/CFB Ball We would like to welcome you to the internet's tailgate, /CFB! We are a community of over 900,000 college football fans from all over the globe. There is just something about college football that grabs you and makes you want to scream at a TV, a ref, or - let's be real here - COVID-19 or 2020 in general. Dumpster Fire But even with all the bad in the world, there are countless CFB teams for you to root for - in the US and around the world. We guarantee you've got a college football team nearby. We do our best to cover them all. MontmorencyIPNMonashUFPRKITUppsalaUmojaESME-ESGLagos MarinesCanterbury (NZ)NidarosZlín富山大学 (Toyama)天津大学 (Tianjin)동의대학교 (Eui)Sakarya Once you have found a team to support you should consider picking up a flair to show your fandom and pride. /CFB has over 2,300 unique flairs to choose from. Make sure you choose a flair on a browser and not any reddit apps. /CFB currently has the ability for dual flairs. This allows you to show your fandom for two teams or your team and its conference, or even show your support for the Duke's Mayonnaise Bowl and wear a flair for your favorite bowl game! So, yeah, things are weird this year. We're working with this as best we can. Game Threads Because things are so up in the air, for the moment we're going to have CFB_Referee post all of the game threads and post game threads. If things stabilize, we may revisit that later in the season, but for the moment that will help us ensure that everything stays accurate. Useful Information Here are some links you should visit...
We recommend you take a moment to read the rules and the post rules before posting so you don't violate one by accident. Look for threads already happening on a topic to add your take. Look for weekly threads (see below) to ask questions or share specific ideas. If you're not sure? Send us a modmail to ask! How to View /CFB There are many ways to view Reddit, and the one that we recommend and maintain the most is Old Reddit. If you're viewing from mobile web, Reddit Apps, or New Reddit, you'll still get all of the comments and posts, but it may not be as visually up to date.
Rule Refresher
Here at /CFB we have some pretty simple rules - you can read all of them here. We know we're seeing a lot of new faces around here, so this is especially important right now. For a refresher, here is a TL;DR of some of the important ones to keep in mind. No racism, homophobia, sexism, rape jokes, victim blaming, or other bigotry. Just no. Seriously. Discussing college football should never lead to this. Remember, this is a place to talk about football, that's it. One of the great things about /CFB is that it isn't the ESPN or AL.com comment sections. This also means no jokes about rape AND it means no using rape or rape scandals as flamebait. No unrelated politics and keep related politics civil. Yes, we know this is hard with everything going on right now and how politics are intersecting with college football more and more openly. Still, keep it on topic, related to college football, and keep it civil. No content that seeks to deceive, misinform, or otherwise harm others, or to entertain the notion of such. Please also avoid giving medical advice, even if you're a medical professional in real life. No flair based downvoting. The downvote button does not exist to put down teams you don't like, people you don't like, or opinions you don't like. Instead, use it to get rid of trolls or bad content. Downvoting just because of flair makes Coach Snyder sad. Don't make Coach Snyder sad. No flamebait, personal attacks or harassment. Have a good time on /CFB and be nice. No argument is worth getting into on the internet. We encourage strong debates and good discussion but if it ultimately comes down to "You are wrong, I am right" and name calling you will be banned. Examples, while not comprehensive, include instances like you calling someone an idiot, telling them you hope they die, claim all fans of X team are Y horrible thing... these are just a few examples of Rule 2 violations. Tweets must be made as self-posts. To cut down on Tweet-spam, all direct Twitter links will be removed. No word-for-word pasting of paywall content. We can't allow users to repost content from paid sites. There is a reason the paywall exists and writers deserve the money. Feel free to quickly summarize an article, though, or include a very brief quote. This also includes things like posting screenshots of the content or linking to sites that deliberately redirect around paywalls. No stream links. Reddit as a whole is cracking down on this. Do not link to illegal stream sites or to subreddits aggregating those links. Discussion about options like Hulu Live, You Tube TV, etc. are allowed, but keep in mind that generic requests for cord cutter options may be removed. No which team/fanbase is X threads. Threads designed to put down other teams or fanbases will be removed. We want posts that encourage positive discussion and debate, not collective hate. Example thread titles include "Which fanbase is most delusional?" and "Which team do you irrationally hate?" No Buy, Sell, or Trade Posts/Comments We just have no way to verify that people posting these classifieds aredoing or will do what they claim, so we're going to be removing any such threads. Reporting While this isn't a rule, it does help us make sure the rules get applied consistently. We can't be everywhere, so that means we need you to help out by reporting posts or comments that break the rules. You may have noticed the new options for reporting comments and submissions - hopefully this will make things easier! PLUS if you respond and break the rules yourself, you risk a ban. Just hit report and let us handle it. Tweets DON'T TWEET AT CROOTS.
Weekly Threads
Now that the season is beginning, weekly threads will be back up. We have at least one thread each day. Use them! Other threads that cover this information will be removed. Please note, this may change depending on how things go.
Day
Thread
Time (ET)
Additional Information
Monday
MS Paint Monday
Varies
Theme varies week to week.
The Monday Morning Playoff Committee
11:00 AM
A place for you to share playoff hypotheticals and your proposals to change the College Football Playoff.
Betting Discussion Thread
1:00 PM
Discuss spreads, oveunders, and prop bets for this week's games.
The Monday Afternoon Conference Realignment Committee
2:30 PM
Discuss your hypothetical Conference realignment scenarios and how they might play out!
A thread with reminders about that week's upcoming threads, when weekly threads are, etc.
Due to volume of submissions, the threads for the AP Poll, and CFP Rankings will be posted automatically by CFB_Referee. The Coaches Poll however is open to being posted as links. Whoever posts first wins. Please be sure to link to the official websites for each poll. Duplicates will be removed.
Pre-Season Threads
Please note, this schedule is subject to change.
Day
Thread
Time (ET)
Additional Information
8/24
Homegrown Media
1:00 PM
Share your own writing, podcasts, etc.
8/25
Dear CFB: Going to or Watching a Game Advice Thread
2:00 PM
Ask for advice about going to a game or where to watch one for any games this season.
8/26
College Fantasy Football
10:55 AM
Discuss your college fantasy football threads. Note that any comments that relate to financial transactions may be removed.
8/27
Complain About Your Team
1:00 PM
For the whole season.
8/28
Bold Predictions
11:00 AM
For the whole season.
This year, we'll be doing pre-season threads on a conference by conference basis 1 week before they start play, so they'll be staggered across the next month or so.
Day
Time
Conference
Thread
8/26
10:00 AM
FCS
Season Discussion
1:00 PM
C-USA
Season Discussion
3:00 PM
Sun Belt
Season Discussion
8/28
10:00 AM
FCS
Season Predictions
1:00 PM
C-USA
Season Predictions
3:00 PM
Sun Belt
Season Predictions
9/9
1:00 PM
ACC
Season Discussion
9/11
1:00 PM
ACC
Season Predictions
9/16
1:00 PM
American
Season Discussion
9/18
1:00 PM
American
Season Predictions
9/23
11:00 AM
Big 12
Season Discussion
1:00 PM
SEC
Season Discussion
9/25
11:00 AM
Big 12
Season Predictions
1:00 PM
SEC
Season Predictions
Final Thoughts
This season will be the weirdest in /CFB's history. A Hungry Cougar in the Rain We've jumped to over 900,000 football fans with more joining every day. We continue to grow and push our outreach even farther, adding more CFB media coverage and outreach, new AMAs, and new options for our users. We're getting more and more new people being brought in by discussions of a much wider range of issues. Stay safe. Touchdown Order Ball Stay well. Wash your hands. Houston Nutt Nick Saban Watch your sources.
The Ceobe’s Fungimist Experience (A discussion) [Spoilers!]
This entire post is future CN event spoilers (it’s a currently running CN event), if you do not wish to be spoiled, I would advise looking away. Tl;dr Level your lower rarity operators also, they deserve love; summoners are finger-lickin good; schwing schwing is still powerful.
Background
Ceobe is a cute doggo, but also gets hungry really easily. Ceobe goes with Dokutah and Gavial to visit Gavial’s hometown. Ceobe got hungry, Gavial and Dokutah was busy, so Ceobe found some delicious looking mushrooms to eat. Our story begins here.
What is it?
Simply put, Fungimist is a mode comprised of randomly generated series of paths with random encounters and battles, featuring a wide variety of item collectables to help you recruit new members to your squad, levelling them up and apply various effects that alter your experience during a run. It is akin to rogue-like RPGs with procedurally generated levels, except in Arknights. Key thing here is that the arrangement of levels, events and the path are what is being randomly arranged each time and not the level layout themselves. Hence, you will encounter the same levels that have the exact same enemies when you play through it multiple times, though that is not necessarily a bad thing as I will go into detail further later. Otherwise, loot from battles, events and shops are completely randomised and given the sheer number of them available to collect, you will rarely run into the same collectable twice, though it does not mean never.
System breakdown
Before I can give my thoughts on the difference aspects of the game mode, first you must understand the mechanics so it is clear to see where I am coming from.
General info
This game mode is almost entirely independent of the rest of the game. The only thing that transfers over from outside the game mode is the levels, potentials and elite status of the operators you have within your roster. Other than the game mode specific operators which you cannot recruit outside of Fungimist, you only have access to as many operators as you have in the regular game. For example, I do not have Ceobe (kinda ironic) in my roster, so I cannot use her in this mode.
Currencies
In Fungimist there are 4 types of currency, 2 are specific to each run which reset after each run (called “Hope” and “Originium Ingot”), the other 2 are global to the game mode and can be used to gain rewards for use in the regular game (“Honey Cakes”) or can be spent to upgrade to provide minor buffs (such as operator %defence, %attack and %HP) to help with future runs (“Mushrooms”). Global currency is earned at the end of each run based on what you did in that run (how many bosses defeated, how many collectables collected etc). Originium ingots (hereby referred to as cash in the rest of the write up because it is easier to write) are the general currency used in the run to purchase items, participate in certain events and can be earned in a variety of ways with the primary method being as a reward for completing a battle. Cash is not overly abundant and some cash shop items are not cheap, but most of the time they are justified as they can provide quite insane bonuses (like +1 SP per attack for all Guard units or +40% Attack Speed for all Casters). Hope is the currency which you use to recruit new operators for your team each run. The amount of hope you start with each run is 6, though this can be modified depending on which Tactical Unit type you choose. Operators can only join your team via recruitment tickets which are typically given as rewards for finished battles, as random drops from events or sold at the shop. Normally, 6★ Operators require 6 Hope to recruit, 5★ Ops require 4 Hope, 4★ Ops require 2 Hope and 3★ and below require no Hope to recruit. Hope is used to level up your recruited operators to E2, as newly recruited Ops are only E1. The amount required is half of the recruitment cost, e.g. 6★ Operators require 3 Hope to be E2’ed. Hope can be obtained through collectables, some random events and levelling up the Command Level of the squad. The latter is the most reliable but also the most difficult as Command Level can only be levelled up through finishing battles. From this it can be seen Hope is definitely the limiting resource in this game mode and needs to be managed carefully.
Collectibles
Like any RPG, collecting items from drops and events are a key part of this game mode. They are the primary way to obtain critical buffs for Ops, debuffs for enemies, currency, lives etc. The effects of the collectables vary wildly and some will provide larger benefits than others but almost any collectable is better than no collectable. Again, collectables can be obtained from battles, events and the cash shop. Not all collectables are available on the first play through and some will unlock at the end of runs depending on whether you meet the unlock conditions. Once unlocked, they will have a chance to appear in each run you play through.
Lives
Now, let’s talk about how Lives are processed in this mode. In normal gameplay, Lives are linked to each level, typically being 3, where each enemy that reaches your Protection Objective (blue box) deducts 1 life and if it reaches 0, you lose the level. In Fungimist, Lives can be both global and temporary. Global lives carry forward between each encounter in the current run you are playing and reset to defaults once the current run is finished (be it defeat or victory) whilst temporary lives are granted each level and are used before your global lives (acts like a buffer). The amount of temporary lives given per level is based on what collectibles you have and what Tactical Unit you have selected at the start of the game. Global lives can also be increased similarly through the procurement of collectables as well as from random events. Needless to say, once your Lives reach 0, run’s dead.
Tactical Units
As I have mentioned multiple times above there is a Tactical Unit system in this mode, which is akin to selecting a race in a typical RPG. Each Tactical Unit type provides different benefits and selecting them will gear you towards a certain playstyle, e.g. Guards and Vanguards when recruited will immediately be at E2 level; +20 starting cash and +2 starting Hope etc. This choice of Tactical Unit selection is one of the main ways to influence the outcome of your run, other than the RNG of recruitment tickets and battles you have to fight (Ah yes, can’t wait to fight hordes of slugs with a 2-block Vanguard, a single-target Caster and a Medic. Yes, I lost the run to that battle. Sometimes RNG can screw you despite your best intentions, though that is what a rogue-like is supposed to be like).
General Opinions
Let’s just say there is never a better time to appreciate low rarity operators. As I mentioned previously, Hope is the most precious currency in this game mode and directly affects what operators you can recruit. Do you want several 5★ and 4★ for a balanced experience or do you want and hope that 6★ you recruited can carry you to later stages where you can obtain more Hope whilst the rest of your roster’s 3★s can keep the shiny unit alive? This game mode severely restricts the number of operators you can bring to each battle, with the default being 6 (that’s like +2 risk in CC) with only a few ways to increase that amount. This also applies to the number of operators you can deploy onto the map at any given time. So therefore, players who have a balanced roster in their hands in the normal game, with many leveled 3★, 4★ and 5★ operators will have an easier time when it comes to recruitment in Fungimist. Note that if you have not E1 or E2 a particular operator, this game mode will treat them as they are, so even if you shell out 9 Hope to “E2” a 6★ in Fungimist, they will still have the stats and skills as if they are whatever level they are at, so it becomes quite important to level different operators, including their skills. The only exception to this is temporary recruits, they are for all intents and purposes fully levelled at E2 with M3 for skills. They are also cheap to recruit but the likelihood of running into one that is worth recruiting is quite low, but most of the time they can act as cannon fodder. Also, I have never felt more appreciative towards summoner operators. They are really good in this game mode since they can essentially allow you to deploy more operators than what is in your squad currently. Their summons are also really useful as fodder when it comes to bosses and bomb-tails. Honestly I sort of regret not levelling them in the regular game now. So it can be seen than Fungimist really really rewards players that have a diverse roster under their belt. So paradoxically, players with really levelled high end operators only and little to no low rarity level operators that they levelled will struggle in this mode compared to players with a few good operators levelled in all rarities, since Silver-daddy and crew can only carry you so far (but I can’t say that S3M3 schwing schwing didn’t carry me quite a bit in this mode. God bless the schwing schwing!).
The Good
This game mode is essentially the next step in making Arknights into a game with great replayability and provide the players with a creative outlet to test their skills and the various weird and wacky combinations to see how far they can take it. It reminds to Binding of Issac almost where some runs you just die to RNG but other runs you get a Godly combo of items and you can just thrash the enemies. It is really quite satisfying in that regard. This might be the best thing they’ve added since CCs in my opinion and I have sunk more hours into Arknights because of this mode, even though I have already collected all the available rewards. I really do hope Hyperglyph will incorporate this mode as part of the regular game like CC and not just as a one time event. I think this mode can also operate as part of a seasonal thing like CC, whereby you each new season offers new rewards, events, battles etc. This mode just have so much potential in my opinion and it’s all free! As part of Arknights! Free! It’s like a whole new game and it’s free! Additionally, as I have mentioned, the battles themselves are not randomly generated and the enemies for each specific battle on a specific map will be the same. This lends really well to the player learning the battles and make more informed decisions in each consecutive run and allows for long term player success as they navigate through the different paths available to them. Of course sometimes RNG will mess with you by giving you no Medics or Defenders but overall, the feeling of learning and adapting based on previous encounters soften the RNG-ness of the situations so one or two bad runs in a roll really don’t affect the player’s attitude negatively. Instead, what I felt was a sense of either “It was so close! Maybe next time I can try this…” or “Okay these operators are what I need for this kind of level and I should avoid this battle if I don’t have those operators”. Every run is a learning experience and it doesn’t get stale. Lastly, some of the events are also really cool in terms of story and atmosphere (forget horses, slug race betting anyone?), but also sometimes are hilarious also. I saw that a couple of days ago someone posted the duck in a hat, that’s actually one of the special bosses you can fight to get additional rewards and his literal introduction when you ask him why he’s following you is “let’s have a fight first”, like there’s no need to small talk, come and take my stuff if you think you’re hard enough. He knows what I want very well. (Also the music are B A N G E R S !)
The Bad
It’s too short! There’s only 5 floors, which means you have little time in terms of grinding battles or visiting events/cash shops. Often I find my self full of cash but no shop to spend in before heading into boss fights. Also, each floor is not that long either, with only approximately 4 to 8 encounters per floor, which in conjunction with my previous point means the difficulty ramp up is quite severe. Some runs you’ll be going into boss fights with no chance because you only have Blue Poison for arts damage and the boss is this behemoth that only arts damage can kill in a good nick of time so you immediately know you’re screwed which is somewhat annoying especially when you’ve done quite okay up till now and you know most likely if you had 1 more floor in between you’ll likely to pick up a good Caster with all of the Hope you’ve been saving. So definitely I would say if Hyperglyph were to implement this game mode as a permanent feature (which I do), they should look into increasing both the length of each floor with more branching paths and also add more floors. Initially all the floors might not be open, so say the first few runs you will only access up to 6 floors but after completing a few runs there’s a new event which allows the player to proceed onto the 7th floor with better loot, harder enemies and a nastier boss fight and so on. I would say to whole thing could be around 8 to 10 floors depending on how far Hyperglyph wants to take this. Perhaps by the end it would just be a boss rush where there’s an opportunity to earn some cool loot for the regular game like badges, skins (though most likely not but who knows), originium, certificates etc. Also bonuses for using a certain number of different collectables can also grant a small minor reward like a badge or something. If longer floors and more floors are implemented, I think the collectables can also be tuned down a bit so it feels more natural in terms of progression compared to right now where collectables are really powerful as to balance the steep difficulty curve (e.g. I got a collectable once that give +20 initial DP in all battles, that’s like 10x E2 Texas! Though Lappland will probably have the latter). And if Hyperglyph really wants to flesh this mode out, I would say add a points system so you can exchange for lower end materials also, so it becomes like CC but you can choose to sink time instead of sanity to grind materials like orirocks. Though this suggestion is more towards making this mode as part of the permanent rotation instead of seasons like CC. Perhaps this mode can be on a monthly rotation instead so players have a month to discover the new content in each successive update/regrind for materials as they refresh like the current weekly rotation for orundum. Though I am just spitballing here.
Conclusion
All in all, I am thoroughly enjoying the new game mode, I do think it would be a welcoming addition to become part of the permanent rotation or be a seasonal event like CC with some minor tweaks here and there as this game mode has a very good potential to add something fun and replayable to the game that isn’t just orirock farming. What do you guys think? Those who played as well as people that have read all the mechanics and stuff, what do you think that Hyperglyph should add/change?
TL;DR Make Captain Marvel have to face more difficult moral decisions, and give Nick Fury stronger motivation, as well as greater conflict with Captain Marvel.
Introduction I enjoyed a great deal of Captain Marvel, however there were a few story beats and character choices that I felt held it back from being the best film it could be. My favourite aspects of the film were the interactions between Carol Danvers and Nick Fury, the Skrull twist, and the stunning visuals, though I felt the overwhelming power of Captain Marvel undid much of the tension and drama of the film. Still, I firmly believe that incredibly powerful characters (such as Captain Marvel or Superman) can face challenges and trials without having to rely on the trope of the bad guy being even stronger. As such, my fix here keeps most of the story from the film as is, but adjusts some key moments to give what I hope is a more satisfying experience. Also, I have some more discussion after the fix as to the reasons for my changes. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my fix, or any changes you think would improve this movie, so please let me know in the comments.
The Fix The movie remains pretty much unchanged right up until the Skrull chase scene on Earth, where Nick Fury kills a Skrull and takes him back to the lab for examination. (I would, however, slightly tone down the comedic aspects of this fight, especially this particular moment, as Carol’s cavalier reaction here undercuts their threat as villains.) Once Nick sees that Skrulls can shapeshift, he is immediately and borderline obsessively interested in the possibilities this offers. The thought of an army of spies who can look exactly like anyone on the planet holds an incredible appeal to a spymaster like Nick, and would revolutionise SHIELD’s espionage efforts. On orders from the director of SHIELD (really the Skrull leader Talos in disguise), Fury tracks down Danvers and offers to help her on one condition: at least one live Skrull stays on Earth for study and research. Carol, having no love for the Skrulls at this stage, immediately agrees. The story then proceeds as it does in the actual movie, with Fury and Danvers travelling to the Air Force base, Carol discovering her memories of her time as a pilot, Talos being revealed as the SHIELD director, and Danvers and Fury escaping in the cargo jet to the home of her former flying buddy Maria Rambeau. Also like in the movie, an unmasked Talos approaches Carol and Fury at Maria’s place (with several of his men, including his “science guy”), and is able to explain that his people are refugees from the genocide of the Kree army. Talos says that Dr Lawson, Carol’s mentor from her time in the Air Force, was actually the renegade Kree scientist Mar-Vell, who was working on a faster-than-light engine to help the remaining Skrulls escape the Kree before she was killed by Kree forces. Carol is convinced, and agrees to help Talos get back to his ship. Nick Fury is less understanding, but is brought around by the idea that he can get his hands on advanced alien technology. After the scene where Carol chooses her new suit colours, there’s a scene where we see her working on something small in Maria’s shed. Nick joins her and restates that though he’s sympathetic to the plight of the Skrulls, their original agreement still stands; when all this is done, he gets a live Skrull for study. Carol is now against the idea, pushing back on their deal, but Nick is adamant. Carol says in that case she’ll just knock him out and leave him here, but Nick replies that despite the fact that he’s on the run from SHIELD, he still has several ways to contact them, ways that Carol doesn’t even know about. Even unconscious, or dead, in under two minutes he can bring a whole squadron of armed forces here, ruining her rescue mission before it even begins. Carol says he’s bluffing. Nick says maybe, but she can't possibly know for sure unless she tries him. Is this really a coin she’s willing to flip? There’s a moment of tension as Danvers considers attacking Fury, but there’s simply too much at stake, so she’s forced to agree. As Nick Fury leaves the shed, we pan down to see Carol was working on modifying a beeper. The story once again then continues as it did in the film, with Danvers, Fury, and Maria travelling with Talos and his science guy in the modified Air Force cargo jet to find Dr Lawson’s spaceship. They land in a hangar similar to this one from the start of the movie. Talos is reunited with the remaining Skrulls, including his wife and child. Talos’s wife, Soren, reveals that the faster-than-light drive is fully operational, but that without Dr Lawson they lacked the knowledge to operate it. Soren shows the group Dr Lawson’s old lab, and says that Lawson’s computer was locked. They knew that if they entered an incorrect password the security protocol would delete everything, so they didn’t dare try. Carol looks over the desk, seeing a heart-warming old photo of her and Lawson together in front of her old fighter jet. Carol immediately knows what the password is, and enters her old call sign, “Avenger”. The computer unlocks. The Skrulls are overjoyed, seeing not only instructions on how to fly the ship, but also detailed schematics on the design and creation of the engine itself. However at that point the Kree forces attack (led by Jude Law as Carol’s mentor Yon-Rogg), boarding the ship and holding everyone prisoner inside the lab. As in the movie, Carol is taken to meet with the Supreme Intelligence, and is eventually able to overcome its influence, removing her inhibitor chip and finally unlocking her true power as Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel does battle with her old squad mates, however Yon-Rogg slips away from the fight and triggers a self-destruct sequence on the ship, thinking that if the Kree can’t have this technology, then no one can. In the confusion of the battle, and with the ship now falling apart, the Skrulls (with Nick and Maria) are able to break free of the Kree captivity and start to fight their way back to the cargo jet. Talos stays behind for a moment, looking over every single page of Dr Lawson’s work. Though he does not understand the science, he knows that with the memory-reading technology of the Skrulls they’ll be able to recreate all the words and shapes of the equations and formulas as long as they’re in his head. His wife Soren begs him to leave it, but he stays, desperately scrolling through until he reaches the last page. He finishes, and starts to run to catch up with his people, but is shot through the torso by a stray bullet, falling to the ground gravely injured. Telling the rest to get to the jet, Nick Fury and Soren go back for Talos, with Nick personally supporting Talos as Soren leads them to the hangar. The ship is almost ready to blow, shaking and shuddering as explosions rack the halls. They get to the hangar, where Maria is busy readying the jet for take-off. It’s been damaged by some falling debris, so she’s forced to make several last-minute repairs before they can leave. Unfortunately, at that moment a number of Kree soldiers burst into the hall behind them. Taking an alien weapon lying on the ground, Nick tells Talos and Soren to get to the jet. He’ll hold them off until the jet’s ready, then join them. Talos says they can defend themselves from the jet, but Nick says the hangar is too open; with so much space it will be easy for the Kree to surround them and damage the jet. Keeping them in the chokepoint of the hall is their best bet. Talos and Soren enter the jet, with Talos collapsing to the ground. Soren checks on their child as the Skrull science guy tends to Talos. Maria says the jet is now ready, and Soren calls to Fury. Nick fires a final few rounds down the hallway and makes his way to the jet, but at that moment a massive explosion tears through the ship, collapsing the roof of the hangar and separating Fury from Maria and the Skrulls. Nick starts to climb over the rubble, but it’s going to take time. The science guy says they can’t afford to wait. Not only is Talos, their one hope at creating a new lightspeed engine, badly injured, the ship is about to blow. They have to go now. Maria refuses to leave without Fury, but thankfully at that moment Nick appears on the jet, yelling at her to get them all the hell off this ship. With everyone onboard, Maria pushes her jet’s engines to the limit as they make their escape. Back in the hangar, we see Nick Fury still making his way over the rubble, shocked to see the jet leaving without him. On the jet, we see who we thought was Nick Fury was actually Soren in disguise. She changes back to her true form, and with tears in her eyes whispers an apology as she watches the man she abandoned get left behind. The jet races back to Earth, the ship exploding behind them and sending a wave of flaming wreckage their way. Maria dodges the debris as best she can, but just as they enter the atmosphere one of her engines is hit. They go into a tailspin, Maria desperately fighting for control, but it’s clear they’re about to crash. They miraculously stabilise, and it’s revealed that Captain Marvel is holding them up. With her powers she’s able to restart the stalled engine, giving Maria control again. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, until Yon-Rogg appears in a one-man ship, firing on the jet in a mad attempt to slaughter the remaining Skrulls. With no weapons, Maria flies off into a nearby series of canyons for some cover, while Captain Marvel goes to deal with Yon-Rogg as he gives chase to Maria. Yon-Rogg’s ship is incredibly agile, and as her former mentor he knows Carol’s moves, so he proves to be an elusive target. Danvers struggles to land a clear blow, and at that moment Yon-Rogg reveals that he’s contacted the Kree armada. Three massive ships, led by Ronan the Accuser, enter Earth’s orbit, with Yon-Rogg saying they’re here to cleanse Los Angeles (where Carol first crashed onto Earth) and any other city that might have Skrulls hiding in them. Captain Marvel is torn; if she stops the armada then Yon-Rogg will be free to kill the Skrulls and Maria, but if she stops Yon-Rogg then Ronan will slaughter millions. For all her power, she simply cannot be in two places at once. Maria comes in over the radio, telling Carol that she needs to stop the armada. Danvers is extremely reluctant, unwilling to let her friend die, but Maria doesn’t have time for Carol’s saviour complex. She’s a goddamn United States Air Force pilot, she can handle this. Still concerned, but ultimately convinced, Carol leaves Maria to her fight as she heads out into space. Up with Ronan, Captain Marvel takes on the armada. Unlike in the movie, where this was a moment of triumph, this is now a scene of determination. Not only is she stopping the attack, she’s making a show of force, sending a message to the Kree that she is never to be underestimated. Captain Marvel effortlessly destroys two of the three ships and cripples the third, which is captained by Ronan. Staring him down, Ronan realises he will not win this fight, and orders a full retreat. Back on Earth, Maria races along the twists and turns of the canyon, Yon-Rogg right behind her and firing mercilessly. Things look grim, but Maria notices a natural stone bridge up ahead. She flies towards it, drawing Yon-Rogg’s fire as she executes a barrel roll to dodge his blasts. She pulls up at the last possible second, the bottom of her jet scraping the stone as she flies free of the canyon. Yon-Rogg is caught in the falling debris of the bridge he’s unwittingly fired upon, his wings are damaged, and he’s unable to fully clear the bridge himself. Yon-Rogg’s ship’s lower half slams into the bridge as he pulls up, tearing off much of the hull. Though he makes it out of the canyons, he crashes to the ground, clearly unable to fly. As Maria safely lands her jet elsewhere, a triumphant Captain Marvel touches down next to Yon-Rogg. As with the actual movie, he gives his speech about her needing to prove herself to him, which she cuts off by blasting him. She sticks him back in his wounded ship, using her power to kickstart its engines and giving him a message for the Supreme Intelligence: leave us alone, or suffer the consequences. As Yon-Rogg hurtles off, Carol flies to where the jet has landed. Talos has now received medical attention from his people, and while he’s still in a lot of pain, he’s at least able to stand and walk around outside. As Carol joins the group she notices Nick Fury is missing and asks where he is. Just as Soren is about to explain what she did, a Skrull escape pod like the one Carol used at the start of the movie slams into the ground. Nick Fury stumbles out, battered and bruised, but very much alive. Everyone is overjoyed to see he made it out safely, with Talos helping him away from the wreckage of the pod. However, Nick turns on Talos, grabbing him and putting a gun to his head. Captain Marvel demands to know just what the hell he’s doing, and Fury replies that he’s calling due on their deal. Marvel powers up her hand, but Nick uses Talos as a cover, denying her a clean target. Fury reveals that it wasn’t a bluff about him contacting SHIELD. He has a subdermal tracker that he’s activated, and in less than two minutes he’ll have choppers here to take him and Talos away. Soren begs to take his place, saying that Talos is the only one with the information they need to make a new lightspeed engine, but that just gives Nick even more reason to hold on to Talos. Captain Marvel is still trying to get a clear shot; Nick tells her that if she doesn’t lower her hand he’s going to put a bullet through Talos’s skull. She says that will rob him of his chance to gain the Skrull’s technology and abilities, but Nick counters that he’ll either get Talos or he won’t; he’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain here. With no other option, Carol slowly lowers her hand. However, while it’s still lowering, she fires at the ground at an angle, sending a spray of molten rock at Nick Fury. Talos is able to dodge, but Nick takes the blast head on, scarring his face and blinding him in his left eye. Distracted, he loses his grip on Talos, who dashes clear as Captain Marvel slams into Fury with a shoulder charge, sending him flying into the dirt. The Skrulls and Maria get back on the jet and blast off, while a furious Captain Marvel stands over a beaten Nick Fury. As he comes to terms with the pain, Carol reaches down with one hand and lifts him off the ground by his collar. Reaching into her suit, she pulls out the beeper from before, pushing it to his chest and making him take it. She says that despite all the changes she’s gone through, Earth is still her home. So, if ever there’s a truly grave threat with no other option, Nick can contact her with this beeper. She says doesn’t want the burden of Earth’s safety to weigh on the minds of the people she cares about, like Maria and her daughter, so she’s giving him this responsibility. But, if she gets to Earth and finds out Nick’s been doing something she wouldn’t approve of, a missing eye will be the least of his troubles. Her speech done, she drops him back to the ground. She flies off as we see SHIELD choppers coming over the horizon, while Nick Fury lies in the dirt and confronts the harsh reality of just how small he really is in the grand scheme of things. Back at Maria’s home, the Skrulls and the humans share a brief moment. Carol says they have to go, as SHIELD forces will undoubtedly be here shortly. Talos and his people express their undying gratitude to Maria, and offer whatever they have as thanks. Maria turns them down, saying anything they gave her would just be used as evidence (or worse) by SHIELD. As they get back on the cargo jet, Maria is concerned for their plight; they have no real ship, no technology, and their only knowledge of lightspeed rests in the head of a man who doesn’t even understand it. Looking over the Skrulls, Captain Marvel says they’ll find a way, subtly allying herself with them. Breaking the tension, she also says she’s the only person they know who can pilot an Earth jet, so they’re going exactly nowhere without her. Joking, Talos points out that technically Maria could be their pilot if she wanted. Despite her daughter’s overwhelming approval, Maria laughs and says she’s more than happy with her little Louisiana-shaped part of the galaxy. As the Skrulls board the jet, Carol and Maria share a final hug. With tears in their eyes, they break apart, and Captain Marvel takes her place in the pilot’s seat. They take off, flying out into the great unknown. Some time later, we see Nick Fury typing away at a computer in his office, his trademark eyepatch now in place. Agent Coulson arrives, asking how he’s doing after all that’s happened, and how he’s coping with his injuries. Fury says he’s doing fine, making a deadpan remark that losing an eye gave him a new perspective. Echoing the sentiments he expresses in the first Avengers movie, he says he sees now that the people of Earth can’t wait on someone else to solve all their problems; we need a way to defend ourselves from whatever comes our way. We see his screen, where he’s working on a document called the “Protectors Initiative”. Carol’s file is on his desk, and after looking it over for a moment, he changes the title to the “Avengers Initiative”. End Credits
Discussion The main change I made here was to make Nick Fury less of a fully-fledged friend to Captain Marvel, and instead more of a general ally. In the movie we were given, I thought someone like Nick Fury would have a much, much greater interest in shapeshifting abilities, as it’s basically the ultimate spy weapon. Their banter and back-and-forth did a lot to humanise Carol Danvers as a person, and I wanted the somewhat friendly distrust between the two of them to evolve into outright hostility by the end to make Captain Marvel’s choices that much harder. Further, I liked that the actual film was trying to show Fury as a younger, more open and more trusting person, but I also felt they should have shown at least one reason why he became the man he did. Therefore, I felt his betrayal from Soren, and Captain Marvel reneging on their agreement (even if it’s for all the right reasons), would be major factors in shaping his worldview. By making him more antagonistic, I hoped to increase the tension in the film, while also giving a stronger reason as to why Nick Fury never called Captain Marvel for any of the other world-ending scenarios he faced. Also, though I really did like the film as is, I absolutely did not like that Nick losing his eye was basically a throwaway joke. Nick’s missing eye is his most recognisable feature, and I thought it was a major missed opportunity not to tie this into his character development. With my fix, his damaged eye is now a constant reminder of his hubris and his weakness, and also a strong motivator for him to always search for new, stronger people he can win to his side. He says in Winter Soldier that the last time he trusted someone it cost him an eye, so I also wanted to tie in to that line here. As for Carol Danvers, I specifically wanted to give her problems she couldn’t simply punch her way out of, while still giving her room to demonstrate her full power. As such, I changed around the order of events in the final battle so that Yon-Rogg and Ronan were equally pressing threats. I wanted to show that even with the incredible things she can do, Captain Marvel still needs to rely on other people at times. Importantly, it was her friend Maria who shows her this, reaffirming her own abilities as a pilot in the process. Without getting too metaphorical, with this particular scene I also wanted to showcase a practical application of third-wave feminism, specifically this movement’s emphasis on individuality and respecting personal choice. Maria does not have the powers of Captain Marvel, but she is still a resourceful and independent woman fully capable of making her own decisions and seeing them through. Essentially, this was a statement that there is no one, “right” way to be a woman, and that both Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau have strengths and weaknesses, and each are deserving of respect for their abilities. I really don’t want to appear like I’m simplifying such a complex issue, but I do recognise that this was the first female-led film in the MCU, so I felt it was important to showcase not just a paragon of strength and determination like Captain Marvel, but also a more human hero like Maria. This was also the reason why I had Carol Danvers acting as a pilot when she flies the cargo jet away at the very end of my fix. Though she now has god-like powers, I wanted to highlight that it was her skills and attributes first and foremost as a person that got her to where she is. After all that’s happened, she is still herself. (Obviously at some point she’d need to get outside the jet and do stuff in space, but I think the scene can stand on its own.) Finally, I added the self-destruct to the Skrull ship to add a greater sense of urgency to the escape of the Skrulls. I knew I wanted to have the final showdown be Nick trying to take Talos, because he’s the Skrull we as the audience know best, and would therefore have the strongest connection to. Talos’s character means he’d be willing to leave himself on Earth if it meant his people were safe, so by making him indispensable to the Skrulls it adds a stronger motivation not to want to lose him. Also, in the actual movie the Skrulls don’t really need Captain Marvel in the end. They have a ship with a faster engine than anyone else, and a pretty good cloaking device. Yes, they may need her protection, but they’ve managed to survive this far. By taking away their ship, but still giving them hope for building a new one, I wanted to give a more concrete reason for them to stick together, while also giving a logical explanation as to why the Skrulls either would or wouldn’t be around in any sequels. In conclusion, I hope you liked my fix, but please let me know if you think there’s anything I could improve, or what you personally would want from a Captain Marvel film.
[Online Poker] Poker Forum Help Homeless Player Attempt The Shot of a Lifetime.
Link to Previous Tales From 2+2:Poker player steals $1m+ chips and tries to sell it on 2+2 poker forums More Tales From 2+2: A Very Controversial $70k prop betIf you or a friend are familiar with online poker and want to see the unedited version of this post then click here Here's another Tales From 2+2 post, this one is a bit longer but well worth the read. It follows the story of an online poker player posting on the 2+2 online poker forums and that takes him on the ride of a lifetime. I have made some light edits so it's easier to understand for non poker players, my explanations are within [these brackets]. If you want to understand how to play the poker watch this 3 minute how to play poker video.
Still Booming
The year is 2010. The effects of the 2003 poker boom are still being felt and Black Friday [Black Friday is when online poker was forced to shut down in the USA, it hit the industry hard] is a year away. Americans, Europeans, Australians and almost the whole world are playing side by side on Pokerstars and Full Tilt [The two biggest online sites at the time]. Hundreds of people are signing up for poker sites each day. Tournament guarantees are at an all-time high. Poker sites’ pockets are overflowing and sites are offering generous bonuses and promotions. Poker TV is popular worldwide and Poker After Dark just entered its 6th season. The 2+2 poker forums are in full swing, it’s the epicenter of poker communication. Dozens of threads are made on popular subforums like NVG (News, Views and Gossip) or BBV (Beats, Brags and Variance) every day. BBV is a subforum of 2+2 where the moderation is far laxer than the rest of the 2+2. People often create posts showing off their tournament wins or lamenting huge downswings. After the initial post is made, the trolls would descend and replies like this were often seen:
Colin_Piddle: Ur a clown OP Tank Home & Away: Somebody call Donald Trump. OP thinks online poker is rigged. FranFran: Shut up. Idiot. Dave Coulier: LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL OLLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The BBV Post
On 20th Feb 2010 Jared Huggins, posting under RelaxedPrecision, visits BBV to vent his frustration over busting his meager roll playing 100nl HU:
RelaxedPrecision: Beat: HU vs drooler, lost my $100 bankroll ($100 table obv.) He raised preflop every single hand including out of position. Called 75% of my three bets with trash. Only pot bet, regardless of board, his holdings, or position. He is -$1132 in 2000 hands, -33/bb 100 We played 250 hands. This guy was a corpse and I ran so cold it was insane. Only hitting any pair or a decent draw a couple of times. Twilight zone. Brag: Not homeless again till the end of the month. Getting a third job today. This week I've begged for food at fast food joints and have scored two steak tacos and 1 piece of chicken.
[Jared is complaining that he lost the last of his poker bankroll, $100] The usual procedure in BBV is for the BBV regulars to berate the original poster, usually in meme form. Jared’s thread is no exception:
Sobad87: FAIIIIIIL, homeless shelters exist for a reason. SmilingOrange: rock bottom itt Sump: in b4 homeless
However, the thread takes a darker turn when Jared starts to post more details about his living and financial situation.
RelaxedPrecision: I'm 5 peanuts and 2 cups of water into my day. Finding some awesome links about food for broke people in LA. RelaxedPrecision: Last time round, 6 month period, I chose cruising the back streets near my job/sleeping in car, rather than driving hours per day to/from shelter and risking jail/car impoundaments/belongings confiscated.
Jared seems to be not only in dire poverty but also grinding microstakes [microstakes in poker is buying in for $2-10 dollars] for any cash he can get. He posts that the roll he lost was from a referral payment on a poker website but he cant’t withdraw it. The posters start to get a little more sympathetic:
FastPlaySlow: Wow. I feel bad for ya OP. Kidlover: Keep your head up bro. Gimme a call if you want
A user named Airwave16 offers helps in his own way:
airwave16: create youtube vid of you dancing to around the world by daft punk in your boxers with a large sign that says "i love burningbend" and i'll ship you $30
Within 40 minutes Jared accepts this:
RelaxedPrecision: Never thought I'd do something like this, but I don't have much choice. RelaxedPrecision: Don't want to go back to living in my car. Last month some guys tried to break into my car while I was inside of it. Terrible experience.
The next day, to the surprise of many he posts a video on Youtube of him around his room, just as Airwave16 asked. Unfortunately the video is lost to time but this small photo of the video remains. 2+2 posters start to show more compassion when they see how desperate Jared is for money:
mcfals02: Hilarious video. Hope you run good at life soon OP. shikari424: If you've got a ftp [Full Tilt Poker,] account i'll ship something over bro[money could be sent between accounts], made me laugh
Ccuster_911 then offers a little more money for another challenge:
Ccuster_911 : Make a video of you going outside on the streets in LA offering people free HUGs(holding a sign ldo), I will ship you 30$, I want at least 10 random people being hugged
Others start to offer extra money to shoot this video:
cds0699: I'll chip in $10 for this. Greeson08: $20 more here...$30 more if you paint yourself green before doing the hug thing.
Jared is very thankful for the support and lets his fellow posters know:
RelaxedPrecision: I'm really overwhelmed and surprised. Thank you guys so much, you have no idea how good it feels that people on 2+2 would reach out to me like this. I'm totally blown away. Thank you so much. This is one of the best things that has happened to me in a very long time. Talked to the lady who rented me this room for 2 weeks. I got 5 days left here, then I'm back living in my car. I am going to do everything in my power to get back on my feet. I am so close. Every suggestion, I will do. I'll dance for penny. I'll come to your house and clean your toilet. That's where my mind is at
A user asks for him to take a photo with ‘Free Pageh’ on his head, he posts this
swd805: that pic is disturbing RelaxedPrecision: Mission accomplished.
Jared gives an insight into his mood while performing these tasks
RelaxedPrecision: Please do laugh at me. I laugh at myself as much as possible. I cried twice. 1st when Airwave propositioned me and I felt different inside, like "time to get desperate man". It was a nasty feeling. 2nd time I cried, when I finished the video & began to ask myself whether or not I would do various things for $ & heard some of the answers in my head. Both times I fought the tears back & realized I got no choice, need the $. So let's get some more ideas & keep this ball rolling. You guys are helping me, thank you
He also gives insight into his poor mental state and reveals that a 2+2 poster gave him a small stake [someone will send Jared money to play and Jared will split the profits]:
RelaxedPrecision: My friend (who's house I crashed at) is a pro MMA fighter , he lets me attend his MMA/BJJ class once a week. At class today, he yelled at me for doing a takedown wrong. I had a meltdown & broke down in tears in front of the class cuz I've barely eaten in 6 days. Shed 12 pounds this week. Just real drained. Prop update: Got staked to play $5 Sit n Go's [a one table tournament] on FTP. 5 hours of play, up a few bucks. 4 days till I'm homeless again.
Jared tells a story and hatches a plan while working at his new job:
RelaxedPrecision: Today, this big husky girl with linebacker shoulders came in2 my job today to buy shoes...size 11. She looks exactly like a man. She had this big lady with her who told me the size 11 girl liked me. So I gave her my digits. I hope she calls me soon. If she calls me I'm going to try & seduce her & go live with her. Wherever she lives, I'm sure there's plenty of food.
Over the next few hundred posts the mood of the thread becomes caring and many people are asking Jared about his current lifestyle. He tells the thread about his struggles with permanent housing, a bad back, hunger and employment. He posts photos of his car (where he sleeps) and a video of him dancing at work. Jared reveals intimate parts of himself and his passion for writing and music. He also posts that he has encountered problems with substance abuse and has been sober for a while. The trickle of small donations from posters becomes a steady flow:
JeReMyHaSSpoKen: pm me western union or paypal And ill ship you some cash Greeson08: Jared, hit me up on Skype. Sending $11.11 via FTP.
A month after Jared creates the BBV thread, March 9th, Jared posts the long awaited video of him hugging strangers that Ccuster_911 requested. Luckily, the video is still on YouTube. Here is the link. At this point he fittingly reveals his name is Jared Huggins and his nickname in school was Huggy. His fans love the video and let him know:
Doomriders: amazing nice job brothaa cds0699: Very amazing vid and I wish you nothing but the best Talking Poker: Video is awesome. Thread is awesome. You are awesome.
And he really enjoyed the experience:
RelaxedPrecision: I was surprised by the number of people who literally RAN into my arms. It was a day & an experience that I will never forget. If you enjoy the video half as much as I enjoyed making it, I'll be happy.
He tells 2+2 more about his life:
RelaxedPrecision: You guys reaching out to me is very much appreciated. I've had my fair share of obstacles in life. Born in a crack house, father died when I was 9, mother is an alcoholic, one brother a heroine addict, the other a crack dealer who was beaten and left for dead and never fully recovered his mind. Last year ran bad at life...lost my job, ripped my meniscus in two places, had a terrible reaction to prescription stress meds..etc etc. I ended up living in my calosing contact with my family... cuz my cousin is hooked on muscle relaxers & vicodin and it hurts too much to watch people I love hurt themselves.We all have challenges, and obstacles. Life is tough for everybody. I'm healthy, normal, moving in a positive direction
Jared’s birthday comes on the 12th of March and many posters wish him a happy birthday. At this point the donations from 2+2 posters continue and totals $1k. A few weeks later and Jared posts an amusing and NSFW story about living in a car. It’s long and not essential to the story so I won’t quote it. Read it here. Jared thanks the community again:
RelaxedPrecision: I've never had people care about me like this before, let alone strangers. From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank all of you.
The Big Game
Poker TV was very popular in 2010. The WSOP and other TV shows were broadcast across America and other countries. Pokersites were very keen on poker advertising appearing on TV, it was a very effective way to promote online poker sites. Full Tilt sponsored and regularly advertised on Poker After Dark. Full Tilt is even included in the show's title, which for a time prompted players associated with Pokerstars to stop appearing on the show. Pokerstars did not have as big a presence on TV as Full Tilt and they wanted to change that. How better than creating their own show? They would be able to have a majority of Pokerstars pros on TV and have players wearing their advertising patches. Thus, Pokerstars created The Big Game. The Big Game was a televised cash game [a cash game is different to a tournament, the players' chips represent cash explained more here] with a novel concept: each episode featured a loose cannon. The loose cannon is a recreational player, who is given $100k to play 150 hands of high stakes poker. The loose cannon gets to keep any profits from their session and the biggest winner from the season also gets $50k in NAPT tournament entrance costs. Any Pokerstars player is welcome to try to become the Loose Cannon. The line ups consisted of some popular pros who have a lively table presence like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Tony G. It also had some of the strongest players of the time like Ike Haxton and Phil Galfond. Joe Stapleton made his debut on the show as an announcer. He who would go on to do a great deal of poker commentating over the next decade. Each episode aired on The Fox Network and Pokerstars.tv. In the same BBV thread Jared started, one of the posters has a bright idea:
MasterWolf: I think you should apply to be a Loose Cannon on the Big Game. I know you'd get tons of 2+2 support, plus, you are awesome at making videos.
One of the Jared’s strongest supporters on 2+2 takes a keen interest in this idea:
John_Wray: THIS! Is this something we can make happen? I don't know anything about the process.
Others agree:
Rusemandingo: Would be amazing. AyinHara: for the producers of the Big Game, this is an easy one. snap it up! King Fish: PokerStars Steve was looking for 2p2 recommendations awhile ago. I sent him a text nominating OP but have not heard back. I suggest all of you PM him, and point him to this thread. Would make a much better story than anyone on here, and he has the video to back up both the story and personality already shot.
But how can Jared apply to go on The Big Game? Pokerstars run several tournament qualifiers for The Big Game on Pokerstars. These are details taken from The Big Game website:
There are free-to-enter Big Game Round 1 satellites running four times a day. Finish in the top 300 and you’ll advance to Round 2. Make it into the top 1,000 in a Round 2 tournament and you’ll get a seat in the Big Game Final Round qualifier. All players that finish in the top 200 in the final will be invited to send PokerStars a casting video, telling us why you think you should be on TV’s best new cash game show. Impress us with your video and you’ll be heading off to Las Vegas to star on the show as a Loose Cannon qualifier. Once the video is posted, people will vote on the their favourite video.
The freerolls are popular and attract about 5000 people for each round 1 freeroll. Jared would need to finish in the top 6% of the round 1 freeroll then he’ll be in the round 2 freeroll, he would need to finish in the top 15% to qualify for round 3. In round 3, only 200 qualify to make a video. The round 2 and 3 qualifier only ran once a week so Jared had a limited amount of attempts. John_Wray starts a new thread in support of Jared being considered to be a loose cannon on The Big Game. Within 24 hours the thread has over 400 posts, most of them people putting down their support for Jared to be on The Big Game. Boosted J hears of Jared’s story and posts in the petition thread. Boosted J is the screen name of Justin Smith, a skilled professional player. Boosted J offers Jared a potential job, poker coaching and access to his private mental coach. Boosted J would go on to get Jared in a Dr Dre video as an extra. At this point RelaxedPrecision is one year sober and life is looking good for him. He posts a video rapping about overcoming life’s obstacles. Daniel Negreanu notices and tweets about his rap:
RealKidPoker: Homeless guy Jared Huggins rapping about being sober 1 year, powerful lyrics. Guy has an amazing story to tell.
John_Wray reports that Jared has already started playing the freeroll qualifiers [a freeroll is a free to enter tournament]:
John_Wray: Jared's in a hotel tonight grinding the freerolls .
Jared is ready to play all four round 1 qualifiers on days he had free:
RelaxedPrecision: Going to grind as many of these things as humanly possible. RelaxedPrecision: I got out my schedule for the month, there will be for sure be days coming up where I will play all 4 first round games.
Support pours in:
CrazyNL: awsome man gl NomoneyHU: I'd like to wish you good luck man , i'm currently watching your video. Happy that things is going your way from now! I hope that you do qualify for the PS Big Game and ship all the manies. Sump: I hope you win this and double up on Big Game, ship the NAPT Passport
People start to watch him play and offer him advice. Jared found the journey hard at times:
RelaxedPrecision: Watched guys ship all in preflop with 72o for 4 hours straight. I get an above average stack, get it in with 10 10, run it smack dab into KK. And encountered his fair share of bad beats: RelaxedPrecision: Survive that, get it in with. 58 on a 8s7h6d flop vs Js7s, turn and river are spades, and it's time for a cold shower. lol
[Here he is saying that he feels the other players in the tournament are not playing well but he feels when he played well he felt he was unlucky] Jared starts a new day of round 1 qualifiers, ready to play all 4.
RelaxedPrecision: Fresh day of freerolls starts in 20 minutes. Playing more aggressive today. Feeling optimistic.
He starts playing a round 1 tournament qualifier and is doing well. He’s getting closer:
pokernutssss: 322/379! 79 to go GL jared John_Wray: just fold into the win now. you've got enough chips
Until:
MicroRoller: Congrats! 1 down 2 to go. RelaxedPrecision: YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!! Feels good to be out of round 1. Just gotta find a way to run good [getting lucky]!
The next day, Jared enters round 2 and plays this hand in the middle stages:
Poker Stars Freeroll No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t500/t1000 Blinds + t250 - 9 players BSKid (BTN): t47500 M = 12.67 bones_522004 (SB): t119200 M = 31.79 tanwaruw (BB): t59200 M = 15.79 carlo 1959 (UTG): t1500 M = 0.40 mydream4u (UTG+1): t16200 M = 4.32 berdootim (UTG+2): t47150 M = 12.57 dickblow (MP1): t1750 M = 0.47 Life Guru (MP2): t42350 M = 11.29 Jared Huggins (CO:) with 6s6c : t9300 M = 2.48 Pre Flop: (t3750) 4 folds, Life Guru raises to t2000, Jared Huggins raises to t9050 all in, 3 folds, Life Guru calls t7050 Flop: (t21850) TcQh7s (2 players - 1 is all in) Turn: (t21850) Jh (2 players - 1 is all in) River: (t21850)Jd (2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: t21850 Life Guru shows 8dAc (a pair of Jacks) Jared Huggins shows 6s6c (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) Jared Huggins wins t21850 [Jared plays well and wins]
RelaxedPrecision: **** yeah
But then falls:
John_Wray: ugh. You played great though.
After Jared asks about poker training sites, Taylor Caby pops into the thread to offer Jared membership to his training site: CardRunners:
Green Plastic: Hey Jared, if you'd like to try out CardRunners for free shoot me a PM, I'll have someone set you up over there.
After making a few deep runs in the round 1 tournaments, Jared has several round 2 tickets and is putting his newly found membership to good use:
RelaxedPrecision: Won 3/4 round 1 tournaments today. Now I have four round 2 Tokens saved. Watching Cardrunner.com videos all day tommorrow, and grinding more freerolls
A few days later and Jared makes the final round of freerolls:
Amnestia: gg, jared, good luck in round 3 Isitdur?: It would be the sickest rags to riches story ever if you got on The Big Game, Jared. I really hope you do it. Good luck in Round 3 I will be railing along with all of your other supporters!
Jared registers and plays a round three qualifier tournament and encounters this hand:
Preflop: Jared Huggins in MP1 with AcKc UTG bets t1200, Jared Huggins raises to t3000, 1 fold, MP2 calls t3000, MP3 calls t3000, 4 folds, UTG calls t1800 Flop: (t14250) 3c6sKs (4 players) UTG checks, Jared Huggins bets t10000, MP2 calls t10000, MP3 calls t1950 (All-In), 1 fold Turn: (t36200) Ac (3 players, 1 all-in) Jared Huggins bets t25000, MP2 raises to t26050 (All-In), Jared Huggins calls t1050 River: (t88300) 4d (3 players, 2 all-in) Total pot: t88300 Results: Jared Huggins shows AcKc (two pair, Aces and Kings). MP2 shows Js9s (flush, Ace high). MP3 shows KdTs (one pair, Kings). Outcome: MP2 won t88300 [Jared plays well but get unlucky in a large pot and is out of this round 2 tournament]
Jared is out and continues to grind the qualifying tournaments. A week later and he registers for a round three freeroll and is going deep. A fan posts his position:
MasterWolf: Current Stats: 81,262 chips. avg: 142,959. position 247 / 348. Top 200 get in
Jared gets closer…
MasterWolf: 44 left. he's got 7th shortest stack in tourney. BUT HE CAN DO IT! Go Jared!!
Jared gets increasingly close but is very shortstacked [doesn't have many chips]: The railbirds [players who watch online poker] watch on:
__27__: Never been so happy railing [watching] a freeroll, this is some crazy ****.
Hard bubble and the tournament goes hand for hand [this means there is only 1 player left to go out, when they do all remaining players qualify for the video round]:
MasterWolf: 1 person left
Jared posts. He has qualified!
RelaxedPrecision: I can't believe this is actually happening.
Jared has done it. With the full support of his fan base Jared is one big step closer to getting onto The Big Game. The posters go crazy in his sweat thread and dozens of people congratulate him. Afterwards, Pokerstatic interview Jared and he opens up about his difficult upbringing and life. Link to summary here. Jared is very popular on 2+2 and has a keen fan base but not everyone likes the attention and donations Jared is getting. Later on a Jared opposition thread would be created. Here’s an example of opposition towards Jared:
Lchampag: Its just the way everyone here is completely giving this story all their faith. Just reminds me of those old people that get scammed is all. I work in the coal mining industry. Pay starts out at around $20/h for the first six months(for"red hats") and then goes to around 25 after that for a general laborer. There are men hired at my mines everyday, come and get a freaking job! I guess this work is too hard for those that would just rather get handouts...
Some people were upset he was getting so much in donations. In 2010 he received $6k from 2+2 members. Jared’s fans respond with posts like this:
Srkbigdaddy: i dont know why people would bother posting in a thread that actually has a ton of heart with their snide and rude remarks. obviously its okay to post your feelings but if they are not gonna help the situation then they are pointless. you are basically just stepping on someone who is down
John Wray gives an update on Jared and his health:
John Wray: Jared is seeing his therapist again, and has just moved into a new place. He's very happy with it as it is within his price range and his landlord is a former deacon. They plan to attend services together on Sundays. His bad back is still a big problem, one that needs to be addressed immediately.
Grayson Physioc also known as Spacegravy on 2+2 is a SNG [Sit 'n' Go, a one table tournament] crusher who fought his way from from microstakes to highstakes [A common story for skilled players to deposit $100 on a pokersite, fight their way up the ranks and turn it into millions]. He arrives in the thread and offers to fly Jared to Maimi and coach him, Jared flies out and posts this from Miami:
RelaxedPrecision: Spacegravy flew me out here to Miami to learn Sit N Go's, I'm totally blown away! He is an A+ human being! Haven't gone to the beach, haven't gone sight-seeing, haven't gone anywhere, just straight up grinding poker. Grinding as much as possible!
While in Miami, Jared’s mind is on making the best video he can to ensure he gets onto The Big Game. John_Wray helped, by the 28th of October it is finished and posted. Jared’s Big Game Audition Tape November the first rolls by and the audition tapes of all the qualifiers are uploaded and ready to be voted on. Jared is looking good and is in second place with 1.1k votes. 2nd November and Jared returns from Miami. He’s up $800 on SNGs from his time playing and getting mentored by SpaceGravy. The weeks pass by. People can vote on one video per day so Jared’s fans are visiting and voting as much as they can:
8Nilor: Voting everyday btw. and got others to also.
The thread builds with excitement. With so many fans in the poker world Jared is sure to be selected to go on The Big Game. In December, Jared posts that all is going well with him. He has two jobs and a room to stay in. Jared gives a few updates:
RelaxedPrecision: When I'm not at work, I am working on my game everyday, grinding 50NL 6 max deep on Stars, going over hand histories, and getting coaching when I can.
[50nl deep is a type of poker played with 6 maximum players on the table buying in for $50-100] 2011 begins. In January the voting closes and Jared can only wait. And then the news that Jared and many 2+2 posters have been waiting for is here. Jared notices an email from Pokerstars. He reads the news from Pokerstars about The Big Game. He receives the results and rushes to 2+2 to share the news:
RelaxedPrecision: I got an email from PokerStars informing me that I was not selected to compete as a Loose Cannon on next season’s PokerStars Big Game. I wasn’t given any specific reason why I wasn’t selected, but I was thanked for trying out. TwoPlusTwo.com, thank all of you for supporting me and showing me love. To be loved was a dream come true for me. I'm convinced that love cures most illness.
Jared was not successful. It's crushing news to the community. All their efforts spent helping Jared onto The Big Game was for nothing. The community reply to the news:
AlienSpaceBat: Wow, Jared, I'm really sorry to hear this Isitdur?: So bummed to hear this news, Jared. 2ndUnit: I am very, very disappointed of this decision by PS. Don't let it bring you down Jared, keep going.
A few weeks pass and there’s not much news from Jared. He settles back into working and improving his situation.
It’s all over
Jared had not made the cut for The Big Game. But it’s not all bad. Jared is in a much better position than he was a year ago. He has a roof over his head and steady employment. The past year was a crazy ride for him and he’s made many friends from 2+2. His poker skill is improving and he has top players coaching him. But no one predicted what would happen next month. In the middle of February 2011, a Pokerstars representative dropped into 2+2 to post unbelievable news:
PokerstarsSteve: The seven Loose Cannons scheduled for the July 2011 showing of The PokerStars.net Big Game are: Gonzales Cannon II - Sacramento, CA Courtney Gee - Vancouver BC Jared Huggins - Los Angeles, CA Massimiliano Martinez - Rome, Italy Cari Bershell - Las Vegas, NV Kenneth Hrankowski - Vancouver BC Anton Dunyushkin - Moscow, Russia
Jared Huggins is confirmed to appear on The Big Game Season 2. This is shocking to the community because there was no knowledge on 2+2 that he was even considered for season 2. The community erupts:
ak47: YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! ROADHEAD: WOW NO WAY, WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!! MrPowell222: WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO! TayWolf55: GO GO GO GO GO Jared!
Almost exactly a year after living in his car and making his BBV thread he has the shot of a lifetime for fame and fortune. But first, Jared needs to prepare for the biggest shot of his life. Jared dedicates four months to preparation for going on The Big Game. He plays as much online cash game poker as he can. He has access to a training site and receives free coaching from top pros. To simulate The Big Game he plays 50,000 hands of 6max deep online [6max deep is the poker format played on The Big Game] and even plays tough opponents who would drop down in stakes to play with him. In 2011 he makes three trips from LA to Las Vegas to practice and get used to live play. He practices chip handling, breathing and getting comfortable going from online to live. He reads Caro’s Books of Tells and would sit at the lowest stakes while studying every player closely. He never parties on these trips, just play and study. He watches all 72 episodes of The Big Game Season 1 and analyzes every hand. While watching he would have seen Season 1’s biggest winner, Bob Ferdinand, win $181,500 and $50k in NAPT tournament entries. In this time Jared remakes his Free Hugs video and once again, wanders LA shores with a sign and offers free hugs to the public. Jared uses some of the money from this video and donates $1k to charity. Reshot video here The line up for The Big Game is announced: Seat 1: Jared Huggins Seat 2: Nick Cassavetes – A recreational player. Cassavetes works in the film industry. Seat 3: Barry Greenstein – Poker legend known for his Philanthropy Seat 4: Vanessa Selbst – An aggressive and skilled player. Won NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event back to back. Seat 5: Antonio Esfandiari – An accomplished player who would go on to win The Big Drop for $18m next year. Seat 6: Prahlad Friedman – An experienced cash game player. Played under Spirit Rock and used to crush online games Reserve: Phil Lakk - An entertaining professional player. There are certainly some tough opponents on this table. Fortunately, Jared has a recreational player on his left [at the poker table players on the left are more likely to apply pressure than players on the right. Because Cassavetes is a recreational player he should be applying less pressure on Jared than a pro]. The community reacts:
blackjacki2: hard lineup J0hny: Best of luck to you !
Then the day of filming arrives. Jared drives to Las Vegas to play in the biggest cash game of his life. He’s had months of training for this one moment. Hundreds of people on 2+2 are following his progress and Jared will soon be broadcast across the USA playing with seasoned professionals.
Now, the story is almost at an end. You have three options on how to consume the finale:
You can watch all four episodes of The Big Game to see what happens, links below. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch all 4 episodes then I’ve posted some timestamped links of Jared’s biggest hands, I’ve linked one hand per episode. There are 12 minutes of clips. When you are finished watching, click the spoiler box below and read the end of the story.
If you don’t want to watch any Big Game then click the spoiler box below and read on. [If you want to watch some of The Big Game it may be a good idea to watch this video I linked in the introduction again]
Jared did not end up profiting on the episode. He played until hand 126 of 150 when he ran his QQ into Cassavetes’ KK. Jared doesn’t hit and is off The Big Game.[KK is the second best hand in poker and QQ is the third best, so it was unlucky for Jared to get QQ and another player has KK. However, Jared was playing poorly and too passively in other hands in the episodes] Posts from 2+2 were mixed, many posts in the thread were not kind towards his play. The community criticized some of the hands he played:
Jazzed23: the dude played like crap. No 3 betting, no bluffing, no floating and turn barrelling. he was playing scared and tight. Blew away $25k just by folding. cobrastatus: How could this guy... get so much free coaching... and be so terrible... trip_kings12: what a waste of a week for this show. Jared, the loose cannon, was almost unbearable to watch. I doubt I've ever seen a tighter, more scared loose cannon in all my years in poker.
[The posters here are saying that he was playing poorly and passively] One fan posts this:
LolDonkamentz: I'll admit I was kind of disappointed with the result of this. I enjoyed all the build up and was really excited for this to be the climax of the Jared Huggins saga but it wasn't to be. His awkwardness at the table combined with his below average performance made for bad television
And Jared replied:
RelaxedPrecision: To you and others Donkamentz, sorry if I wasn't able to do my part to entertain you. It's a big show with lots of people on it, so I don't feel solely responsible for your entertainment, any more than I feel responsible for not hitting a huge hand. Thank you for caring about how I did.
Most of the posts were neutral or negative but there were still some positive posts:
kevmode: Gl to you in the future Jared. You are a nice guy, just block out the negative and think positive.
So, what happened to Jared after The Big Game? After The Big Game, Jared stopped posting so much in 2+2 and he slowly faded from posters’ minds. Shortly after The Big Game, he posted a post show reflection where he thanked the community, he spoke of how he enjoyed playing with the pros and his heartbreak after busting. He wished he had talked more and played some hands differently. He finishes with a final thought:
RelaxedPrecision: I'm happy and grateful for what this journey has been. I made some amazing friendships, saw amazing places, and had my dreams come true. I had amazing experiences, that I will never in my life forget, memories that I will always look back upon with a smile.
In 2012 he posted this post where he shared his battles with health conditions and how he still plays poker. In 2016 he posted this in a thread about poker in developing countries. He wrote about living in China for 9 months.
A friend of mine shared this recently on Facebook regarding Independence Day and the way people have been acting lately, and I can't argue with it (230 points, 43 comments)
Yes, I'm against masks and their symbology but more importantly I'm against permanently damaging society and our way of life over a new cold virus. (292 points, 244 comments)
Never forget who did this to us (275 points, 103 comments)
223 points: DarkDismissal's comment in All anti mask subs have been swiftly banned from Reddit this morning.
219 points: PlanetisonFire's comment in Twitter censors the president for tweet referencing the new CDC figures showing only 6% of COVID-19 victims died with no comorbidities
How lap times in different motorsports compare to each other
If you are a motorsports fan like me, you probably wondered, how fast the many different cars and classes are in relation to each other. While thinking about this question, I quickly realised that it is a near impossible task to measure this, you can’t compare cars from different series unless they share the track at the same point in time, which rarely happens. But still, I wanted to know, how the different classes compare to each other within their limitations (be it from the rules or from the conditions), in other words, which cars could go faster than others and by how much. To measure this, I chose the superior method of comparing lap times: percentages. (On a side note, I honestly don’t understand why teammates are always compared in tenths over the season, like saying X was on average 4 tenths slower than Y. This is just dumb, let’s all switch to percentages! Four tenths around Red Bull Ring is different than four tenths around Le Mans.) Check out my new post on ranking historic sports car prototypes if you're interested.
TL;DR List
For the extremely busy, very unceremoniously and without additional commentary (as that comes later in this post), these are all the important racing classes with their regulations as of 2019:
Formula 1 (100-104.3%)
Super Formula (108-111%) LMP1 (112-114%) Indycar (112.5-115%) Formula 2 (114-117%)
MotoGP (132-139%) GT3 - GTD (134-140%) Australian Supercars (136.5-142%) Formula E (134-140%)
Moto2 (140-144%) NASCAR Cup (141.5-144%)
NASCAR Xfinity (144-146%)
GT4 IMSA (145-150%)
TCR (146.5-153%) NGTC (147-149%)
GT4 SRO (149-155%) Moto3 (149-155%)
Method
What I did can be described very simply, I looked up the fastest qualifying laps, of each series/class here on a bunch of tracks all around the world. Then I started comparing. First, if there was a direct comparison to F1, I calculated the percentage averages. Then, I started cross-referencing to other series which were active on most of the tracks (mainly GT3 and TCR) and calculated back to F1. There are some problems with this method. I can’t be 100% sure that for example GTD and GT3 have similar pace, or that TCR in Europe and TCR in Japan have similar pace. But with these two classes, the differences are not that big, which allowed me to have a more or less clear picture. After that I estimated the percentage range and made it bigger, because track conditions and other factors could mean up to 1-2% in lap time (this was the most “subjective” part). Because of the big ranges, I will always provide the direct comparison to F1 if there is one.
Why are there ties?
Many classes were surprisingly close to each other regarding their percentage ranges, despite (or maybe because) they rarely race on the same track. This led to some three- or four-way ties. In those ties I tried to rank them, based on feeling and direct comparisons. The classes could be in a different order within those ties if they raced in similar conditions, we can never be sure. Which leads me to the final boring paragraph I promise.
What factors influence lap time?
• Drivers, especially in series where there are pro and amateur drivers • Qualifying and race formats: how much fuel is in the car; do you have to start with the fuel load; is it an endurance series; is it a one-lap shootout or is it the average of all drivers, do you have to negotiate around lower class cars; does your engine need to last another 5 races or 24 hours etc. • Tires, very important, explains differences between GT500 & DTM or GT300 & GT3, think about how much faster F1 would be if the softest of the five compounds was available everywhere • Performance Ballasts (BoP, EoT etc.), can be very severe (e.g. in LMP1 it is up to 2%) • Track Conditions, very important even in a single session, as the track constantly changes • AiTemperature conditions
Lap Time Percentage Ranking
1 Formula 1 I referenced all percentages to Formula 1 because it is obviously the fastest motorsport in the world. The pinnacle of motorsport (like it or not, it is the pinnacle) has mind bending machines, which produce enormous amount of downforce, have incredibly efficient and powerful engines and in the words of George Russell “ridiculous” brakes. On the note of Russell, I calculated the average percentage difference of the faster car of the slowest team to the pole time: 104.3% (side-note: it was surprisingly not always Williams, in Hungary, both Racing Points were beaten by a Williams). To give you another example about percentages: the slowest team in recent history HRT had a 109% lap time on their worst days. Just in case you forgot how an F1 car looks: 2019 Mercedes W10 2.1 Super Formula (108-111%) direct comparison: 109.3% Super Formula (formerly called Formula Nippon) is the top racing series in Japan and is the second fastest open-wheeled motorsport in the world. They race on Japanese circuits only, which gives us few direct comparisons to big international series (Suzuka with F1 and Fuji with WEC). It has a spec chassis and two engine manufacturers (Honda and Toyota). The new car, introduced in 2019 was to the tenth as fast as an LMP1 car in Fuji, but edges the class on direct comparison with F1 at Suzuka. this is how the Dallara SF19 looks like in the hands of last year’s champion Nick Cassidy 2.2 LMP1 (112-114%) direct comparison: 112.7% On to the fastest non open-wheeled series, the next fastest cars are the magnificent sports car prototypes of the World Endurance Championship. This class has produced many great hybrid cars since 2014 from Porsche, Audi and Toyota, which battled at the 24h of Le Mans. Unfortunately, in the later years, only Toyota remained with a hybrid LMP1 and their car now competes against the privateer LMP1s of Rebellion. LMP1 beats both F2 and Indycar on direct comparison. If there is one class which could go much faster, it has to be the hybrid LMP1 Toyotas. The WEC introduced the fancy-named Equality of Technology, which basically should slow down the hybrids to the privateer speeds. Unfortunately, it actually means that the Toyotas go 2.5s per lap slower than they could and lose 1s per lap to the non-hybrid Rebellions at COTA. Because of that, the lap records are from 2016-17, when Audi and Porsche still were on the stage, pushing each other to greater and greater speeds. this is the 2020 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, you won’t see this car for long on track because in the near future, there will be new prototype regulations 2.3 Indycar (112.5-115%) direct comparison: 114.6% The premier North American open-wheeled racing series would certainly be unbeatable on ovals, but on road courses, they are edged out by a few series. Again, like with SF, Indycar only races in a specific region and few tracks are visited by big international series, but they finally gave us a direct comparison with Formula 1 at COTA. This series also has a spec chassis (also by Dallara) and since 2018 a universal aero kit. There are two engine manufacturers: Honda and Chevrolet. this is how the Dallara DW12 looks like in the hands of last year’s champion Josef Newgarden 2.4 Formula 2 (114-117%) direct comparison: 115.8% Finally, the slowest series in this four-way tie is the top feeder series for F1. This is a series, where young drivers can finally be part of the F1 paddock by racing in support races on the same weekend with the big ones. There is no direct comparison with Indycar and through cross-referencing it is still impossible to tell which one would be faster. The series employs a spec chassis by (again you guessed it) Dallara and has one engine manufacturer (Mecachrome). This series is more about the drivers, because it should find the best of the talents looking to get into F1. this is how the Dallara F2 2018 looks like in the hands of last year’s champion Nyck De Vries 3.1 GT500 (117-120%) direct comparison: 119.8% The grand touring beasts populating the top class in the Japanese SUPER GT series are astonishingly quick. These race cars are the fastest production-based cars right now (well at least they kinda look like a production car) and can put some prototype classes to shame with their lap times. They beat the WECs LMP2s in Fuji but have unfortunately few other direct comparisons with similar classes. There are currently three manufacturers competing in GT500: Nissan, Toyota/Lexus and Honda. Recently, GT500 and DTM aligned their rules to be able to compete in each other’s series, which led to the Class One cars, as they are called now. While the chance of seeing DTM cars in SUPER GT and vice versa is low, it provides a great opportunity to see how tires influence car performance, as GT500 (having a tire war with 4 manufacturers) is clearly faster on track than DTM. this is how the Lexus LC 500 GT500 championship winning car looked like in 2019 3.2 DPi (118.5-122%) no direct comparison The Daytona Prototype International class is the top prototype class in the IMSA United Sports Car Championship and has the honours to be the second fastest prototype class. It was introduced in 2017 alongside the new LMP2 regulations and became a separate class in the championship in 2019. This is the first class which had no direct comparisons to F1, but it is clearly faster than the WECs LMP2 class at Sebring. It is quite interesting in the sense that despite having four manufacturers (Cadillac, Acura, Mazda and Nissan) the cars used are based on four other LMP2 chassis (Dallara, Oreca, Riley and Ligier). this is how the Acura ARX-05 2019 championship winning car looked like 3.3 LMP2 WEC (118-125%) direct comparison: 120% The second class in the WEC is a very popular one, with many privateer teams battling it out for LMP2 honours. The class is also used in the European Le Mans Series with similar specifications. The class was overhauled and redefined in 2017, four exclusive chassis manufacturers were appointed (the ones from DPi), a closed cockpit was mandated and there is a spec Gibson engine. The current cars and rule concepts are the basis, together with the DPis for the future LMDh regulations. It comfortably beats the 4th placed Formula 3 cars on direct comparison. this is how the championship winning Oreca 07 by United Autosport looked like in 2019 4.1 Formula 3 (122-126.5%) direct comparison: 123.6% The third tier in the world of Formula 1 is the lowest which has a worldwide championship. It is one stage under Formula 2 and replaced GP3 in 2019. This change of name and structure also came with a new Dallara chassis and a spec Mecachrome engine. As you may have noticed, I only looked at the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and not at other regional or national series. this is the Dallara F3 2019 driven by Robert Shwartzman, the 2019 champion 4.2 DTM (123.5-126.5%) direct comparison: 124.9% The cars used in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters are called touring cars only for historic reasons. These cars are silhouette cars, meaning actually purpose-built machines using a body which resembles (slightly) to their road going counterparts. Although it is a series competing in Europe (mainly Germany with some few races in other places), it actually shares few circuits with faster series, so there is no direct comparison to the WEC or the ELMS or even Formula 3. So, it is hard to call which one would be faster. This should be changed with the DTM set to race at Monza (Edit: now it looks like they go to Spa) in the 2020 season. The DTM is as mentioned before the sister series of SUPER GT, which gives a perspective of how much faster these cars could go. Unfortunately, the future of the series doesn’t look too bright with only one manufacturer left after the end of this season, there’s a big chance that we won’t see these great cars in the future. this is the Audi RS5 Turbo DTM_FP1.jpg&tbnid=VulVzwUeOXs-QM&vet=1&docid=EJNx6BNH9-qE1M&w=2560&h=1706&q=rene+rast+dtm+2019&source=sh/x/im) of champion Rene Rast in 2019 4.3 LMP2 IMSA (123-126%) no direct comparison The second class in North American sports car racing is a little bit slower than their WEC counterparts. This is also visible at the direct comparison at Sebring. The reasons for this could be that the LMP2s in IMSA were slowed down to create a bigger gap to the very similar DPi cars. Other features are exactly the same than in the WEC, the only difference being that there were only two entries in 2019. 5.1 GT300 (129-134%) direct comparison: 132.7% I think the Japanese like to show the world how fast some cars actually could go. GT300 is the lower class in SUPER GT, it consists mainly of GT3 cars from European manufacturers but also JAF-GT cars, which are just a Japanese GT class. What is surprising is how easily the GT300 cars beat their European GT3 counterparts and even the WEC GTE class is beaten fair and square at Fuji. here is the Honda NSX GT3 Evo, last year’s championship winning machine 5.2 GTLM IMSA - GTE WEC (130-138%) direct comparison: 132.6% Now to the supposedly highest level of GT racing, which actually is beaten by two and pressured by a third one. GTE in WEC/ELMS or GTLM in IMSA is in all three championship the top GT class. The GTLMs beat the GTEs at Sebring but I still decided to take both together because they are very similar in performance. These cars are awesome, look awesome and I suspect could produce much better lap times, but especially in Europe, they are sometimes even beaten by the top GT3 cars. There are now five different manufacturers competing in the WEC and IMSA combined. this is the Porsche 911 RSR which won in IMSA and WEC in 2019 5.3 LMP3(130-134.5%) direct comparison: 132.7% LMP3 is the lowest prototype class, which is more thought as an entry level for drivers and teams to prototype racing. It is used in the ELMS, Asian LMS and the IMSA Prototype Challenge. In Europe it beats the GTEs marginally and in North America it is beaten by GTLM marginally, so the actual difference between GTE and LMP3 is too close to call. There are five cars available and all have the same spec engine. This is a Ligier JS P3 which won in the ELMS in 2019 6.1 MotoGP (132-139%) direct comparison: 135.1% There are two groups in motorsports which I consider the craziest. Those who jump into their small hatchbacks and rip through some forests or mountains on roads barely wider than the car itself and those who jump on a bike which can go with 360kph and you can touch the ground with your knees while negotiating corners. MotoGP is astonishingly quick, sometimes even beating GT3 race cars. There are six manufacturers currently competing in MotoGP with purpose built mororcycle prototypes. This is last year’s MotoGP winner Marc Marquez and his Honda RC213V 6.2 GT3 - GTD (134-140%) direct comparison: 136.9% - 135.4% On to the arguably most widely used racing class right now: GT3. There are a lot of different championships using these cars, and there have been 51 cars homologated since its inception in the mid 2000s. The highest-level series using GT3s are the SRO sanctioned GT World Challenges (formerly Blancpain Series) and the IMSA Sports Car Championship with the name GTD. On top of that there are countless national championships, so it’s hard to actually say how fast GT3s are, because they race at so many places. Sometimes they beat GTE in Europe, they play a secondary role to GTLM in IMSA, sometimes they barely beat Australian Supercars. The interesting thing in GT3 is the variety of car styles, types, engines and the fact that all these different philosophies are tied together through Balance of Performance which equals out all the cars. here is the Bentley Continental GT3 which won the last international GT3 race, the Bathurst 12h 6.3 Australian Supercars (136.5-142%) direct comparison: 141.4% The (maybe not so hidden) gem in motorsport is the Australian Supercars Championship (also known as V8 Supercars), it evolved from the Australian Touring Car Championship and has really fun to watch and actually pretty fast race cars from Holden and Ford (with sometimes other manufacturers coming and going). It is close to the Australian GT Championship lap time wise, but is a bit slower than GT3s at Bathurst, where a big international GT3 race happens every year. There are otherwise few meaningful comparisons to other series. Unfortunately, there are some doubts over its future, with the car brand Holden no longer active. this is the Ford Mustang GT of Scott McLaughlin, last year’s champion 6.4 Formula E (134-140%) direct comparison (manually measured with a youtube onboard): 134% The premier electric racing series in the world is notably famous for racing on unusual (controversial?) tight circuits located in city centres. Because of that, there is only one proper comparison with another class (TCR at Marrakech) and you can kinda guess their time in Monaco’s last sector while watching an onboard and measuring it with a stopwatch. So based on this data, we can estimate that their speed is somewhere around GT3 and Supercars. Of course, Formula E is very strong on its own circuits but would lose to everybody at Bathurst, just like a Supercar couldn’t negotiate the Paris Circuit fast enough. We can only hope, that the championship with the highest manufacturer involvement goes to the full Monaco layout for a proper comparison. The car currently used is the 2nd Gen FE car, it has a spec chassis and battery but individual powertrains. here is the DS Techeetah of 2019 champion Jean-Eric Vergne 7.1 Moto2 (140-144%) direct comparison: 142.8% The second tier motorcycle championship also comes in at a kind of no-mans land between Supercars and NASCAR. Unfortunately, I don’t know much more about Moto2 so here is last years champion Alex Marquez with his Kalex Moto2 bike 7.2 NASCAR Cup Series (141.5-144%) no direct comparison The most popular form of motorsport in the US, NASCAR is centred around oval track racing. So much in fact, that its calendar only has two road courses (Watkins Glen and Sonoma). On top of that, to make direct comparisons even rarer, they use different layouts to Indycar and IMSA at both tracks. That leaves us with cross-referencing the Cup Series to its minor league, which leads to the conclusion that NASCAR is tied with Moto2 on pace and just edged out by Australian Supercars, which some consider to be kind of similar (very far reached imo) to it. credit to u/TacoHVAC for the laptimes here is the 2019 Toyota Camry of cup series champion Kyle Busch 8 NASCAR Xfinity (144-146%) no direct comparison Fortunately, NASCAR’s minor league, the Xfinity series goes to two of road courses using common layouts (Road America and Mid-Ohio) so we can at least compare these cars to other classes on this list. The Xfinity cars are a bit slower than their Cup Series counterparts, and with that, they are far from GT3 and Supercars, but comfortably ahead of GT4. this is the Chevrolet Camaro of 2019 champion Tyler Reddick 9 GT4 IMSA (145-150%) direct comparison: 146.3% We arrived at the slowest GT class, GT4 is widely used in some national championships. In North America, the Michelin Pilot Challenge is a support series of the IMSA Sports Car Championship and there you can see GT4 competing as the top class against TCR, which explains why the IMSA GT4s are faster than their European brothers and sisters. this is the Audi R8 LMS GT4 which won last year’s Michelin Pilot Challenge 10.1 TCR (146.5-153%) direct comparison: 149.9% The most widely used touring car class was approved in 2014 and fully took over the touring car world in 2018, when the World Touring Car Championship also adopted the regulations. These cars are “true” touring cars, with many standardised parts and a performance ballast system to ensure fair competition. There are many manufacturers and twice as many series, with nearly every region having their own TCR championship. All the results from these championship count towards the TCR Model of the Year “championship” which is handed out since 2017. TCR provided a very constant basis for other lap time calculations (especially for the Japanese series), because it is so widely used and has universal rules. In Europe it beats GT4 very consistently. here is the Hyundai i30 N TCR driven by World Touring Car champion Norbert Michelisz 10.2 NGTC (147-149%) no direct comparison One of the few places where TCR isn’t the main touring car class is of course the British Touring Car Championship. They have their own cars, called Next Generation Touring Cars, which have most likely a very similar performance than TCR. I say most likely, because there are not that many international series competing on some lesser known British tracks, so I used the British GT Championship (GT3) as a reference for NGTCs. this is the BMW 330i M Sport driven by 2019 champion Colin Turkington 11.1 GT4 SRO (149-155%) direct comparison: 151.9% Finally, we are at the bottom of this list with the GT4 cars competing in various national and European SRO series. These cars are by no means slow, they beat road going hyper cars like the Koenigsegg One:1 or the McLaren P1 at Spa, which just shows how incredibly fast race cars are, even if they are slow (if that makes sense). the final car on here is the BMW M4 GT4, winner of the 2019 GT4 European Series 11.2 Moto3 (149-155%) direct comparison: 152.3% The lowest class in motorcycle grand prix racing has about the same speeds as GT4. Generally you can say, that the different motorcycle tiers are much closer to each other than F1 - F2 - F3 are. this is the Honda NSF250RW Moto3 winning machine That’s the end of the list. As you can imagine it was quite fun to research everything, but it also took a long time. Please correct any typos and feel free crosspost. What comes next? I plan on doing something similar but for historic classes and look if somebody could challenge F1 for the throne in the past (my bet is on Group C or 70s Can-Am). Edits: Due to popular request, I added some motorcycle classes, also corrected some technicalities about NASCAR tracks
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