100 Days of Wordle

Still got a 100% win rate 💪

Here are my stats. I have screenshots of my games as well, if you're curious about a specific day, feel free to ask.

General Strats:

Ryan introduced me this concept of three words that work in conjunction together. He (as far as I'm aware) uses SNORT, ADIEU, LYMPH.

I started uses that for a while, but then made a small adjustment which I like. I now frequently use STERN, AUDIO, LYMPH.

I like the slightly adjusted version because I like using the E in the first word and how the D is in the middle.

Depending on which letters come up, I don't necessarily use all three words every time, but I do so frequently.

I play rather safe. If I only have two guesses left, I use one of my guesses using many of the random letters that I think could be in the word in order to ensure that my 6th guess will be correct.

Wordle has been a good time indeed.

My Crown II (a 416-person SSBU Tournament) Experience

Over the course of June 17th through the 20th I got to go to my first ever Regional for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Crown II.

It was a blast :)

I'm going to break down the separate parts and write briefly about it and what went down. Honestly, this is more for my journal-keeping, but I hope some of you enjoy reading some of my experiences regardless.

Putting Crew Battles first since it was my favorite event, even though it was the last thing to take place.

Crew Battles:

Crew Battles was my favorite part of the whole weekend.

Crew Battles, simply put, is where you have two regions fight off against each other. 

In this case, there were 5 people on each team. You do 1 person vs. 1 person and play a game like normal. But the thing is, stocks carry over. So if I eliminated my opponent, but in the process lost two stocks, during the next game I would start off with 1 stock versus my opponent's three. You go until one crew is out of stocks. So with 5 people on each crew, that meant 15 stocks altogether.

We fought against Reno, which was pretty funny considering that Ben and I would both be in that Region when living in Fallon.

Reno has a top 50 US player, so we knew it was going to be really difficult to win.

The Tournament Organizers encouraged friendly smack-talking, so we were screaming the entire time. Any time the opponent got hit we were yelling at how we were going to destroy them. We were cheering so loud whenever our team got a stock. It was an absolute blast and many of us woke up the next morning with not quite a full voice.

We decided to send in me first since Pokémon Trainer has a pretty good match-up spread and I only play one character (all the other people on our team play multiple characters, which means we could counter pick our opponents accordingly).

They send out a Link player first. Not my favorite match up. But I was in the zone. No nervousness, just focus. I beat him soundly, only losing one stock, which means I have two stocks left over to fight my next opponent.

They send out a Cloud player next. Earlier that day, I was playing friendlies against a Cloud player and was feeling confident against Cloud. Indeed, I played extremely well and only lost one stock and took out his three.

This is where they got serious, and they sent out MFA, the top 50 player in the US. I kept it close, but he took my last stock before I was able to take one.

But overall I took 6 stocks. My whole team was cheering for me. I played some of the best I've ever played, I think. And suddenly, there was a chance that we could actually win the crew battle.

And then MFA proceeded to single handedly take 8 more stocks before he lost his three. He took 9 out of our total of 15 stocks.

It was incredibly difficult to recover from that, but we kept it close. It was so much fun the whole way through. There were a couple pivotal parts that if one of our players took one more stock than they did, we think we could have clutched it out.

But in the end, they were left with 2 stocks when they eliminated our last stock.

Honestly super proud at how Rexburg did. So much fun.

Pre-Local King's Court:

There was a tournament before the regional tournament. This tournament having about 188 people. It was a good place to get out tournament jitters. I definitely know I could have done better. I went 1-2. In fact, all of Rexburg's representation did pretty poorly with Jake, our best representation from Rexburg, also going 1-2.

Not a great start performance-wise for the weekend, but it was a lot of fun and got us warmed up.

King's Court Redemption:

Luckily, there were several redemption brackets. All the people who wanted to that went 1-2 in the main bracket got put in a redemption bracket together. (Same thing happened with those that went 0-2 and 2-2).

I started off by fighting a Link player, I believe. Link is not my favorite match-up, but I kept him overwhelmed, which helps a lot. Solid 2 stock game 1. 

Game 2, he switch over to Rosalina & Luma, which I've never really fought against before. It was an uncomfortable match throughout -- a much more difficult game than game 1 -- but I managed to clutch it out before they could force a game 3.

Round 2, I had the luck of fighting Jake. He beat me. As always. We've fought 12 times I think this semester? I've lost every single time.

Drop into loser's and I fight a Shulk. Super fun match. I clutch out game 1, he clutches out game 2. Game 3 was really intense. I got a solid jab-lock to close it out. Ben (who was watching the set) popped off for me.

Next Round I fight Nova, who is a player from our Region. Before this, I've fought him 3 times, and I beat him two of those times. I was confident going in, but I always know that Nova has the potential to beat me. I played solidly and got a clean 2-0.

I then fought a Steve player. And, honestly, I lowkey don't know how he made it that far into bracket. Maybe it's just because I have practice against Steve, but I absolutely destroyed him both games. 3 stock and a 2 stock.

I then fought a Pac-Man player who almost beat Jake in winner's side. Winner of this match fought Jake next. And Jake really really really didn't want to play this Pac-Man again because of their play style. Indeed, they played incredibly campy. 

The Pac-Man won game 1 and won game 2. The Pac-Man was up game 3. The thought of Jake really not wanting to play this guy again got me focused up though. I barely clutched it out with some Charizard with rage shenanigans.

Jake proceeded to beat me like normal, haha.

I took 3rd out of 19 and was really happy with it :)

Doubles:

Honestly not much to report here, haha. Ben and I entered as a doubles team and had a blast together, but went 0-2.

Crown II:

Biggest tournament I've entered by far with 416 people. Pretty exciting.

My Round 1 opponent didn't show up. Kind of sad.

Round 2 I fight Splash Daddy, who was seeded 27th (or something close to that). He has a solid 2-0 victory on me, which is expected. But I took him to last stock both games, which I was happy about.

In Loser's I fought someone who I beat up pretty bad. Don't even remember the character they played :/

Next guy I also don't remember, haha. It was closer than the previous match, but I also won that 2-0.

I then fought a Bayonetta who plays a lot lot more patient than the Bayonetta that's in our region. It was definitely do-able, but I lost 2-0.

And that was my tournament run. Half of which I don't remember who I fought against, haha. I went 2-2 (or 3-2, if you count the DQ). I took 129th out of the 416 (of course, tieing for that spot with many many others). I'm happy with how I did. My goal was 2-2 and I hit it.

Crown II Redemption:

Just like the tournament the day before, they ran redemption brackets. Me alongside 38 other people who went 2-2 got put into a tournament bracket against each other.

I should have written about this sooner because I forget a lot of the characters I fought against in this bracket.

Beat my first two opponents.

Next person played Peach, which simply feels uncomfortable to fight against. Game 1 was relatively close the whole time, but you could tell my opponent had the upper hand. Last stock I was at 160% and got a cheesy back air with Charizard that killed my opponent at 60% or something stupid like that. Barely closed out game 1. Which was important because he solidly two stocked me in game 2. 

Game 3 I made a lot of adaptions. Kept it close the whole time. Really good game. I closed it out in the end. Really happy with this win.

Next guy was a lot easier, and beat him. Then I lost to a Kazuya. Definitely doable, but I was okay with the loss.

I was rushing to my next event, so I focus as much as I would have liked on my next match. Lost to a Robin. Not sure how well I would've done if I wasn't feeling rushed, but regardless I was okay with the loss.

I got 5th out of 39, which I was super happy about :) Definitely played well and it was good to feel like I could compete with those around my skill level.

Other Experiences (meeting top players/watching Crown live):

So I have this thing where it's really difficult for me to watch sports after the fact. I have to watch it live, or else I lose a lot of interest.

With Smash Brothers, similar thing applies where watching tournaments live on twitch is a lot better than watching it after the fact. With the exception of watching my favorite players/watching my favorite characters, it's a lot harder for me to watch Smash Brothers after the fact.

Well, I didn't anticipate how even more exciting it would be to be in person watching the sets. It's so fun to be part of the crowd cheering for the players. To be part of that energy. So cool.

Got to take a picture with BassMage (my favorite pro player that was in attendance) which was pretty hype :)

Thoughts on Mistborn after a 4th Readthrough

Can I express how much I love Mistborn?

This book consistently blows me away even after all this time. I love it dearly. What a wonderful wonderful book.

The series as a whole is, as is probably common knowledge, definitely my favorite series I've ever read. And the first book kicks it off with a beautiful start.

Here are some of my main takeaways from my fourth readthrough:

SPOILERS ahead for Mistborn (but only for the first book. I won't reference anything from the next two). Please please do not read on if you haven't read Mistborn. It's too good to spoil for yourself. Just go out and read it; it'll be worth it.

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1. I think the biggest thing that was different for me this time reading through the book was the fact that I felt differently about Vin drawing upon the Mists to receive power.

In the past I always felt like the moment was too deus ex machina, and maybe it still is. But for some reason reading through the book this time, the amount of references to how the mists give mistborn power and such stood out to me more. So when the event took place, it didn't surprise me as much, I suppose you could say. It seemed more realistic/believable. 

Which is a big plus. I've always been bugged by how much it felt like a simple deus ex machina, so it was refreshing to not feel that way so much this readthrough.

2. I didn't realize until this readthrough just how much foreshadowing there is in regards to Kelsier setting himself up as a religious figure and having to get himself killed in order to accomplish that. It was amazing to see.

3. Part 1 of the book wasn't my favorite for it being my fourth read through.

Part 1 does a lot of world building, magic system explaining, and introducing of characters. For someone who knows the world quite a bit, the magic system practically inside and out, the characters, and the future of all of those said things, it was a little bit slow, haha.

Of course, I recognize how good it is for a first time reader. The intrigue regarding the magic system, and the thought-out explanation of it. The amazing character introductions where you instantly feel like you know the characters well even though you've barely spent any time with them. It's good stuff.

I also particularly love the character development of seeing who Vin is before meeting the crew and after.

I guess why it's not as good in the fourth readthrough is that it is introducing all of the things that a re-reader needs the least refresher on. A lot of the other events that take place, there are various details that may have been forgotten and such -- and the plot itself is always riveting to read. But the exposition/basics of allomancy/basic character traits are harder to forget, I think.

4. For me at least, I love how natural and sweet Vin and Elend's romance in this book was. It just felt right. Not forced in any way. They're pretty adorable.

5. I am surprised at how well this stands as a stand-alone novel, while simultaneously being a beautiful introduction to a fascinating world with so many secrets yet to explore and learn about. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel if one really wanted to; I think this is my first time really seeing that. 

Of course, that reader is missing out on sooooooooooo much and it would make me terribly sad if they chose to not read the sequels. But I can now comprehend how that choice is made.

But, seriously. Everyone should read the sequels.

6. I love this book. Even though I knew that, I kind of forgot to what extent I love this book. I love it so very much. And I am so excited to get to reread the next two here shortly :)

Can't Work On It Forever (TØP Fav Songs List)

Welp, this has been brewing for the past 6 months. And, frankly, it could brew for another 6 months. A list of this size is constantly shifting around, especially when compared to my other favorite lists. I listen to Twenty One Pilots almost on a daily basis. 

I (sadly) don't play board games every day, let alone several. I don't finish a book a day, let along several. But I do listen to many-a-Twenty One Pilots songs a day. And so my opinions are constantly being revised about the exact order of where they place.

But, I decided, I needed to just post the list and then make revisions in the future. But the first step is just posting it. So here it is.

Couple notable things:
-Lovely has the Regional at Best cover art, but I'm actually referring to the Vessel version of the song.

-The songs in the D tier are the only songs I would say that I dislike. And even then, I do like to occasionally listen to them.

-I split S tier into three different tiers because I just love so many of their songs that much, haha.

Rhythm of War (and what's next on the reading chopping block)

Welp, I finally finished Rhythm of War.

And boy o boy did I love it.

2nd favorite in the series, I think? I think I preferred Words of Radiance, but it's been so so long now since I've read that that I could be embezzling just how good it was in my mind. I can say pretty confidently that I preferred Rhythm of War over The Way of Kings and Oathbringer, though.

Current order:

1. Words of Radiance

2. Rhythm of War

3. The Way of Kings

4. Oathbringer

I am itching for more Stormlight Archive right now, but it'll be a little while yet until book 5.

So in the meantime, I have a few other things I intend to read.

I do need to prepare for Wax and Wayne Book 4, which I am so pumped for. Already preordered it. Only 6 more months! 

I'm planning on rereading the Mistborn trilogy and then the Wax and Wayne books to prepare, but I'm not sure when. I might read some of Brandon Sanderson's short stories first (such as Dreamer and Snapshot) that I haven't read yet in order to spice in some quicker reads amongst the heavier reads. Sometimes need a break between reading Stormlight and the entirety of Mistborn stuff. But maybe I will just dive straight into Mistborn. Currently undecided. Will probably end up making a decision tomorrow.

Also currently reading The Zookeeper's Secret for my Career and Self Discovery class, which has been a really good read so far. Definitely has some solid insights and has been proving useful.