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1) Echoes; 2) Think I'm Gonna Feel Better; 3) Tried So Hard; 4) Is Yours Is Mine; 5) Keep On Pushin'; 6) I Found You; 7) So You Say You Lost Your Baby; 8) Elevator Operator; 9) The Same One; 10) Couldn't Believe Her; 11) Needing Someone; 12*) Tried So Hard (alternate version); 13*) Elevator Operator (alternate version); 14*) Only Columbe; 15*) The French Girl; 16*) So You Say You Lost Your Baby (acoustic demo); 17*) Is Yours Is Mine (acoustic demo).
Gene Clark did not really have enough time with The Byrds to establish himself as a significant frontman in the people's eye — too much of it was simply spent standing out there, shaking an unimpressive tambourine and contributing one of several group harmonies; and out of the band's early A-sides, the only Clark-penned song, ʽSet You Free This Time', scored the lowest on the charts, so, ultimately, only the most astute of the band's fans could have correctly sensed his crucial importance to the band's early period. But he was indeed the first Byrd to be marked with a strong sense of songwriting individuality — preceding David Crosby by at least a couple of years, not to mention a couple extra pounds of intelligence (sorry, Dave!) — and so it was probably inevitable that he would also be the first Byrd to leave the band and start a solo career. (Stage fright and fear of flying are also given as reasons for his quitting, but I guess all of this is really related in the end).
Clark's solo career has always been a hipster's delight: here is a guy who possessed all the know-hows of his original band, yet never achieved (or even strived for) serious commercial success, and cultivated a far more reclusive, solitary image than his bandmates. He did, in fact, spend a large part of 1966 in seclusion, before eventually realising that he had no choice other than to get back into the musical business, and signing up with Columbia for a solo deal — thus becoming one of the first former members of a major rock band to start his own solo career (I think that, technically, only Alan Price of The Animals precedes him in this), and unquestionably the first former member of a major rock band to proudly release his solo debut at the same time (February '67, in this case) as his former band. (A typical opinion is that sales of the record suffered precisely because of its simultaneous release with Younger Than Yesterday, but I do not think it could make that much of a difference — after all, if you enter a music store and have to choose between Gene Clark and The Byrds, how is this different from entering the same store on a different day and having to choose between Gene Clark and, say, Jimi Hendrix, or The Beatles?).
Anyway, truth of the matter is that Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers is a very lovely (and tiny — less than half an hour long!) record, but it does not exactly show you a Gene Clark that would be significantly improved over, or even just different from, the Gene Clark of ʽI'll Feel A Whole Lot Better' or of ʽSet You Free This Time'. Aided here by some of his Byrds pals (Chirs Hillman plays bass, and Michael Clarke shares drum duties with session players such as Jim Gordon), a big chunk of the Wrecking Crew, and those Gosdin brothers (a country and gospel singing duo with whom the Byrds had already been friends since the early Sixties), Gene delivers a set of folk-pop and country-pop numbers that, some say, pioneer the country-rock twist of the late Sixties, but, as far as I'm concerned, are really a logical and organic continuation of the schtick that Gene had been doing with the Byrds from the very inception. After all, these differences are subtle — we all know, for instance, that Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is considered to be almost a «revolutionary» album in the genre, but play it back to back with Mr. Tambourine Man to somebody not well-versed in the differences between country-western and, say, Appalachian folk, and he will never sense much of a gap here.
The charm of the album, however, lies not in its being revolutionary, and not even in its songwriting: from a melodic standpoint, Gene Clark is not much of a genius, and a lot of these tunes rely on stock phrasing from folk, country, and blues-rock — to the extent that two of the songs (ʽIs Yours Is Mine' and ʽElevator Operator') have the exact same introductions, albeit played in a folksy, jangly manner on the former and in a rock-out manner on the latter. The charm lies in Gene Clark's personal charisma, and his ability to perfectly integrate his handsome and intelligent vocals into equally handsome and intelligent musical arrangements.
Thus, the opening number, ʽEchoes', is not so much of a song as it is a long poem, somewhere midway between Dylan and Van Morrison, set to a baroque-influenced arrangement of woodwinds and strings floating above its folk-rock underbelly. Put out by Columbia as a single, it probably had no hopes due to a concise lack of anything resembling a hook — perhaps they thought the flutes and strings would give it a ʽWalk Away Renée' look, forgetting that the Left Banke actually had a singalong chorus as well — but it did well enough in confirming Gene's reputation as a visionary musical poet, revealing a stream-of-consciousness approach that would have probably been judged as way too extreme for the Byrds (although Crosby was already beginning to follow the same path at the time). For the record, Leon Russell himself is responsible for the string arrangements here, and he did a great job ensuring that they sound lush and expansive without being too sappy or corny.
Later on, verses and choruses begin to appear, but compared to Gene's Byrds material, they all seem low-key and suffering from a lack of dynamics — nothing like, for instance, the group harmony punch that cuts across the verse of ʽI'll Feel A Whole Lot Better' and provides a hefty conclusion to the soft sarcasm of the first three lines. Compare this album's ʽThink I'm Gonna Feel Better', dealing with pretty much the same feeling but having nothing like that punch (it does have a key change from verse to bridge, but it doesn't do the song much good) — a far inferior folk-pop ditty here, though the vocal sentiment is still adorable.
Repeated listens bring out patches of cool musical ideas here and there; for instance, the «wagging», spiralling lead guitar lines on ʽIs Yours Is Mine', rolling across the sharp main bluesy riff, surprisingly predict the guitar gymnastics of Television on ʽMarquee Moon' (and whoever said Television weren't influenced by classic country-rock?), and the dirge-like procession of ʽThe Same One', lulling you with its monotonous jangle, is interrupted now and then by an almost dangerous-sounding downward bass/guitar drift — a bit of proto-Sabbath doom atmosphere making a surprising guest appearance on what began as a meditative mournful performance. But you do have to hunt for them, and unless you are already sold on Gene's voice and style, you will probably not be inclined to delve into such intricacies — especially since for every one non-standard musical move, you will have two or three generic country or blues-rock riffs.
The hardest rocking number is ʽElevator Operator', whose title currently has the disadvantage of sounding similar to Aerosmith's ʽLove In An Elevator' — but Gene uses his elevator for metaphors of turbulent relationships rather than sexual fantasies, and lands a tune that is also, elevator-style, caught somewhere between the Beatles' and the Stones' respective floors (the basic melody is close to ʽTaxman', the harmonies show traces of Beatlesque '65-'66 psychedelia, but the guitar tones and solos are far closer to the Richard/Jones line of work). It is decent enough, but feels a bit lonesome surrounded by all these baroque ballads and fast country-poppers. The theme is pretty much the same, though: stay away from mean bitches. And by «mean bitches», I assume he is really referring — meta-metaphorically — to some of his former bandmates rather than his former (or current) love interests. I mean, "s/he was an elevator operator, s/he had her ups and downs" could just as well refer to Roger McGuinn, no?
In the end, the record is certainly a must for all Byrds / classic country-rock-with-a-slightly-baroque-and/or-psychedelic-twist fans, but I could not define it as some sort of «lost classic»: to do so requires falling in love with Gene Clark, the loner, the visionary, the poet, the troubadour, on the same level that people fall in love with their Nick Drakes or their Syd Barretts, and the man is just a tad too smooth for that. Which certainly does not prevent the album from getting its thumbs up, because how could a young, romantic, solo-going Gene Clark not be altogether lovely all the way back in 1967? Even if that special something that he took away with him from The Byrds needed The Byrds — and certainly not The Gosdin Brothers, whose contributions to this album, in my opinion, certainly do not deserve any special mention and only reflect a degree of friendliness on Gene's part — to set it truly aflame, it is very comforting to see it still giving off some treasurable warmth for some time afterwards.
On a technical note, the expanded CD reissue of the album, despite bringing its running time up to a respectable 42 minutes, is hardly essential — with a few alternate takes, acoustic demos, and only two really new extra songs (one of them a pretty, piano-based rearrangement of Ian & Sylvia's ʽThe French Girl') that do not provide any special insights. For big fans, however, this will be an extra 15 minutes of pleasant prettiness — and on the acoustic demos, you get to really feel how Clark's vocals merge with the Gosdin Brothers into one (although why should they?).


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Лайв Тайпинг
- Мобильные приложения
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Amazon failed in a big way on Easter weekend. As the largest bookstore in the world, if a book does not appear in its lists or its search results, the book practically disappears. The event now known as #AmazonFail involves a great cast of charactersbooks, metadata, sex, search results, traditionally disenfranchised groups, a possible hacker, the Kindle, the absence of institutional response, and the emergence of Twitter for sharing information very quickly on a massive scale. The ways Amazon failed are many. It did not have a clear policy on adult content, although there is evidence that it deals with those materials in special ways. It placed too great a reliance on metadata and automation. The database and publications architecture needs checks and sign-offs. Its communications to its customers, authors, and the media were deeply insufficient.

subset: commoncrawl


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Boyle attended the University of Kansas where he played basketball under coaches Larry Brown and Ted Owens. During his time in Lawrence, he served as captain his senior year and played on two teams that reached the NCAA Tournament. Prior to Kansas, Boyle attended high school at Greeley Central, where as a senior he was named Colorado Player of the Year and led his team to a championship as a senior. The school retired Boyle's jersey number after the season.
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Known also as 'Paragons', these malevolent black-robed figures sow the seeds of conflict across the lands of Eorzea.
Just as their faces are concealed by sinister masks, the true motives of the Ascians remain obscured behind veils of secrecy and terror.
Official site description
The Ascians, also referred to as Paragons and Bringers of Chaos, are a mysterious cult of supernatural beings in Final Fantasy XIV who taught the beast races of Eorzea how to summon primals from the aether, which they consider as desire personified.
According to legends Ascians arrive in times of need to lead those in darkness to the light of the primals. In truth, they have hidden agendas revolving around their deity Zodiark. Ascians appear as masked men wearing black robes, or in some cases as a skeletal lich, but it is implied these forms are "crude approximations" by those who perceive them and their true forms are unknown. There are also Ascian Primes, fusion forms the Ascian Overlords use as a last resort in a fight.
- 1 Profile
- 2 Members
- 3 Story
- 4 Musical themes
- 5 Gallery
- 6 Etymology and allusion
- 7 References
Ascians have a hierarchy with the Paragons of the Source being the most powerful. As with the case of Emet-Selch, whose real name is Hades, the Ascians are referred to by their title and rank rather than their actual name. They possess a power that came to be called the "Echo", though at its full potential compared to those with fractured souls.
With the exception of Elidibus, an Ascian wears a black leather hooded robe with purple markings that bear silvery adornments, such as pauldrons, done in a spiky, symmetrical style. When they ready for combat, a red glyph appears over their face. Ascians use dark crystals to convert a person into a host body, using it to suit their ends. They wear masks to further hide their identities, the Ascian Overlords wearing red stylized masks while their subordinates bear black masks. One notable exception is Travanchet, who appears simply as an Elezen pirate, distinguished only by the lack of a shadow.
The skeletal Ascians have a different appearance, similar to contemporary representations of the grim reaper, wearing long habits with hoods that cover their heads and faces. Their legs are not visible, and they have skeletal bird-like wings. The Ascian Primes are similar to the bestial Ascians, but are larger with their faces being composed of two Ascian Overlords' masks combined.
When an Ascian dies, its soul ends up at the Aetherial Rift between Hydaelyn and the void where it reconstitutes and later acquires a new host body. Ascian Overlords can possess other living beings and return to the rift, shaping the body to reflect their ideal self. The process is more restricted with lesser Ascians who use the bodies of the deceased and cannot return to the rift if slain. Possessing new bodies considerably weakens an Ascian, but possessing the same body or a clone does not place the same strain on them. While white auracite can temporarily seal an Ascian, pure aether can effectively destroy them. The method usually involves trapping an Ascian in white auracite and then shattering it with a blast of pure aether, or the Ascian's displaced essence can be absorbed by a primal.
In the reconstruction of Amaurot by Emet-Selch, Ancients appear as giant white-skinned humanoids that stood around 30 feet tall. While the true appearance of Ancients is currently unknown, each Ancient did possess distinguishing facial features, although they wore the same plain black robes and white masks to reinforce their people's sense of community over individuality.
Paragons of the Source
- Elidibus (Emissary)
- Lahabrea (Speaker)
- Emet-Selch
Ascian Overlords
Minor Ascians
- Travanchet (Pseudonym)
- Ascian of the Twelfth Pentacle
- Ascian of the Twelfth Sword
- Ascian of the Twelfth Staff
- Ascian of the Twelfth Chalice
- Masked Mage
- Venat - Leader of the Amaurotines who were concerned over Zodiark
- Hythlodaeus - Chief of the Bureau of the Architect and friend to the current Emet-Selch
- Azem - Former Fourteenth member of the Convocation. Vacated their position prior to the Final Days reaching Amaurot for currently unknown reasons.
Before Final Fantasy XIV
In prehistory, a single race, known as the Ancients, inhabited all corners of the Star. Through their innate ability to use "creation magic" they accomplished wondrous feats and built utopian cities where citizens lived lives dedicated to rhetoric (debate), creation (art and science) and public service. Amaurot was the center of their civilization and home to the Convocation of Fourteen, a council of their most knowledgeable and powerful users of creation magic.
At some point, a mysterious "sound" emanating from the depths of their star caused the Ancients to lose control of their creation magic, unleashing monsters formed from their subconscious fears. The Ancients struggled to contain the chaos brought about by their magic gone awry, and while some believed that the Convocation would find a solution, others gave in to dread and despair, further fueling the disaster. This calamity would come to be known as The Final Days.
The Convocation predicted that the inexorable spread of fear and chaos would consume their world and render it lifeless. To prevent this, the Convocation conceived of a plan to "weave the laws of reality anew" through the summoning of Zodiark, an entity powerful enough to alter the laws of their star and end the chaos that was consuming their world. To provide the immense amounts of aether needed to summon Zodiark, half of the surviving Ancients willingly sacrificed themselves in what would become the first Primal Summoning Ritual with the Ancient bearing the title of Elidibus offering themself as the core of Zodiark. The Convocation was successful, and through Zodiark's power, the Final Days were averted. Despite the Ancients' efforts and sacrifice, much of their star had already been consumed by the calamity and become a lifeless, blighted land. To heal their star, the Ancients sacrificed yet another half of their number to Zodiark. This second sacrifice brought new life to the world, and restored the cycle of nature.
Seeking to recreate their lost paradise, the Convocation sought to call upon Zodiark's power once more. They planned to harvest the life energies of the new lifeforms once enough time had passed for them to mature, feeding that power to Zodiark to restore the forms of the Ancients who had sacrificed themselves in the first summonings, and whose souls were now sleeping inside of Zodiark. A faction of Ancients under Venat disapproved of Zodiark's presence and the Convocation's plan to harvest the new lifeforms. This led to a conflict among the Ancients, the first major one in living memory, with some of Venat's follower sacrificing themselves in their own summoning to create Hydaelyn, an entity what would bind Zodiark and hold him in check, with Venat becoming her heart. The two arch-primals fought ceaselessly until Hydaelyn used all her strength to fragment Zodiark, shattering the "very fabric of reality" and dividing the world into thirteen reflections and the Source. Amaurot was destroyed along the remains of the Ancients' civilization, while those still living had their souls similarly split into fourteen pieces across the fragmented worlds.
Three Convocation members escaped the Sundering—the current Elidibus (Emissary), Lahabrea (Speaker) and Emet-Selch—and, after seeing the state of their world, resolved to orchestrate a series of events to revive Zodiark and restore their home via Umbral Calamities, cataclysms designed to gradually merge the Source and the thirteen shards back into one. Their intention is to resume sacrificing some of the rejoined current humanity to bring back their loved ones once the Rejoining is completed. They reformed themselves as the Ascians, and began searching for the fragmented souls of their fellow Convocation members to bring them into the fold.
By imparting their knowledge of creation magic, specifically the arts first used to bring Zodiark and Hydaelyn into being, the Ascians posed as saviors to the races whose persecution they exploit, allowing them to summon their 'gods' to grant them succor. On the Thirteenth Shard, Igeyorhm manipulated the heroes who fought against these 'primals' into utilising auracite to trap them and prevent their resummoning. The heroes, corrupted by the leaking aether, turned on each other and the people they were meant to protect, becoming aether-starved and eventually waging great wars against each other. This subsequently caused the unleashing of a Flood of Darkness that all but decimated the shard and transformed the survivors into voidsent, rendering the world unfit for Rejoining. The Ascians then discovered a link between the aether of the Shards and the Source, and theorized that a simultaneous disaster on the Source and Shard of the same elemental aspect would allow for them to be rejoined, a theory subsequently proven in the first umbral calamity.
During the Third Astral Era, Emet-Selch established the Allagan Empire to set up the Fourth Umbral Calamity. The Ascians manipulated the grief-stricken Tiamat and the Meracydian dragons into reviving Bahamut as a primal and provided the Allagan emperor, Xande, the means to capture and bind primals. While the Allagans sealed Bahamut in Dalamud, the Warring Triad were imprisoned at Azys Lla to power Allag's aetherochemical research.
Emet-Selch later assumed the identity of Solus zos Galvus and established the Garlean Empire to suit his brethren's needs in setting up the Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Final Fantasy XIV legacy
The adventurer encountered two mysterious figures, called Emerick and Travanchet, linked to recent attacks by the Sahagin beast tribe. Travanchet, who wielded mighty powers and did not cast a shadow, stole a stone "key" from the Miqo'te sage Y'shtola Rhul before knocking the Warrior of Light unconscious and vanishing.
Minfilia Warde tasked the adventurer with visiting an Amalj'aa excavation site in Gridania to negotiate with two of the beast tribes, the Amalj'aa and the Ixal, who were on the verge of summoning their respective primals. As the adventurer stopped the tribes from going through with the ritual, a bestial Ascian appeared and frightened the tribes away.
The Sylphs, who were in the process of reopening crystal trade with the two tribes, mentioned the Ascians by their alternative name, "Paragon," saying they were the ones who taught the tribes to summon their primals. The Ascian overlord Lahabrea later watched the unleashing of Bahamut during the Calamity.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
The end of your tale is but the beginning of another. The tale of the Crystal's demise.
Lahabrea in the "Crystal's Call" trailer[2]
In the aftermath of the Seventh Umbral Era, the Ascians emerge from hiding, influencing local criminal groups across Eorzea, the beast tribes, and even the Garlean invasion force led by Gaius van Baelsar. Their leader is a masked mage named Lahabrea, whom the Warrior of Light encounters in a vision received from Hydaelyn's crystal: Lahabrea appears from a black void and attacks him/her just as the vision ends.
As the Warrior of Light embarks on the first missions in either Limsa Lominsa, Gridania or Ul'dah, a black-masked Ascian manipulates the events behind the scenes. When the Warrior of Light resolves the threat, he or she is confronted by an unknown Ascian in a black mask who covers the village in darkness and summons a gargoyle from the void to fight the Warrior of Light. The Warrior defeats both the gargoyle and the masked Ascian who vanishes to be replaced by a dark crystal, which shatters as the Warrior of Light approaches.
The influence of Ascians is uncovered with recurring sightings of "masked mages" throughout Eorzea. In addition to influencing beast tribes, they have a hand in other events, such as spurring the youth of Little Ala Mhigo in a scheme to summon Rhalgr, being behind the strange events at Haukke Manor, and making a deal with the dark summoner Tristan Nightflicker to obtain knowledge on primals.
Lahabrea possesses Thancred Waters and unveils the Ascians' intent to revive the dark deity Zodiark by using Gaius and the Ultima Weapon under his control. Though the Ultima Weapon is destroyed and Lahabrea is purged from Thancred's body by the Warrior of Light, Lahabrea regains physical form as he meets up with more primary members of the Ascians—three of them identified as Pashtarot, Igeyorhm, and Nabriales—to make preparations for Zodiark's resurrection.
Seventh Astral Era
The wisdom of His plan shall become apparent in time, when the veil is lifted from their eyes...
The Ascians become more active in their goal to revive their deity. Their Emissary, Elidibus, meets with Minfilia and knocks her out in self-defense when she refuses to let him leave. Two unnamed Ascians, who have noted that Hydaelyn has grown weaker despite the people of Eorzea having survived the "Rejoining" seven times by now, have been teaching the beast tribes to summon more powerful versions of their primals. The two observe the Warrior of Light fight the primals as his or her victory only serves to further the Ascians' plans. Elsewhere, Lahabrea and Elidibus appear at the side of Thordan VII, implying that the Ascians have been influencing the Archbishop of Ishgard. Emperor Solus (Emet-Selch) decides to pass away to return to the Source while aware of the civil war it would incite in Garlemald.
To combat the Ascians, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (of which the Warrior of Light is a member) study a countermeasure. Moenbryda, having traveled to Eorzea from Sharlayan to help with Lady Iceheart, hypothesizes that aether can be used to destroy an Ascian's soul if enough is gathered into a "blade of light." Nabriales, having questioned Elidibus's actions and not wanting to wait for another "Rejoining" to naturally occur, decides to take advantage of the Warrior of Light losing Hydaelyn's blessing in the aftermath of encountering Midgardsormr. Nabriales attacks the Scions' now defenseless headquarters to obtain Louisoix Leveilleur's staff, but is killed when Moenbryda sacrifices her life to prove her theory.
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
The Ascians appear in Ishgard, with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm offering aid to Thordan VII in his mad quest to end the Dragonsong War as part of their plan to start the Eighth Rejoining. The two Ascians confront the Warrior of Light at the Aetherochemical Research Facility where they intend to kill him or her for interfering.
The Ascians find themselves overwhelmed and use the power of the Echo to combine into an Ascian Prime to gain the upper hand. The Ascian Prime is defeated, Lahabrea separating from Igeyorhm before she is destroyed by being sealed in white auracite and shattered by aether from the left eye of Nidhogg. Thordan appears, revealing he knew of the Ascians' agenda, and ends their alliance when he becomes the primal King Thordan and destroys Lahabrea's physical form before absorbing the Ascian's aether-based essence.
After King Thordan's defeat and Ishgard joining the Eorzean Alliance, Elidibus notes the imbalance caused by the Warrior of Light will keep them from their goal and decides to send the Warriors of Darkness on the beastmen as a countermeasure. Though the plan does not go smoothly, Elidibus obtains the eyes of Nidhogg and bestows them to the Ala Mhigan extremist known as the Griffin.
A minion of Lahabrea, the Ascian of the Twelfth Chalice, reanimates by the body of Tristan's brother and attacks many travelers in Thanalan. Once the undead summoner is slain, the Ascian reveals himself, frustrated at losing another pawn. He later attacks the Warrior of Light, Y'mhitra, and Dancing Wolf at the Carteneau Flats during an attempt to harness the Dreadwyrm's power to achieve a trance, but flees when the trance is achieved. Noting his sudden cowardice, Y'mhitra suspects lesser Ascians are unable to possess living beings and would perish if no available host is nearby. To test this, she tricks him and his associates into an ambush outside the Great Gubal Library in the Dravanian Hinterlands, knowing the place is too remote for them to find another host.
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Ascian activity is sparse. Following the death of Zenos yae Galvus, Elidibus possesses the Garlean prince's corpse while forcing Emet-Selch to return in one of the many clone bodies of Emperor Solus that Varis zos Galvus (the current emperor) had created to clean up the mess Lahabrea left in his demise. Though Elidibus believes he can defeat the Warrior of Light with his dark magic combined with Zenos's physical prowess, he finds himself nearly outmatched when confronted with the Warrior's unexpected growth in power. Varis orders them to retreat to Garlemald when word begins to spread in the Empire of a demon masquerading as his son.
Gaius Baelsar, revealed to be alive and under the pseudonym of Shadowhunter, has been traveling with his companions, killing Ascians and collecting their masks to avenge his fallen allies.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
The Warrior of Light and the Scions find a way to the First, one of the reflections of the original world. They learn of the Ascians' home—the ancient civilization of Amaurot; the origin story of both Hydaelyn and Zodiark, along with the origin of most of the creatures found across the Source and its thirteen reflections; and how the Ascians' attempt to bring about the Rejoining rendered The Thirteenth a "useless void." It is also hinted that the Warrior of Light is the reincarnation of an Ascian who was of some level of importance to Emet-Selch.
It is learned Emet-Selch and Loghrif were the cause for "The Flood of Light" that occurred in the First, having manipulated Ardbert and his companions (the Warriors of Darkness). While Minfilia stalled the Flood, Emet-Selch changed his approach in claiming the First by making the unborn Vauthry a Lightwarden.
During the Warrior of Light's stay in the First a copy of Amaurot is created in the ruins of the city, at the bottom of the ocean in the region known as "The Tempest." Once there, the Warrior of Light is sent through a history of the ancient civilization's final days before battling Emet-Selch under his true name: Hades. The Scions attempt to destroy him, but are stopped short. The Warrior of Light rejoins with Ardbert's soul (his/her counterpart in the First), allowing them to slay the elder Ascian once and for all.
Elidibus, forced to abandon Zenos's body upon sensing Emet-Selch's death, is the last Paragon and the number of his Ascian followers is being drastically reduced by Gaius Baelsar and Estinien Wyrmblood. Elidibus travels to the First and possesses Ardbert's corpse in a scheme to awaken everyone's potential to use the Echo.
During a journey into the Anamnesis Anyder deep beneath Emet-Selch's vision of the past, the Warrior of Light and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn discover concept containers that display images of the past. In these visions, Amaurotines seek to avert the dominion of Zodiark by summoning Hydaelyn to "be his shackles." They briefly discuss their attempt of reaching out to the defector of the Convocation, albeit without any success. Their leader, Venat, volunteers to take their place as Her Heart, just as Elidibus became Zodiark's Heart.
Musical themes
Nearly all appearances of an Ascian in all versions are accompanied by "Without Shadow." Most boss fights against Ascian overlords use "Thunderer" as the battle theme, while "The Maker's Ruin" plays during the battle against Ascian Prime.
Etymology and allusion
Ascian means "without shadow". This reflects their distinguishing trait and their musical theme.
A paragon is a person or thing regarded as a perfect example of a particular quality. The title is often used figuratively to denote a model of excellence or perfection.
The Ascians' overlords are named after the Scions of Light mentioned in Final Fantasy XII. This fits in with their Ophiuchus-themed deity and emissary, the former named after the Esper and the latter after the legendary wizard, in the Ivalice games.
The glyphs over the Ascians' faces in A Realm Reborn relate to the Espers from Final Fantasy XII. Lahabrea occasionally is seen with a symbol similar to the bottom of Mateus's glyph and the anonymous Ascian fought early in the story has a glyph resembling Belias's glyph.
The mask worn by Lahabrea and Elidibus resembles the kind of masks used in the Noh theater tradition in Japan, albeit only partially covering the face. The skeletal Ascians resemble the recurring lich, specifically the design seen in Final Fantasy Tactics.


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Hermes Leather Bifold Wallet Mc2 Versace Orange Evercolor Bnib Rrp £600
We're proud of our. 100's of satisfied customers. Relisted due to time waster. A beautiful and classic Hermes wallet Handmade in France and 100% premium leather No marks on it as it has never been used (Box has some very minor wear) Please refer to photos. Please check out some recent feedback.
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- Main Colour: Orange
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text:
St Thomas More Catholic
Primary School
Christ is the centre of our School community, where we live, love and learn together
1 October 2014
It was a privilege to welcome Dana Scallon to our school.
Our school choir sang 'All Kinds of Everything' which Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest with back in 1970. She was very impressed with the quality of our singing.
Dana was working with Father Jim Kelleher, a priest from the United States of America to promote the Rosary. While she was in school Dana sang for us and also spoke to us about the importance of praying the Rosary.
In the evening children from our school formed part of the living Rosary and we had the opportunity of hearing Dana sing once again for us. A truly memorable day.


text:
Cape Town - Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler admits that his charges put on a poor showing in their defeat against Maritzburg United.
Team of Choice captain Kurt Lentjies scored the only goal after 84 minutes when he squeezed an 18-yard free-kick past Shu-aib Walters.
In what was a dour display on a dry and hot afternoon in Pietermaritzburg, the visitors failed to create a chance in the first half, before improving in the second.
But they missed out on the chance to move back to the top of the table, instead remaining on 49 points from 26 matches, one behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who have two games in hand, with Maritzburg staying seventh.
"It was far from pretty and there are no excuses and we were just not good enough. We didn't put in a performance that we should have," Tinkler said as quoted by KickOff website.
"We've been very good the whole year and this is obviously our first loss this year but I can't really point the finger at one person. Collectively we were very, very poor.
"Tactically, we were poor, decision making, we were poor, and I don't think it was Maritzburg putting us under pressure. I don't think Maritzburg's shape was good, no. We just didn't show up.
"For that, I must take responsibility because the (Cape Town City) players looked very flat, we didn't look motivated, we panicked every time we got on the ball."


text:
09/12/2018 by Chris Fulop
Hello again everyone!
We are a few weeks into the 2018-2019 season, and the Standard format is starting to become somewhat defined. I am sure we will get an even clearer picture of what the top decks look like after Philly Regionals. ( I know, I know, it isn't technically held in Philly proper, but I am certainly referring to it as such like most people are. ) I will be playing in this event. I'm not even "hopefully" playing in it. I've already paid for the trip and registered! I'm hoping to gather up at least a few points, and even more ambitiously, I'd love to snap my 0/8 streak on win-and-ins at Regional or larger tournaments I am currently plagued by. ( I'm going to try to spin this as a positive, because I've uh, managed to position myself to have that many win-and-ins, I guess? )
Table of contents
Anyways, I've told everyone I will be playing again this season full time, and have been grinding out League Challenges and League Cups here in the Cleveland, Ohio area. I'm sitting at 95/??? Championship Points already, which I am moderately proud of. My goal for each quarter is to break 100 points from Challenges/Cups, so while I'm not quite there yet, I've got a pair of finishes for each event and the pressure to at least place is off. I'm going to do a very brief run down of the tournaments I've played in thus far.
League Challenge #1
I played at a Challenge 5 minutes from my house and used Ultra Necrozma GX (FLI; 127) with Malamar (FLI; 51) . This event was using the pre-rotation format. I ended up 5-0ing to take first place.
League Challenge #2
This was also a nearby Challenge. I played an updated version of Ultra Necrozma Malamar (FLI; 51) . I ended up 4-1, due to a round 4 dead draw against a friend's Buzzwole deck. I managed to buy a bunch of turns by sticking Diancie Prism Star (FLI; 74) active with a Guzma ( he had no Switch and had a full bench and could not Wonder Tag ) and actually wound up giving myself a position of strength going into the last few turns, but he hit the combination of cards necessary to win at the end. I ended up taking 3rd place after winning round 5.
League Challenge #3
This was at Ground Zero Comics. I'm using Ultra Necrozma Malamar (FLI; 51) again, and this event goes very poorly for me. I lose round 2, and round 4. Round 4 was particularly interesting as I played my friend Carl who was using Zoroark Banette, and the game came down to him N'ing me and using a pair of Rainbow Energy to copy my Dawn Wings Necrozma's GX attack. I whiffed the game winning Guzma ( or means to grab a Tapu Lele ) off of the N and he had the game the following turn.
League Challenge #4
This Challenge was held at Full Grip games, where I have been playing every Wednesday evening as they hold 5 dollar buy-in tournaments weekly. Players such as Andrew Mahone, Frank Percic, Will Mantho and others show up frequently, so it is actually a fairly competitive field for basically no stakes. I've played in 5 of the events, going undefeated in 3 of them, 4-1 in one, and 3-2 in the other. I've played Ultra Necrozma Malamar (FLI; 51) in all five of the events.
Luckily for me, one of the undefeated runs was their League Challenge. I started 4-0, and got paired down against a 3-1 as I was the only undefeated player. We were in an interesting position where there were only two other tables of 3-1 players, meaning if me and Zach ( My friend I got paired against ) IDed, I'd be a lock for first and he would be a lock for 4th place assuming neither of the other tables drew as well. I was pretty certain even with a loss I would end up in 1st as the only player to start 4-0, but I was clearly happier to lock it up with the draw. ( Zach was also on Ultra Necrozma Malamar (FLI; 51) )
This 1st place finished upgraded my 3rd place 10 point finish from before.
I'll admit it was nice to get Challenges out of the way. I hate traveling to events which such minimal stakes, both in terms of CP as well as traditional prize support. I was excited for League Cups to start up.
League Cup #1, Sandusky, Ohio
We had somewhere in the mid-40s for attendance for this event, meaning we had 6 rounds, while being a couple of players shy of actually getting kicker points for the top 16. Quite a few players showed up for this event, including the trio of Michael Pramawat, Azul Garcia Griego, and Aaron Tarbell. Other strong players included Caleb Gedemer, Frank Percic, Ryne Morgan and Will Mantho. I'm certain I'm forgetting a few others too, but needless to say it was not going to be an easy day.
I started 2-0, beating a Malamar (FLI; 51) mirror match despite going 2nd, and beating Ryne's Silvally Lycanroc deck before losing a really frustrating game against Rayquaza Vikavolt ( a matchup I view as quite favorable ) because I legitimately never see an Ultra Necrozma at any point in the game despite having a really strong game overall, and just lose a game I was probably 95%+ likely to win.
I joke about the wheels coming off after that kind of loss, and that is what happened as I start Marshadow against Caleb Gedemer's Zoroark Garbodor deck, and have to use an Ultra Ball to get Tapu Lele to Wonder Tag. That is a really bad place to start in this matchup, which is the scariest Zoroark matchup. I felt like I played this game really poorly, managing my item count very badly. I was pretty unlikely to win regardless due to my start, but I certainly did myself no favors. I realized I was just not that good at playing against Garbodor in general, and made sure to log more games against it after the event to work on that.
I closed out the tournament with a pair of wins against Zoroark decks to finish 4-2 and take 11th place. The top 8 was a clean cut at 13 points since we had so many players. My friend Josh actually wound up winning the whole event with his "spread" deck. His top 8 opponent went so far as to just not show up and concede, as he was playing Ho-oh and had no answer to damage Josh's Hoopa.
League Cup #2, Galion, Ohio
This event was held in the fabled outdoor depot, where the Cup held this past winter saw players competing in near zero degree temperatures. This time, it wasn't freezing out. On the other hand, it was pushing 90 degree temperatures and the whole experience was absolutely miserable.
Once again, I was on Ultra Necrozma Malamar. Most of the same players showed up. I beat a Lycanroc Buzzwole deck round 1, then beat my friend Chris using Zoroark Glaceon. I get paired against Aaron Tarbell round 3, using Zororoc, and beat him as well. I believe I got paired against a Rayuaza Vikavolt deck in round 4, and this time I draw well enough to beat it. Round 5 I get paired against Pram on Zoropod, and we ID. Round 6 I get an ID against another Malamar player to lock up top 8.
While waiting for top 8 to start, I draw AGAIN against Pram, this time tying him in a game of Ticket to Ride: New York.
In top 8, I get paired against Buzzroc. Game one I was pretty happy with my position, wiping out my opponent's field of Energy and leaving him with a very small hand. Well, he goes off on his turn, hitting all 4 of his Beast Ring and a Switch giving him exactly the board necessary to beat me. ( I wish I remembered the specifics of how the turn played out to make all of these pieces necessary, but I promise a scenario existed, as we were talking about it after the game. ) I end up winning games 2 and 3 though, to move on to top 4.
I get to actually play my round 6 opponent who was on the pure Psychic version of Malamar (FLI; 51) . The other table was Pramawat against Jesse Parker, in a Zoropod vs Malamar (FLI; 51) matchup. Jesse's build was interesting as he ran Shrines, Tapu Koko, and Shining Lugia as his main threats. I felt like I was unfavored in my top 4 match, as he had a generally smoother engine ( due to being able to fit Acro Bike and more Psychic Energy ) and he also ran Mimikyu and Mewtwo GX. ( which let him have a trump to the Moon's Eclipse GX sub-game of the matchup ) Luckily for me, I won the coin flip, and won game 1 on the back of setting up first. That matters far more than any other aspect of the matchup.
Game 2 I get a pretty wretched start, and he is on the play, and that ends up a bloodbath. Game 3 I am on the play again, and his start is pretty weak. I'm able to kill off Inkays, and he is really just not able to put down any presence at all and has to resort to using Mimikyu to draw 2. One disadvantage the Psychic build does suffer from is the inability to stabilize off of Beast Rings if the opponent is able to pressure the Malamar (FLI; 51) in play. It isn't USUALLY what decides the matchups, but it does offer up an exploitable opening.
Pramawat beats Jesse in 3 in a really dynamic matchup where both players changed up how they approached the matchup between each game. I play Pramawat, and set up really well game 1 and am able to just ride the momentum to a win. Game 2 I go 2nd, and have a much worse start, and that one ends pretty lopsidedly as well. Game 3 is actually a really good game, and I pull ahead midgame. I get Judged on the last turn, and need either a Metal source, Malamar (FLI; 51) , or Choice Band off of the Judge to win. I whiff those. I have another chance to win, as I can Cynthia and need to hit a Metal Source and my only Choice Band to get a KO on Zoroark using Marshadow GX to Photon Geyser with only 2 Energy. I hit the Metal but whiff the Choice Band.
I was a bit disappointed losing in the finals after being up game 1, but if you would have asked me if I would have been happy with a second place finish going into the event, I clearly would have been.
League Cup #3 Ashtabula, Ohio
Once again, I was on Ultra Necrozma Malamar, with a few changes ( Rather than list all of my lists from these events, I'm going to just include the current iteration of it at the end of this. ) Once more, we end up with mid to high 40s for Masters, just missing kicker points but assuring us 6 rounds.
Round 1 I get paired against a Darkrai GX deck that wasn't really built competitively. Round 2 I get paired against my friend Nick, who is basically on my exact list. I win the flip, and actually played a really tight game to win. I think I could have played pretty simplistically while just trying to win a race, but I was particularly proud about how I navigated this game. Honestly, it likely just mattered who went first, but I like my spin better.
The third round I get paired against Gardevoir Sylveon, but his start is pretty poor and I jump ahead by two prizes. I actually really don't like to play against Gardevoir. I don't know if I'd call it a "bad" matchup, but they can certainly smash me pretty good if they draw well all game. They are far more likely to stumble as their set up is more demanding, but it is still really scary, and I need four Energy on my Ultra Necrozma GX for a OHKO.
Round 4 was an embarrassment, as I get paired against Jesse's one prize attacker Malamar (FLI; 51) Shrine deck. Now, this is a bad matchup in general...but Jesse messed up his deck list and walked into the round with a double prize penalty for it. I also go on to win the flip. ( As if this wasn't foreshadowed enough, I very clearly lost this game. ) I open a GX, and have to use Wonder Tag to set up. At this point, I figure I am just going all-in on winning on my turn 5, and hoping he can't deal with all my GXes by then. If need be, I can use Tapu Cure. Well, this game plan was looking okay until I missed a pretty likely turn 2 attack due to missing a Psychic Energy. This set me back a turn, and he clearly had the turn one Shrine for me. I'm at 2 prizes, to his 2, and my set up is better. Now, I'm not sure if everyone reading this is sure how the pre-game double prize penalty works. I still placed out 6 prize cards. They were still functionally in play. I only had to draw 4 of them to count for a win. So while I needed 2 prizes, the actual count was him with 2 and me at 4. As such, I could use Moon's Eclipse with Dawn Wings Necrozma. Jesse had a 5 card hand, and had used one Guzma ( He ran 3 ) and did not run Tapu Lele. With Moon's Eclipse effect active, I put him in a position where he needed one of his two Guzma, one of I BELIEVE three DCE left, and a 2nd Malamar (FLI; 51) to be able to KO a Lele off my bench for the win out of 6 cards as of his turn. He has it, of course, and gets the win. The matchup obviously plays very differently if I don't open a GX ( I run a lot of GX Pokemon...this isn't unlikely. ) AND have to use Wonder Tag. I wasn't really given much of an option to play a slower more grindy game,even though my build allows for it.
It was POSSIBLE for a 4-2 to sneak into cut depending on how many people draw and how pair ups/downs broke, and with a 3-0 start, I felt like I would be highly favored to be the 4-2 to make it in if it came to that. I got paired against a 4-0 in Corey Scott, who was on Zoroark Gardevoir. I mentioned how I didn't like playing against Gardevoir, but how it was alright because it was clunky and slow. Zoroark Gardevoir is a much scarier deck for me as it shouldn't brick much. I just offer him the draw, which will lock him up to 4-0-1 and top 8. I'd rather face a random opponent round 6 for my shot at top 8 than Corey's deck. On top of this, the pairings led to a very appealing scenario: At the end of round 5 ( assuming there were no draws ) there would be EXACTLY 8 players at 12 points or higher, GUARANTEEING me the pair down to a 3-2. I had a number of friends at 3-2, all of who would have scooped me into cut if I got that pairing. I don't, and instead get paired against a pleasant player from Buffalo, NY who made the trip out. I lose the flip, but he whiffs the turn 2 DCE, and that really swings the game heavily in my favor. My start wasn't great, so I was happy to get that reprieve. I really dislike how I handled the ending stages of the game, but I was in pretty good shape to win and I failed to blow it.
With a really weird path to 4-1-1, I am 5th place going into top 8, and am playing Kevin Baxter with Zoroark uh...toolbox. It had Lucario GX and then a lot of random techs. I get a poor start game one, and have to fill my bench with a Marshadow and a Lele, but somehow I end up winning anyways. Games 2 and 3 are really frustrating as I get better starts, but completely whiff my Beast Ring turns ( which would have given me a really big edge in both games ) Both games come down to me having positions at the end where I'm between 60-70% to draw the cards I need to win, but whiff both times. It was amusing to drop the two games I felt really favored in, but win the game I assumed I was out of contention in.
Kevin ends up beating Magnezone in top 4, and then Corey's ZoroGardy in the finals to win the cup. Congrats Kevin! :)
Anyways, with my abbreviated tournament reports out of the way, here is the list I have currently settled on for Ultra Necrozma Malamar (FLI; 51) .
Malamarvelous, Cups
- 4x Inkay
- 3x Malamar
- 2x Tapu Lele GX
- 2x Dawn Wings Necrozma GX
- 2x Ultra Necrozma GX
- 1x Lugia
- 1x Marshadow
- 1x Marshadow GX
- 4x Cynthia
- 3x Lillie
- 1x Sophocles
- 1x Tate & Liza
- 4x Guzma
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 4x Mysterious Treasure
- 2x Nest Ball
- 3x Switch
- 2x Rescue Stretcher
- 3x Beast Ring
- 9x Psychic Energy
- 3x Metal Energy
- 1x Beast Energy Prism Star
Pokémon (16)
Trainer (31)
Energy (13)
4-3 Malamar (FLI; 51) : You want to draw as many Inkay early as you can. 3 Malamar (FLI; 51) is fine with 8 search cards, and 2 Stretcher to recover them. Beyond this, you have Rescue Stretcher as insurance.
2 Dawn Wings Necrozma GX: You want them for Invasion. You really can't afford this card to be prized. Let me also point this out: This card is often good against Zoroark. This feels like it is counter intuitive, but it is true. If you go first, it is an extremely easy turn 2 attacker, as it only requires one Psychic Recharge and makes itself active. This gets you a turn one KO. Yes, it gets KOed in response, but this is fine! This feeds into your Beast Rings, or puts you behind to be able to copy Moon's Exclipse with Marshadow GX if your position is stronger. Either one of these lines favors you as the Malamar (FLI; 51) player, and leaves you Malamar (FLI; 51) s unmolested. As a Zoroark player, you generally want your first KO to be on a Malamar (FLI; 51) , and not walk into a Beast Ring turn super early. If you lead Dawn Wings Necrozma, and it get KOed, that progresses the game the way YOU want, as they generally are not good at OHKOing an Ultra Necrozma, and you get the cute Marshadow GX line down the road too. Its also not terrible going 2nd some times, just to see if they'll KO it and give you Beast Rings early. ( as otherwise you're just giving up prizes while trying to set up a turn slower. ) Think of it as playing any of the gambit openings in Chess, where you give up pieces to progress the game in a favorable way so you can make the ground back up later.
2 Ultra Necrozma GX: 2 is fine, both due to space and having a pair of Stretcher, but also because you have Marshadow GX to act as your "third" copy in the late game.
2 Tapu Lele GX: I'm not explaining these boys.
1 Shining Lugia: This is the new one prize attacker for the deck. I really only like it because it can clearly OHKO a Hoopa ( SLG ) which is otherwise really difficult to deal with. All of the Psychic type options can't score a clean KO due to resistance. Oranguru can take it out if energized and attacking, but it's damage output everywhere else is very lacking. The Fighting Resistance makes it pretty decent midgame against Buzzwole decks, too. For matchups where you plan to use the 130 damage attack, you really need to focus on getting a lot of Malamar (FLI; 51) into play, though.
1 Marshadow: Marshadow is both disruption and a slight source of draw. With 8 search Items able to grab it, you can use it as a hail Mary to dig for cards. Its also a portable Judge, so it breaks up the opponent's hands. It isn't great against Zoroark decks because Trade lets them back into the game so easily, but it can be strong in the mirror match or against other clunkier decks that aren't able to recover as easily from you breaking up their crafted hands. Most importantly, it is really powerful against Vikavolt Rayquaza, which often leads with Rayquaza's Tempest GX as a means to set up. Ripping that new 10 card hand away will often buy you a whole turn, which just blows the matchup wide open. More importantly, most lists of that deck run Escape Rope, and you want to prevent them from crafting a Rope + Guzma play on your Moon's Eclipse turn. Timing the GX attack with a Marshadow is very likely to win you any game in this matchup. Also, as dumb as it is, this is another non-GX Pokemon you can open with against Shrine decks. Not the greatest opener, but still. It actually is a reliable turn 2 attacker against Inkays, though. I've had it come up!
1 Marshadow GX: I was trying to think how best to combat the Zoroark decks. When you get a strong start, or just go first, the matchups are usually favorable, but when stumbling or going 2nd, it can be difficult. The easiest "solutions" are more Beast Rings, Choice Bands, and Marshadow GX. You want Ultra Necrozma GX to be able to OHKO a Zoroark for an attachment plus one Beast Ring. This means either with a Beast Energy, or a Choice Band. The other alternative is just playing multiple Beast Ring in one turn. The problem is, each individual slot devoted to beating Zoroark decks is minimally impactful as you still have to draw that specific card at the right time. Marshadow gives you a whole different approach entirely. You just let the Zoroark player take the lead, and manufacture a turn where you OHKO with a copied Moon's Eclipse, into a 240 hit for a 2nd Zoroark KO the next turn. As a Pokemon, Marshadow is far easier to search out. This game plan works better than trying to jam in multiple Choice Bands, as space is tight.
9 Psychic: Honestly, I'd love 10. MAYBE even 11. You can't fit that, though, as you need Metal sources.
3 Metal Energy: You don't need more than three as the Beast Energy is your 4th source, and Beast Ring lets you grab it fairly easily midgame. You also don't usually lead with an Ultra Necrozma as it is difficult to pull off on turn 2.
1 Beast Energy: Too good not to play.
4 Cynthia: The best Supporter in the format, and a 4 of in literally every deck.
3 Lillie: Lillie is great in this deck. It is very strong on the first turn in every deck, but also a passable card mid game due to all your discard outlets. I had 4 at one point, but cut one in exchange for...
1 Sophocles: I'm not SUPER high on this card, and it can easily be a 4th Lillie or a 2nd Tate and Liza, but let me go a bit deeper into why I am including it. Midgame, it is rare for Lillie to draw more than 4 cards. It is roughly equal in quality to a midgame Lillie in most spots. On top of this, it is a searchable ( with Wonder Tag ) discard outlet for Psychic Energy, which actually comes up a reasonable amount of the time. You also have hands where you are trying to piece together a card you have in hand with something you need to draw, and using Cynthia is a bit awkward there. Having an option to search up in those spots is nice. I think it ends up just naturally being on par with Lillie and Tate and Liza for most of the game, but with it's on niche uses, and due to Wonder Tag's existance, the diversity is worth splitting the cards up a bit.
1 Tate and Liza: This is your 9th "Draw" Supporter, and also an additional Switch. The Switch doesn't come up often, but it does come up, and a random hand of 5 isn't embarrassing altough it isn't strong either.
4 Guzma: You could maybe get away with 3 copies of the card, but you want them quite often since you are a deck that cares very much about the prize exchange. You just want to avoid dealing with one prize knock outs, and want to take out GX Pokemon at every opportunity. Due to a lack of Trade or Instruct, you really rely on your Tapu Lele GXes for netting you draw, so it is less likely you'll be able to use them for Guzma as the game progresses. I like the full set.
4 Ultra Ball/4 Mysterious Treasure/2 Nest Ball: You just really, really want to get your basics out as quickly as possible every game. With Sycamore rotated, you desperately want access to discard outlets for your Psychic Energy.
3 Switch: You need fluidity of your Pokemon. Altar of the Moone is actually just terrible. Every Energy attachment is super important, and Altar of the Moone still often demands an extra attachment to be useful. That is not acceptable. It also actually can backfire as it prevents you from freeing up attached Energy by retreating them off. It's effect also doesn't cheat around the one retreat a turn rule. Switch feels simple, but its been very, very good so far. I'd love a 4th. Altar of the Moone DOES benefit from being a Stadium to counter Shrine of Punishment, but to even TRY to fight that war ( You'll lose ) you need so many copies of a terrible card. I'd rather just concede to the fact that the Shrine will stick.
3 Beast Ring: I started at 4, and I still LIKE 4, but you need space for other cards, and it is less necessary now that the Marshadow GX made the deck as Beast Ring was most important against Zoroark decks.
2 Rescue Stretcher: You often have to discard Pokemon early for Ultra Ball and Mysterious Treasure. Your attacker line is spread thin. Rescue Stretcher is just too important as a wild card for the deck to go under 2 copies of it.
I am almost guaranteed to be playing a list very similar to this in Philly. It is consistant, powerful, and has very few bad matchups against an open field. Where it does struggle is against decks that can leverage non-GX Pokemon and make use of Shrine of Punishment. There are one-prize Malamar lists, spread decks, Buzzwole-Weavile, and Garbodor decks that all meet these criteria. I think the metagame in Philly will be wide open enough though. I also think tweaks can be made to improve those matchups. Fighting over Shrine of Punishment isn't going to work, but adding more non-GX attackers and healing cards like Max Potion or Acerola can do a lot of work.
Anyways, I do want to go over the other decks I consider to be the front runners for the "tier one" of the format.
Vikavolt Rayquaza
- 3x Vikavolt
- 3x Grubbin
- 4x Rayquaza GX
- 1x Tapu Bulu GX
- 1x Marshadow
- 2x Tapu Lele GX
- 4x Cynthia
- 2x Lillie
- 4x Guzma
- 2x Volkner
- 4x Rare Candy
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 4x Mysterious Treasure
- 2x Energy Recycler
- 2x Rescue Stretcher
- 2x Choice Band
- 1x Pokémon Fan Club
- 1x Escape Rope
- 7x Grass Energy
- 7x Lightning Energy
Pokémon (14)
Trainer (32)
Energy (14)
I view Vikaray and Malamar as the most powerful decks in the format in terms of raw strength. The deck can't attack on the first turn like last format's Rayquaza decks as Max Elixir has rotated, but it has gained a lot in terms of resiliency and stability. The deck is pretty reliable at getting out Vikavolt on the second turn, and even more so with Rayquaza's Tempest GX. ( Barring an N or Marshadow'ing, of course! ) Once it gets going, you'll often get a turn 2 KO, and from there it never lets up. Very few decks can break serve against this deck. A lot of decks that rely on a stage 2 energy accelerator use attackers which discard Energy for damage, meaning you can afford to hunt down that stage 2 Pokemon and KO it. Here, if you do that, you just get beat up by Rayquaza GXes. It becomes really difficult to break up the pressure.
This list is pretty stock, but the three cards I do want to focus on are the Tapu Bulu GX, the pair of Choice Bands, and the Escape Rope. Escape Rope is a switching effect, but more importantly it breaks Moon's Eclipse GX, an attack which can really, really mess this deck up. You get nice spots where you can Escape Rope a Dawn Wings Necrozma GX to the bench, and then Guzma it back active for a KO as the effect of it's GX attack falls off once benched. Choice Band is important as it lets Vikavolt attack for 180 damage. This is fairly useful in the mirror match ( Although admittedly, you usually will end up with multiple Rayquaza in play, meaning they can just Guzma around your attempt at forcing the one prize KO anyways, but if they don't have Guzma it matters. Pairing it with Marshadow's Let Loose is ideal. ) Choice Band also just increases the odds you get higher HP KOs early on, or once OHKOs start flying. Against Malamar, for example, assuming both decks start by OHKOing each other, it can actually be tough to hit 190 against an Ultra Necrozma late game.
Tapu Bulu is good because it is strong against certain cards that otherwise are problematic for this deck. One of the really annoying cards for the deck to deal with is the fairy type Dedenne. When paired with Choice Band and a Lightning type, it OHKOs a Rayquaza for a lone DCE. Zoroark decks can run this package fairly easily, and having a 180 HP attacker in Tapu Bulu which plays around this matters. ( The Choice Bands also let Bulu hit 210 against Zoroark ) Bulu's damage output is also MUCH higher on an empty board, so if you find yourself shy on Energy in the end game, Bulu can outclass Rayquaza's damage output. Bulu also lacks an Ability, making it a strong attacker against Weavile. Bulu's GX attack healing itself is also really powerful against decks trying to two shot it.
Finally, I want to stress how great Let Loose into Tempest GX is as a pairing. It induces such a huge gap in starts that can just blow games wide open. One of the best ways to disrupt this deck is to use Let Loose or Judge against it after it uses Tempest GX, but if you get handed a 4 card hand, the odds you can pull this off...or at least should, as it usually means having a very anemic start of your own in exchange...is really low.
Zoropod, Pramawat
- 4x Zoroark GX
- 4x Zorua
- 2x Tapu Lele GX
- 2x Tapu Koko
- 1x Dedenne
- 1x Oranguru
- 3x Wimpod
- 2x Golisopod GX
- 3x Cynthia
- 4x Guzma
- 1x Lillie
- 1x Pokémon Fan Club
- 2x Professor Kukui
- 2x Acerola
- 1x Pal Pad
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 4x Nest Ball
- 2x Timer Ball
- 2x Enhanced Hammer
- 2x Judge
- 2x Devoured Field
- 3x Choice Band
- 1x Rescue Stretcher
- 4x Double Colorless Energy
- 2x Grass Energy
- 1x Rainbow Energy
Pokémon (19)
Trainer (34)
Energy (7)
There are honestly a lot of ways to build a Zoroark deck, from this pairing with Golisopod, to Lycanroc, to Glaceon, to Lucario, to Magcargo, to Garbodor, to Weavile...honestly the list of potential Zoroark builds is very long. What Zoroark deck ends up the best is still up in the air, but I am choosing to nominate the front runner as Michael Pramawat's Zoropod list that he used to top 8 a League Cup and then win one the next day. ( Much to my dismay! ) Since he opted to go public with the list, I am going to include it here.
The core of the deck is pretty simple...a thick Zoroark line and Double Colorless Energy, with a bunch of redundant consistancy. Pram opts for 4 Ultra Ball, 4 Nest Ball, 2 Timer Ball AND a Pokemon Fan Club. I'm curious on his choice of Fan Club over an Apricorn Maker since he runs such a thick Ball line. Fan Club is pretty streamlined and straight forward, but more often than not Apricorn Maker does the same thing ( Grabbing a pair of Nest Ball ) but it has the flexibility to grab Ultra Ball and Timer Ball for Evolution cards too. Fan Club puts cards directly to hand, so it can grab Tapu Lele GX favorably, but if your hand is dead, Maker also can just grab an Ultra Ball to similar function. I don't think the difference is super impactful, but from my time playing Apricorn Maker so far, I've been fairly impressed by it.
Pram supports his Zoroark line with his secondary...potentially primary...attacker, which in this case is a 3-2 Golisopod line. Golisopod is a cheap, bulky attacker that has more or less a non-existant weakness. The card hits hard, and can pull heavy lifting against Fighting decks which may be able to otherwise beat up on Zoroarks. The second package is Tapu Koko and Dedenne. Tapu Koko does a lot of spread damage while also providing free retreat cost, which is super important towards re-setting Golisopods particularly since Float Stone has rotated. With Choice Band, Prof. Kukui, and Devoured Field ( For Zoroark ) the Flying Flip damage from Tapu Koko really adds up and enables cheap OHKO options for the deck.
Dedenne is honestly one of the best innovations in this deck. You already want Tapu Koko, and that satisfies Dedenne's need for a Lightning type buddy. When paired with a Choice Band and a DCE, Dedenne OHKOs Rayquaza GX. This does a tremendous amount of work against an otherwise very poor matchup in Vikavolt Rayquaza. It isn't the easiest to assemble, but Zoroark does provide a shell to actually compile it all together. It also does a lot of work against Ultra Necrozma, unfortunately, as paired with even one use of Flying Flip or a Prof. Kukui, it OHKOs the Fairy weak Dragon type Ultra Necrozma GX as well.
Oranguru is used to re-cycle resources ( alongside Pal Pad, a card I honestly am not super high on, particularly if you already run Oranguru. ) in super grindy matchups. In particular the card excels against spread and Hoopa decks where you really have to navigate a long game. Pram added Enhanced Hammer after experiencing Hoopa problems, and looping them with Oranguru did a ton of work to shore that problem up.
One thing I really like about this deck is that with multiple Acerola, high HP Pokemon, and a pair of Stadiums, you have some decent game against Shrine of Punishment decks. Golisopod is a really tanky Pokemon to try and deal with for some decks. I'm not sure this is my favorite Zoroark build, but it is hard to argue with success and it is really well equipped to do well in an open field.
- 3x Buzzwole
- 1x Diancie Prism Star
- 1x Regirock
- 3x Sneasel
- 2x Weavile
- 2x Slugma
- 2x Magcargo
- 1x Oranguru
- 1x Sudowoodo
- 3x Acro Bike
- 4x Nest Ball
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 4x Guzma
- 4x Cynthia
- 3x Professor Kukui
- 4x Choice Band
- 4x Shrine of Punishment
- 1x Switch
- 1x Escape Rope
- 1x Rescue Stretcher
- 2x Lillie
- 4x Fighting Energy
- 4x Unit Energy FDY
- 1x Beast Energy Prism Star
Pokémon (16)
Trainer (35)
Energy (9)
So the Special Event held in Santa Catarina had 261 Masters participate, and had two decks that really, really stole the show: Buzzwole Weavile, and Buzzwole Garbodor. The decks had very similar game plans: Use Buzzwole as a primary attacker, boosted by Diancie Prism Star (FLI; 74) and Choice Bands, while using either Weavile or Garbodor to punish the opponent's for setting up to combat them. Lets also point out the other common thread between the two decks: Shrine of Punishment. Both decks leveraged beefier one prize attackers and Shrine of Punishment to beat up on decks that relied on using GX Pokemon.
One of the challenges with these decks is that they can't play ANY EX Pokemon ( as they really, REALLY need to leverage all six KOs necessary to beat them ) and thus that means no Tapu Lele GX for consistancy. Since Buzzwole/Garbodor/Shrine was a break out deck from Worlds, I'm going to focus on the Weavile version here. Not only because it is less "known" as an archetype but because I like the engine it is going for a bit better. The deck uses Magcargo and Oranguru as a way to search out specific cards from the deck each turn. To also pair with Magcargo, the deck chooses draw Supporters which draw off the top of the deck, opposed to shuffle draw. That means Lillie and Prof. Kukui back up Cynthia. Kukui also helps to augment the damage output of the deck as a whole. Since the deck runs no GX Pokemon, there is no way to avoid getting hit by the big boosted damage output from Buzzwole, and the damage output threat is so unbelievably high. 120 damage plus 30 from Choice Band...plus 30 from Beast Energy...plus 20 from Diancie Prism Star (FLI; 74) ...plus 10 from Shrine of Punishment...plus 20 off Prof. Kukui. You can hit 230 damage out of no where.
I really don't think I need to sing the praises of Buzzwole though. Weavile is interesting though. Weavile can be played around within reason, as it's damage output scales off of Pokemon with Abilities in play. The problem is, you are asking decks to avoid playing Abilities OR GX Pokemon. Most decks are not able to avoid doing BOTH of these things. A deck like Rayquaza Vikavolt basically cannot function without walking into big burst damage out of Weavile. Paired with the fact that you're going to net at least one big OHKO at the 4 prize marker, and they have a very hard time beating you.
Sudowoodo is a hedge against Zoroark decks, capping their "base" damage to 100 by limiting their bench. Even with a Kukui, they cap at 120 damage. Zoroark decks with Devoured Field can still hit 130 with Kukui, but that is asking for a lot of pieces of the puzzle to fall into place. It also usually means they have to have multiple Zoroarks to Trade into these plays...making Shrine even more damage, while also boosting Weavile's damage output.
Regirock is a Buzzwole alternative with a different weakness, and also a clean answer to Tapu Koko ( it otherwise requires a Kukui or Beast Energy for Buzzwole to one shot. ) as it hits for 120 with a Choice Band ( to key it's attack ) and a Diancie Promo. Both Regirock and Buzzwole, when paired with enough buffing damage modifiers, can cleanly knock out a Zoroark GX.
One thing that concerns me with these decks is that they are exploitable. They can be played around within reason, and there are just decks that can beat them if they want to. I played maybe 10 games with this deck on PTCGO since receiving the base list for it and I found myself paired against a lot of decks I just felt really helpless against. Malamar with non-GX attackers felt really, really unwinnable if they just kept themselves to one Malamar at a time. I got paired against Empoleon, and that was also basically unwinnable. I feel like the decks are great if the metagame is full of GX centric decks with almost no healing, but now that this strategy is firmly on the radar, it gets a lot harder to stay dominant. It'll be interesting to see how much respect these decks command going into Philly
- 4x Buzzwole GX
- 1x Buzzwole
- 2x Rockruff
- 2x Lycanroc GX
- 1x Diancie Prism Star
- 2x Slugma
- 2x Magcargo
- 1x Oranguru
- 4x Beast Ring
- 4x Ultra Ball
- 3x Brooklet Hill
- 4x Acro Bike
- 4x Guzma
- 2x Professor Kukui
- 2x Lillie
- 3x Choice Band
- 2x Judge
- 1x Acerola
- 3x Switch
- 1x Energy Switch
- 10x Fighting Energy
- 1x Beast Energy Prism Star
- 1x Double Colorless Energy
Pokémon (15)
Trainer (33)
Energy (12)
Buzzwole Lycanroc isn't anything new, but it is still really powerful. It also utilizes the Magcargo/Oranguru/Acro Bike engine, much like the Buzzwole Shrine decks. The deck is still fast, super aggressive, and resilient due to how powerful Beast Ring is. There isn't anything groundbreaking here, but I do like the addition of one Double Colorless Energy. Honestly, this is to provide an easier way to attack with Lycanroc GX once you have used your GX attack, as FCC is a bit hard to reach if you have to use manual attachments. Due to Smooth Over, it is pretty easy to grab it. It is somewhat clear, but I do want to point out how good Smooth Over is with Beast Energy. Magcargo also makes the one of Energy Switch and Acerola pretty powerful.
While these are what I consider to be good example of decks that are starting to define the format and see wide play, I don't want to overlook some of the other decks that are seeing various amounts of success too. Other decks that are worth familiarizing yourself with include:
Zoroark Lycanroc
Empoleon Swampert
Psychic Malamar
Shrine Malamar
Zoroark Garbodor
Vikavolt Tapu Bulu
Garbodor Buzzwole Shrine
Hoopa Spread
Beast Box
We'll see a much better definition of this format after the completion of Philly Regionals, but this is a pretty solid primer for what to familiarize yourself with now! Anyways, come say hello to me at Philly...its actually my birthday on Sunday, so feel free to wish me a happy birthday as well! ( Singing is welcome. ) Until next time!
Diancie Prism Star (FLI; 74)
Malamar (FLI; 51)
Ultra Necrozma GX (FLI; 127)
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The 25th Hamish Macbeth crime mystery, delightfully recovered and re-issued for all the fans of Agatha Raisin.
Amazing news is spreading like wildfire across the Scottish countryside: the most famous of all Highland bachelors, police sergeant Hamish Macbeth, is planning to marry at last! Everyone in the village of Lochdubh adores Josie McSween, Hamish's newest constable and blushing bride-to-be. While locals think she is quite a catch, Hamish has a severe case of pre-nuptial jitters...after all, if it wasn't for the recent murder of a beautiful woman in a neighbouring village there wouldn't be a wedding in the first place.
For it was a mysterious Valentine's Day card - delivered to the victim before her death - which initially drew Hamish and Josie together in the investigation. And now, as they work side by side, they soon discover that the woman's list of admirers was endless - confirming Hamish's suspicion that love can be deaf, blind... and deadly!


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For agents sending younger, nightlife-seeking clients to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, recommend a detour to Buzios, a vastly growing haven for sleek nightclubs and hip restaurants. Originally a small fishing village once inhabited by French pirates, this peninsula is made up of more than 20 beaches and home to some great water sports, mainly snorkeling.
An expansive view from the Rio Buzios Hotel
Some of its most well-known beaches include the Azeda Beach, a small beach with calm and crystal-clear water; the João Fernandinho Beach, which has an array of bars where clients can feast on lobster and other great seafood; Ferradura Beach, a unique horseshoe-shaped bay; and Geribá Beach, which is ideal for clients looking to surf and windsurf.
Buzios is also a great destination for some excellent cuisine. There are French, Italian, Moroccan, Thai and other restaurants. Fish and seafood are the main local dishes.
But this area, which actually seems more like an island, is now mostly known for its booming nightlife. "Buzios is for the young. It is really the place to party at night, sleep late and get to the beach by noon at the earliest," says Martin Rapp of Altour, which usually sends about 60 people a year to Buzios. "I usually advise at least a three-day stay between December and February (the high season)."
In fact, younger travelers are driving much of the U.S. market to Brazil. According to Embratur, Brazil's tourist board, more than half the U.S. vacationers in Brazil in 2006 were under 40. Thirty percent were under age 32, and 25 percent were between 32 and 40 years old. The 41-to-50-year-old demographic made up 24 percent, and travelers 51 and older represented 21 percent.
Where to Stay
Casas Brancas is a hip, boutique–style hotel with 32 rooms and suites. It is Mediterranean inspired and offers a relaxed setting with some impressive views of the bay. Rapp recommends any ocean view room here, but the best of the best are the three Suites, which all come with a private balcony. It is also home to its own spa, which offers the basic massages and full body treatments as well as it own beauty salon. Agents should call 011-55-22-2623-1458 and ask for General Manager Amalia de La Maria or e-mail [email protected].
A guest room at Villa Rasa Marina
Villa Rasa Marina is the newest hotel in Buzios, located in Praia Rasa, which is said to be one of the calmest areas of the peninsula. The property is the latest hotel from Marina Hotels in Buzios. It opened in March. We were told this property is ideal for clients looking for a luxury brand in an exclusive setting. The hotel is about a two-hour drive, or a 20-minute flight, from Rio de Janeiro. It offers 35 rooms and suites with the best coming in the form of the Suite da Villa, a 970-square-foot, ocean view room. The loft-style room itself is 570 square feet, has a rustic straw-lined roof and includes a king-size bed, living area, bathroom and a private Jacuzzi with an ocean view. Additionally, this room has a terrace with 400 square feet of space. We were told this room is perfect for honeymooners. There is only one of these at the property, so agents should book at least a month in advance. Agents should visit the site or e-mail [email protected].
For families, as well as couples, we recommend the Rio Buzios Hotel, which has 64 rooms, all with king-size beds and balconies. The best rooms are the Deluxe Rooms, which all come with Jacuzzis. The travel agent liaison at the property is Marcos Ricar, who can be reached at 011-55-22-2623-0312 or [email protected].
Another great property for families is the Atlântic Búzios Convention & Resort, which has 135 guest rooms in three categories: Standard, Deluxe and Super Deluxe. It also has two outdoor pools, one specifically for children, a game room and massage rooms among other features. The travel agent liaison at the property is Luis Guedes, who can be reached at 011-55-22-2620-8850 or [email protected].
Orient Express recently bought a piece of property a short walk from the town, right on the water and is planning to build a small, deluxe beachfront property there.
Who Goes There?
Although it is predominantly a spot for younger clients looking to party into the early morning, Buzios is also a great sell for older couples and families as well since it has an abundance of great restaurants and water activities.
People from Rio de Janeiro usually go to Buzios for weekends and holidays. The typical stay is about two to three days. According to Buzios tourism officials, in the summer, the destination received about 1,000,000 total visitors.
How to Get There
The nearest airport is Galeão International Airport, which is in Rio de Janeiro. Most major U.S. carriers fly there. Transfers from the airport can be arranged and rental cars can also be booked by calling local transportation company Venturini at 011-55-22-2623-61867 or [email protected].


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Heritage in a sausage
Handmade N Irish steak sausages in natural casings hand prepared by our expert butchers to a traditional recipe.
Hand made steak sausages
Two classic flavours in one mouth-watering sausage made from N Irish cows. Handmade by our expert butchers in natural casings. Great with a bit of gravy or chopped up in a pie.
Traditional N Irish sausages
Steak and scallion sausages are perfect for dinner rather than breakfast. These sausages are handmade from Ulster beef using natural casings.
Lean beef steak sausages
Low fat beef sausages from our quality N Irish cows. Handmade to a traditional recipe but with less fat. Perfect over mash with good thick gravy.
Hot - adults only
Handmade beef, black pepper and mustard sausages from our Northern Irish cows, with natural casings. An interesting take on traditional sausages, the mustard and black pepper seasoning complements the rich beef in these sausages perfectly.
Mini steak sausages
Quick to cook and perfect for parties, our traditional beef cocktail sausages come from N Irish beef and are prepared in natural casings by our expert butchers.
Food Guides


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A MUSWELLBROOK woman is being treated for Bat Lyssavirus after she was attacked by a bat in the courtyard of her Brooke Street home last week.Maureen Jones will undergo five injections over a 28 day period, the standard treatment for a patient who has been scratched or bitten by a bat.
CASUALTY: Maureen Jones and the date palm that attracted bats to the yard of her home. She is now undergoing medical treatment after she was scratched and bitten by two bats last week.
All the time she has been thinking of her friends in Singleton who are more likely to come into contact with the flying foxes that could carry the disease.
Mrs Jones said it was around midnight on March 11 when she heard the bark of a dog she was caring for.
When she went to check why JD the Chihuahua was making such a fuss, she was shocked to see him barking and jumping at a bat on the ground.
"I was worried something would happen to JD and was screaming at him to get away from it," she said.
Mrs Jones then turned and went to head back up the steps of her patio when she felt another bat land on her head.
Amid her screams and frantic attempts to get the bat out of her hair, the original bat that had been wrestling with the dog, managed to fly onto her back.
Mrs Jones said it seemed like five minutes before she could get the bats off her body.
She ran inside and phoned a friend and sought medical attention for the scratches she had received.
"I had a big scratch where a claw ripped open my skin on my arm and a puncture mark on my head where one of the bats bit me."
She is angry for what she has been through but is now on a campaign to make sure people know of the health risks associated with flying foxes.
"I think people need to know that they can carry this deadly virus and if they are bitten or scratched by a bat, they should head straight to their doctor," Mrs Jones said.
She has since had the fruit removed from the 30 foot date palm that was the catalyst for her bat visits and certainly doesn't intend venturing outdoors at midnight again.


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The standing mirror is a frame-less free standing mirror held by a lightweight metal wireform. The contrasting properties of the two components - solid and permeable, light and heavy - are what give the design its character. Made by Moebe.
Materiaal: Mirror & Powder coated metal
Kleur: Black
Afmetingen: 20 cm dia
2 - 5 working days


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Digital is not new, yet I still think of it as somewhat novel and about to transform the world as we know it. (By digital I mean the Web 2.0 incarnation, where the web evolved into an organic-like being, as opposed to the mechanical machine-like nature of Web 1.0.) And I'm still waiting. Sure, digital is becoming more sophisticated, softer and more pliable, clay-like, its nature is accelerative, predictive, replicative and transferral but it is not transforming our lives in the crucial areas that matter – out of control consumption and the associated patterns of environmental degradation.
Many things are changing, cars are becoming computers as are kitchen appliances, operating machines in hospitals, mobile phones … ubiquitous computing is here and for most of us it is happening as if by stealth.
But these are hardly examples of digital breakthroughs contributing to seismic paradigm shifts in the way we live. They are extenders, or prolongers, of the status quo and are solutions rooted in nostalgia for the carbon fueled intoxication of unsustainable living. What is the point of efficiency gains, acceleration, and increased productivity if the net result is increased consumption that cannot be sustained? A hastening of extinction.
Digital technology holds the promise to make things transparent. By transparency I mean the ability to see through phenomena. Digital technology allow us to deconstruct opacity, which is a good thing because an opaque world disempowers us. The flip side is that we may not like what we see, but it may just provide the motivation for meaningful behaviour change.
For example, we can use digital technology to 'see' air pollution, something that is 'invisible', and for a visual species things that cannot be seen somehow does not exist. If you can see something heading towards you, you have time to change course.
On the flip side I could argue that irrational concepts (unscientific) that are invisible, exert more sway over us than rational things (scientific proof) that are visible. And this is a worrying aspect of human behaviour.


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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recently issued a proposed rule that would implement the directive of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) to revise the risk-based scheme for deposit insurance assessments. The new assessment system would generally be based on an institution's total liabilities (total assets less tangible capital) instead of its domestic deposits and would take effect for the quarter beginning April 1, 2011.
The FDIC's current risk-based system calculates an initial base assessment rate (IBAR) for each bank and thrift. The IBAR depends upon which of four risk categories the institution is assigned based on examination ratings, Call Report or Thrift Financial Report (TFR) data and certain other supervisory information. The IBAR can then be lowered due to calculations related to the institution's amount of long-term unsecured debt or raised as a result of a formula measuring its reliance on secured liabilities or brokered deposits. Those adjustments are designed to more accurately assess the risk the particular institution poses to the Deposit Insurance Fund. The final assessment rate for each institution under the current system is then applied to that institution's total domestic deposits (subject to some specified exclusions). The current IBAR scale ranges from 12 basis points for the least risky institutions to 45 basis points for the riskiest. With the possible adjustments, the range expands to 7 to 77.5 basis points.
As directed by the Dodd-Frank Act, the proposed rule would revise the FDIC's assessment system to tie the risk-based assessment rate to each institution's "average consolidated total assets" for the assessment period less its "average tangible equity." The FDIC's proposal generally requires the calculation of an institution's total assets as is now done for the Call Report or TFR, except that daily asset balances over the assessment period would be averaged for assessment purposes. The proposed rule would define "tangible equity" as Tier 1 capital for purposes of the deduction from total average assets and would generally require a monthly average over the assessment period. Institutions with less than $1 billion in assets as of March 31, 2011, could choose instead to use the end-of-quarter Tier 1 capital balance. However, once an institution reports consolidated total assets of $1 billion or more for two consecutive quarters, it would be required to use monthly averaging.
In conjunction with the change in assessment base required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the FDIC is also proposing possible changes to the adjustments to the IBAR. The proposal would eliminate the adjustment for secured liabilities because those liabilities will be subject to assessment under the new system. Inasmuch as the FDIC believes that the issuance of long-term debt by depository institutions reduces the Deposit Insurance Fund's losses in the event of default (since unsecured debtholders are likely to be cut back or lose their money entirely in a liquidation), the proposal increases the potential assessment reduction for unsecured debt to account such being subject to assessment. However, noting that unsecured long-term debt issued to another depository institution does not provide the same reduction in risk, the proposal would apply a new adjustment for the assessment rate of an institution that holds unsecured long-term debt issued by another depository institution. That assessment adjustment would consist of an increase of 50 basis points for every dollar of such debt held. The proposal would also modify the definition of long-term unsecured debt by excluding Tier 1 capital. The brokered deposit adjustment would be retained but scaled to the new assessment base through a ratio of domestic deposits to the new assessment base.
The FDIC's proposal indicates that the Dodd-Frank Act changes to the assessment system are intended to be revenue neutral. The proposed assessment schedule is lower than the existing one because the new assessment base will be broader than the current assessment base of domestic deposits. The schedule, as proposed, would range from 5 basis points for the least risky institutions to 35 basis points for the riskiest. The revised possible adjustments would expand the range to 2.5 to 45 basis points. The proposal provides for further reductions in the rate schedule as the Deposit Insurance Fund reserve ratio increases to meet specified thresholds.
At the same time that it issued the Dodd-Frank Act proposed rule, the FDIC issued a proposed rule amending its April 2010 proposal that would have established a separate risk-based assessment system for institutions with more than $10 billion in assets and for other large, highly complex institutions. That proposal, which would have established a scorecard approach for calculating assessments for large institutions, was the subject of an earlier Financial Institutions Alert (FDIC Proposes Revisions to Risk-Based Assessment System for Large Insured Depository Institutions and Adjustments to Assessment Range for All Insured Institutions). The amended proposed rule is largely a result of the changes required by the Dodd-Frank Act and also incorporates comments received in response to the initial proposed rule.
The FDIC is accepting comments on the proposed rules for 45 days following publication in the Federal Register.
The Dodd-Frank Act's changes to the FDIC's assessment system are thought to benefit community banks at the expense of larger institutions because larger institutions typically have had greater access to non-deposit funding sources that were not assessed. The open question is whether, as a result of the revised assessment system, larger institutions will adjust their business strategies to emphasize deposits, thereby intensifying competition for deposit products.


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Would be cool to have a cryptography system where you can load values from a file into a texture on a OPENGL surface and apply different filters/transformations to the surface to generate a new image. The final image is the encrypted/decrypted file. Since modern GPU's have multiple pixel pipelines theoretically you can encrypt/decrypt messages quite fast. Kind of curious if the output image would be different from card to card (do to the way the OPENGL are implemented in the drivers). I believe people have already done something similar when generating rainbow tables. Just an idea for a crackme =).
Edit: Looks like if you google gpu crpytography you can find some cool papers.


text:
Business Development Artist (DMB06)
The PowerVR Business Development team is looking for an enthusiastic team member to help showcase the impressive capabilities of the PowerVR MBX and SGX families of mobile graphics IP cores. This role focuses on the creation of artwork for impressive 3D graphics demonstrations which will be experienced by a large audience including semiconductor vendors, OEMs, game publishers / developers and millions of mobile device users.
Key Responsibilities
* Creation of artwork for game-like and technical 3D demonstrations
* All-round artist including: Initial concept development, 3D Modelling (high and low polygon counts), Animation, Texturing, Scene and Camera Work
* Capable of starting from existing 3D artwork
* Consultancy work for marketing collateral
* Provide feedback on future tool and hardware development from the 3D artist point of view
* Join the team and be immediately productive, adding value beyond pure content creation
* Extensive practical knowledge of 2D (Photoshop) and 3D (3DSMax and Maya)
* Excellent creative skills and inspiration for the rest of the team
* 'Can do' attitude, self starter and hard working
* Ability to communicate well and work closely with 3D engine programmers
* Ability to create stunning visual results within the limits imposed by mobile platforms
* Online portfolio
* Extensive experience and proven ability in games industry
* Ideally having worked on one or more game projects
* Experience with DX9 and/or OpenGL 2.0 Vertex and Pixels Shaders
Apply for this position now firstname.lastname@example.com
For more information check the
Kristof Beets
PowerVR 3rd Party Relations Manager
Business Development Group
Imagination Technologies


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Your last ebook:
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Total ebooks on site: about 25000
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Stella Benson (1892–1933) was an English feminist, travel writer, and novelist....
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Ebooks of Benson, Stella (free download and read):


text: With news that Studio Ghibli is winding down production, this intimate, all-access study of the animation giant's tranquil inner sanctum assumes an additional charge: future generations may be as grateful for its footage of Hayao Miyazaki sketching as we now are of early Beatles Super 8 films. Like much of the studio's best work, Kingdom takes the form of a measured, wistful leave-taking – a guided farewell tour. Miyazaki roams the ateliers in his craft apron, trying to pass on 20th-century etiquette to the kids inking The Wind Rises' fuselage; outside, blossom falls and commercial pressures mount, oblivious to the exacting, time-intensive work required to conjure such committed images from scratch.("Most of our world is rubbish," sighs Miyazaki, making any number of recent digimations blush.) From its reflective female voiceover to the Ghibli cat's frequent cameos, it's as idiosyncratic, heartfelt and moving as anything to have emerged from the studio's gates.