If there's 3 things that Nuxia struggles with is getting into her offense and the traps being fundamentally flawed and her feats not being as viable in certain situations. I want to provide an idea that will not only help Nuxia offensively but also help her feel fresh. This rework will involve additional QoL changes and additions, overhaul to feats while also including new additional ideas to her feats. Damage nerfs and buffs. There will be changes that the community has mentioned and there will be changes that I'm sure many can agree on despite the controversy that surrounds the trap mechanic.
​
Light Opener (500ms) animation is now replaced with an animation involving her hook blade.
[This will help her opener make her opponent differ more between a light or a heavy while also allowing her to have more of an early dodge pressure like her chain lights can do. Chain lights animations remain the same. Jorm had this change and his lights functioned a lot better. Ocelotl also has his opener light applied that way as well.]
​
Glass Walts ( Heavy into Trap): Pin duration is now 700ms (down from 800ms). [This will help Nuxia in a gank situation that will provide less opportunity of getting hit by a heavy by another opponent mid trap pin. Inputting a trap takes 300ms and pinning an opponent with a trap lasts 800ms, that's 1100ms]
​
Glass Walts (Heavy into Trap) Now deals 18dmg (down from 22dmg).
[22dmg from neutral has always been problematic.]
​
Glass Walts and Jade Ballet (Heavy into Trap & Zone into Trap) Now also catch red indicator unless red flash indicator is shown matching in the same direction as either trap is thrown.
[The biggest issue traps have always had is Nuxia eating raw heavies to the face whether the opponent intentionally or unintentionally miss parry window, the game still caters to the opponent. I get that 22dmg is scary but so is also eating 24dmg to the face because the opponent made a mistake or NOT. This would essentially fix the most problematic issue traps have faced for years.]
​
New Move: Crescent Shatter (433ms Opener Bash) [You can follow up into her second chain light which is 400ms or heavy into trap. How this would work for the trap follow-up is that for some that know that you can heavy into trap on a heavy parry because the opponent has just enough recovery time to go into their guard at the last frame before blocking a heavy. And you can also zone into trap on a GB, a light parry, or a wall-splat. The bash would allow her opponent to go into their guard at the last frame to block a heavy, but you will be able to heavy into trap them.]
​
Can now Recovery Cancel by 300ms on all of her heavies, regular zone and whiff, whiffed zone trap, whiffed regular traps and after light finisher.
[I understand that players only suggest on whiffed traps but so many players don't realize how often so many of her attacks are either interrupted or she is super vulnerable.]
​
Second Heavy Chain is now 25dmg (down from 27).
​
Raw Zone is now 26dmg (down from 28)
​
Heavy finisher is now 27dmg (down from 30)
[With this rework, damage nerfs are a definite must.]
Echo Strike (Deflect) is now 22dmg, up from 20.
[20dmg deflect is underwhelming and not a prominent use unless deadly duet is active to give it the normal standard 24dmg like a normal dmg deflect should be]
T1 feat Deadly Duet damage bonus is now 10%, down from 20%
[Deadly Duet provides literal pre-CCU dmg numbers and it's very unhealthy as a T1 feat]
​
T2 feat Caltrops cooldown is now 75 seconds (down from 90 seconds)
[The cooldown nerf was too much considering the activation time now being 15 from 25 seconds and how less frequent it is utilized since the nerf]
T2 feat Caltrops is now a T3 feat replacing T3 Thread of Fate
[ Thread of Fate feat is just not a well suited and essential tool for Nuxia considering it only stops an opponent from running away. Meanwhile Nuxia has incredible chase with the tracking from Crescent Step (dodge forward light) And Caltrops as an AOE are better suited as a T3]
​
New T2 feat Luminous Skewer: Throw a projectile that deals 10 damage that focuses opponent aggro towards the Nuxia and cannot target swap for 10 seconds, additional +15 damage if the target is in revenge.
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Activation Time: 400ms
[This will give more identity towards Nuxia as an Isolator which forces an opponent to focus their attention specifically on her, opponent can still use external properties. It's an all-around more proper feat as a T2.]
​
T4 Infection no longer can be tagged on an opponent but now applies "Corruption" to Nuxia, while it will slow Nuxia's movement speed, deals damage over time to the enemy and their allies within a 15-meter AOE, no longer requires opponent allies within range to damage opponents.
Now deals 2 damage,from 10 (+2 for each opponent in AOE) per second that lasts 10 seconds.
Activation: Instantaneous as original
Cooldown:120
[This will provide a drastic change to Nuxia's T4 Infection and acts as a personal stalling AOE that will prevent opponents from a quick gank-sweep and think optimally.]
​
​
With this rework, I have given Nuxia an opener with a good twist with also better offense opportunity and have fixed traps altogether including feats which will give her more viability in 4v4. Let me know what you all would change in the comment. I would love the feedback.

My deck has been established and fully blinged out for a while and the sheer amount of must play colorless cards in MH3 is exciting and sort of dreadful. I could seriously swap out 30+ cards to accommodate the new cards and new synergies with existing cards. I'll be reviewing all the new colorless cards in MH3 and the commander cards. For context, I'm tossing in reviews of the Commander Masters cards, which had some fun options for colorless, but comparatively irrelevant compared to the impact of MH3.
Note on playstyle: The reality of bringing Kozilek, Butcher of Truth to a table is it can become a game of archenemy. While too weak for cEDH, less competitive tables dread annihilator. Often it's a solitaire-style ramp, ramp, ramp until you win strategy, with minimal interaction. To build this deck for maximum efficiency, you often have to ask this question of each card. "Is this better than a mana rock?" You often cut titans and other big flashy spells to get in a 2 mana rock or an ur-golem's eye, just to make sure your ramp to Kozilek strategy keeps on track. So pre MH3, I ran Eldritch Moon Emrakul as the only other Eldrazi above 6 mana in my deck. (Probably taking that Emrakul out to try out new cards)
Pre-MH3 Decklist: (and Pre Outlaws, need to add Fomori Vault, Cactus Preserve, etc)
https://www.archidekt.com/decks/6404251/unlimited_budget_kozilek_butcher_of_truth
Tiers:
God - So incredibly powerful, it's difficult to imagine a day this isn't in my Kozilek decklist
Auto - Clearly makes the cut, but perhaps with steady power creep, will fall out of favor someday
Solid - Worth trying out, perhaps makes it long term, but it's easy to imagine swapping out.
Maybe - Might be fun to try, but doubtful to last long term unless some synergy makes it passable.
Doubtful - Starting to get really suspect to consider including this; probably messing with your deck's consistency/power.
Unplayable - Can't imagine justifying this card, unless some new synergy package makes it functional.
*Table below includes reviews of leaked MH3 commander cards; it's possible other colorless commander cards are still to be leaked/spoiled.\*

Card	Set	Tier	Function
Zhulodok, Void Gorger	Commander Masters	Maybe	Cascade, cascade is tempting value, but seems very win more. This has to stick around until you actually cast another big spell before this card has any impact on the game. Mana rocks seem better for our game plan
Rise of the Eldrazi	Commander Masters	Solid	It's hard to argue with the pure power of this spell and that you're a deck that could reasonably expect to cast it. Even then, you might wonder if you're better served playing a ramp card instead and increasing consistency casting Kozilek quickly. But it's certainly very tempting.
Darksteel Monolith	Commander Masters	Maybe	Can't be used to cast Kozilek, which is usually the payoff your ramp is leading up to. Still, it could be a very potent mana rock in a sense. Gets more powerful combined with Skittering Cicada/Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter for casting value on every turn.
Flayer of Loyalties	Commander Masters	Doubtful	If you're trying to lock an opponent out with annihilator, just run a haste enabler and cast your commander instead. If you're trying to outright kill with damage, it certainly has some potential for that, but colorless tends not to be a decks that trades blows back and forth and plays a fair game of magic. It's usually more ramp, ramp, ramp, you're dead.
Skittering Cicada	Commander Masters	Solid	Flash is really changes how the deck can play and this is one beefy creature all for 3 mana. But is it better than a mana rock and getting Kozilek out fastemore consistently? Possibly.
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate	Commander Masters	Unplayable	Weird and not what Kozilek decks are trying to do.
Desecrate Reality	Commander Masters	Solid	Colorless can use some interaction, hitting each opponent is nice, and potential to revive is cool, though I've noticed there's not a lot of cards I'm excited/expect to consistently be able to revive with this. (Dreamstone Hedron, Hedron Archive, etc. are artifacts you could plan to send to your graveyard, but they don't have odd CMC.)
Calamity of the Titans	Commander Masters	Doubtful	I generally dislike cards that do nothing if you don't have the right cards in hand. And fairly likely to do nothing when my deck leans more into Kozilek for being the finisher
Abstruse Archaic	Commander Masters	Doubtful	Decent body, decent ability. I might be underestimating, but seems kinda awkward. Would I rather have Sisay's Ring/Ur-Golem's?
Ugin's Mastery	Commander Masters	Unplayable	Again with manifest, not what Kozilek decks are trying to do.
Emrakul, the World Anew	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Kozilek tends to not have much of a creature board state, so you risk less than other decks in casting this. And casting this for 6 mana is actually doable with this deck. Absolutely absurd. Though discard outlets are more restricted in colorless, Fomori Vault is a great new one, and Geier Reach Sanitarium is another decent land to accomplish this. Collector's Vault could be passable. Still runs into "is a mana rock better?" issue, but this is so much bang for your buck, seems worth it.
Kozilek, the Broken Reality	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Seems wonky, but 9 mana seems like a nice surprise when opponents think you're one mana short to cast your titan and forcing your opponents to manifest and drawing 4 cards is nice. Draws you into more ramp. Still, is it better than a mana rock?
Ulamog, the Defiler	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Exile half the library is certainly demoralizing and could shut down an opponent relying on tutoring up combo pieces. And if you can give him haste, the annihilator is much more brutal than even Kozilek. Seems unlikely to get the sequence, but if you can follow up with casting an Oblivion Sower, it's certainly cute. Is Ulamog better than a mana rock? Possibly.
Ugin's Labyrinth	Modern Horizons 3	God	I'm not over the moon about this card in this deck, because having a 7+ drop in hand is not a given, but the potential upside of immediately tapping for 2 is so powerful compared to the opportunity cost of running some other land.
Echoes of Eternity	Modern Horizons 3	God	It's so easy to ramp this out fast in colorless and double mana rocks, cast draw triggers, annihilator triggers… Annoyingly pushed card that's a no brainer.
Kozilek's Command	Modern Horizons 3	God	Colorless desperately needs interaction and this is an absolutely perfect card for colorless because it also easily passes the "would a mana rock be better?" test because it can also ramp if you need it to. It's a kindred instant, so benefits from Eldrazi Temple/Eye of Ugin. it can creates eldrazi spawn, it can replace itself with a card draw (and if you scry 10 or whatever, perhaps you're drawing a game winning combo piece), it can exile a creature token or something with higher CMC, it can mess with your opponents grave. Couldn't ask for more.
Glaring Fleshraker	Modern Horizons 3	God	In isolation, it's solid. it's sort of like reducing the cost of spells by 1/creating a treasure token per cast. That would be a fine card, but this goes insane with the right synergies. Goes infinite, burning opponents to death when combined with Mystic Forge/Sensei's Diving Top, cards that are great in isolation. If you cast Echoes of Eternity first, you get two copies of this, 4 spawn and 16 damage per subsequent spell cast. Not infinite, but game ending all the same.
Devourer of Destiny	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Having this in opening hand should smooth out the cost of this being potential dead weight in your hand. (Not a mana rock) Something you can pitch to Ugin's Labyrinth. Not terrible, but not excellent as a top deck later in game.
Eldrazi Ravager	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Cycling when needed, a super early annihilator threat. Some recursion possibility with eldrazi token generation… Could partially function as a sac outlet to sac Kozilek and recast for another draw 4.
Breaker of Creation	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	Big life gain potential since it counts lands, hexproof, annihilator… Let's say you have lightning greaves out. I like the idea of an early threat to surprise an opponent who thinks you don't have enough to cast your annihilator commander only to get hit with this one. Still, might rather have a mana rock. Bane of Bala Ged is different, but might be better at that role anyway.
Null Elemental Blast	Modern Horizons 3	Auto	Only reason I didn't put this in God tier is because of the "Is it better than a mana rock" test. In some cases, you'd have been better advancing your plan (cast Kozilek) than messing with your opponents. But this is so incredibly efficient and can keep an opponent off his plan to buy you enough time to achieve your goals
It That Heralds The End	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	As a cost reducer, it will probably only reduce the cost of at most one spell you cast each turn, unlike other reducers that will help you chain multiple spells each turn, like Ugin, the Ineffable, Cloud Key, Jhoira's Familiar… So it'll effectively produce up to 1 mana each turn. A 2 mana rock that taps for 1 might be better. The +1/+1 to the team is cool, but the deck usually doesn't go wide. Maybe alongside newest Kozilek, Glaring Fleshraker, Forsaken Monument?
Disruptor Flute	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	Not the type of a card I like to include, but you could use it to keep an opponent off casting their commander.
Winter Moon	Modern Horizons 3	Doubtful	Always run Winter Orb above this, if you're going that route. (Since you're likely running all or mostly nonbasics, though you have the advantage of more mana rocks than opponents.) If your opponents play mostly non-basics, you could consider this too. So awkwardly, the more casual your play environment, the worse this card is.
Vexing Bauble	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	Can disrupt certain strategies and be cycled away when needed, can be tutored with Urza's Saga… but you might just want to play another card? Seems meta dependent.
Idol of False Gods	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	Benefits from Eldrazi Temple/Eye of Ugin, being a kindred artifact. Seems a little slow, if you're aiming for the second ability. But mana ramp, chump blockers… Not bad.
Urza's Cave	Modern Horizons 3	God	Tutoring lands is incredibly powerful in colorless. As a cave, can be tutored by Scampering Surveyor. Echoing Deeps can become a copy of this, which is notable.
Snow-Covered Wastes	Modern Horizons 3	Solid	Not really any snow payoffs in colorless to speak of yet. Scrying Sheets? There's basic land ramp that's decent, though I'm playing around with running no basics. Tough call. Wastes and Snow-Covered Wastes are two different land names for Monument to Perfection, for what that's worth.
Solar Transformer	Modern Horizons 3	Maybe	As a 2 mana rock that taps for 1, might be fine. Though since this enters tapped, you'd have to have an energy payoff for this to actually be worth it over running other 2 mana rocks.
Conversion Apparatus	MH3 Commander	Maybe	A 3 mana rock that taps for 1, that can store up energy to tap for 3 later? Seems a little clunky, comparing to Kyren Toy or Skyclave Relic. But if you had other energy synergy, maybe.
Stone Idol Generator	MH3 Commander	Unplayable	Not what this deck is trying to do, you're generally not going wide.
Horizon of Progress	MH3 Commander	God	Unbelievably good, I've contemplated running cards like Zoetic Cavern just for the possibility of land ramp, but this is repeatable. And can even cycle itself away. Can produce colorless. Urborg or Yavimaya can allow it to tap for mana without costing life.
Lazotep Quarry	MH3 Commander	Auto	Better than High Market, a card I already love? When needed, can sacrifice Kozilek to dodge problematic removal or sacrifice just to draw 4 more cards. Has desert synergy. Can even do graveyard recursion, perhaps bringing back a combo piece like Glaring Fleshraker.
Inversion Behemoth	MH3 Commander	Doubtful	Kills walls and illusions, I guess? Really fun design/stat line, but doesn't seem to advance the game plan the deck is aiming for.
Talon Gates of Madara	MH3 Commander	God	You can instant speed play this land (ramp) AND save a creature from removal/get rid of a blockeget rid of an attacker. That's insane. It's also a gate you can tutor with Maze's End/Navigation Orb. (also at instant speed for the bonus phase out effect)
Trenchpost	MH3 Commander	Maybe	Between Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, Planar Nexus, Vesuva, Thespian's Stage, Monument to Perfection and Expedition Map, does this get there? Seems a bit dubious, but not a huge opportunity cost for the potential for lands to produce more than one mana.
Planar Nexus	MH3 Commander	God	Tutorable with Maze's End, Navigation Orb, Scampering Surveyor, Monument to Perfection… Turns on urza tron, feeds Urza's workshop, cloudpost, Baldur's Gate (longshot), counts as a gate for heap gate, desert for a variety of effects…This card is the cornerstone of a new colorless land package, if you want to build around it.
Eldrazi Confluence	MH3 Commander	Auto	Surprise! I flash in enough mana to cast Kozilek. Or surprise! You didn't block Kozilek? My 21/3 kills you in one shot. It's flexible mana ramp/chump blockers/removal/other niche utility. Absolutely the kind of interaction this deck craves.
Selective Obliteration	MH3 Commander	Solid	Interesting, you'll never lose anything and at minimum destroys every multicolor card, so probably commanders. Though likely a lot of things will survive for each player. Seems solid, though awkward. Not a board wipe like all is dust, nor targeted removal.
Eldritch Immunity	MH3 Commander	Maybe	Great effect, though not exactly needed for this deck; Kozilek dying is usually fine and making my creatures unblockable is usually unnecessary to achieve a win. Still, could win you the game, especially if going wide.
Spawnbed Protector	MH3 Commander	Solid	7 CMC for Ugin's Labyrinth. The eldrazi to hand seems powerful, though getting Eldrazi in grave is not always possible. (Eldrazi Ravager with cycling works nicely) 2 Eldrazi Scion each end step is nice, so it is a mana rock of sorts. With Echoes of Eternity, you'd get two of these and 8 scions each end step.
Twins of Discord	MH3 Commander	Solid	7 CMC for Ugin's Labyrinth. If void winnower taught us anything, it's that shutting off blockers is better than you expect. And this lets you choose odd or even each combat phase, so you can adjust to whatever is on board. Though the eternal question; would I rather have a mana rock?
Ulamog's Dreadsire	MH3 Commander	Doubtful	Cute, but at 10 mana, I'd sooner go for a titan with immediate impact.

This time I focus again on mutators, let's see how it goes.
I will try to collect various builds, like some from the top and some more accessible ones as well. Also my selection of mutators is arbitrary, I try to focus on some of the top champs and also some of those who never make the top 10.

Arms Race

Game Start: ALL players summon 2 Funsmiths. 4 challenges this month, top 5 were: Jhin (27%), Annie (26%), Veigar (15%), Miss Fortune (6%), Gnar (3%). So the Funsmiths add 1 to spell and skill damage, this suggest champions based on these. Jhin was the most popular. His core relic is Riptide Battery, which buffs him, activates further abilities, generates stun spell and decimates the enemy board. Its most favorite companion is The Curator's Gatebreaker, which activates plunder for Riptide, so you don't need to activate plunder yourself. But beware, if your Jhin somehow goaes away and you play another Jhin, then it won't activate plunder, if you get it transformed back from champion spell (u/Xatik investigated this). The 3rd relic varies a lot, it can be Arcahngel's for 2*, some form of overwhelm for better push-over, like Chosen or Beast Within, or just yet another Battery for earlier leveling and more stuff. Then come the Dreadway champions, from them most popular Annie. Her core here is double Dreadways supported by Echoing Spirit, Guardian Angel or Counterplan. The tactic is to play her, play the generated spells, let her die this or the next turn, play her again and the spells and win! The next couple are the skill champs and I added Nidalee also, she has a great use of the Funsmiths, she can transform one round 1, when she has the attack token!

Champion	Relic1	Relic2	Relic3	Player
Jhin	Archangel's Staff	The Curator's Gatebreaker	Riptide Battery	TishaTheWriter
Jhin	Chosen by the Stars	Riptide Battery	Luden's Tempest	Myosotis
Annie	Echoing Spirit	Dreadway Chase Gun	Dreadway Chase Gun	Shaanan
Samira	Chosen by the Stars	The Grand General's Counterplan	Dreadway Chase Gun	alfonsi221
Neeko	Echoing Spirit	Dreadway Chase Gun	Luden's Tempest	YoritimoMolei
Veigar	Echoing Spirit	Chemtech Duplicator	Luden's Tempest	Zarkkast
Taliyah	Disciple of Shadows	Oath of the Guardians	Star Gem	HeroicSkeleton
Miss Fortune	Packed Powder	The Grand General's Counterplan	Archangel's Staff	EarlOfRats
Kai'Sa	Starforged Gauntlets	The Beast Within	Luminous Orb	YouuXun
Gwen	Luden's Tempest	Crownguard Inheritance	Troll King's Crown	Kansugi
Nidalee	Crownguard Inheritance	Tempest Blade	Lost Chapter	cyclonus101

Magic Number

When the player draw a card, set its cost to 3. 4 challenges this month, top 5 were: Elder Dragon (49%), Volibear (17%), Ornn (10%), Mordekaiser (4%), Nasus (4%). Well, this is mostly an Elder Dragon showcase to see some build of him. He can be played a lot of different ways, especially here, where he can be played ideally for 1 mana. If you don't have him, or would play something else instead, some other big cost champs can be good options as well. However I don't really like Ornn here, generating an equipment is not always that simple due to the cost reduction, but of course the deck can win without an equipment too.

Champion	Relic1	Relic2	Relic3	Player
Elder Dragon	Chemtech Duplicator	Hymn of Valor	Archangel's Staff	TohmKench
Elder Dragon	Disciple of Shadows	The Beast Within	Portal Pals	Gruz Inferno
Elder Dragon	Starforged Gauntlets	Found Fortune	Spectral Scissors	Yonlu
Elder Dragon	The Beast Within	The Curator's Gatebreaker	The Curator's Gatebreaker	notsolong
Elder Dragon	Starforged Gauntlets	Portal Pals	Hymn of Valor	MuLepton
Volibear	Starforged Gauntlets	Disciple of Shadows	The Curator's Gatebreaker	excited_raichu
Volibear	Portal Pals	Stalker's Blade	Stalker's Blade	Xiadab
Ornn	Corrupted Star Fragment	Hymn of Valor		ijustwantoldreddit
Nasus	Echoing Spirit	Stalker's Blade		nivikyesac
Mordekaiser	Portal Pals	Corrupted Star Fragment	Everfrost	KHLaud

Unstoppable Force

Allies have +3+3, Overwhelm and Can't Block. 4 challenges this month, top 5 were: Darius (42%), Elise (19%), Evelynn (6%), Jax (5%),Gwen (4%). As you can't block here, you can rush down the AI instead or you can control to board by other means (but as I saw nobody really does that). Darius makes a good use of these extra stats, he can activate the Rally sooner. Because of his big cost he is either played with cost reduction, SFG ramp or utilizes some play/summon effects. The other champions are also really good here: Elise spawns spiders, Evelynn spawns husks, Jax levels earlier, Gwen spawn ephemerals and she also heals back and levels faster, The Poro King swarms the board and Bard levels faster also.

Champion	Relic1	Relic2	Relic3	Player
Diana	Chosen by the Stars	Caulfield's Warhammer	Stalker's Blade	Mutare
Diana	The Beast Within	Caulfield's Warhammer	Galeforce	ParticularSprinkles
Diana	Stalker's Blade	Troll King's Crown		TohmKench
Jax	Troll King's Crown	Caulfield's Warhammer	Laurent Bladerack	alfonsi221
Nidalee	Crownguard Inheritance	Tempest Blade	Lost Chapter	Federal-Condition341
Yuumi	Disciple of Shadows	Galeforce	Stormrazor	TishaTheWriter
Garen	The Beast Within	Stalker's Blade	Everfrost	Due_Mode_4043
Yasuo	Tempest Blade	Everfrost	Banshee's Veil	diaversai
Norra	Norra's Portal Accelerator	Corrupted Star Fragment	Succubus's Brand	Unlikely_Judge2986
Pyke	The Beast Within	Stalker's Blade	Stalker's Blade	TishaTheWriter

Chronicle Of Ruin

Round Start: Kill ALL units, then revive them. 3 challenges this month, top 5 were: Teemo (38%), Annie (23%), Kindred (13%), Neeko (5%), Pyke (4%). Yeah, this is mainly the land of Teemo and Annie printer with Guardian Angel, but I've found some other interesting stuff here too.

Champion	Relic1	Relic2	Relic3	Player
Teemo	Echoing Spirit	Guardian Angel	Star Gem	Xiadab
Teemo	Guardian Angel	Guardian Angel	Star Gem	diaversai
Teemo	Crownguard Inheritance	Guardian Angel	Guardian Angel	suspectwaffle
Annie	Luden's Tempest	Guardian Angel	Dreadway Chase Gun	JoshimitzuGK
Annie	Dreadway Chase Gun	Luden's Tempest	The Chameleon's Necklace	YoritimoMolei
Kindred	Guardian Angel	Guardian's Orb	Everfrost	Ranccor
Neeko	Guardian's Orb	Guardian's Orb	The Grand General's Counterplan	Xatik
Pyke	Stalker's Blade	Guardian's Orb	The Chameleon's Necklace	Lagartovei
Lillia	Echoing Spirit	Guardian's Orb	Guardian's Orb	cyclonus101
Vex	Guinsoo's Rageblade	Guinsoo's Rageblade	Guinsoo's Rageblade	yramrax

Mercy Killings

Round End: Kill ALL damaged units. 3 challenges this month, top 5 were: Jinx (27%), Miss Fortune (21%), Jack (11%), Aurelion Sol (8%), Kayn (5%). So here we have a little noise, as 2 of the 3 were harder challenges, we got Jinx here, who is of course really good against the mutator, but by default not needed. Asol is isn't particularly good but he doesn't care. Miss Fortunes throws around a lot of damage, 3* Jack pings the whole enemy board on refill and Kayn just heal back damage after a kill. I also picked some other gems too.

Champion	Relic1	Relic2	Relic3	Player
Jinx	Packed Powder	Echoing Spirit	The Loose Cannon's Payload	ParticularSprinkles
Jinx	The Scourge's Stash	Guardian Angel	The Loose Cannon's Payload	Shaanan
Miss Fortune	Echoing Spirit	Laurent Bladerack	The Grand General's Counterplan	PetiB
Miss Fortune	Chemtech Duplicator	Archangel's Staff	The Grand General's Counterplan	Xatik
Jack	Echoing Spirit	The Grand General's Counterplan		nivikyesac
Kayn	Stalker's Blade	Stalker's Blade	Everfrost	KHLaud
Norra	Norra's Portal Accelerator	The Beast Within	Wicked Harvest	cyclonus101
Nilah	The Loose Cannon's Payload	The Grand General's Counterplan	Lost Chapter	HeroicSkeleton
Jhin	Riptide Battery	Riptide Battery	Banshee's Veil	Alkaloid
Gnar	Archangel's Staff	The Chameleon's Necklace		cocotoffee
Neeko	Echoing Spirit	Guardian's Orb	Ravenous Hydra	HeroicSkeleton

If you want to know more about mutator stats, you can browse here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6CyN-NFH_c2dvmu9MJSECn21VLJ-8Rf0tRKfwp4SQo/edit#gid=542363227
Do note please, that these are not necessarily the best build of the champions or even for the challenge, I even thought some picks weird, but I thought it is a good idea to bring them here to let you see them too.

To be fair, Craft has been very clear on what it does, I don't know why it took me this long to action this. They're clearly saying on the website "Craft the best docs in the world" and I was still using it as my personal notes app.
This isn't a criticism of Craft or the team. I know building software is very hard and you can't keep everyone happy.
The reason I moved to Craft in the first place was to replace Obsidian for personal notes. I still use Obsidian for PKM, but at the time wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as Craft, nor did it support Apple PencilKit. We use Notion across our businesses.
Craft was perfect, it brought backlinks that I got accustomed to from Roam Research, together with a native app, a reasonable implementation of pencil kit, a block based editor, being able to group things into a new page without leaving where you are, ... and the list goes on.
My use case is a simple one, daily personal notes. I don't need to share them or publish them, I use Notion for that. I just want a seamless experience inputing the notes, searching them and navigating the app to go to where I need to.
I think over the past period I went through stages, from being very enthusiastic about Craft, recommending it to everyone, suggesting new features here on reddit (to no reply at the time), all the way to a bit upset at the direction/priorities, to now indifferent.
Over just a short period of time using Apple notes, for my use case, and I can say:

• Why the fuck haven't I done this sooner?
• It's a significantly smoother experience, there's no comparison (for my use case, I'm not building docs).
• Apple Shortcuts is great. With one button I can create a new note for the day, even has a list of my meetings for the day, etc... Another, it would ask me about which meeting, and create a meeting note with the format I want (And no I don't need the dial in information in the meeting note). A few more ideas I'm working on.
• It's very easy to add a note from anywhere.
• It's very fast to move around, and I'm finding myself taking at least 3-4x the amount of notes than before.
• I take a lot of notes with the apple pencil and it's infinitely better to do so on Apple Notes. I like Apple's pencil kit and there aren't many apps that support it as good as Craft, Bear doesn't for example, still the implementation on Notes is better. It's the simple things, like being able to see the rest of the notes while using the pencil, or the note being readable (i.e. doesn't shrink like on Craft), or that I don't need to click it and save every time. Night and day difference.
• While I don't write about 'state secrets', it's good to know it's E2EE.
• Knowing for a fact that I can swipe from the left side and find the side bar.... simple navigation.
• I can actually rely on the search function, it's even searching through my handwriting. Craft search wasn't working well for me, especially on my Mac. For some reason it wouldn't find the page, just the mentioned of it in blocks... again maybe an external locations issue.

Craft (theoretically) does many things better than Apple Notes, but I found that not to be the case for me personally:

• I was very happy to have so many option for exporting my notes, much less of a lock in than Apple Notes. BUT unfortunately I had a terrible experience exporting my notes out of Craft, I was asking about this here not long ago.
• Backlinks is something I relied on for a long time, taking my notes into Apple notes I knew that it would be a challenge... and with the export experience above, they're pretty much gone. BUT the tags + folders I discovered works so much better for my use case. Especially that Craft didn't develop the backlinks features further, like with filters and so on, as I thought it would be doing coming from Roam Research. What I ended up with on Craft is a long list of useless backlinks that was very hard to navigate after a certain volume. It's a shame the mess that's my previous notes now, but I think it's worth it still... Also towards the end, backlinks weren't always working on Craft (as per my recent notes), I think it's an 'external locations' issue.
• I really liked the concept of the daily note. Writing everything on the daily note, or mostly so, backlink-ing to different projects, etc... BUT unfortunately I found this in the end to be counter productive. Once the number of notes gone above a certain level, the backlinks were very unhelpful. I started to write on projects pages, so a page within a page, which helped a lot.... but then why not a folder now... I've gone full circle back to folders and tags, with backlinks more lightly when it makes sense. Now the daily note is just mostly for daily thoughts, etc... and the other notes go directly into their right place.
• Many of the features above are some of the reasons also why exporting the notes from Craft was challenging, vs say from Obsidian, where it's really files. Even with external locations, it's not really simple files, it's more complex than this given the structure.

Of course there are some aspects I'll miss for sure, Apple Notes certainly isn't perfect:

• The block editor, just being able to select text and move around a lot easier.
• Being able to create pages within pages, this 'Group' feature is genius.
• Seeing backlinks for the page in a simple way.

So in conclusion, I really got to a point where navigating Craft wasn't something I wanted to do, not to mentioned the random surprises here and there. I needed something more polished and reliable, albeit less functional in some areas, but was more where it matters to me.
I looked through the whole market and I couldn't find the right fit and hence why I had to retrofit my workflow into Apple Notes and I've been very pleasantly surprised.
I saw the post about Craft 3.0, which is exciting. I'm glad to see that the current version isn't the end game. There's just significant potential here, Craft is very uniquely positioned, and not far off. Some parting few thoughts to the team:

• Thank you for having me on that journey, I do usually have a few thoughts to share, when I care about a product.
• Well done on being more interactive on Reddit recently, good initiative.
• I was going to start going through product-specific ideas and feedback but thought......

Good luck.

This is the greatest UFC game ever. I never played ufc 5 so I don’t know if it’s any good. I found my old ps3 and realized talking with friends I never played this. I am extremely patient in life.
Nate Diaz in the title mode on advanced made me break my controller when he switched his submission 3x on me to make me have to start over. After I broke the controller I realized something… I’m a grown man getting upset over a video game! I haven’t had that kind of passion in years.
I did a deep dive and realized there isn’t much remaining content on how to win matches and I found a (cheap) way to win. So for anyone who hopefully is frustrated…
The Game Reads Inputs, Deal With It
Don’t try to fight this fact.
Don’t fall in love with the following (to save your controller)
A. BJJ Transitions- these are automatic reversals
B. Trying to Time Knee Intercepts- this will work until the game randomly decides that wrestlers no longer use takedowns. But how much damage will you take waiting?
C. Swaying- you may be good enough but I am not
So what do you do???
This is the cycle you run. And you don’t need any advanced moves to do it.
POSITIONS IN ORDER

1. Clinch. Double Underhooks. Back Take. Throw. Back Mount. GNP. RNC.

TIPS TO HELP WITH THIS

1. CONSTANTLY DENY- If you are not making any moves, you are holding the deny. Once they get rejected quickly move.
   
2. PATIENCE IN FULL MOUNT- once you get to full Mount gnp- be patient. The ai is trying to read your input. Use a feint punch and the cpu will try to catch it throw 1-2 regular strikes, then immediately block transitions
   
3. CONCEDE THE DEATH ROLL- learn the difference between the bottom transition from full Mount to half guard vs back Mount. If they want to roll over UNDERSTAND THAT BACK MOUNT IS THE BEST POSITION IN THE GAME. They can inflict zero damage. Focus all your effort on creating a situation to get to the back.
   
4. DENY. PUNCH. TRANSITION-
   

The goal is to get to the back Mount. There is zero rush to get there. You don’t need to dbz budokai raditz minigame spam the analog stick. You have a TON of time in the round. Secure them one at a time.

1. Try the early transition- you will be surprised if you start trying to transition immediately after the throw you may end up lucky. If not, you are primed to defend
   
2. SPRAWLS TRANSITIONS COME IN 2’S- When you have the opponent in the sprawl position, they will make an attempt to transition and if you stuff it, they will wait a second and then usually follow up with 2 attempts instead of one, be patient.
   
3. LET THE OPPONENT GET TO MOUNT- don’t fight your opponent getting to full Mount. You will take damage that for some reason is unrivaled.
   

Every time you try to transition the ai will find an input to hurt you. There are several transitions from Full Mount defense to offense…
just breathe… hold r1 and keep your opponent postured down and when they finally get to mount just catch the punch.

1. LET GO OF FULL GUARD- if you see your opponent kicking you out of full guard learn to reverse it to side control. The amount of reversal from you in full guard are insane.

WHY THIS WORKS? Because you spend a majority of the fight vs someone who can’t punch you. This is the safe way to learn to fight and find your style. For me, when I called it quits on the month long adventure. I went 44-4 using the back clinch & SC Throw/ slaverry or RNC combo.
I will trade blows standing with an Advanced AI that has been rocked 4 times and is tired.
I hope this helps someone. There really isn’t much information and the game has a wicked learning curve. I am really grateful for what info was available and I wish everyone gets a chance to rewind time (to a hopefully better or enjoyable place in your personal history) and have some fun with the fighters who built the framework for the ufc to be what it is today!
Have a wonderful day everyone!

This is going to be long, but I’ll try to make it short.
This young woman that I used to call my best friend, I’ve just realized is a narcissist.
We share over 200 of the same friends. I met her 5 years ago. But we got really close over the last year. A group of 4 of us, were really closed and talked daily. I would consider myself the glue to the friendships because I always planned gatherings, planned parties at my home. I always included their SOs and their children in these events too.
There were a lot of red flags, but I ignored them because I wanted to see the good. We had similar interest and I enjoyed her company. She said all the kindest things and always made it seem like she heard me. But she also always thought everyone wanted/obsessed/jealous of her, had burned through jobs, friends, relationships, family, nothing ever was her fault, she was so difficult to talk to in the sense that she never wanted to hear what she didn’t want to here, she never put her kids first, always on dates- sleeping with men- staying out all night, she talked trash about our other friends and was always mad at someone for something dumb, she always bragged about things (even weird shit like a guy hitting on her at the gas station), she had a lot of double standards- like one set of rules for her and another for others.
So at the end of last month, I was on a 2 week vacay to Europe. She got upset because I would be there on her birthday. So I planned a special celebration for when I got home. So I would get home on Tuesday then fly to Houston from VA on Friday to attend a concert with her and then fly back Sunday. I really went out of my way to make this happen. While I was in Europe, I wished her a hbd their time and va time. She tells me her bf forgot her bday and our other two friends didn’t plan anything for her. Come to find out our other 2 friends did plan something for her and she cancelled on them and went out with her bf. So lies. For sympathy?
So fast forward to Sunday, the flight home. They are auctioning people off our 1p flight home for a 400$ voucher because the flight is overbooked. She wants to do that. I tell her I can’t, I need to get home. I have 4 dogs, my ex was watching them and he had just watched them while I was in Europe for 2 weeks (so I felt bad), it was my time with my kid (I missed her, I was just gone for two weeks, and I didn’t have meds for the flight. I take Xanax prior to flights and I had taken it already cause I thought we were getting on this 1pm flight and I don’t have more. I take it for anxiety secondary to IBS. She’s visibly upset. She accuses me of lying. Saying that my bf is with my dogs and I lied about his work schedule. I said no, I know his schedule. My ex is at my house and my other obligations and lack of meds still exist. She’s calls me grumpy. I tell her that she can stay but I can’t. She is visibly angry. I tell her, go ahead and see what the catch is. She does, they say that the next flight is at 11p. She tells me this and says she can’t do that because she has to work at 4a and we wouldn’t be home till 4a. So I think everything’s fine. Nope, wrong. Gives me the silent treatment on the way home.
Fast forward to Wednesday, everything has been back to normal. I invited her to go to FL with me in July. My bf, myself and my daughter would be going and I invited her and her daughter. My bf and I would be paying for everything. I only asked that she cover her plane ticket, which was 163$. She asked if her bf of 3 months could go, I thought it was weird cause I’m paying for everything. I just wanted her kid to go to the beach this summer and have a good time. So I say yes, he can come. She then asked again about the cost of the flight and I tell her 163$ per person. She flys off the handle and starts saying I’m not paying that. And starts saying I exclude her bf from everything and I treat her an him like an inconvenience. I was like what??? I wouldn’t have said yes if he was an inconvenience. And he was invited to Houston and she said she just wanted to go with me. Anyways, this continues over and over- she’s not paying, I treat them xyz way. I apologize over and over and I attempt to clear any misunderstanding.
She starts calling me names. Insist I sent her concert tickets for 6 concerts that I paid for. I tell her no, I paid for them, they’re not yours. I invited you to come. She says no you gifted them to me. I say they’re in my account, I paid for them, they’re mine. She tells me she had told her daughter she could go to the concert that was Friday. I feel bad cause I don’t want her daughter let down, so I send the ticket.
Thursday comes, her daughter’s bday. We had plans to go to get bracelets and dinner as the entire friend group and our kids. She says, cancel the reservations we aren’t going. So I do. But I had gifts and a cake. So I tell her that I’m just going to drop it off at her home. I do, along with a Mother’s Day card, gift and flowers for her.
Friday comes, I go to the concert. The ushers sit me on the other side of her, her daughter sees me and waves. She has an extra seat at her table, so she invites me to sit. Everything’s fine. She asks what I got her daughter for her bday party tomorrow- I show her, she says it’s cute. (So I’m thinking everything is fine).
Saturday comes, I take my daughter and her friend to the party. Her daughter and mine, and her friend hang out at my home and have sleepovers a lot. I get to the trampoline park where the party is at and I text her, “parties are stressful, do you need anything before we come in?” She responds, I would appreciate it if you didn’t come. I said, omg, what? I have two kids going to a party they were invited to. I never thought you would uninvite kids. They’re not involved. She said, idc, don’t sit with me. I said, that’s fine, I’ll sit elsewhere, can the kids sit with you. She said no. I said, okay, can my kid give yours this gift she just picked for her at the store? She said no.
I told the kids, she isn’t feeling well, so you guys need to sit with me. You can play with the bday girl, but don’t sit at her table- she’s overwhelmed.
She then blocks me on text. Then text friend A messages me saying “why did you say that I said Narc friend makes disgusting comments?” I was like what? What are you talking about? She said, “sure, say what you want about me” I said “ no I never said anything about you”
(Narc friend once told me that you can blackmail someone by changing the name on text- so you can change things to look like someone said something but it be someone else/another number but you see the name as who you want to blackmail. So a fabricated text thread to hurt someone by making it look like you’re talking behind their back)
She then told friend B that I said my bf was beating me and that I was cheating on him. That isn’t true.
Friend B told my bf, saying if she was him she would want to know. He didn’t believe her.
Narc friend has her bf text me- call me names and then say never talk to me again. I never replied. He’s a nice guy. It didn’t make sense. I’ve let him stay at my home several times. Even borrow my car. Spend time with my family.
The narc friend texted my bf telling him that she has proof that I’m stalking her. (That’s the most foul accusation ever.) She said I show up at her house (no I don’t, I went once to give her gifts and I told her I was doing it). She said I asked her husband (yes she has a bf and a husband) for information. (No, I didn’t. He said to me at our kids soccer, “I went to bed early, narc friend is a lot. I said I don’t understand what’s going on but we’re not talking about this, I dont want you involved. The total opposite of trying to get info.) She said I crossed the line talking to her at the concert. She said I approached her kid (no, I did not, her kid came running to me at the party when she spotted me. She screamed my name, hugged and kissed me. I started crying, she kissed the tears on my face. She asked me why I was sad? I said it’s adult stuff, worry about kid stuff, it’s your bday).
She texted my bf and said tell her to leave all of us alone. Friend A and B already made their choice. Or I’ll show her things she doesn’t want you to know. Friend A and I are fine. But friend B betrayed me with the cheating lie.
I sent her, narc friend an email (cause she’s blocked me) asking her to please stop using the term stalking that she knows that it’s untruthful and it’s slander and disgusting.
I said, all of these things you said to my bf are untrue. It needs to stop. All of these places have cameras and witnesses.
She messaged me back and said, I will get a restraining order and you won’t be able to go to your kids soccer games. (I had signed her kid up in the first place, even paid for it and found her birth certificate bc narc friend was too lazy to look for it. She also has only ever gone to 1 game.)
I said you keep asking me to leave you alone. But you keep perpetuating these events. Talking about me. Texting my bf and my friends. Making up lies. Having people text me to bully me. If you leave me alone then all of everything would stop, it makes zero sense.
She said, I’m not going to tell you one more time. I didn’t respond.
Then friend B text my bf and insinuated that I’m mentally ill and need help. I messaged back and said, I’m fine, thanks for asking. I’m not going to be responding to any of you anymore. Please stop. I’m not defending myself any longer. You know all of this has been lies. I have no more apologies for things I haven’t done wrong. Thank you.
The following week at soccer. Her kid bullied mine everyday. Saying, “our moms aren’t friends anymore, so neither are we, and I’m not going to talk to you” and everytime my kid would be talking to someone- her kid would say shut up, no one cares. So her kid is being brainwashed to be involved. Narc friend came to the final game and bullied more kids.
We have a mutual friend who she used to be close to, I wanted some closure that I wasn’t crazy. So I asked her why they had a falling out? She described a very similar situation. She asked me not to tell her over and over because she didn’t want to be involved and endure her wrath.
I’ve received screenshots from people of her;
Asking them to help make fake fb post and text to frame me for cheating on my bf.
That she brought me plan b because I’m pregnant with some other guys baby.
That I stole 5k in donations from her. (I actually gave her 5k that I raised for her).
That I was trying to make her pay for the whole fl vacay and I went ape shit when she wouldn’t.
That she’s been giving me thousands for months and supporting me.
All of this couldn’t be further from the truth. And thankfully people recognize that it’s not my character and are letting me know. I haven’t reached out or responded in two weeks but it still won’t stop.
She went and got tattoos with my friends on Sunday. Then again today. I haven’t told everyone what’s going on. So they don’t know to stay away. But she’s doing it to get to me.
The amount I have done for her and her family. And my other friends is astronomical. I would have to type an entire new post to list that out. So I won’t, just know I am extremely giving and caring.
I feel so stupid and used. She was talking about me behind my back the entire friendship. I’m so hurt. And I have no recourse for what to do because she does not care obviously. I just want the lies and rumors to stop.

BoxOfficeTheory Presale Tracking
USA Showtimes As of May 17

• katnisscinnaplex showtimes (I've been meaning to look at shows since I wasn't able to run it last week. It looks like all of the releases this week are fairly limited. Here's what I am seeing listed so far, which is probably ~90% of final (I think...I don't usually run on Wednesday): In a Violent Nature - 440 TC (plus ~200 early shows), Summer Camp - 653 TC, Ezra - 617 TC and Haikyu - 816 TC (May 28).)

Presales Data (Google Sheets Link)
BoxOfficeReport Previews
DOMESTIC PRESALES
Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle Average THU Comp: $0.91M

• abracadabra1998 ($1.00M THU comp. No movement, probs looking at around $1 Million previews (May 28). Not bad, not bad (May 27).)
  
• Flip (Looking at some theaters near me, Haikyu is outselling Spy x Family (May 20).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($0.81M THU comp.)
  
• Rorschach (These numbers seem pretty damn good. Will echo @abracadabra1998's $1 mil previews prediction (May 28).)
  

In a Violent Nature

• el sid (Had also only showtimes in 4 of the 7 theaters but already 123 sold tickets. So where it gets shows, it does fine. Loose comps, all counted on Monday of the release week for Thursday: Tarot (715k from previews) had 97 sold tickets in 5 theaters, The Invitation (775k from previews) had 96 in 7 theaters, Pearl (1.3M OD) had 102 sold tickets in 6 theaters and The Strangers: Chapter One (1.2M from previews) had 215 sold tickets in 6 theaters (May 28).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($0.57M EA+THU comp.)
  
• Rorschach ($0.91M THU+FRI comp.
  

Summer Camp

• el sid (Has shows in 3 of my 7 theaters and had not more than 7 sold tickets. So so far completely under the radar. Comp: Book Club 2 (6.7M OW) had also on Monday for Thursday 25 sold tickets in 5 theaters (May 28).)

Young Woman and the Sea

• JonathanMB (I just checked showtimes near me, and in the entire Chicago suburbs it looks like it's only in 5-7 theaters for Friday. Also randomly enough it has a couple of showtimes today at 3pm at some random AMCs? Looks like they're 30-50% full (May 27).)

Bad Boys: Ride or Die Average Thursday / EA+Thursday comp: $3.47M/$5.34M

• abracadabra1998 (Comp: $2.61M THU. All these comps had been on sale for longer, so those will go up, with the exception of Civil War, which went on sale at T-18 so that'll go down. Feels like a walk-up movie so it's hard to find good comps (May 19). Numbers are from last THU, as per my post this morning. This is a more walk-up movie a la Aquaman or Apes so I think it's a pretty good start (May 18). Pretty good start for it honestly (May 16).)
  
• el sid (Counted yesterday for Thursday had 395 sold tickets with shows in 6 theaters (the small AMC Lakeline in Texas is still missing). 10 days left. Bad Boys for Life (6.36M from previews) had on Monday of the release week 915 sold tickets = 43% at the moment for Bad Boys 4 with 7 days left to come closer or maybe overtake. My guess is that BB4 could have 800-1000k tickets by next Monday, so it could be pretty much on par with BBfL. Similar to other reports here: BB4 does not have stellar presales and after several disappointments I shouldn't exaggerate but compared to the best comps it looks quite good for BB4 as you can see (May 28).)
  
• Flip (Decided to add one more theater but there was good growth in both of the original two (May 27).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Comp: $5.34M EA+THU.)
  
• keysersoze123 (Presales are again not that much at this point. I think its not going to hit the heights of last movie (May 28). It should start to amp up sometime this week (May 27). This wont be fan driven. Even the last one initially trailed Dr Do little in presales but amped up big time close to release. This will be a late bloomer. I am still expecting 50m+ OW (May 23).)
  
• TheFlatLannister (Comp: $5.11M THU. Steady pace, no acceleration yet. Switch to G x K since that had super strong walkups ($6.12M THU comp) and Bad Boys 4 will likely replicate this (May 27). Comps ($4.11M) would mean $40M+ Opening Weekend (May 24). Well, this is a pretty good start (May 17).)
  
• TwoMisfits (Aging male-skewing franchises tend to get the biggest bump from this deal. Folks are on the fence but know what they are getting. Female skewing non-sequel ones tend to get zero help. You need baseline interest to get people willing to pay anything, b/c these still are $5. The other effect of the deal is that movies releasing around the $5 hits sometimes get hurt. June TMobile $5 Atom movie. This could help it go huge, like last year's Spider-Verse (May 22).)
  
• vafrow (Comp: $2.7M THU. It's staying pretty flat (May 28). Zero sales day when all comps seemed to have done well. Not a great result. Note: This isn't a holiday weekend in Canada, so that doesn't explain the slow sales. Hopefully it's just an anomaly. This has been very steady to date (May 27). Ghostbusters and Apes both went up in comps, but I didn't have Hunger Games included, so it's brought the average down. Still, its growing at a steady pace (May 26). I still expect this to be more walk up friendly than the comps being used, and should see a gradual rise as the date gets closer (May 25). Nothing of note here. Staying steady. Will probably pick up only in the final week (May 20). Comps are not the greatest. One, surprisingly hard to find a comparable film with similar start on sales. Plus, I think ticket buying patterns have changed pretty drastically in my market over the last few months. Very little up front sales compared to late 2023. Dune was the exception (May 17).)
  
• YM! (Like IO2 the pace for Bad Boys is small but mighty. EA is only available at Majestic much like Garfield. With EA, it’s a few tickets shy of Furiosa’s T-6 but without them it’s only a bit over half. Either way both is really good. I think we’ll continue to see the gap grow over the week but as of rn, I am thinking around $6-7m previews without EA solely on vibes to an OW north of $55m (May 25). Same thing as IO2 for Bad Boys (see May 23 IO2 comment), I expect this to not only skew more GA friendly and should bulk up ticket sales as we get closer to release. It’s almost at half of Furiosa’s T-6 which is a pretty great thing. Should easily outdo it by T-6 imho (May 23). Again, another solid start-ish. I expect Bad Boys to have the most diverse audience. Can't really predict much on previews but I am feeling confident in the 55-60m OW range for the past few weeks (May 17).)
  

The Watchers Average Thursday Comp: $1.00M

• filmlover (Hasn't sold anything near me (May 26).)
  
• Flip (These are good numbers considering it’s only playing in 2/3 theaters I track (May 28).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex ($1.00M THU Comp.)
  

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Re-Releases (June 8-10)

• BoxOfficePro (Fathom Events has also announced that select Regal Cinemas will present the films in 4DX on June 22/23/24 for Fellowship/Towers/Return respectively (May 14).)
  
• AnthonyJPHer (Fellowship of the Ring (269 tickets, 6 showtimes, 4 theaters) on Saturday, June 8, 2024 and Saturday, June 15, 2024 (21 tickets, 4 showings, 4 theaters). The Two Towers (243 tickets, 4 theaters) Saturday, June 9, 2024 and Saturday, June 16, 2024 (22 tickets, 4 showings, 4 theaters). Return of the King (281 tickets, 4 theaters) for Saturday, June 10, 2024 and Saturday, June 17, 2024 (16 tickets, 4 showings, 4 theaters). 852 tickets sold in total. 793 tickets sold for the first week. 59 tickets sold for the second week (May 28).)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Up to ~1,400 shows now with new locations picking it up and others adding a second showing. LotR1 has sold 831 seats OD, LotR2 sold 715 seats OD, and LotR3 sold 735 seats OD. For comparison, Phantom Menace didn't break 800 tickets until T-3 and we're still over a month out. JW3 comp is currently around 9m (it was at 1,670 tickets sold at this point!) (May 6).)
  

Inside Out 2 Average Thursday Comp: $7.63M

• abracadabra1998 (Comp: $3.98M THU. Good update, hopefully this keeps on rising (May 23). Not impressed at all so far here sadly (May 19). Holy numbers of shows and seats! Multiplexes are really expecting a lot here. Sales off the bat not amazing here (May 15).)
  
• AniNate (Finally a little movement here. 23 Thursday, 52 Fri-Sun (compared to 18 THU and 23 FRI-SUN on May 17) (May 22). Safe to say the fan rush has ended, and it might not be immediately on casual family and radar when they're making memorial Day plans and there are two other kids movies out or about to be out (May 19).It is encouraging that Canton is already giving me something to work with with 12 THU preview sales. Same number for Fri-Sun. I do see nine sales for first THU at Canton now and I think that's a pretty solid start (May 15).)
  
• AnthonyJPHer (Some growth for THU, not bad but I expect sales to increase steadily as we get closer to release day. The presales are good enough to not be a disaster like Garfield, but not big enough to guarantee a 100m opening. I still like what I’m seeing though. As my local theater has finally shown some signs of life with this film. 5 tickets sold. Way better than Garfield at the same point. The numbers might not be completely accurate, but it’s looking extremely strong for Friday. 900 tickets for the five theaters I track. Maybe even 1,286 tickets if my numbers are accurate. That tells me this is not front loaded whatsoever. Or at the very least not preview heavy (May 27). Out of the 4 tracked theaters, there is at least 774 tickets sold out of 1000+ seats. Blown Garfield out of the water (~200 tickets from the theaters I tracked). At least 3 sold out (or close to sold out) showings for Inside Out 2. Looking good for Inside Out 2. Of course this might just be fan surge and all. I was looking at the THU previews in a theater near me. There is an almost completely sold out showing. Out of 195 seats, 175 were sold. Where I live there seems to be real interest. I counted about more than 400 tickets sold on THU for theaters near me, kind of shocked me (May 19).)
  
• charlie Jatinder (Comp: $12.33M THU at MTC2. Moving along nicely (May 21).)
  
• Flip (Decided to add one more theater but there was good growth in both of the original two (May 27). Fan event on the 16th has 43 tickets sold from 2 showtimes (compared to 8 showtimes and 73 tickets sold for previews), so that might be depressing previews a bit.)
  
• katnisscinnaplex (Comp: $6.37M THU. Early sales haven't been there lately except for the extreme fans. $12.27M Mario comp (May 18). At 180 shows for previews in my areas and still has a few theaters left to post. Godzilla x Kong finished with 197, Kingdom of Apes 190, and Kung Fu Panda 205 (May 14).)
  
• keysersoze123 (If you compare this to any animation movies seen recently including Minions, its doing very well. Really good this far out for sure (May 25). Chugging along at this point (May 19). Show counts show Plexes are expecting a big OW. I dont remember when we last had a animation movie start with so many shows. I wont count Mario as that was a fan driven movie. Definitely not great presales but this is not a fan driven movie. Let us see where things are in the final week (May 15). Families dont book tickets on weekday mornings. Wait until evening today to judge it. From a release perspective, easily the biggest for any animated movie in a long time. Only movie which is not comparable is Mario but that was not just a family flick (May 14).)
  
• Porthos (BAD COMPS: $8.96M THU. I don't agree with the undertone of concern when it comes to ticket sales for IO2. They seem perfectly fine to me, maybe even somewhat strong. It just isn't selling like a frontloaded CBM/fan driven franchise (even when adjusting for animation). So I suppose it really comes down to how much we think this will still act like a traditional kids animation film when it comes to buying pattern, how much demand has been burnt off, and how many people are still going to buy tickets but see no particular need to buy them early. Which I suppose really can't be answered until we get close to the time when kids animation films typically accelerate. But, I keep looking at the sales in Sacramento and not seeing much cause for concern. Yet, at any rate (May 25). Decided to add Nope ($12.62M) to the comp block. Not because I think it's a particularly good one (the ATP differences alone are a major red flag), but more for pace considerations considering how similar horror and kids animation are when it comes to being backloaded. The other consideration with Nope is that it was on sale for nearly two weeks longer, so it did have a small amount of extra time to pad some seats sold. But maybe the errors (ATP vs length of pre-sale) will cancel each other out. PROBABLY NOT! But the pace at the very least should be interesting (May 25). 10.0% Matinee sales, 5.3% 3D sales and 42.2% PLF sales. (May 19). Strange pre-sale pattern. Was there some sort of promo that dropped today? Either way, just a great day (for this type of movie at this point in pre-sales) (May 17). Fairly strong day. Was concentrated at a couple of theaters (May 16). I do not have good comps, especially for D1. 5.45946x Elemental on D1 [13.10m]. Will it be as backloaded as Elemental? It's tough to sell 5.5x times the amount of tickets on the final couple of days, so perhaps not. But it does show how backloaded purely kids animation is. Sonic 2 comp is perhaps a little concerning. On the other hand, nearly a weeks more of pre-sales. Of presales, 3.5% are 3D and 40.1% are PLF (May 15). On the SAT of release weekend (NOT EA) there is a special event screening for IO2: INSIDE OUT 2: FUNKO FAMILY EVENT! (2024) Sat June 15th. Might boost OW slightly depending on how wide this event is and how much more these tickets will presumably cost (May 11).)
  
• TheFlatLannister (Comp: $8.52M THU Florida and $7.57M THU Orlando Comp.)Excellent pace this far out. Does feel like something big is around the corner (May 27). Definitely the biggest rollout in showings since I've started tracking Florida. Bigger than even Dune 2 and it's only T-26 (May 18). This is a super super strong day 2. Probably just Orlando overindexing, but yeah starting to lean towards something big brewing. Florida presales are somehow even crazier. Sold 2357 seats and is getting a blockbuster rollout in terms of showing allocations. Kung Fu panda comp day 2: gives me $8.50M (May 15). Well, I can't really tell if this is a breakout or not yet. Looks very good especially in the first few hours. These are probably terrible comps, but might as well try something (May 14).)
  
• TwoMisfits (I'm kinda shocked at the opening set from my Cinemarks... 2 screens (1 PLF, 1 not) and 6 showings at my PLF 14 for THU (and 11 showings on the same screens once it runs full day - 7 PLF b/c 1 is 3d on the reg screen, 4 not)... 3 screens (.75 3d, 2.25 not) and 9 showings at the non-PLF 12 for THU (and 12 showings on 2.25 screens once it runs full day)... So, 2 and 2.25 screens for the weekend presale sets... Disney must be charging a huge % for themselves b/c this is an Elemental opening set at my PLF...a little more generous for THU at my non-PLF, but then they too drop to an Elemental opening set after the adult Disney base THU rush... (May 14).)
  
• vafrow (Comp: $5.6M THU. It's starting to grow (May 25). I'm surprised this hasn't been stronger. At this stage, I don't expect we'll see much activity until final week (May 19). No new sales. Whatever glitches in the system on day 1 didn't push sales to day 2. I still think the lack of base ticket options will push families to wait. Cineplex has jacked up the cost of PLFs, plus they're throwing in an increase for opening weekend of major releases. It adds up quickly for families (May 16). With the site glitching yesterday, it might account for the slow start. But, what's interesting is the format breakdown. Nothing is being made available in anything close to a regular showtime. The one non 3D showing in Dolby is a matinee showing. Everything else is carrying a hefty premium. They'll likely release regular showtimes closer to release, but right now, it's priced to get eager fans to pay the PLFs (May 15).)
  
• YM! (Did a bit of quick math in following some comparisons for IO2 using Keysersoze123's earlier MTC1 data out of boredom again and pace is pretty good, 6.74M average THU comp. The same caveats apply (IO2 should have higher ATP than the other animations due to skew somewhat older and having PLFs but having lower ATP than TLM as that skews older and likely has more of audience to buy upfront, and Wish being on Discount Tuesday muddies things up) but the important thing is that pace healthy and gainer ground against its comparisons. Feel like tracking is right on the money of 75-85m OW but could grow stronger if pace continues strong and reviews are strong (May 26). The pace is moving nicely as we have about two and a half weeks left. Think there’s potential for ticket count pace to grow strongly. I have no comparisons but it is at Garfield’s EA-less T-3 ticket sales. Going to probably not say much on preview predictions but my thoughts of an OW in between 75m-100m still stand. Not much to make of things until we get to around 2 weeks for rudimentary guessing and opening week for figuring things out (May 25). Little has changed as IO2 keeps on trucking along. I do theorize at least from the 250 ticket selling Funko Event, it’s plausible families and fans went for that date instead of Thursday night previews. Not much to make of things until we get to around 2 weeks for rudimentary guessing and opening week for figuring things out. At the very least, I like that it doubled its previous sales a week ago as it shows pace and outdid Garfield’s T-6 (May 23). Did some snooping around for the Funko Event as I was curious if perhaps families getting presales for the opening Saturday vs opening Thursday as those sales are kind of weak Thursday and uhm it’s at 250 tickets. Which is like 5 times Garfield’s EA showing of 50 tickets all at PLF prices despite normal theaters. Most of which at 9:30 AM with only one theater having it at 11:00 AM (May 22). Based on keysoze123's Elemental, Wish, Little Mermaid, and Kung Fu Panda 4 preview data, $5.66M THU comp and $22.2M FRI comp. Not a fan of the average comp (Disney has underperformed at MTC2 so not within history to rely on it overperforming like KFP4 and IF) but really like the True FRI although it is very inconsistent. Not sure if IO2 would jump that high from the THU average. However, there’s a lot of variable since: 1. TLM should skew more towards young adults than families by nature which should make ATP higher. 2. IO2 should and does have a higher ATP than either Wish, KFP4 or Elemental due to total PLF control and presumably skews a bit older. 3. Wish was on Discount TUES so that should muddy up the comparisons. 4. The comparisons apart from Elemental are either days before or days behind. 5. Both Wish and KFP4 opened outside the summer season so internal multiplier will be different (especially with Wish’s five day) due to how summer and fall have entirely different natures in walkups which leaves just TLM/Elemental as viable comparisons. It does show that IO2 should at least open above 65m? (May 20). Seems IO2 is playing more like a kid's animation than a family event. Pretty solid for what it is. Majestic is healthy and about 66% of Garfield T-6. Thinking anywhere from 75m-100m OW rn (May 17). Only been an hour but yeah sales are softer than I expected. However, it is a month out and will largely skew more towards kids than say TLM/Across so wasn't expecting a blitz like them. Here at Marcus theaters are going all out for IO2 with it having the lion share of PLFs with it getting both screens when there is two PLFs with tentpole like levels of screens (May 14).)
  

The Bikeriders

• Pinacolada (Actually sold some around me. It does seem like Focus is giving it kind of a shitty release though. Small screens. Definitely no PLFs, which 20th Century Studios was gonna get it Dolby back when they had it. There's 3 theaters really near me. Only 1 of them has this on sale as of now, though the other 2 theaters may come later? (May 26).)

Deadpool and Wolverine Average Thursday Comp using TheFlatLannister's Dune2+GOTG3 comp: $30.46M

• AMC ("Some 200,000 movie fans have bought their AMC tickets already. This is more Day 1 ticket sales at AMC than for any other R-rated movie ever." Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter that first-day sales are likely around $8 million to $9 million if extrapolating the 200,000 stat cited by Aron (May 22).)
  
• DEADLINE (Already heating up eight weeks before its debut, having already collected some $8M in first day ticket sales. $8M is pretty remarkable for an R-rated movie two months before release. While there are no direct comps on Deadpool & Wolverine ticket sales in post-Covid history, its current cash bests the 24-hour advance ticket sales of The Batman ($6.5M), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($6M) and John Wick: Chapter 4 ($1.4M). The Batman and GOTG3 opened to respective 3-day weekends of $134M and $118.4M (May 22).)
  
• FANDANGO (Broke Fandango’s best first-day ticket sales record for 2024. Best first-day pre-seller from the Deadpool franchise (May 21).)
  
• abracadabra1998 (Day 1/2 Comps (not serious ones): $25.82M/$28.14M THU. Pretty damn great day 2!(May 21).)
  
• AniNate (THU sales still largely biased towards primetime evening showings. There may be FOMO but not enough for people to take off work early. Good lord already 80+ THU previews sold for Deadpool at Canton (May 20).)
  
• AnthonyJPHer (Extremely strong growth from OD for Thursday. We have a monster on our hands here people. Buuut. Let me temper the excitement somewhat. The Friday numbers are good, stronger than Inside Out 2 by a considerable margin. However Inside Out 2 is looking very backloaded. This is looking extremely presales heavy right now. Much more than IO2’s 1,200 tickets for Friday. But here lies the problem. There is only 122 tickets separating Thursday and Friday for Deadpool and Wolverine, and for IO2, there is 500 tickets between the two days for that movie. This far out I’m not freaking out. I think the gap will increase. It just alarmed me a little. I still think it’s going to be massive though. Just a word of caution (May 28). Off to a hot start! At my theater in my town, there has been 8 tickets sold. That sounds low but it’s actually a lot, especially this far out and because Inside Out 2 hasn’t sold any tickets at my theater yet. Looking more broadly at 4 theaters I track other than my own, there is a mind- boggling 1,029 tickets sold! Already more than Inside Out 2 (May 20).)
  
• Charlie Jatinder (Comp: $28.9M THU. Moving along well (May 27). Nearly 300 sales day vs ~260 by Black Panther & ~200 of GOTG3. Another brilliant day. Given the length of sales window, comps be falling off but they have remained steady for first 4 days (May 24). Looking at keysersoze123's MTC1 data: These are incredible (May 22). $40.22M THU (MCU first day sales). Amazing day two at MiniTC2. Well ahead of BP2, GOTG3 and AM3. Not too far off from Thor 4. This is more impressive considering they all were ~25-35 days out while this is 65 days out. MTC2 has lower ATP generally due to smaller screens, less PLF, and more family friendly chain. Does much better PTA than MTC1 (May 21). MCU MTC 1 24 Hours: Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness ~ 210K (T-29), Thor 4 ~ 137K (T-24), DP&W ~ 120K+ (T-66), BP 2 ~ 110K (T-38), AM3 ~ 88K (T-30), and GoTG3 ~ 76K (T-30). At T-30 guess DP&W would have been around 160-170K type. Will mostly be above BP2 and below Thor 4. 3.6k so far. BP2 final was 4.6k. It’s done (crossed GOTG3 day one sales). Almost crossed GoTG3 day one sales at MiniTC2 (May 20).)
  
• Inceptionzq (Denver Comp: $25.69M THU. Drafthouse THU/FRI/SAT/SUN comp: $31.04M/$38.62M/$40.21M/$22.35M (May 21). Drafthouse THU/FRI/SAT/SUN comps with L&T 24 hours and MoM 11 hours: (1.03x0.968x) / (0.884x0.945x) / (0.912x1.01x) / (0.561x1.004x). Denver THU: In like for like theaters: (0.828x Thor L&T First 24 hours) and (0.628x Doctor Strange MoM first 11.5 hours) (May 20).)
  
• keysersoze123 (Previews was taken late yesterday and Friday data was just now. Still going quite strong. very impressive after huge OD (May 28). Still really strong 3 days later (May 25). 1st few days of PS is all about fanboys so T-x does not matter. By this FRI it will be in steady state mode. With this long a cycle that would be at very low levels. Looking at FRI sales, its IM will be closer to Thor 4 than BP2. So we can do the projections based on how the previews will go. However Its really early. Let us wait until we have T-x comps. Probably will have to wait until July to get credible comps. MTC2 early sales tend to be way weaker for all movies. The disparity for big movies is even higher. Nothing out of ordinary in day 2 pace for MTC1 (May 22). Obvious skew on previews (compared to FRI) as its 9+ weeks from release. Excellent growth even past 2:15 PM. Finished ahead of BP2 and ~20K below Thor 4 (116k for DxW and FINAL The Marvels previews at 133k). It has the longer cycle. This includes fan shows which sold 18K+ in initial check around noon PST. Fan event is just MTC1. I dont see anything for any other MTC so far or smaller chains. I think at this point we need to comp with 2022 MCU movies if OD presales are on par. Until we are within T-x cycle for this movie, we cannot comp after 1st 2-3 days. Fan shows are yuge. Adding FanShows and Previews should put it between BP2 and Thor 4 for now. Terrific OD. Over time, GotG3 should provide great comps. I can say for sure, its no where in the ballpark of DS2 which did 36m previews. Really good start. Should finish the day ahead of Ant 3 I think. Sales will taper off after fanboy rush. This does not include fan shows. No full data yet but show counts for previews (MTC1 - 7427 and MTC2 - 2914). MTC1 shows they are ready for big numbers. MTC2 is more conservative and numbers will go up close to release. If I have to guess based on really early indications, its OD between Guardians 3 and Ant 3 at MTC1. MTC2 I unfortunately cannot get data (May 20). Thor 4 is the most logical comp but that had meh WOM so IM was terrible. Previews were excellent though. Since its previews was 3 days after July 4, its final surge was stronger than even DS2. I dont think there is any difference between early and late July. All schools/colleges will still be off (May 19). Only number that matters is OD presales. after few days it will hit a trough and then it will plod along until social media reactions and reviews hit close to release. I think we can kind of predict its OW after its OD presales (May 18). RESPONSE TO PORTHOS: Captain Marvel had very strong sales on its OD despite early start. So OD is all about fans. It does not matter if you start 2 weeks before or 9 weeks. They will still book. So it would be interesting to compare OD sales not only with CM for @Porthos but also the big openers in 2022/23 period from MTC perspective. 1) DS2 - 230k ish. 2) Thor 4 - 136k ish. 3) Wakanda - 110k. 4) Ant 3 - 88K. 5) Guardians 3 - 70k ish. I wonder where Deadpool 3 will land. Anything is fine as long as it does pull in a Marvels (May 17).)
  
• Legion Again (Previews this early in summer are almost a THU opening, so Fri soemthing like +35-55% from Th is IM ~4.9-5.5. If we get some strong Fri sales when we’re close maybe I’ll drag it up to 5.6 or something but it will be really really tough to beat that. Expecting an IM close to Thor 4. Better reception (in avg case, just by regression to the mean) but bigger previews/more fanrush element, ~cancelling. T-65 Projection Matrix ($166M-$186M OW) (May 22).)
  
• Porthos (Comp: $20.87M THU. $6.72M earned so far in Sacramento (May 28). For long releases of MCU/SW Saga caliber, it usually takes about 6 to 8 days for the initial wave to stop. The Rise of Skywalker didn't really "bottom out" until D9 or so (T-51). Then at T-21, more or less, it started up its acceleration again. Can see similar patterns for MCU long runners (May 24). MCU/SW films tend to have a bit longer of a slope-down on the decent of the "u-curve" so I think I'll keep posting "Day x" comps for at least a couple more days (May 23). Pretty standard Day 2, really. Best sign, I think, is it nearly matching BP2 (that also had a long pre-sale window starting at T-38) (May 22). $22.09M THU Day 1 Comps (8.4% 3D and 58.5% PLF) (May 21). Pretty good, all things considered. BP2 and onward tell a pretty consistent picture. Do think the extra month of pre-sales is gonna mess with these comps at least a little (May 21). Since setup took 60-75 min longer, take the following with a slight grain of salt: 1:45 PM with 2,105 tickets sold. (NWH 2am: 6515), (NWH 2pm: 10685), (Batman 12:45 pm: 1693), (MoM 1:00 pm: 5030), (L&T 12:15pm: 2519), (BP2 2:15pm: 2197) and (GOTG3 12:40pm: 1317). Two theaters have not yet checked in. Seems to be broadly in line with other markets that have reported in (May 20). No comparison for a movie starting presales this early (60+ days before release). Only MCU entry which comes close is Captain Marvel (T-58) and only other Disney release is TROS (T-59). Longest pre-sale window for a major Disney release since The Last Jedi (~70 days). Longest major release since Fast X's 99 days. Probably the most on-point recent comparison will be Jurassic World 3's 43 days. Length of the pre-sale window will very likely depress D1/D2/D3 sales somewhat. It's a matter of smaller degrees when comparing something like a BP2 (starting at T-38), but that extra month is probably gonna slice some numbers off the top of the pile, especially after the first day (May 17).)
  
• TalismanRing (NYC Regal Local. 17 shows (3 3D, 3 RPX, 11 Reg 2): 102 tickets sold for first hour - almost half for the 7pm RPX showing. COMPS MON opening week: Marvels: 91 (11pm), Eternals: 266 (7pm), Black Widow: 239 (5pm), and Venom 2: 131 (6pm) (May 20).)
  
• TheFlatLannister ($150M locked imo. Don’t really see under $30M for previews and a 6x multi gets it to $180M OW. With GOTG 3 early reception I think $200M becomes a real discussion (May 22). $44.36M Dune 2 Day 2 comp. Pretty ridiculously strong day 2. Sold more tickets on T-65 than Dune 2 did in its final day of presales. $22.42M THU GOTG3 Comp. Considering this thing is 60+ days out, I'd say day 2 was amazing (May 21). Sold around 1k tickets in the last 8 hours. Keep in mind this is not T-X so once I switch to T-X 30+ days from now, comp will probably be well over $30M for GOTG. Thinking ~8k seats sold by T-30 for ~$37M comp with GOTG vol 3. DON'T TAKE THESE THU COMPS (Dune+APES+GxK) SERIOUSLY: $46.33M. Rollout is pretty insane. Has almost 200 more showings than Inside Out 2. Sold more tickets than Dune 2 did as of T-1 (Dune 2 finished with 13.6k on T-0). Also surpassed Godzilla tickets sold as of T-0. Half way finished collecting data on Deadpool for Florida and it's nearly tripled Dune 2 first 24 hours of sales and data is still flowing in. Passed GOTG3, ATSV, Dune 2 (First 24 hours) in about 3 hours. I think we can put the under $100M OW discussion to bed. To the shock of no one, this is blowing up. First 24 hours update should have average comps near $35M (May 20).)
  
• Tinalera (Toronto having an especially good run on pre sales- overall sales looking healthy (May 27). For a movie this far out, yea presales are doing well in Vancouver and Calgary. Its hard as very few movies open this early, but its healthy when we are getting between 5-10 percent sales for a movie not due out for 2 months (May 24).)
  
• TwoMisfits (Local Cinemark presale sets for DP3... 3 screens and 15 showings each - the PLF is giving 1 of 2 PLF screens and the non-PLF is doing some 3d showings. Not the set that a normal "big" Marvel movie gets, but it seems my 2 locals have taken a "put up or shut up" strategy for almost all blockbusters lately. This IS equal or more than most everything lately (although Bad Boys 4 is getting 3 screens and 14 showings at my PLF, so...). But, compared to 2019 Marvel, or even 2021 or EVEN 2023 Marvel...this is a low set (May 19).)
  
• vafrow (Comp: $45.2M THU. 12% over two days is pretty strong once the rush passes. We're not at the bottom of the curve yet it seems (May 24). 8% growth at this stage is very positive. I expect another drop tomorrow, but I'm probably not going to touch this until the weekend at this stage. I'm comping high, and without a proper MCU comparison (Marvels doesn't count), it's hard to gauge, but I feel this is just doing really well here (May 22). 20% growth on day 2 when it had a really strong first day is impressive. Ahead of T-1 for Dune Previews to officially be the highest selling film I've tracked since I switched to the 5 theatre radius (May 21). MTC4 has really jacked up plf prices in the last year or so, and D&W is skewed heavily towards PLFs in my track. I'm not sure how many trackers are doing price adjustments, but lack of good MCU comps in the last year could see a big price impact. Watching L&T comps in particular because being a rare adult skewing July MCU film seems to be the most ideal (May 21). Solid jump over the course of the day. Dolby sales jumped up the most, potentially as good IMAX screens got taken. Not sure what happened for the East coast this morning, but sales seemed to have rebounded. A little hit and miss in different markets, but that's what I'd assume for that region. There's some small communities. Not sure why it took so long for sales to hit when southern Ontario was hot off the mark. People may have assumed 9:00 am eastern time. Numbers pulled around 11:00 am, so two hours worth of data. Chain is pushing 3D for the ticket premium. Exception is IMAX showings, where I think they know people just want the 2D experience. 60% of sales being those four IMAX showings. 40 minutes into presales for my area. Almost triple Dune 2 on my first measurement for that, which was Day 2. Bit ahead of my first measurement for The Marvels, which was T-21, and I think about a week into sales. They're really leaning into 3D showings. I get the desire for theatres to get the extra premium, but I can't see a lot of people wanting to see this in 3D. Has been up for sale on the Canadian East coast, presumably from 9:00 local time. I did a sweep of all showtimes on MTC4, but there's been zero sales so far (May 20).)
  
• YM! (Sold ~10.6x Furiosa's T-6. One theater makes up a sizeable percentage of most mid-sized Marvel's T-2 in a span of hours. Such a strong start. Definitely feels like we got a potential 25m previews/150m+ opener. Still don't buy 200m OW but am starting to see 30m previews/175m+ OW as a strong possibility. On its first day has sold over 10x Furiosa T-6 here in SE Wisconsin. At North Shore, 70% of Shang-Chi’s and Venom 2’s T-2, 47% of Homecoming’s T-2, and 41.25% of Thor: Ragnarök’s T-2 - just using DP&W’s T-66! At half of Furiosa’s T-4 sales here in the past ten minutes in just two of the theaters PLF shows (May 20). 42 showings for previews across four SE Wisconsin theaters I track. ~20% more showings than IO2 and about the same amount of PLFs spread. Likely 3-4 screens a theater for THU previews, but has SuperScreen + 2 UltraScreen screens in Majestic Cinema. Seems to be a 3D push with North Shore having primetime showings in 3D UltraScreen (May 19).)
  

Domestic Calendar Dates (last updated May 23):
MAY

• (May 28) Presales Start [The Forge]
  
• (May 29) Presales Start [A Quiet Place: Day One]
  
• (May 30) THU Previews [Ezra + Haikyu!! + In a Violent Nature + Summer Camp + Robot Dreams + Young Woman and the Sea]
  
• (May 31) Presales Start [Daddio]
  

JUNE

• (June 3) Opening Day [MON: Spider-Man No Way Home Re-Release]
  
• (June 5) Presales Start [Despicable Me 4]
  
• (June 6) Presales Start [Twisters]
  
• (June 6) THU Previews [Bad Boys: Ride or Die + Watchers]
  
• (June 8) 1-SAT Re-Release (1st day) [LotR: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 9) 1-SUN Re-Release (1st day) [LotR: Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 10) 1-MON Re-Release (1st day) [LotR: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 13) THU Previews [Inside Out 2]
  
• (June 15) 1-SAT Re-Release (2nd day) [LotR: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 16) 1-SUN Re-Release (2nd day) [LotR: Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 17) 1-MON Re-Release (2nd day) [LotR: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 20) THU Previews [Bikeriders + Janet Planet]
  
• (June 22) 1-SAT Re-Release (3rd day) [LotR: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition]
  
• (June 23) 1-SUN Re-Release (3rd day) [LotR: Two Towers Extended Edition]
  
• (June 24) 1-MON Re-Release (3rd day) [LotR: Return of the King Extended Edition]
  
• (June 27) THU Previews [Blue Lock + Daddio + Horizon: Chapter 1 + A Quiet Place: Day One]
  

JULY

• (July 1) Presales Start [Fly Me to the Moon + Longlegs]
  
• (July 2) Opening Day [WED: Despicable Me 4]
  
• (July 4) Opening Day [THU: Possum Trot]
  
• (July 4) THU Previews [MaXXXine]
  
• (July 11) THU Previews [Fly Me to the Moon + Untitled New Line Horror movie]
  
• (July 17) EA [Twisters]
  
• (July 18) THU Previews [Twisters]
  
• (July 25) THU Previews [Deadpool and Wolverine (including 1 PLF fan show at 3 PM) + Didi + Fabulous Four]
  
• (July 29) Presales Start [Alien: Romulus + It Ends With Us]
  

AUGUST

• (August 1) THU Previews [Harold and the Purple Crayon]
  
• (August 5) Presales Start [Borderlands]
  
• (August 8) THU Previews [Borderlands + It Ends With Us + Cuckoo + The Fire Inside + Trap]
  
• (August 12) Presales Start [Alien: Romulus]
  
• (August 15) THU Previews [Alien: Romulus + Horizon: Chapter 2 + Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure]
  
• (August 22) THU Previews [Blink Twice + The Crow + The Forge + Slingshot]
  
• (August 29) THU Previews [City of Dreams + Reagan + They Listen]
  

Presale Tracking Posts:
May 11
May 14
May 16
May 18
May 21
May 23
May 25
Note: I have removed most tracking data that has not been updated for 2 weeks. I think there is value in keeping data for a week or two but at a certain point they start to lose their value and should not be treated the same as more recent tracking data.

We met recently with him let's call him"Z" Me and my friends met with him in a game he was quite shy and weird person.He thought I was a guy and discussed about his crush and stuff after he knew I was a girl he said he was quite embarrassed but he continues to discuss stuff with me and always say I was one of quite dependable friend even in my group and he don't play with my friends unless I am in the game.All of us are girls and part of wild group we don't really care how ppl see us we always stay carefree Z is a guy so he try to fit in our group but my friends don't like his attitude only me and one of my friend is okay with him is not like we okay with his attitude either we can just put up with him.After one or two months the rest of the group blocked him only me and one of my friend stayed with him because we feels bad for him.I even download a game to play with him so he doesn't feel bad what happened in fact he show no interest so I just leave him like that but still continues to chat in the group chat recently he stopped talking to me or like my social media post but he still like my friend post.Did I do something wrong?

(Edit: this post got way longer than expected, I'll cover Curses and other more info in a different post! For now, here's just my thoughts on Blessing Picks)
Hey everyone, I've been playing a lot of Blurtra and figured I'd post some of my thoughts, tips and tricks. There's already a few great guides on the mode, so this may be repeating some known info, but more info is never a bad thing.
I just finished up my best run, which made it to floor 848, though it was unfortunately ended by (don't laugh): The Bell, due to an absolute disaster of worst case scenario on turn 1 that snowballed out of control, leading to a party wipe: https://i.imgur.com/2kqWSfh.jpeg
So here's my own tips for "How-to-Blurtra", but keep in mind these are based on my opinions and experiences. Feel free to add info or thoughts or disagreements below! Also this post is being made on the old reddit format. If the formatting is weird in new reddit, you can use this link to view it: (https://old.reddit.com/SliceAndDice/comments/1d35tsx/guide_to_blessings_for_blurtra_mode/?)
First of all, I'll discuss blessings You get a max of 10 points of blessing per loop, including the start of the run.
I'm sure there's many more blessings or curses that I'm forgetting or haven't encountered (especially wild modifiers), so let me know in the comments if you want me to add my thoughts on a curse or blessing I missed!

Useful One-Time Blessings

Some of these may be possible to take extra copies of, and they may stack, but I think overall you don't get much benefit for extra copies beyond the first:
Poison Immunity (3 Points, Immune to Poison) - This is a wonderful blessing throughout the run and should be taken as soon as it shows up if nothing critical is competing for the points. Early game it makes fights like Snakes, Bandits, Carriers, and bosses like Troll or Dragon so much easier. More importantly though, it makes a huge chunk of curses that poison you completely free (Start Poisoned, Poison per Item, etc). So much value for only 3 points.
Underworld Deal (2 Points, No HP penalty on deaths) - Very useful all run. Early game it lets you play aggressively with things like Berserker or Cultist, midgame it helps avoid starting fights with the Sickly curse already active, and lategame it helps buffer against Caltrops curses. Like poison immunity, you want to grab this as soon as it appears if it's not competing with a required blessing.
Treasure Seeker (4 Points, +1 Equipment Slot (max of 4) & +1 Item Quality) - Technically not a one-time blessing, but you only want two extra item slots before any repeats give no value. That said, the sooner you can unlock all 4 item slots per Hero, the better. Both for enabling better combos with gear, but also for being able to stick as many cursed items onto the same 'mule' character as you can, freeing up more heroes to fight without the handicap of cursed items you may have been forced to take.
Deep Pockets (2 Points, +1 Equipment Slot (max of 4)) - A cheaper version of +ItemSlot, but without the tag-on of item quality. If you haven't unlocked all 4 item slots yet, grab this when it appears.
Knicknack Knapsack (5 Points, +1 Equipment Slot, Choose a Tier 1 Item each fight) - Another source of +EquipmentSlot, but this also gives a tier 1 item pick each fight. Now, the catch is, this is modified by your current Item Quality blessings and curses. If you're in the positive for Item Quality from blessings, you will find that tier of item EVERY fight. So if you have +6 item quality blessings, you will find a tier 7 item every single fight. Kind of amazing. Grab this if you see it and there's no major tradeoff.
Unsummon (3 Points, -1 Pip to enemy summons) - This is a nice perk in the early game, allowing you to ignore Graves or Seeds until last, and making fights against things like Alpha, Basalt, Hand, etc just a lot smoother. Lategame, when monsters are so buffed from curses that they're summoning 10+ enemies per die, this is almost meaningless, but it's still very worth the points in the first 100 to 200 floors.
Monster Blank (6 Points, Enemy left side is blank) - This is a surprisingly useful blessing, though expensive. Generally, a monster's strongest side is their left side, and many curses specifically buff the enemy's left side. Taking this blessing not only buys you a free turn 1/6 of the time vs enemies, but it also makes a batch of curses completely free picks (who cares if you're giving +8 to an enemies left side if their left side is empty!). Even in the lategame when the goal is to turn 1 kill everything, you may sometimes brick your turn 1 rolls, and this might give you that 1 extra turn to survive. I'd rank it as a mid-tier pick. Never skip something like Bone Math or Enemy HP Down to choose this, but if you haven't taken it yet and you're not competing with a meta pick that loop, grab this one.
Hamstring (6 Points, -1 to Enemies Two Right Sides) - This can be useful, but I'd say low priority. It's great on a few enemies, and it can stack with Unsummon to shut down a few summoners like Wiz or Sarcophagus, but this blessing will be mostly obsolete when you eventually add enough +Pips to enemies from curses. I'd rate this as low priority, only take if the loop is offering nothing better.
monster.decay (2 Points, Add Decay to Monsters) - This one is very cheap, only 2 points, and it can be useful in the very early game. If it's offered on the first 100 or so floors, I'd grab it. That said, it's going to be almost meaningless later on.
Monster Single Use (9 Points, Add Single-Use to all monster sides) - So this is the much better version of Decay, but it's also 9 points. This blessing can allow you to go for a turtle strategy in the early game, just outlasting hard bosses because they will at most get 6 actions against you (5 if you also took Monster Blank!). The problem is that later in your run, this will be almost meaningless because fights are often decided on turn 1 or 2, meaning you "wasted" a full loop worth of blessings. Turtle strategies also become less viable later in the run, as you get curses that do their bad thing every X turns in the fight. This one I'd say pick if it's very early in the run and the offerings were mostly duds, but don't skip anything useful for this one.
Monster Left Pain (10 Points, Add Pain to Enemy Left Side) - Skip it. This is your entire blessing budget for the loop, and you eventually want to give monsters a blank on their left side anyway, which would completely obsolete this blessing.
Monster Right Pain (4 Points, Add Pain to Enemy Right Side) - This one is both cheaper, and potentially useful sometimes. Early in the run it can be some free damage, and even in the very late game, this could have a small chance to save a run heading for disaster if you brick a turn 1, but the monster(s) ends up killing themselves for you. Low priority, but I'd grab it if there wasn't a big trade-off.
Boss Smash⁹⁹ (9 Points, +99 Pips during Boss fights) - There are some bosses that are very challenging. Inevitable, or really all of the end bosses after some curses are stacked, including many boss fight-specific curses. This blessing is mostly a silver bullet get of jail free card vs every boss, with some huge disclaimers though! The biggest consideration is the order of curses you've picked. You do not want this curse if you've already chosen a Caltrops curse, because then this will change the Caltrops to 99 damage, giving the potential to instantly wipe your entire party on turn 1 with bad luck (which will happen in 999 floors!). On the other hand, if you have NOT chosen a Caltrops curse, then you can take this, and a future Caltrops curse will NOT get the benefit of the +99 during bosses. There's also some other considerations (something like Doctor dealing party damage, etc). Be mindful of the potential drawbacks of this curse, but if those are taken care of, this can be your solution to the hardest fights in the game. I'd say it's an auto-pick if Caltrops curse hasn't been taken yet.
Reliable (6 Points, Blanks are filled with the middle's side) - A great blessing that salvages terrible units like Scoundrel or Prodigy, and it can also reverse curses like Right Side Blank (but only if you take this AFTER the blank curse). I'd say if possible, try to hold off on taking this blessing until you've taken a Blank curse, then grab this. This curse can be taken more than once, so you could for example take this on floor 1, get Blank curse on floor 205, then take Reliable again on floor 281 to negate the blank (though you're "wasting" some blessing budget). Even so, giving yourself less blank sides is just good at any stage of the run, and probably worth possibly losing some long term value. Reminder that blanks added by an item will still remain blank (so i.Hat gear and so on).
Divine¹ (2 points) or Divine² (8 Points) (All pips have a MINIMUM value of 1 or 2, applies after items) - These seem kind of rare, but they're great. The ² version is obviously the goal, but even the ¹ if it shows up is so cheap I'd say it's an auto-pick (if you don't have ² yet). Setting a minimum of 1 or 2 to your dice is great, especially since it applies after items. The ² one is just a huge buff on almost every tier 1 hero, and it also turns normally bad items like Ace of Spades into something much better. I'm actually not sure if it also applies to debuffs like Weaken? It may, but by the time I found this in my run, I was past the point of Weaken mattering. Let me know in the comments!
Turn 3 Heal (3 Points, Heal/Shield all Heroes at start of Turn 3) - Useful early game, and could possibly divert a disaster lategame. Low priority pick, but it could see use.
Preparation (3 Points, Auto-Shield for 2 on Turn 1) - This one is a lot better of a survival tool. Turn 1 is the most important, and this gives everyone a small protection boost. It will also disable the Exposed curse on turn one. Can have some synergy with Steel too.
Leyline¹ (5 Points, First spell per fight is free) - This is great, and even deep into the run when you may have tons of curses nerfing your spells, you can still always use any spell on turn 1 to do things like Blaze, Abyss, or Infinity to nuke a boss, or just something simple like Slice in the early floors. I'd say any other versions of Leyline (2nd spell or beyond) lose a lot of their value once your casting is bricked due to curses (depending on your curse selection strategy). Definitely worth grabbing when this appears, but I'd say it's more like upper mid-tier.
Fumes (5 Points, Highest HP enemies start poisoned for 2) - Too expensive in my opinion. It only works on the highest HP enemies. Useful in the very early game, but late game this will be very low impact, and for 5 points, I'd expect better.
Cataclysm (3 Points, Kill all enemies at the end of turn 7) - For the early game, this could save you from losing a war of attrition on a fight gone wrong, but late game, still being alive at the end of turn 7 (and not having won already) is unlikely at best. I'd say this is a trap, don't waste the points unless you have a specific plan in mind for it. Also, does this kill reinforcements off-screen too? I actually have no idea, but if it can't... definitely skip this one.
Keep Rolls (2 Points, Keep Unused Rerolls) - It's very cheap, and in the early game this might have benefit, but I'd still rate this as very low priority. Lategame you won't be able to reroll at all once curses block them, and even early game, it's often better to use all rerolls for either cantrips, or fishing for a slightly better turn. How often do you actually save unused rerolls anyway?

Keyword Blessings

These add a keyword to either all dice, or a specific side, or only on X turns or every X'th use per turn. I'll mostly be covering the ones that can be found that add to all sides permanently without restriction. Keep in mind that most of these are NOT retroactive. Meaning, if you found Self-Heal to all sides, then later you replaced right side with Caltrops, that Caltrops will not have Self-Heal, but if you take Caltrops curse first, then take Self-Heal blessing later, it will be added. Also most of these keywords only apply to the base sides of a dice. If you replace a side with items, it will not have the keywords unless another mechanic is adding it (like Enduring).
Ranged (3 Points, Can hit Backrow and Avoid On-Hit Counters) - I'd say this is arguably the highest priority of them all. Later in the run, you're likely to have blessings like Monster's Start Damaged, and the Flighty curse, which puts damaged enemies to the backrow, behind potentially waves of reinforcements with low HP that keep coming in at the front row, putting that boss summoning 10 demons just out of reach... Adding Ranged to all sides means you can always reach the backrow. Also avoids things like Thorn, Imp, Basilisk, or Hexia counters. It's also very cheap... just pick it!
SelfHeal (7 Points, Heal myself for X) - Great blessing that lets you ignore pain, and just keeps you nice and topped up in health. Expensive, but worth it when it appears.
SelfShield (10 Points, Shield myself for X) - More expensive than SelfHeal, but (mostly) does the same thing. This one shields instead of heals. Better vs incoming attacks, worse for long term sustain in the early game. Even so, you ultimately want both SelfHeal and SelfShield blessings if possible, grab it when it appears if possible.
Critical (8 Points, 50% chance for +1 Pips) - This blessing seems overpriced. 50% chance for +1 pip for 8 points? It's a skip from me.
Growth (8 Points, Side gets +1 Pip after use) - In the early game this would be very powerful, and can make cantrip builds go insane. That said, in the lategame you're probably going to be unable to reroll thanks to curses, and fights should mostly be over in 1-2 turns. Very expensive early game investment that gets obsoleted late game.
Duel (4 Points, x2 vs Enemies Targeting Me) - Great value for the points. Many enemies do AoE attacks that target the whole field, and even single target enemies will buff the unit they're targeting. For only 4 points it's a definite grab if there's no meta picks being traded.
Focus (4 Points, x2 vs same target as previous action) - Another good one for the price. This one is in the players control for activating it, and being able to double most of your pips for only 4 points is superb. Grab when possible.
Deathwish (10 Points, x2 to sides if currently dying) - This is a whopping 10 points, your entire budget for a loop. Lategame this will be active on basically your whole team on turn 1, but early game it might not be active as often as you'd like. A strong blessing, but so expensive. Still probably worth it.
Cruel (6 Points, x2 vs targets on half or less HP) - Moderately priced, and still somewhat useful. Early game this is good for both heals/shields, and for damaging down the bulky enemies. Won't see much or any use vs the smaller swarm type enemies like Bones or Archers. I'd say it's good, but medium priority.
Vigil (10 Points, +1 Pip per dead ally) - Another 10 pointer, using your whole loop budget. Early game this will only really come into play when things are going wrong, but that's exactly when you are looking for a power boost anyway. Lategame when you have 10+ Heroes and 1-2 of them are always instantly dead from carrying your cursed items, it's basically a permanent +1-2 or even +3 to your team. Very strong, take when possible, just hope it doesn't show up at the same time as Bone Math or Monster HP Down.
Enduring (4 Points, Keywords remain when side is replaced) - This one I'm unsure on. It has both positives and negatives to give all of your dice Enduring. On the good side, it lets all of the above blessings also apply to those fancy items and i.Hat equipment you've been collecting. On the other hand, it also means you can't item away all the curses you've been collecting like Exert, Pain, Death, Heavy, Sticky, Single-Use, etc. I'd say by lategame you don't care if your dice have negative keywords, and getting all of the positive ones too is worth it. I just don't know whether to recommend to take or skip this one... it's a double-edged sword. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on Enduring to all sides!
Dispel (4 Points, Removes all traits on target) - Another blessing with double edged benefits. Adding dispel to all of your attacks will trivialize some enemies, such as Shade, Slate, Chomp, and many bosses like INEVITABLE, Hexia, Rotten, Wendigo, etc. On the other hand, it also removes beneficial traits from enemies, such as the mana from Baron, the +1 from Hand, the run away from Goblin / Bandit, the auto-death from Zombie, etc. Also, any friendly targeted actions remove player traits, such as Granite's HP lock. Something to note is that traits added by a blessing or curse are NOT affected, so this won't remove Bone Math or Slimedemic (though it WILL removes a Bone's natural 1 damage explosion, etc). Like Enduring, I can't say if this is worth taking or not... consider all the pro / con and decide for yourself!
Fierce (7 Points, Target flees if they have X or less HP after action) - A big trap blessing, do not be fooled! For one thing, this works both ways, meaning if you heal or shield your own units, you can absolutely make your own team flee! Not only that, but an enemy that flees will not explode for Bone Math, which can destroy a popular end-game strategy. Player beware, this keyword has more negatives than perks in my opinion, but it is certainly strong at what it does.
Rite (1 Point, +1 Pip per unused ally, all allies end their turn) - Biggest trap in history, avoid like the plague. 1 point to brick your party the moment you roll a Caltrops cantrip, or any cantrip really. It makes every action from any unit instantly end your turn. While it may be fun to do a 7 damage AoE blade toss on floor 1 with Scoundrel... trust me you don't want this for the long term.
Steel (?? Points, +1 Pips per Shield on Hero) - This is too expensive to show up as a normal blessing (12 points), but I've heard it can appear as wild modifier? I've never seen it, but if you do see it as a wild modifier, it's certainly very strong.

Blessings that Stack

These are blessing that have an obvious benefit from taking multiple times.
Monster HP Down (6 Points, -1 Max HP on enemies) - I would argue this blessing is equally as important as Bone Math, possibly even more so? It should be taken as often as it appears, worth skipping almost any other blessing (with exceptions, use your judgement). The reason it's so good, is that not only does it just make killing monsters easier, but for many enemies it can bypass some of their threshold passives. For example, with 2 copies of this blessing, a Ghost has 4 HP, meaning it doesn't have the immunity HP at all anymore, never going invulnerable, or a Demon doesn't have the player locked HP pip until the final hit instead of twice. Slates require 1 less hit to die per copy of this blessing, Chest don't start with a stoned HP, etc. Also, unlike the Monster Start Damaged blessing, this applies to ALL monsters without restriction. Unfortunately though, monsters can't be reduced below 1 HP from this. As a final perk of this blessing, if you take this before taking the "Monster HP per 1/5" and others along that series, then those monsters won't qualify when you do take that curse someday. For example, a wolf that only has 4 hp due to two copies of this blessing, will NOT be buffed by the "Monster HP per 1/5" curse!
Damaged Monsters (7 Points, Monsters 1 per 4 Max HP starts empty) - So this one is also very strong, and worth taking whenever it appears. The majority of enemies you will be fighting will be swarm type enemies added by your curses (Bones, Slime, Wisp, Illusion, Archer, etc), but it's the thick bulky enemies that will give you trouble, like Fanatics, Cyclops, Hydra, and Bosses (unless you found Boss Smash^99). This blessing makes them start weaker. While the HP Down blessing is more effective on smaller enemies, this is more effective on the bigger enemies, and it does stack, so again you want to pick this every time it appears in a loop, within reason.
Bone Math (5 Points, Monsters deal 1 damage to adjacent enemies on death) - Here is the common strategy to deal with the hordes of monsters you're going to be fighting from curse additions. This does stack, and you want as many copies of it as you can find. When you're fighting a screen full of enemies, with 22 more waiting off-screen in reinforcements, having multiple copies of Bone Math (in combination with making enemies squishier from the HP Down / Damaged blessings), will allow you to attack a rat, explode it for X damage to it's neighbors, who will in turn die, exploding for damage to their neighbor, chain reacting until the entire screen is dead from 1 damage dealt to a HP reduced rat, or some other such enemy. Then the next wave of reinforcements come in, you attack 1 of them, which explodes, wiping the next 10 monsters instantly, bringing in that last wave of reinforcements.... you get the idea. This is the blessing that lets you cut through 30 enemies at a time with 3-4 attacks. Take it whenever it's offered during your run.
Bones.spirit (8 Points) - Exactly same as Bone Math, just a more expensive generated version. Still worth taking when it appears.
Hunt¹ (6 Points, Enemies Start with +1 Vulnerable) - This will apply vulnerable to enemies when they spawn, either on turn 1, or from being spawned like a slimelet HP. This blessing is a big help later on when monsters may start shielded from curses, or they have Tough HP like Gnoll, etc. Another high priority pick, and it does stack.
Better Items^X (X*2 Points, +X Item Quality) - This is an important blessing for two reasons. For one thing, higher tier items are for the most part just better. While there are some meta items in the lower tiers, once you reach tier 10 and higher for items, you will start finding those lower tier items as generated items in a combo with another item. So while you may really want Determination from tier 6, you could still find it on a tier 11 item as Determination + Quicksilver, as an example. The other, arguably more important part of +ItemQuality blessing, is that some curses will penalize your item quality. Items in the negative quality tiers are cursed items, and you can't skip items after a fight. So for example if you take a curse for -3 item quality and you haven't found any +Quality to offset that, then after your floor 2 fight you're going to find a -2 Cursed item that you MUST equip and can't skip. Do you really want to find a Wretched Crown on floor 2? Yeah, so take at least some Better Items from blessings in your first few loops. Preferably take a lot.
Perceptive^X - (X Points, +X Item Choices) - This lets you select more items each time one appears. Like quality, curses will reduce the value (by default you start at 2). If curses bring you into the negatives, you just skip any item offerings period, so always at least stay positive, but more is of course better, especially once you get into generated items at tier 10+ because those are... sometimes terrible, and you want a wider selection to find the diamonds in the pile of junk. I have seen reports that if you get this value TOO high, it can start to crash the game (probably depending on your device you're playing on). I've never crashed on item selection, so take that warning with a grain of salt.
Versatile^? (? Points, +X Levelup Choices) - More selections of Heroes when leveling one up. Once again, curses will penalize this, and if it goes into the negative, you simply skip levelups entirely. Don't let this go negative, and more options is better. I try to keep my hero levelup choices around 5-8 or so. I find more to just be wasteful, personally.
More Levelup Phases - Another thing that is penalized by some curses (Hero De-Level, etc). I personally don't like tier 4+ heroes that much (too many empty blanks on generated heroes), so I try to keep my level-up phases sort of in-sync with my curses that are de-leveling heroes. I like to reach floor 14 or so with all tier 3 heroes, then I may just skip levelups to avoid generated bads with half blank sides, but I don't want to reach floor 20 with mostly tier 1 heroes either due to curses. Just balances it. Also keep in mind the more heroes you add, the more +levelup phases you need to keep them updated by floor 20.
Latent (1 Point, Add 3 Regen & 3 Poison to all heroes) - This is a hidden gem of a blessing. So, on it's own, it does absolutely nothing. You regen 3 and poison 3, leading to a net nothing. But, it does mean, that once taken, any cleanse you use in battle can turn into +3 regen (per instance of this blessing). That's sort of awesome. The true grand prize though comes when you eventually find Poison Immunity blessing, which means for a whole 1 point of blessing budget, you're adding 3 perma regen to everyone. Incredible value, and this is a blessing I grab every single time it appears if there's no massive tradeoff in the selection. Even lategame when the goal is to turn 1 everything... sometimes that doesn't workout the way you hope, and you have to go to turn 2 or 3. Regening 3-12 or so just may save your run.
Hero Regen¹ or ² (6 or 10 Points, Start with Regen 1 or 2) - The significantly more expensive cousin to Latent. This doesn't have the poison component, so if you haven't yet found poison immunity and you really want perma regen, this is an option, but feels bad man to spend 10 points of budget for 2 regen, when you can instead get 3 regen for 1 point with Latent (after poison immunity). Full disclosure: On my 848 floor run, I didn't find poison immunity until like floor 300, so I took this around floor 120 and had no regrets).
2 Hero HP (4 Points, +2 Max HP) - Simply adds more HP, no fuss. More HP is good, and even lategame when the goal is turn 1, as I've said a few times now sometimes turn 1 doesn't work out from bad rolls, and things like Caltrops or Pain+Cantrip are a thing, so having a nice HP buffer is great. I try to take +HP on Heroes whenever I can afford it within the offerings.
Youth (3 Points, +4 HP @ Hero Tier 1, 2 @ Tier 2, 0 @ Tier 3) - Another HP Blessing. For less points, this adds more HP to tier 1 (same to tier 2), but no benefit at all to T3. As you get more heroes, less of them may reach tier 3 in a run, so this is still quite potent for only 3 points. Very worth taking.
Gym (4 Points, +1 HP per Hero Level) - So this is probably the overall worst +HP blessing UNLESS you have a lot of +levelup blessings, allowing you to reach tier 4 or 5 heroes. Even so, HP is HP and more is better. Another good blessing.
Survive (3 Points, +1 Incoming Healing, +2 Empty Max HP) - So this won't help you with turn 1 Caltrops or Pain+Cantrip, but if you have to go to turn 2+ then +healing (which works on regen) is great. It can even turn a Latent 3regen/3poison into 4regen/3poison, leading to actual regeneration, if you haven't found poison immunity yet. Also for early game, where you're doing real combat, not OTK's, this is of course great to help survive, especially those big 15+ damage hits the end bosses like to do.
Survive/2 (6 Points, +1 Incoming Healing/Shields, +4 Empty Max HP) - So it's the above blessing, but also adds shields. Slightly worse benefit to cost than the above one, but still good and I'd take it when it appears if it's not competing with a meta pick.
Rest (1 Point, +5 Pips on floor 19) - So this is basically like Boss Smash, but cheaper, only for the 19th floor, and only +5 Pips (per instance taken). Everything I said about Boss Smash applies here, and floor 19 is probably your hardest non-boss floor, so getting +5 to everyone for 1 point is great. I take it if I see it, with all the disclaimers in mind I said during Boss Smash above.
Boss Smash¹ or ² (3 or 6 Points, +1 or 3 Pips during Boss fights) - This is just the cheaper, but worse version of Boss Smash⁹⁹ (but also far more common). If you're struggling on the end-boss, and haven't found or can't take the ⁹⁹ version, this could give you a boost. Just depends on how your run is going when it's offered.
Absorb Bosses (10 Points, +1 to Hero Sides per Boss Killed) - A dramatically worse version of Boss Smash^99. It gives +0 to floor 4, +1 to floor 8, up to +4 by the final boss. Resets each loop. Definitely a trap blessing, unless you're desperate for a solution for the final boss and this is the only thing that's showing up for you.
Free Turn (7 Points, -1 to Enemy Sides on Turn 1) - This will be almost meaningless later in the run, and even early run, for 7 points of your budget, it feels like a really steep price. It doesn't help you at all when going for a turn 1 kill, though it could save you when you go to turn 2 (though again, by floor 300'ish and beyond, you've given so much +Bonus to enemies that them having -1 will do almost nothing). I'd skip this.
Great Start (7 Points, +1 to Hero Sides on Turn 1) - This one is better, because it at least lets you improve your turn 1 plan. It's still a high price for "only" +1 and only for the first turn. Could be a great boost in the early game, but I feel like once you get going, this won't be worth the cost.
Essence Capture^1/2/3 (3/7/10 Points, Heroes add +X mana on death) - This depends on your strategy. If you're going for a heavy spell build (Mountain team or something), then this is great. Heroes will be dying later in the run, even during your own turn 1 (Pain, Death, Caltrops, etc). I personally tend to avoid spell builds in Blurtra, so I'm not great to talk about going a heavy mage route. If you do though, this is a good pick.
5 Max Mana (1 Point, Adds +5 Max Mana) - I tend to prioritize early curses that target spellcasting, so by floor 100 or so I've cursed my magic so badly that I never use spells, so for me this is kind of bad. Like just said though, if you go the mage/spell route, more mana is probably good. It's one point so... it can't hurt.
All +Reroll Blessings - Eventually curses will block you from any rerolls at all, no matter how many you have. So early game this is great, more rerolls means more consistency and better cantrips. Eventually though, once you're forced into taking Heavy + Slippery dice curses, any rerolls at all become an illegal action and they're blocked, making that +12 reroll stat you've got completely useless. Take this blessing at your own risk, knowing that eventually it's a lost investment.
Add -HERO- (7 Points if Tier 1, 9 Points if Tier 2) - More heroes are great, and should be added when possible. The best way to deal with having zero rerolls is just rolling more dice period. No rerolls on a 5 Hero party is infinitely worse than no rerolls on a 14 Hero party. You want consistency and options in the higher floors, and that comes from just throwing more bodies onto the field. If you see a hero, take a hero unless it's up against one of the high tier blessings. Even that 'useless' Reflection hero could serve as your curse mule, carrying your Parasite, Soul Link, Conscience, and Broken Spirit curses, dying instantly on turn 1. Hey, someone's got to take one for the team!
DELIVERY Blessings - These are the generated and wild blessings that give you a permanent item, or a batch of permanent items that you always start with every loop. These can't really be ranked, other than to say just use your judgement. Look for items that can really influence the run. Something like a powerful tactic or spell, or an i.hat that lets you start with a tier 3 'hero' each run. Always be on the lookout for a delivery blessing giving you Determination or Pentagram (death immunity for 1, or 5 turns). Those are instant picks no matter what, probably even skipping Bone Math and such if need be. Be VERY careful though and look closely at the whole package before choosing these. Often times that batch of 4 awesome items also has a cursed item hiding in the bundle. Don't be stuck with Wretched Crown by accident from clicking that Dolphin delivery package too quickly...

Closing Thoughts

I rambled so much longer than I expected, and this only covered Blessings! I'll work on a Curse Pick post soon, then a general tip post too I hope. Anyway, for a VERY GENERALIZED tier list of Blessing Priority, I would rank them loosely like this:

• Any Delivery Blessing w/ Pentagram
• Monster HP Down, Bone Math, Damaged Monsters
• Hunt^1, Boss Smash^99, 4 Item Slots, Knicknack
• Add:Ranged, Add:SelfHeal OR Add:SelfShield
• The other Add:Keyword Blessings
• Extra Heroes, ItemQuality, Item/Hero Choices, Divine²
• +HP/Healing, Poison Immunity, Latent, Underworld Deal
• Reliable, Monster Blank, Divine¹

Please be mindful that the exact combination of blessings and curses at your position in your run would influence picking priorities. Anyway, hope this has been entertaining!

Hello!
I hope you're all doing well!
Gonna try to keep this under 40k characters... so, the main event is going to be a bit shorter than usual, so if you have questions about that particular fight (or any, really), let me know and i can expand on thoughts and answer those questions!
Also, if you have feedback about the slightly new format, let me know!
(c) - Champ
D/DWCS - Debut/Dana Whites' Contender Series
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in division
x/3 - Confidence Levels
Lets go!
Prelims
Flyweight
Andre Lima (8-0-0, 8 FWS) v Mitch Raposo (D) (9-1-0, 4 FWS) - I feel for Lima here, three changes in opponent during this entire camp, that can’t be easy for the mental stress, but I do think that this last minute change gives Lima that advantage in preparation and cardio and such.
Lima is coming off quite an interesting debut result, in which his opponent straight up chomped on Lima’s arm. For the most part prior to that unique moment, Lima was doing relatively well on the feet, his boxing was crisp and whilst Severino was being pretty effective with his wrestling and pressure, you can almost see Lima settle in the longer the fight went on, and in the second round, he was finding his punches fairly easily, landing at a 66% rate in that second round. That has always been Lima’s main attribute as a boxer, his accuracy is oftentimes high when he fights, never wasting many shots as he sets his own pace and finds his timing, and it’s going to be relatively effective against Raposo who has a slight disadvantage in reach, and has a rather funky style himself, and sometimes funk is fun, but not when you have a sharp boxer opposite you.
Raposo is someone who tried to get into the UFC a while ago via Dana Whites’ Contender Series, but didn’t quite succeed due to a loss against Jake Hadley. Raposo is a fairly well rounded fighter but from the footage that I have seen, he is mostly a stand up fighter who utilises variations of a two to three punch combination, with a bit of an emphasis on his wide right that he tends to swing from a somewhat loaded up position. Now, I do want to point out in a positive light that he does come from the New England Cartel, and that gym generally produces outstanding strikers, but I just think Raposo is a few steps (or leaps) behind the stars of the gym in Kattar and Font. Now, there are positives for Raposo, he shells up relatively well and he doesn’t stay in firing range the whole time, especially when shelling up, he circles away whilst keeping his guard up. The one thing I cannot help but notice though is how exposed his body is to attacks, he isn’t that adaptable when it comes to his defences, and whilst he has a very typical high shell, I can just see Lima exposing the body with strong punches, and given that Raposo isn’t quite prepared properly for a fight against Lima, those body punches could shut him down. Now, Raposo does have a strong right hand, the one he tends to wind up and throw from the same angle at the same speed and such, but once it lands it could certainly cause trouble for Lima.
Lima has incredible potential in the UFC, his boxing is very sharp and I do think that the fact he has been preparing for a fight for quite some time now shows that he has the cardio and the durability to perhaps outlast Raposo, especially if those body shots that I predict will be there, land effectively. I almost want to make him a 2/3 confidence pick, but since he’s new to the UFC, and Raposo does have a bit of danger himself, I don’t feel comfortable putting him that high of a confidence pick. This is a fun first fight of the night.
Lima via KO R2 - (1/3)
Women’s Bantamweight
Joselyne Edwards (+210) (13-5-0, NS) v Ailin Perez (-265) (9-2-0, 2 FWS)
Edwards has had an interesting time in the UFC, she has had rather lacklustre performances against some of the more lower skilled fighters in the division. Edwards was introduced to us fans as a kickboxer from Panama, and for the most part her performances have echoed that style of kickboxing, but she walks into two metaphorical brick walls which hinder her performances. First, her cardio tends to fall apart relatively quickly, she does look fatigued after the second round, heck, even during it, and I do think considering Perez’s skillset is heavily wrestling based, that the fatigue problems will be a bit more prevalent, but that also tends to lead to a different issue that Edwards walks into, and that’s her weight. See, Edwards missed weight a few times in the UFC so far, and whilst those issues on the scales are perhaps anomalous to those two incidences, it does somewhat connect with her fatigue problems, she carries a lot of weight on fight day and that’s all a major contributor to exhaustion and fatigue. As for her record, it’s been stated many times, but she’s been gifted quite a few scorecards… She arguably lost to Pascual, Pudilova and even went to a split decision against Kim Ji-yeon. To say her record is pretty sketchy is putting it lightly. Her style is pretty standard for a boxer or kickboxer, she often strings together decent combinations with a fair bit of power given her size, but her major weakness is defending takedowns, and given that Perez is perhaps the first major wrestler that she is going to face, I suspect she’s going to be struggling to defend those takedowns, especially the longer the fight goes on, when that fatigue problem kicks in (if it kicks in).
Perez on the other hand is slightly more newer to the UFC, having had her debut at 145 against Egger before moving back down to 135 to take on Ashlee Evans-Smith and Pudilova, and it was in those two fights that we truly saw what Perez is capable of. Perez is very dependent on her takedowns, she does not strike a whole lot on her feet, she often uses some strikes to close the distance then level changes for a takedown or a judo throw, in which she then unleashes a lot of ground strikes, and it’s a bit obvious to me that she is going to utilise that exact style against the much taller and longer Edwards. Now, the longer this fight remains on the feet, the more chance Edwards has of pulling away with a win, but I only say that because I know that Edwards is going to have a striking advantage, but her kicks perhaps would be shut down by the wrestling threat of Perez.
This is very much a wrestler versus striker bout, and whilst you might argue that Edwards has shown some wrestling in her last fight against Cornolle, it’s important to know that Cornolle most definitely was not a wrestler so those takedowns would have been relatively easy, and there’s no doubt that Edwards has worked on her wrestling just so she is a more well rounded individual. I still firmly believe that Perez is going to get a win here through her wrestling, and the longer the fight goes on, the more Edwards is most likely to feel that fatigue. I am predicting a KO here, but it is going to be one of those ground and pound TKO’s. It’s also very possible this fight goes the distance so if you want to place a bet, either double chance this one or just have it go o2.5 or something.
Perez via KO R3 - (2/3)
Welterweight
Mickey Gall (+225) (7-5-0, 2 FLS) v Bassil Hafez (-290) (8-4-1, NS) - There is honestly not a lot to say about this one, Gall is severely overrated and a bit of a failed product of the Lookin’ for a fight show, and Hafez still has quite a lot to show us given he went three rounds against future contender Jack Della Maddalena.
Gall is coming off back to back losses over two years ago, so not only is he coming into this fight with a tough losing streak on his record, but those two years away are certainly muddying the waters a bit here. Anyway, Gall is mostly a submission artist, he somewhat thrives on the ground, although that would be a major gamble given the fact that Hafez is very wrestling oriented, and I mean, let's be honest, as long as a wrestler is in top control, it’s very rarely that they get submitted, and it’s not like Gall is some high level BJJ fighter with an impeccable record, he is just someone who has been given somewhat name-worthy opponents and that’s practically it. Gall's best chance to win this fight is on the ground, he needs to stick to his guns in this fight and be incredibly active on the ground or Hafez is going to shut down all of the submission attempts and just smother Gall in pressure. There is a possibility of Gall being somewhat effective on the feet, but a lot of his striking is fairly standard, often really using his grappling over anything else to get a win. One thing I don’t particularly like seeing when it comes to Gall’s striking is he is very still and perhaps too calm when he’s standing in front of someone, he doesn’t move his head a lot and his lead leg is often very out there and exposed, and whilst he does have quite a bit of power in his hands, I just don’t think he’s that capable of being a strong striker, his best skillset really is his BJJ. He is often quick to tie up his opponent or at least grab for a guillotine, and that guillotine will be there for him the more Hafez looks for takedowns, that will probably be the main threat coming from Gall for Hafez in my opinion.
Hafez has only one fight in the UFC but it was against one of the toughest opponents one can possibly debut against in Jack Della Maddalena, and whilst Hafez was simply outmatched on the feet, he persevered and still looked for those takedowns that he very much needed. It is the style of Hafez that will test Gall in this fight, because if Hafez attempted 20 takedowns against JDM who has exceptional takedown defence, I just think Hafez is going to have a bit of an easier time against Gall who is mostly a BJJ fighter who typically has terrible takedown defence, and I mean, this is something i’ve gone on and on about many times before, a good wrestler is a lot better than a good BJJ fighter, and whilst this is not exactly a case of Gall being a good BJJ fighter and Hafez being a good wrestler, that style clash is basically the same. Even if Gall does put up a good defence/offence on the ground, I do think Hafez and his grappling skillset is more than enough to deal with it. Hafez has gorgeous double leg takedowns, I mean, look at this beautiful takedown he used just seconds into his debut against JDM, he can do this over and over again, and realistically, he just needs to do this for the first two rounds, then he pretty much gets a win, but I think it’s going to be a relatively one sided wrestling attack by Hafez, and a few defensive submission attempts by Gall like guillotines or arm triangles off his back.
This is a great fight to be honest, I was rather impressed by the grit and determination of Hafez, he was getting torn up on the feet by JDM but still was willing to try and wrestle, resulting in a split decision loss, but an immeasurable amount of experience gained. I think Hafez gets a win here, but I only say that because I just don’t know how Gall is going to look coming off of a two year hiatus. We have sometimes seen insane improvements from fighters who take a few years off, so it’s possible Gall could look incredibly good, but based on what I know for “certain”, I think Hafez has this one.
Hafez via UD - (1/3)
Welterweight
Niko Price (+210) (15-7-0, 2 FLS) v Alex Morono (-260) (24-9-0, NS)
Morono is coming off a fairly competitive back and forth fight against McGee, and whilst he got the win, he didn’t look too great in there in all honesty. Morono does quite a few things with his striking that looks very funky and silly, he plods around a lot, his open elbow stance leaves him very open to being attacked, which often plays into his speed advantage in his fights as he can easily retaliate very quickly and land some thunderous punches. Morono is a very powerful boxer and he often uses a very quick left body or inside/outside leg kick with his boxing combinations just to add more sting to the sequence. However, as much as I find his striking style to be very unorthodox, what I do love about him is his grappling. Morono has ridiculously good BJJ, and whilst he doesn’t have the best takedown defence to take full control of his grappling ability, he is very, very good off his back. During his fight against Court McGee, he jumped the Guillotine, and whilst he didn’t successfully submit McGee, he was proactive in chasing an armbar off his back instead… It is the activity off the bottom that makes him a dangerous grappler and it’s always great to see. Now, Morono most likely has a fairly big power advantage here, and given that Price is coming off back to back KO losses, there is some question about whether or not his chin is durable enough to handle the right hand of Morono, and boy that right hand is a tough one to deal with.
Price is indeed coming off a KO loss against Robbie Lawler, and whilst it’s a tough loss for anyone, I do think that he still offers a great deal of threat for Morono, and whilst one might imagine the threat is going to be mostly his punching power, volume and other delicious words, I firmly believe that Price is going to chew up the legs of Morono very early and very often. Price is a fantastic leg kicker, he lands about one third of his strikes to the legs most of the time, and given that Morono is a very “plodding” stance fighter, I just cannot help but imagine that Price is going to land phenomenal leg kicks throughout this fight. However, the counter for leg kicks is, as we all should know by now, a power side attack, and if Price gets hit by that right hand, the momentum could shift very quickly. Now, if the fight ends up on the ground, I do think that Morono is going to swarm Price with overwhelming pressure and activity, given that Morono has excellent BJJ, and Price isn’t exactly that well versed on the ground.
As long as Price avoids the grappling and wrestling of Morono, he has a solid chance to win this fight, but I do think if he attacks the legs early and slows down the forward aggression of Morono, he could pull out an upset here, but that’s a bit of a big order given the threat of Morono’s quick one-two and his ability to utilise a wide range of attacks throughout all three rounds. This is very much a 50/50 fight though, I don’t feel confident at all in either fighter to win, and whilst I think Morono has more tools and more pathways to victory, Price could indeed surprise us this weekend.
Morono via UD - (1/3)
Welterweight
Phil Rowe (+135) (10-4-0, NS) v Jake Matthews (-165) (19-7-0, NS) - This is certainly a fascinating fight, but the first thing that screams at me is the size difference between Rowe and Matthews.
Rowe is coming off a back and forth, relatively slow and unimpressive fight against Magny, and whilst the fight took place in the clinch for the large majority of the fight, I did enjoy watching him use his reach by throwing that quick one-two down the pipe, and its that one-two that is going to be fairly problematic for Matthews given the fact that Rowe has an 8 inch reach advantage. I do believe that if Rowe keeps this fight clean, he has a major advantage here, but there is a glaring problem that I can see Matthews expose, and that’s the lack of defence that Rowe has. Whilst his ranged attacks are relatively effective, I do not like how hittable he is because he does not use footwork a lot, he just stands in front of his opponents target zone, kind of eating punches whilst trying to maintain his range. This is a problem for Rowe in this fight because Matthews is the type to push forward at a strong pace and let his own hands go effectively. Rowe has a phenomenal right hand, it is very accurate and thanks to the reach advantage, I don’t think he needs to show it off too much for it to be effective, he would just need to pop it out there in order to have it land. Now, Magny did make the fight gritty in the third round when they fought, and I did notice that whenever a pocket exchange is initiated, Rowe is on the receiving end of the harder shots, and that is primarily due to his lack of footwork and evasive movement in that particular bout, and whilst he did underperform during his fight against Magny, I do think he has the sharper, straighter punches that could be problematic for Matthews if Matthews is unable to close the distance and enter the pocket effectively.
Matthews is coming off a tough loss against Michael Morales, and it was in that fight that we saw Matthews get hit the most in his UFC career, receiving 84 significant strikes, although I think it’s fair to say that Matthews’ incredible defence allowed him to absorb those significant strikes without much serious damage. Matthews’ defence is actually one of the most impressive things I have seen, he shells up so effectively whilst leaving his stance open enough for aggressive retaliation. Everything Matthews throws comes with him immediately shelling up and moving off the centre line, he is impeccable with his defensive timing, and whilst he has been stumbled and rocked before, he has never really been in dire trouble. I do see Matthews using his overhand left followed by a quick duck followed by a straight right, that is his best entrance for the pocket and it is something he has used incredibly well against Morales. It is this exact style which makes his fight against Rowe a phenomenal match up because we have seen Rowe struggle when an opponent enters range, and I think Matthews is a lot more quick and explosive with forward momentum than Magny is. Plus, it helps that Matthews is such a gritty fighter, constantly moving forward and putting on strong pressure even if he gets hit, and that’s mostly due to his defence, he is just so good at absorbing and blocking damage whilst moving forward.
It honestly is a bit of a story between who can initiate their gameplan a bit better. For Rowe, he needs to be active at range, on the feet, he needs to use that quick one-two to freeze up Matthews and just eventually find the chin, because the chin is there, especially if feints are involved because Matthews does instinctively shell up a lot when something is coming his way, feint or otherwise. However, I do see Matthews making this a chaotic fight, especially since he loves to enter the range by weaving into the pocket, where Rowe is perhaps at his most uncomfortable. I got Matthews winning this one, I think his experience is going to shine here, as well as the fact that his defensive habits are going to be pivotal in mitigating a lot of the dangerous shots coming his way. I am not very confident in Matthews, I do see Rowe being dangerous at range still, but I just think Matthews ability to enter the pocket here is going to be the main story here.
Matthews via UD - (1/3)
Lightweight
Grant Dawson (#15) (-320) (20-2-1, NS) v Joe Solecki (+250) (13-4-0, NS)
Dawson is coming off a rough KO loss against Bobby Green, and that was always going to be one of the main outcomes for that fight since Green has excellent boxing, and thankfully for Dawson, that boxing or striking threat will be mostly gone here since Solecki isn’t at all a striker. Dawson is a very well rounded fighter who is incredibly effective on the ground, he is someone who is able to keep up a high pace of activity and still have enough cardio to be explosive, and I do think that the UFC is kind of making this fight a “comeback” fight for Dawson because I honestly don’t think Solecki has enough of an all round threat to make this interesting for Dawson. Dawson is going to employ the same strategy he has done in almost all of his fights, and that’s wrestle and control, he is so good at maintaining advantageous positions on the ground and the longer he is in top control, the worse it is for Solecki whose only chance to win this fight is to find a submission off his back, but since Dawson has ridiculously good wrestling and grappling himself, I think he can see any set up that Solecki attempts coming. On the feet I could say Dawson has the advantage here, but I don’t think a lot of the fight is going to take place on the feet, I think there’s going to be a lot of wrestling involved with Dawson being in the better positions.
Solecki is a sneaky fighter though, and whilst he has had some underwhelming fights, I do think the threat of his submissions are going to be fairly prevalent. I don’t think those submissions are going to land. Now, I will put a major disclaimer here saying I have struggled to find a lot of “working” tape for Solecki, and I have been unable to find what submission attempts he used against Alex Da Silva when they fought two years ago, I only bring this up because I believe Solecki is active off his back and if he is lucky he could at least make Dawson’s control time a bit more difficult, but I still don’t think Solecki has that kind of threat to catch Dawson in anything, so whilst he might be active off his back and in the guard, it’s going to be the kind of activity that results in Dawson just adjusting over and over.
I don’t really have much else to say about this one, Dawson is the better all round fighter and a much better wrestler, and I do think that whilst both fighters have outstanding BJJ, Solecki’s submission output could make it a bit gritty for Dawson, but this isn’t new for Dawson, Dawsons faced excellent grapplers before (Ismagulov, Madsen and Gordon to name his recent wins). Dawson should win this one in my opinion.
Dawson via UD - (2/3)
Middleweight
Roman Kopylov (-135) (12-3-0, NS) v Cesar Almeida (+115) (5-0-0, 5 FWS)
Kopylov is coming off a tough submission loss against Alexander Hernandez, and it was a competitive fight up until that point. One thing that I like about Kopylov is his diversity with striking, he is ridiculously quick on the feet for a Middleweight and that allows him to simply flick out anything and there’s some certainty that it’s going to land. He has a very quick and sneaky lead leg kick that he often uses to change target very quickly, usually kicking the leg then following up with a left straight, instead of what we see in typical combinations where the leg kick is the final attack in a sequence. Kopylov does get hit a lot, and he does leave his right hand a bit far from his face, which makes me think that Almeida and his fantastic left hook is going to be a major problem for Kopylov. However, Kopylov does have some grappling in his arsenal, although we have yet to see it in the UFC, but since he is a multiple time sambo champion, I can’t help but think that he is going to be using his wrestling a fair bit in this fight, especially since he is facing one hell of a dangerous kickboxer, it would only make some sense, right? Now, on the feet, there are two attacks that Kopylov is going to put a major emphasis on, that is the liver body kick (left roundhouse) and the left straight, those two attacks are going to be his most damaging and I do wonder how effective it will be in slowing down Almeida.
Almeida is coming off a strong debut win against Budka, and whilst Budka isn’t exactly a tough debut, he still managed to test Almeida a little bit on the ground. However, as I highlighted in my last write up about Almeida, his defensive grappling is very, very good, he has adapted exceptionally well to MMA. Now, Almeida is one hell of a dangerous kickboxer, he is stupendously sharp on the feet and he is tight with his combinations, and it is for that reason alone that I think Kopylov needs to wrestle in this fight, use his Sambo to mix it up and make it frustrating for Almeida. Now, Almeida is outstanding at all ranges, but I think he excels in the pocket where he can land his tight left hook, a left hook that’s eerily similar to Pereira, it’s just a clean left hook that has no read and a lot of power behind it, and I think Kopylov is going to have to be the first one to start the action in order to not let Almeida settle in to throw that hook.
This is going to be a fantastic fight though, and honestly a fascinating match up for Kopylov who, up until this moment, only faced standard MMA strikers who throw big power with not that much technique, so this is going to be fascinating. Going with the underdog here, but it will absolutely not be a high confidence pick.
Almeida via KO R2 - (1/3)
Main Card
Welterweight
Randy Brown (-155) (18-5-0, 2 FWS) v Elizeu Zaleski (+130) (24-7-1, 1D/2FWS) - This is going to be absolutely awesome.
Brown is coming off a fantastic KO over highly touted kickboxing veteran Muslim Salikhov, and despite the fact that Brown did defeat Salikhov, it did not come without a lot of damage coming his way. Brown suffers a little bit from what a lot of longer and taller fighters suffer from, and that's a lack of fundamental striking defence, his range and reach is his defence, if someone can penetrate that reach difference and enter the pocket, then Brown is a vulnerable target in that moment. However, when Brown is at range and he’s in the zone, he is incredible. His long jab is his best weapon, he uses it to both damage his opponent and to set up subsequent punches, and these shots aren’t always the same, there are so many permutations of that same set up, as soon as you see Brown throw more than one jab, you know he is setting up a clean combination. However, he has shown a bit of a weakness and that’s his legs, he is so easy to leg kick due to his height and size, his lead leg is ripe for the taking and there is little doubt in my mind that Zaleski is going to chew up those legs early, as that was the game plan for Salikhov before that one-one-two combination came his way at ridiculous speeds.
Zaleski is coming off a draw against Rinat Fakhretdinov, and very early on we saw Zaleski struggle with the pressure and power of Fakhretdinov. That pressure and power is not exactly the style of fighting that Brown utilises, Brown is a lot more patient and systematic with his approach, never pressuring his opponent but keeping a constant pace of a wide sort of attacks. Zaleski has ridiculous power in his hands though and he has the speed and explosiveness to enter the pocket and land those dangerous punches that are going to land whenever he is going to enter the pocket during this bout. However, Zaleski does not have the best defence, he often leaves his hands a bit low, and whilst that’s great for an explosive overhand or a quick burst of action that’s hard to read, I don’t think that’s a good kind of defence when you’re fighting someone who has a 5 inch reach advantage and a 4 inch height advantage. Zaleski is not a safe fighter, he is here to perform and look for highlights, he is an incredible finisher, but he is also reckless, he is also susceptible to getting hurt, and whilst he did exceptionally well against Fakhretdinov, that was mostly due to Fakhretdinov’s predictable attacks. Now, Fakhretdinov threw the same attacks over and over, and since that same attack was the one that dropped Zaleski, he kept using that same thing. In order to be effective in any combat sport, especially against a veteran, you need to have different combinations, and that’s exactly what Brown has, he has such a wide range of attacks, including his very snappy front and head kicks, so there is little doubt that Zaleski is going to be somewhat overwhelmed on the feet if Brown finds his groove early on.
This is a fantastic fight, perhaps one of the best fights on this card, I expect there to be fireworks and a lot of adjustments as the rounds go on, but I do think that Brown is going to get a win here, his reach and height advantage gives him a lot of additional set ups and effective strikes, those front kicks up the middle could be effective given the loose shell of Zaleski, and those long one-two punches that Brown uses are just beautiful to watch. This is going to be awesome. Now, before I get to the prediction… Zaleski has the right tools to make this messy enough to get a win here, so there will be an alt bet here for a Zaleski Points/KO Double Chance.
Brown via UD - (1/3)
Heavyweight
Jailton Almeida (#6) (-300) (20-3-0, NS) v Alexandr Romanov (#14) (+240) (17-2-0, NS)
Almeida is coming off a KO loss against Blaydes just a few months ago, and I mean, losing to someone like Blaydes isn’t too big of a deal since Blaydes is a genuine talent in the division, but I do wonder how Almeida has improved since that loss. Almeida is a very grapple heavy fighter who has torn through a division full of unathletic brawlers, and now he is facing fighters who have a very similar style and skill set that he has, which makes this fight all that more interesting because I have been very high on Romanov in recent years, mostly due to his style being unique in the heavyweight division. Almeida has ridiculous cardio for someone at heavyweight, and whilst you could argue that his lay and pray style does not really reflect great cardio… how often are we going to see Blaydes get taken down 9 of 13 times. 13 fucking attempts against someone who has one of the best wrestling backgrounds in the UFC at heavyweight? Almeida’s wrestling is going to be a problem for a lot of people, even as we move up the division, but it comes at a cost. Almeida is very one dimensional, he has a heavy reliance on those takedowns, and if he doesn’t get them, you get a repeat of what Blaydes did to him. On the feet I don’t see a lot happening, Almeida has shown to be a bit more free with his boxing, only to open up his opponent to takedowns, and that could very well be the gameplan for Almeida this weekend, box a little then shoot for a takedown, and it could be effective against Romanov who is a bit more one dimensional than Almeida.
Romanov has somewhat stagnated a tiny bit in his career, with a not-very-recent win over Blagoy Ivanov, and for the most part it was a strong showing of his wrestling ability and strength, however I do question the quality of opponent that Romanov has defeated in comparison to Almeida’s… It seems that Almeida has been given the more star-power names whereas Romanov has been climbing the ranks in a more natural way. Anyway, I like Romanov, but I genuinely don’t think he is going to fare well against someone like Almeida. If an old 40+ year old in Espino can out wrestle Romanov, there is no doubt that a younger and perhaps more athletic fighter in Almeida can replicate that same kind of style and just overwhelm Romanov. Romanov is a strong competitor though so I think there might be enough resistance in the wrestling department to make this fight a long, gruelling one.
A very fun clash of similar styles here, which I find pretty important since Almeida is a very impressive fighter, and I think the more we see him take on opponents with a similar style to himself, the more we get to see what he is truly capable of. I got Almeida winning this one, it should be a fun fight!
Almeida via UD - (2/3)
Middleweight
Kevin Holland (-250) (25-11-0, 2 FLS) v Michal Oleksiejczuk (+200) (19-7-0, NS) - Oh man do I love this fight.
Holland is coming off back to back losses against JDM and MVP (Jack Della Maddalena and Michael “Venom” Page”), and whilst back to back losses could easily make people dismiss Holland, I do want to bring up how competitive his fight against JDM was, and how durable and tough he was when MVP was taking his soul in what was such a brilliant display of unorthodox kickboxing. Holland has always been a game fighter, he has a chin that allows him to hang in there with the hardest hitters, and he is genuinely a very skilled fighter who has outstanding boxing and such an expert at range and luring his opponent into an angle that gives him an advantage. Holland is coming back up to 185 after a fun stint at 170, and since Oleksiejczuk has very little wrestling threat, I am excited to see if we witness Holland be himself once again, because prior to his losses against Brunson and Vettori at 185, he was a dangerous fighter. Holland has a substantial reach advantage coming into this fight which is only going to shine even more when Oleksiejczuk tries to box him in a typical boxing range. Holland is also a fairly experienced grappler, he has quite a few submissions on his record and I do think that if he wants the path of least resistance when fighting Oleksiejczuk, he is going to look for that takedown and find a submission. However, that’s not how Holland fights, he is a crowd pleaser and is most likely going to want to keep this fight standing so he can land his quick combinations at range and just put away Oleksiejczuk that way.
Oleksiejczuk is coming off a tough sub loss against Pereira, and I honestly learnt nothing else about him during that fight, he was still looking for those heavy punches, and he still had somewhat bad takedown defence. I do think that Oleksiejczuk’s best chance to win this fight is to put Holland away, but it’s just a bit of a tall order because if Holland couldn’t get knocked out by the ridiculous power of MVP, I don’t think Oleksiejczuk is going to achieve that success that MVP tried to chase. The reach disadvantage is going to be fairly prominent here too, it’s going to make Oleksiejczuk rush in a little bit with some explosive forward movement in order to cover the distance, but Holland is so good at crowding punches and being hard to hit that I just don’t think Oleksiejczuk is going to land too cleanly on Holland.
With that said, I’ve always been a fan of Holland so maybe there is a bit of bias here, but I think Holland wins this one, i’m just mostly curious to see how he looks when he returns to 185 this weekend.
Holland via KO R2 - (2/3)
Co-Main Event
Middleweight
Sean Strickland (#2) (-205) (28-6-0, NS) v Paulo Costa (#8) (+170) (14-3-0, NS)
Strickland is coming off a very competitive fight against Dricus Du Plessis, and whilst he arguably won that fight, what I was most impressed with was the little amount of damage he absorbed, even by one of the most powerful punchers in DDP, and if Strickland could absorb that little amount of damage from DDP, I can only think that he is going to be relatively fine against Costa. Strickland does struggle a little bit in turning up the pressure when pressure is needed, he does have a bit of a predictable style which has been talked about for ages, but it’s a style that works, and if he sets a high pace of steady volume and walks Costa back throughout the fight, he can easily win this fight. The only thing that Strickland needs to be careful of is the power of Costa coming back his way.
Costa is coming off a tough loss against Whittaker, and whilst he did display that power late into the first round, he struggled to keep up with the speed and footwork of Whittaker. Now, the good news for Costa is that Stricklands footwork only involves walking forward, and occasionally taking a step back, there is no tricky blitzes or anything, so the striking success rate for Costa should be at least more stable numerically in the second and third if he doesn’t succumb to the pressure and slow down in those two rounds. However, I don’t trust Costa’s gas tank that much, he may be a physical specimen but the power he throws with is unsustainable for a three round back and forth, and it’s certainly not the first time Strickland has fought a powerhouse. My main concern however is the judges scorecards, and I know its a bit weird to talk about judging, but when you have big action fighters throwing things that aren’t super effective, the visuals reflect effectiveness, regardless of the supposed damage received, will the judges this fight see Costa throw heavy, despite not landing cleanly (which is hard to do against Strickland) and give the rounds to Costa? If that is the case, then a Costa Decision certainly should be in your books, but I just think that Strickland and his 4 inch reach advantage is going to be too effective in stifling the aggression of Costa.
I ultimately have Strickland winning this fight, I never really have been big on Costa, he’s a fun fighter to watch, but when you have Strickland taking away a lot of that fun by marching down a lot of his opponents, you get a Costa that struggles to keep up a bit. This is going to be a low confidence pick due to the judging factor, I have a weird feeling about this one lol.
Strickland via UD - (1/3)
Main Event
Lightweight Championship Bout
Islam Makhachev (c) (-480) (25-1-0, 13 FWS) v Dustin Poirier (#5) (+360) (30-8-0, NS)
Makhachev is one of the most well rounded fighters in the UFC at the moment. Everything he does is with clean technique and outstanding timing, and he has the cardio to keep up a ridiculously high pace for 5 rounds. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be using his brilliant wrestling and grappling to slowly dismantle Poirier, because Poirier’s grappling is rudimentary at best, it does not hold a candle to Makhachevs wrestling. There is a lot of discussion about Poirier landing a guillotine on Makhachev, but it’s all hype and hope at this rate because if he could not land a guillotine on BSD, he probably isn’t going to land one against a high level wrestler in Makhachev. Makhachev is a few steps behind when it comes to boxing though, I do not see him being successful against Poirier on the feet, Poirier’s striking is sublime, it is the most brilliant close range striking that you’ll probably ever see in the LW division, those tight hooks he uses is something nasty.
Poirier is on his last legs career wise, there is quite a lot weighing on him for this one as it is his final chance to get a belt, so that’s already a lot of pressure, but I guess he thrives in this kind of environment. Poirier is going to have to contend with the almost instant wrestling pressure and pace of Makhachev, and given that Poirier is not at all a wrestler, he is going to get taken down, he got taken down quite a few times when he fought a very depleted BSD, and now he’s coming up against a very physically ready Makhachev, I just don’t see Poirier doing too well in the wrestling department against Makhachev. However, when it comes to the striking, Poirier holds all the cards here, he has incredible timing with his lead hook and if he times it right, that uppercut could be disastrous for Makhachev. It’s going to be the hook and the uppercut that catch Makhachev, but if Makhachev can survive those attacks and get his hands wrapped around Poirier, it’s not going to matter if Poirier rocks Makhachev in the process, Makhachev is insane in top position.
That’s the story here, Poirier’s boxing versus Makhachevs wrestling and grappling. I got Makhachev winning this one, but it is always a good idea to sprinkle a bit of money on a Poirier KO, especially since he’s such a big underdog here.
Makhachev via Sub R2 - (2/3)
And that's it!
Primary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Dawson/Solecki o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Kopylov ITD + Makhachev/Poirier ITD
Secondary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Romanov R3 Starts Yes + Strickland/Costa o2.5 + Makhachev/Poirier u3.5 or ITD
Locks: Perez (optional), Dawson, Almeida, Holland and Makhachev.
Prediction Accuracy for 2024: 64.3%
If you would like to donate and support me, as this is my only income, please do so via Paypal. All write ups are free, donations are insanely optional! https://paypal.me/Slayertip?country.x=AU&locale.x=en_AU
if you wish to keep in contact with me or follow me on twitter, my twitter handle is @Slayer_Tip, and my Discord is Slayertip#7013.

Due to personal reasons I will not be revealing me and my mom’s age not just to protect me but also to protect her.
My Dad has been coming in and out of my life for ages now he would pop around out of nowhere every 2-3 years and disappear again until he didn’t say happy birthday this year I completely blocked him.My Dad has done a lot of horrible things to my mother…very upsetting things and he is the reason why I’m an only child today☹️ when I was younger I would always see my mother cry and it was always because of him,and my mum doesn’t cry in front of me she is a strong woman or at least she tries to show me that.
I truly love my mom even though we have or major fights and stuff I still love her truest and she has done so much for me🥹
But to the main part of the story and when I decided to never see my dad again, is when he texted me on a random number telling me it’s hi your dad I was so shocked and thrown off it was him that after class I started crying in my friend’s arms.I wasn’t upset he hasn’t texted me in a long time,it just threw me off because everything was fine before he came a long.Fast forward to a couple of days and he offered to take me to eat and shopping and my mom came with me ofc! After we ate and he had PAID for our food he then starts talking to me about child support,money,and court and how it’s my mom’s fault we can not go out shopping.After I caught out my dad in a web of lies and questioned him he then talked to be in such a cold time he switched so quickly and I saw another side to him,he was talking to me how he spoke to my mother and I was calm,cool and collected and stayed that way me and my dad were going back and forth to every excuse he had,I had a solution and for every lie he had I gave him a truth,since my dad is clearly narcissistic after he knew he lost a mind game with a 15 year old child at the time his 40 something year old self got upset and started causing a “I’m so sad scene” and said “I wish you all the best” and got up from the restaurant and left I laughed because he’s hilarious,I honestly don’t have a connection with my dad every time I look at him I don’t feel anything like any feelings,but my mom on the other hand was very upset with him because she said it reminded her of how he used to talk to her but she was also very proud of me for handling it very well.
Fast forward to my birthday which is on a special day I blocked him because he didn’t say happy birthday and because of his dramatic exit I truly felt like he meant it so therefore I blocked him,my mother says I was being a bit harsh and I shouldn’t be like that but no!!!! He’s put us through so much hell,he’ll I didn’t know we were going through due to my mother being soo good at hiding things and made sure I had a fairy tale like childhood all because he didn’t pay child support.
I know I’m going to be successful one day that’s why I didn’t care if he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore,he probably thought I was going to beg him but we don’t even have a connection for me to beg him or miss him 😂🤡 I thought having one parent was normal and it’s only recently I found out it’s really not.When he comes back begging one day I’ll leave him like a stray and deny him just like he denied me when I was a new born .He honestly narcissistic piece of shit he doesn’t deserve anything but eternal suffering.
So,AITA??

Hello everybody.
If you are reading this, you might be in the same shoes as I am. This post is to put out my story on how one can do nothing but the best for their significant other, but in the end, it means nothing, and they end the relationship just when it looks like the future is bright. This is my story:
So my story begins in October of 2020. I was in a pit of depression and loneliness due to the lockdowns enforced during the virus. I was about a year after a breakup from a 2-year relationship. I decided to go onto a social media app and search for people to chat with and call et cetera because Covid was not fun. One day I got a notification that I had made a new friend on this app. This girl was beautiful, with a lovely smile, long hair, and bright blue eyes. We hit it off immediately and within 3 hours of talking, I got their Snapchat. Immediately we started calling and in no time we were calling for hours on end. It was great fun as we had a good few things in common. We called for about 2 weeks straight, and one day I asked them if they would be interested in going out with me. They had no problem with it as they were single and bored due to the lockdown. We hit it off immediately with the usual honeymoon phase in the early stages of a relationship. No arguments, no fights, no nothing. Only love and respect for one another. It wasn't until mid-November that we planned to meet up. I cycled out towards their house, it was about a 30-minute cycle, and to say I was nervous as hell is no understatement. When I arrived she came out to greet me, her father followed shortly after, I did get to meet her parents over Zoom which was enjoyable to speak to them before meeting them. Her father was a prison officer, and her mother was a nurse. Her father came out and regardless of the virus, we shook hands. My ex got her bike and we decided to cycle to the forest to go on a walk. We dropped the bikes off at her grandfather's shed and walked the rest. During the walk in the forest, we held hands for the first time, my palms were bucketing sweat but she didnt mind it. By the end of the walk, we went into her grandparent's house. Meeting her grandparents was lovely, they were so kind and generous, evening offering tea (if you couldn't tell this was an Irish household) to warm up after the walk. We finished up, cycled back towards her house, and at the end of it all, we hugged and said our goodbyes. It was sweet and very enjoyable.
That was the start of it all, 2 and a half years later it was all gone.
We did everything together, going to sleep while on the call, discussing movies and documentaries, talking about makeup, basically everything you could. I spent time with her siblings be it kicking a football or playing Mario Kart on the Wii. I helped her babysit her nieces on numerous occasions, even sleeping over while watching the little ones for hours. I was invited to a small holiday with her family to a lake in a nearby county. It was all perfect. All of her family and friends kept joking asking "When is the wedding?", That was how close they all thought we were. That is genuinely how close we were and how much in love we were in also. We rarely fought, only big thing that blew up was over other people on her Snapchat, one day she told me about her past and how there was another account she hadn't opened in ages. I opened it and had seen that many lads had been sending "pictures" to that account. I dealt with it swiftly and she thanked me for it. But one day I was on her phone when I saw this account, this person was sending questionable texts to them and I questioned what they were talking about, I read more into it and the other person had joked about s*x in a manner I would deem a little inappropriate to be sent to someone in a relationship, so I asked my ex if they could not text them regarding that topic. Of course, they said it was only a mess, but there were emojis and texts I didnt see as a joke. I swiftly asked them to stop texting this person as I didnt want them discussing that stuff with this person, of course when it came to "that" part of our relationship. Of course they said "I can he is a good friend". This argument came up twice more and I had enough. I asked my ex to just block them not in a demanding or controlling manner, but to relegate any sneaky actions (nothing occurred with this person anyway).
At one stage we had planned a holiday for the summer when I had finished my final exams, but this never happened as I had a good opportunity to play sports with a high-level club. We helped each other study and prepare for exams etc. When I finished my final exams I passed on all of my folders and study notes to help them and their younger brother prepare for the same exams (I still haven't got the folders back). But when I moved off to college she was upset, as she felt that it would be difficult to see each other, but I promised I would take every opportunity to see them or call them. I did that as much as I could up until I had my end-of-year exams. It was here when shit hit the fan.
On a late Tuesday I received a video call from my ex after a training session, they seemed distant and a little cold. They cut to the chase and said that we needed to break up. I asked why? Because I wasn't making enough of an effort to see them, and they were tired of waiting for me to text/call. There wasn't much I could do seeing as Monday-Friday I was in college until 5. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I had training at 6:30. On Mondays and Wednesdays I had Gym at 6. On Fridays, I dedicated myself to finishing off lab reports or studying for exams, and on Saturdays I had games. There wasn't much else I could do. I was heartbroken of course, and they said that we could still be friends after it all. I did ask if there was still a chance but they said not at the moment as they had exams.
Not too long after this Tuesday, I heard from one of her friends that she had done something bad, I asked what exactly happened and I was informed that she had met some lad in a different town. They kissed and held hands. My I and my ex were still talking and when I asked why they did it, their reason was "to not feel shit about the relationship". They later then admitted that they sent "pictures" to this same person. I could tell you now if I got my hands on this lad... Anyways, so eventually around March they wanted to go on a no-contact break to focus on their exams. Before this happened I rang them one Saturday when I was home and broke down, telling them that I was in disarray, losing them at the time was unbearable and I loved them with all my heart and my soul. I loved them for treating me like family and so much more. After I expressed all my feelings and thoughts they were visibly upset, but they said that this break would do me good and that whatever comes around after the exams I will be ready for it. I took it on the chin and accepted it. I told them I would be waiting for them come the end of the exams. I wished them the best of luck with the exams, and I told them I loved them one last time before we cut all contact.
It was after this that I fell into a horrible depression, I was all over the place and was struggling emotionally, physically, and mentally. My ex got wind of this and immediately contacted me to talk. I told them that I couldn't do the no-contact as I felt like I was losing a loved one. I told them straight up that it feels like they have passed away and no longer are part of my life. They told me if I wanted to meet up one day. I bounced at this opportunity to see them. I cycle out towards her house just like all the times I used to. I stopped halfway and they met me shortly afterwards. I was visibly upset and couldn't hold back tears, they saw me and came up and hugged me. I didn`t want to let go because in my head it might be the last time I ever get to hold them. I broke down telling them how much of a mess I was mentally and emotionally. We spoke and they said it'll be a short while until they would be back.
We finished up and just before leaving we did our little handshake again. I looked into her eyes one last time and all our memories flashed before me. I welled up as she was walking away. She waved as she drove past. The break would suit me, so I focused on myself during the break. I found a psychiatrist to talk to, I started finding new things to distract myself, and ultimately I focused on myself during it all. Fast forward to my birthday and I'm out on a night out with a few friends, I met with one of my friends who was dating a close friend of my ex. Ex came up with the topic and asked how are they doing, he told me that they had found someone new and might be in a new relationship. My heart sank to my ankles. I fell apart that night, and with alcohol in my system I was a complete MESS. I couldnt sleep that night. Upon hearing this news I knew that everything I had been told was a lie, as my friend had told me that my ex had started seeing this new guy around the start of April (around the time I fell into the depression above). That was some way to ruin your 20th birthday. That morning (around 5 am) I sent a long paragraph to her mother who I still had on my phone. I thanked them for the last 2.5 years, for accepting me into their family, loving me as a son, and trusting me to love and protect their daughter. I had admitted that I one day wished to marry their daughter wishing I could make her my wife. I broke down writing and sending the paragraph.
That was the last time I spoke to any of her family.
Almost a year after the breakup I received a notification on Snapchat, I checked and low and behold it's my ex. With it were the two following messages:
"Hi, so I'm probably the last person you want to be getting a request from or message from and I completely understand but I felt the need to reach out and I don't even know if you would add me back or reply but I wanted to apologize properly because I literally broke your heart and its been bugging me lately because it`s been over a year and I only realized now that it wasn't the best idea but at the time it felt like the only way to do it. I put 0 thought into it but I couldn't stay with you for a number of reasons and I know this sounds one-sided and it probably is but everything happens for a reason, honestly, I nearly chickened out of this but I felt I had to say something. Sorry it took so long."
"I'm sorry the way we ended the way we did, I thought that if we did break up it would be on nicer terms and that maybe we could`ve been friends, after everything that happened I know that wasn't the best situation, I`ve been doing a lot of reflecting back on everything and as bad as it sounds I think the only way I could have ended it was the way I did and I did love you of course I did but for me, the relationship felt like a prison in some aspects I know you might not have felt it and I definitely should've talked about it more but I felt like I did and it was knocked and I'm in a new relationship and the comparison is very slim in terms of how I am obviously I don't expect a response or anything but I feel like I'm living in the past and I'm ready to put it behind me I'm not sure if you're the same but thought id say it anyways."
After all this, I am the one that sacrificed shit to be there for her. I am not jealous anymore, I couldn't care to be honest at this stage. I have a holiday to South Africa planned soon so I am going to go enjoy my well-deserved holiday abroad for 2 weeks and focus on myself until I feel like I am somewhat ready to be on the dating scene again.
At the end of all of this, I did my very best for this girl who I thought was the one for life. I was wrong. But for those reading this, if you are going through a breakup and are struggling, it is okay to feel down, but if you need to vent or let off some steam, do not be afraid to talk to someone. Talking helps in so many ways, more than one would think. I hope only the best for those going through their rough patches.
It's the 29th of May when I post this, I just turned 21, and I started dating this person when I was 17. I shared my 18th and 19th with them. I am in a better headspace now and have a little more confidence than I did last year.
Thank you to those who have read this.
Wishing you all the best.
Cheers.

Who are we?: We are a new SMP in our first season focused entirely on building an online community consisting of YouTubers and streamers playing semi-vanilla Minecraft. We are not Hermitcraft, but we are very much inspired by Hermitcraft. We are not, however, concerned with your subscriber count but we are most interested in finding the 'right personality' that would fit into our community and is active while producing family-friendly and (at times) semi narrative-based content in a fun and positive way.
What are we trying to achieve?: We aim to provide a platform on which we can build our individual channels while entertaining our viewers with fun and engaging content. We focus solely on the endless fun and possibilities that Minecraft has to offer in a multiplayer environment. Whether it's building our own bases, collaborative projects, or fun shenanigans, we aspire to take our followers on a journey of positive and family-friendly fun.
How are we doing this?: Together! While there must be an admin, beyond that, it is our goal that we can build this community together through having open and transparent discussions in our meetings and member discord. For that reason we are looking for the right team-oriented people to be a part of our community.
Requirements to join: - You are over 18yr old.We expect maturity and honesty. - Must have an active YouTube account - Must be able to participate in community meetings and be willing to collaboratein game via simple voice chat - Must be able to produce family-friendly content on a weekly / bi-weekly basis.
A note for you who may feel unsure: We are not professionals, nor do we expect you to be. We are hobbyists and entertainers with goals and ambitions to improve ourselves as content creators. We learn along the way and through this, it gives a unique opportunity for viewers to venture on a journey with our members as we grow and improve. This is a fairly grass roots and authentic community tobe a part of as "the other guys" in the room for Minecraft content.
Server info:
Datapacks
AFK Display : Name goes grey if the player doesn't move for five minutes. Anti Endermen Grief : Stops endermen picking up blocks. Armor Statues : Customize armorstand positions. Customizable Armor Stands : Used to manipulate armor stands for building details. Custom Roleplay Data : Enables the use of custom textures on items. Double Shulker Shells : Shulkers always drop two shells. Multiplayer Sleep : Improves the sleep system. More Mob Heads : All mobs can drop their head on death No Trial Chambers : Enables 1.21 blocks without structures generating. Player Head Drops : If a player kills another, their head will drop on death! Silence Mobs : A feature to stop entities making sounds. Unlock Recipes : Unlock all crafting recipes. Wandering Trades : Adds lots of mini block trades to Wandering Traders.
Mods
Audio Player : Lets players add custom audio files into the world. Cloth Config : Required for other mods. fabric-carpet : Required for other mods. lithium : Performance optimizer. spark : Used to monitor & diagnose performance. status : Allows players to set a streaming or recording status. viewdistancefix : Uncouples server and client view distance. voicechat : Enables proximity voice communication in game.
Communications: We use discord for our community communications, organizing meetings and arranging collaborative projects and events. Anything related to the building and maintaining our community. All other communications are done with simple voice chat in game.

HOW TO APPLY!: To apply, please send me a DM for a link to the application

Note: We will follow up with you on discord for a discussion to determine any next steps. Please be prepared for this.

Questions & Answers When will the season start?: We have started on March 16th, 2024, so we're still in the beginning stages still but it's a good time to join as the season is long and 1.21 is just around the corner. Perfect time to get in still and get acquainted with the other artisans and get a good rhythm of videos going!
What version of Minecraft are you playing with? 1.20.4. We will upgrade to 1.21 when the main datapacks and mods support it
Are client side mods and plugins allowed? : There is a suggested list of client-side quality of life mods that is available on discord. Any mods that make it possible to cheat or give advantage to the player will not be allowed.
Is Dynmap or Bluemap used?: No. We want to enhance the experience of exploration by not having the world available outside of game to see. Client-side mods like Xaeros mini-map and world map can give more relevant views based on what was explored, rather than have everything open for viewing.
Story driven content was mentioned. Is this required?: No. The idea of story or narrative drive content was only mentioned for those that want to follow along a loose path. The idea was only proposed as a potential timeline to follow but can be veered off into different pathways along the way if so desired....or then not at all. Often times, it can be a challenge to come up with ideas to make multiplayer Minecraft fun and some sort of ideas 'can help' in coming up with ideas for videos. However, good, wholesome content can come just from hanging out and doing things together with no specific topic as well. The idea of potentially having some kind of narrative is only intended to help guide, if needed.
What about in game economy? These can wreck servers.: Yes, they can, but they don't have to...if they're discussed about and planned ahead of time, which is what we have been doing. We implemented a method to avoid problems related to shopping. Also, discussions and agreements made on discord make it much easier to avoid the craziness that can come from wild west shop competition.
What about world security?: We will be having backups throughout each day of the world to mitigate any potential damage. We hope to trust our community fully in ensuring mutual respect and honesty in how we play. As this is an SMP for making videos and streams by content creators, we want to ensure we have the best possible environment of honest people so that we can maximize the output on farms, without negatively affecting mob spawn rates coming from security plug-ins and mods.
Is the world seed known to the community?: No. This is season 1 and we are concentrating this season on establishing ourselves as a group and building a core group of friends and content creators. We won't rule this out for future seasons but for the integrity of season 1, our focus will be on foundations and enjoying the beauty of the wonder of exploration in Minecraft.
Is there a limited world border?: Yes, we have an starting world border for two reasons. 1. It encourages interaction with the other artisans and most importantly, 2) It allows us to expand the borders once the new 1.21 release is out, allowing us to enjoy all the new content that it brings beyond the borders.
How long will the season be? Ideally, we are aiming for approximately one year for a minimum season duration. However, we will be addressing this in our internal meetings to gauge where people are at with that idea, before and especially during the season, depending how it progresses.
Why are you doing a seasonal approach and resetting rather than keeping the map going? : We believe that as content creators, there is always something special about starting something new. Fresh seasons offer opportunities to implement new ideas with a new map and possibly new features in the game at that time. Seasons allow us to think in terms of projects where there is a definitive start and ending. This motivates us to continue our builds' completion to be ready in time for the next season. That gives us time to make the map available for download for our viewers, while addressing potential new recruitment of players. Seasons just work for this type of approach and while we respect those that continue with the same map, we won't be.
What if I can't keep up regularly with the weekly or bi-weekly schedule? : Since this is not (yet) a job for us, it's understandable that real life can cause delays for videos and streams. This needs flexibility. However, as this is an SMP focused on creating content for videos and streams, having the schedule stretch too far and too often with too many people will simply turn this into a regular Minecraft SMP, which is not the goal of this community. We create videos and streams and our aim is to be as regular as we can with providing them.
Can I join even though I don't make videos or stream? I mean, I even know a few people on there. Can I join?: This is extremely unlikely as the point of this server community is to make fun, engaging, and entertaining content for people to enjoy. There may be, however, in the future opportunities for random events where some outsiders can join in and play. Perhaps with other content creators as well. These are not yet planned and there's no timeline for this yet, but the idea could be fun.
If you should have any questions or need for clarification, just send me a PM.

Little bit of a rant, but I feel like it's definitely something that we've all experienced with the most recent changes to ranked.
I personally feel like I'm constantly seeing more and more players in the "lower ranks" such as Gold and Silver who used to be either Diamond, Master or even Predator ranked players throwing the most ridiculous hissy fits whenever you don't play the way they want you to. For example; Taking too long to loot up and engage in a firefight? "You're trash. Delete the game and go play Roblox." Choosing not to engage the 6 team bloodbath that's happening in front of you? "You're pathetic. K*** yourself." You picked the Legend that they main on their account and have over 10,000 kills on, while you only have a measly 200 or so? "You don't know how to play X Legend right you noob".
I can't be the only one who encounters this kind of behaviour every single time I jump into a ranked match right? Worst of all also, reporting accounts doesn't seem to do much to help. As a Console player mainly, I haven't yet found a way to block players that I've been teamed up with, so as to prevent the game from matchmaking me with them the minute I jump back into another game.
Now I'm not trying to come across as someone who is an ace at ranked gameplay, when the truth is far from it. I admit I'm pretty garbage, but I don't see why the people who used to be in the higher ranks seem to think it's okay to verbally abuse the lower ranked players, simply because we can't "get on your level, bro".
I don't know if maybe I'm just taking a lot of it too personally, or if I'm just coming across as a bit of a whiner, but I have to say I am genuinely getting sick of the way people seem to treat each other in this game.

Very long for context...
I 45M have two kids, 12 and 7 with my first wife. We were married 10 years and dated for 17. Before marrying (A) while during a break up I fathered a child with a childhood friend we will call (B), that child is now 19. (A) and I worked through it and got married. I thought she accepted the mistake, and we would move forward. However, she made absolute hell for me to be present and an active father in the 19 Year Olds life. She treated him as a second class child, wouldn't allow him to visit regularly, say he cant come on family vacations, would cook for our shared kids and conviently forget the previous child was there and needed to eat. I had to constantly block and cover to make him not feel traumatized by this, but sadly it didn't work. He is not well emotionally.
I was a dumb ass and allowed this reprehensible behavior out of fear of making the youngest two statistics and truth be told because I have been in the same house with them their entire lives I have a different bond so divorce for this reason was out of the question. (A) justifed her actions as saying he is NOT our family, and he is an affair baby and its not fair she should have to share her husband with another woman. This brought 10 years of WAR in the home as I never accepted this and fought her nasty behavior every inch and fugured we would figure it out...I genuinely loved her. When I say hell I'm talking physical altercations, months of not speaking and sex, financial black male the works everything but infidelity.
I personally kept a cordial relationship through those times with (B) to at minimum go see my son on every other weekend (sometimes sneaking), attend as many of his parent and school events and provide for him financially even through protests from (A). (B) was a model baby mama. Never drugged me through the courts, never intentionally caused drama in my marriage although (A) swore anything good I wanted to do for the 19 Year old was because I had feelings for (B).
Fast forward to the 19 year old teenage years 16 17 and 18 the trauma started to become apparent and I needed to be involved more to help and try to still have a productive adjusted child. This made war and fights at home nuclear. As she didn't want him in our home (but I did), didn't want the younger kids to be all together with him (they love their brother) and I refused to back down. It came to head when a verbal altercation turned very close to physical and the 5 year old started crying and wanting to leave.
It was time to make a decision for everyone and I chose to leave filed for divorce. Welll, long story short I ended up marrying (B) in vegas NYE. I got mesmerized by her grace during my marriage and her advocating that all children are equal and she would never be like that. LIES
FYI I am a very involved father I would have fought for custody but their mother is a great "mother" I can't deny that so I have an extended schedule every 1st 3rd and 5th Thurs to Tuesday, private school education, hefty child's support months in the summer, and even and odd year holidays and breaks.
(B) had become a completely different person. She has become (A) but with the added caveat that "you was not an involved father with our child and you let that bitch dictate your relationship with ours sooo what makes her better than me". Literally saying things like "damn how many practices and games and events do you have to be at" "why didnt you run that schedule by me", "when you there with them means your not here with me and I deserve more" or "You send her 2K a month why should you buy them anything extra" As you can probably guess (A) and (B) refuse to be in the same oxygenated room together so blending is not an option.
AITH for filing for my second divorce after 6 months?

SINCE I CAN'T POST THIS IN THE WINDOWS 11 SUBREDDIT BECAUSE THE AUTOMODERATOR MALWARE BOT REMOVED IT, I'LL POST THIS HERE!
me and a friend have had this weird problem crop up recently where, whenever we close a game or try to uninstall something, the process disappears in task manager BUT, in the case of uninstalling things, some files get left behind and attempting to manually delete them results in windows popping up an alert telling us to close the relevant process first as those files are being used by it.
using dark souls 3 for an example of the app part of the issue.
after i finish playing the game, i close it like normal. BUT while the games process disappears from task manager, if i bring up this other app (system informer) i can type "dark" in its search bar and...the games process is still there.
except now, the parent process has closed and this process is marked as "suspended" and is unkillable. checking its properties shows pretty much all info as N/A and the parent process is "Non-existent process (parent process ID number here)".
in the case of uninstalling things, it usually leaves behind a few .db files and maybe some other things.
upon attempting to manually delete these leftover files, a pop-up appears and says
"the action can't be completed because the file is open in 'process name here'"
and that completely blocks me from deleting the remaining files.
so far...the only thing i've been able to learn about the problem in my...not that tech savvy research (mainly cause i have no clue what this issue even is to begin with), i have learned...little to nothing about this and nothing at ALL on how i might possibly fix it.
all i do know about this is somehow parent processes are being closed before the child processes (which tells me something in windows is doing things BACKWARDS) and...doing that makes the child process completely unkillable. and i mean completely unkillable short of rebooting my pc to FORCE windows to let go of the damn processes it's keeping in a strangle hold.
they don't appear in task manager and neither console commands NOR system informer can force kill these processes even with admin level permission.
these processes are completely immortal until i reboot which i'm about to do to clear 3 dark souls 3 game processes.
does anyone here have any idea what i'm talking about and how i might fix it? i did 2 full system scans and a quick scan after those to make sure and i came up clean on windows defender outside a few false positives (bout all i ever get outside "once in a blue moon" situations).
i don't know what this is or how to fix it beyond this rebooting. i am at a complete loss here.
edit: i don't need a damn BOT helping me. i need a HUMAN!

I'm living in a relative's home for the summer and my room is attached to the living room and doesn't have a door. There's constant talking, music, singing, video games etc coming from the living room and I can't hear myself think, so it's hard to study or sleep. The only thing that's worked to block out the noise is white noise with my headphone volume set to 100, but it's extremely loud and probably terrible for my ears.
My current headphones have a noise cancelling setting but it only blocks out ambient noise. Is there any relatively cheap (preferably under $100) set of headphones I could get to block out voices? earbuds also work but I'm not really a fan of them.

[Let me know if a chapter a week is okay; I'm thinking it might be a bit too often. Run Zero: https://redd.it/1csb71x Run One: https://redd.it/1cwxbsg]
The mining foreman refused to go to sleep, and watched intently as Tightniks finally reached over and set it home with one hand. Its last nervous little sigh was the only thing he remembered-
The ship is without power, and Tightniks can't run the radar much without draining the batteries...
32s: First trap.
He built it big this time, and there are six trimps in there. They look familiar somehow, the light one with dark hair and an unusually short and broad tail compared to the rest, a big-eared green one, a grey one, a yellow one, and a red one with big paws and "XIII" on its rump, and a brown one with pink ears that takes the lead and cheers, "Kakka!" Once he lets them out, they all follow him intently around like just-hatched birds do their mother. He shows them the busted off cockpit and forward cabin of the ship he just crashed and they get inside and start da- ...nope, sticking with "dancing". He busies himself looking for the survival pad.
Until he hears the squeak of a baby trimp. They're feeding it- ...rocks. Carefully selected, aluminate rocks. What the heck are they doing? Whatever, I've got to get some conventional food for- What's that? He's got the survival pad already, but this was outside the ship, it must have materialized when he descended through that glowing grey mist getting out. He gets it flipped over and turned on.
"Manual portal activation 2 successful:" it displays, "rare shield equipped 54%Stg 14%Atk MT 0 Nu loaded / 399 He loaded / Metal challenge active / Total portal activation 956"
Metal challenge? The human selects it.
"You have the Metal challenge active. Tweak the portal to bring you to an alternate reality, where the concept of Miners does not exist, to force yourself to become frugal with equipment crafting strategies. If you complete The Dimension Of Anger without disabling the challenge, miners will re-unlock."
He's so confused, What the Loy is a Dimension of Anger? I think I have a headache from this high gravity. Sits down for a moment.
Notices that one of the trimps is sleeping in a small deep hole just at the edge of the garden, apparently to have a nap in standing upright.
I don't believe you, "portal". I'm training that one first chance I get!
56s: Pop full.
There are ten of them already?? I'm still working this derpy little potato patch to get enough food to bulk up just ONE of the- He looks at the portal pad and blurts out loud, "Fifty-six SECONDS??" He postulates that he's in a time-dilated environment, and that the portal is measuring time somewhere "out there", this "map frame" environment. It's like those Star Trek episodes he can't remember "Wink of an Eye" and "Blink of an Eye" that he can't quite remember. [One of them is Star Trek TOS, and one of them is Star Trek: Voyager and I forget which one came from where.]
1m57s: Arable in Z1c13.
The human walks along and one of the trimps viciously fights the various hostiles that try to come at him, staying ahead. Just behind, he finds that hole-digger busted into a cave big enough for 9 of them, and they start raising babies to fill it up.
3m37s: Miners in Z1c30.
It's broken! he notices of the data card he just picked up. It's one of the ones that flew out of the ship when he undogged the ship's side hatch, but it didn't survive. What was on it? He's got a vague memory of a big tanuki-tailed trimp, much bigger than the- Wait! This memory is of hole-digger all grown up. So this is- he looks at the smashed data card in his hand, ...this is the Miners card. At least there's some lying about so we're not totally deprived of metal.
That's odd. I'm sure I spent longer training this little guy than "one second map frame." The human looks at the black trimp with the grey head fur and silvery eyes, "So, can you say something yet?"
"Shijou." [Takane and Takanya are not black, it is their favorite clothing color.]
"Okay, can you say something else?"
9m12s: Zone 1, 40 pop, 3.5s RC with Z0/1, 13m19s turkimp. 12m55s: First scientist.
"Tai," his first scientist waves at him.
"Hmm," the human tries to think of a better test, "What color is the sky?"
"Shijou." The exasperated human is about to sigh in despair when he notices a card in its hands, with one word on it, "Blue."
"What?" he takes it, "You can't speak but you can write, huh?"
"Shijou," it twirls its paw off the end of the card in his hand. The human turns it over, and in small writing, it has "Technically, the sky isn't blue, it's a foible of Rayleigh scattering in an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere. And you have 'TIGHTNIKS' embroidered on the left side of your uniform."
A look of astonishment sweeps over the human. I never taught it about Rayleigh scattering. Apparently, the scientist training has unlocked its brain to access the collected knowledge of a previous life! Then he looks at his uniform and groans, spanking his eyebrows in realization. The trimp had apparently noticed him wandering around the camp wracking his brain and talking to himself trying to remember his own name, and it's right there the whole time! He spanks his eyebrows again.
The very well fed grey-headed trimp starts doing experiments, leaving him to take the turkimp back to his farmers. Too bad it's only a quarter as fast at it as he is.
32m25s: Zone 3, 79 pop, 4.5s RC with Z1/2; c16, 79 pop, 6.8s RC with Z2/3.
"Nano! Nano, nano, nano." The D&B (that's dodge and block) foreman has an impressive yellow mane, light face, green body, and brown hind limbs, and moves like a blur when it decides to. When asleep, it's as unarousable as an exhumed fossil, except with the food article Yellow the scientist calls an "owny geary". [Puchim@s Afuu]
Helping it out is a brown-maned white trenching expert Tightniks finds oddly familiar. It has no problem mining, but couldn't start a fire if its life depended on it, so smelting is out of the question.
I guess that's how the Metal challenge really works. Too bad I suck at it. Tightniks is spending all his smelting time smacking out nails and joist hangers for the houses, and has nothing left for fighting gear.
1h53m25s: Zone 9, 306 pop, 7.9s RC with Z8/15, no turkimp.
The white trimp with the brown head fur- ...whichever one it is because it, or one that looks just like it, sometimes (apparently) burns itself up or blows itself up trying to build a metallurgical furnace. This one is digging a hole right now, into the concrete of some ruined building's foundation. It hits some strapping and rebar, makes a happy sound, follows it along and gets it sorta clear of the concrete bonded to it, and rips it out of the ground to throw on the metal pile. It now seems content to do that instead of trying to smelt ores.
"Red?" Tightniks glances at one of his scientists, "Do you think we could take it to- What's that place you said you visited five hundred years after some misty fight or-"
"Cloudy strife," it says, "Yeah, Midgimp is like that, we could probably map a route through there. Lots of metal. Especially the part that had an avalanche happen and fell down. Broke all that stuff out of the ground already." [Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children cinematic and Sector 7 collapse.]
"Okay," Tightniks says, "Let's do that."
5h32m02s: Zone 21, 2042 pop, 14.9s RC with Z20/232, no turkimp.
"Ooooookay," Tightniks growls, "There is something off about this thing."
"Shijou?" the grey one looks at the yellow one with concern about their human starship pilot friend.
The human stoops, picks up the little green gem on the ridge between Zone 20 and 21, looks at it, huffs, and asks, "Any idea where this comes from?"
"Err..." the red one seems hesitant to say, "I think you made it."
"Really?" the human huffs, "How could that be?" Then he tosses it at Red, "See if anything reacts to it. It might be radioactive, so we should take turns to minimize exposure."
"Really?" Red's holding it now, "What makes you say that?"
"Because I'm pissed off for no reason I can figure out," the human says, "I think it's coming from-" he gasps, "Waitamint!" He starts searching for the portal pad.
"Frags," the red one says quickly, "I think it's arranging a route. You're good with maps," it tosses the gem to the grey scientist.
The human has his portal pad up and reads aloud, "You have the Metal challenge active. Tweak the portal to- yada yada yada. Tiss tiss t- complete The Dimension Of Anger without disabling- miners will re-unlock."
\BOOM\** They turn to see (another of) the white brown-haired trimp'/s' attempts at a metallurgical furnace explode, and it seems both very frustrated and has really hurt its toe.
He snaps his fingers, "That's gotta be it. Although, does it mean 'miners' or 'furnaces'?" He re-reads the portal pad while the scientists shrug.
"Shijou," the grey one has just finished tracing the route map the gem was showing.
"Are we going any faster than on previous cycles, you think?" he asks Red.
"What's a cycle?" Red asks.
"We're stuck in time loop, you realize?" the human says.
"Well," the yellow one jumps off a little rock spire it was using to see farther ahead, directly into a seated position on the ground with an impressive thump the human can both hear with his ears and feel through the ground of the more-than-Earth gravity planet, "that explains a few things." The little scientist trimp seems quite morose at the news.
"This thing says the fastest we've ever got this 'anger' map done is ten hours, thirty-five, but the clock right now is at five hours, thirty-four." Tightniks tilts his head, frowns one eyebrow, and taps, "Getting it done faster increases attack damage somehow, and oh-"
"What now?" the yellow one asks, still seated beside the spire.
"It says we already got a 2.5%-er for having a million traps," the human says, "I don't remember doing that. Maybe..." he sighs, "Maybe that's a good thing, 'cus I'd probably go insane building them all. Still though, it says we're going faster, but it doesn't feel like it."
"How'd you know how it feels," Red asks, "if you don't remember it?"
"'Day jaw voo' I think is the term," the human says, "or something. The sense that all this has happened before, but I'm not quite remembering and there's no physical evidence of it."
"Shijooooooooooo..." the grey one moans, waving a card at him. On it:
"In order, but we don't know if that means chronological order or frequency/proportion of memories:
"- The ship crashes (pretty sure that happens every time) "- The human builds huts "- The human teaches some trimps to speak and do science "- The human builds houses "- The human makes maps "- The human builds mansions "- The human blows up and gets himself killed somewhere around Z17 to Z21, often on a dragimp "- The human only recently/occasionally builds hotels "- The human only recently/rarely tamed a dragimp "- The human only recently/rarely mapped the Dimension of Anger"
Tightniks sits down and offers it back.
"Tai," it flatly refuses to take it back, paws up and eyes closed.
"It's kind of a relief," Tightniks rubs his temples, then looks at it again, "knowing it ain't just me."
6h17m43s: Portal PB, 1% AP for sub-8h, 45 He, 7.149 He/hr, 2209 pop, 13.6s RC.
The last head of the map's boss monster goes limp as one of the fighting trimps' dagger points goes into it, and the huge thing settles on its tail, resting on the package that seems to be the prize of this map. And there's a popping sound, and then something mechanical.
Is that a scroll compressor? Tightniks looks at the package. The deflating monster's lifting envelope material drapes over everything underneath it. "Yellow, Shijou!" he snaps and points, "roll up that side of it. Keep this part from sucking down on the extractor nozzle!"
All ten of the scientists jump in, literally, pushing the gas in the bag towards the compressor. Tightniks as well, rolling up the front.
Until he kicks, and nearly trips over, a smaller package that might be the explanation for the reason why the center of the monster's defense seemed to be a little away from the big package he could see. It's in the right place, he realizes. He gets it uncovered and reads stenciled-and-sprayed block letters on it:
"DT TIME PORTAL / THIS SIDE DOWN"
Perhaps the Dimension of Anger is so named because of the rage suddenly rising up in Tightniks' throat. It isn't so much as the free-floating aggression suddenly has an answer, there is definitely a fresh batch of rage and anger as he grips the nearest Dagger V, Mark 2 with both hands-
Refocusing on surviving the next few seconds, the pilot turns on the radar for the final approach and takes a last look around, then straight ahead at his forward camera and primary flight display...
He crouches, sets the dagger down gently, then starts clearing the debris from the box's grab iron. He tries to lift it- Damn, this is heavy! As he gets it turned over, gravity finishes the job, and it shakes the ground with an impressive thud as it falls right side up.
"DT TIME PORTAL / THIS SIDE UP" There's a square cutout in the middle of one side of it, with a sliding cover at the bottom of it.
"Get the pad!" he screams, seeing that his scientists are almost done rolling up the megablimp.
The grey one already has the survival data pad and offers it to him.
"The big one," Tightniks clarifies, "The big one." he picks up wide flat rainbow cable and its edge socket in one hand, "It goes here," he points at it with the other. "It must have come with me-" He had taken the small survival data pad and notices something, "Oh?" He starts looking around, "Hey!"
The white trimp with the brown hair is napping in a hole next to the smouldering remains of its latest attempt at a smelting furnace.
"Hey, mining buddy!" he whistles at it, "Mining buddy!"
It wakes with a start and rushes over, but doesn't seem to be in a good mood. But as soon as Tightnik shows it the survival pad, with all of the mining data installed just as if all those broken data cards and scorched scrolls were intact when he found them, fireworks goes off in the little trimp's eyes and it rushes off with the pad. Within minutes, the first furnace that works is chugging away at some ore and it returns to give the survival data pad back to Tightniks.
7h24m49s: Fresh turkimp; 7h25m30s: Labor reallocated.
The big-eared green lumber foreman's mood fell much further than the mining foreman's mood was before Tightniks packed up the turkimp roaster and moved just about everyone over to the smeltery.
The brown-haired, big-tailed white mining foreman was surprised at the change, and very happy. It had climbed up onto the helium compressor cart to check something on the pad a couple cells into the zone.
"Are you upset with me?" the red one asks the human.
"No, not at all," Tightniks says, "Are you getting the feeling that we had an upset at this point last cycle?"
"How would you know it was only the last?" Yellow asks, "Your memory's no better than ours."
"Right," the human sews another patch into his uniform, "However, I've only actually hit the switch on the portal twice, the first one on a challenge called Discipline, and the second on a challenge called Metal, which we just finished. It's easy to sort out from the statistics. I'm nervous it'll get harder to sort out when we're up to, oh," done fixing his uniform, he pops a bit of turkimp into his mouth and chews a couple times, "a few dozen or hundred manual cycles."
"Friggin' solve this faster than that, please," Red grumbles, "I know the emergency counter got to nearly a thousand, but..." he kinda trails off. Finally, he says, "I think we're remembering more cycle to cycle as we get more helium into it. I mean, I'm glad that isn't the only mechanic."
"Can't miss the supernova if it is," the human ponders.
"What?" Yellow chuckles.
"I'm remembering something from before all this, I think it was called a video game, where you'd go forward real-world in the simulation of a time loop, and your real-life head remembering what you did on previous cycles was the only mechanic," the human takes another bite, then dons his uniform shirt while chewing it. After his head pops out of the not-so-crisp-and-fresh uniform neck hole, buttons still done up, he finishes, "one of them had a supernova." [That would be Outer Wilds among the bunch of games with this mechanic, er, Minnit (I know it's spelled differently than "minute"), 12 Minutes, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and- ...I'm sure there are more.]
11h19m28s: Starting void 1 (L30).
With the thermal gloves on, Tightniks gets the void map into the portal device slot. It dematerializes and his fingers close where it used to be in his hands, then he yelps, stands up and starts dancing, "Oh crap, it's cold!" He quickly starts looking for stuff to bundle up. Once not too uncomfortable, he notices something, "You're having trouble, too?"
"No," Yellow and Red look at each other, "Well, not with the cold; this route has a poisonous atmosphere, slows down our young assimilating aluminum at the proper rate."
"Manning the traps will work at full speed, right?" Tightniks says.
"Should if your fingers can handle it," Red confirms.
11h33m57s: Void 1c100.
"You are one ugly muthaf[garble]!" he says when he sees the void boss, "Stay here, I'll be back." Runs some traps, grabs a couple helmets for the fresh volunteers, "Put these on."
"Shijou?" the grey one looks at the red one, really rather perplexed.
"I agree, that's not his usual accent," Red tilts his head, "Tightniks, what has gotten in to you?"
"Stop cheering me up," the human grumbles, "You think this is the real Quaid?"
"I think the cold is affecting him more than he realizes," Yellow offers.
"Phased plasma rifle in the forty watt range," but what the dizzy pilot actually throws at the zone boss is a Mace V-4, "and then I was thinking of breaking your neck."
[Felt like some- "Arnie? Well, the union is pulling out all the big guns today, huh?" (Tom Hanks as Sully) ...no, brain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, not Arnie Gentile (it was really funny to background Sully and listen to that line instead of "That's definitely you" in Terminator 2 while he's posing with the Minigun.) Arnie lines from Predator, Terminator 2, True Lies, Total Recall and The Terminator.]
"Tweak the portal," reads Tightniks from the portal controller aloud, but quietly, "to bring you to an alternate reality, where Trimps are bigger and stronger, to force yourself to figure out a way to build larger housing. Your Trimps will gather 50% more resources, but your housing will fit 50% fewer Trimps. If you complete The Dimension of Anger without disabling the challenge, your stats will return to normal."
"You will also open a new memory coolant unit," Yellow reads, "You think that'll cause a housing bonus?"
"Shijou," the grey one hands him a card saying "We have enough for another gateway."
"Oh, good," Tightniks hands it back after signing it, "Yes, build it."
"We're doing that next?" Yellow asks.
Tightniks sees the little fellow sitting on top of a mound that the human thought was a bowel movement pile from Draglimp, but it must be something more geological if trimps can climb it, let alone want to. "Yeah, I guess," the human answers, "It kinda scares me, I mean I'm going back, but what happens to you guys?"
"We have too much day javo or whatever you called it," Red says. He's usually on all fours, shakes his left hind leg as though something got stuck to his foot, "This isn't incrementing, I'm sure. 13 is less than 956."
"According to this, you'll be twice as big," Tightniks sets down the portal controller pad and stands up from the cart, "It's hard to imagine, especially for Shijou and Diggy. We'll clear thirty-six, that's it."
14h04m37s: Z33c95, IC.
"Are you sure we can make Zone 37 start?" the red one asks.
The yellow one is standing on Red's shoulders.
"It said we did last time," Tightniks taps on the crude leather bag strapped to his back, the portal pad inside it, "though maybe..." he tilts his head, rolls whatever he was sucking on in his mouth for a moment, "it just happened while I was building those traps. No, I'm sticking with that plan."
"If it's going to take that long," Red grinds its jaws sideways for a moment and lets its eyelids get lazy, frustration clear in its tone, "why do it again?"
"Because I've got a bad feeling about this 'Size' thing," Tightniks says, "it drops our resourcing by 75% assuming we build the same amount of housing as before, which we won't because of the reduced resourcing. We needed 65 capacity in the cabin and huts before we could do run the gypsum/paper wall machine we found. I have a funny feeling that never changes."
"We don't need 65 trimps to run it," Yellow says, "just three."
"Yeah," Tightniks says, "but a particular three that know what they're doing, and my day javoo is telling me the last of those is always the sixty-fifth."
"Shijou," the grey one moans from the other side of Tightniks. Didn't have a note this time, just kicking a little rock along as it walks.
"It thinks you're right," the red one growls forlornly, "Hating to say it, but I do too."
14h16m06s: Skel in c1, 50 bones purchased whipimp.
There's a thump at the cart, and then some commotion around it that's noticable enough for Tightniks to come over and take a look. The bone box is empty, all forty-nine titanium bones in it are gone. Tightiks brings his right hand up in front of him, and it's just a balled fist, the bone he was holding a moment ago is gone. As he starts looking for where he must have dropped it, he realizes maybe it's all related. Looking in the bottom of the empty bone box, he finds a note.
"I got you the whipimp. This new Bad Guy will begin spawning in your next zone at an average of 3 spawns per 100 enemies. I hope it helps, but I can't tell yet."
The note is in Tightniks' own handwriting, although lazy but with more consistent kerning. Is this from an older version of myself? Friggin' time travel.
14h18m48s: This L34 moun 160/27/79 calls itself "Magical Mountain" - I can't remember whether the Disney trademark is that or "Magic Mountain" ...I've seen a "Black Mesa" before, that's a Half-Life thing, and somebody on Reddit made pretend that "Dank Hill" was a King of the Hill thing (which is actually *Hank Hill, I think - it's hard to remember, it wasn't very good and I haven't watched it since the 1990s.)
19h32m00s: Doom/AT, 12816 pop, 80N, 37.7s RC with Z34/5298.
"Okay, we got that friggin' thing chocked," Yellow wipes its brow and almost bonks itself with the Mace VI-2 that it's holding, puts it down and makes sure the wedges are secure.
Grey, Red, and Green are packing more stuff around the huge boulder that chased them down a tunnel to make sure it doesn't do that again.
"Getting any day javoo?" Tightniks pants, hands on his knees, but apparently uninjured, or nearly so.
"Not at all," Yellow vehemently responds, slashing the air with its paw, "You?"
"Oh," Tightniks gets his breathing under control, "I think it was a human movie."
"Like a video on that pad?" it gestures at the human's pocket with the small one.
"No, a bigger screen," the human says.
"Fifty-five inches?" the trimp scientist chuckles.
"More like fifty-five feet," the human rubs the sweat out of his eyes, "Lots of people watching. It was called a sin."
"Ah," the trimp ponders, "Like a crime, vice, psychopathy or bad habit?"
"Er..." the human taps his forehead trying to remember, "Sorry, a cinema."
[The whole thing is obviously an homage to something I remember only slightly better than Tightniks, I think it was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. As I'm posting this, I sadly realize that Nick Rekieta's arrest was between when I wrote this and now.]
19h58m55s: Zone 37, 473 He, 23.67 He/hr, 13088 pop, 81N, 32.1s RC with Z34/5298, 2806 pop short, no turkimp.
The ship is without power, and Tightniks can't run the radar much without draining the batteries...

Friend 1. Let’s call her Suzy. I got 3 problems w Suzy here. 1. Ever since my wlw breakup (not with Suzy) she’s been acting strange. She thinks we’re super close and best friends. She’s been giving me gifts. Spamming the absolute hell of all my social media posts. But the main thing that’s been bothering me is the physical contact. She’s been holding my hand, dragging me to other rooms, constantly sharing her pen with me, getting a little too close to my face when we talk. She has never done this before. Don’t get me wrong I like women but not her. During my birthday party I invited a day 1 HS friend and she had known Suzy before I did. She’s not a big fan but after observing her at the party day 1 told me Suzy might have a crush on me. Connecting the dots and now I’m uncomfortable. 2. She’s started fights with other friends and now the group is kinda broken up. Not that big of a deal except she keeps misgendering one of my friends and has accused them of some crazy stuff that we all know is not true. Big no no for me and I feel like I need to speak up 3. She’s the type to not take accountability when she acts out due to her mental illness. I try to be understanding cuz Ik the struggle but that doesn’t give you a pass. Bonus 4. She keeps bringing up my ex.
Friend 2. Let’s call her Daisy. I really liked hanging w daisy and her hubby. But again after the breakup she thinks we’re close friends. I just don’t think she knows me like that. She’s helped me a lot after my breakup. My problem started during my birthday party. We shared a party and it went really well. Then she ghosted me for 3 weeks. I got worried and called her husband to ask if she’s even alive. He then explained that she’s mad at me. Reason: she didn’t like my birthday present! I was absolutely shocked because I didn’t think she was like this. For context she gifted me a lot of money and a video game. I had gotten back from a trip to MX and brought her some art, small wooden sculptures, decorative shot glasses, and some Mexican candy. I was a little broke cuz of the trip. On top of that I baked her favorite birthday cake. She said it didn’t feel special and she was expecting more. I was so offended. I went ahead and ordered more items and eventually we hung out again. I gave her the gifts and I tried talking about it but she kind of brushed it off as her being silly. Another thing is that my ex has been talking mad shhh about me, I hate the idea of them having her over and nodding their head in agreement. Last time I talked to Daisy I called to vent cuz my ex started accusing me of some serious stuff. She said “why don’t you meet up with your ex and ask them why they’re saying that stuff?” That was twisting the knife. All I remember is thinking this person is not my friend.
What should I say to them? So far I’ve just gone quiet but I want to officially block them.

So, for quite some time I have thought about improving some of the vanilla structures, but not by completely changing them into something just remotely similar but organically building on what we have. Well and actually I'm doing it rather as datapack (as this would make it much easier to quickly port to new versions of the game and play on snapshot without an issue)
The first one I wanted to make is jungle temple. I had quite a bit of new rooms for it (the main new feature is that instead of one hidded chest the temple would have entire system of room beneath filled with loot and traps... and also some archeology) and more or less know how to stitch it all together(with jigsaw block)... but firstly I wanted to get the surface/entrance piece to correctly generate in the world.
Part of it is supposed to generate underground (as it is leading to the added underground chambers) but...despite having structure void down there it still carves terrain causing effect like this:
The actuall generation I get - wrongly removing part of the terrain
Below is how it actually should look like (more or less - I quickly added some relatively natural looking terrain where it should not be replaced by air and water):
The desired generation - with part hidden underground
Desired generation - look from the otther side
Anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? Here's the current version of my datapack (in rar file, and I kinda based my solution on reverse engineering this datapack)
Also I have a small problem with the redstone. I tried replace the original mechanism with one that would open the passage way to new part of the structure.
The new mechanism, seen in the spectator mode
Which... almost worked. There is one small problem (which I can't really pinpoint how it is happening) - one cobblestone block disconnects from the sticky cobblestone... making the entrance not fully open, after pulling all the right leavers
The entrance, still blocked by 1 block of cobblestone
Right combination is(assuming stairs on the left, + means the leaver is pulled down, means it stays up): + + + +
Here's how it should look like after doing the right combination (actually combination doesn't have to be like that, the important thing is for it to actually work... well I'm pretty much sure it once did but... I can't recreate that state)
The passage fully open, revealing part of the mechanism.
I would be very grateful if anyone would find some way to fix that too. (without making mechanism bigger, as it already barely fits inside the structure - and maintaining the (most of) original shape was pretty much one of my main objective in this project)