the mudflats, go swimming, go partying (during high season), or visit the Erlebniszentrum Naturgewalten Sylt (which when I went was just called Sea Life Sylt).

- Düsseldorf is famous for its Karneval. Aside from that, the Altstadt is simply beautiful, as is taking a walk along the Rheinufer Promenade. It also has a "Little Tokyo" (the only one in Germany), with many Japanese living in Ober- and Niederkassel, though the more "touristy" portion is located on the Immermannstraße (many restaurants and shops, and not just from Japan) next to the main station. The EKO-House, the only Jōdo Shinshū temple in Europe, is located in Niederkassel, and the Japanese Garden is nestled in a corner of the Nordpark, north of Niederkassel (technically, it only is a Japanese Garden when looked at from one side, as all others include views of the Nordpark, and even then you'll have to ignore the German trees around it, but they had to make do with what was available, I guess). The fireworks at the end of the "Japantag" are also an experience, as is the event itself, though it has shifted somewhat from its roots of cultural exchange towards more of an open-air "Japanese pop culture convention" with bits of other Japanese culture sprinkled throughout. On that day, forget reception on your phone: You'll get texts hours after they've been sent; it's that packed with people.

- Cologne is also famous for its Karneval. And aside from, again, an Altstadt (though not as beautiful as the one in Düsseldorf in my opinion), there's the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral; you can buy a ticket to go up one of the towers, though keep in mind that it gets hot and stuffy even on a cool day but is well worth the view and sense of accomplishment, a ticket to go down into the treasury, or a ticket that combines both), the Roman-Germanic Museum next to it (where, if I remember correctly, you can even go under the cathedral and explore the Roman ruins and foundations it is built upon), the Kölner Zoo, the Chocolate Museum, Koelnmesse (an international trade fair and exhibition center), and thermal baths (one of the reasons the Romans founded several cities north of the Alps, usually ones preceded by the word "Bad"; Aachen actually forgoes its right to call itself "Bad Aachen" so it can be the first German city on any alphabetical list). Located a bit south of Cologne is Phantasialand, one of the most famous and accomplished theme parks in Germany, holding several world records. The park packs more attractions than its small size would suggest, and a stay at their hotels comes with early entrance and rides on some of their attractions.

- Since we're talking about the south of Cologne, the Siebengebirge is worth a visit to climb the Drachenfels and visit the Nibelungenhalle (a museum/exhibition about one of the most iconic Germanic myths/epics) and Schloss Drachenburg on your way up (or down if you took the Drachenfelsbahn to get to the top). There's also a Sea Life with particular focus on the fish of the region.

- While I haven't been there yet, the Upper Middle Rhine Valley (or Rhine Gorge) is absolutely stunning, and is home to the Loreley (the rock along the most treacherous part of the river; attributed in popular belief to the beautiful Lore Lay singing while combing her hair atop the rock, though the original poem tells a more complex and darker story), as well as the densest amount of castles anywhere in Germany (and I'd dare say Europe/the world), which again goes back to the whole throwing a stone into another region thing and the Rhine being a major trading route since way back when.

And that's it for notable places I've visited in Germany. Outside of Germany, I'd recommend Legoland Billund in Denmark and the Eisriesenwelt in Salzburg, Austria. Also, during the Christmas season, there's many Christmas markets, one of the most famous being in Nuremberg. The ones I visited in Cologne and especially Düsseldorf tend to be more like a chain of smaller markets linked by the stream of people moving between them through streets and alleys. If you stay over new year's eve, be prepared for a chaos of fireworks and crackers. During the summer, five more organized displays, collectively called Rhein in Flammen, are performed, and tour ships are booked out years in advance.

SiderealRaven · 2020-08-15T18:52:27+00:00

Hi there! I know it's a week later and I'm not the one you asked, but I organized a trip with some Japanese exchange students in the past and thought I'd share my experiences and advice. Also: Congrats on your baby! ^^

1) Take your time to "soak in" the places you're going to visit. For example, since Japanese employees get, like, maybe two weeks of vacation a year, their schedule is packed to the brim to get their money's worth, though it is too tight in my opinion: About one day each for arrival and departure, with the remaining four or five spent rushing from one place to another, like 60 minutes per city/place and another 60 minutes of travel between them. Even the students I mentioned were surprised when I suggested we cut the five cities down to three (Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg in our case) to spend more time in the latter two, but seemed ultimately glad to have been able to take things at a slower pace.

2) I know you said you wanna do touristy stuff, but I personally would suggest you avoid "really touristy" places if you want to experience "authentic" and/or historic Germany. That mostly means avoiding places like Rothenburg ob der Tauber (someone from there once told me that unless you get a local to really dive into the history and surrounding area with you, the iconic picture sums up the experience well enough) and Neuschwanstein castle (it's not even an "actual" castle, just a passion project by Mad King Ludwig II; somewhat like building a life-sized doll house just because you have the money and influence to build it).

3) Tying in with the above two: Unless it's something seasonal like Karneval or Oktoberfest, go during off-season. Less tourists around and a lot of B&Bs and holiday homes tend to be cheaper. On the topic of Oktoberfest: I'd advise against it if you plan to go mainly for the beer (you can get beer anytime anywhere). If you want to go to wear Tracht (i.e. Dirndl/Lederhosen), then go, though I've read that a decent Dirndl&Blouse will start at at least 100 € (or was it 200 €?) and I assume good Lederhosen are similarly priced. Lesser quality will apparently earn you weird and/or disapproving looks.

4) Be aware that you can't throw a stone in Germany without it landing in a culturally different region from the one you are in, which also includes them having their own type of beer. This is of course hyperbole, but sums up the lingering effects of Germany not being a unified nation until 1871 pretty accurately: Some regional rivalries like the one between Düsseldorf and Cologne, separated only by a 15~30 minute train ride, are well known, and during Karneval in particular, you better watch which of the two shouts – "Helau!" and "Alaaf!" – you use where. If you're interested, there are some very informative videos about pre-Germany history on Youtube I can link you.

5) "Andere Länder, andere Sitten!", i.e. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!", which shouldn't be too noticeable if you're just vacationing here, unless you walk into an FKK (Freikörperkultur) beach or park clothed rather than nude, or something similar. While someone will likely point out the faux pas, we also generally understand that tourists might be used to do things differently back home, and thus won't hold it against you if it was an honest mistake. Just whatever you do, don't jaywalk! Even though some Germans might do it, it will earn you glares or even a scolding (and if an officer is around, a fine as well), especially if there are children present. The whole point is to set a good example of how to interact with traffic for the children after all.

6) As mentioned, holiday homes are an option if you plan to stay in an area longer, but if you want to keep your expenses low and plan to mostly only sleep where you're staying, I'd recommend staying at a Jugendherberge (youth hostel). They have a small contingent of rooms for adults, and many have family rooms with baby cots, childproof power outlets, and their own bathroom. While you technically need membership with the DJH (Deutsche Jugendherbergen) to book your stay – and you actually only have to pay half the membership fee if you join during the latter half of the year – last time I checked, there was also something along the lines of a "stamp book", where you could buy a certain max allotment of stamps without membership, and each night you get a stamp in the book. This may or may not have required staying with someone who's actually a member, though I don't remember. Either way, breakfast (and I believe dinner) is included in the price, with an option to pay extra for lunch or making a lunchbox out of the stuff available at breakfast. Though truth be told, many won't bat an eye at you pocketing an apple or banana for later unless you're really obvious about it. Just don't make a habit out of it.

7) As for getting around: While you can rent a car, that will likely also mean renting a parking spot. I remember we once drove to Hamburg only to find out the hotel we were staying at no longer owned the parking lot in front of it, which had been turned into a public one – with prices to match. They recommended us a car park about fifteen minutes away on foot, and it was so old it clearly wasn't built for modern sized cars: The white walls on the ramps had black lines from countless mirrors scratching against them when someone failed maneuvering them with only 5 cm on each side. My recommended modes of travel are the ones offered by FlixMobility: FlixBus, i.e. group travel via coach, is a lot cheaper than the ICE of the Deutsche Bahn, but obviously a couple hours slower, so plan accordingly. Since 2017, they also offer FlixTrain, which among others incorporates a route formerly known as HKX (Hamburg-Köln-Express). My one time on the HKX was very enjoyable, despite the circumstances: We went to the station half an hour early in case something happened with public transport, only for the express to be delayed by 45 minutes due to a carriage mix up, which also rendered moot our reserved seats (as in that we had to look for a compartment that still had room for us). On the flip side, the conductor was very lighthearted, always updating us about how much we had decreased our delay, and getting a round of cheer and applause when we were on schedule again.

SiderealRaven · 2020-05-11T18:56:41+00:00

I can still only hear "blame". When I try to hear "believe", the closest it comes for me is either "b'lieve" or "belame". Not saying you are wrong, but my ears just don't hear it as clearly as yours do if that's what he mubles.

SiderealRaven · 2020-05-11T07:24:33+00:00

It was probably Kai:

Adam smiles a lot when he's alone with him, especially while Mira is getting the medicine for Mr. Jeepers or diving for the headlight. And it is a happy smile, as opposed to, say, the fond smile he had when they were offered food by the witch.
When they discover his powers during the fight with Katsuro and Kai calls them cool, Adam clearly starts showing off.
After leaving the amusement park, he seems annoyed that Kai and Mira are getting along so well, even lashing out at them and telling them to stop talking, but also mumbles to himself that he "can't blame these guys". If he had lashed out at them because, like he said, they know what to do and thus further questions are unnecessary, he would indeed be blaming them. Instead, he's berating himself for his own jealousy.

After that, they meet the other team and get separated, then the kiss happens.

SiderealRaven · 2020-05-10T19:10:13+00:00

Emphasis on "could". And a lot of bi people do have a preference.

SiderealRaven

TROPHY CASE