Mastin

Thought I'd make one of these eventually.

Join Date

October 8th, 2008. What's hilarious is that, back when there were only ten months, October was the eighth, and if we still had only ten months, the join date would've been 8/8/08 (It is common knowledge that Oct is eight). Well, we have twelve, so, ah, well. I missed by a little. No offense was taken to August, and Certainly Not July (the month my birthday is in), for throwing me off by two months. :P

EDIT: An anonymous commenter would like to point out that if there are ten months, each month would have roughly 35-37 days in it, which would mean that October 8th would fall on a different day than the one that is referred to here.

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Response to that Edit: Don't ruin the joke by explaining why it isn't correct. >_< It's not a case of DidNotDoTheResearch, but rather, a case of "F*CENSORED* the Facts; I don't care" :P --People really don't care about accuracy. Doesn't matter if it's a good action scene or a terrible joke.

First "Real" Game

My join date was 10/8/08. I joined wanting to prepare for games on the Battleon Forums, and that's what Newbie 688 was--but I SUCKED. Only when Newbie 688 ended did I come back. (I have [well, had. I'm doubting it, now.] a personal belief that those who flake/replace out of a game yet remain on site are more likely to be scum if no explanation is given. If they do give an explanation, sure, not scummy, if they don't...)

When I came back, it was my first rebirth. I need to track down the exact date, so that I can post it here.

EDIT: Found it, finally. Thursday Feb 19, 2009, I replaced into Newbie 735. I had come back a couple days earlier, I believe, but that's the moment I started playing.

The Comeback

After a long Hiatus, I started playing again on Thursday, October 28th, 2010. So, I basically have a "Rebirth", a second "First 'Real' Game". ;)

Edit: Unfortunately, vacation ruined that, and I was regrettably replaced. (I. Hate. Vacations.)

Ah, well. I did play other games after that which I can be proud of. :)

Anyway, With that out of the way, let's get on to more details.

Game Facts About Me

• I am mostly self-taught from reading the wiki. (FLAKE EDIT: Well, was originally. I also learned from Mafia 1 on the Battleon Forums, and from EpicMafia. Now, I have dozens of games worth of experience, although unlike most people who get better with time, I was degrading and getting worse.)

• While I like to think that I've got all the fallacies/gambits/theories/tells memorized, this is far from the case, as I will very, very oftenly forget common knowledge. The bodyguard/chainsaw defense, for example, I forgot a key fact about, which--contrary to the speculation against me--was an honest mistake, a bad one which (eventually) forced me (well, at least, it was ONE of the factors; there were several others) to claim as cop. (742)

• In my free time, I practice on epicmafia (from replacing out of 688 to replacing into 735, this was my only other source of being taught besides spectating a few games here and there in mafiascum.net, although, now I have experience from completed games), a flash-mafia site where games go quickly. I like to use my pure logic to lead my side to victory, going off of scum tells, etc. See playstyle. (Assuming I am amongst smart players, it works, for the most part.) (FLAKE EDIT: Okay. So I learned to use far more gut as I went along. And my posts had VERY little "logic" in them--at the TIME, though, I THOUGHT they were logical. It was bad, irrational, extremely unconventional logic which might be an insult to that very word. But at the time, I considered it sound.)

• However, people love to lynch me in every game I participate in. See playstyle. (FLAKE NOTES: This got worse over time. Inventor Mafia was the first time I was lynched as a pro-town role. It would not be the last. It set off a chain-reaction of suck.)

• And night kill me when I'm not mafia. There's a 30% chance that if I don't die n1 in a game where half the players know me, I'm mafia. There is a 30% chance that I was protected, and a 40% chance that they are going to try and frame me for not dieing. (FLAKE NOTES: This WAS true near the beginning of my career on MS.net. I often got night-killed. Not so much later on. There were a few times, but not nearly as much as originally.)

• The above three points apply to epicmafia mainly, as I have not played in enough games to determine whether or not it is true for me here as well. However, at least being night-killed applies. See below.

• I am confirming I am a popular night kill--In MANY games, I've been the night-kill soon after I join. In 763, I was the night kill n1, and there are many others of this nature. :/ (EDIT: ...When I am actually playing well. When I suck, they'd be rather suicidal to nightkill me. :P)

Favorite Games

Just a section I thought I'd add in. I've read a lot of games. I've played in something like two or three dozen, on here. Naturally, it figures I'd have a few favorites.

Games As A Spectator

• Stars Aligned II. I like that game.

• • Which reminds me, I need to read Stars Aligned III.

• Mind Screw 4. Being a writer, nothing truly surprises me. I'm a conspiracy theorist, so I love cracking into games like this. When I truly see a twist I was not expecting, it's interesting, to me. This game had a few.

• Mini 847--Murder in Zachtown. Why WOULDN'T I love this game? ;) Netopalis (a logical player), DTMaster (his sig is jokingly having him called a Mastin-alt), Nikanor (I played in Nik's first game), Haylen (ALWAYS fun to play with), Maemuki, Battle Mage (Oh, heck yes! Fun fact: early on, I was asked if I was a Battle Mage alt. :P I love his posts; they're a huge amount of fun, and he's actually a darn-good player, overall. Need I say more? He's pretty much one of my favorite players of all time. ;) ), Jason (played with him a few times), Sotty7 (a good player), KittyMo (seen Kitty from time to time)/DebDanDi (seen on occasion), and--of course--Vi! (Who doesn't like playing with Vi? Vi's a player I have a huge amount of respect for being a really talented scum hunter, and overall amazing player.) I mean, with players like that, it has to be an interesting game! I must've read parts of it dozens of times. :)

So many familiar faces in it, and it's a great laugh. For example, Nikanor's gut activating on poor-grammar people. I know why, and it's one word: ConsonantM. :P Another thing which made me laugh in that game is that Jason hates me, Mastin, and people like me...

...And then, acts EXACTLY as I would. Long posts, ranting and rambling with very little content, and then OMGUS'ing both BM and Hito, the two largest advocates of his lynch, pushing cases against both rather hard. Not to mention, the occasional lurking, and nonsensical logic employed (when 'drunk'). Sound familiar? :P

My thoughts on the game: Early on, I thought Hayl was scum (Zach only listed the first three deaths, and I didn't skip ahead ever to cheat), because her meta seemed pretty much identical to her scum meta in the game that I modded. But I was like, "Nah...this was a long time after that! Surely, she's gotten better than that..." :P I was more suspicious of Mae than of Hayl. Sotty I didn't read as scum, until someone (likely, BM) mentioned that fearing the no-lynch on day one was a scum-tell. Sotty fit, but I put it in the back of my mind. I knew Vi was scum, due to me having a meta on both playerslots as town and it matching neither. ;) Who did I think was the third scum? Not sure. I knew Kitty/DD wasn't, but didn't know the other Mason. BM was obvtown to me. When Sotty pointed out Jason's meta, I knew he was town, too. The person I believe I thought was scum was Nikanor, making it Nik, Vi, and Mae/Hayl. The case on Mae was better.

Of course, this is written a year after the game was over, so you have no way of knowing that I'm not cheating beyond my word, but this is my honest opinion of how the game went. :)

Win-Loss Ratio

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced Out or Flaked/Tie/Abandoned

Town/5/1.

Mafia/0/0/1/0/0 (BINARY! :P)

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Dunno when that was, but I sure need to update it.

It's going to be tough to do, what with the whole archive thing and all. Not to mention, my alt account games. You can look below to get a general idea of how things went. (Well at first, not so much later on...)

Ratios On Other Sites

Not very impressive. I wish they didn't let games die. As a player, the mods left me. As a mod, I failed to get the players needed to start my own game of mafia, despite it being a relatively fun game, in my opinion. However, they are part of my mafia history, hence, I feel the need to include them here.

UCAG

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced Out/Tie/Abandoned

Town/0/0/0/0/2

Mafia. (All Zeros)

I need better mods for my UCAG games.

Epic Mafia

These stats are for my main account. Alts have been excluded.

Win/Loss

147/196

It's hard to get a better win ratio, due to players there believing logic is a scum tell. >_>

Playstyle

I'm aggressive. I pursue my targets with a vengeance and give every scrap of logic pointing to them being guilty. (FLAKE NOTES: Though what I called "Logic" might not have been the best wording... :P) Nowadays, I will also point out the defense of the player I am attacking, as to not do so apparently makes me scummy.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't, however, tunnel vision, despite what has been stated about me (and even if I did, my experience is that townies tunnel vision more often than scum). I do it on all players (assuming I have the time to do so). And to the *insert number of mafia in said game here, possibly +1* players who respond poorly in comparison to the others, they earn my vote and FoS on those I can't vote. (FLAKE NOTES: Okay, at the time I said this, it was true. Later on, yeah, I did flat-out tunnel. :/)

My aggressive style, however, has been bashed against the rocks so many times, it is unbelievable. It is inheritantly scummy, apparently, to give my logic and vote on it. (FLAKE NOTES: More like inheritently scummy to be increasingly irrational. Now, I don't think it's a scum-tell, but it does look bad. Also, walls of text and dissecting don't help much, either.) This often results in a wall of text (both in my defense, and attacks on others), as when I gather loads of evidence, I really gather loads of evidence. Many dislike my playstyle, and when I am town (on epicmafia, at least), I am honestly surprised to see my name among the living...well, every day. I expect to be night killed, and probably am only not nightkilled because the scum want to set up my lynch, citing my natural playstyle as loads of scum tells, one after another.

I think that scum on epicmafia, at least, nightkill me partially just to see how I nailed them and was angry at the town for not seeing what I do. :P (Due to Bleach Mafia, this might apply to mafiascum.net in the future, though)

Largest influences

My largest playstyle influences come from Newbie 688. The belief of lynching a bad townie would be acceptable to teach them not to be scummy I inherited from mrfixij (this has somewhat changed recently). Going off of logic and reasoning, I've always done, but both Moses le fou, Battle Mage, and Alduskkel influenced that. Going off of my instinct is something CF_Riot and springlullaby influenced me with, but I still stick with logic first above all others. As for my huge walls of text, all of the above players are to blame for that. A two-month day one that lasts twenty-five pages should give you an idea of why my posts are so long.

Ha, trying to shift the blame onto the players of Newbie 688? No Mastin, I'm quite sure you developed your habit of posting walls on your own. -Alduskkel

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Lol. Okay, maybe they didn't flat-out cause the walls of text, but instead of quote pyramids (illegal on the site I come from, the battleon forums), I decided to go for Dissecting posts instead, which makes them far longer than any quote pyramid would.

Anyway, more recent influences are people like Albert B. Rampage. His short posts have done an equally powerful job of scum hunting as my novellas. He's encouraged me to, well, be shorter in my posts. (FLAKE NOTES: Of course, a few games later, I was back to my old bad habits. >_<) Now, when I replace into a game, if I remember to do so, I'll ask the players if they want me to do a short-version-short or huge gigantic novels. He's also fueled my aggressive side.

My Legacy

Who knew it was possible to become famous so quickly? (FLAKE NOTES: I still don't know if it's possible to become famous rather quickly. However, I DO know it's possible to become INfamous rather rapidly. Like, in only a few games being remembered forever as the worst scourge ever seen on MS.net, infamous. :P) I sure didn't. For my huge walls of text (Newbie 742 is where the walls of text name I use for the most part was introduced; it is other players who call my posts Mastin-sized), my name--at least in one of the games I am playing in--has come to have a meaning along these lines. You see, I started the game out with a supper massive black h--errm, I mean, super massive post that was over thirty pages in Microsoft Word. I then made another long post, and a few more. Soon enough, people in that game started calling posts "Mastin-sized". So the term loosely means "Any post of insanely long lengths". JoeCool360 is the first to have used the adjective form of the word, Mastinity. Alduskkel created two in one post, Mastin-ish, meaning resembling a post of insanely long lengths, and Mastinian, which, umm, I can't put a meaning on. :/

(FLAKE NOTES: Of course, later on, this term was expanded. It became more well-known for dissecting posts, chopping up sentences as small as I could. Another common term for it includes self-voting. And another, scum claiming. Yet another is irrational, illogical, extremely suicidal posts, and I've become well-known for being mentioned as a policy vote/lynch. EDIT: Another one I recently found was "Mastin Syndrome"--which is replacing into too many games at once. Porochaz used this one.)

(Note: My Legacy is mainly due to reasons given in the Playstyle section of this page, but has expanded to include so much as to be separate from Playstyle)

Signatures

I like sigs. This is what my sigs have said.

• 1:

Current MS Record:

Side/Win/Loss/Replaced

Town/3/1/0

Mafia/0/0/1

Total 6

UCAG: I hate modkilled games

Epic Mafia Wins/Loss: ~147/196

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

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It's a little outdated, but I update it every once and a while. When I think of more things I want in my sig (as it's near the character limit), the record will be dropped, though I'll keep Albert B. Rampage's quote.

• 2:

"Holy sh**, you guys just started yesterday and already 11 pages! Mastin must be behind this" -Kise

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

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Sooo many good possibilities for quotes in my sig...

Post-retirement

After I became indefinitely V/LA, my signature I decided was in need of updating. So, I changed it somewhat:

Unforseeable circumstances have rendered me involuntarily and unexpectedly V/LA, indefinitely.

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy." -Albert

To this day, that has not changed. I am trapped, unable to come to a place which made me realize...just how great of a failure I am.

However, I think it should change. I can't come, 'cept Tuesdays and Every Other Thursday from 6:20 to 7 PM, and during Vacation time (like now, Christmas). But maybe I never should've come back, for it made me see certain elements about me, more than just my failure in games--WORSE. And so, the Albert quote which had served me for so long is gone, for my current sig:

Funny, how only after you've done the deed and there's no undoing it, that you'll somehow always end up regretting it. I spend my time here searching my name, with new results every day. Despite permanently being V/LA, I'm infamous.

--Which keeps the note on how I can never play another mafia game due to V/LA, yet also emphasizes how I've realized what I've done. It is not a good picture, a picture of myself I'll never be able to erase. And I'll have one heck of a hard time starting again. (Yes, I am a Linkin Park fan. :P)

My name has come up in many various different ways. Some, I'm just a footnote for an experience in a game (that's alright, happens all the time). Sometimes, I'm pretty much defined as "self voting"-at least, in the RVS. Sometimes, people will refer to long walls as being me-That's actually not that bad, because text walls aren't bad per se. But there's far more than that, things I'm not going to mention on my wiki page because they hurt. Were they insulting to me? No. The players might've been flat-out insulting me, but I took no offense. Doesn't mean I'm not immune to mental scarring. What they were saying was the TRUTH, and the truth HURTS.

So, I'm famous. But it's a bad fame. The infamy kind of fame, one which I can never remove. After I flaked, I KNEW how bad it was, yes, I did. My eyes were opened to just how bad my actions had been. But they had been closed to what I had left behind until I returned, and saw just how much...how it'll be impossible to forget my name, now.

SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE: (...That's how often I can get on: twice a year, during my two vacations.) Well, it's gotten better. My name still comes up, from time to time, but pretty much it's well over half of what it once was. Most of my mentions are of games where people have played with me--they use me as an example. Only around half of them are bad examples, and not THAT bad. Of those, many are in fact mentioning the walls-of-text. Which isn't THAT terrible--I mean, people did it before I came, and after I left. I just did it all the time. Still, though, there are the occasional mentions of dissecting posts, as well as my RVS tendencies. And, of those mentions, most are far earlier in the game, and the only reason they're so recent is because the game's still going on or just recently ended--meaning, that it was actually months ago that they posted what they said about me. Overall, I'm actually kinda glad my name's faded away. I believe I said it elsewhere, but to me, it's far better to fade into nothingness, to disappear, to have been a nobody, than to be remembered for all time for bad things.

My Return

I have a new signature.

I'm back! Well, kind-of. No Access on Weekends. :/

Short and concise. Probably the last thing you'd see coming from looking at my wiki article. :P

Got a new one, slightly updated.

I'm back! Well, kind-of. No Access on Weekends. :/

Advid reader/contributor to MD, as I'm far better in theory than I am in reality. :P

This references the fact that I know all my flaws, and so, should be able to correct them...in theory. In reality, I'm still working on it. :P It also references how I'm a good teacher (I know my stuff fairly well, in theory), but a--quite frankly--awful player. More than that, it also references how I'm often reading a lot of MD stuff, and actively posting there. Not to mention, how I have planned articles and work quite a bit with theory. In my time away from the site, my unique perspective gives me a lot of things I have theorized. But all of it is quite worthless when put into practice, right now.

Hopefully, eventually, I'll improve in reality as I have in theory, but that takes time.

Title Suggestions

I have been nominated for several different titles, and have rather the list of my own which I can name myself that could be used. However, these are my favorites of the ones listed so far:

• Paperback Writer (Kublai Khan).

Reasoning: "For his excessively long-winded posts. Search any one of his games for proof." <--It's true, for the most part. While I'm holding back, nowadays, I am known for long posts, and part of the reasoning for it is that I write novels in my spare time.

• Unabridged (Xylthixlm said it originally, Seraphim made it official [which I consider a second], and DrippingGoofball made an official second, which I consider a third. Kublai Khan dropped the hammer on this choice being the clear leader).

Reasoning: None given. <--The title suggestion made me laugh. It didn't need a reason. But I like it. Unabridged reflects my unlimited post length--and I think this is actually not a bad thing. It's alright to have a post of any length, really. If it's too long, I can give a shortened version. (I HATE shortened versions. I hate abridging my work. But having an abridged version which people will read and not complain about...is better than having a long wall which nobody will.) It's a suiting title, and I can't wait to receive it. :)

EDIT: I finally have my title, by the way. To this day, I feel it still holds true. In games, I MIGHT be able to show the restriction to abridge my posts, but by nature, I'm a rambler, going on and on and on...add to that, my obsessive nature, over the smallest of unimportant things, and you've got someone who posts walls of mostly-irrelevent information. It's a bad habit. I won't know if it can be suppressed 'til I play a new game, so, yeah, Unabridged I am! ;)

• Stylish. After I admitted my mistakes, animorpherv1 made this title suggestion, and VPBaltar seconded it. However, I denied this title. I don't think I'd be worthy of something like that. I certainly have a unique sense of style, and I did take a good step towards fixing my mistakes, in that I admitted them, but a title just for me basically...complaining about just how much a miserable failure I've been? A title for me masochistically whining about just how many mistakes I've made? No. We're not supposed to give titles rewarding bad things. I felt honored by the suggestion, but don't feel myself worthy.

My Own

• Sir Suicidal Scum Slayer, SuperSized.

It's so many levels of awesome.

Sir references my honor in games. I never lie about, say, game mechanics or beliefs. I never lie about role (with the exception of Newbie Games as scum, where, well, I pretty much *have* to claim a power role or die), etc.

Suicidal references my extremely (admittedly) anti-town playstyle, as well as referencing how many times I've been night-killed. I commit suicide, via catching scum, because they end up killing me. :P

Scum Slayer references the fact that I have a *really* good record at catching scum.

Sir Scum Slayer itself is what my occupation is listed as, anyway.

SuperSized references two things: The fact that I am in *many* games and manage to catch scum in almost all of them (Supersizing my scum slaying ability), and also references the fact that I like really, really, *really* long posts. ;)

The who thing put together makes a very long title, further referencing my posting length, *and* pays homage to my writing skills, via the alliteration involved. Move aside, Unabridged. You just got pwned. :P

Let's recap: Put together, it references...

• • Honor

• • Anti-town playstyle

• • Amount of NK's

• • • (As well as lynches. <_<)

• • My good scum catching record

• • Pays Homage to my current profile Occupation

• • References the fact that I am in many games

• • References my origins as a writer, via alliteration

• • And references my posting length.

You can't ask for much more than that. :P

• Snowflake--Really. Search this page for the word "Flake" and see how many times it comes up. It'll certainly be more than almost anything else. :P

I also am posting most of these 'Flake Notes' during my Christmas Break, y'know, in the Winter and all that? Hence, Snow (time of year) Flake (what I seem to say most often). :P This is, of course, written after I've flaked, so it is a FLAKE NOTE. :P

Famous Quotes

The ones that make me laugh. (Note: Some quotes might be combined, while others abridged)

"If television makes your brain lazy, reading Mastin's posts will give you mind atrophy."

---Albert B. Rampage, Newbie 763. He was rather annoyed at my long posts that seemed rather contentless in his mind. I disagree, but apparently, that's just me. (Further evidence of how I'm a writer: The word before both commas and the period in those sentences rhyme. :P)

"Mastin killed Night 1, was always the plan. He seems way too competent a player to be left hanging around."

---Battle Mage explaining his gameplan as scum (763 as well). Considering other players' view of me in the game, this was a hilarious comment to me, as well as a compliment. But, really, what on earth makes me so night-killable? The fact that I'm unlynchable thusfar? :/

"Mastin talks. A lot. Without saying much. I'll probably kill him just for *content censored*. And giggles. Oh, and because he suspects me even though I *content censored* steam rolled sera-scum into a lynch. That irks me. Really, really does."

---Green Crayons, in his monologue for who he plans to kill (Bleach Mafia). I took offense, but it made me laugh.

"OhGodMyLife wrote: Mastin replaces Giuseppe. Thanks, and welcome to the game Mastin!

OH *censored for content* NOT THIS GUY. I just hope he doesn't scare anyone off the site!! LOL"

---Albert, again, this time in Bleach Mafia. (Mini 760) Really, they just night-kill me, honest. :P

"I am among the folks who scrolled past all of Mastin's posts, lol. The excessive quote -->comment --> quote --> comment --> quote --> comment that just drove me NUTS."

---Phaen, a spectator to 763. Sheesh, really, what's so bad about my posts? :/

"My God.

Unvote, vote Mastin

Either we lynch him, he reduces his post length, or I ask for a replacement. "

---Albert, earlier on in 763. Seriously, I'm not that bad. Surely, there's worse out there...

No, there isn't ---Amished

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Lol.

Gems of MS.net

Mentions in other games that I'm not playing (...yet. :P)

"I can pad my posts with as much shit as I want. It's not a scumtell, unfortunately. Ever play with Mastin before?"

---Seraphim. My posts are filled with content, Seraph! Long, but filled with content. <_<

"Ether should play with Mastin.

And I think dank is a fink for preferring to play with Mastin than this "exploded" game. 4 pages? hah. "

---Phoebus. Can I interpret that as a compliment? XP

"I don't get how people like Goat and Mastin can say so much. "

---Xtoxm. It's in my nature. I'm writing a rant about it, actually. You'll see it eventually.

"Self-voting in RVS is anti-town because it robs the town of some potential connections; c.f. dice rolling and OMGUS in RVS. Any attempt to reduce the amount of information you're giving in the early game is scummy, because only scum have a motive for it. That said, silly townies do sometimes make these hilarious japes, not realizing the anti-town nature of what they're doing. It would be much better if they would realize they're going to get heat for their anti-town actions and resist the urge.

For what it's worth, I don't agree that it's a universal scum tell in that it applies across all possible metas. The obvious counter-example is that unfortunate fellow who always self votes at the start of the game (e.g., Mastin). "

---ekiM. I have to disagree with the fact that it's anti-town. It gets discussion going. It gets scum hunting done. It'd worked wonders in the past, and snaps us out of the random voting stage. I'll never stop doing it, ekiM. ;)

SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE--FLAKE NOTES: Oops, turns out I DID stop. :P Ah, well. I still believe what I said, but I respect that most people do not and that it is a controversial tactic best left unused.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Did you know I currently have 111+ pages if you search for my name? Know how many of those are things I actually played in? Not a lot. And this is AFTER the move to the new forum, meaning most of the older ones are on the old forum. Many are linking to my Insane Tells, which I need to update some time. (Some of them do have some backing I find actually valid. [Call it the kernel of truth in a myth. :P] I just need to emphasize that they often aren't, like many things on the wiki, up to date.) I had to go back 14 pages to find a game example which was one I actually played in. So, obviously, there are a LOT of quotes involving me. ;)

EDIT: Obviously has increased quite significantly, now that I'm here more often than I used to be.

The Compliment Quotes

A bit hard to judge, but roughly ordered from most to least valuable, to me.

"@Mastin: Good call on Kronos & jeffcole1 at the beginning. You bascially had the game called. Next time you're cop though, don't push the case so hard (especially don't make up stuff), play it subtle. You did drop some cop-tells, but I had thought you had investigated Caleb as innocent. "

---Kublai Khan, 742. Complimenting me on my scum hunting abilities, criticizing my playstyle as the cop (which I find fine)

"I think Mastin made many of the right objections and comments in response to my defense."

--Andrigan, 735, commenting on my playstyle.

"I think the main reason the town won this game came down to Mastin making a good choice of investigation on N1. Not so much that he hit scum (though obviously, that helped), but that he did not make the dumb choice of investigating Caleb that I think many people would do.

Having found himself a guilty, Mastin was in a tough situation for D2. Normally, I'd advocate a cop claiming as soon as they get a guilty (maybe not in a large game, but certainly in a newbie), but with D1 pretty much wasted, the town really needed to get some conversation on D2 to catch the partner, so holding back was the right thing to do. But overall, your method worked well enough, and I have to say, I was truly impressed when you were onto both the scum on Page 2. I've never seen anyone get on completely the right track that quickly before. "

--iamausername, the mod of 742, complimenting me.

"Mastin, I think it's time to retire the last-to-confirm scumtell. You got killed for being on the right track on SisterCoyote, and for being troubling for scum to leave in the game. "

---Mikek under the name ekiM, 763. 'Compliment' noted.

"<3 Mastin

You're going to counterbalance PhilyEc perfectly. For every question PhilyEc asks, Mastin will provide five answers! No, six!! "

---Albert complimenting me, Mini 760 (Bleach Mafia).

" I looked fairly suspicious of Mastin for most of day 3, and I was, and if he had messed up that claim things might have turned out differently. "

---Scien, 735, explaining why I had been scummy, yet I did things well.

"Mastin: Well played as well. When Scien asked for your previous investigation, I was prepared to be suspicious of pretty much anything you said because it was all so predictable... until you said that you didn't get a result at all, which was the most believable scenario considering deadline's level of participation."

---Dourgrim, yup, 735.

"BTW mastin even though I felt you were anti town in your posting style and easy accusations you were also a valuable player by giving many different points of view and still being open minded after an accusation."

---Ivanavich, 763.

"I wanna congratulate Mastin for his awesome cop play."

---Alexhans, yeah, 735.

"MASTIN your cop claim was perfectly timed. I think you do tunnel (the danger of being a cop). I won't fall for that again. Tunnel like that again and I will NK you as mafia because you will be clear cop!"

---Kieraen, also 735. A further compliment of my play as cop. I got a lot of compliments for my play that game.

"Our game started pretty quick because we had active posters and aggressive players *cough* Mastin *cough*"

---Fallen Angel talking about the speed of 763.

"I didn't know what to think of Mastin."

---Also Fallen Angel, commenting on my playstyle.

I am not a Mastin Alt!

Obviously. :P I DO have an alt, but that alt hasn't played in many games and is fairly well-known as my alt, due to me accidentally posting as my main and the mod refusing to delete the post. >_<

However, I have gotten such a reputation around MS that many players have been accused of being my alt. They are so numerous (see above, with how many things I'm known for) that it's impossible for me to list them all. I'd have to spend weeks tracking them all down. (I have nothing against people adding examples in, though, so long as they mark who they are and preferably give me a link so I can see for myself.) One of them that will frequently show up is DTMaster's conversation with Nikanor currently in his signature. (No, I am not DTMaster. I could've sworn I have at least one game with him which proves I'm not.)

You're All Mastin Alts!

I think this line has been spoken multiple times. I know Nikanor said it in Newbie 800, and I think Haylen said it in another game, too. However, I'm not sure how often this one comes up. It does occasionally come up, though. If someone shouts this, it's almost universally a sign that people are 1: posting too many walls, 2: posting too frequently, or 3: both. :P

As with the above, feel free to add in examples, so long as you 1: tell me who you are, and 2: preferably who said it, where. (Links are great, too.)

"Are you a *insertnamehere* alt, Mastin?

Interesting note is that while--nowadays--people ask if someone's a Mastin Alt, it used to be the other way around. For example, (I don't remember which game it was, sadly) I was once accused of being an alt of Battle Mage. (I can understand why. :P) If anyone can track these down, it'd be nice.

Games completed

Reverse-chronological order:

NOTE: Anything without 'Flake Notes' which contains a link might have the link not work properly. I haven't tested them, after all.

SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE--FLAKE NOTES: Okay, the old games were archived, so now, pretty much none of the links will work. Yay, archives! >_>

I don't think I ever quite finished making my list. I got to some of the ongoing games, but I don't think I got them all. Now, I'd not only have to fix the links of the old ones, but I'd ALSO have to search rather thoroughly through both the archive and current website, to see if I could find any games I'm missing. I believe I already have all the "good games" of mine here, already, so why add anything more when I can just say to take my word for it that I sucked? :P

(NOTE: I have an old notepad file, which said I needed Soul Society, Phables Deathnote, Stars Aligned I, MtG Parallel Universe Tar's Subgame, Open 155 Jungle, Large 92, Large 96 Emerald, Large 98 Apennine, and Newbie 804.)

• Mini 808--Rabbit Doubt Mafia. A flaked game.

My predecessor started out as a vanilla townie, although I ended up as a flavor cop. I didn't do nearly as well as I would've liked to have done this game. For one, I had a scumdar which was WAY off for the most part. I didn't use my abilities as I should have, I missed KMD's response to my breadcrumb, etc. Not to mention, I was purposefully talking half-heartedly, kinda like I did in Nightless Vanilla. I was NOT doing well, to say the least. However, this time, I *believe* it was intentional simply because I wanted to lay low as a cop. I flaked, so that didn't happen, but I got night-killed before a replacement could be found, same as Soul Society where I--despite not being present--got endgamed. I count it as a failure.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11675

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE--FLAKE NOTES: Well, here's something. I remember something now that I didn't at the time. I investigated KMD--and flaked that day. I came back--one year ago--and told Zaz that I needed a replacement--but it was night. And--being a cop--I knew that my ability would probably be wasted should a new day start before a replacement could be found. Without having read a single word since I left, I chose a name to be investigated SHOULD A REPLACEMENT FOR ME NOT BE FOUND IN TIME. Well, one wasn't. Come Day 3, I still needed replacement, but the day ended before one could be found. Turns out it didn't matter; they killed me (the flakee) for some odd reason. (I don't know why, exactly--I had flaked, my scumdar was way off, my breadcrumbs were subtle enough to make them not really care, etc. Did they fear a replacement for me would actually be competent? I dunno. Maybe they just thought they'd get rid of an inactive player? :/)

• Open 131--Nightless Vanilla.

Townie, obviously. This was another game which I never really got into. I had TEN other games going on at the same time; what would you do if your style involved hours per game via posting walls of text and extensive reading? Probably learn the lesson and stop. Nope, not me. At my peak, I was in fifteen games at any given time, and that was far, FAR too many. I got WC as scum, but was voting Hewitt almost the entire time due to seeing the two as scumbuddies. I SUCKED. Really, really badly, worse than in 141. And that should say something. Technically would fit into my 'flake' category, as the game was still going when I flaked, but due to my low activity, I was probably going to be replaced, anyway.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10967

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Boost Mafia 2.

Mafia Cop. I'd rather not talk about just how much of a failure this was on my part. It was, let's just leave it at that, please. I don't want to talk about it.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1750204

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mini 778--Inventor Mafia.

Oh, boy. How miserably I failed...to say the least. This game was full of tunnel visioning, arrogance, walls of text, and fluff. I was hammered JUST as I was working on my case, because I was posting what I had gotten so far, but it wasn't enough and was mostly fluff due to, y'know, NOT HAVING FINISHED IT. >_< This game was yet another example of why lurking, active, passive, whatever, is NOT a scumtell from me. I did it equally as scum and town. This game was an all-around disaster, to say the least.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11294

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mini 822--Bleach Mafia Soul Society. A flaked game.

Townie, I suppose. Because I had become far more erratic since my last Bleach game, my antics were far more poorly received than last time. I flaked at the end of day one, but the mod couldn't get a replacement for me before the game ended. Needless to say, this was NOT one of my prouder moments. In fact, this was about as low as I ever sunk, really. It showed just how badly I had done.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1866546

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Mean Mod Lovefest.

Vigilante. Although I first thought I was a serial killer, and then, after my first few posts, I realized I wasn't. Then I went on thinking I was a death-miller of sorts that would show up as a serial killer upon lynching, even though my win condition clearly said that I won with the town. And I was V/LA, so I didn't get to send in a single kill. Naturally, this VERY bad combination left me as a rather exposed target, ESPECIALLY with my incredibly anti-town playstyle. By this time, it had fully flourished into the grand infamous work I have become well-known for. Surprisingly, though...I don't count this game as a failure. I misread Tajo/Random as scum, ESPECIALLY with them defending each other (justified, in that they were lovers, and Lovers tend to do that. How was I supposed to know? <_<), but I had a VERY strong townread on BC, and rather than letting him be lynched (he appeared to be heading that way), I willingly put MYSELF in his place. I also was getting close to a scumread on Kai, and on day one, I'm fairly certain I was going hard against Ash as well. I had a town-read on Crazy, too. I was definitely thinking that Syke was town due to BC, although the possibility of a godfather was still there. In other words...well, for the most part, I got my suspicions correct. So, while not my best, it wasn't a failure, either.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11819

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Newbie 748--OhGodMyHamlet.

Mafia Goon. Man, I wanted to win this game so much. Early-on, I was giving my 125% to this game. I had never played that good as either town nor scum before, and I doubt I ever will again. I was giving this game as much as I could...until day three. By that time, I was ensnared in dozens of games clogging up my time, and I simply couldn't give the game my all. Add to that, V/LA, and sadly, I failed. Again. This was the one time where I had ANY chance of winning--by myself--as scum. I got close. I was playing my cop meta perfectly. I had all the facts set out. I wanted to believe SO MUCH that I was a cop, not scum, and had gotten myself PERFECTLY into that mindset. I had every meta link in the world pointing to how I was innocent. I WANTED to be innocent. And even if I couldn't win, I wanted to (possibly) earn a draw. I tried playing my best. But sadly, lasaki tunneled on me. Now, I had thought that Peace was the doctor day 1, 2, and early day 3. But due to breadcrumbs, I was definitely fearing it was lasaki. By day four, I KNEW. I knew it was Lasaki, but Peace. I needed it to be Peacesells. Lasaki was tuneling on me, and without Lasaki's support, victory would be impossible. Without Lasaki on my side, the best I could hope for was a draw. I was pleading to the mod, begging, TRYING to get a draw. I tried something like three, or four times. I was practically crying, wanting to succeed so badly... But I didn't. I failed. As scum, doing the best that I could...I failed. I had thought everything out in my head. I knew that I had four options: 1--Kill Peacesells, who I believed to be the doctor. However, Lasaki had given me doubt Day Three. 2--Kill Manho, the only person who I knew NOT to be the doctor due to a VT kill. I was VERY reluctant to do this, because he was--at a time--one of my main suspects. 3--Kill Lasaki, who 'crumbs pointed to being the doctor. I didn't want THIS, either, because Lasaki was my primary suspect, and vice versa; it would make ME look bad. 4--No Kill, try to get a draw. I had thought it would be Peace, then I thought No Kill, then Manho, then No Kill, then Manho finally ended up the victor---what had once been clear in my mind became blurred, and I was far less positive. But Lasaki--based off of the misunderstanding that I thought Manho was the doctor when it was clear I thought it was peace--saved Manho, leaving me--essentially--screwed. There were a few points where I could have recovered. Things took a downward spiral day three, when I wasn't NEARLY as cleared as I would've liked to have been from the Amished vs. Mastin debate. So, yes, I was somewhat in a bad situation. But so many points...could have been done better. I didn't do that. I failed. I tried, but I failed.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10684

--No flake notes as this was written after I flaked.

• Open 148--Jungle Republic.

Vanilla Townie. Another good example of why a drop in activity is not a scum tell from me. Shows why my unusual logic can be wrong, but how it isn't a scum tell. Nailed Kore+Kham day one, but got distracted by Fallen Angel. Thought I found the last Mafia Member, Wulfy (who was scum), and both werewolves, Yos2+Iamausername.

When Hero flipped werewolf after I was dead, I was forced to reevaluate the game and realized that Yos2 wouldn't be a werewolf. As Iamausername was night-killed, that left me with OGML and Wulfy. Sotty7 flipping the last Mafia made me doubt my read on Wulfy. I had dismissed scummy things from Wulfy due to thinking last mafia. With that information, I correctly deduced that Wulfy was the last werewolf.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11516

FLAKE NOTES: I count this game as a failure. Yes, I got two of the scum, and later--to myself; I have no proof of it--got the last scum as well, but, oh, dear Lorithia, you should see my play here. I claimed scum, and I think this was one of the first times I had done so, in the RVS with my self-vote. I also became increasingly irrational, illogical, and lashing out at the two I saw as scum with such blindness you would never imagine. Confirmation bias had become one of my strongest calling cards. This game, I essentially made everyone angry, and nobody was happy. I did nothing noteworthy, other than scummy activities that got worse over time. It was truly an epic failure.

• Mini 767--Cubic Mafia.

Vanilla Townie. Kai invited me during lylo. Speaking of which, that's kinda important. This game represents perhaps the most significant moment in my mafia career. Why?

It's the only game where I've been in an endgame. Only. I've always died well before then. Either I've been lynched for being too scummy, or I've been night-killed for being too town. Okay, so I've seen lylo several times...but never a three-person endgame. This was my first three-person endgame lylo. I am proud that I got it right. Introduced my iso-reading strategy, which has worked fairly well. Helped catch the last scum with vote count analysis as well.

Overall, good scum hunting from me.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10974

FLAKE NOTES: One of the games I considered my greatest successes. It proved to me how I could get things right again, how my earlier successes weren't just flukes. Okay, so most of the work was already done for me by my predecessor, so it's not really THAT impressive. But this game is the only game where I nailed scum, since 735 and 742. I got one in The Purple Flower, and was doing alright, but was at far from my optimal playing strength at the time. HERE, however...I won. It's this game which gives me hope for if I come back, this game which makes me think that I might JUST have the skill needed to play Mafia without being a *insert foul language here*.

• Mini 791--Beard Mafia.

Vanilla Townie. Never got into the game. Was promised walls of text, and I liked that. But I never got into the spirit, I suppose you could say. Was shot by the sk trying to look like a vig. Oh, well. Good proof of why lurking isn't a scum tell from me, in stark contrast to 779, LAL, and Polygamist.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11482

FLAKE NOTES: Really. The Purple Flower was somewhat of a success as a Vanilla Townie, sure, so I was not a failure. I knew that. But after failing REALLY hard as a VT in 141, and THREE TIMES IN A ROW as scum, with this, you'd think that MAYBE I would think that--just possibly--my SUCCESSES were flukes? Nope, not really. This was most painful to me, simply because alexhans I considered a good friend by this point, and with him as the mod, I FAILED!!! I...by this point in time, I had already learned to regret my actions. I regretted my failures as scum as I made them, due to disappointing the players who I considered my closest friends on MS.net at the time, players who I knew by reputation and thought were amazing, and mods I had come to respect. I regretted 141 because of similar reasons, due to friends involved witnessing me being *insert foul language here*. And here, I failed another close friend. It would not be the last.

• Mafia 91--HATPurple Flower.

Vanilla Townie. I replaced an inactive user. With a flurry of posts which were somewhat decent, I was able to theorize a few aspects of the setup, although most of it was wrong. However, I did get the flavor for the kills correct, as well as singling out a particular member of the J. Mafia. When I came back, I was thinking the same target as before, but was about to switch to KMD when Mole Stargazer was hammered. I did a decent job overall, but this is certainly far from my best. I got OP's VT status right. And, earlier on, I nailed two scum from two different factions, too! :P (And, then, got another. Lol, I did get some good notes in 'bout some scum. ;)) Let's see, I got Pablo+Star, Pablo+Monkey, VPBaltar, suspicions of WC...I also got a great deal of town reads correct as well. Interesting to note is how I not once voted anyone other than scum--my votes were on Pablo and MoleStargazer, even if my suspicions were shifting elsewhere. :P

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10946

--No Flake Notes for this is all written AFTER I flaked due to me having not put it in BEFORE I flaked.

• Newbie 779.

Mafia Roleblocker. I suck as scum. I ruined my gameplay by having read the entire thread before having replaced in. It got me into the mind of a spectator, not a player. Replacing someone scummy didn't help, either. Then I learned that the person I thought was the most pro-town (in fact, only person I saw as pro-town), Tael, was--in fact--scum. Seeing Tael flake was heartbreaking. I never got into my true play, here.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11324

FLAKE NOTES: Another excuse. That's all it really was, an excuse. Really, it was all my fault. I had wanted to play--eagerly--in another game, and messed up, big time. Yes, I contributed several reasons to my failure, including that I was scum and I am not good at scum. But, really, Mastin, THREE GAMES IN A ROW SHOULD HAVE SENT YOU A MESSAGE! It didn't. I was still too arrogant. I was too thick-headed.

• Lynch All Lurkers.

Again, I hate it when I'm scum (in an all-goon mafia team, no less, nearly mountainous minus the masons) and I go inactive. I had THOUGHT I was staying within the posting limit. Yeah, I was wrong. I got lynched for it. I had considered claiming that doctors receive an extra bonus for lurking, like maybe my protection only has a 75% chance of going through, but lurking makes it 100, but decided against it. I messed up as mafia. Again. (I do that a lot, don't I? Now people think I have a lurk-as-scum meta. Sometimes, I'll lurk as town JUST to prove them wrong.)

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11246

Scum Quick Topic: http://www.quicktopic.com/43/H/NQPvq7JWX4fi

FLAKE NOTES: And this had an identical problem to Polygamist Mafia. I had something like five games going on simultaneously, with limited access and problems with MS.net. I was lurking, I was being scummy. I accidentally went over the limit when a post I thought I had posted...well, didn't post. Like Polygamist Mafia, the reason my team lost was because of me, so this was a HUGE failure on my part. Yet again, I attributed it to how I suck at scum.

• Open 145--Polygamist Mafia.

Uhg. I hate it when I'm scum (basically, I was a four-man-all-mafia lover-mafia group) and I go inactive. I had done fine until I fell behind...and kept falling behind...and fell behind even more...it ended up eventually being too late. I had to recover from being AFK, but couldn't. Worse, MS.net broke for me around that time. It really, really sucked. I failed ekiM, AceMarksman, and ZazieR, players who I respect and who I know are good, and my overconfidence in my abilities and my activity level lead to my downfall. And by extent, our whole group.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11397

Scum Quick Topic: http://www.quicktopic.com/43/H/mLyexE2Ew8y?m1=-1&mN=-1

FLAKE NOTES: This was yet another warning sign. I was stretched beyond my limit, in several games. On top of that, I had limited access. I went from being scummy, to scummier, to scummiest as the game when on, due to my playstyle and general lack of content. I refused to be replaced due to 688, though. I shouldn't have let my failure blind me to the fact that I wasn't that good. I should've stopped, after this--my second failure--but still I did not. Why? I went and looked at 688, thinking that I just suck at being scum. I do, yeah. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be bad as town. I failed.

• Open 141.

Vanilla Townie. One of my absolute low points in scum hunting. I was busy, did not have a lot of time on my hand, and ended up tunneling on the cop. It shows why falling behind is not a scum tell for me, and shows how I am not always in my game. THIS game managed to deflate my ego.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11336

FLAKE NOTES: Unfortunately, it did not last long. Why, I don't know. Why I managed to still become who I am remembered for, even after this massive failure, even after having failed in front of good friends, I don't know. Maybe I just thought it was a fluke, that it wouldn't happen again? I should've stopped after this game, reevaluated my style. I didn't. I would pay the price for it, too. This...was my first failure--at least, since 688, that is. My first failure since my return to the site. Many more would come later.

• Newbie 762.

I was the doctor. I replaced in the pre-game. This game was significant in many ways. First of all, along with 763, it was the first game where I demonstrated my self-voting technique. Second of all, it also is the first game which I lost. Along with 763, this game was also the first game where I got night-killed n1. It also again showed how pro-town I was; I was considered fairly pro-town and I also had managed to peg the mafia by the end of the game.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10973

FLAKE NOTES: Yup, as you can see by the above, I was becoming increasingly arrogant as time went along. While I lost this game, I still don't count it as a failure. I was doing well enough to be night-killed, after all. Also worth noting is how OGML needed two replacements at the same time. One was his doctor, the other, his cop. Had I gotten the cop, that would've been three times in a row.

• Mini 760--Bleach Mafia.

I was a townie. (I replaced in around page fourteen) Well, mostly. Latent powers are awesome. Due to not knowing Albert's full playstyle, I thought he was scummy, and I am thinking this is what stopped me from early-on nailing all of the scum. But, hey, even though I thought he was scum at the time, and I was swayed into thinking GLaDOS was scum due to Gorrad's flip, I DID have two of the three scum down in what I consider my first true post of content.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10857

FLAKE NOTES: My erratic style was beginning to bloom by this point. In fact, it was flat-out flourishing. While there were warning signs, and while I was told about what I hadn't done as well in the game as what was possible, very little of it actually got through to me. This game was probably what finally actually made me cross the line. Still, not a failure. While I did not do good, I also was not doing bad, and so--while this game came close to becoming infamous--it did not.

• Newbie 763.

A townie. In this game, I thought I had nailed the scum on page one. Well, I was half-right, half-wrong. Both increasing and smashing my confidence. I got night-killed n1, something which is becoming rather my legacy (I suppose it was a blessing in disguise--I would've fallen behind again, likely, considering how I had fallen six pages behind once, it was a real risk). I'm disappointed that nothing deflated my ego significantly from that game--I have rather the large one. Albert helped lessen my ego somewhat, but it's still there, due to me having been half-right.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10972

FLAKE NOTES: Perhaps I should've been paying more attention. I was doing this game simultaneously with 762, and--later--Bleach Mafia as well. The fact that I was stretching my schedule SHOULD have been a warning. If I got the message, I ignored it, needless to say. Another warning was how in THIS game, I was bashed for my self-vote, AND my walls of text. The same--to a lesser degree--also happened in 762. I said, essentially, "Screw you; it worked in the past, and it'll work again!"--though I did eventually tone it down in this game.

• Newbie 742.

The cop. This game felt like it was Deja vu of Newbie 735. I replaced in day one for a player who I don't remember the name of as the--as mentioned--cop (again), obviously with no results. This was a faster, more bloody game than 735 was, and while it mirrored many aspects of 735, I actually ended up completing my part in 742 before I did in 735. (Was shot during the night.) Town won, and the result made me wish I had stuck with my original thoughts, which nailed both scum day one.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10609

FLAKE NOTES: And this, in combination with 735, is where things began to go wrong. Here, the main criticism was not on many of the aspects of me, but rather, the fact that I was going so hard against a single player, which was justified. Nailing both scum by PAGE TWO made me rather...arrogant.

• Newbie 735.

The cop. Now, in this game, I replaced in for deadline (ah, I wish deadline would've stayed--I mean, that name is just so hilarious it's a shame to have it wasted), day two--as mentioned--as the cop, finding that I had no results to give. It was a close game at first (the lack of result irked me), and only later ended up the way it did because of my play style and--ironically--lack of result. Town won when the scum were dealt the fatal blow in their coffin via my claim, which shocked them. I consider this my first true game.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10445

FLAKE NOTES: I was tolerable this game. I tunneled on Hohum, yeah, and that was bad. My posts were a bit lengthy, but had not yet degraded into the massive headaches you see later on. And I did well because I was still new. My art of infamy was still being honed. :P

(If you didn't notice, I likely need to do a little updating of my wiki. I keep on forgetting to update it often. :/)

Games Modded

I have only one from this era in my life, but it was fun. Open 157, Vengeful 5P. It was nice, having only a few players to look over; I think that it was pretty much the best setup for a new mod, though I was hoping for Jungle Republic.

Link: https://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?t=11786

Old

• Newbie 688.

Mafia Roleblocker. I do not count this as a game of mine. Why? I replaced out, circa page ten. Only my current games (listed above) count, as they're the only games where I have my playstyle. I had a completely different playstyle, then; why should it count? And when I replaced out, how can I consider it a win for me? Alduskkel is the one who won that game for the scum team, not I.

Link: http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9622

FLAKE NOTES: The fact that I replaced out, no matter how bad I would've done when I stayed, despite still having good enough access...I think it left me permanently left believing that replacing out/flaking was simply the worst crime I could do--a decision which would later cost me.

Other Sites

Now, now, you don't think I just randomly came here from nowhere, do you? Sure, it's possible, but I didn't do that. I have games from other sites under my belt, although these sites are not known by most. They're fun to play on, if you have the capability to do so, though. I recommend trying it, sometime.

The Battleon Forums

URL:

forums2.battleon.com

Specifically, it was the Unofficial Contests and Games section of the forum, as that's where all forum games are played.

Sadly, no links, as completed games are deleted after a while.

The first Mafia game was why I came to mafiascum.net. At least two or three of the players in the original mentioned that they have experience from mafiascum, and when I googled it, it didn't take long for me to find what I was looking for. These players are who I owe my MS.net career to. The original Mafia game (run by Dawn of Shadows) was amazingly balanced, and had a great outcome (the end was a Paranoid Gun Owner claim who was extremely scummy, a mason partnered with the lynch day one and a night kill, and the last scum--a fine example of Lynch or Lose).

Added 1/7/2011: To clarify on that game, it had a lot of fun roles. It was semi-open; he told the players every role which COULD be included. Not sure if he gave possible combinations, but I do remember a number of roles. Cult was possible (but thankfully absent), there was a pair of Lovers (Under the name Dr. Jekl [Town Doctor] and Mr. Hyde [Mafia Goon], who died when the other did), masons (obviously), the PGO...I loved reading that game. I wish I could remember more of it.

• Mafia II: Alien Attack.

I was the doctor (I believe I successfully saved my target, Superemo) in this particular game until the game was modkilled (abandoned, whatever you want to call it) nearing the end of day two. A shame. Sixteen players, two scum factions, and a darn-good town to play with (and I'm fairly confident we had nailed scum day two as well), yet the game disappeared due to the mod going inactive.

This game is what introduced me to Epicmafia, via a player on there and my famous method of googling what I do not know the URL of. The game itself was my first true practice to forum Mafia (I joined this game after having left Newbie 688, but like I said, I don't count that as a game [and 688 didn't end until far after this game was abandoned. ;)]), and I did fairly well.

Added 1/7/2011: Some interesting notes on the game: As I had mafiascum experience by this point in time, I was playing on this site on a level many hadn't. (A good deal of players were new.) However, I wasn't that experienced, and while I certainly was one of the most vocal players, I was not the primary voice of the town. That came in my next game.

• Mafia, Atlantic Stowaway.

I was also one of two doctors in this very fun game, but, surprise, surprise! It was modkilled as well. The mod just vanished from the site. I later learned that there were two scum factions, numbering three each, in this fourteen-player game when people revealed their roles. It was revealed that there were two (or was it three?) cops in the game, as well as two doctors. Seemingly town sided. However, as the scum's goal was just to outnumber the town (and the scum all had the ability to target multiple people), they really only had to get it down to nine players (assuming no scum casualties) to win. I would've loved to see this game continue, see if my limited doctor (two-shot) ability allowed self-protect, if the 50% save from the other doctor would go through...

We never got to see day two. We lynched a werewolf day one...and the mod never got to the next day, due to vanishing. ;_;

Added 1/7/2011: But an interesting note on this one, is that I WAS the most vocal player here, pushing hard to get my target lynched. My play was considered unorthodox, and I nearly ended up lynched because of it. (Sound familiar? :P) Only when I was able to explain my somewhat-unusual logic in more clear terms was I able to get my target lynched, and, hey! They were a werewolf! Meaning, I had succeeded. I think I also got at least half of the other werewolves, too. Definitely a success, despite being Mod-Abandoned. >_<

(These two games are why my sig says "I hate modkilled games", for that's essentially what they are. The mod abandons the games to death...allowing them to essentially die, as if killed, via the mod.)

Epic Mafia

I have also been very active on Epicmafia.com, with the same username I have here, Mastin. Link here, if you can view it: http://www.epicmafia.com/user/index/7469 I have two alternate accounts as well, but would prefer not to link them, as some still don't realize they are me. I haven't played recently a lot due to computer problems, yet this is one of the reasons I play the way I do in Mafia games.

Activity in Games

My activity in games.

Games which I consider Active:

735, 742, 760, 762, 767.

Scum In: 0.

Town In: 5.

Games I consider Semi-Active:

763, 141 (pushing inactive, though), 148.

Scum In: 0.

Town In: 3.

Games I consider Inactive:

145, LAL, 779, 791.

Scum In: 3.

Town In: 1.

SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE--FLAKE NOTES: This should be updated, but really, I want to abandon it. It was mainly for meta purposes, to show how nothing I did was a real scumtell. Extremely scummy? Sure, but at least I was CONSISTENTLY scummy! :P

Failure List

I'm working on a list. Here, I'll list all of my failures, why they were failures, how many MS.net members I need to redeem myself for having taken an element of their game which they will never recover (in three levels: 1: Number of people, excluding repeats, number of people WITH repeats, and the optional third, in any game where my name was mentioned negatively after I left or was a bad influence), and how many games I ruined. (Three levels: pre-flake, flake, and the optional post-flake influences.)

It'll be in chronological order.

• Newbie 688--General newbieness. I replaced out when I could've stayed, but had I stayed, I would've done terribly.

Games: 1

People: 11 (9 players, minus me, plus the mod, plus my replacement, plus my first replaced partner.)

SEMI-FLAKE NOTES: Oh, I REALLY want to update this list. Very badly. I mean...it's showing everything I've done wrong. If I know everything I've done wrong, I can both 1: know how to better avoid those same mistakes in the future, and 2: learn to teach others how to avoid my mistakes. If they're like how I was, they wouldn't listen--meaning, if I know what I did wrong, I could better course them into averting my path of doom.

Retirement

I have virtually zero access. This caused me to mass-flake from my games, and I had practically a mental breakdown over just how large a failure I was. I certainly gained a reputation. Six months after I flaked, my name still comes up in games every once and a while. ...It's just the kind of reputation: Extremely negative, for the most part. It made me realize just how bad I was in games.

So, I vowed that if I ever regained access, I would redeem each and every failure of mine. ...I am second-guessing that decision. Sure. If I come back, and actually try to do my best, to not only scum hunt, but keep the game fun (In many cases, while my scum hunting might've actually been fairly good, I was definitely killing the fun in the game for others in order to enjoy it the most.), what if I fail? If in my attempted redemption...I end up worse than when I left?

I decided that when I regain access (still haven't), I'll give myself one last chance, one final shot at redemption. If I succeed, I stay, and try to redeem my failures. If I fail, I'll permanently give up Mafia, good ridance, the nuisance is gone forever.

As I have limited access, I can't play right now, anyway. I have other things to do. For example, I'm a writer. NaNoWriMo has become an excellent home for me to do some critiquing on, like I did way back before I joined MS.net on L&L. I also write a great deal. I have four webcomics, and I update most of 'em regularly. I write poetry, and can focus more on Tae Kwon Do, too. Still...you won't believe me, but I really...do have nightmares. And they're about MS.net. About my failures, mainly, or futures-that-will-never-be.

When I DO come on here, I spend my time mostly browsing. I'll look at the title fairy, look at games where I participated in to see if they've got a new response, and search for my name to see who is using it, and why. (About half of them only fuel the nightmares, though. They normally use ME as an example of what NOT to do. Heck, I use the me I used to be as an example of what not to be. It sure doesn't help my dreams. Ah, well.) Sometimes, I can get a good laugh or two, in 40-minute sessions, reminicing about days of ol'...

Games Laid To Rest

A few ideas of mine which I've had, but which I probably will never get the chance to mod. I have virtually no access. That doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. I doubt it ever will, really. I like the sound of these games, but the facts are, they'll likely never see the light of day. They'll never be played out. I'll never have the chance to mod 'em. Yet I like them, and so, I post the ideas here.

• Writers Mafia. 12P Mini Theme. I am a writer, after all, and I thought it'd be nice to have a game where the flavor is based off of famous writers.

• Forest Mafia. Currently 16 Large Theme, but with room for extra. One of my oldest ideas, and probably too heavy on power roles right now, with a mechanic which I feel makes the game a bit too swingy. The game has randomly shifting seasons, with some roles having altered poweres due to the four different possible seasons. I could always try again to balance it, but considering how I'll never get the chance to mod it...

• Chrono Trigger Mafia. 12P Mini Theme. I almost actually got to do this one. I was in the Queue, waiting my turn, and had the setup reviewed by a couple of people. It still isn't as balanced as it could be, and a few mechanics are still shaky, so perhaps it is for the best that I DID flake before my Game-account (Spekkio) got the chance to mod. With a few revisions from here to here, I think it would be runnable. But that would require more people to actually take a look at it, and I'm fairly certain that nobody would really be interested.

• Mostly Mountainous Mean Mod Mafia. Currently, 12P Mini Theme. An idea of mine, where the setup is MOSTLY mountainous--however, the elements which are NOT are flat-out in the B-mod category almost certainly. It was an interesting idea (if someone PM's me, I'd show them the basic concept), and while I think it would've certainly been FUN to play, I doubt it would've been balanced properly.

What Are You Up to NOW, Mastin?!?

What do I do, now that I don't have access to MS.net?

Restless nights where I have trouble having anything other than nightmares, for one. >_<

But, well, I do have other activities.

Anyone who views this, You Should Know This Already

I'm a huge novel writer. Big surprise! I've only advertised it, like, a hundred times. <_< :P At last count, I've started around eighty novels (Think I'm lying? I WILL list off EVERY single one of them, with an excert and a plot summary, if you don't believe me.) and have well over a hundred planned. And that's not including my short stories, which probably bump my "started work" up to the hundred mark.

One of my largest and most recent novels I have been writing, I hope to make the first that I will actually FINISH. (Eighty Novels started in only three or so years. Think about that, when writing novels is a hobby which probably took up less than an hour per day on average--do you honestly think I could complete even one in that time? :/) Life of a Mortal--I started it as my NaNoWriMo project. (Which, I technically won. I got the word count I needed, however, I feel that I still didn't do as well as I should've--my goal was 120,000, and I only got 60k.)

I had the prologue reviewed by a few people, and they kindly gave me feedback which I'm using to rewrite it. I can give you the plot summary, along with an excerpt from the original, along with its accompanying rewrite version, along with full notes as to why I made the change. (Mainly, the feedback was that--while I certainly grabbed their attention, and wrote it in an apparently rather poetic way--it was too vague for many people's tastes.)

• It's That Time, Again...

NaNoWrimo has begun, so I'm working on my novel, again.

I've started plans to rewrite United Hope from two books into a trilogy. I've also outlined a few projects, many of which are ambitious beyond belief. One of my projects combines the ideas for something like five Anime, to name an example. (And these aren't small anime, either. Most of 'em are well-known.) Of course, I can outline 'em, but writing them with my current skill and experience would be an insult to the concept.

Another idea of mine is a Muse fanfic of sorts. Still in my head. And there's always Disease, one of my first and most popular attempts at a novel.

It Should Be Obvious I Have a Bad Sense of Humor

But, well, I can still laugh at my works from time to time. ;)

Mainly, I have four/five webcomics, with a fifth/sixth started this Chistmas Season. I do have some rather humorous moments in my stories, and some of them are considerably humor-driven for rather some time, but my main outlet for my particular brand of humor comes in the form of webcomics. (EDIT: It's up to ten, now...)

My first Webcomic would be Comic Battle Q. It was the original. It's what started me down the path of humor, making my works light. (Of course, I later got branded with darkness in my stories, but I still have the light of webcomics! :P) This is how I originally envisioned Comic Battle. It's terrible. It's horrible. I know most people will probably hate it; even I have a slight distaste for it. But it is the one I owe all my others too, and for that, it holds a spot in my heart. The most recent rambles I've done on 'em can be found at ComicFury.

This is the link: http://comicbattle.thecomicseries.com/ --There are others, of course, if you need 'em; I was given around four URLs that all work equally as well.

My second Webcomic is really just the same as the first. Comic Battle R. The redone version of Comic Battle Q. The canonical Comic Battle. (EDIT: Okay, no longer is it a reboot of the continuity: they're now separate webcomics, going in two different directions--the original will still be random humor, this one has a storyline.) Because this one is essentially just a slightly revised version of Comic Battle Q, I really don't consider it to be, well, a full webcomic, at least, not yet. (EDIT: Now it is.) The fourth comic I was working on before I left on Christmas Vacation. This version I find better, with a generally superior feel to it, but it is far from perfect. Like Q, I've done multiple versions of a ramble for R, but the most recent is on ComicFury.

This is the link: http://stormyfighters.thecomicseries.com/ --There are others, of course, if you need 'em; I was given about four URLs that all work equally as well.

(EDIT: There is a "lost webcomic" I had years ago--it never took off, because I couldn't draw it, but technically, I count it.)

My second (as I currently have five/six--depending on whether you count Q and R as two separate webcomics or different versions of the same webcomic--and I like the number five better, I count this one as my second) webcomic is called "In Real Life"--look, alright, I suck at naming things! I thought it was a good idea at the time! <_< Now, this comic is mainly to poke fun at things, general jokes I make from time to time, with influence from Real Life experiences and occasional fun with TVTropes--I don't do it nearly as often as my others, as a good deal of College replaces what once was used in IRL. However, College can't do some things that IRL can--mainly, UPDATE. :P

Now, I haven't made a ComicFury page for these yet, so my Flikr account will have to do. (I'm only using other sites because 1: I want to have 'em located in as many places as possible, and 2: 'Cause I'm nearing 200 photos on Flikr and don't have the ability to pay for Pro at this time.) (EDIT: I am considering renaming it to something more unique. "Eyes Are Real" was one of my thoughts.)

The Link to the set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21393642@N06/sets/72157622557521240/

Now, my third was a bit of a problem. College (full title: College: Gaming, 'Troping, 'Pediaing, Studying, Writing, Working, or C:GTPSWW for 'short') is very similar to IRL, only with better art and defined characters. I only have one currently uploaded, 'cause it's taking me FOREVER to do the background of the second. It's the most demanding of my webcomics, simply because it's the one with the most amount of artwork.

As with IRL, I don't have a ComicFury page for it--not really worth it, with only one image to view, really. The Flikr set is located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21393642@N06/sets/72157622477873849/ --Not very impressive. If you ask, I can upload College2 as it is; I have the dialog and the positioning of the characters down, so the only thing NOT finished is the scenery.

My fourth is interesting, in that I originally viewed it as a story. However, I found that with the perspective I was going for, it easily fit as a webcomic. Now, I had already drawn a few figures already on paper. So, I figured, why not take that a little further? I made it my first hand-drawn webcomic. Unfortunately, my scanner's broken right now; the one time I got it to work, it supersized the image. >_<

It's still possible to see the teaser art; I don't feel like linking it, 'cause it's really just one image right now, where as with College, I at least have a good deal of teaser art in the set.

My fifth is the one I just started recently, called The Descended. Now, I really like this one. Similar to Earth, this one started as a completely different idea, mainly, that I wanted to build my own system with inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, Artix Entertainment Games (Specifically, Adventure Quest), Ratchet & Clank, and Fable/Fable2. This was mainly in the form of the spells, and the system for them. And from there, I expanded. A lot. It's become rather a project, in fact. Hey, these fictional worlds take YEARS to finish, to lay out how things work, to explain the system it detail. I've had less than five days.

Eventually, I came up with the idea of The Outcasts, mainly from what became Descended2, essentially, just referencing the Webcomic Anti-Heroes. And from there, things evolved. The Elementals/Latens...were actually built upon from THREE (two and a half, really) sources. The first was a game that I'm outlining in Microsoft Word. (Yes, a video game. It was heavily inspired by Final Fantasy Seven, but there are definitely my own elements thrown in.) It had at least nine characters in it, most of the elements of which, you'll see thrown in.

The second (really, just a half) was a fangame of...my own game, where I turned the game from similar to FF7, into a 2-D Platformer. ...Long story, that is. >_< It gave me a good deal of the art, and defined my style of drawing for rather some time.

The third was a later drawing, where I had two groups, The Protagonists and The Antagonists--Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water, against Darkness, Ice, Light, and Energy. Sound familiar? That's because it got worked into The Descended.

Now, I ended up combining The Second and The Third into another, calling it the "New Heroes", which took the best of both styles and incorporated them into new sprites--and these sprites, almost completely without fail, are what eventually made it into the webcomic (well, what I had. I only had The Elementals, and really, things weren't that well laid out). Because of the elements found in the second being related to the first, I decided to try and incorporate as much as that plotline into the webcomic.

And the idea was formed. I finalized The Outcasts, made whatever revisions I needed, and started. With a strong storyline planned (the storyline evolves as quickly as the world does. Soano [The name of the world; it's the abbreviation of Something Or ANOther, if you're curious. What? I *DID* say I'm bad at making names! :P] is a rather complex place, to say the least.

Now, with such a complex element to the webcomic, and with the experience of College, I decided to abandon scenery. Now, I WANT scenery in there. I want to add it so badly, you can't imagine the feeling. However, I know it takes time. And in a webcomic which is fastly evolving, that's the one thing I do not have. (Okay, I don't have several things, but time is the thing I lack MOST, okay? :P)

If you're interested, it IS on ComicFury, here: http://descended.thecomicseries.com/ --And as usual, if that doesn't work, I can give alternative URLs.

The Others: My Seventh Webcomic is The Other DN, based off of the Dragonfable Design Notes. My Eighth is Sci-FanTerra. My ninth is a webcomic off of a forum where I play Werewolf, a Mafia-type game.

That's A Lot of Writing. Do Anything Else?

Reading, of course! :P

Mainly, I've become a TVTropes addict. I was first linked to TVTropes from...well, this site, actually, believe it or not. It was in a mafia game I was following, the last day of Amnesia Mafia, I believe. It also came up in M/GD from time to time. Things got bad...fast. I have something like five-hundred tabs saved in a folder from TVTropes. No, I am NOT exaggerating. (Okay, so some are Wikipedia, but still, at least three-hundred TVTropes Pages.) EVENTUALLY, I learned to control myself developing the following technique:

-Read the description of the page I'm interested in, to learn of its proper meaning. Look at the scroll bar. If it's a small page, read everything, but don't click on a link unless I'm really curious. If it's not a small page, only read the examples if I have a LOT of time on my hand and have nothing better to do. Do NOT click links unless i REALLY want to know about the example given.

-If I find myself at an example page, read the entry. If it has a character sheet, it's permitable to open it, if I have the spare time to read it. If the entry is short, read it all. If the entry is NOT short, don't read the Tropes it involves unless I have the time.

--It doesn't always work, but it at least keeps the tab count down. ;) I won't XKCD 609 again! :P

Another activity I participate in is reading webcomics. Surprise, surprise! Most of them were linked to me through TVTropes! :P

Let's see...there's Questionable Content (I mainly read for the author's comment, but by the time they became less frequent, I was addicted. It took me a week to read it all; I consider that slow.), There's Order of the Stick (I read all 681 [at the time, anyway] comics in three days, it was so good.), there's Anti-Heroes (a webcomic INSPIRED by OotS; quite personally, I enjoy it MORE than I enjoy OotS; I read all 206 in one night), there's Goblins - Life Through Their Eyes (liked it enough to read all of it in one day), there's 8-Bit Theater (I don't remember how long it took me; I think it was two days?) there's VGCats (knew about it before TVTropes, though), there's XKCD (again, before TVTropes), the list is long enough that I can't really remember them all.

But I actively follow all of them. :)

And that's it. That's what I'm doing in my spare time, nowadays. It's far from impressive, but it at least lets me know that I'm alive. Maybe it'll let you know I am, too! ;)

Flake Notes

After reading through all of the above, this is where I'll put my overall thoughts.

Semi-Yearly Update: 2!

Well, I believe it was around exactly last year that I did the original 'Flake Notes'. Either that, or it was during my Christmas Vacation, which is six months ago. It's possible it was both, but I only remember doing it once. Anyway, either way, I'm calling this my second SYU. The next one will almost certainly be during my Christmas Vacation. For reference, it is June 2010, right now. My vacation here is from the 23rd to the 29th (give or take a day or two).

For this update, all the notes I've made are marked as "SEMI-YEARLY UPDATE--FLAKE NOTES:". Next time, it will be "SEMI-YEARLY FLAKE UPDATE 2:", probably. I include 'flake' because at my titles section, I mentioned searching for the word 'flake'. Naturally, I began using it a lot more after that. :P

Anyway, I'm fairly happy overall at what's happened, here. My reputation is LESS tarnished than it once was, and most people seem to have forgotten my sins. (Or forgiven. Hopefully both, really.) My page continues to grow. I imagine it's rather suiting to my Unadbridged title (which I finally got! I didn't have it the last time I logged in). I see the website's gotten a new look. It wasn't like that last time, either.

...What? "How come that's so much of a surprise to you?!? It's been that way for *insert time here*!" Well, you have to remember...I only come on here once every half-year. That's a LONG time, even for mafiascum games. :P (Really, six+-month games? Not impossible, but very rare and improbable to happen often.) A lot of stuff happens in that time, many games are completed...yeah...

Overall, I myself have been doing fairly well. Above, I mentioned Life of a Mortal--I finally finished it, by the way. It was a great accomplishment, to say the least. The quality suffered; it began to plummet and kept on going down all the way to the end, but hey, I finished it! I can fix everything in the rewrite, anyway. ;)

Speaking of which, that's probably what I'm going to mainly be doing on vacation: writing. If not Life of a Mortal, then I have a few other projects in mind, like "Musing of Rebellion".

Anyway, I think I will continue to come on here every night, but for now, this is it. See ya later! :)

I'm Back!

I'm playing again! :D

Games

Only one at a time, thank you very much. I learned my lesson well, last time. :P

Chronological order, this time: newest at bottom, oldest at the top.

• Newbie 1024--Minimalist Mafia.

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=15547

Status: Game Over.

Edit: I. Hate. Vacations. I really, really do. I regret to say that I was replaced in this game, due to me being left accessless shortly before my vacation began. Still, though, I consider myself a major contributor to this game, so I'll still talk about it a great deal, later.

As the game's now over, I can talk. I was a Mafia Goon. Early-on, I went strong. I looked quite town to most people, and I was doing what I do best: teach. I out-IC'd the IC with my teachings (I called them SEssions. :P), and generally was playing one of my strongest scum games ever. And then, it was shot to the netherworld day two. Things went from good, to bad, to horribad. :P For starters, we NK'd one of the most suspicious players, Kayi, due the the possibility she had a role. By some incredible stroke of luck, Mute--the doctor--managed to protect her, putting us at 8. I managed to convince the town that Mute was 100% confirmed town, and Kayi was likely town.

However, I was slowly beginning to be considered scummy. When it came down to the end of Day Two, we ended up with a No Lynch. But here's the thing: I had the chance to hammer my buddy, Nachomamma8, but didn't think I had the skill to pull off a win by myself. We'd both separately caught some heavy flak, even though there was no individual link between us. I had been suspicious due to a huge semantics argument and things which were better suited for MD. Parts of my style were called out for being scummy. In that situation, there wasn't much I could do. I realized what I needed to do only too late in the game to finish it. Come Day Three, now there WAS a link between me and Nacho--that I didn't hammer. And boy, did we ever get called out on it. Though we did have something working for us: everything which applied to me, also applied to Trendall. He would've been an easy lynch, as we BOTH had links to him. That said--while it's possible I would've survived--it's kinda doubtful.

The main reason my playerslot survived was because I got replaced, due to vacation leaving me accessless for a weak. (And then, I became heavily active for the week after I was accessless, but by then, I was replaced.) Normally, that alone would make me consider the game no longer a win for me. Look at Newbie 688. I don't call that a win, because I was replaced. But this was different. I had put so much work into the game, that I didn't want to call it invalid, just because I was replaced.

...That is, until Mute was lynched at the end of Day Three. My work on Day Two was completely undone--for the better of my team, sure, but still, that was heart-wrenching to watch Mute, the person who blocked TWO successful kills (stopped Neruz night two, too!), and was on the track to catching both scum, was lynched. Since that went against everything I had worked for, everything which I wanted to do, it was at that point that this stopped being my game. Ghostlin and Concission replacing in really actually hurt the town, because Yenros and Kayi were on the right track. With three replacements, working in unison to lynch Mute, the game stopped being mine.

Ah, well. From this game, I re-learned all of the weaknesses in my style of play. Not to mention, it introduced me to Nachomamma8. (See below.)

• Outdoorsmen Mafia 2. As a hydra with Nachomamma8, Calcifer.

Status: Game Over.

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15968

Notes: Not much to say, actually. Maybe I'll think of something inspirational later, but for now, I'm drawing a blank.

For starters, this was a nice win as scum! (Unfortunately, as I was in a hydra, my main still has a 0% scum winrate. D: )

• Newbie 1048.

Status: Game Over. Role: Vanilla Townie.

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=15991

Notes: Not my best game. I nailed both scum pretty much the moment I entered the game. "...And you say that's not your best game...why?" Trust me, you'll have to read it to see for yourself and understand. I slacked off. I nailed the scum, but didn't get to do any teaching, despite me being the IC. Well, not much teaching, anyway. I made some pretty solid points and even made something which people thought should be generalized as an MD thread. (Not half bad, for a thought I randomly had on the road, eh? :P) And, sure, I locked onto the scum. But my reasoning wasn't that solid, and I never followed through. People gave me town-credit I felt I didn't deserve, and I squandered it by using it to excuse lower activity levels--lurking. Had this been me at the top of my game, I woulda locked onto the scum, had better reason, and pushed hard until I got a lynch.

I suppose I can say that--contrary to what singer said--my play this game did allow the newbies a lot of freedom. I directed them towards the correct way, and they followed through on what I started. In truth, I'd say silavor, Barry Allen, and DarthYoshi all deserve more credit for that lynch than I ever can claim.

• There Will Be Bloodshed (Large 128). Hydraing with Nacho as Calcifer, again.

Status: Game Over.

Total epic failure. And also has forced me to retire from this name.

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16798

Marathon Games

I actually caught a couple! :D

• Wacky Setup III.

First Marathon Game ever. I was a serial killer, who was quite trigger-happy. I killed...pretty much the LAST person I needed to kill, eliminating the ONLY person in the game who DIDN'T have a nightkill. :P

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=17107

• 5p closed Setup II.

My second Marathon Game--and I drew Serial Killer again. :P Sent in an initial kill choice of nox, but changed to Lulu before the lynch when it looked like nox would get lynched. The result? A tie between me and Nacho (the mafia), which was quite hilarious. :P

Link: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=17108

MD

I have become active again. Remember Mastin's Insane Tells? Revisited, here: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15933

I also created Mastin's Player Type Theory. The original thread can be found, here: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15601

Oh, and I also am working on a Guide to Scumhunting Playing Well, currently in its second draft, here: http://mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15932 At the request of ReaperCharlie, I put it on the Wiki, as Mastin's Guide to Playing Well, though again, I find it's quite repetitive and might need to revise it in a third draft. :/

"You needed to be commended on the dedication and love of the game of mafia you put into all of these posts. Truly, its amazing."---Guderian, on my Guide.

"Looks like a good read."---theplagude42.

I recently did it again, with my A view on cops article, which was first generalized as an MD article, though as mentioned in both places, it started its life as 314 in Newbie 1048. More than that,

"Nom Mastin for Best Contribution to MD/Wiki for this.

Maybe premature as the thread hasn't really gotten a lot of replies yet. But it's already a great start towards changing sitewide cop-playing meta for the better."---ReaperCharlie. I was quite surprised to see that, and it's rather the honor. That's the first nomination I've ever received for a Scummy, to my knowledge. Up against the competition I'm sure I'll receive, I probably stand no chance at all, but hey, the thought alone is important. :P

"Nth Mastin for his article on cop gameplay.

I was the town cop in that game which spurred the MD discussion, and I would consider Mastin's original post (and subsequent MD post) the equivalent of a quantum leap forward from the game theory I (and I suspect many other cops, especially new-ish ones) had been using earlier in the game (which was, basically, investigate a hard-to-read player, but with no thought as to LyLo competence, or even durability to make it to LyLo to begin with). Even though some more experienced players might say, "well, yeah," I've looked at enough games with sub-optimal cop play to see that Mastin's contribution was a needed one."---DarthYoshi.

I love theory. Always have, always will. I did it before my first true game, and continued well after that. Whether I have the skill to apply my theories to reality...well, we have yet to see that, but still, I like to think of myself as having done fairly good so far. I fully hope to be a better overall player, to help mend the past mistakes I made. Theory helps me do that. If I apply everything in my own teachings to my play, I really do think I'll become a respectable player, instead of someone who is laughed at, as being the terrible player I am currently. There's a huge difference between theory and reality. In theory, I am an excellent player, who knows the game on a level most people don't. In reality...I...need to work on a few things. To say the least. :P

New Quotes

Since I've come back, lots has been said of me. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It's all here.

"Mastin is the most verbose mafia player I have ever known, and arguably one of the most wordy players to ever play on the website. This game is no exception. 23 pages in, halfway through Day 3, and quite a lot of text to catch up on." ---RedCoyote. Sums me up quite well, actually. I do have the title "Unabridged" for a reason. ;) (Which makes it quite ironic that I'm actually trying to shorten my posts to be, uh, abridged. :P) He's quite right; I mean, look at this wiki article! I'm not sure any player has a longer page! And it's mostly all me, heh. He was referring to 1024, searching for three replacements. (Unfortunately, me among them, due to being accessless the week before vacation.)

"@Mastin: Well, this type of reasoning I can understand."---Kayi, 1024. This was a surprise to me, because, well...I'm Mastin! I'm not the most logical guy in the world. :P Or, rather, I love logic, but my particular brand is highly unusual to the point where most people don't understand it. The fact that someone *did* understand it was actually quite surprising.

"I'm mostly neutral about Mastin. I think Mastin will prove himself guilty or innocent after a few days/deaths because of the way he posts."---Kayi. Quite the accurate description, as that's exactly what DID happen. :P My early-game play's pretty strong, and so is my endgame play in what very limited experience I have, generally. But my mid-game play SUCKS. Particularly as scum. :P

"I'm most wary of Mastin. How can he possibly not have a clear cut opinion after all these walls of text?"---Beefster, 1024, actually quite the valid scumtell, now that I think of it. Generally, when I'm town, I lock onto an immediate opinion and follow through with a vote. The walls of text have nothing to do with it, though. I've made plenty of walls which didn't further my opinion, and I occasionally make walls to try and form an opinion from the results, but as town, I think I would've voted immediately, not waited. I had reads (contrary to what Beefster said), as I would if I was town, but I didn't vote, as I would've as town.

"Finally, your SE-ish advice is really useful and it addresses some of my concerns."---Kayi. That was quite the compliment. I'm a far better teacher than I am player, and to be honored that way with someone saying it actually helped...well, there's not much else I can say.

"@Mastin: tl;dr"---Beefster, summing up pretty much the entire site's opinion of me. :P

"(Mastin): Is it normal for you to be act so personal?"---Lateralus22. What he thought was personal wasn't, but yeah, I tend to get extremely emotional, which is a problem with my play I'm trying to address.

"Note: Mastin can you PLEASE keep your walls a little more concise? I have no idea what point you're trying to make half the time when what you type is drowned in borderline IoA."---Lat, again.

"Note: Haven't completely read page 5, but PLEASE Mastin keep all this SE teaching nonsense down, I didn't think you'd keep this up the whole game."---Lat, a third time. Contrary to the intent, I actually saw this as a compliment. It meant I was teaching fairly well (too well :P) in my SEssions. (Yes, I like puns.)

"Also, Mastin, your walls are getting way out of hand, at the very least can you try and organise them a little better?"---Neruz, Showing a common problem my walls tend to have, that I suck at organization, am repetitive accidentally, and am generally poor at communication.

"Mastin's a better SE than I am an IC, anyway. Listen to his advice."---Beefster, the IC of that game! He had given up on the game at that particular point, so posted this. The fact that he was entrusting ME with his teaching duties was, well, there's absolutely no way you can receive a greater honor than being called a better teacher than the IC.

"I agree with Mastin."---Yenros. Not the full quote, but hey, the fact that anyone agreed with me at all for even so much as a single post means I'm improving! :P

"Mastin, thanks for your SEssion on pressure. Very much needed."---Kayi. A further compliment about my teaching ability. I seem to get those a lot. :P

"Content/Fluff ratio for Mastin is ridiculous. What are your actual reads again?"---Lat, describing a common problem about my play. When I talk a lot, a great deal comes out as fluff. I tend to try and keep fluff to a minimum, however, and prefer to keep it concentrated. However, a lot of my fluff is posted for a reason. SEssions, for example, are fluff, but are valuable to the players they're directed to. My Personal Investigations (see: Mastin's Revised Playing Guide) tend to be useless to anyone else, but I post 'em for reference (in spoilers, obviously). Those, I don't want to cut down on, obviously. Still, though, I post a lot of fluff, and I don't particularly like it.

"Actually, Mastin has a point."---Neruz. "Mastin, what you are saying makes sense."---Jay. You have NO idea how much I loved hearing that. :P

"It's harder to get a read on you for your long posting, and I've noticed you use it to hide some terribe arguments."---Nachomamma8, in regards to my play. I realize my walls can theoretically be used to hide bad arguments, though originally in my naivety (when I originally played) I thought that made it a town-tell, 'cause if everyone read, there'd be more places for a slip to occur. Now I know better, that it IS a problem. As OGML pointed out, I do it as both alignments, but it's far more beneficial when I'm scum. I hate that. I really, really do. As for the part about terrible arguments...well, I tend to never make a terrible argument. Sort-of. I either receive clarification on something I'm not sure of (which makes the original argument look terrible) or I use logic others find hard to wrap their minds around. Which means, technically, I don't make terrible arguments. In reality, they're horrible. :P

"I've gotta say, I agree with the arguments against Mastin here. For somebody who's talking so much and telling everybody else how to play, I'd expect him to do a far better job of finding the mafia than he has been doing. Then again, I'll have to do an ISO read before I can commit to this more. Some players do just make bad arguments against people regardless of whether they're town or mafia. However, there have been a number of times when I've seen Mastin make an argument against either me or another player, and I've just thought 'what? That's nonsense'."---Trendall, bringing up a huge problem in my style. The part about finding mafia isn't really valid (nobody, no matter how experienced, is going to be *that* good at finding mafia, that them automatically being wrong makes them scum), but the rest is. I make bad cases, and my arguments make no sense. I'm trying to improve this, to become more sensible. I work on a different wavelength to most people, have an unusually wired brain, but it's annoying, and I need to change it.

"I meant that your decisions in play as the Mastin persona in this specific game come off as over-defensive, not 'you are generally over-defensive as a person'. Plus, I have to point out, this is now the second time that I've made a fair argument against you, and you've taken it as a personal attack and basically said 'no, you can't make that argument, it's out of bounds'. I don't know if that's the behaviour of mafia putting up barriers, or a genuinely offended townie."---Trendall. It's kinda a bit of both, actually. If I get emotional, I get defensive, fast. I get extremely upset when someone calls out my teachings, because they're what I pride myself on doing well, what I want to do well regardless of my alignment, and someone accusing me of using them to an advantage unnerves me to no ends. That said, it's worse when I'm scum, for obvious reasons. :P

"I'm not really seeing you as having refuted it all that well. Admittedly i am having extreme difficulty reading and comprehending your huge-ass posts."---Neruz, commenting on me being very lousy at defending myself (cases in general) and yet, how I still manage to make my posts long. :P

"Wow. Mastin, please do keep your posts shorter. Trying to do my read for the day and I can't even... Wow.

The whole Mastin case is driving me mad honestly. Not because I don't somewhat agree, but because I feel it's going in circles (with Mastin's post getting longer and less readable.) People stated their case, Mastin has responded, people stated their case again, Mastin responded... There's not much more to it at the moment."---Kayi, with this basically summing up two of my problems. I'm an obsessive-compulsive waller. :P More than that, I'm an obsessive-compulsive responder. Someone addresses me, and I want to address them back. She managed to perfectly summarize how bad this problem is. Needless to say, it was this incident which had a huge influence on me writing my Guide to Playing Well.

"it seems like for every one thing that I post, Mastin posts about fourty things in return, to which I have a lot to say etc., and it's not really getting us anywhere."---Trendall, addressing basically the same problem. I suck at being concise, particularly when pressured. When pressured more, I respond with more. When pressured further, I get even longer. And when pressured even MORE, then I...well...become quite unabridged. When I'm in danger of being lynched...it aint a pretty sight. :P Needless to say, I know it's a problem, and am trying to fix it. I'm not the VI who refused to improve. I'm the Newbie who just really, really sucks at improving. :P

"Aaagh. You seriously need to control yourself dude, i can handle long posts, but i cannot handle huge blocks of text."---Neruz, on beginning to give me advice to--if I HAVE to wall--how to make it more readable. His suggestions helped me improve a lot, so thanks, Neruz. It was good advice, so good, that I recommend it to others, now, too. ;)

"There's a rule of thumb to use when typing/writing/talking in general: Keep It Simple. The long walls are honestly an eye-sore. I'd rather not see you lynched, but with the way you're reacting it seems that that'll be the case. I know you rely on your gut a lot, as do I, so I can sympathize with you backing it up, but, it's a weak support in the face of facts."---Mute, basically giving some advice that I try to follow but suck at (Keeping it simple), commenting on my self-destruct tendencies, and commenting on how I tend to rely a lot on my gut. (Which I hate.) All true facts, all quite valid.

"You're doing it again you know. That response to could easily be about 1/4 as long and still communicate the same information." "I'm also going to add that i don't really support a Mastin lynch at this point. While i am severely tempted to support it just to ensure i never have to look at another one of those wall posts, intellectually i'm pretty sure that isn't a scum tell >.>"---Back-to-back posts by Neruz, summarizing my play quite nicely. I'm trying to improve, I really am! D: But, eh, I am who I am. I'll always have a problem, but I think that--with training--I can keep it under control.

"@Mastin: It's not so much the walling itself which i find unreadable as it is your particular style. I have no problem whatsoever with large posts if those posts are large because they contain a lot of content and are edited nicely so that paragraphs are seperate and different subjects are clear and concise.

From what i can tell, this is not the case in your posts; you seem to either reiterate the same point in different language multiple times or bring up multiple points in the same sentance with no rhyme or reason, this, combined with the fact that you don't blank lines between paragraphs, makes reading your posts extremely difficult."---Neruz, giving valid criticism, which I have since tried to improve upon. It's hard! :(

"Mastin, have you tried writing something, then going away for ten minutes to do something else, then coming back and rereading it and cutting it all down? I suspect that you might do that, but if you don't, try it, it might work."---Trendall. I do; I just suck at cutting stuff out. :P

"This is actually kind of important, because i'm getting the impression that you're committing an Argument Ad Nauseam, and i can't tell if it's deliberate or not."---Neruz, after I explain that I'm a really repetitive person. Did I mention cutting back on repetition is a huge part of my Playing Well Guide? :P

"Naah. I've changed my mind. I overestimated you (lol, sorry, that sounds a bit harsh)."---Trendall, saying (in blunt words) I suck. If it wasn't true, I might've been insulted. :P

"I'm trying to do an ISO read on the two of you (Trendall and Mastin) because well, you're the main focus of attention now. Wish me luck for the Mastin one..." "I... will try to do an ISO read on Mastin tomorrow. Wish me luck." ---Kayi. She needed the luck. :P

"Guys... I did it. Sorry it's a wall of text, but justifiably so. On my next post I'll try to analyze this further and summarize it so you can get a better read of what I meant by all this. By now, I'll just throw it out there. Or maybe I'll leave it at that so Mastin experiences sweet, sweet karma :twistedevilsmiley:"---Kayi. I deserved that. :P

"I still don't get why he says here that he can deduce things from RVS while still mantaining that he doesn't like them. At this point he seemed almost certain I was town, and said he was going to base his suspicion on my answer to a certain question."---I hate the RVS, simply put, but that doesn't mean it's worthless. ;) Also, this shows how I tend to get early, strong reads. Which isn't a bad thing.

"Summarizes the game quite well, making analysis and questions to everyone."---I think this was actually a good thing for me to do. ;)

"We see Mastin defending himself against Trendall's accusation. His defense? ...He says he doesn't have much time at the moment but writes a lengthy paragraph that could have been summarized by a "you're wrong.""---Something I needed to work on. :P

"Is it me, or his playstyle is heavily influenced by his gut?"---Sadly, yes. Yes, it is. :(

"Why do you keep walling about things you've clearly stated before? A link would suffice. It's gut and it isn't rational. I get it."---That, and the one above it (in fact, most of the situation) were huge influences on my guide.

"Mastin says he's more rational now. And though he walled and fluffed, it made me feel a bit better about him. A bit. Not too much. "---I was, having just realized, "My God What Have I Done?" (I read TVTropes a lot. :P)

"You say you're not a good scumhunter, so what am I supposed to think of your case? And if you think you're good at getting town reads, why don't you focus on that?"---Actually a valid point. It influenced me, and altered my style, slightly.

"The thing is; reading most of Mastin's posts causes me mental pain."---Neruz.

"First: Severe lack of content. Mastin doesn't seem to actually be posting anything of worth until about page 14 - 15. His prior posts contain one or two points here and there, and the rest of the posts are primarily meaningless fluff."---Neruz. Obviously, I disagree with that conclusion, but the fact is, I tend to give content in sub-par ways, unfortunately. I'm working on it! D:

"I actually liked Mastin's reasoning on this."---Kayi, referring back to the start of the day. (By the time this was posted, my play had fallen apart and I was an absolute monster. But when I said what she was agreeing with, I was still quite the reasonable guy.)

"If I wasn't so worn out by the Mastin ISO (took hours, no joke) I'd do it right now."---Kayi. Yeah, I have that effect on people. Oops! >_<

"i don't want to touch Mastin at the moment because i can't read most of his posts all that well. I'd much rather avoid Mastin for now, simply because i really don't want to try and slog through his mess and try to work out which of him or Trendall is scum."---Neruz. Yeah, I need to cut back on my walls. I want people to be able to read me. :/

"This time I'll take Mastin's advice and go back to look over the past few pages."---Jay. Yay, people following my advice! Makes me happy to no end to learn people are actually listening to what I say and have it in mind.

"Speaking of Mastin, I still find him suspicious, but a little less than before. His most recent defenses seem better than his older ones. Your extremely long posts are difficult for me to focus on, which is why I missed some of the things you've said, and I want to go back and read them completely."---Jay.

"(Also considering that you like to teach, and I'd also appreciate comments as a SE.)"---Kayi, reminding me of how I entered a teaching-BSOD after realizing I had put opinions into my SEssions, and was irrational, so couldn't do them. Which made me sad. I love teaching, and when I get to be super-subjective with the teachings and/or get emotional, I'm forced to stop them out of necessity.

"Mastin has a lot of fluff in his posts, though he is getting better about this. He seems to use gut way to often. I can understand gut. It just feels more like a "feeling the water" kind of comment. All in all, his posts are hard to read, they are getting better."---Yenros.

"Surprising, since I thought Mastin's ISO was so daunting and so terrible, I figured that everyone would understand if I didn't back my point up with 20 examples."---Nacho.

"And am I reading this wrong, or are you seriously trying to call me scum because I didn't call YOU out on fluff?"---Nacho, and--yes--I'll call someone out for not mentioning me negatively when I feel they should. Particularly when they're my scumpartner and I see it as a "psst...bus me harder or back off completely, don't be in the middle like that!" :P

"Mastin's long posts put me off the game, this is true, but how in the hell is that Mastin's fault?!"---Neruz. It felt really good to have someone defend me, albeit indirectly. He hates my playstyle, of course and wasn't defending that, but still.

"Actually, I've been liking Mastin's defenses a lot lately."---Jay.

"I just can't understand why Mastin'd react like that."---Mute. Now, what he was referring to was one of my worst scumslips in the game, but if you think about it, this quote applies to me very well. :P

"(Mastin's known for long-winded speeches, right?)"---Mute. Yeah, guilty as charged. :P

"Jesus. F'ing. Christ."---A *slightly* modified (:P) version of Neruz's post, after I did a whole series of super-long posts back to back to back. ;)

"I'm going to read that case just because of how long it probably took, but I'm not going to do that now because it's f'ing long. Can we get a tl;dr?"---Nacho, also with a slight modification. :P

"I second Nacho, for the love of god Mastin, bullet points."---Neruz. I like to talk, a lot? :P

"@Mastin: I appreciate that you put a lot of work into that thing, and see your final judgment, so I'll put the effort to reading it later. But yeah, holy hell that's a lot of stuff to read."---Mute. While I'm not proud of its length (too long), I am proud of the effort I put into it. One of the most disappointing things for me to see in a game is when someone puts a lot of work into it, for it all to become worthless. The reason why being, of course, that I put that work in and I know the feeling. It's a lot of time to waste.

"I think Mastin's putting way too much on very limited meta examples, to be perfectly honest. Meta can be useful, but you need a very large sample space."---Neruz. I disagree, and hold the personal opinion that meta--like pretty much any other scumhunting technique--is a means to an end, a tool, nothing more, but also nothing less. You can get a feel for a player from as little as a single game.

"Mastin's info was certainly insightful."---Mute. Nothing I like hearing more, than that sentence. I know I have good insight, but sadly, I tend to waste it with my inability to express things as well as most I find myself up against.

"What Mastin says seems valid to an extent, but I'm not fully convinced by it."---Kayi. It's a good quote, since it summarizes what my play in a game tends to be like, perfectly.

"Few if any actual solid arguments against people. - Arguments based on gut - Arguments based on Meta - Arguments based on totally inaccurate and baseless leaps of logic (eg. if Trendall said this, this means he should have acted like this) - Arguments that are just weird (Jay random voted the doctor)

• Posting lots of information, and far less analysis."---Trendall. Basically summing up everything wrong with my play. It's a playstyle thing, but that's no justification for how he was right, that I need to change. It didn't make me scum (I was scum for other reasons), but that by no means gives it a solid reason to be discarded. Rather, I need to take all of these quite well, and improve on them. Use gut less often, use meta as no more than a tool, try to make my logic more sensible, and try to keep the weird arguments to be, well, less frequent.

"Mastin's entire argument against me is based on comparing random things that I've done in this game to random things that I've done in two other games. I mean, seriously? That point alone is just absolutely...there's not even an adjective powerful enough to describe how irrelevant and absurd it is. If you want me to go through everything that Mastin has said and point out why it is wrong, then fine, I will. However, I really don't see a need to, seeing as everybody else should be able to work out for themselves why his whole argument is just null and void just by reading it."---Trendall. Obviously, I disagree that it wasn't valuable, though I do agree it was highly unusual to the point where it wasn't that helpful for anyone other than me. My fault, for not being able to explain myself well enough.

"Mastin is a 'dead' read who is clouding up the game and making it difficult for me to be confident about my reads."---Neruz. It was an accident, I swear! D:

"I haven't read all of (most of) Mastin's giant string of posts yet."---Jay, justifiably so.

"I appreciate the fact that you both want to stay in the game. I encourage y'all to. Try your hardest to set aside some time to check on the game and post, even if it's a brief (yes, Mastin, there is such a thing :) ) post."---RedCoyote.

"Okay, so I got through all of the new posts. It took me awhile, and Mastin's most are somewhat... perplexing."---Jay. I have an unusual mind. :P

"Mastin makes it impossible for me to be sure of my reads. Mastin has to go, sooner rather than later."---Neruz, on me. It was playstyle, naturally, but that's again no excuse.

"Mastin's either mafia, or he's generally just an inconsistent, erratic, illogical player. Either way, I think it's a good lynch."---Trendall. Turns out, I was all three. :P (I'm generally inconsistent, I'm HIGHLY erratic, I'm 'logical' in my own way but that 'logic' comes across as illogical, I was a good lynch, and I was mafia.)

"I've been having trouble getting through his recent posts, which seem like a lot of minor details and explanations and only a few valid facts."---Jay, summing up how I tend to work. I look at a lot of stuff most people don't. It's not a bad thing. It's just something I need to explain to the rest of the people I'm presenting it to, explain why it's valid. Which I'm still working on.

"Mastin's posts were confusing and hard for me to read."---Jay.

"While his case is weak, I still feel that it's genuine simply because all of these points aren't misreps or anything like that; he just puts far too much faith in things like meta and tends to miss certain situational points. But going through all of that unfortunately took just as long as I thought it would, so I'm done with this game for now."---Nacho, very well summing up a slight problem with my style, which I'm trying to improve, in a nice way.

"It looks to me like your basic suspicion on Mastin is similar to Neruz's position, lynch him because he's either scum or a VI with verbal diarrhea." I understand DLG's viewpoint on matters, though I'd disagree with the VI part. I WAS a Village Idiot before, because I played similarly to what I do now--the key difference, being that I refused to change. Now, I'm trying. There's a reason I tend to like sticking to Newbie Games: Because I still am one. I have the experience to IC, but I'm still improving, still have so many weaknesses, that despite my dozens of games, I really might as well be exactly that.

"Here is the best I can offer in terms of defense of Mastin's play in general. He's a player who would be much better off writing his MD articles and maybe playing outside of the Newbie thread. He seems genuinely interested in teaching, but cannot reconcile playing and teaching at the same time. In other words, those who can, do; and those who can't, teach."---DLG. It wasn't long after this that gained my current sig, for a good reason. DLG nailed it. I suck as a player, but I'm an awesome player. I'm good at theory--REALLY good--but not at practice. Theoretically, I'm one of the best people you can have. In reality, I'm one of the worst. The one thing I disagree with is the part about staying outside Newbies; rather, I think that's where I should stay inside.

"but the implication i'm getting is that Mastin's posts were so obfuscating because he couldn't make himself teach legit town play and be scum at the same time (thus reducing his chances of winning.)"---Neruz, on DLG. Close, but not quite. I can teach very well regardless. I just have trouble as a player, and teaching probably makes it a little worse.

"I think we all got distracted by the doc claim, and Mastin in general."---Trendall. Sad, but true, I'm a distraction. I'm trying to get better, I really, really am.

"I was saying that Mastin put so much effort in to teaching, that his play was seriously hampered - resulting in bad judgements and mistaken plays."---DLG. True, I suppose, though again--if I were town--my judgment and bad play would probably have been there, regardless, just lessened. (Especially if I cut back on teaching, something I have trouble doing.)

"Like Mastin, I play the game with my gut and my head, with an attempt to use both equally. (e.g. use my gut to feel out suspicions then use my head to verify/debunk them)"---Mute.

"Do you seriously think that Mastin's arguments are valid?"---Trendall. *I* did... :P

"Mastin turned out not to be as good as I expected him to be (lol, sorry Mastin, I feel so bad saying that)."---Trendall. Sad, but true, and very, very valid.

"Also, if you read Mastin, he seemed really fond of theory and really bad at practice."---Ghostlin, summing up a huge part of my play, these days, that I tend to be very good at theoreticals, but bad at actuals.

"In short, I think Mastin played poorly. I think this was due, at least in part, to his paying more attention to teaching than playing."---DLG, improvising a good response, which holds mostly true. I'm a good teacher. I know I am. I'm an abysmally poor player, and am trying to get better.

"This led to Mastin providing a lesson to Trendall which Mastin enclosed in his SE spoiler fashion. It is on this point that I believe Mastin mixed up his obligations between playing and teaching. Instead of pursuing this point against Trendall as a player, Mastin opted for one of his teaching moments. This is proven by Mastin posting this:

• quote about Trendall not being suspicious despite being scummy*

As I read things, it seemed clear to me that what Mastin put in his teaching spoilers was separate from his suspicions as a player."---One of the best improvisations I've ever seen from DLG. I did get the waters between playing and teaching somewhat muddied, though if I were town, I had larger suspects and would've thought Trendall was town, despite his suspicious behavior, simply due to the number of other suspects I had. Still, though, DLG did really well in emphasizing how good I am at teaching and bad at playing.

"I may have played this game a lot differently if I had been stuck with Mastin from the beginning."---Ghostlin. Probably true.

"Mastin really spent a lot of time teaching, right?"---Yup, quite a lot.

"I feel a little bad in replacing both Mastin and Lateralus. Both of these players obviously were around, and, had the game been moving at a brisker pace during both time when I had decided to replace them, I may have been willing to let it slide some. Mastin especially probably could've stayed in the game had I replaced Kayi's slot before his."---RedCoyote.

"Mastin is unreadable."---Concission. Simultaneously completely awesome and extremely depression. :P

"Me vs Mastin might have turned into the site equivalent of "War and Peace" - a massive work of words that garners much critical acclaim, but no one really has the stamina to plow through!"---DLG. Probably true. :P

"I think your teachings are extremely valuable for the Newbie Queue. I think you were right when you pointed out in the QT that when you play scum, you do too good of a job of teaching the newbTownies and it backfires on you."---DLG. Thank you, DLG, for the huge compliment.

"Mastin was scum the whole time?!? I was honestly shocked when I saw that."---Mute. I suppose that's a compliment, if it extends before the time where DLG destroyed my influence on the game to create a fresh start, and did so beautifully. :P

"Concission/Ghost/DLG, you guys were great for bringing to light for me the need to develop arguments and reinforce them better. As it happens this game was one where I was learning newer things as I went along, so in the start I was hampered by that and I have to say thanks for showing me that flaw. Mastin you deserve credit for that as well, but your walls of text were off putting for the most part I hate to admit. =|"---Mute.

"I literally had no idea whether Mastin was town or scum during the whole of day two. I found him incredibly scummy, but I wasn't sure whether that was down to his being mafia or just his playstyle, and I spent ages debating over it."---Trendall. I suppose it's good he couldn't tell if I was town or scum. That I was scummy, not so much, and about 80% of it was playstyle, meaning it's my fault, and I CAN improve.

"Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just down to your playstyle. I probably would have found you scummy even if you were town."---Trendall, After I posted on the matter. It is. That doesn't mean I can hide behind that excuse as a shield, though. "It's my style!" was an excuse of mine before. It was, but it shouldn't have been, and that's why I'm actively trying to change it.

"Mastin had some pretty glaring tells IIRC, a quick skim actually revealed this but he did make a good job seeming like he cared which is why I suppose he wasn't lynched."---Lat. True, I suppose, but the reason why is because I wasn't faking my sincerity. I really DID care, and I really wanted to finish. That's just who I am.

"Your best bet is to go to MD and read that thread by Mastin on how to play mafia and try and follow that advice cause he actually lays out very good info, all newbies should read it to." ---RobCapone. I found this gem, and was quite honored by it. Someone actually appreciated the work I did on that Guide! (If only I could, y'know, have an editor cut out the repetitions. The best guides are ones which have an editor/reviewer/critic to improve them.)

"I’ve never seen this approach to IC-ing, but I like it. ^_^"---singersigner

"In other news, Mastin brings up good points about Singer."---silavor.

"I really appreciate Mastin replacing though."---muh316. What can I say? Replacing is what I do. ;)

"Amazing case on singer. I don't think I had even suspected her before this. You are quite convincing."---nhammen.

"Mastin--I have to admit, I am surprised to see you among the living today."---DarthYoshi. So was I, actually, but fortunately, I didn't slack off completely and had content ready at the start of the day. (I have previously thought I'd die N1, and done nothing, when it turned out I was alive and well, just had nothing to give.)

"I dislike how Mastin is defending me so well."---Saint. Understandable, I suppose; I defend my town reads quite to the death. :P

"I don't get a maf vibe from Mastin right now either."---Barry Allen.

"Your point about ensuring the success of the town in LyLo is well-taken, and that can be factored into my decision-making calculus. If this all sounds somewhat non-committal, that is somewhat by design, because, yeah, you're right, there is some WIFOM in your request, and if you turn out to be scum, that's one hell of a gambit."---DarthYoshi. Nope, not scum. Woulda been so epic if I WAS, but I wasn't.

"Mastin has laid out his case on you in fairly explicit detail."---DarthYoshi, on muh.

"Mastin's posts give me more of a town feel (though I do realize level of contribution does not always = scum)."---Barry Allen.

"Mastin's case on muh from D1 I definitely agree with. The interactions with singer look compelling as well. Mastin's statement that Barry looks unlikely to be singer's partner is also likely to be true. The later spoilered cases in 267 look more like confirmation bias to me, but the earlier cases have me fairly convinced. Mastin looks town because of his attack against singer. Nobody busses the Roleblocker that hard on Day 1. Assuming that this is correct about Barry and Mastin, we will probably have scum lynched before we even reach LYLO. The only problem with that, is the assumption about Barry."---nhammen.

"Mastin, obvtown because he attacked singer hard."---nham. He's probably right, although I definitely woulda had her as a suspect.

"Mastin is obvtown for the reasons you described (which I concur with)."---DarthYoshi, in response to nhammen.

"Mastin, Saint and Darth have all been confirmed townie. Mastin is the reason singer was lynched."---muh.

"Mastin isn’t cleared yet. He’s obvtown, but not confirmed town."---DarthYoshi, making a valid point about me.

"You can almost call it a confirm. You'd have to be a pretty bad scumbuddy to bus your friend out THAT bad. Mastin doesn't seem like the guy that would do that."---muh, on the above.

"COMPLETELY AGREE with Mastin."---Saint.

"That's actually the way I think about you, but to a greater extent. There is almost no way you can be scum. If you are, you pretty much already have this game won. In fact, if you are town, you have pretty much won already as well, so either way, congrats Mastin."---nhammen, after I pointed out AntB vs. Muh with Barry/myself as a backup couldn't be a more perfect setup if nham were scum.

"Mastin comes in and blasts the game open a bit by calling out the active lurkers, namely the scum, singersigner and muh316. Town replacements are often bad news for scum because the scum have been spending the whole game fooling different people than the replacement, who is looking on all the information with fresh eyes.

Mastin's post 314 should be generalized and put into MD, if it hasn't already."---Alduskkel. Quite the compliment. Particularly coming from someone whose opinion of me wasn't that high when I was playing before.

"I also wouldn't characterize Mastin's entrance as merely "blasting the game open a bit." :) He basically had the game called--Singer was his #1, Muh was his #2. I do agree re: Mastin's #314."---DarthYoshi. I do acknowledge that I was right, and had the game called, but still, my play was pretty poor, when you think about it.

"Mastin and Nhammen, you guys were great to have as IC/SE players in this game. I learned a ton from watching both of you."---DarthYoshi again. Funny, considering I barely did any teaching at all. :P

"Mastin...I'll give you like half a good case, half an ignorance to my situation."---singer, and she's 95% correct. I was aware of her situation, but still found her play to be scummy despite that. She's right, though, that my reasoning was poor, even if my read was correct.

"thanks, mastin. I always appreciate advise."---Saint. And I always appreciate giving it. ;)

"Mastin, yeah, I know your case wasn't that good, which is why I was frustrated that people latched on to it. But if you hadn't initially made the only case you made against anyone in the game, I didn't feel as though my play warranted so much suspicion. But I did feel as though you came in and more or less took over. By you replacing in as the IC, newbies are more inclined to believe you are right. Which is why I was frustrated that you did receive townie credit for the case. I was hoping to GOD that Muh would call you out on a crappy case and say you could've easily been bussing a non-existent partner you didn't want to deal with anymore--that's what I would've done anyway, lol."---Singer on me. Has merit to it, but again, I feel like my inactivity actually meant that I wasn't taking over, in fact, the opposite, letting the newbies loose and watching the show.

"Credit where credit is due, being the first to recognize someone as scum and getting people to look at them is not a skill to be laughed at. The fact that you practically nailed the scum team upon your entrance in the game was very impressive."---Alduskkel. True, I tend to be very good at this, but I still need to improve my play. I've come a long way from the Village Idiot I used to be, but I've still got a long ways to go before I'm a good player. I'd much rather be Vi than a VI. :P

"Mastin's post is the best I've ever seen when it comes to selecting an investigation target."---Barry Allen. I'll work on generalizing it, then.

Hilarity Ensues

Quotes which are funny.

"Im still leery about trendall and now Nacho88. Neruz ranks low. Mastin is low-to-mid. RedCoyote is 0%."---Mute, making me laugh. :P

"Mastin, why's it even relevant if they are 'buddying' (they're not)? As far as I'm concerned, I'm mafia. They can't both be mafia as well."---Trendall, accidentally calling himself mafia.

Re-retirement

I'm a man of my word. I made a promise in There Will Be Bloodshed to never log onto Mastin again and to leave the site permanently under that name if I was wrong about my Pine read. Turns out, I was, so I've regrettably been forced to stop playing under the name of Mastin. Sad, too, as I've been enjoying it.

...What's this?

Mastin2? Never heard of 'im. Totally not me. Honestly. :P

Not Even Bothering To Hide

Mastina is my latest account. Anything you want to talk to me about is best directed there.

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