Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Mantastic is now on Patreon!

Post Lidocaine Procedure Update

Another Less than Mantastic Health Update

A Very Meri Day

Mantastic is on Discord!

Rank 700 Box Tour and Future PAD Goals

Reincarnated Ra Farming Machine Zeus Guide

Puzzle and Dragons Christmas Songs

One Shot Challenge 4 Clear Videos: Gaia & Zeus

Batman Collab REM Review and Analysis

Introduction

Video commentary

Why I created a Patreon page

How you can make a difference

The finer details for Patrons

Conclusion

Introduction

Video commentary

Eye problems

Back and neck problems

Introduction

Solo Arena 3 clear

Fantastic rolls

Continued success

Conclusion

Introduction

Video commentary

Why use Discord?

Conclusion

Introduction

Rank 700 Box tour

How much playing is rank 700?

Notable moments

Introduction

Mantastic video clear/guide

Original Dacho carry video/guide

Why does this team work?

Introduction

Dashing through the dungeon

12 days of Godfest

Conclusion

Introduction

Mantastic clear

Fantastic’s clear

Conclusion

Introduction

Video Commentary

Five star rolls

Introduction

Video commentary

Why I created a Patreon page

How you can make a difference

The finer details for Patrons

Conclusion

Introduction

Video commentary

Eye problems

Back and neck problems

Introduction

Solo Arena 3 clear

Fantastic rolls

Continued success

Conclusion

Introduction

Video commentary

Why use Discord?

Conclusion

Introduction

Rank 700 Box tour

How much playing is rank 700?

Notable moments

Introduction

Mantastic video clear/guide

Original Dacho carry video/guide

Why does this team work?

Introduction

Dashing through the dungeon

12 days of Godfest

Conclusion

Introduction

Mantastic clear

Fantastic’s clear

Conclusion

Introduction

Video Commentary

Five star rolls

Puzzling those Dragons

Reward tiers

When will I be charged?

Discord invite link

Community

Finding coop partners

Fun emotes and helpful commands

Arena 3

Mantastic team

Fantastic team

Impressions

Reward tiers

When will I be charged?

Arena 3 Meridionalis

Community

Finding coop partners

Fun emotes and helpful commands

Arena 3

Mantastic team

Fantastic team

Impressions

Mantastic’s Team

Fantastic’s Team

February 26, 2017 Mantastic Leave a comment

After months of deliberation, I have finally decided to implement and launch my Patreon page. Paetron is a medium akin to GoFundMe, but for content creators such as artists, musicians, and pretty much anything you can imagine. However, Patreon differs in that your support is pledged on a monthly basis and has a meaningful impact moving forward as I will continue to have sizable medical expenses for the foreseeable future.

—video goes here—

I created my Patreon page to provide my readers with another medium to support me as content creation is a time consuming process. What may take you minutes to read usually takes hours to produce as there is great deal of effort involved with researching, formatting, commenting and writing each article

When I first started Mantastic PAD, my goal was to help other players as this is the game I am most passionate about. I am well aware that Puzzle and Dragons is a relatively small game in North America and Europe and it is somewhat unreasonable to make a living from content creation when compared to larger games like Hearthstone. However, PAD is my favourite game and it is still my goal to help as many people as possible.

My real life situation is less than Mantastic as I have been battling severe health issues since July 2014 along with a strong likelyhood of a cancerous lump in my eye that has involved a failed surgery. I better explain my situation in a previous website posting (Feb 2017 & Sept 2016) should you wish to read more about it. In essence, I spend the majority of my time and money with various doctors and specialists that leaves very little time or resources for normal activities. Unfortunately, I see doctors on average 4-5 times a week and many of the treatments take days-weeks to recover from and has left me unable to work.

My most recent Lidocaine procedure (Feb 21, 2017) has provided a noticeable reduction of base-level pain, but I am far from out of the woods as I will probably require “booster” infusions at a reduced cost ($500-550) at unspecified intervals (most likely monthly?). While this may not feel like a massive sum of money to some individuals, it is massive for me as I already have other doctors/healthcare practitioner expenses that already overstretches my disability benefit.

Even something as small as $5/month can make a world of a difference if even 1% of my readership base participates. $5/month translates into about 17 cents a day or can be viewed as about 35-50 cents per article as I usually produce something new every 2-3 days (you could also view $5 as a failed silver egg from the REM!). Regardless of Paetron participation, I will still continue to produce high quality content that will help you advance through your Puzzle and Dragons journey.

I am well aware that this is not something that everyone can do, but what everyone can do to help is simply disable/whitelist AdBlocker for my various platforms. This will have a dramatic impact overall as my website alone is visited around 10,000 times a day for the past several months.

In order to further show my gratification to all my Patrons, I have created a fun-rewards tier that will grant you various benefits. These benefits will reset on a monthly basis (where applicable) and some will require coordination on both ends to fulfill.

For those Patrons at or above $5/month will gain special perks in my Discord server and you have to go into User Settings to sync your Patron account to your Discord account. This cannot be completed by anyone else, but feel free to ask for help if needed.

You cannot sync your two accounts until after the first of the month as that is when Patron officially recognizes you.

Coordination can be completed via Discord or my Facebook messaging system.

You will be charged on the first of the month and that will also trigger all the reward tiers. If you pledge support part way through a month, you will have to wait until the next month for your rewards.

I do appreciate you taking the time to read and visit my Paetron page and I hope to continue to be a valuable resource moving forward. Support is by no means mandatory and I simply wanted to provide a medium for individuals who want to go the extra mile.

Happy Puzzling!

Mantastic Social Media
Facebook	Twitter	YouTube
Twitch	Discord	Patreon

Random Thoughts

February 23, 2017 Mantastic 17 Comments

Thank you to everyone for your support during this challenging time. I am still combating a modest amount of the normal side effects so it may take some time for appropriate responses or new content to be released. Normal side effects include nausea, fatigue/drowsiness, and disorientation with it being most severe for the first 24 hours.

Overall the procedure went well and I was able to tolerate the entire procedure without any complications. I am currently experiencing a noticeable improvement in baseline pain levels, but I have been very cautious this past 48 hours and did have one unusual flare up. I am still by no means cured and have a very long road ahead, but hopefully it will be shorter and less painful moving forward.

I will most likely need repeat infusions for Lidocaine (how frequently remains to be unseen), but these would at least be available for only $500-550 per treatment as I would be taking it home with me and having it slowly released into my bloodstream over the course of about 4 days.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your continued support. You have made this whole week bearable through your encouragement, prayers, and well wishes. I also want to thank everyone who contributed financially for funding my procedure. Within a week’s time, you were able to pay for the procedure in full and this makes a world of a difference moving forward as I still have many hurdles to overcome and my eye cancer follow up next week as well.

It is often easier to update my social media platforms as they are better suited towards quicker posts so feel free to follow along:

Mantastic Social Media
Facebook	Twitter	YouTube
Twitch	Discord	Patreon

I am still sifting through my Question Time post and should ideally have it finished on the weekend along with finalizing my Patreon page.

Once again, I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and it means the world to me.

Happy Puzzling!

Random Thoughts

February 15, 2017 Mantastic 98 Comments

I have shared my diverse health problems last year when I was about to undergo surgery to remove what is presumed to be a cancerous lump inside my right eyeball along with sharing my inability to function normally due to a serious back and neck injury that was sustained in July 2014. Needless to say, the surgery did not go well as they were unsuccessful in removing the lump and my back/neck issues are reaching a somewhat critical moment next week along with a follow up with the cancer specialist at the end of February.

If you wish to read about these in my previous posting, feel free to read my previous post HERE.

—video goes here—

During my last regular eye check up in late 2015, my optometrist found an unusual lump on the inside of my right eyeball. I was sent to a specialist who then referred me to a cancer specialist as it was out of his scope. After further probing and examination, we agreed to remove the lump via surgery as it is most likely cancerous and testing cannot be performed without a biopsy and that cannot be done as it is inside my eye and inaccessible.

I went through with the surgery under general anesthesia and was later informed it was unsuccessful as the surgeon had difficulty pin-pointing the exact location as she did not want to make an excessive cut through my eyeball or pierce the lump (it is very small and in an awkward location). As such, I am to be monitored every few months in case it does grow and surgery needs to be reattempted.

While this is not an ideal situation and my last checkup showed no signs of growth (thus lowering the chances of it being malignant), it is only one of many health problems I face.

I have been on Long Term Disability (LTD) since July 2014 and Continue reading Another Less than Mantastic Health Update →

Arena, Random Thoughts

February 13, 2017 Mantastic 27 Comments

I was fortunate to roll Meridionalis on Mantastic at the beginning of the Heroine REM event and was able to take her for a spin in a solo Arena 3 attempt. Needless to say, she is an amazingly fun leader to use and I am overjoyed by the fact that I have another viable end game leader to use.

–

Due to the success with Meri, I was highly motivated to try and acquire her on my Fantastic account in order to take advantage of coop and a playstyle I enjoy. Thankfully, I have some supportive viewers (0apie) and was able to IAP a pack and test my luck.

My gamble paid off and I am excited to begin a new era or PAD gameplay with Meridionalis as the no skyfall clause is incredible for stalling/hoarding orbs and damage control. I did a couple of test coop runs of Arena 3 today and was thrilled to have been able to complete both within 45 minutes with one of the runs taking around 15-16 minutes due to the water skyfalls on floor 1.

Acquiring Meridionalis on both accounts has re-injected a sense of excitement into my PAD life as I now have a new and powerful team to play with. It will also motivate me to try and min-max my team as best as possible to write a comprehensive team building guide for her after they announce her buff/evo in next week’s JP stream.

Now I need to decide if I should start saying MERaculous instead of MYRaculous.

Happy Puzzling!

Random Thoughts

February 2, 2017 Mantastic 7 Comments

Discord is Skype meets chatroom/forum for gaming. It is a medium in which you can connect with other players along with finding help with team building and coordinating coop adventures. In order to successfully use Discord, you will have to download the app/client along with creating a profile and finding beneficial servers. I am in the process of updating my community corner post, but in the mean time, I want to advertise my own Discord server.

Mantastic Social Media
Facebook	Twitter	YouTube	Twitch	Discord

—video goes here—-

Discord is another free resource players can take advantage of as there are many servers that provide a wealth of information. This can range from written guides to one-on-one help from more knowledgeable players along with joining a helpful community.

Within my own Discord, I have a Fantastic Chat section that is always “bumpin” with helpful and friendly users. These people range from beginners to experts who have cleared all the content in the game and are always happy to answer your questions or to simply talk about Puzzle and Waifus. Even if you do not have any burning questions, it is always beneficial to even discuss the latest changes in PAD along with tips and tricks for current and upcoming content.

In addition, my staff/moderation team are also an amazing group of individuals who help keep everything running smoothly and are always willing to help.

Finally, I also try my best to regularly interact with my Discord server through the Fantastic Chat as well as random coops and occasionally playing other game such as Diablo 3, Hearthstone, and League of Legends.

It is now widely accepted that farming the guerrilla dungeons (the hourly dungeons) in coop is vastly superior due to the stamina savings as well as ability to button farm. Furthermore, if you are having trouble finding synergistic partners, Discord is a great way to find friends who will gladly coop through your Tan Infestation.

Furthermore, you will also have the opportunity to find like-minded individuals who can help you tackle challenging content as well as providing an additional level of insight/strategies.

We play Puzzle and Dragons for fun and Discord should be too. Not only do we have a wide array of amazing cute/funny emotes, but helpful commands. Written chat is great, but everyone loves a sprinkling of my face in the strangest shapes as well as Pancaaake drawings.

Furthermore, we also have helpful commands that range from optimal board set ups to some meme-worthy screenshots of my Twitch Stream:

Discord is both a fun and helpful way to connect with your fellow Puzzle and Dragoners. I highly recommend you do check out my Discord server as well as staying tuned for my soon to be updated community post to help you find other meaningful resources.

Happy Puzzling!

Random Thoughts, Videos

January 6, 2017 Mantastic 18 Comments

I hit rank 600 around July 22nd and it only took me around five and half months to acquire about 121 million more rank experience to unlock my thirteenth team slot. Rank 700 is around 286.5 million lifetime experience and even with the enhanced mediums to rank up, it still take a very long time. In fact, it took me just under 1,200 days to achieve.

I have never been a player who solely pursed rank as it does not achieve much outside of some personal satisfaction. In fact, the bulk of my rank experience has come from Arena 3 as I was around rank 612 when I achieved my first clear. This has led to an excessive amount of Pys (and a lower dependency on playing Tan Infestation); however, it has left my Maniac Quest log relatively incomplete as I lack the required pluses or Tamadras for additional badges.

This post will take your through a tour of my beloved Monster Box, highlights of notable moments, and my thoughts and goals moving forward.

—box tour goes here—

Rank experience has less prestige than it used to due to Ganesha, Monday Dungeon, and now the experience boost to Arena. However, it is still a massive amount of play time and here are a few ways to visualize my lifetime experience. Rank 700 is about 286.5 million experience which is equivalent to either:

4,659 Monday Dungeons
2,070 Dual Ganesha Monday Dungeons
2,367 Special Descend Rushes
1,701 Super Ultimate Dragon Rushes
191,000 Tower of Giants – Dragons of the Tower

My Puzzle and Dragons life from rank 600-700 has been exciting as it gave me my first taste of Arena 3 along with a few new cards in my Monster Box. Granted my REM luck is usually on the lower end of the normal distribution curve, I still have some functioning teams for our current content.

My first Arena 3 clear was done with a less than ideal Myr team as I was running two heart breakers along with being unsure as to the ideal set up along with how to actually solve heart cross boards. Despite all that, the sheer potency of her leader skill and gentle team building requirements have enabled me to repeatedly farm Arena 3. Continue reading Rank 700 Box Tour and Future PAD Goals →

Random Thoughts

December 26, 2016 Mantastic 13 Comments

The concept of farming/cheesing Machine Zeus Descended with Awoken Ra is nothing new or original. However, with the release of Reincarnated Ra and being fortunate enough to finally pull a Ra on Mantastic, I have begun exploring ways to easily clear this normally challenging dungeon. Reincarnated Ra dramatically upgrades your damage potential as you are now able to achieve 225x ATK when using an active skill and matching all 5 colours. This greatly diminishes the burden of one player having perfect subs/inherits as you have more wiggle room for error as the dungeon has a no RCV clause. As such, you are able to easily farm Machine Zeus barring human error or extremely bad luck in terms of board distribution.

The original Dacho Machine Zeus team was where most of the team building inspiration came from; however, you are able to utilize a wider variety of cards through Reincarnated Ra and if both players have somewhat developed boxes, there is even less burden on the “carry” side.

–video goes here—

—

Machine Zeus is a very challenging dungeon as it has no heart orbs, numerous preemptives, a resolve, skill delays, and a combo shield that requires 8 or more combos to overcome. All of these can be daunting; however, Ra’s kit is well suited to a no RCV dungeon along with almost all the floors being vulnerable to delays.

Thus, the weaker side is able to utilize three Nagas to delay various floors in order to both set up the board and conserve pass turns. Conversely, the carry side is heavily reliant on the correct inherits and Machine Killer awakening to deal sufficient damage. Continue reading Reincarnated Ra Farming Machine Zeus Guide →

Random Thoughts

December 24, 2016 Mantastic 4 Comments

To get everyone into the festive spirit, I have composed several ballads based on popular Christmas songs and gave them a Puzzle and Dragons twist. I do not use autotune and am patiently waiting for my Grammy nomination.

—dashing video—-

Dashing through the dungeon
In a Snowglobe open sleigh
Over the bosses we go
Pew Pew-ing all the way

TPA matches ding
Making damage high
Oh what fun it is to combo in
a PAD wonderland

Hey jingle bells
Shiva smells
Chiyome laid an egg
Yamato lost his sword
and Hino learnt ballet

Oh magic stones
Players moan
with their 3 star eggs
Oh what fun it is to roll
In every godfest now!

A turn or two ago
I thought I’d try to stall
but no hearts did appear
on my little board

The bosses were so mean
And multi hit very hard
but luckily I combo big
and hearts skyfalled in place

Hey magic stones
Red Kali
is so rare to roll
IAP all day now
Just to get Gung-trolled

Hey magic stones
in game gold
doesn’t have much use
sell away your silver eggs
just for monster points!

—-12 day video—-

On the first day of Godfest, GungHo gave to me:

A 3-star Mystic Knight
Two pretty girls
Three plus eggs
Four Sarias
Five Magic stones
Six team slots
Seven Sea Serpents
Eight Best friends
Nine turns of skill bind
Ten-thousand Pal Points
Eleven Gaia Dragons
Twelve latent Tamadras

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with joy and Gold Eggs!

Happy Puzzling!

Random Thoughts

November 14, 2016 Mantastic 17 Comments

As a follow up to my One Shot Challenge 4 Guide, here are my clear videos for Mantastic and hopefully Fantastic (pending recording). Mantastic has to fight Gaia Dragon while Fantastic gets Zeus.

Was a pretty much flawless run and the only real hiccup was when I used DQXQ and failed to produce enough heart orbs.

I used the same core team as I do for farming Arena 3. The only change was adding an enhance component (as there was no inherit there before) to ensure a smoother Gaia Dragon kill. I paired myself with Fantastic to gain access to Wedding Akechi .

Mantastic’s Team
Card	Inherit	Latents	Comments
			Combos with Wedding Akechi
			Protects against skill delays
			Using for recover bind Burst for Gaia
			Combos with Wedding Akechi Using Venus for superior stats
			Stronger base

It makes me sad when the gameplay is slightly choppy as it does make my life a bit harder when matching. Still a Fantastic clear!

His team is still up in the air, but I am fairly certain it will be nearly identical to my Arena 3 team:

Fantastic’s Team
Card	Inherit	Latents	Comments
			Combos with Saria
			May inherit something here
	–		It’s DQXQ
			Skill delay protection
			Venus has a much better body

Heart cross leaders are still the most powerful mechanic in the game and are well equipped to deal with all the mechanics presented in this One Shot Challenge.

Let me know who you used to clear this with and what strategies did you utilize.

Happy Puzzling!

Random Thoughts

October 16, 2016 Mantastic 2 Comments

What is that sound? Na Na Na Na Na Na BatREM! BatREM! The Batman Collab returns to Puzzle and Dragons along with various buffs to some of your favourite characters. In addition, the BatREM introduces the Tamazo X Batman character!

Batman Collab REM Rolls
jjjjjjjjj5-star base formjjjjjjjjj	4-star base form

Batman + S. Gloves Act FB

Physical / Devil
4,103 HP / 1,398 ATK / 52 RCV

Active Skill:
2 turns delay
2 turn bind clear
9 turn Cooldown

Leader Skill:
Light Attribute 3.5x ATK when HP is over 80%

Batman + S Gloves has been upgraded by gaining full bind immunity as well as gaining 2 turns of bind clear alongside his two turns of delay. This provides an interesting combination as it adds an unique dimension to bind clearing options as you now have the potential to delay the boss at the same time. The Devil typing allows Batman + S Gloves to be used on all the top tier dark teams as a valuable utility sub.

One other aspect to keep in mind with Batman + S Gloves is his ability to be used as an assistant via Skill Inheritance. This means you can gain his unique and powerful active on any card you desire. However, one major downside I could foresee with Batman + S Gloves is not having enough turns on his bind removal as many bosses possess stronger binding moves. Continue reading Batman Collab REM Review and Analysis →

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Arena 3 Meridionalis

Inherit

Inherit