- Location
- United Kingdom
I know there was likely a fair amount of expectation that Suzhen would get to White, but it's a completely different ballgame when Shenhua outright states her belief that Suzhen can make it. When, not if.
Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Location
- Leeds
So if I'm reading the brackets right, Sun Liling is the favourite to win, followed by Cai Renxiang or Bai Meizhen (I forget if 2nd seed is in the final bracket or the first of the second half). Ji Rong is the fourth teir pick leaving us at the top of the 'Second rate' contestants.
I've done a little work in challonge trying to figure out how the seeding has worked and this is my best guess
Its interesting in that its inverted the pairs for alternate second rounds, however as I don't think Gu Xialan is ranked 3 places above our Cai overlord I'm going to attribute that to the specific way each is drawn, rather than me being wrong.
Further more here are the seeds of each character:
- Sun Liling
- Bai Meizhen
- Cai Renxiang
- Ji Rong
- Ling Qi
- Gu Xiulan
- Kang Zihao
- Han Jian
- Shen Hu
- Wen Ai
- Dian Li
- Chu Song
- Han Fang
- Shu Hai
- Wei Jing
- Hei Boquin
E: ****ing BBCode always spoiling my formating.
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- Location
- N/A
[/] Plan I Hope You Named Your Bear Smokey
Have Zengui hunker down and manipulate the terrain to create an advantageous zone full of resinous plants, and draw Chu Song in with music. Use the mist to obscure your setup with the intent of waylaying her inside a raging bonfire.
Have Zengui hunker down and manipulate the terrain to create an advantageous zone full of resinous plants, and draw Chu Song in with music. Use the mist to obscure your setup with the intent of waylaying her inside a raging bonfire.
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So, Cai and Bai alliance.
Like mentioned, there's not gonna be a lot of political will to keep pressure on the Bai after this.
It was already draining away, given there's only so long you can keep kicking them when they're down before the Bai decide you're not a rival taking advantage but an enemy and start pulling out the deterrence snek.
Like the best alliances, this benefits both sides. Shenhua is a powerful White level cultivator. Her support is going to do a lot to shield the Bai until they get a White back. It's nothing the Bai can't do on their own, but that they don't have to is still a good thing.
As for Cai, they're a little baby Ducal House. They didn't gradually build up to where they are, but got catapulted by Shenhua being fucking crazy bullshit. Their foundation as a Ducal house isn't stable and if Shenhua disappeared, their power and prestige would drop like a rock. The Bai on the other hand are what we in the business like to describe as "Fucking Old." Their support will do a lot to help stabilize the Cai's foundations.
One of the most important things to note though, is what Shenhua said at the end. "I hope that we might one day have another round, when you take your next step."
She wants Suzhen to make it to White and she said "When" not, "If."
Last time the Bai had a potential White, they got assassinated. Now though, Shenhua is on the Bai's side and may as well be outright shielding Suzhen. Anyone who wants Suzhen dead is not going to have to consider the Bai's response, they'll have to consider Shenhua's and a lot of people are gonna think long and hard about that before moving.
No wonder Papa Sun's pissed.
Like mentioned, there's not gonna be a lot of political will to keep pressure on the Bai after this.
It was already draining away, given there's only so long you can keep kicking them when they're down before the Bai decide you're not a rival taking advantage but an enemy and start pulling out the deterrence snek.
Like the best alliances, this benefits both sides. Shenhua is a powerful White level cultivator. Her support is going to do a lot to shield the Bai until they get a White back. It's nothing the Bai can't do on their own, but that they don't have to is still a good thing.
As for Cai, they're a little baby Ducal House. They didn't gradually build up to where they are, but got catapulted by Shenhua being fucking crazy bullshit. Their foundation as a Ducal house isn't stable and if Shenhua disappeared, their power and prestige would drop like a rock. The Bai on the other hand are what we in the business like to describe as "Fucking Old." Their support will do a lot to help stabilize the Cai's foundations.
One of the most important things to note though, is what Shenhua said at the end. "I hope that we might one day have another round, when you take your next step."
She wants Suzhen to make it to White and she said "When" not, "If."
Last time the Bai had a potential White, they got assassinated. Now though, Shenhua is on the Bai's side and may as well be outright shielding Suzhen. Anyone who wants Suzhen dead is not going to have to consider the Bai's response, they'll have to consider Shenhua's and a lot of people are gonna think long and hard about that before moving.
No wonder Papa Sun's pissed.
Literally exactly as i expected. The only surprise is Han Jian being fed to Shen Hu, but i suspect that is the Guos hand in play. They really don't like their subordinate clan, and to be fair, all Han candidates are second realm and thus of lesser interest for the sect. Ji Rong probably got some help from the Sun as well in his easy matchup.
Ling Qis duty is to keep the resentful scion of the Chu clan from bothering the Cai. Show her the distance between heaven and earth, yadda yadda. The monsters get chum fights, same goes for Kong Zang because heavens forbid the Empress finds out the son of her boytoy failed to make Inner Sect, and Gu Xiulan gets a challenge.
Ling Qis duty is to keep the resentful scion of the Chu clan from bothering the Cai. Show her the distance between heaven and earth, yadda yadda. The monsters get chum fights, same goes for Kong Zang because heavens forbid the Empress finds out the son of her boytoy failed to make Inner Sect, and Gu Xiulan gets a challenge.
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Wind/mountain/thunder. So yeah a fast bruiser.
- Location
- United States of America
Alright, tactics time! These are just some rough ideas that I have.
[] Eternal Mists: Focus on getting FVM up to it's height as soon as possible. Zhengui will be playing shield here and making sure that Chu Song's companion, and hopefully Chu Song herself, aren't able to stop the mists from progressing to Traveler's end. At that point, focus on shoring up Zhengui's defense and taking out Chu Song's companion, before double teaming Chu Song.
[] Embers Fade: Unleash the full fury of winter upon Chu Song by committing to a "one with Shadows" alpha strike using "Hoarfrost Caress." After such a strike, dematerialize Zhengui and have him begin with "Ashfall" in order to provide the cover you need to use your lowlight skills more cheaply. At that point start FVM and try to split Chu Song and her spirit beast apart with you and Zhengui between them.
[] Spectral Rave: It's time to bring a little chaos upon the floor! Unleash the Illustrious Phantasmal Festival first, and try to trap Chu Song in its never-ending dance. Should that fail, then begin the "Forgotten Vale Melody" before attempting at a later point. Zhengui will be engaging Chu Song's companion and using Ashfall to lower perception even more. However, should it succeed, then focus on bringing down Chu Song's spirit beast as quickly as possible with Frozen soul Serenade before engaging Chu Song with the Forgotten Vale Melody.
1st one is most similar to what our last match was like.
2nd one is the alpha strike that few know we can employ
3rd one is the riskiest one, but the one that has the highest chance of removing Chu Song off the field by turn 2 for an indefinite period of time.
[] Eternal Mists: Focus on getting FVM up to it's height as soon as possible. Zhengui will be playing shield here and making sure that Chu Song's companion, and hopefully Chu Song herself, aren't able to stop the mists from progressing to Traveler's end. At that point, focus on shoring up Zhengui's defense and taking out Chu Song's companion, before double teaming Chu Song.
[] Embers Fade: Unleash the full fury of winter upon Chu Song by committing to a "one with Shadows" alpha strike using "Hoarfrost Caress." After such a strike, dematerialize Zhengui and have him begin with "Ashfall" in order to provide the cover you need to use your lowlight skills more cheaply. At that point start FVM and try to split Chu Song and her spirit beast apart with you and Zhengui between them.
[] Spectral Rave: It's time to bring a little chaos upon the floor! Unleash the Illustrious Phantasmal Festival first, and try to trap Chu Song in its never-ending dance. Should that fail, then begin the "Forgotten Vale Melody" before attempting at a later point. Zhengui will be engaging Chu Song's companion and using Ashfall to lower perception even more. However, should it succeed, then focus on bringing down Chu Song's spirit beast as quickly as possible with Frozen soul Serenade before engaging Chu Song with the Forgotten Vale Melody.
1st one is most similar to what our last match was like.
2nd one is the alpha strike that few know we can employ
3rd one is the riskiest one, but the one that has the highest chance of removing Chu Song off the field by turn 2 for an indefinite period of time.
I'm not convinced at all that it's honourable to lose to a commoner (which I think Shen Hu is?), particularly one that wasn't talented enough to pass in his first year and so was largely denied Cultivation resources in his second. It just makes Han Jian look bad by emphasising his lack of talent. If he lost to one of the ducal heirs, at least the Han would have the plausible deniability that his opponent had superior resources.
I'd say that the match-up is just about the most embarrassing possible for Han Jian out of all the choices. At least Ji Rong was supported by the Sun and Ling Qi by the Cai, and the others don't seem to be pure commoners. Shen Hu appears to have had the least external support of all the competitors, which means that if he wins it's purely about the triumph of talent over resources.
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- Location
- Internet, The
father's; family's
remove "they"; aspire to
Elders
- Location
- Fabulously Rainbow Ireland
Except of course for the people like us who "obviously" knew better and refrained from cultivating extra Arts that we could swap in and out.
- Location
- Leeds
Actually if we just assume these use standard seeding nothing really looks out of place. All high level people have been fed easy matchups, this is so that we can be sure that the no.1 doesn't fight 2 and 3 consecutively and then lose to a lesser fighter because they where tired out.
Theunderbolt
"Prepare for trouble..."
- Location
- USoA
I do wonder if Zhengui remembers back then when this girl ambushed LQ... he was so small and afraid and confused back then.
Zhengui gets to show off for Cui.
Yeah this was a punch to the dick for the Sun. But it puts a bigger target on Shenhua.
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I love Ling Qi's mentality. She gets to see the absolute peek of Cultivation, accepts it as the way of the world and resolves herself ones again to keep on climbing to the peek. It is no wonder that she can hardly understand people that can not bring themselves to try to improve any more or are at peace with where they are.
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
I'll note that while Bai Meilin was talented, she was no heir. She was 300 and High Indigo, while Suzhen is pushing 400 and is expected to get to white within 50 years. She was certainly good at /something/, but Suzhen was and is secure as Heir to the Bai.
We don't know that Shen Hu is a commoner, but we know he is at appraisal with an appraisal spirit beast.
This is an impossible match up for Han Jian where he is the underdog, and people love underdogs.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Gu Xiulan vs Wen Ai!! Hype for my girl Xiulan, I have high hopes for seeing her in Inner!
Concerning the pairings, the idea that they would avoid stomps was thoroughly discredited. So, I think knocking out Shen Hu would have seen Han Jian with a fairly difficult match and someone like Ji Rong, Chu Song, or Xiulan getting the person we brought through, seeing us fight someone like Wen Ai or Han Fang(as they didn't seem to match anyone against the person they came through the first round with). E: Oh, Han Fang and Ji Rong were in the same bracket, but were the only ones I think? All the more reason for us to face Han Fang if we knocked out Shen Hu.
I feel like we might see Chu Song get an invite to the Inner Sect after the tournament, assuming she loses here, possibly contingent on us looking suitably impressive in our match against her then against Ji Rong. Han Jian is the only other possibility I see for that, but I'm going to assume that his desire to stay in Outer another year will end up meaning no invitation is sent so he's not put in an awkward position, given the capabilities of the Elders.
Concerning the pairings, the idea that they would avoid stomps was thoroughly discredited. So, I think knocking out Shen Hu would have seen Han Jian with a fairly difficult match and someone like Ji Rong, Chu Song, or Xiulan getting the person we brought through, seeing us fight someone like Wen Ai or Han Fang
I feel like we might see Chu Song get an invite to the Inner Sect after the tournament, assuming she loses here, possibly contingent on us looking suitably impressive in our match against her then against Ji Rong. Han Jian is the only other possibility I see for that, but I'm going to assume that his desire to stay in Outer another year will end up meaning no invitation is sent so he's not put in an awkward position, given the capabilities of the Elders.
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In xianxia, even yrsillar's version, people love underdogs? I thought it was quite the opposite. Look at the implicit rules of the pre-CRX Outer Sect. The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must seems to be the rule. This is just publicly emphasising that Han Jian is one of the weak.
Beyond that, does it really matter how strong Shen Hu is? What this match makes obvious is how weak Han Jian is in comparison to a social inferior (and even if he's not a commoner, he's almost certainly not from the high nobility)
- Location
- Third planet from the star named Sol
- Pronouns
- He/They
Talent is observable, it's why Ling Qi got picked up in the first place. And while the sect wont know the specifics of who is being sent to them, gathering intel and making educated guesses wont be that hard.
First generation cultivators are going to have respectable potential at the least, but they're going to have to earn every scrap of power they get. They're the Dark Horses. People from commoner cultivation families and low nobility can be counted on to start in low to mid red, and likely have not the best talent. Their goals are to get minor increases to their family's positions, and only one or two are likely to get far enough to contest for Inner. Middle to upper nobility can be counted on to straddle the red/yellow divide, with a good amount of resources and variable talent. These guys are typically the cream of the crop, few in number but with strength to get in this year or next year if they play their cards right. In the end, the people of that group who don't make it are usually the ones at fault, not the sect.
What's special about our year is they got two ducal heirs, a prominent scion of a founding family, and two talented commoners. A lot of the people from our year not getting in can be reliably assumed to make it to full green by the end of next year, and be in prime positions to advance.
The ones from last year who have a chance to get in are Shen Hu, Chu Song, and Wen Ai. Next year the hold-overs will be at least Gan Guangli, Lu Feng, and Huang Da. That's not accounting for people who would normally be a shoe-in this year needing to come back next time.
Minor thing that's not directly relevant right now, but man I expected the Meng to get displaced hard in the future.
For reference:
The Weilu conservatives were already on the Cai shortlist for replacement, obviously, but Bai resurgence, Sun worries and Cai directly siding with the Bai isn't remotely good news for them.
Just as well, I suppose, given that we'll need room for the Ling County at some point and actual borders with the Bai would be pretty cool.
Not exactly feeling marshes, but surely Zhengui can do something about that by the time we're remotely powerful enough to displace a Count Clan.
For reference:
The Weilu conservatives were already on the Cai shortlist for replacement, obviously, but Bai resurgence, Sun worries and Cai directly siding with the Bai isn't remotely good news for them.
Just as well, I suppose, given that we'll need room for the Ling County at some point and actual borders with the Bai would be pretty cool.
Not exactly feeling marshes, but surely Zhengui can do something about that by the time we're remotely powerful enough to displace a Count Clan.
- Location
- United States of America
A lot of information about Chu Song's fighting style in Growing Pains 2. This first bit indicates that she is probably going to have the edge on us initiative wise. She acted first, and I have a feeling that we might not have enough initiative to overcome hers.
An offensive Domain weapon, unless Chu Song got a new one, and AoE attacks. Using the AE worms would probably not be ideal given the apparent variety and potency of these AoE attacks.
Later on, it indicated that Chu Song might have some decent armor, as it took Meizhen a little bit to get through it to end the fight.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
[X]Have Zhengui hide. We will buff up and try to do some hit and run to drain some Qi. If they follow us lead them to Zhengui.
- Location
- United Kingdom
Shen Hu's failure last year had nothing to do with Talent. It was a combination of his cultivation style being supremely closed door, and his 'friend' not showing up to wake him up for the tournament.
Cai-Bai alliance presumably means that CRX will be getting a Bai husbando... After all, when two houses ally, it's traditional to seal the agreement by having their children fuck.
I wouldn't be surprised if they try to put a snek in our life too.
I wouldn't be surprised if they try to put a snek in our life too.
- Location
- Earth
I'm not sure if this opinion is popular, but the Sun can go fuck themselves and fade into obscurity.
This isn't based off history, but the fact that the Sun head has apparently not only allowed but encouraged his children to go native, in some of the worst ways both powers and mentality wise (warmongering and ruin).
For the fight, all I have to say is that some thought should be put into making a strategy that's as effective as any but leaves at least one trump card securely hidden. Qi doesn't need the kitchen sink to handle Chu.
This isn't based off history, but the fact that the Sun head has apparently not only allowed but encouraged his children to go native, in some of the worst ways both powers and mentality wise (warmongering and ruin).
For the fight, all I have to say is that some thought should be put into making a strategy that's as effective as any but leaves at least one trump card securely hidden. Qi doesn't need the kitchen sink to handle Chu.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
If it happens it will be years in future. Cultivators have every reason to take things slow.