u/dicoth0my

As the title implies, I'm struggling to find the best build for my Shark Scale. The ones I'm contemplating the most are 1-70 R, 1-70 K and 3-60 R. They're all great, but what's the one that complements my team the best?

Yes, I could play 1-70 LR, and I've actually been doing it for a long time. It's pretty good. But I don't like how little stamina it has, especially for an attacker like Shark Scale which is, in my opinion, at its best when destabilizing the opponent's bey in multiple strikes, rather than smashing it in one or two dashes. Playing Shark on FB is also not an option personally as I want to keep it on the good ol' reliable Silver Wolf. Lastly, I don't have Nr, but that seems like a really good bit. I could snatch a Brachio Whip if necessary. But idk I'd much rather not tbh.

According to the official "Where to Find Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™ Previews" page, we were supposed to get spoilers during San Diego Comic-Con, yet we didn't get any iirc. Then, today we got spoilers from @RobertRedBeard, yet we were not supposed to until the 30th. And lastly, we got the last mythic card from the set spoiled by bbno$??? Which wasn't mentioned anywhere as far as I can tell?

Was thinking of either 1-60 or 7-60 for balance tuning and wedge as the bit

Characters grow stronger over time, especially if they're protagonist of their own comic book series. It was crystal clear from the moment we knew this fight was happening that Conquest was going to be superior to Battle Beast, at least at the start of their fight. Comparing this Thokk to the one who pushed Thragg to extreme diff makes no sense narrative-wise. Also, it's pretty much established that Battle Beast in particular becomes stronger every time he fights (e.g. "my power grows to match my rage" statement, Battle Beast going from mid diffing Colossus and stalemating with Juggernaut to no diffing them both at the same time in their next encounter). The only unknown was how. And the answer is, simply, Battle Beast is not strong enough yet, and Conquest is fighting seriously from the get go. I really don't get the mass hysteria I'm reading in the recent posts and comments. This encounter in particular doesn't change a whole lot about how we scale these characters, except maybe in some minor things (Thokk seems to be a tad smarter than he was in Invincible, so I can see a battle IQ upscale incoming). The only big change is that it's now obvious that Battle Beast wasn't on par with Thragg when he was working for Machine Head and during the Viltrumite War, which is something that some people already agreed upon even before this recent issue of Battle Beast, especially after the release of Season 4 of Invincible. Viltrumite War Mark > Battle Beast on Fantania would make sense. Of course, it's not factually correct, there are other factors in play (like Conquest having negative battle IQ and not taking Invincible seriously), and Battle Beast vs Conquest has just stared, but still, it's not the incoherent powerscaling blasphemy some people are making it out to be.

The deck is supposed to be a Breacket 4. Started out as a pure merfolk tribal deck (starving from the lack of merfolk legends in ECL), quickly turned it into a spellslinger-ish deck with a splash of tribal and convoke/use your tokens to do stuff subtheme.

Here's the link to my list: https://moxfield.com/decks/q690oeMzjki4rQJcywnU-g

PROS:

-Can easily chain extra turns

-Strong both going wide with merfolk tokens and going voltron with Namor

-Very consistent, can play the best generic card draw

-While combat damage is its main wincon, it can play around Glacial Chasm with Harbinger of the Seas (tutorable with Step Through), which is very important in my playgroup

-Three Tree City is a powerhouse in this deck

-Counterspells.

CONS:

-Very reliant on the commander. Without him, the deck feels onto nothing

-I feel like I might be committing too much on the merfolk tribal subtheme. Cards like Lullmage Mentor and Kindred Discovery are amazing, but there's also cards I'm a little iffy about, like Seafloor Oracle (mainly because of the mana cost) which makes me think I could be playing something better instead. I'm a little conflicted.

-Namor can only enter on turn 3. There's no way (that I know of) to cast him earlier without using the Moxes or Lotus Petal, which I'm not willing to play. And Sol Ring, which doesn't really count

Do you have any suggestions or criticisms? Thanks a bunch

This bit seems way too good, or am I tripping? It has

- actually great stamina for an attack bit

- excellent mobility

- terrific xtreme dashes, as expected by am attack bit

- and even good LAD

So... what's the downside? Burst resistance? Or are Instagram reels just tricking me?

My friend and I are planning to attend MagicCon Amsterdam this year but we're having trouble booking our trip because we don't know when events like the Preview Panel are. Did I miss a page or a post announcing in which days said events will take place? If not, do we at least know when we can expect the organizers to publicly announce their programmed schedule?

(Comic book spoilers ahead)

Allen gets stronger every time he's close to dying. This power jump boosts him enough to go from being relative to 17 year-old Mark to being able to low/no diff viltrumites (at least in the original comics). Allen then survives Elia's bomba in issue #128. This near-fatal injury causes him to mutate again. Cool, he should be a lot stronger now, shouldn't he? We'll guess what dipshit, he never fights again after this. He should theoretically be able to at least harm Thragg the same way Emperor Nolan and Invincible do in the The End of All Things. Some people scale him to be just below, if not above, fucking Battle Beast. And it's not completely unreasonable given how we've seen his power boost work previously, but don't you think it's annoying how a supposed top 3 character just sits on his desk for the rest of the series after becoming that strong? This a fucking Monkey D. Dragon situation and I hate it. At least with Dragon you can hope he does something by the end of One Piece, but with Allen? It's over. Also, during the 500 year time-skip, he mutates again just to be no diffed by Emperor Mark?? How strong is he??

In the upcoming issues of Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, we are going to witness to Battle Beast vs Conquest, this was teased and advertised throughout the last few months. This encounter, chronologically, takes place between Season 1 and Season 3. The problem is: Thokk is top 2/3 in the verse (counting or not counting Emperor Mark), and the gap in stats between him and Conquest should be enormous, to the point that this fight should be a mismatch and would need to be heavily carried by "Battle Beast likes to savor his fights, so he holds back a lot" . We also know the fight is going to be close, that is because of how much the fight is being hyped up, and because we are all very aware of how much Kirkman doesn't give a shit about powerscaling, prioritizing spectacle instead. Still, there should some narrative cohesion between this upcoming fight and Battle Beast vs Thragg, especially considering how much the author places Thragg on a pedestal above every other viltrumite in every aspect. So, I propose 3 hypothetical scenarios on how they could go about it:

- The fight takes place in space: this is the simplest solution: Thokk is tremendously nerfed in space, as we've seen him struggle both vs Thula and vs Kregg. Making Battle Beast fight Conquest in space would result in a much closer fight between the two. The problem is, based on the promotional art and the previews for the upcoming issues, this doesn't seem to be the case: the fight is most likely going to take place (mostly) on Fantania and its castle

- Conquest locks in: Ok, what if we find out that Conquest never truly locked in? That, because of his insanity, he toyed with Invincibile until the very end? We could see a serious and focused Conquest for the first time ever, showcasing feats that, while still behind Thragg, close the cap enough to make his fight against Battle Beast satisfying both for him and the readers. The counter argument for this would be that it's kinda moronic for Conquest to just not go all out later on when Mark kills him, but at the same time... Have you seen the guy? He probably wanted to die anyway. The fun thing of insanity in media is that you can use it to justify a lot of shit, even lazily

- Battle Beast is cursed: this is, simultaneously, both the most realistic and the most out there of these scenarios. Thokk's strength and bloodlust has grown over time, to the point he considers it a curse (per Invincible Universe Battle Beast #1) and he's implied to be part of a prophecy, which is why his daughter inherited his rage and power (per Invincible #122). Thokk is most likely, if not certainly, cursed, forced to constantly seek for battle and for blood. But we don't really know the logistics of said curse. So, what if Battle Beast is just not strong enough yet? And his curse makes him stronger mid battle when needed? Or even, what if that curse adjusts Battle Beast's strength based on his opponent so that he can never lose? (Up to a limit, of course) That would explain a lot of inconsistencies throughout the series and give us, the readers, some appreciated worldbuilding and characterization on Battle Beast.

- A bit of everything mentioned above: these options are not mutually exclusive so... why not?

Hope you enjoed this little excursus of mine, and please go read Invincible Universe Battle Beast, you'll have such a good time

Nobody ever brings this up, despite how linear this is:

This ^ quote from Sinister Mark

Sinister Mark gave main Mark a hard time on this encounter

Mohawk Mark then killed Sinister Mark

Mohawk Mark was mid diffed by main Mark back during the Invincible War

These variants weren't nearly as strong during the Invincible War. Sinister Mark, at the time, wasn't even able to kill or incapacitate Oliver (we see them fight in a single panel in issue #60). Going off of feats alone, during the Invincible War, No Goggles Mark was most likely the strongest

Series version for each character

Homelander's fully healed after each encounter

R1: Fightmaster and Dropkick (no access to time travel druing the fight)

R2: a single Reaniman

R3: Titan

R4: Bulletproof