Louisville regional was challenging;
I was shaking so bad when I went into time during the tiebreaker game that both halves of my deck were falling all over trying to shuffle!
Definitely had good moments laughing, and struggling, with new and familiar faces.
Zoro Blaziken ex. Record: 1-5-1
(like the Pokemon card set!)
📝 Additional Info: Gotham Greens, Bright Farms and Little Leaf are all tested safe because they're greenhouse grown and have their own water filtration system.
Justin Newdorf getting DPL for "pace of play" is so infuriating.
You're not allowed to think while playing Pokemon?!
If the penalty is going to be severe, at least give a defined time limit, like 2 minutes.
@GrittyNHL@strangerwriters why did every single clue point to nothing?
why did Will mention Melvald's milkshakes???
Why reference Truman Show aesthetically but not the plot in any way?
1. Vecna actually using Will as a spy.
2. The group defeating the Mind Flayer in mist/particle form.
3. Have the events in episodes 5-8 replay somehow like in Truman Show, which apparently was inspiration for Season 5
The ultimate answer to what happened to Will and the proof that in Episode 7 he is possessed by Vecna:
Let’s go back to EP5 at first, after the MAC-Z scene and Will becoming a sorcerer, Mike keeps calling Will a sorcerer, right? And it matters, because Mike is the ONLY person who literally yells at others when they call Will a wizard instead. That name matters to Mike the most and Will ALWAYS agrees with him as he also says he is just siphoning Vecna’s powers.
Then we get to “Shock Jock”, the plan fails, and Will is possessed again. When Will wakes up, he suddenly starts questioning himself. He thinks he failed, that he isn’t powerful, that he “never stood a chance”. At the same time, the very first scene with Will in episode 7 literally starts with the flashback: “You are going to be my spy one last time.” They say it STRAIGHT TO OUR FACES - this is no longer really Will. He is already flayed.
Vecna revealed to Will that it was Will who built the tunnels. Why would Vecna choose this moment to tell Will that he is the “builder”? What does that change now? It serves only one purpose: to make Will feel guilty. Will starts blaming himself, believing everything is his fault and that is a clear sign of Vecna’s curse. Vecna’s victims always feel OVERWHELMING GUILT - that’s how he gets inside their minds.
Will also starts saying that many people died because of him, which simply isn’t true. This kind of thinking doesn’t come from Will - it’s Vecna’s curse already working on him.
One of the biggest proofs is the scene with Max. She tells him directly, “And you became a sorcerer,” and Will suddenly responds that “i’m not really a sorcerer”. Why this sudden change of mind? Because it isn’t Will speaking it’s VECNA. Vecna has invaded Will’s mind so deeply that Will no longer believes he’s a sorcerer, even though earlier he clearly did.
There’s also the connection to Mike. Mike consistently calls Will a sorcerer, so Vecna’s first step is to make Will stop believing what the love of his life believes about him. Will suddenly rejects the idea of being a sorcerer - that’s the first crack in the bond between Mike and Will, just like what happened with Henry and Patty in The First Shadow.
Then Vecna pushes Will to come out and downplay his feelings for Mike as “just a crush,” reducing this deep, powerful connection built over 10 years into something small and already over in Will’s mind. Vecna needs Will broken in order to win and he succeeds. Will no longer believes in anything he believed at the beginning of the season.
The only thing that can bring Will back is actually the very thing Vecna wants to destroy the most: Will’s love for Mike, which is unbreakable no matter what Vecna tries.