My first memory of Blackpink was around the summer of 2017 when someone in the Popheads Plug.dj room played “As If It’s Your Last”. That song was stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. It had everything I wanted from a K-pop song at that time - a fire rap verse, beautiful vocals, an upbeat production that had an addictive pop bubblegum melody in the chorus. The gorgeous music video definitely played a huge factor on the song’s memorability. A few months later, I was watching Justice League with my relatives when Barry Allen aka The Flash arrives at his Flash secret den, only to be surprised to find Bruce Wayne aka Batman waiting for him. Why am I mentioning this scene? Behind Batfleck (a portmanteau of Batman and Ben Affleck) is the TV screen of the “As If It’s Your Last” music video and the song can be heard for a few seconds before fading into focus on the dialogue between Batman and The Flash. Being in a Southeastern Country where the influence of the Hallyu wave is huge since the early 2000s, everyone in the theater were pleasantly surprised by the fact that a K-pop song, let alone a song from a group with only 5 songs at that time, was featured in a Hollywood superhero movie. At that moment, I had a huge feeling that the song being featured in Justice League will increase the presence of K-pop in the West to the point that a K-pop song actually charts in Billboard Hot 100 soon and BLACKPINK is going to be one of those groups. To my surprise, I was actually right. BTS and Blackpink are the most popular K-pop groups right now thanks to their success in the West, which was the place that is quite hesitant to accept K-pop as a dominant force in pop culture despite its popularity outside the West, especially in Asia. The groups’ appearances in the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Charts definitely made Western labels realize that K-pop is a dominant force globally. As part of the Popheads Album of the Year 2020 series, I take a look at Blackpink's first full album appropriately titled “The Album''. Their debut full album was highly anticipated as it took four years since their debut in 2016 to finally make this happen. With this post, I deconstruct Blackpink’s history and their legacy, how the tracks fared as an album, and why “The Album” deserves its place as the “Popheads’ Album of the Year”.
PART 1. THE GROUP
When Blackpink made their debut on August 8, 2016, the anticipation was high as they were YG Entertainment’s second girl group after 2NE1. The high anticipation is also because the group was supposed to debut in 2012 after YG’s founder and now-former CEO Yang Hyun-suk teased a possibility of a second girl group back in 2011. The name for YG’s second girl group wasn’t even called Blackpink in the first place as the group was initially named “Pink Punk”. “Pink Punk” was supposed to be YG’s answer to SM Entertainment’s Girls Generation (SNSD) as the initial number of members were supposed to match the number of members of SNSD, which is nine members. YG even uploaded videos of some trainees who were likely to be members of Pink Punk to build public interest before the group’s supposed to debut. And then, Pink Punk never happened. Yang Hyun-suk’s indecisive, premature decisions during his time as CEO of YG is the reason why he earned so much infamy within the K-pop community, along with other things. But let’s not delve into that. Between 2011 and 2016, it was clear that this second girl group went through drastic changes. The line-up of members changed from nine to seven, then to five, to just four. Besides Pink Punk, the group had other possible names such as “Baby Monster” and “Magnum”. I honestly wonder what kind of crack did the people in YG Entertainment smoke to think that these are legitimately good names for their second girl group. Did they get that crack from Senguri? We may never know. Blackpink’s debut was an instant success as they released their debut double singles “Whistle” and “Boombayah”, compiled as a single album “Square One”. “Whistle” and “Boombayah” debuted at #1 and #7 at South Korean Gaon Digital Charts respectively. The group also became the fastest girl group to earn a win in a Korean music show as Inkigayo gave the group a trophy win for “Whistle”. Looking back, the group said that debuting with “Whistle” as their first single was risky at that time due to it having a “weird country vibe” and its minimal production, which led many people at YG against its release. They followed “Square One” with the next single album “Square Two” with singles “Playing with Fire” and “Stay”, which both aim to show Blackpink’s softer side, compared to the chaotic, party-vibe of “Square One”. While most K-pop groups usually have at least two to three comebacks per year, it seems like Blackpink only has one comeback per year based on the release pattern of when the group has their comebacks. On June 2, 2017, they released their comeback standalone single “As If It’s Your Last”. The following year, they finally released their first mini-album (which is basically an EP) “Squared Up” on June 15, 2018. “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, the mini-album’s title single (K-pop equivalent to lead single) propelled Blackpink to global popularity especially in the West as the single debuted at #55 and #78 in the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. This marks their first appearance in these charts. Additionally, the song’s music video is currently the second most-viewed K-pop music video with 1.4 billion viewers, being only behind Gangnam Style by former fellow YG artist Psy with 3.9 billion viewers. In 2019, Blackpink released their second mini-album “Kill This Love” on April 4. The release of the mini-album was significant as it’s the group’s first release under Interscope Records, which distributes their music and handles their promotions in countries outside Asia. The titular track peaked at #41 on Billboard Hot 100 and #33 on the UK Singles Chart. This era is best remembered for the group’s promotions in the West as a result of their increasing popularity, specifically their iconic Coachella appearance that made them the first K-pop girl group to perform in the festival. Their Coachella gig highlighted the group’s stage presence and high energy as performers, backed with a live band that complimented the group’s electronic-style music. It’s Blackpink like we never saw before and it’s definitely a refreshing contrast to their more calculated promotions in their home country of South Korea.
PART 2. THE MEMBERS
A huge part of Blackpink’s appeal are the members. Their beauty and charismatic personalities are some of the reasons why the group has a huge fanbase of Blinks, which is the fandom name of the group. Obviously, K-pop idols are trained to be charismatic. But there is something about the dynamic of the members that feel unmatched and they harmonize well together as a group. It’s sort of a relief that YG didn’t stick to their plan of having a nine-member girl group. During training, Jennie said that the female trainees are shuffled to different groups every two months and there would be “little fights” on who gets assigned to positions in the group such as vocals, rapping, and dancing. When grouped with Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé, Jennie said it was already clear on who gets the parts. Each member of the group carries the whole group in their own different ways. They all have different backgrounds, different motivations on why they wanted to become idols and trainees under YG, and different skills that make Blackpink as a whole. I will be describing the members in the order they were revealed before their debut.
Jennie
Jennie Kim was the first member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 1, 2016. She is the group’s assigned main rapper and lead vocalist. Jennie was born as an only child to wealthy parents on January 16, 1996, in Seoul, South Korea. Jennie moved to Auckland at the age of eight after she was asked by her mother if she liked the place during their visit there. Jennie seemed to adjust her life well in New Zealand and she was featured in a documentary titled “English, Must Change to Survive” for South Korean broadcaster MBC about her experience as a Korean kid living in a foreign land. Jennie moved back to Seoul in 2010 after not being interested in taking up law in the United States, which was suggested by her mother who eventually supported her daughter’s decision. While Jennie didn’t have any formal musical background growing up, she was interested in K-pop during her stay in New Zealand. She auditioned for YG Entertainment as a vocalist, in which she performed “Take a Bow” by Rihanna. While Jennie was accepted as a trainee under YG, the judges advised her to train for the role of a rapper as she is the only trainee who can speak English. A trainee for five years, Jennie was one of the most popular trainees in YG and has already gained recognition before her eventual debut as a Blackpink member. YG uploaded videos of Jennie covering “Strange Clouds" by B.o.B. featuring Lil Wayne and “Lotus Flower Bomb” by Wale while she was a trainee. She also appeared as a featured artist for Senguri’s “GG Be” and G-Dragon’s “Black” in their respective solo albums, which she performed with the latter in Inkigayo making it her stage debut Because of her early popularity, Jennie was highly speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk before the idea was scrapped. After the release of “Square Up”, Jennie became the first member of the group to debut as a soloist. She released her debut solo single aptly titled “Solo” on November 12, 2018. The music video is the most-viewed music video by a Korean female solo artist with 600 million views on YouTube. Just recently, she launched her own YouTube channel on her 26th birthday where she intends to create vlogs about her everyday life. Her first vlog served as an introduction to her channel which included a cover of Tangled’s “When Will My Life Begin?” by Mandy Moore. The vlog has already gotten 10.9 million views two days after its release.
Lisa
Lalisa Manoban, known by her stage name Lisa, was revealed as the second member of Blackpink on June 8, 2016. Lisa is the assigned main dancer, lead rapper, and sub vocalist of the group. She is also the “maknae” of the group, meaning she is the youngest member of the group, as well as the only non-Korean member in the group. Lisa’s birth name is actually different as she was born under the name “Pranpriya” before legally changing to Lalisa. She was born in Thailand on March 27, 1997. Lisa took dance lessons at four years old and often competed in dance competitions. She was part of the Thai dance crew “We Zaa Cool'' with childhood friend and fellow K-pop idol BamBam from GOT7. She also competed in a singing competition where she represented her school, ending up as a runner-up. Inspired by her idols and eventual YG labelmates BIGBANG and 2NE1, Lisa had her eyes on the K-pop industry. She auditioned for YG Entertainment when the agency visited Thailand. Out of the 4,000 Thai applicants, she was the only one accepted to be a trainee under YG. Lisa began her 5-year trainee journey in 2011 as she is YG’s first foreign trainee. Like Jennie, she was speculated to be part of the original line-up of “Pink Punk”. Her highly impressive skills as a dancer have always led her to be assigned as the main dancer in different groups that she designs most of the choreography herself. While still training, YG released a video of 16-year-old Lisa performing “Turn Up The Music”, albeit she was nameless in the video. Lisa is the group’s most popular member as she is the most followed member on Instagram with 45.2 million followers. Her widely-shared dance performance of “Swalla” in the Blackpink In Your Area tour and the “Did It Work?” memes that surrounded her legs contributed to her worldwide popularity. In 2020, Lisa released a limited edition photobook on her birthday aptly titled “0327”, which consisted of photos she took with her film camera that included some shots of her fellow members. Outside of her Blackpink duties, Lisa is a dance mentor of the Chinese survival show “Youth With You”. She was dubbed as “Mentor Lisa” by Blinks as her strict mentoring style in the show surprised everyone since it was the opposite of her shy personality. Her fellow members have teased Lisa over her strict mentoring style.
Jisoo
Kim Ji-soo, more commonly known by her first name, was revealed as the third member of Blackpink on June 15, 2016. She is the group’s lead vocalist and “visual” member, meaning she is the most attractive member according to Korean beauty standards. She is also the eldest member of the group, making her the “eonie” of the group. Jisoo was born on January 3, 1995, in South Korea and she grew up with a close, extended family. Despite being a visual member, Jisoo was bullied as a kid about her appearance by her relatives who often called her a monkey. Being an idol was not on Jisoo’s radar growing up. She wanted to involve herself in the arts as she considered wanting to become an actress, a painter, or a writer. She developed her acting skills by joining a drama club during her time as a student. Despite not knowing about YG when she auditioned, Jisoo was accepted as a trainee and began her 5-year trainee journey. Like Jennie and Lisa, Jisoo was speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk. Before her debut, she made appearances in commercials for Samsonite, LG, and Nikon. There is always one member in a K-pop group that would likely become actors later in their careers and Jisoo is one of them. It isn’t surprising as she has openly shown her interest in becoming an actress and the members even remarked that she would win an Oscar for her “acting face” alone. Before her debut, she had a cameo appearance in an episode of the KBS show “The Producers” with labelmates Dara of 2NE1. Now a K-pop idol, Jisoo appeared in a role in tvN’s fantasy-drama “Arthdal Chronicles” where she played her first fictional character. Jisoo will be starring in an upcoming JTBC drama “Snowdrop” that is slated to premiere later this year.
Rosé
Park Chae-young, more commonly known as Rosé, is the fourth and last member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 22, 2016. She is the assigned main vocalist and lead dancer in the group. Rosé’s English name is Roséanne Park as she was born outside Korea and grew up living overseas. She was born on February 11, 1997, in Auckland, New Zealand. Her family moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was eight years old. While Lisa’s musical background is more on dancing, Rosé’s musical background is more on singing as she grew up singing in a choir and has played the guitar often in school. When YG went to Australia to look for potential trainees, she was advised by her father to try auditioning. After being accepted as a YG trainee, she had to drop out of school and move to Seoul within two months. Rosé said it was difficult to be separated from her family during training. Despite feeling homesick, she was determined to become a K-pop idol. Rosé had no formal experience with dancing, which caught her off-guard when she first trained. She definitely had a lot of time to hone her dancing skills that she eventually became the lead singer in the group. Before her debut, Rosé was a featured artist in G-Dragon’s song “Without You” in 2012. Given her position as the main vocalist, Blinks have been anticipating her solo debut. She has released covers of Halsey’s “Eyes Open” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, which really showcased her unique vocals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she covered a series of songs in a jam session that was live-streamed on her Instagram page. Rosé will finally make her debut as a soloist early this year and teasers are expected to pop-up as reports say that she finished filming the music video of her solo debut. Given YG’s well-recorded unreliably on their commitments, we could only hope this would finally push through. While I have described every member of Blackpink, there’s one more person that needs to be mentioned as he plays a crucial factor in Blackpink’s success.
Teddy Park
Teddy Park is a former member of YG’s boy group “1TYM” and now an in-house producer for YG Entertainment. He wrote and produced many iconic tracks for BIGBANG and 2NE1 such as Fantastic Baby and I Am The Best respectively. Teddy produced the majority of Blackpink’s discography and has received songwriting credits of Blackpink’s collaborations with Dua Lipa (Kiss and Make Up) and Lady Gaga (Sour Candy). According to the album’s production credits, he is credited as the album producer and creative director for the group.
PART 3. THE ERA
When YG announced on May 4, 2020, that Blackpink finished recording their first full album and will shoot a music video for their pre-single later that month, the news was met with cautious optimism. YG has a track record of promising things that didn’t come to fruition so this announcement was understandably taken with a grain of salt. It’s worth pointing out that the group was previously featured on “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga as a promo single for her album “Chromatica”, which indicates that Blackpink might be coming out with their new material. Also, Interscope is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of K-pop in the West by investing Blackpink in their roster. With this, YG has to commit to its schedule. And so they did by dropping a teaser poster a month later that revealed that the pre-release single will drop on June 26. The pre-release single would later turn out to be called “How You Like That?”, which was met with huge anticipation as teaser posters and videos of the members were revealed until its release. The single became an instant success the moment it dropped as the music video’s premiere was watched by 1.66 million simultaneous viewers on YouTube, making it the highest-rated YouTube Premiere. It was also the fastest music video to hit 100 million viewers in just 32 hours before BTS’ “Dynamite” took over the title two months later, beating Blackpink with 24 hours The song itself was a hit in the charts. It debuted at #32 on Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts. Blackpink then teased the release of their second pre-release single featuring an unnamed artist on July 23 that will be released a month later. It was widely speculated that Ariana Grande is the unnamed artist that the hashtag “#AriPink” trended on Twitter. It was later revealed that Grande is actually one of the songwriters of the single and that Selena Gomez is the actual unnamed artist on August 11. The title would later be revealed as “Ice Cream” on August 22. The single’s music video, in which the scenes had to be shot separately in South Korea and Los Angeles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathered 79.08 million viewers in 24 hours. The single is currently Blackpink’s highest-peaking single on Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #13. Throughout the hype of Ice Cream, YG announced on July 28 that Blackpink will FINALLY release their first full album titled “The Album” on October 2. The name was met with mixed reactions, calling it “lazy”. However, Rosé said that they have worked on the album for so long that simply calling it “The Album” is the best way to describe their project because it’s so straightforward - “Blackpink: The Album”. Accompanying the album’s release on October 2 is the release of the album’s title track “Lovesick Girls”, which became the sixth biggest 24-hour music video debut at 61.4 million viewers. While the song peaked at #59 on Billboard Hot 100, the new Billboard Global 200 showed that the song debuted and peaked at #2, with the song topping the separate Global Chart that excluded the US. In-between the releases of the singles was Blackpink’s new reality TV show on YouTube called “Blackpink: 24/365”, which showcased various activities that the members participated in, such as pottery making and kart racing, as well as revealing behind the scenes footage of their music videos. The 16-episode reality series served as a way to promote the group and the album’s release. The series began on June 13 with a prologue until it aired its finale on October 24. It was supposed to have one more episode that was scheduled on October 31 before being pulled off after Chinese netizens were concerned over a clip of the episode’s teaser that showed the members touching a baby panda without gloves and masks during the pandemic. To cap off the era, a Netflix documentary film about the group was made under the title, “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky”, which documented Blackpink’s first four years as a group featuring behind the scenes videos and footage during their training days. It also showed the friendship between the members and their producer Teddy, their retrospective look on their training days, as well as their struggles of keeping up the busy lifestyle as K-pop idols. The documentary film also showed the girls recording the songs for The Album, as well as Rosé preparing for her long-anticipated solo debut. The documentary received positive reviews, which critics liked the documentary for showing the members’ work ethic and their fun personalities.
PART 4. THE TRACKS
“The Album” is a pop album that has influences of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM, all of which compose Blackpink’s musical signature since their debut. “The Album” is composed of 8 tracks (including the three singles) with a length of 24 minutes and 26 seconds. This is somehow normal for a K-pop mini-album, but too short for a full-album. In comparison, Twice’s second full-album “Eyes wide open” has 13-tracks with a length of 43 minutes and 29 seconds. As an eight-track album, it’s an equal mix of English and Korean songs as Blackpink attempts to market themselves in the West. All of these songs were recorded in The Black Label in South Korea, with some of the album’s mixing and additional input by producers made remotely due to the pandemic. Teddy serves as the album’s main producer, along with YG’s in-house songwriters and producers Danny Chung, R.Tee, 24, Løren, Vince, and Future Bounce. Frequent Blackpink songwriter Bekah Boom also worked on the lyrics of “The Album”. New songwriters and producers include Victoria Monét, Tommy Brown, Steven Franks, Ariana Grande, Ryan Tedder, Melanie Fontana, Torae Carr, Jonathan Descartes, Brian Lee, Leah Haywood, David Guetta, Tushar Apte, Rob Grimaldi, Chloe George, and Steph Jones. The featured artists in “The Album”, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, are also credited as songwriters in their respective tracks “Ice Cream” and “Bet You Wanna”. Additionally, Jennie and Jisoo received their first songwriting credits ever with “Lovesick Girls”. For this section on the post, I will give my thoughts on each track. I will also include the line distribution statistics based on random_k’s lyric distribution videos (with the exception of Love to Hate Me which I will base on HEXA6ON’s lyric distribution video of the song) and input my thoughts on the distribution as well.
1. How You Like That?
We begin “The Album” with the first pre-release single. “How You Like That?” is an appropriate opener to the album as it’s your typical Blackpink clap-back anthem. The best way to describe my mood on this song is the way AJay reacted to the song, in which she said “This is how you open the album”. Of course, many have criticized this song for being too familiar with the previous singles “DU-DDU-DDU-DU” and “Kill This Love” and I do agree that this song is definitely a rethread of these songs. However, I will disagree that this song didn’t serve anything new to the table. For me, “How You Like That?” basically re-defined Blackpink’s sound that complements the group’s pop and hip-hop tendencies that the previous singles haven’t reached before. It feels redundant to talk about Blackpink’s music videos because it always expected that their music videos would always serve BUDGET regardless of the quality of the actual song. Like, look at the budget! And they shot this music video during a pandemic!
While the line distribution is not totally equal as Jisoo is missing out on ten seconds compared to other members, I feel like the line distribution is justified. You can definitely hear each member contributing their own lines in the song. Lisa being the member with the most lines also makes sense as she basically she slayed the entire second verse
2. Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)
When Normani released “Motivation” as a single, you can definitely tell that Ariana could’ve sang this song since she is credited as a songwriter. It has the Grande fingerprints all over it. Yet, with Normani’s strong vocals that complemented the 2000s-inspired production, she owned this song with ease. My expectations for an Ariana-penned Blackpink track are quite high based on my feelings on “Motivation” alone and Selena Gomez’s contribution as the co-artist of the song propelled that higher. And oh boy, I wish I wasn’t this excited. The most disappointing thing about Ice Cream is that it felt like Blackpink attempting to sing an Ariana reject with no sense of originality. I know it’s ironic to say this since Blackpink is basically “2NE1 Part 2” for longtime YG fans, but this song lacked that distinct Blackpink sound that made me a Blink in the first place. It’s so uninspiring and sometimes jarring to hear, even with multiple listens. Also, the sexual overtones in the lyrics are just too fucking awkward for Blackpink to sing. With their music video that had a cute concept, this is sort of uncomfortable to go through with the sexual undertones in mind. This is the same group that had them bragging how good their bodies look in “Boombayah” and they showed their “sexier side” way better in their cover of Wonder Girls’ “So Hot”. The only saving grace of this song, which was the reason why I could barely tolerate “Ice Cream”, is Lisa’s rap verse. I could imagine Jennie slaying if she had her own rap verse too. Honestly, Selena would have owned this song by herself without the autotune. But it’s nice to hear Selena in an upbeat song like this in a while.
Immediately, I can’t help but think about how Jisoo got only two English lines in the song despite having more seconds than Rosé. Half of Jisoo’s lines are just “Ice cream chillin chillin”. Ugh. I know Jisoo is not a fluent English speaker but many K-pop idols who are not English speakers can sing the language well with enough practice. Thankfully, Jisoo had more English lines in other songs, but I’ll tackle that a bit later in this post. I am honestly surprised Selena had more lines in the song than I thought because I feel like I heard more of Jennie and Rosé, which funny enough I thought Rosé had more lines. This is definitely not the worst line distribution I have seen. It’s just that Jisoo could have sung more lines.
3. Pretty Savage
Remember the distinct Blackpink signature sound that made me a Blink in the first place? Now, this is what I am talking about. This is the quintessential Blackpink sound that I have been waiting for since Kill This Love. I would’ve imagined that Pretty Savage as a pre-release single would've fared better than “How You Like That?” but somehow, I am sort of glad it didn’t. This is the song that Blinks needed to hear as antis have constantly dismissed Blackpink as “influencers with no talent” in response to their constant lengthy hiatuses. Of course, with this kind of song, it’s already expected Lisa would definitely slay this song. It's nice to hear Jennie rap again after she wasn’t given those parts in the pre-release singles. The way she rapped “F bois, not my bois' ' is just too damn iconic. However, the star of the song is Jisoo who has the second verse to herself and her talking rap flow surprisingly works here. The best part is definitely her saying “Blackpink in Your Area” after being the only member not to say the iconic catchphrase for years. And of course, Rosé’s vocals in the bridge are just as amazing. Pretty Savage is definitely one of my top favorites in “The Album”. Let’s just forget the messy choreography though.
This is definitely one of the best lyric distributions of Blackpink so far. While Lisa exceeded ten seconds, every member can be heard equally with their outstanding lines given to them.
4. Bet You Wanna (feat. Cardi B)
Coming off from the success and controversy surrounding WAP, Cardi B and Blackpink is an odd, yet exciting collaboration. I can’t imagine any of the members taking the second verse other than Cardi. It would have been nice to hear the “supposed” explicit lyrics she had to tone down for obvious reasons. If she was allowed to swear, she would’ve sung “I bet if you make me wet, I’ll still be fire”, which plays in my head now when I hear the tone-downed version lyric (“I bet if you make me sweat, I’ll still be fire”). Bet You Wanna could’ve been the next single after Lovesick Girls to capitalize on Cardi’s success from WAP. The entire production is so chill, yet so catchy which makes sense considering Ryan Tedder and Tommy Brown’s involvement. The song is completely in English so that this could’ve been a Top 10 hit with the right push. Unfortunately, the promotional cycle for “The Album” ended so I guess this is going to remain as a fan-favorite track for many Blinks and not a huge hit outside the fandom.
Not a perfect lyric distribution, but not too bad either. Each member can be heard just fine and Cardi didn’t dominate the song too much, which is fair since she is a featured artist. Lisa could’ve gotten a bit more lines, but this is also fine considering she has topped the lyric distribution in the previous songs.
5. Lovesick Girls
Considering that Blackpink’s single releases have always been upbeat clap-back anthems, the release of Lovesick Girls as a title track is quite refreshing as it aims to show the group’s more melancholy side, both in the lyrics and the production. The most striking lyric is from the chorus where the girls sang “We are all born to be alone/But why are we still looking for love?”. This isn’t the most groundbreaking lyric at all, but it does feel a bit weird hearing that from the girls. It brings me back to the documentary where Teddy said that the songs they made for “The Album” are going to show a bit of themselves a bit more as a group. Living as a K-pop idol is quite difficult as it is and we don’t know a lot about them since their image is very calculated by their agencies. It’s not to say they can’t be in a relationship because of the infamous “no dating” rule in the industry. The girls were probably asking themselves if they could really find love in an industry that is obsessed with perfection. Again, it’s not a very groundbreaking lyric but it does give me a bit of insight into the girls’ psyche a bit on their perspective of love.
Rosé taking up the top spot in this lyric distribution makes complete sense since this is the song that is best suited to her vocally. I have a feeling “Lovesick Girls” was a brief glimpse of what kind of song that Rosé will be releasing for her solo debut. Jennie taking up second place is quite surprising, especially her English rap verse didn’t take too long as well. The distribution on Lisa is fine, but Jisoo could’ve slightly sang more lines.
6. Crazy Over You
There’s isn’t much to talk about this song other than its production, which best utilized oriental instrumentals to hip-hop production. This isn’t the best song on “The Album”, but it isn’t as bad as well.
The lyric distribution could’ve been fair if Lisa was given more lines to rap. But I think this is fine since Jennie didn’t have a lot of rap lines in this album. It’s definitely nice to hear more of Jisoo in this song as she perfectly nailed the pre-chorus with her vocals.
7. Love to Hate Me
For some reason, Love to Hate Me reminded me so much of Ariana with the way the lyrics are sung by the girls, especially in the chorus and the ad-libs. This song serves as an appropriate penultimate track as the song delivers its final clap-back before “The Album” comes to a close with a softer pop ballad.
Rosé: 28.7% Lisa: 28.1% Jennie: 26.4% Jisoo: 16.8% Honestly, seeing lyric distributions like this where three of the members had equal parts except Jisoo makes me sad. She was close to having an equal lyrical distribution and this could’ve been done if she sang a bit more lines in the song.
8. You Never Know
We finally reach the end of “The Album” as it closes with a soft power-pop anthem that feels very in-character with Blackpink. This song already gained some attention when it was revealed that Teddy had no involvement in the song, making it the first Blackpink song without him. It’s worth pointing that out because Teddy has a mixed reaction as a main producer of the group. While I personally don’t mind Teddy as a producer, it’s quite refreshing that he isn’t involved so that the group can experiment with other producers. This is definitely the group at their most sincere in this album, in which they address the message of not judging people based on how they look outside. This particular message rings true to the members personally and Blinks can see why. Getting hate comments is nothing new in the K-pop industry. But Jennie seems to be the most bullied member as she was often villainized in the public eye, from her alleged “lazy dancing” scandal to the intense coverage of her short dating life with Kai from EXO. She was also unflatteringly called “YG Princess” because of accusations that the agency has favored her over other members. With this context in mind, it was so painful to hear Jennie sing “But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes / You'll never know my tangled strings / 'Cause everybody sees what they wanna see / It's easier to judge me than to believe” because she has faced so much criticism over nothing. Other members have gone through similar scrutiny as well, but it’s not as bad as Jennie’s situation. All of the members worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be where they are now, so having this song that asks people not to judge them as a closer feels like the perfect ending statement from Blackpink.
It’s so nice that most of the members almost got the one-minute worth of lines and having Jisoo at the top feels satisfying after the limited line distribution she got with “Ice Cream. Vocal wise, this is their best song to date as they get to showcase their most emotional, sincere vocals in this track. The only problem is that Lisa should’ve gotten more lines, especially since her vocals sounded amazing that gives the song a more “heartfelt” feeling.
PART 5. THE CONCLUSION
Now that I have given my thoughts on each track of “The Album”, here are my overall thoughts on “The Album” and the era itself. In the [FRESH] Popheads discussion thread of “The Album”, a lot of users were disappointed with how short the album is. Yes, the album is unfortunately quite short given that this is their first full album in Blackpink’s fourth year as a group. Users are also disappointed with how “outdated” the songs felt. To be fair on Blackpink, K-pop tends to be a bit behind when it comes to trends. It isn’t surprising that “The Album” would have some kind of outdated production in Wester music standards. The most obvious one would be “Lovesick Girls'', which sounded like an Icona Pop song. Sonically, the entire album isn’t even revolutionary at all. “The Album'' is produced on what’s popular in the charts right now and even the biggest Blink here (not me) would know that. So with all these criticisms pointed out, why is “The Album” even considered as one of the Albums of the Year? Especially as someone who had Taylor Swift’s “folklore” as my own personal AOTY? For my case as a Blink, a huge part of the reason why I am a Blink is that not only their music makes me feel alive, but also because the group has such a charismatic personality that it’s easy to see why they have a huge Western appeal. Along with BTS, Blackpink is leading this new Hallyu wave where the West has finally taken K-pop seriously as a dominant force, not as a gimmick. With “The Album” debuting at #2 in the Billboard 200, it's the highest-charting album by a female girl group since Danity Kane in 2006. On top of that, they have sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide (estimated 319,300 copies in the US and Europe according to Pinkvilla as of October 27, 2020), which is a rare thing to achieve in the streaming era unless you’re Taylor Swift. This huge success for a K-pop girl group proves that Blackpink will always be in our area no matter what. Even with the criticisms that “The Album” had over its short-length and its outdated production, you can at least still hear the huge amount of talent, personality and hardwork of the group in this album. It’s not the content of the album that makes “The Album” an AOTY, it’s the influence that it’s going to make to its listeners and pop culture as a whole. You know what the Blinks will say, “BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION”.
I am about to post the 3000 most common words in the English lexicon. Wish me luck...
a abandon ability able abortion about above abroad absence absolute absolutely absorb abuse academic accept access accident accompany accomplish according account accurate accuse achieve achievement acid acknowledge acquire across act action active activist activity actor actress actual actually ad adapt add addition additional address adequate adjust adjustment administration administrator admire admission admit adolescent adopt adult advance advanced advantage adventure advertising advice advise adviser advocate affair affect afford afraid African African-American after afternoon again against age agency agenda agent aggressive ago agree agreement agricultural ah ahead aid aide AIDS aim air aircraft airline airport album alcohol alive all alliance allow ally almost alone along already also alter alternative although always AM amazing American among amount analysis analyst analyze ancient and anger angle angry animal anniversary announce annual another answer anticipate anxiety any anybody anymore anyone anything anyway anywhere apart apartment apparent apparently appeal appear appearance apple application apply appoint appointment appreciate approach appropriate approval approve approximately Arab architect area argue argument arise arm armed army around arrange arrangement arrest arrival arrive art article artist artistic as Asian aside ask asleep aspect assault assert assess assessment asset assign assignment assist assistance assistant associate association assume assumption assure at athlete athletic atmosphere attach attack attempt attend attention attitude attorney attract attractive attribute audience author authority auto available average avoid award aware awareness away awful baby back background bad badly bag bake balance ball ban band bank bar barely barrel barrier base baseball basic basically basis basket basketball bathroom battery battle be beach bean bear beat beautiful beauty because become bed bedroom beer before begin beginning behavior behind being belief believe bell belong below belt bench bend beneath benefit beside besides best bet better between beyond Bible big bike bill billion bind biological bird birth birthday bit bite black blade blame blanket blind block blood blow blue board boat body bomb bombing bond bone book boom boot border born borrow boss both bother bottle bottom boundary bowl box boy boyfriend brain branch brand bread break breakfast breast breath breathe brick bridge brief briefly bright brilliant bring British broad broken brother brown brush buck budget build building bullet bunch burden burn bury bus business busy but butter button buy buyer by cabin cabinet cable cake calculate call camera camp campaign campus can Canadian cancer candidate cap capability capable capacity capital captain capture car carbon card care career careful carefully carrier carry case cash cast cat catch category Catholic cause ceiling celebrate celebration celebrity cell center central century CEO ceremony certain certainly chain chair chairman challenge chamber champion championship chance change changing channel chapter character characteristic characterize charge charity chart chase cheap check cheek cheese chef chemical chest chicken chief child childhood Chinese chip chocolate choice cholesterol choose Christian Christmas church cigarette circle circumstance cite citizen city civil civilian claim class classic classroom clean clear clearly client climate climb clinic clinical clock close closely closer clothes clothing cloud club clue cluster coach coal coalition coast coat code coffee cognitive cold collapse colleague collect collection collective college colonial color column combination combine come comedy comfort comfortable command commander comment commercial commission commit commitment committee common communicate communication community company compare comparison compete competition competitive competitor complain complaint complete completely complex complicated component compose composition comprehensive computer concentrate concentration concept concern concerned concert conclude conclusion concrete condition conduct conference confidence confident confirm conflict confront confusion Congress congressional connect connection consciousness consensus consequence conservative consider considerable consideration consist consistent constant constantly constitute constitutional construct construction consultant consume consumer consumption contact contain container contemporary content contest context continue continued contract contrast contribute contribution control controversial controversy convention conventional conversation convert conviction convince cook cookie cooking cool cooperation cop cope copy core corn corner corporate corporation correct correspondent cost cotton couch could council counselor count counter country county couple courage course court cousin cover coverage cow crack craft crash crazy cream create creation creative creature credit crew crime criminal crisis criteria critic critical criticism criticize crop cross crowd crucial cry cultural culture cup curious current currently curriculum custom customer cut cycle dad daily damage dance danger dangerous dare dark darkness data date daughter day dead deal dealer dear death debate debt decade decide decision deck declare decline decrease deep deeply deer defeat defend defendant defense defensive deficit define definitely definition degree delay deliver delivery demand democracy Democrat democratic demonstrate demonstration deny department depend dependent depending depict depression depth deputy derive describe description desert deserve design designer desire desk desperate despite destroy destruction detail detailed detect determine develop developing development device devote dialogue die diet differ difference different differently difficult difficulty dig digital dimension dining dinner direct direction directly director dirt dirty disability disagree disappear disaster discipline discourse discover discovery discrimination discuss discussion disease dish dismiss disorder display dispute distance distant distinct distinction distinguish distribute distribution district diverse diversity divide division divorce DNA do doctor document dog domestic dominant dominate door double doubt down downtown dozen draft drag drama dramatic dramatically draw drawing dream dress drink drive driver drop drug dry due during dust duty each eager ear early earn earnings earth ease easily east eastern easy eat economic economics economist economy edge edition editor educate education educational educator effect effective effectively efficiency efficient effort egg eight either elderly elect election electric electricity electronic element elementary eliminate elite else elsewhere e-mail embrace emerge emergency emission emotion emotional emphasis emphasize employ employee employer employment empty enable encounter encourage end enemy energy enforcement engage engine engineer engineering English enhance enjoy enormous enough ensure enter enterprise entertainment entire entirely entrance entry environment environmental episode equal equally equipment era error escape especially essay essential essentially establish establishment estate estimate etc ethics ethnic European evaluate evaluation even evening event eventually ever every everybody everyday everyone everything everywhere evidence evolution evolve exact exactly examination examine example exceed excellent except exception exchange exciting executive exercise exhibit exhibition exist existence existing expand expansion expect expectation expense expensive experience experiment expert explain explanation explode explore explosion expose exposure express expression extend extension extensive extent external extra extraordinary extreme extremely eye fabric face facility fact factor factory faculty fade fail failure fair fairly faith fall false familiar family famous fan fantasy far farm farmer fashion fast fat fate father fault favor favorite fear feature federal fee feed feel feeling fellow female fence few fewer fiber fiction field fifteen fifth fifty fight fighter fighting figure file fill film final finally finance financial find finding fine finger finish fire firm first fish fishing fit fitness five fix flag flame flat flavor flee flesh flight float floor flow flower fly focus folk follow following food foot football for force foreign forest forever forget form formal formation former formula forth fortune forward found foundation founder four fourth frame framework free freedom freeze French frequency frequent frequently fresh friend friendly friendship from front fruit frustration fuel full fully fun function fund fundamental funding funeral funny furniture furthermore future gain galaxy gallery game gang gap garage garden garlic gas gate gather gay gaze gear gender gene general generally generate generation genetic gentleman gently German gesture get ghost giant gift gifted girl girlfriend give given glad glance glass global glove go goal God gold golden golf good government governor grab grade gradually graduate grain grand grandfather grandmother grant grass grave gray great greatest green grocery ground group grow growing growth guarantee guard guess guest guide guideline guilty gun guy habit habitat hair half hall hand handful handle hang happen happy hard hardly hat hate have he head headline headquarters health healthy hear hearing heart heat heaven heavily heavy heel height helicopter hell hello help helpful her here heritage hero herself hey hi hide high highlight highly highway hill him himself hip hire his historian historic historical history hit hold hole holiday holy home homeless honest honey honor hope horizon horror horse hospital host hot hotel hour house household housing how however huge human humor hundred hungry hunter hunting hurt husband hypothesis I ice idea ideal identification identify identity ie if ignore ill illegal illness illustrate image imagination imagine immediate immediately immigrant immigration impact implement implication imply importance important impose impossible impress impression impressive improve improvement in incentive incident include including income incorporate increase increased increasing increasingly incredible indeed independence independent index Indian indicate indication individual industrial industry infant infection inflation influence inform information ingredient initial initially initiative injury inner innocent inquiry inside insight insist inspire install instance instead institution institutional instruction instructor instrument insurance intellectual intelligence intend intense intensity intention interaction interest interested interesting internal international Internet interpret interpretation intervention interview into introduce introduction invasion invest investigate investigation investigator investment investor invite involve involved involvement Iraqi Irish iron Islamic island Israeli issue it Italian item its itself jacket jail Japanese jet Jew Jewish job join joint joke journal journalist journey joy judge judgment juice jump junior jury just justice justify keep key kick kid kill killer killing kind king kiss kitchen knee knife knock know knowledge lab label labor laboratory lack lady lake land landscape language lap large largely last late later Latin latter laugh launch law lawn lawsuit lawyer lay layer lead leader leadership leading leaf league lean learn learning least leather leave left leg legacy legal legend legislation legitimate lemon length less lesson let letter level liberal library license lie life lifestyle lifetime lift light like likely limit limitation limited line link lip list listen literally literary literature little live living load loan local locate location lock long long-term look loose lose loss lost lot lots loud love lovely lover low lower luck lucky lunch lung machine mad magazine mail main mainly maintain maintenance major majority make maker makeup male mall man manage management manager manner manufacturer manufacturing many map margin mark market marketing marriage married marry mask mass massive master match material math matter may maybe mayor me meal mean meaning meanwhile measure measurement meat mechanism media medical medication medicine medium meet meeting member membership memory mental mention menu mere merely mess message metal meter method Mexican middle might military milk million mind mine minister minor minority minute miracle mirror miss missile mission mistake mix mixture mm-hmm mode model moderate modern modest mom moment money monitor month mood moon moral more moreover morning mortgage most mostly mother motion motivation motor mount mountain mouse mouth move movement movie Mr Mrs Ms much multiple murder muscle museum music musical musician Muslim must mutual my myself mystery myth naked name narrative narrow nation national native natural naturally nature near nearby nearly necessarily necessary neck need negative negotiate negotiation neighbor neighborhood neither nerve nervous net network never nevertheless new newly news newspaper next nice night nine no nobody nod noise nomination none nonetheless nor normal normally north northern nose not note nothing notice notion novel now nowhere n't nuclear number numerous nurse nut object objective obligation observation observe observer obtain obvious obviously occasion occasionally occupation occupy occur ocean odd odds of off offense offensive offer office officer official often oh oil ok okay old Olympic on once one ongoing onion online only onto open opening operate operating operation operator opinion opponent opportunity oppose opposite opposition option or orange order ordinary organic organization organize orientation origin original originally other others otherwise ought our ourselves out outcome outside oven over overall overcome overlook owe own owner pace pack package page pain painful paint painter painting pair pale Palestinian palm pan panel pant paper parent park parking part participant participate participation particular particularly partly partner partnership party pass passage passenger passion past patch path patient pattern pause pay payment PC peace peak peer penalty people pepper per perceive percentage perception perfect perfectly perform performance perhaps period permanent permission permit person personal personality personally personnel perspective persuade pet phase phenomenon philosophy phone photo photograph photographer phrase physical physically physician piano pick picture pie piece pile pilot pine pink pipe pitch place plan plane planet planning plant plastic plate platform play player please pleasure plenty plot plus PM pocket poem poet poetry point pole police policy political politically politician politics poll pollution pool poor pop popular population porch port portion portrait portray pose position positive possess possibility possible possibly post pot potato potential potentially pound pour poverty powder power powerful practical practice pray prayer precisely predict prefer preference pregnancy pregnant preparation prepare prescription presence present presentation preserve president presidential press pressure pretend pretty prevent previous previously price pride priest primarily primary prime principal principle print prior priority prison prisoner privacy private probably problem procedure proceed process produce producer product production profession professional professor profile profit program progress project prominent promise promote prompt proof proper properly property proportion proposal propose proposed prosecutor prospect protect protection protein protest proud prove provide provider province provision psychological psychologist psychology public publication publicly publish publisher pull punishment purchase pure purpose pursue push put qualify quality quarter quarterback question quick quickly quiet quietly quit quite quote race racial radical radio rail rain raise range rank rapid rapidly rare rarely rate rather rating ratio raw reach react reaction read reader reading ready real reality realize really reason reasonable recall receive recent recently recipe recognition recognize recommend recommendation record recording recover recovery recruit red reduce reduction refer reference reflect reflection reform refugee refuse regard regarding regardless regime region regional register regular regularly regulate regulation reinforce reject relate relation relationship relative relatively relax release relevant relief religion religious rely remain remaining remarkable remember remind remote remove repeat repeatedly replace reply report reporter represent representation representative Republican reputation request require requirement research researcher resemble reservation resident resist resistance resolution resolve resort resource respect respond respondent response responsibility responsible rest restaurant restore restriction result retain retire retirement return reveal revenue review revolution rhythm rice rich rid ride rifle right ring rise risk river road rock role roll romantic roof room root rope rose rough roughly round route routine row rub rule run running rural rush Russian sacred sad safe safety sake salad salary sale sales salt same sample sanction sand satellite satisfaction satisfy sauce save saving say scale scandal scared scenario scene schedule scheme scholar scholarship school science scientific scientist scope score scream screen script sea search season seat second secret secretary section sector secure security see seed seek seem segment seize select selection self sell Senate senator send senior sense sensitive sentence separate sequence series serious seriously serve service session set setting settle settlement seven several severe sex sexual shade shadow shake shall shape share sharp she sheet shelf shell shelter shift shine ship shirt shit shock shoe shoot shooting shop shopping shore short shortly shot should shoulder shout show shower shrug shut sick side sigh sight sign signal significance significant significantly silence silent silver similar similarly simple simply sin since sing singer single sink sir sister sit site situation six size ski skill skin sky slave sleep slice slide slight slightly slip slow slowly small smart smell smile smoke smooth snap snow so so-called soccer social society soft software soil solar soldier solid solution solve some somebody somehow someone something sometimes somewhat somewhere son song soon sophisticated sorry sort soul sound soup source south southern Soviet space Spanish speak speaker special specialist species specific specifically speech speed spend spending spin spirit spiritual split spokesman sport spot spread spring square squeeze stability stable staff stage stair stake stand standard standing star stare start state statement station statistics status stay steady steal steel step stick still stir stock stomach stone stop storage store storm story straight strange stranger strategic strategy stream street strength strengthen stress stretch strike string strip stroke strong strongly structure struggle student studio study stuff stupid style subject submit subsequent substance substantial succeed success successful successfully such sudden suddenly sue suffer sufficient sugar suggest suggestion suicide suit summer summit sun super supply support supporter suppose supposed Supreme sure surely surface surgery surprise surprised surprising surprisingly surround survey survival survive survivor suspect sustain swear sweep sweet swim swing switch symbol symptom system table tablespoon tactic tail take tale talent talk tall tank tap tape target task taste tax taxpayer tea teach teacher teaching team tear teaspoon technical technique technology teen teenager telephone telescope television tell temperature temporary ten tend tendency tennis tension tent term terms terrible territory terror terrorism terrorist test testify testimony testing text than thank thanks that the theater their them theme themselves then theory therapy there therefore these they thick thin thing think thinking third thirty this those though thought thousand threat threaten three throat through throughout throw thus ticket tie tight time tiny tip tire tired tissue title to tobacco today toe together tomato tomorrow tone tongue tonight too tool tooth top topic toss total totally touch tough tour tourist tournament toward towards tower town toy trace track trade tradition traditional traffic tragedy trail train training transfer transform transformation transition translate transportation travel treat treatment treaty tree tremendous trend trial tribe trick trip troop trouble truck true truly trust truth try tube tunnel turn TV twelve twenty twice twin two type typical typically ugly ultimate ultimately unable uncle under undergo understand understanding unfortunately uniform union unique unit United universal universe university unknown unless unlike unlikely until unusual up upon upper urban urge us use used useful user usual usually utility vacation valley valuable value variable variation variety various vary vast vegetable vehicle venture version versus very vessel veteran via victim victory video view viewer village violate violation violence violent virtually virtue virus visible vision visit visitor visual vital voice volume volunteer vote voter vs vulnerable wage wait wake walk wall wander want war warm warn warning wash waste watch water wave way we weak wealth wealthy weapon wear weather wedding week weekend weekly weigh weight welcome welfare well west western wet what whatever wheel when whenever where whereas whether which while whisper white who whole whom whose why wide widely widespread wife wild will willing win wind window wine wing winner winter wipe wire wisdom wise wish with withdraw within without witness woman wonder wonderful wood wooden word work worker working works workshop world worried worry worth would wound wrap write writer writing wrong yard yeah year yell yellow yes yesterday yet yield you young your yours yourself youth zone
[Lore/Humor/Commiseration] Drunk Magic - Forsaken, Part One: It Sure Is
Drunk Magic! It's like Drunk History, but for Magic. *catchy instrumental jingle* DRAMATIS PERSONAE AND GUILDS OF RAVNICA These introduce you to the characters and major groups herein, just in case you were attacked by this sequel in a dark alley face-hugger without having read the previous novel it is a sequel to. CHAPTER ONE: EPILOGUE - KAYA Oh, we're doing it so the prologue is the epilogue, and the epilogue is the prologue, and the middle part is the still the middle part. For artistical reasons. That's coo. I can get behind that. Kaya looks at Dack Fayden's corpse. This makes me sad, Kaya thinks. Kaya looks at Teyo and Rat. This makes me happy, Kaya thinks. (The actual prose is decent - much more well-paced than War of the Spark - but subtle it is not.) After experiencing this whirlwind of emotions, she stumbles across a quarreling Gatewatch. Because it is no longer the very end of a block, they are no longer effective. "I say we bury Gids on Theros," Chandra whimpers, shedding a tear in remembrance of her favorite dong. "And I say we bury Gids on keeping-the-Guildpact-together," Ajani grunts. "That makes no sense," Jace interjects. "Neither does suggesting that we renew our oaths, but I'm going to do that too, because I am a giant cat and you are not." Kaya stares awkwardly. Good for them, but that has absolutely nothing to do with me. Wonder if there are any good sushi places on Ravnica. Did I leave the oven on before I left Vizkopa this morning? Hey, I bet if I Danny Phantomed my ribs I could lick my own- wait why is the third-person omniscient focused on me OH MY GODDESS I'M SUPPOSED TO BE DOING SOMETHING AREN'T I. She steps forward, and raises a hand. "Eh, why not. For the living, for the dead, and for my further involvement in the plot, I will keep watch." Everyone claps. There is a parade for Gideon. A marching band plays his favorite song, It's Raining Men Who Are Manly, in a minor key. Niv-Mizzet swoops through the sky and lands in front of everyone. "I am Guildpact," he says Guildpactily. "Remember what I said at the end of the last novel about sending Ral, Vraska, and Kaya to kill Tezzeret, Dovin Baan, and Liliana? I'm saying it again." CHAPTER TWO: LILIANA VESS Liliana Vess slogs through the morass of Caligo Forest, with only hella guilt to keep her company. I wish I were dead, she thinks. This is ironic, because she has spent the last twelve real-world-years trying to very not die. "Hey, I have death in me," says a large stankwater. "Physical death, or the spiritual death-of-self that I need to dissociate from my horrible past and move on?" "I think the kind that kills you." "Eh, close enough," she says, and swan-dives in. This is still ironic. Greg Weisman wants to make sure you know that. As she sinks to the bottom of the swamp, she sees a bright light. God? she thinks. Is that you? Are you finally here to punish me for the time I bought an orphanage and turned it into an orphan fight club? No, the light says. I am more powerful than God. I am Gideon. Stop drowning yourself; I learned how to bounce my pecs to the rhythm of Macho Man while I was in heaven and I want to show off. Liliana bursts out the water like a SeaWorld dolphin. But the light is not Gideon. It is the Shame Light, shaming shame down upon her. Irony. CHAPTER THREE: TEYO VERANDA "Kill Dovin, Tezzeret, and Liliana," Niv-Mizzet says. "We can't track down Dovin, Tezzeret, and Liliana," Vraska says, "so we're going to need to wait a few chapters until some contrived, just-so solution appears." "Okay," Niv-Mizzet says. CHAPTER FOUR: JACE BELEREN "I want to kill Liliana," Chandra says, "because she did bad things." "Please don't," Jace replies, "because she also did good things." "Motion to table killage discussion after we bury Gideon," Ajani says. The group grumbles in assent. Chandra, Jaya, Teferi, Karn, Ajani, Nissa, Huatli, and Saheeli planeswalk to Kaladesh. Having checked off his attendance list, Jace turns to Vraska. "We had a date planned," she says. "That's right, Captain. Tin Street. Coffee. A bookstore," Jace shouts over my audible squeals of delight. They walk. "Didn't we just pass Tin Street?" "Yep-a-doodle-do." "Where are we going?" "My quarters," Vraska says. "Ah." "Do you have protection?" Vraska whispers into Jace's ear. "From which color?" CHAPTER FIVE: LILIANA VESS A raven perches on a bough a few feet in front of Liliana. Then it flies to another tree. Its mate lands beside it. As Liliana keeps walking, the two ravens set off, only to find purchase in a snaggle-barked dead oak where two more ravens were nesting. Then another raven arrives, then another, then- "You can come out, Raven Man," Liliana snarls. "It was pretty clear after the second raven." "Hush," one of the ravens caws. "I haven't seen you since Dominaria and I've been practicing this the whole time you were gone." The raven flaps down and turns into Raven Man. "Would you like to be controlled for dark and mysterious purposes?" "No thanks." "Well, I tried." CHAPTER SIX: RAT Rat is sad that her friends are planeswalkers who will surely abandon her. This is actually an interesting facet of the game's main conceit that we haven't seen explored enough. Boy, I sure hope we delve into that conflict, and not create a weird exception to a fundamental rule of our narrative to obviate it! Teyo still thinks toilets are straight-up magic. He's also awkward around Rat because he's smitten. Dangit, boy, just man up and let her peg you. Kaya's womanservant, Madame Blaise, struggles to see Rat. Silly servant! You're lower-class and overwhelmed by characters who bend reality to their whims! Ha ha ha! CHAPTER SEVEN: TEZZERET "I'm home," Tezzeret says, stepping onto Esper, "and I have a gaggle of gargoyles. Plus a cute lil homonculus." "I'm marketable!" she squeaks. Tezzeret flies off on his gargoyles, laughing half-maniacally, half-artifactiacally. CHAPTER EIGHT: RAL ZAREK Ral sloshes around in his bathtub, planning his ambush of Tezzeret with the Izzet League's most cunning and calculating rubber ducky. Tomik peeks his head through the door. "Isn't that a bad idea? You're pretty much a human that was bitten by a radioactive toaster." "A very sexy toaster, by the Dune-Brood," Ral shoots back, stepping out of the bath. (Sidebar: Weisman peppered lots of "gods-be-damned" and "oh gods" throughout War of the Spark. In Forsaken, he uses unique curses and oaths for characters from different planes. It's a great improvement. Good job, Weisman!) "Sex?" "No. Law." "Sex." "Law." "Sex!" "...Law-sex?" "Sexy sex." Tomik sighs. "Coming. In more ways than one." Ral fist-pumps. CHAPTER NINE: RAT "We should kill Liliana," Kaya says, "because she still did bad things." "We should not kill Liliana," Teyo says, "because she still did good things." Hekara still can't see Rat. That's sad. CHAPTER TEN: VRASKA Let's bang said she / Hot dang said he Please ride me harder said he / Thinkin' 'bout murder said she Don't be fussy said she / Your gorgussy said he Let's go to Vryn said he / Let's bone again said she While more suggestive than expected, this was a welcome pay-off for nearly two years of tension, development, and set-up; furthermore, it's wonderful that Wizards is willing to mature in its storytelling and portray happy couples rather than just string together fight scenes and will-they-won't-they romance - stories are about not only the conflicts we struggle with, but also what we aspire to, and I'm glad to see the writers be vulnerable enough to admit that deep down what most of us want is a healthy relationship with a little bit of hot sticky monster lovin' sprinkled in said she / Hold on, my rhyming dictionary is in the other room said he And that's part one. See you next week, I think? I was already in the middle of writing some longform Magic stuff when the exigence for dunking on this novel became apparent, so I don't have much of a plan or a timetable. If you're hungry for more content, read (or re-read) my Drunk Magic summary of War of the Spark. If you want to read more of jokes and see some of my short-form content, follow me on Twitter. And if you really liked this, consider hopping over to Ko-Fi and putting something in the tip jar to keep me in booze money.
3000 most common words in the English lexicon a abandon ability able abortion about above abroad absence absolute absolutely absorb abuse academic accept access accident accompany accomplish according account accurate accuse achieve achievement acid acknowledge acquire across act action active activist activity actor actress actual actually ad adapt add addition additional address adequate adjust adjustment administration administrator admire admission admit adolescent adopt adult advance advanced advantage adventure advertising advice advise adviser advocate affair affect afford afraid African African-American after afternoon again against age agency agenda agent aggressive ago agree agreement agricultural ah ahead aid aide AIDS aim air aircraft airline airport album alcohol alive all alliance allow ally almost alone along already also alter alternative although always AM amazing American among amount analysis analyst analyze ancient and anger angle angry animal anniversary announce annual another answer anticipate anxiety any anybody anymore anyone anything anyway anywhere apart apartment apparent apparently appeal appear appearance apple application apply appoint appointment appreciate approach appropriate approval approve approximately Arab architect area argue argument arise arm armed army around arrange arrangement arrest arrival arrive art article artist artistic as Asian aside ask asleep aspect assault assert assess assessment asset assign assignment assist assistance assistant associate association assume assumption assure at athlete athletic atmosphere attach attack attempt attend attention attitude attorney attract attractive attribute audience author authority auto available average avoid award aware awareness away awful baby back background bad badly bag bake balance ball ban band bank bar barely barrel barrier base baseball basic basically basis basket basketball bathroom battery battle be beach bean bear beat beautiful beauty because become bed bedroom beer before begin beginning behavior behind being belief believe bell belong below belt bench bend beneath benefit beside besides best bet better between beyond Bible big bike bill billion bind biological bird birth birthday bit bite black blade blame blanket blind block blood blow blue board boat body bomb bombing bond bone book boom boot border born borrow boss both bother bottle bottom boundary bowl box boy boyfriend brain branch brand bread break breakfast breast breath breathe brick bridge brief briefly bright brilliant bring British broad broken brother brown brush buck budget build building bullet bunch burden burn bury bus business busy but butter button buy buyer by cabin cabinet cable cake calculate call camera camp campaign campus can Canadian cancer candidate cap capability capable capacity capital captain capture car carbon card care career careful carefully carrier carry case cash cast cat catch category Catholic cause ceiling celebrate celebration celebrity cell center central century CEO ceremony certain certainly chain chair chairman challenge chamber champion championship chance change changing channel chapter character characteristic characterize charge charity chart chase cheap check cheek cheese chef chemical chest chicken chief child childhood Chinese chip chocolate choice cholesterol choose Christian Christmas church cigarette circle circumstance cite citizen city civil civilian claim class classic classroom clean clear clearly client climate climb clinic clinical clock close closely closer clothes clothing cloud club clue cluster coach coal coalition coast coat code coffee cognitive cold collapse colleague collect collection collective college colonial color column combination combine come comedy comfort comfortable command commander comment commercial commission commit commitment committee common communicate communication community company compare comparison compete competition competitive competitor complain complaint complete completely complex complicated component compose composition comprehensive computer concentrate concentration concept concern concerned concert conclude conclusion concrete condition conduct conference confidence confident confirm conflict confront confusion Congress congressional connect connection consciousness consensus consequence conservative consider considerable consideration consist consistent constant constantly constitute constitutional construct construction consultant consume consumer consumption contact contain container contemporary content contest context continue continued contract contrast contribute contribution control controversial controversy convention conventional conversation convert conviction convince cook cookie cooking cool cooperation cop cope copy core corn corner corporate corporation correct correspondent cost cotton couch could council counselor count counter country county couple courage course court cousin cover coverage cow crack craft crash crazy cream create creation creative creature credit crew crime criminal crisis criteria critic critical criticism criticize crop cross crowd crucial cry cultural culture cup curious current currently curriculum custom customer cut cycle dad daily damage dance danger dangerous dare dark darkness data date daughter day dead deal dealer dear death debate debt decade decide decision deck declare decline decrease deep deeply deer defeat defend defendant defense defensive deficit define definitely definition degree delay deliver delivery demand democracy Democrat democratic demonstrate demonstration deny department depend dependent depending depict depression depth deputy derive describe description desert deserve design designer desire desk desperate despite destroy destruction detail detailed detect determine develop developing development device devote dialogue die diet differ difference different differently difficult difficulty dig digital dimension dining dinner direct direction directly director dirt dirty disability disagree disappear disaster discipline discourse discover discovery discrimination discuss discussion disease dish dismiss disorder display dispute distance distant distinct distinction distinguish distribute distribution district diverse diversity divide division divorce DNA do doctor document dog domestic dominant dominate door double doubt down downtown dozen draft drag drama dramatic dramatically draw drawing dream dress drink drive driver drop drug dry due during dust duty each eager ear early earn earnings earth ease easily east eastern easy eat economic economics economist economy edge edition editor educate education educational educator effect effective effectively efficiency efficient effort egg eight either elderly elect election electric electricity electronic element elementary eliminate elite else elsewhere e-mail embrace emerge emergency emission emotion emotional emphasis emphasize employ employee employer employment empty enable encounter encourage end enemy energy enforcement engage engine engineer engineering English enhance enjoy enormous enough ensure enter enterprise entertainment entire entirely entrance entry environment environmental episode equal equally equipment era error escape especially essay essential essentially establish establishment estate estimate etc ethics ethnic European evaluate evaluation even evening event eventually ever every everybody everyday everyone everything everywhere evidence evolution evolve exact exactly examination examine example exceed excellent except exception exchange exciting executive exercise exhibit exhibition exist existence existing expand expansion expect expectation expense expensive experience experiment expert explain explanation explode explore explosion expose exposure express expression extend extension extensive extent external extra extraordinary extreme extremely eye fabric face facility fact factor factory faculty fade fail failure fair fairly faith fall false familiar family famous fan fantasy far farm farmer fashion fast fat fate father fault favor favorite fear feature federal fee feed feel feeling fellow female fence few fewer fiber fiction field fifteen fifth fifty fight fighter fighting figure file fill film final finally finance financial find finding fine finger finish fire firm first fish fishing fit fitness five fix flag flame flat flavor flee flesh flight float floor flow flower fly focus folk follow following food foot football for force foreign forest forever forget form formal formation former formula forth fortune forward found foundation founder four fourth frame framework free freedom freeze French frequency frequent frequently fresh friend friendly friendship from front fruit frustration fuel full fully fun function fund fundamental funding funeral funny furniture furthermore future gain galaxy gallery game gang gap garage garden garlic gas gate gather gay gaze gear gender gene general generally generate generation genetic gentleman gently German gesture get ghost giant gift gifted girl girlfriend give given glad glance glass global glove go goal God gold golden golf good government governor grab grade gradually graduate grain grand grandfather grandmother grant grass grave gray great greatest green grocery ground group grow growing growth guarantee guard guess guest guide guideline guilty gun guy habit habitat hair half hall hand handful handle hang happen happy hard hardly hat hate have he head headline headquarters health healthy hear hearing heart heat heaven heavily heavy heel height helicopter hell hello help helpful her here heritage hero herself hey hi hide high highlight highly highway hill him himself hip hire his historian historic historical history hit hold hole holiday holy home homeless honest honey honor hope horizon horror horse hospital host hot hotel hour house household housing how however huge human humor hundred hungry hunter hunting hurt husband hypothesis I ice idea ideal identification identify identity ie if ignore ill illegal illness illustrate image imagination imagine immediate immediately immigrant immigration impact implement implication imply importance important impose impossible impress impression impressive improve improvement in incentive incident include including income incorporate increase increased increasing increasingly incredible indeed independence independent index Indian indicate indication individual industrial industry infant infection inflation influence inform information ingredient initial initially initiative injury inner innocent inquiry inside insight insist inspire install instance instead institution institutional instruction instructor instrument insurance intellectual intelligence intend intense intensity intention interaction interest interested interesting internal international Internet interpret interpretation intervention interview into introduce introduction invasion invest investigate investigation investigator investment investor invite involve involved involvement Iraqi Irish iron Islamic island Israeli issue it Italian item its itself jacket jail Japanese jet Jew Jewish job join joint joke journal journalist journey joy judge judgment juice jump junior jury just justice justify keep key kick kid kill killer killing kind king kiss kitchen knee knife knock know knowledge lab label labor laboratory lack lady lake land landscape language lap large largely last late later Latin latter laugh launch law lawn lawsuit lawyer lay layer lead leader leadership leading leaf league lean learn learning least leather leave left leg legacy legal legend legislation legitimate lemon length less lesson let letter level liberal library license lie life lifestyle lifetime lift light like likely limit limitation limited line link lip list listen literally literary literature little live living load loan local locate location lock long long-term look loose lose loss lost lot lots loud love lovely lover low lower luck lucky lunch lung machine mad magazine mail main mainly maintain maintenance major majority make maker makeup male mall man manage management manager manner manufacturer manufacturing many map margin mark market marketing marriage married marry mask mass massive master match material math matter may maybe mayor me meal mean meaning meanwhile measure measurement meat mechanism media medical medication medicine medium meet meeting member membership memory mental mention menu mere merely mess message metal meter method Mexican middle might military milk million mind mine minister minor minority minute miracle mirror miss missile mission mistake mix mixture mm-hmm mode model moderate modern modest mom moment money monitor month mood moon moral more moreover morning mortgage most mostly mother motion motivation motor mount mountain mouse mouth move movement movie Mr Mrs Ms much multiple murder muscle museum music musical musician Muslim must mutual my myself mystery myth naked name narrative narrow nation national native natural naturally nature near nearby nearly necessarily necessary neck need negative negotiate negotiation neighbor neighborhood neither nerve nervous net network never nevertheless new newly news newspaper next nice night nine no nobody nod noise nomination none nonetheless nor normal normally north northern nose not note nothing notice notion novel now nowhere n't nuclear number numerous nurse nut object objective obligation observation observe observer obtain obvious obviously occasion occasionally occupation occupy occur ocean odd odds of off offense offensive offer office officer official often oh oil ok okay old Olympic on once one ongoing onion online only onto open opening operate operating operation operator opinion opponent opportunity oppose opposite opposition option or orange order ordinary organic organization organize orientation origin original originally other others otherwise ought our ourselves out outcome outside oven over overall overcome overlook owe own owner pace pack package page pain painful paint painter painting pair pale Palestinian palm pan panel pant paper parent park parking part participant participate participation particular particularly partly partner partnership party pass passage passenger passion past patch path patient pattern pause pay payment PC peace peak peer penalty people pepper per perceive percentage perception perfect perfectly perform performance perhaps period permanent permission permit person personal personality personally personnel perspective persuade pet phase phenomenon philosophy phone photo photograph photographer phrase physical physically physician piano pick picture pie piece pile pilot pine pink pipe pitch place plan plane planet planning plant plastic plate platform play player please pleasure plenty plot plus PM pocket poem poet poetry point pole police policy political politically politician politics poll pollution pool poor pop popular population porch port portion portrait portray pose position positive possess possibility possible possibly post pot potato potential potentially pound pour poverty powder power powerful practical practice pray prayer precisely predict prefer preference pregnancy pregnant preparation prepare prescription presence present presentation preserve president presidential press pressure pretend pretty prevent previous previously price pride priest primarily primary prime principal principle print prior priority prison prisoner privacy private probably problem procedure proceed process produce producer product production profession professional professor profile profit program progress project prominent promise promote prompt proof proper properly property proportion proposal propose proposed prosecutor prospect protect protection protein protest proud prove provide provider province provision psychological psychologist psychology public publication publicly publish publisher pull punishment purchase pure purpose 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telephone telescope television tell temperature temporary ten tend tendency tennis tension tent term terms terrible territory terror terrorism terrorist test testify testimony testing text than thank thanks that the theater their them theme themselves then theory therapy there therefore these they thick thin thing think thinking third thirty this those though thought thousand threat threaten three throat through throughout throw thus ticket tie tight time tiny tip tire tired tissue title to tobacco today toe together tomato tomorrow tone tongue tonight too tool tooth top topic toss total totally touch tough tour tourist tournament toward towards tower town toy trace track trade tradition traditional traffic tragedy trail train training transfer transform transformation transition translate transportation travel treat treatment treaty tree tremendous trend trial tribe trick trip troop trouble truck true truly trust truth try tube tunnel turn TV twelve twenty twice twin two type typical typically ugly ultimate ultimately unable uncle under undergo understand understanding unfortunately uniform union unique unit United universal universe university unknown unless unlike unlikely until unusual up upon upper urban urge us use used useful user usual usually utility vacation valley valuable value variable variation variety various vary vast vegetable vehicle venture version versus very vessel veteran via victim victory video view viewer village violate violation violence violent virtually virtue virus visible vision visit visitor visual vital voice volume volunteer vote voter vs vulnerable wage wait wake walk wall wander want war warm warn warning wash waste watch water wave way we weak wealth wealthy weapon wear weather wedding week weekend weekly weigh weight welcome welfare well west western wet what whatever wheel when whenever where whereas whether which while whisper white who whole whom whose why wide widely widespread wife wild will willing win wind window wine wing winner winter wipe wire wisdom wise wish with withdraw within without witness woman wonder wonderful wood wooden word work worker working works workshop world worried worry worth would wound wrap write writer writing wrong yard yeah year yell yellow yes yesterday yet yield you young your yours yourself youth zone
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native natural naturally nature near nearby nearly necessarily necessary neck need negative negotiate negotiation neighbor neighborhood neither nerve nervous net network never nevertheless new newly news newspaper next nice night nine no nobody nod noise nomination none nonetheless nor normal normally north northern nose not note nothing notice notion novel now nowhere n't nuclear number numerous nurse nut object objective obligation observation observe observer obtain obvious obviously occasion occasionally occupation occupy occur ocean odd odds of off offense offensive offer office officer official often oh oil ok okay old Olympic on once one ongoing onion online only onto open opening operate operating operation operator opinion opponent opportunity oppose opposite opposition option or orange order ordinary organic organization organize orientation origin original originally other others otherwise ought our ourselves out outcome outside oven over overall overcome overlook owe own owner pace pack package page pain painful paint painter painting pair pale Palestinian palm pan panel pant paper parent park parking part participant participate participation particular particularly partly partner partnership party pass passage passenger passion past patch path patient pattern pause pay payment PC peace peak peer penalty people pepper per perceive percentage perception perfect perfectly perform performance perhaps period permanent permission permit person personal personality personally personnel perspective persuade pet phase phenomenon philosophy phone photo photograph photographer phrase physical physically physician piano pick picture pie piece pile pilot pine pink pipe pitch place plan plane planet planning plant plastic plate platform play player please pleasure plenty plot plus PM pocket poem poet poetry point pole police policy political politically politician politics poll pollution pool poor pop popular population porch port portion portrait portray pose position positive possess possibility possible possibly post pot potato potential potentially pound pour poverty powder power powerful practical practice pray prayer precisely predict prefer preference pregnancy pregnant preparation prepare prescription presence present presentation preserve president presidential press pressure pretend pretty prevent previous previously price pride priest primarily primary prime principal principle print prior priority prison prisoner privacy private probably problem procedure proceed process produce producer product production profession professional professor profile profit program progress project prominent promise promote prompt proof proper properly property proportion proposal propose proposed prosecutor prospect protect protection protein protest proud prove provide provider province provision psychological psychologist psychology public publication publicly publish publisher pull punishment purchase pure purpose pursue push put qualify quality quarter quarterback question quick quickly quiet quietly quit quite quote race racial radical radio rail rain raise range rank rapid rapidly rare rarely rate rather rating ratio raw reach react reaction read reader reading ready real reality realize really reason reasonable recall receive recent recently recipe recognition recognize recommend recommendation record recording recover recovery recruit red reduce reduction refer reference reflect reflection reform refugee refuse regard regarding regardless regime region regional register regular regularly regulate regulation reinforce reject relate relation relationship relative relatively relax release relevant relief religion religious rely remain remaining remarkable remember remind remote remove repeat repeatedly replace reply report reporter represent representation representative Republican reputation request require requirement research researcher resemble reservation resident resist resistance resolution resolve resort resource respect respond respondent response responsibility responsible rest restaurant restore restriction result retain retire retirement return reveal revenue review revolution rhythm rice rich rid ride rifle right ring rise risk river road rock role roll romantic roof room root rope rose rough roughly round route routine row rub rule run running rural rush Russian sacred sad safe safety sake salad salary sale sales salt same sample sanction sand satellite satisfaction satisfy sauce save saving say scale scandal scared scenario scene schedule scheme scholar scholarship school science scientific scientist scope score scream screen script sea search season seat second secret secretary section sector secure security see seed seek seem segment seize select selection self sell Senate senator send senior sense sensitive sentence separate sequence series serious seriously serve service session set setting settle settlement seven several severe sex sexual shade shadow shake shall shape share sharp she sheet shelf shell shelter shift shine ship shirt shit shock shoe shoot shooting shop shopping shore short shortly shot should shoulder shout show shower shrug shut sick side sigh sight sign signal significance significant significantly silence silent silver similar similarly simple simply sin since sing singer single sink sir sister sit site situation six size ski skill skin sky slave sleep slice slide slight slightly slip slow slowly small smart smell smile smoke smooth snap snow so so-called soccer social society soft software soil solar soldier solid solution solve some somebody somehow someone something sometimes somewhat somewhere son song soon sophisticated sorry sort soul sound soup source south southern Soviet space Spanish speak speaker special specialist species specific specifically speech speed spend spending spin spirit spiritual split spokesman sport spot spread spring square squeeze stability stable staff stage stair stake stand standard standing star stare start state statement station statistics status stay steady steal steel step stick still stir stock stomach stone stop storage store storm story straight strange stranger strategic strategy stream street strength strengthen stress stretch strike string strip stroke strong strongly structure struggle student studio study stuff stupid style subject submit subsequent substance substantial succeed success successful successfully such sudden suddenly sue suffer sufficient sugar suggest suggestion suicide suit summer summit sun super supply support supporter suppose supposed Supreme sure surely surface surgery surprise surprised surprising surprisingly surround survey survival survive survivor suspect sustain swear sweep sweet swim swing switch symbol symptom system table tablespoon tactic tail take tale talent talk tall tank tap tape target task taste tax taxpayer tea teach teacher teaching team tear teaspoon technical technique technology teen teenager telephone telescope television tell temperature temporary ten tend tendency tennis tension tent term terms terrible territory terror terrorism terrorist test testify testimony testing text than thank thanks that the theater their them theme themselves then theory therapy there therefore these they thick thin thing think thinking third thirty this those though thought thousand threat threaten three throat through throughout throw thus ticket tie tight time tiny tip tire tired tissue title to tobacco today toe together tomato tomorrow tone tongue tonight too tool tooth top topic toss total totally touch tough tour tourist tournament toward towards tower town toy trace track trade tradition traditional traffic tragedy trail train training transfer transform transformation transition translate transportation travel treat treatment treaty tree tremendous trend trial tribe trick trip troop trouble truck true truly trust truth try tube tunnel turn TV twelve twenty twice twin two type typical typically ugly ultimate ultimately unable uncle under undergo understand understanding unfortunately uniform union unique unit United universal universe university unknown unless unlike unlikely until unusual up upon upper urban urge us use used useful user usual usually utility vacation valley valuable value variable variation variety various vary vast vegetable vehicle venture version versus very vessel veteran via victim victory video view viewer village violate violation violence violent virtually virtue virus visible vision visit visitor visual vital voice volume volunteer vote voter vs vulnerable wage wait wake walk wall wander want war warm warn warning wash waste watch water wave way we weak wealth wealthy weapon wear weather wedding week weekend weekly weigh weight welcome welfare well west western wet what whatever wheel when whenever where whereas whether which while whisper white who whole whom whose why wide widely widespread wife wild will willing win wind window wine wing winner winter wipe wire wisdom wise wish with withdraw within without witness woman wonder wonderful wood wooden word work worker working works workshop world worried worry worth would wound wrap write writer writing wrong yard yeah year yell yellow yes yesterday yet yield you young your yours yourself youth zone
[Very long post] Detailed, critical reflections and tips after a month of playing torpedo DDs in the CV-heavy meta
TL;DR:
Solo success in torpedo boats is still possible, but demands high base skill.
Survival in destroyers has become highly unforgiving. Surface gunfire directed via plane spotting is the primary killer. Mistakes are mercilessly punished.
Playing escort is NOT, REPEAT, NOT the key to a high winrate. Find opportunities for high-risk, high-reward attacks. Survive and repeat. Rotate often.
Ignore objectives unless capture is safe.
Sometimes you’re unlucky and the planes focus you. Try to waste the CV’s time.
Look for chances to punish the enemy AA blob. Stay ahead of their radar.
DD play is stressful these days. Take a break and try another class every few games!
A common topic of discussions about destroyers in the current meta has been the suggestion that torpedo-focused destroyers aren’t in a good place. Frequent advice has been to gravitate towards gunboat destroyers, preferably with strong AA, that can support the fleet with smoke and HE harassing fire while being able to protect themselves from aircraft. Early capping is out. Stealth torpedo play is out. As for the TRB (torpedo reload booster) IJN DDs, “only a masochist” would attempt to play them in the current meta. Challenge accepted... Having always been the kind of player who prefers to test assertions as opposed to simply theorycrafting them, my response to the CV rework was to return to my roots and try and find out for myself just how one ought to play a torpedo-focused DD in the current meta (I was most recently on the Exeter grind—rule Britannia!). This post is a combination of a guide and of my personal reflections after spending about a month primarily playing only IJN torpedo DDs in the CV-heavy meta. I’ll preface by declaring that, after having now conducted this personal “experiment” (those are heavy quotes), it turns out that I don’t have all that much of a personal stake in the emotionally-charged CV debate after all. I could carry games pre-rework, and I have continued to carry games post-rework, all while sailing the line and class that have been the butt of this subreddit’s jokes for years. That said, I still care about the CV vs DD interactions, because they impact average and low-skill players to a disproportionate degree. So I’ve always been a fairly good DD player. Probably not exceptional to the point that I could casually hop on over to one of the top clans, but my stats are deep purple and I enjoy >60% solo winrates on the vast majority of my IJN torpedo platforms. That has not changed post-patch. In the month that I’ve been playing almost nothing but torp botes, my winrate has actually gone up—an effect that I will conservatively attribute to random luck but which could just as easily be related to the fact that because I am disproportionately likely to survive into late-game relative to other DD players in the CV-heavy meta. In contrast, I am seeing other destroyers, allied and enemy, drop like flies these days. Aside from AA destroyers, it also doesn’t seem to matter what flavor of destroyer you’re playing--KM DDs, RU DDs, PA DDs, and RN DDs are all getting sent rapidly to the bottom during the early game. Wargaming apparently was highly alarmed by DD mortality as well, if recent buffs to air detection, nerfs to rocket squadrons, and bug fixes for HE DB drop patterns—all in short succession—were any indication. Dev comments accompanying these changes noted that destroyers have been disproportionately affected in terms of damage suffered and survival rates. Survival rates which were already the lowest among ship classes in the game. To a degree, watching other players play, I can see valid reasons why CV mains are saying that the most important solution for destroyer captains is to “Git gud.” Gitting gud undoubtedly helps, and many captains continue to make quite basic, fatal mistakes. That said, the question we should be asking ourselves should be whether we have introduced a DD skill gap in the attempt to fix the CV skill gap. Is it reasonable or healthy for the game if high-tier DD play requires a disproportionately higher skill floor than BB, CA, or CV play at the same matchmaking bracket? What about the mediocre player or the casual player who can’t or won’t memorize all high-tier radar radii, hydro radii, hostile DD minimum detection radii and keep track of the position of every potential detection threat throughout the entire game? Have we decided that DD gameplay ought to be so newcomer-unfriendly that many players will likely abandon their first destroyer line in frustration upon hitting T8 rather than grind through 0 damage match after 0 damage match to learn each lesson the hard way? I’d argue that current conditions tend towards being too unforgiving. Admittedly, it’s a tricky balance. Buff DDs too hard and players like me or better will run rampant carrying games. The IJN gunboat line also exists (pro tip: torpedoes remain their best counter). At any rate, here are my two cents regarding how I found myself responding to the CV meta while playing torpedo-focused destroyers, combined with a few of my thoughts about what worked well in the current meta for me personally. METHODOLOGY AND MATCH RECORDS:
Non-premium IJN DDs from tier 5-10 were played. All are fully upgraded and have captains ranging from between 10-16 points.
A random number between 5 and 10 was picked to select the tier to be played
The torpedo-focused IJN DD at that tier was chosen as the ship to be played. If two torpedo-focused DDs were present at that tier, a second random number roll was used to select between the two ships (ex: odd numbers for Hatsuharu, even numbers for Fubuki).
The “Battle!” button was pressed once. Queue was not canceled under any circumstances such as the number of carriers in queue.
The one exception to the above rules was that Minekaze was not played, since I no longer own her and even if I re-bought the ship I lack a 10-point IJN captain to helm her. I also avoided Shinonome since she is a premium.
Almost all games were played solo. I think I only played 3-5 games with 1-2 buddies, all of whom are quite casual WOWS players and do not play as a team-oriented division with me (Iron Duke and Mutsuki, anyone?).
Assertion 1: Consistently strong performance in torpedo-focused DDs remains possible in the current meta (for a skilled player) Even in what I would consider to be an extremely lethal meta for destroyer players, my final W/R remained at around 67%. CV aircraft increased the difficulty of the average game, yet I still felt that I was often still able to exert a substantial influence over the match outcome if I played well. As evidenced by some individual matches, the presence of carriers did not prevent me from continuing to produce highly successful results in some games. In addition, apart from weaker AA, I didn’t feel that I was hamstrung by opting for torpedo boats as opposed to a gunboat or hybrid. While there were certainly times when I found myself wishing for defensive AA, I also never thought that I was disproportionately hurt by the fact that I was in an Akatsuki as opposed to, say, a Kiev. Being in a torpedo boat merely changed the manner in which I played. Whereas I would likely play a gunboat in a smoke-harassing manner, I continued to hunt BBs in my torpedo-focused DDs and exert my primary game impact that way. I would say that I encountered CVs in the large majority of my games. Even so, I apparently was not only able to maintain my winrate, but I continued dealing a reliable 64-91k damage on average per game depending on the tier, landing between 4-6.5 torpedoes per match, etc... The most annoying factor related to playing torpedo DDs in a CV meta was actually related to friendly aircraft causing enemy ships to inadvertently evade my torpedoes in the process of dodging air attacks. However, this was largely a minor nuisance, as it only interferes with play when the CV picks your target with exactly the wrong timing. I would add that enemy CV aircraft feel significantly easier to play around at lower tiers. T4 aircraft are fragile and incapable of inflicting damage that can seriously endanger your ship. At tiers 5-6, the IJN DD line is also in a relatively good place in terms of their AA output relative to the health of the planes that they face. Mutsuki in particular is a real clubber if you can land your torps with consistency (75% WR, average of 6.5 torps landed per game, whaaat?). The second factor in play at low-mid tiers is the absence of radar, which leads to my second and most important assertion. Assertion 2: Survival in DDs has become much more unforgiving especially at higher tiers, which heavily penalizes poor-to-average DD players. CV strikes themselves are often not the biggest threat in terms of damage. The biggest threat is plane spotting for enemy shells, with plane spotting also stacking with long-range radar. Starting from T7 and up, I found DD play in a CV-heavy meta to be considerably more difficult. Along with the CV rework, the proliferation of radar ships due to the release of the USN CL line as well as the high presence of premium T9 ships with strong radar (Missouri, Kronstadt, Alaska) make high-tier DD play even riskier compared to a pre-rework environment that was already unfriendly to new or poor DD players. As you can see from the match stats table, I began regularly dying in a majority--even a large majority--of my games from Tier 8 on up. Keeping an open mind, I was quite willing to experiment with different playstyles to adjust my gameplay to fit the new meta. That said, it rapidly became apparent to me that the current state of the game mercilessly punishes the slightest mistake or bad luck. The fundamental issue is the spotting provided by CV aircraft. I find that I am far less scared of the CV player’s attacks themselves than I am of the hail of shellfire from enemy BBs and cruisers that often accompanies plane detection. The CV player need not even make a single attack run against my ship to force me to run at full speed for the rear. Dropping a fighter consumable a little ahead of my bow effectively acts as a deployable radar that keeps me spotted for the next 20 seconds. The bigger problem, however, is that detection threats effectively “stack” with enemy CVs. Both CV aircraft and radar are on-demand detection for an enemy team. Radar can pinpoint you for CV planes to maintain detection. Similarly, even a brief flyover by CV planes can announce your presence for an enemy cruiser to then spotlight you with radar. Fighter consumables are also deadly as noted above. A second issue is that survival in a DD on low HP is simply no longer possible in the new CV meta. The response time of CV attack squadrons at higher tiers is far faster than your ability to reposition. It thus no longer generally matters if you survive a DD duel or YOLO torpedo attack on a sliver of HP, as a competent CV player will have little difficulty finding you with an attack squadron, perma-spotting you for the next 20 seconds with a fighter consumable, and delivering the coup-de-grace with rockets. Assertion 3: It is impossible to avoid detection by aircraft in the long-term while remaining useful to the team. Maximizing your impact also requires exposure to radar. Impactful DD play in the CV meta requires high-risk high-reward play. Taking calculated risks is what leads to wins. The response of CV players on this subreddit has often boiled down to “git gud” and “find AA cover.” Setting aside the ridiculousness of CV captains, able to deal a precision, long-range, constant stream of damage without risking their own ship, flaming players of the ship class requiring the most patience, situational awareness, and game sense to play competently, the simple fact is that “playing safe” in a destroyer is not a winning strategy. First, bunching up with an AA escort is not a foolproof strategy. Sure, the enemy CV will likely leave you alone if you are screening a Minotaur. However, while a friendly Massachusetts has imposing AA, it is still an attractive target and carrier aircraft will often still make runs against it, spotting you in the process. As I mentioned earlier, it’s the plane-spotted gunfire, not bombs or rockets, that are your greatest enemy. This will come as a reeeal surprise, I’m sure, but… Shockingly--shockingly, AA teamplay cannot be relied upon. I don’t know why anybody who has ever complained about border-humping BBs would expect that somehow the solution to DD captains’ problems could come from teamwork with allied ships. CVs will only rarely drop fighters to protect you. AA cruisers will not always make it easy to stick close to you. That’s not always because they don’t care--but they can’t always make AA protection their sole priority. Sometimes they are bound for a static island position to HE spam and provide radar area denial. Other times they are kiting, then turn hard for the rear to break contact once they eat a citadel. You can’t hug your allied Worcester all game and have consistent game impact. Scenarios in which you’re coordinating smoke HE spam and wolfpacking enemy DDs with radar are literally the one-game-in-a-hundred stuff of dreams, outside of division mates coordinating via voice call. Not gonna happen in randoms. With a random ally, you can stick close, but not without sacrificing virtually all of your game impact, and even then you might be forced out of his AA bubble (like if your partner succumbs to repeated citadels). Finally, recall that the tradeoff between protection and impact is even greater in a torpedo boat—if he’s kiting the nearest enemy at 16km, your torpedoes are out of range. Conservative play thus places your matches at the mercy of your teammates. Expect a near-50% winrate. Naturally, this leads to the conclusion that if you want to exert any kind of impact on the match, then at some point, you need to put your ship on the line. What I found successful was prioritizing survival and playing around max-range torpedo salvos in the early game. Overly-aggressive play right from the match start leads to an early trip back to port. Moving into the midgame, I would assess the whole map and determine where my impact could be the most decisive—where was the enemy mounting a push? Where were the majority of their battleships heading? I would then rotate at the next convenient opportunity, across the map if necessary, and begin an aggressive approach with the goal of launching a mass torpedo attack from as close a distance as possible while still maintaining a chance of escaping detection. For a torpedo boat in the current meta, TRB is unquestionably the way to go.You want to push your torpedo marksmanship abilities to the max and bet everything on a single, devastating, multi-pronged attack that will cripple multiple targets and give your team the edge even if you don’t manage to escape alive. If you do survive, return to playing around your max torpedo range until TRB is back off cooldown, then repeat the above midgame attack step. After all, smoke won’t save you from planes anyway. A good CV captain will drop you once as you are slowing for massive damage, and can likely hit you again based on your smoke puff pattern on a second drop. Meanwhile, hiding in your smoke cloud from the warbirds overhead only corners you for advancing enemy radar and torpedo waves. This calculatedly aggressive approach is actually quite suitable to the current meta overall. Hit your torpedoes and your high flooding chance actually synergizes fairly well with follow-up CV strikes. Sometimes this combined effect is enough to literally rout an entire flank and send them fleeing for the map edge. It’s high-risk, high-reward stuff, and not for beginners or for the faint of heart. Get caught on your way in and your targets will probably dodge. If your torpedo marksmanship isn’t up to snuff, then you likely won’t break even in match impact during most games. The thing is though, even if you miss your torpedoes, you’re still being about as impactful as you would have been hugging a Missouri in your Kagero. If you’re determined to play torpedo destroyers in the current meta, then picking your opening and mounting an aggressive offense is the key. Assertion 4: Objective-focused play is no longer generally worthwhile The moment a destroyer touches an objective, their near-exact position is immediately announced to the entire enemy team. Early capping is generally no longer possible unless the entire enemy team, planes included, has lemming trained to the opposite side of the map relative to the objective you’re contesting. Any CV captain worth his salt will send a squadron to any contested cap to spot your DD. Smoking up merely fixes you in place for torpedoes and radar—and the CV can still strike you semi-accurately by targeting the center of the newest smoke puff. In the worst-case scenario, you are radared and forced to flee the smoke, only to emerge under the perma-spotting of enemy planes. Furthermore, in the CV meta, capital ships are often positioned further to the rear than previously—meaning that both teams end up taking potshots at the opposing destroyers as opposed to trying to hit the weaving cruisers and stealthy battleships at 18km, since the DDs are much closer targets. I find that I am even avoiding caps in mid/lategame if I’m isolated or low HP, since I am worried about attracting CV focus if I announce my position with a capture attempt. As for solo-capturing the enemy base during a Standard Battle, it’s completely impossible. You announce your presence from the instant you enter the zone. Smoke will only protect you for a fraction of the capture duration. As you represent the single greatest threat to cutting short the CV player’s farm even if their entire team wasn’t pinging them to protect base, they will prioritize you relentlessly. In summary, objectives are now a side consideration. They are captured during a concentrated team push to put pressure on the opposing team, or to punish an enemy team for completely neglecting a flank. More so than ever before, don’t risk your ship for the zone capture. Your impact now comes via ship damage and kills. Assertion 5: Your game experience is heavily dependent on the enemy CV player’s priorities There is a certain portion of the game experience that is beyond your control when sailing a torpedo destroyer against CVs. CV players tend to pick a flank to prioritize with their aircraft, and your team tends to sail in a certain direction in response. End up spawning on the unlucky side, and you will often have a less-impactful, less-enjoyable game. The recommended solution is to recognize the situation quickly and rotate immediately to a sector with more opportunities. Different CV players also have different priorities. Some CV captains lack confidence in their ability to land attacks on evading DDs and will ignore you generally, focusing on capital ships and only spotting you by accident. Other CV captains seem to take perverse glee in hunting down tin cans. Sometimes, even if you rotate, the enemy captain decides that you’re their target, and will sacrifice rocket fighters to dive you even into the heart of your allied fleet’s AA. In these circumstances, you won’t have much fun that game, but at least you are having a positive impact by helping deplete the red CV’s hangar. There is a bright side to CVs focusing you, however. It turns out that if you are not simultaneously being focused by surface guns, you can micromanage AA and evade to the point where you are honestly unproductive for an enemy CV to focus. Obviously, this isn’t all that fun for you, and your mileage may vary depending on enemy CV captain skill, but the most important resources of a CV are planes and time. Your Yugumo will not be deplaning their hangar anytime soon. However, if the CV is stubbornly focusing you with squadron after squadron and no other enemy ships are shooting at you, it will take him a long ass time to send you to the bottom. I claim a decisive role in one of my Kagero match victories as a result of this phenomenon. After sinking an enemy Takao, his division mate turned out to be the enemy Lex, and focused me with a single-minded vengeance for the next 8 minutes or so. Meanwhile, our Enterprise operated unopposed against their main fleet, dealing an order of magnitude more damage than the 15k damage the Lexington ultimately inflicted upon me. Obviously most CV captains aren’t so stupid or so inaccurate, but while it’s little comfort in the moment, holding an enemy CV’s attention for 4-5 minutes is nevertheless a contribution, even if it’s not fun in the slightest and yields virtually no rewards. Yay. Assertion 6: Team AA blobbing is a double-edged sword that actually can work in torpedo boats’ favor If there’s one thing I love to see in my TRB Yugumo, it’s battleships traveling in tight packs. Lemming trains with 3-5 enemy BBs moving in concert with battlecruisers and cruisers are a regular sight now. Consequently, I have had hilariously successful TRB IJN DD games in the presence of CVs. In a number of the matches screenshotted above, I landed torpedoes on literally every single enemy battleship over the course of the game. If blobbing is now a regular fixture of games, then your ability to deal irreparable HP loss to their battle line can be a decisive factor. Sometimes you are even treated to the sight of the entire enemy battleship line in full retreat, having completely lost their nerve after withstanding a 16-torpedo salute that cost them their Worcester, left their Missouri at low HP, and took a mean chunk out of their Montana’s bow. Recall that with high-tier IJN 12-km torps, IJN torpedo DDs retain the ability to outrange enemy radar while remaining within torpedo range. If you position yourself well at the leading edge of the enemy advance, you can wreak absolute havoc with some well-placed fish. That said, blobbing remains a double-edged sword, in the end. In other games, it’s your team that is blobbed and gets annihilated by torpedoes. Alternatively, your allied blob fights from too far to the rear to have any game impact. Assertion 8: Subjectively, destroyer play has definitely become more stressful. Overall I have still continued to enjoy DD games, but the variance to my enjoyment factor has increased. With the increased mortality rate associated with current destroyer play, the natural corollary is that it takes more mental effort to survive. I still have great games that leave me cackling at my monitor as the whole enemy fleet disappears in eruptions of water as my torpedoes land in salvo after salvo. More often, now, I also have games in which I am totally and completely shut down as punishment for a single misstep. Fear of the latter outcome now accompanies each game and forces me to exercise far more intense game awareness than ever before. My ship is at on the lookout for enemy aircraft from the instant the match clock starts. As a result, the current state of the game when it comes to torpedo-focused DDs really isn’t one that readily lends itself to long EXP farming sprees with, say, Kagero or Yugumo--not because you can’t be successful if you’re skilled, but because the effort is too great to sustain for more than a few games. I did find myself regularly craving a change of pace and dipping into my shiny new Exeter or a T5 BB for a match or two between torpedo boat games. Once again, keep in mind that this is my reaction as one of the better torpedo DD captains in WOWS. I can only imagine what the experience of the average player is upon finally sailing their stock Kagero into battle for the first time. As a grand summary, I’m confident that consistently good performance in torpedo-focused DDs remains possible in the current CV meta. That said, I’m less confident that it translates necessarily to a consistently enjoyable gameplay experience, particularly for the typical captain. In the end, however, it’s that second factor that matters most. World of Warships is a game meant to be played for enjoyment, and while there are people out there who love the Dark Souls series, most players aren’t looking for that kind of a challenge when they take their destroyers out of port. If you are determined to brave the open ocean beneath hostile skies, however, then I hope that the insights I’ve provided above prove useful to you. Thanks for reading. POSTSCRIPT: Based on my experience, a more “manual” or “skill-based” AA system is unworkable for DD players. I’ve heard numerous suggestions proposing a more “aimed” AA system that rewards player skill and reduces the RNG AA element. Sorry, but in the heat of combat us destroyer players are already overtaxed in terms of multitasking as it is. Again, I’m no Twitch streamer or KOTS champion, but sometimes I can’t even devote any attention to focusing my sector AA if I’m under pressure--and that’s just hitting “~”, dragging, and clicking. If I need to “aim” or micromanage my AA on top of that, then forget it. Fundamental game mechanics would need reworking. All weaponry still traverses where the camera is pointing, so if I’m trying to gun down an enemy DD while fighting off an air attack from the opposite side, then it’d be total chaos. Seriously, destroyers are the closest to a MOBA like League of Legends that WOWS gets. A battleship might have the luxury to manage AA between salvos. Meanwhile, if I’m firing 100mm guns every 2.5 seconds since I’ve got adrenaline rush going while dodging torpedoes while toggling AA while hitting speed boost once I’ve cleared the island while deciding whether or not to repair that fire while monitoring my distance from the enemy DD while trying to launch my torpedoes on the lowdown between main battery volleys, it just isn’t happening. I could be convinced otherwise, I suppose. If I can have a friend man the AA in co-op, or if the system was literally so godly that it ends up going down in the history of video game development as a shining example of innovation in mechanics design, then sure. Maybe.
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