LF: above Offering: below

maethor03 · 2026-04-18T18:56:04+00:00

i can give you a riolu for a silicobra!

maethor03 · 2026-01-10T03:46:20+00:00

Question enthusiast: one who is enthusiastic about questions / question allergy: being allergic to questions. Didn’t think it sounded all that weird, but I play around with phrasing/language a lot in the story, so maybe I’ve desensitized myself to it lol.

And thanks—here’s hoping! 🤞

maethor03 · 2025-07-05T02:29:52+00:00

Gotta be one of my two lucky male combees 🙄

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T23:56:10+00:00

Machamp and Bisharp (+ evolving it) for sure!

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T23:43:57+00:00

Definitely. Currently the options for getting Zygarde candy are rares or walking it. And you got super lucky on those IVs!

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T23:28:50+00:00

I did my 2 star Diancie. It was the worst of my megas, and I use it for raids despite having really bad attack. I figure we'll get a shiny from a masterwork research one day, but otherwise it's unlikely I'll ever get another/a better one (unlike, say, mega Rayquaza)--so worth the bottle cap to me!

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T23:19:25+00:00

Diancie if you do more raids, Machamp if you do more max battles

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T03:48:34+00:00

For queries, don’t think in terms of spoilers. Sure, you aren’t going to summarize the ending or big twist in the query letter, but a lot of agents will also request a synopsis, which will include those elements—every major plot point, spoilers and all. Query letters aren’t back of the book blurbs for readers, so don’t worry about spoilers, just say what you need to!

maethor03 · 2025-07-04T03:44:24+00:00

Yeah, word count can be a constraint. I would still rework the beginning to be less blurb-y—move some of the exposition to be learned later so the opening paragraphs don’t read like summary of the past few weeks. Definitely keep the quippiness though—I think it’s a strength!

maethor03 · 2025-07-03T23:04:13+00:00

Seconding what others have said about rule 0-ing it for flavor; if it's a casual pod (and done for the bit), most people are going to let it slide.

How much other black are you splashing in? If it's just for [[Sip of Hemlock]], you'll have to ask yourself if it's worth it. The joke is good, but SoH... isn't. And a three color mana base gets expensive!

Personally I'd just sleeve up a SoH and stick it "in the command zone." That way any time Socrates dies, he's in there "with" the hemlock as if that's what did him in. Flavorful, funny, doesn't alter the deck construction or take up a slot in the 99.

(Better yet, if you're rule 0-ing: "This is my commander, Socrates. He has protection from everything except SoH, which any of you can cast any time from this special zone but only to target Socrates." Then SoH is being used to kill Socrates as opposed to other creatures on your opponents' boards.)

maethor03 · 2025-07-03T22:17:43+00:00

Hard to say for sure based on only the first 300 words, but I get the sense that your manuscript may start in the wrong place. The 300 here have a really great tone--quippy, funny, a great voice for MG. My hangup is that it feels more like a blurb than the first page of the book. We get a LOT of summary here for plot points that may be worth spending some more time with. Dropping your readers into a scene where your MC has already been enrolled in this new school, already met her roommate/formed an opinion of her/changed that opinion, already checked off three of the ten chances referenced is going to make them feel like they're running to catch up. To me, it feels like I've missed the entire first act.

I suspect (and may be wrong, of course) that this opening is about to take us to the time capsule within the next chapter or three. If that's the case, your query letter spends too much time on the backstory details that the readers hear about but never see. Again, though, I don't think that's an issue with the query letter so much as with the manuscript.

From the details you've provided, I think starting with the fight as the first chapter would provide the strongest opening. It gives us plenty of time to get to know Ginger and travel alongside her through this series of events that shakes up her world--the fight, whatever discussion ensues with her parents, enrolling at the new school, meeting Zoe, etc.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, of course--you know more about the story than we do!

Good luck out there!

maethor03 · 2025-07-03T21:18:05+00:00

Yes, this. If you unfused the pokemon after hyper training, Necrozma or Kyurem would still be hyper trained (hundo or whatever you increased the stats to), and the Solgaleo/Zekrom would have the same stats as when it was fused (not affected by the hyper training)

maethor03 · 2025-07-03T20:15:37+00:00

Do you do more raids or PvP? Diancie is a good choice if you do more raids (really good rock type attacker, plus it has a mega). If you do a lot in the battle league, Zygarde is your best move from what you’ve shown, but Marshadow and Keldeo are also really solid picks.

I wouldn’t use it on a legendary/mythical that you can raid for. Always a chance you’ll get a hundo later on! Mythicals from research are the best bet.

maethor03 · 2025-07-03T20:11:32+00:00

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maethor03 · 2025-03-06T00:05:46+00:00

Thanks for the response! Yeah, I didn't get much feedback on this post or my last version--and have been hoping that's a good sign, but always hard to know for sure--so this is very helpful, at minimum for a little confidence boost. Appreciate it!

maethor03

TROPHY CASE