I have several friends who don't own this game, but come over to play casually.
So far, we've just been playing my favorite scenarios from various expansions, but I figured it might be interesting to combine some of my favorites into a custom campaign, & paste on some unifying theme:

• Tragedy strikes! After the events of MTS, a group of villains make a concerted assault on Odin's vault & take back the Infinity Gauntlet. However, since these villains do not trust each other, no one was willing to give all the Stones to 1 person. So they decided to give one to each villain to rule in their own area of time & space. Fortunately, you can track each Stones' electomagnetic signature, so you know their locations. You just need to wrest them from the villains who have them.

You can do the following 6 scenarios in any order (*I picked scenarios that I thought my friends would like):

1. Soul: Green Goblin* (or Venom Goblin)
2. Power: Juggernaut* (or Nebula, Ronan)
3. Reality: Zola* (or Red Skull)
4. Mind: Mr. Sinister* with Focusing In as the first Main Scheme 2A (or Stryfe, Mysterio)
5. Space: Hela* (or Magneto, Collector, Mojo Mania, Dark Beast)
6. Time: En Sabah Nur* (or Kang)

If you win the scenario, you keep the Stone.
If you lose the scenario, the Stone will added to the Infinity Gauntlet mod of the final scenario. And if you own a lot of heroes, those heroes are killed & cannot be used again in the campaign.

• Final scenario: Apocalypse*, who backstabbed all of the villains who were still holding Stones. He has the MTS Infinity Gauntlet mod, except that blank cards take the place of any Stones the heroes have (so that if there's only 1 stone, it doesn't trigger every 2 activations).
• So you are incentivized to beat the first 6 scenarios. Otherwise, the final boss could be difficult with a full Infinity Gauntlet.

With my friends I'll probably just do Option 1 below, but I'm thinking about other possible options for when I play solo:
OPTION 1: Keep it simple; just play as stated above.
OPTION 2: Use the appropriate MTS Infinity Gauntlet mod card & use counters to make it trigger about every (P+3) rounds (P = number of players), except for Power Stone, which is used as is.
OPTION 3: Use a custom Infinity Stone mod for 6 villains & their respective mods, which, like the MTS Power Stone mod, can pass back & forth between villain & player. Possibilities:
Soul: All minions (for villain) or allies (for a player) gain Tough.

• Switches to player when they defeat a minion they are engaged with.
• Switches to villain when they defeat an ally of the player with the Stone.

Power: +1 ATK; cannot be stunned (or just use the MTS mod)

• use same requirements as MTS mod

Reality: If villain has it, they get 1 facedown boost card at beginning of villain phase.

• Switches to player when they discard half of their printed hero hand size (rounded up) from hand.
• Switches to villain when the encounter deck runs out.

Mind: +1 SCH/THW; cannot be confused.

• Switches to player when their identity (not allies) thwarts for 4+ from main scheme.
• Switches to villain when they SCH for 4+ against the player with the Stone.

Space: If villain has it, their attacks gain ranged & they allies cannot defend against their attacks. If player has it, their attacks gain ranged & are unaffected by guard.

• Switches to player when they spend a physical + mental + energy resource.
• Switches to villain when the encounter deck runs out.

Time: If villain has it, +1 Acceleration icon per player. If player has it, they may ready their identity after a basic action (once per round).

• Switches to player when they perform no actions during the player phase (skips a turn, in other words).
• Switches to villain when the encounter deck runs out.

OPTION 4: Add a related mod, such as:

1. Soul: Down to Earth
2. Power: Super Strength or Symbiotic Strength
3. Reality: Dystopian Nightmare or Legions of Hel
4. Mind: Personal Nightmare &/or Whispers of Paranoia (or Enchantress until defeated)
5. Space: Add Badoon Headhunter to every future scenario, until they're defeated
6. Time: Add Master of Time or Future Past to every future scenario, until they're defeated

OPTION 5: During setup, put a Mojo Mania Environment in play, such as:

1. Soul: Fantasy
2. Power: Horror
3. Reality: Sitcom
4. Mind: Crime
5. Space: Sci-Fi (or Blue Moon from Dark Beast)
6. Time: Western (or Savage Land from Dark Beast)

OPTION 6: Use the GMW Market to get cards. To unlock the Market, you must either have a Guardian hero, or the Space Stone, or have won a Mojo Mania scenario (so maybe this campaign has 8 scenarios).
I just started thinking about this, so I'm open to any comments or feedback (especially Option 3, since I haven't playtested anything yet).

Hey, there!
I have been playing Pogo on and off since 2016. I genuinely don't know what to do about this situation I am in -- there is a local here that owns between 6-12 accounts that completely dominates the area and, somehow, knows exactly when I take over a gym with one person in an unrelated faction (like Instinct). I can't walk anywhere within 40 minutes that they do not dominate. I have sent in support messages to Niantic now 6x, but nothing has happened. It's impossible to participate in Pokemon Go's remote raids because I need to drive over to entirely different towns to, possibly, get into a gym for coins.
I play with my mom as to bond with her, but I don't know what to do anymore. They take over within 5-10 minutes, even when their own guys aren't in there. This happens every single time regardless of time of day and team/users we knocked out of gyms (we wait for somebody to be in a gym for 8hrs before knocking). They only do it to us, too, as we sat there feeding our pokemon berries when they just so happened to be attacking our gym until we realized that they use over 5 accounts and there's no point in trying when they're gonna relentlessly spam our local gyms then take up every slot. We don't knock them out anymore because they are farming pokecoins whenever we knock them out, but there's no point when we are going to have to do it repeatedly and have far fewer resources, given that we don't have 6-12 accounts. Every account is well over 40.
They used to only use 6, but another 6 with near identical characters all sprouted up in one day and occupy the exact same gyms. It seems like the user bought 6 accounts to force us out.
I am at a loss and looking for advice that doesn't end in me spending money to use a team medallion to join them when they'll just buy blue or yellow to repeat the process anyhow.

Heya, so lately I've had a lot of time on my hands and wouldn't mind making some new friends to fill in the the free time I have. If you just wanna have a quick chat I don't mind either.
Recently I've been skateboarding a lot but I'm super new to it, I barely can do anything except just just kick and push. I'm also big into photography, I've been a lil busy lately with some photoshoots but id love to talk to other photographers. I'm also huge into gaming, basketball and working out, I workout frequently and have around over 500+ games on my ps5 and open to play with anyone. I do mostly play shooters, but I'm also a big outlast trials guy.
I could yap more im sure but if you're interested in talking just pm me

Computer Type: Desktop
GPU: XFX rx580 8GB
CPU: RYZEN 5 2600 6 CORE 12 THREADS
Motherboard: MSI A320m
RAM: 16x2 ddr4 hyperX 3200mhz
PSU: Cougar CMX 700w semi modular
Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 10
Description of Original Problem: i just played some rust the other night and turned off the pc normally. When I woke up to hopefully play, i wouldn't get any display. There are no monitor keyboard and mouse post. Until now my pc won't boot up even in the bios.
Troubleshooting: I've tried reseating my ram, gpu, cpu all of the connection. I tried using 1 ram at a time while changing ram slots. I have also tried the cmos battery where you remove the battery for 5 to 10 mins and press power button for 30 secs. I have also tried removing the graphics card and long and behold. My keyboard and mouse now lights up bit still no monitor display as I don't have any integrated graphics card. I thought my graphics card is the problem so i tried reheating my graphics card with hairdryer with no avail. I have also tried putting another Graphics (gtx 550 ti) card and still no output. No monitor, mouse and keyboard post. Idk what else to do i need help

Yankees @ Giants - Sat, Jun 01

Game Status: Game Over - Score: 7-3 Yankees

Links & Info

• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

	Yankees Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Volpe - SS	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	.282	.351	.433
2	Soto, J - RF	3	1	2	1	0	1	0	.316	.414	.588
3	Judge - CF	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	.282	.410	.657
4	Verdugo - LF	4	1	2	2	0	1	0	.261	.322	.440
5	Stanton - DH	4	1	2	2	0	0	2	.231	.279	.487
6	Rizzo - 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.245	.307	.368
7	Torres - 2B	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.229	.309	.326
8	Wells, A - C	4	0	0	0	0	3	1	.196	.282	.294
9	LeMahieu - 3B	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	.231	.375	.231
	Totals	34	7	11	7	1	9	6

Yankees
BATTING: 2B: Volpe (10, Webb). 3B: Soto, J (3, Webb); Verdugo (1, Walker, R). HR: Judge (21, 1st inning off Webb, 1 on, 1 out); Stanton (14, 8th inning off Walker, R, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Judge 5; LeMahieu; Soto, J 4; Stanton 5; Torres; Verdugo 4; Volpe 2. RBI: Judge 2 (47); Soto, J (50); Stanton 2 (31); Verdugo 2 (31). 2-out RBI: Stanton 2; Verdugo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Judge. SF: Soto, J. GIDP: LeMahieu; Rizzo; Stanton. Team RISP: 2-for-4. Team LOB: 2.
FIELDING: E: Volpe (7, throw).

	Giants Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Matos - CF	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.218	.244	.333
2	Flores - 1B	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.213	.278	.291
3	Bailey - C	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.298	.354	.465
4	Chapman, M - 3B	3	0	0	0	1	3	0	.234	.306	.405
5	Yastrzemski - RF	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.215	.282	.376
6	Ramos - LF	4	1	1	0	0	3	2	.278	.352	.405
7	Brooks - DH	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	.167	.375	.167
	a-Soler - DH	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.202	.284	.357
8	Schmitt - SS	4	1	2	2	0	0	3	.192	.192	.346
9	Wisely - 2B	3	0	1	1	0	0	2	.355	.344	.484
	Totals	32	3	5	3	3	12	11

Giants
a-Grounded into a forceout for Brooks in the 7th.
BATTING: 2B: Soler (8, Holmes). HR: Schmitt (1, 3rd inning off Poteet, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Ramos; Schmitt 5; Soler 2; Wisely. RBI: Schmitt 2 (3); Wisely (7). 2-out RBI: Wisely. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Wisely; Schmitt 2. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 5.
FIELDING: DP: 3 (Schmitt-Flores; Wisely-Schmitt-Flores; Schmitt-Wisely-Flores).

Yankees Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Poteet (W, 2-0)	5.0	3	3	2	1	6	1	78-47	2.45
Hamilton, I (H, 7)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	14-9	2.96
Ferguson (H, 9)	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	18-10	5.30
Kahnle	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	13-9	0.00
Holmes	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	20-15	1.42
Totals	9.0	5	3	2	3	12	1

Giants Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Webb (L, 4-5)	7.0	7	4	4	1	6	1	108-74	2.95
Walker, R	1.0	3	3	3	0	2	1	19-16	3.00
Rodríguez, R	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	9-8	2.60
Totals	9.0	11	7	7	1	9	2

Game Info
IBB: Judge (by Webb).
Pitches-strikes: Poteet 78-47; Hamilton, I 14-9; Ferguson 18-10; Kahnle 13-9; Holmes 20-15; Webb 108-74; Walker, R 19-16; Rodríguez, R 9-8.
Groundouts-flyouts: Poteet 3-3; Hamilton, I 1-0; Ferguson 1-1; Kahnle 0-1; Holmes 1-1; Webb 8-5; Walker, R 0-0; Rodríguez, R 1-0.
Batters faced: Poteet 19; Hamilton, I 3; Ferguson 5; Kahnle 3; Holmes 5; Webb 27; Walker, R 6; Rodríguez, R 3.
Umpires: HP: Nick Mahrley. 1B: Jonathan Parra. 2B: Hunter Wendelstedt. 3B: Marvin Hudson.
Weather: 64 degrees, Partly Cloudy.
Wind: 18 mph, Varies.
First pitch: 7:06 PM.
T: 2:22.
Att: 34,487.
Venue: Oracle Park.
June 1, 2024

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Top 1	Aaron Judge homers (21) on a fly ball to left center field. Juan Soto scores.	2-0 NYY
Top 3	Juan Soto out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Heliot Ramos. DJ LeMahieu scores. Anthony Volpe to 3rd.	3-0 NYY
Top 3	Alex Verdugo singles on a ground ball to left fielder Heliot Ramos. Anthony Volpe scores. Aaron Judge to 2nd.	4-0 NYY
Bottom 3	Casey Schmitt homers (1) on a fly ball to left center field. Trenton Brooks scores.	4-2 NYY
Bottom 5	Brett Wisely singles on a ground ball to right fielder Juan Soto. Heliot Ramos scores.	4-3 NYY
Top 8	Alex Verdugo triples (1) on a sharp fly ball to right fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Aaron Judge scores.	5-3 NYY
Top 8	Giancarlo Stanton homers (14) on a fly ball to left field. Alex Verdugo scores.	7-3 NYY

Team	Highlight
NYY	Aaron Judge's two-run home run (21) (00:00:29)
NYY	Aaron Judge crushes a 464-foot home run (00:00:44)
SF	Brett Wisely's RBI single (00:00:23)
SF	Field View: Casey Schmitt's two-run home run (00:00:32)
NYY	Yankees broadcast discusses RZA (00:03:57)
SF	Heliot Ramos tags successfully after review (00:00:45)
NYY	Cody Poteet's solid outing (00:00:23)
NYY	Alex Verdugo's RBI triple (00:00:31)
NYY	Giancarlo Stanton's two-run home run (14) (00:00:27)
SF	Logan Webb fans six (00:00:27)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Yankees	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	0		7	11	1	2
Giants	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0		3	5	0	5

Decisions

• Winner: Cody Poteet (2-0, 2.45)
• Loser: Logan Webb (4-5, 2.95)

Division Scoreboard

PIT 8 @ TOR 1 - Final
TB 5 @ BAL 9 - Final
DET 3 @ BOS 6 - Final
Next Yankees Game: Sun, Jun 02, 04:05 PM EDT @ Giants
^{Posted: 06/02/2024 12:29:36 AM EDT}

Platinum End Theory: Who Is God And Those Mysterious Beings In The Finale Explained
Original link- https://reddit.com/platinumend/comments/sdw2rc/deleted_by_use
Repost cause the original was deleted. I'm not OP. OP is https://www.reddit.com/usemuphenz
Thanks https://www.reddit.com/usecompletelylostcase for the Pastebin link. https://pastebin.com/A8K4bJiD
DISCLAIMER: This theory will go over the entire story of Platinum End, so obvious spoilers ahead. Just a heads up, this theory is posted at the time that only a few episodes of the anime have been released. Depending on how much the anime stays like the manga, details may end up changing. Therefore, the entire theory will be based solely on the manga. I will also leave snippets of the manga with the highlighted text to support my claim. Please be sure to read those as it will help this theory make sense. This theory is completely my own original thoughts. If anyone shares this, please be sure to credit me, Muphenz. Thanks!Hello, my fellow Platinum End fans! If you’re like me, the ending completely caught me off guard and left my head-scratching. Do not worry! I’ve overanalyzed everything and made a theory to possibly explain who god and those beings at the end of the story are, so you don’t have to. Those beings at the end of the manga, chapter 58, are drum roll…humans of the future who have achieved many scientific advancements who existed well before the story of Platinum End takes place and are simulating their own world with fake humans, fake angels, and a fake god. Why are the real humans running this simulation? Simply put, they’re suicidal and no amount of therapy is going to help with that. Why are they wanting to die? In the future, it is predicted by Gaku Yoneda that within 500 years, humans will achieve immortality. Once they achieve immortality, they will eventually master time and space and will be able to do things like teleport, time travel, see the future, etc. And once humans achieve immortality and are able to know all of the future, they will discover that the future cannot be changed according to Dr. Yoneda. Just like Dr. Yoneda’s prediction, the real humans are wanting to die which is why it’s stated by one of the real humans how annoying it is that there is no death. Whatever the process was that made the real humans immortal, it seems that it cannot be reversed to restore one’s mortality. Although it’s not stated how humans will achieve immortality and allow them to control time and space, this will somehow cause humanity’s apocalypse as well, destroying the original Earth. What makes these creatures more human-like than god-like is that they admit they were born on another planet, most likely the original Earth. They are also aware that they too were created by something that is above them. How do we know Dr. Yoneda’s predictions are right? It was stated by Shuji Nakaumi that his past predictions came true. One thing to understand about science is that it’s extremely good at accurately predicting things. Example 1: With Issac Newton’s law of motion, scientists can predict the position of an object at any specific time, past, present, or future. Example 2: In the 1840s, Fitzner astronomer Urbain Le Verrier was analyzing the orbit pathway of Mercury and found that it is changing very slowly over time. With technology limited at that time, it was hard to provide proof. In 1915, the famous German physicist, Albert Einstein was able to calculate the influence of the curved space in Mercury’s orbit. That is 75 years later that science proved its prediction was right. Although science cannot tell future events like a psychic will attempt to, I believe this is what the author was using to help advance the plot for the ending. The real humans already know the future and they’re aware that no matter what they try, death is not a part of that. If they cannot do it, someone else can. That is when these simulations come in. The real humans will create simulated humans. In one of the simulations, the story of Platinum End takes place. This would not be on a computer. This process would involve terraforming an entire planet to support carbon-based life. The planet that the simulated humans live on will be similar to the original Earth as well as the history and advancement of science will be similar to the real humans. As the simulated human’s society progresses, like in Platinum End, they would eventually learn how to become immortal and learn how to control space-time which would lead to them wanting to die just like the real humans. But unlike the real humans, the simulated ones may actually achieve a way to kill themselves once they obtain immortality that the real humans could use. But as we already know stated by the real humans, this specific simulation was a failure. Nothing was created that was capable of killing them. Thus, the real humans will move on to a new simulation. Pay very special attention to this picture. Notice right after all of the humans disappear when the fake god kills himself, the buildings are slowly crumbling away since no one is here to maintain them. According to World Building, it would take an average of 250 years for a building to start to break apart since materials like wood and plastic would be destroyed by the environment if not maintained. Metal would be expanding and no longer able to keep the building's structure in place. This would cause things like windows to fall off and shatter. So after a few hundred years, the real humans return to the planet after the simulated humans disappeared due to the fake god’s suicide. It’s possible that during this time they’re running other simulations on other planets and returned when this simulation was completed. Since the real humans have achieved master over space-time, teleporting to anywhere in the universe would not be out of the question. Since they cannot die, the amount of time it would take for the real humans to travel anywhere in the universe is irrelevant as well. Even though Gaku Yoneda’s predictions about the simulated humanity’s end were wrong, he was technically right. It did come true for the real humans. If Shuji Nakaumi, as the fake god, did not kill himself and wipe out all of the fake humans, they would of most likely learned how to cheat death and to control space-time in the future. Gaku was wrong about the fake god being a product of human belief in order to live. He even admits that the composition of the fake god was wrong. If the fake god required human belief to live, then Shuji would not have erased the memories of those who were not god candidates as it would have affected the fake god's existence if fewer people believed in him. There is one thing that begs the question. Why is a fake god needed to run these simulations? Why do the simulated humans have souls? Why not just create the simulated humans and leave them to figure out how to create an immortal killing machine without the process of a false god? This is because God and souls are actually real and are necessary for life to exist. To clarify, the “God” that Shuji Nakaumi was transmuted into is not the true God that I’m referring to. I’m referring to the first cause of everything, a self-aware creator, a deistic God who existed before time and space who created the universe and does not intervene in its creation. This means no miracles, prophecy, answering prayers, divine revelation, etc. Everything in the universe is governed by physics and these laws cannot be broken. The real humans who are running the simulations are aware that they are a creation made from a creator. However, since a deistic God does not interfere in the universe, the real humans cannot know of him, at least while they are still alive. Considering the real humans can control space-time, I can say for certain at one point, at least one person went to the very beginning of time and saw something that would be evidence of an intelligent designer creating the universe. When the real humans are conversing with each other at the finale, one human suggests identifying what created them and the second one replies that seeking their creator will be a waste of time. If a deistic God won’t intervene in its creation, the real humans would be wasting time by attempting to contact him. Even though they can control space-time, if the creator exists outside of reality, they would not be able to reach this entity. Focusing on figuring out who created them means that time is wasted if they're not figuring out how to die which is why it would take them further away from death. Just as the simulated humans have souls, the real humans also have souls. At some point, the real humans discovered the soul. They are aware that this is needed for life to be sentient. The discovery of the soul could have played a key part in the real humans achieving immortality. The fake god is engineered by the real humans to create souls so that life can be sentient, mimic the universe's deistic God by allowing the simulation to run with no interference, and act as a mod to keep an eye on life with the red and white arrows. The celestial realm was created so the fake god would not be a part of the simulated world. Even though time moves differently in the celestial realm, it is the closest thing that the real humans can engineer to simulate a deist God that is separated from its creation. This fake god does not have the powers of a supreme being. The fake god does not know everything, is not everywhere at once, and does not display any sort of omnipotent ability. There is a lot of things that the fake god admits to not knowing, such as who created him, why are souls preserved, and how long does the merging process take. Although we do see the fake god have the ability to observe humanity, I would say that this is the equivalent of having admin privileges to watch humanity live-streamed on YouTube. The fake god is aware that he is created by someone. The fake god noticed that there are things that had already been created that he was not a part of just by observing everything in the universe. Although he seems to not understand what created him. He even acknowledges the idea that humanity could have created him. All the simulated souls come from the fake god. This is done through a process of emanation, which means to flow from. In the Abrahamic religions, specifically Gnosticism, Jewish Mysticism, and certain sectors of Protestantism, instead of your typical creator being separate from its creation, everything is a spontaneous outflow from God. As pieces of God emanate from him, it becomes less divine, but these pieces will eventually become an individual soul that forms into human spirits, angels, demons, as well as other things that come into reality such as heaven, hell, and the world of the living. Eventually, everything that came from God, will return back to the creator. (If you’re still confused on what emanation is, I would do more research before continuing to read as this will play a key role in understanding who the fake god is.) Emanation is how the fake god created the simulated human and their soul, the fake angels, and the celestial realm. The fake god took a piece of himself and used it to create life. Since everything emanates from the fake god is connected to him, as he is dying, most of the angels are dying too. Due to this connection, when the fake god killed himself, everything that was tied to the fake god disappeared. But because the creation of the fake god is not connected to the physical world, the planet and everything that is not life remained on it. When the simulated human beings die, the soul goes to the celestial realm. This is the returning aspect of emanation. The souls that came from the fake god are returning back to him. You always see all angels, regardless of rank, having the task of carrying the souls to the celestial realm. It seems that the main purpose of the angels is to help with the return part of the emanation process. The more that the emanence is divided, the less divine it becomes. This is why the fake humans are considered sub-celestial in the hierarchy. It appears that there is a certain order to the flow of emanation. The newest creations emanate from the fake god. Kids will be the first in the line for the emanate process and their parents will be behind them. This is why when the fake god committed suicide, the kids were the first ones to disappear, then the adults. All things that emanate from the fake god are returning to the original source in reverse order when the fake god takes his own life. When the fake god merges with a human, this appears to go against the set pattern of the emanation process by breaking the order in which the emanence flows. This is why when Shuji merged with the fake god, it felt like there was something foreign in the fake god's body similar to how an infected person's body acts when the immune system detects foreign bacteria or a virus. The only way to get around it is by the fake god merging with a simulated human and having the fake god take over the new body when the fusion is completedIt is stated by the fake god that it is nothing more than humanity's assumption that God cannot die. This may be true for the deistic God, but not for a fake god. It is already known that the real humans achieved immortality. Although the fake god could have been engineered to be immortal, that would just create another being who would eventually want to die. The fake god was designed to live a long life, compared to humans, that could be extended through the process of merging with one of its emanated counterparts until the simulation was completed. This has been done throughout time in the form of the god choosing process. The fake god confirmed to Shuji that his purpose was to create life. Professor Yoneda confirmed that the fake god was created by human imagination and that its purpose was to end life.On the surface, this may seem like a contradiction. But both of them are right. The fake god’s purpose was to create the simulated humans. God is metaphorically a creation of human imagination. It was not by the simulated human’s imagination as stated by Yoneda, but it was designed and engineered by the minds of the real humans. Since the purpose of the simulation is for the fake humans to achieve immortality and figure out how to reverse it, you can say that the fake god is a part of that process of killing humanity. Right as all of the humans are disappearing, Dr. Yoneda realizes that the composition that makes up the creature is based on a science that the simulated humans have not discovered yet. The composition of the fake god is Aether. In medieval times, a common study among scholars is alchemy, which can be best described as the forerunner for modern-day chemistry mixed with the pseudoscience of metaphysics. According to Charles Gillispie, a historian at Princeton University, in his book, The Edge of Objectivity, An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas, Aether is the fifth element, along with earth, wind, fire, and water, that are the basic building blocks of the universe. During medieval times, Aether is the substance that is believed to connect the physical world to the spiritual one. It was even a common belief that the Abrahamic God was surrounded by Aether and that all of the angels, demons, and souls that dwelled in the afterlife breathed it in as humans breathed in the air. According to Jakob Bernoulli, a mathematician from the 1600s, believed that Aether is what allowed souls to interact with their human bodies. All of these characteristics of Aether match the composition of the fake god. Aether is what allows life to become sentient, connecting all of the simulated humans back to the fake god from the physical world to the celestial realm. It seems at some point, the real humans discover this element. This discovery most likely led to the discovery of the soul. Using this element, the real humans used Aether to construct the fake god needed for the simulations. Everything that is a part of the simulation, the fake god, angels, the soul, the arrows, is made up of this element. The red arrow is what allows the god candidates to make other humans fall in love with them so much that the person who is under the influence of the arrow will do literally anything the person who is in control wants, even die for them. The white arrow has the ability to kill any life while all inanimate objects are unaffected. These were limits placed on the arrows by the fake god. According to Ogaro, the fake god can use the full power of the arrows at will. The red arrow is more than just making someone fall in love. The arrow does this by taking away their free will. The god candidates were limited to using the arrow on 14 people at once for a period of up to 33 days. With the fake god able to use the full power of the red arrow, he can enslave any or all simulated humans with a snap of his finger for as long as he desired. The red arrow also played a role in creating the first simulated life as well. The fake god stated that if life was left alone, it would multiply. The desire of falling in love and wanting to procreate was implanted by the red arrow when life was created. The white arrow is the opposite of the red arrow. This arrow can kill life instantly. The limit that was placed on this arrow is that only one white arrow can be shot at a time. Just like the red arrow, this arrow has a maximum range of 31.6 meters. When cycling the white arrow, there is a cool down period of 0.3 seconds. If these limiters are removed, the fake god can kill all humans with the white arrows with virtually no limit on distance, any number of arrows can be used simultaneously, and there would be no mandatory cool down period.The creation of the simulated humans involves two key ingredients. The first is the soul which comes from the fake god. The second is a physical body for the soul to be attached to. The real humans asked if it was worth planting another seed and another god as those are two separate things.The making of another god is obviously the fake god. But what is the seed? The seed is what makes the physical embodiment of all plants and animals that all emanence is attached to. I.E., souls attached to bodies. According to the fake god, before he created life on the fake Earth, there was some sort of micro-organism.This seed would be that micro-organism, specifically carbon-based bacteria that is capable of evolution. Around 3 billion years ago, the first life on Earth was bacteria. There are two types of bacteria, a classification of anaerobic bacteria that ate other organic compounds and simple sugars to survive. The other kind is autotrophs bacteria which is capable of self-feeding. Anaerobic bacteria would evolve into modern-day animals. Autotroph bacteria would evolve into modern-day plants that still have the ability to self-feed through a process of photosynthesis. It is possible to send bacteria through space. According to a 2020 study published in the Journal of Frontiers in Microbiology, bacteria were able to survive in space for three years. If the real humans were able to transport the seed through space in less than 3 years, it could easily survive. Considering they achieved immortality, it is within reason to think this would be a piece of cake for them. At some point, part of the anaerobic bacteria would come in contact with the fake god, who was on the fake Earth at that time to make life, recognized the fake god as food, and attempted to feed off of him to survive. The bacteria that fed off the fake god would eventually evolve into Nasse. The bacteria that did not feed off of the fake god would evolve into more complex forms of life on the fake Earth. Since Nasse was accidentally created from this event, it most likely means that she is the first angel that the fake god created. This means that she could serve as inspiration for the fake god to create angels for the celestial realm. The angels don't seem to share any ability to reproduce with each other. There is never any mention of any family heritage. It means that all of the angels were created around the same time. Since Nasse is the only angel that came from the seed/bacteria, her biological makeup differs from all the other angels. While the majority of her is angel, part of the genetic makeup is similar to carbon-based life. Although I would not say Nasse is an angel-human hybrid, she could be considered a type of Nephilim. Due to this biological difference, Nasse is the only angel that can interfere in both the physical world and the celestial realm. Much research has shown that facial expressions are innate among all animals, not just humans. The same animals that display facial expressions when expressing emotions, lying, determination, etc. use similar muscles in the face as humans do. For example, a Psychologist, Paul Ekman, studied facial expression from hours of film and ventured on to multiple isolated tribes who have very little contact with modern society. He showed them pictures of facial expressions and asked them to interpret them. These people were able to match facial expressions and their meaning with high accuracy. This is one of the many studies that show facial expressions are genetic. Even though Nasse is single-minded, she is able to understand facial expressions due to her biological relationship with the simulated life on the fake Earth. But hey, this is just a theory."

Postgame Thread 6/2/2024

Final Score: Yankees 7, Giants 3
Purpose of this thread

• Discuss developing baseball action LIVE
  
• Discuss the Giants game
  
• Post hilarious memes / images / gifs / information that may not deserve a front-page post of its own. If it's big news, feel free to do both! This, and the gameday thread, are good places to post your Dodger jokes and memes.
  
• Discuss ANYTHING as long as it follows the rules of conduct.
  

Highlights

Description	Length
Logan Webb against the Yankees	0:07
Bullpen availability for San Francisco, June 1 vs Yankees	0:07
Bullpen availability for New York, June 1 vs Giants	0:07
Bench availability for San Francisco, June 1 vs Yankees	0:07
Fielding alignment for San Francisco, June 1 vs Yankees	0:11
Bench availability for New York, June 1 vs Giants	0:07
Fielding alignment for New York, June 1 vs Giants	0:11
Starting lineups for Yankees at Giants - June 1, 2024	0:09
Breaking down Aaron Judge's home run	0:13
Visualizing Aaron Judge's swing using bat tracking technology	0:11
Casey Schmitt: Home Run Statcast Analysis	0:13
Casey Schmitt's home run through bat tracking data	0:11
Breaking down Cody Poteet's pitches	0:04
Cody Poteet's outing against the Giants	0:23
Logan Webb's outing against the Yankees	0:22
A deep dive into Giancarlo Stanton's home run	0:11
Giancarlo Stanton: Home Run Statcast Analysis	0:13
Breaking down Logan Webb's pitches	0:04
Juan Soto's 1st inning single	0:17
Aaron Judge's two-run home run (21)	0:29
Cody Poteet ends the 1st inning with a K	0:06
Logan Webb strikes out Austin Wells	0:06
Data Viz: Aaron Judge's two-run home run	0:30
Field View: Aaron Judge's two-run home run	0:40
Anthony Rizzo's diving play	0:12
Juan Soto's sacrifice fly	0:31
Alex Verdugo's RBI single	0:20
Casey Schmitt's two-run home run (1)	0:23
Juan Soto's triple	0:21
Aaron Judge crushes a 464-foot home run	0:44
Brett Wisely's RBI single	0:23
Field View: Casey Schmitt's two-run home run	0:32
Yankees broadcast discusses RZA	3:57
Heliot Ramos tags successfully after review	0:45
Cody Poteet's solid outing	0:23
Alex Verdugo's RBI triple	0:31
Giancarlo Stanton's two-run home run (14)	0:27
Logan Webb fans six	0:27

Nominate your Player of the Game (POTG). Upvote your choice if it's posted, or add your own!
For more off-topic fun, check out /SFGSocial!

Hey hey everyone I'm looking for a D&D group for Tuesday, Wednesday or Sunday. Do to those days are the only time I'm free. My schedule only really allows me to play after 5 CST except on Sunday that being able to play any time. I tend to be a vary flexable player and able to make a character for different worlds and settings and always able to fill in any missing spots so if your looking for a ln easy going guy who can fit any role im here!

Everyone places the onus on the Rory and Mal departure, or on saying that Ice and Ish aren’t as entertaining, but that’s not really it. We are 700 plus episodes deep. The “prime” episodes were actually just the first time Joe and Co. got into a groove and started telling their personal stories. Truth is It’s been years of 2-3 hour podcasts, all the stories have been told, all the crazy moments have been had. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t have close to 3k hours of entertainment from the guys. You can’t expect the same impact you felt when you first started listening and everything was fresh. Add to this the fact Joe started easing up when money finally came into play (don’t blame him, why fuck up the money to entertain a bunch of strangers who won’t pay your bills) and you have a recipe for less “entertaining” pods. I’m ok with it calming down, I’ve gotten older with the pod and I’d be pretty tired of r&m at this point, especially when the energy they gave looks just like what their pod is giving (happy they’re doing well, they did deserve better than the shitshow that was the breakup, but they never were the driving force of the pod). If yall disagree, idc but feel free to share your opinion, as it’s all subjective anyway

Was playing American Stacks on Chumba earlier today and I normally do $1 spins with some $2 spins mixed in on that game, but I was on full tilt and was doing $5 spins. Hit a bonus early on and only won like $45 out of 15 free spins. Just brushed it off and kept playing. Hit another bonus on my $5 bets like 10 spins later. I fucking retriggered TWICE for a total of 45 free spins. Not once did I get any of the screaming eagle wilds added and only got one chance on a progressive spin. It was the snakes for the mini and of course did not land any addition snakes.
45 spins later and I ended up with $55. Pretty sure more than half of that was just from triggering the bonuses. Ended up losing the rest on goblin grand chasing that massive grand price. That’s probably why no one is winning in Chumba anymore, they have had several grand jackpots over a million dollars lately. I mean hell, the Major jackpot on goblin grand was at $40k this morning. No one is winning these things and I routinely see them get higher and higher now.

I will be visiting Ujjain & Indore from 14 to 17, June. Will be coming on the 14th night from Delhi by my own car and will depart around the afternoon on the 17th. So want some suggestions on how should I plan my itinerary. Should I visit Ujjain first or Indore? Also, what are some natural sightseeing options available near Indore during this time? (I know this is summertime, but being in the education sector summers are the only times when we are free to explore).
How can I get a pass for Bhasam Aarti? Tried online but the booking was over within a few minutes.
One of our friend has to perform some puja in Ujjain for some dosha.
So, Kindly provide some suggestion how should I play my itinerary and what are the some must visit places.

2.206 may go down in history as the worst and most useless game update Geometry Dash has ever received. Music was the #1 focus of this entire update and it's not even close to a required aspect of the game, in fact I'm a top 200 player and don't play with music 99% of the time. The original 2.2 update introduced game breaking features to the physics that broke hundreds of levels and also a dysfunctional daily recompletion system, neither of which were touched in 2.206 and the integrity of the game is still pathetically awful.
Literally nothing about the actual game was improved in 2.206, I've yet to experience a single positive aspect of the update for myself but I'm experiencing PLENTY of negative side effects such as random new screen tearing and excessive lagging on even the simplest levels, both happened after no settings changes. The game seems to be using less resources and is lagging way more which is just ridiculous, it's like it wasn't even tested before RobTop pressed release on the most pathetic update in any video game.
What the fuck is even the point of releasing such an awful update that you KNOW is gonna get complaints from the actual good and experienced players of the game?? Not everyone is a fucking stupid NPC who only plays GD for music and thinks its a rhythm game, grow the fuck up RobTop and learn the things that are actually important about your game.
Not to mention that geode mods don't work anymore which I'm sure everyone is complaining about, my main questions would be if it's possible to overclock GD's ability to use resources in order to reduce 2.206 lag and also when do proper replayable dailies and weeklies plan to be released because the game literally has no leaderboard integrity until those are fixed?? Also if a 2.206 version of geode is released then feel free to post it in the comments.

I thought I was about to double my bank slots or something. What is the point? Why is it 100M? Make it make sense, I'm about to have burnout on this game because I just wasted my entire cash stack I saved up for so many days.
I'm only like 2 or 3 weeks into playing this game and I want to give up now, help me change my mind and see the silver lining somewhere

Swiatek vs Potapova :

Swiatek had to have been happy with her third round matchup after waking up from the nightmare that Naomi Osaka presented. She made quick work of Bouzkova, who was outmatched in every department. Bouzkova did manage to battle back in the first and make the set close, and she served surprisingly well, but she just doesn’t hit hard enough to beat Swiatek. It was one of those matches where Swiatek looks a bit impatient because she’s supplying all the offense, and it seems like when it takes 3-4 shots to get an opportunity to hit a winner, she tries to just infuse extra pace or spin instead and unforced errors appear. Trying to make the ball explode doesn’t really work, and extra force applied tends to fall short when compared to smooth technique. I watched Rune and Zverev have similar trouble today against their opponents. Players wind up pushing because they hit bigger than their opponent, but don’t want to make errors. It’s accuracy that’s missing, and it’s something for Swiatek to work on in the off-season. I would say that accuracy is the main problem with her serve as well. It has plenty of pace and spin, but the ball lands towards the center of the box way too often. Less pace, and more location will go a long way.
If it feels like I’m levying criticism today, yes. Your turn, Potapova and Wang. Potapova was down 5-0 in the first set, and won 7 games in a row. Wang has a tendency to just go big on her forehand, and she doesn’t stop when she misses. Potapova was an uphill battle, but Wang doesn’t actually need to hit clean winners to score. Her forehand is one of the biggest in the game, and once she locks into a cross-court rally she usually can win provided the ball lands inside the court. Landing the ball inside the court proved difficult, and it felt a bit like watching Struff. All the ability in the world but a sense of urgency that doesn’t really match the moment. Yes you want to stay aggressive, but the weight of shot buys you time in the rally, you don’t need to escape a rally you’re in control of.
Potapova wound up losing the second, and down a break in the third. She dug in admirably, but there were some really poor decisions late in the match. After getting to triple break point by rallying with Wang and keeping the ball deep until Wang missed, she got a simple backhand return off a serve. She went for a clean winner down the line for some reason, and then suddenly the next point mattered. She lost it, and suddenly the “oh F I had it and now it’s gone” fears rose. The game ended up at duece, and she went to tactic B : screaming on every shot. You can’t scream your opponent off the court, so this didn’t really work. In the end, Wang coughed up errors and Potapova won, but it was a match that was managed poorly by both. Potapova was very reactive to misses and makes, which is fine but wastes a bunch of energy and tends to affect your decisionmaking in a readable way. You want to maintain some mystery, and at a minimum not give your opponent any inspiration or hope to work off of while you’re out there.
Swiatek Potapova should be another safe match for Swiatek, but Potapova has good power off both wings and she hits her backhand down the line decent. Swiatek will need more than she brought against Bouzkova, and chances are this won’t be a blowout. Potapova won their last meeting 6-0 in the third on clay, but it was in 2016 at the juniors. Swiatek in 2.

Danilovic vs Vondrousova :

Olga Danilovic has made the 4th round of a major. This changes her career in a major way. Tons of points, at least $250k, and a chance to win more. It’s even sweeter I would imagine because she probably shouldn’t be there. Her match against Donna Vekic was filled with many fumbles. Both players have enough power to hit past the other. Vekic was able to hit inside out forehands to great effect. Danilovic’s pendulum swing on her backhand was able to force errors from Vekic quite often. Her forehand down the line was almost a clean winner anytime she made it. In between all that though, they missed constantly.
The first set was a 6-0 beatdown from Vekic. She played excellent, and likely should have won the second. In the third, she went up a quick break. She gave that back, but broke to serve for the match. Immediately, she threw in a handful of forced dropshots and errors. Luckily, she broke again to serve for the match at 6-5. This gave her the opportunity to come up with a few more bailout dropshots and errors. If you watch highlights, this was an incredible match. If you watched the match, you saw two players whose games were affected by the situation. Vekic forced the issue and missed anytime she got control of the scoreboard, and Danilovic went through bouts of not missing at all followed by sending every ball wide. The tiebreaker was vaguely like watching a junior match. Every miss brought a huge reaction from the player. There were constant gestures and faces made to their boxes, and it was a little difficult to watch two great players struggle to focus and execute. Vekic managed to go up again 6-2 in the tiebreaker, but froze at that point and began hitting most of her shots long. She had trouble serving first serves in for the second half of the entire third set, but she really was unable to respond defensively once Danilovic got a full swing in.
After watching Danilovic down Collins and sort of defeat Vekic, it’s hard to count her out against Vondrousova. Marketa is a clear favorite against most players on clay, but the scorelines of her matches can be hard to predict. Against Paquet she was up a set and cruising up a double break in the second, and wound up back on serve. She closed out, but Vondrousova doesn’t hit that big and mostly thrives by defending and earning errors, so Danilovic will be able to compete. They played in the BJK cup and Vondrousova won in 3, and I’m guessing slower clay will give Vondrousova more of an edge. Vekic’s lack of speed really hurt her, and I think Vondrousova being able to put extra ball consistently in play will make Danilovic’s rough patches more of an issue. The emotional and physical output of Danilovic over the last few rounds has to take a toll, and I think she’ll fall a game or two short here. Vondrousova in 3.

Gauff vs Cocciaretto :

This is an excellent draw for Gauff so far. She’s playing great players, but stylistically they’re not a lot of trouble for her. This round is another good spot. Elisabetta Cocciaretto is a good server and has nice power, but she’s not the fastest around the court and she can make some unforced errors if she’s rushed. This means Gauff’s defense and power give her a great shot to win without trouble. Cocciaretto beating Samsonova was a surprise to me, but Samsonova doesn’t have the speed that Gauff does nor the consistency. This is a criminally short analysis but Gauff in 2.

Tauson vs Jabeur :

Great champions are able to elevate their games. This round, Ons will need to elevate hers. Clara Tauson is playing some great tennis, and coming into this match hers is the higher level. Jabeur was projected to have trouble against Fernandez and she did. It was another match where I felt like a good coach could have gotten their player across the finish line. Fernandez didn’t have a great chance in the first, but Jabeur was very willing to give the second away. Fernandez was able to dig in on defense and rally with Jabeur until she made errors or gave Leylah opportunities. Rather than keep rallying and really punish Jabeur, Fernandez went for winners … and missed them all. I’m not exaggerating here, in the second set she missed almost every offensive shot she went for, and it didn’t feel like she had to go for them. Jabeur hits bigger than Fernandez, so on the court it may have felt like she needed to do a lot, but most of her points come from consistency, so Leylah’s team will want to focus on having her focus on the mental battle going on in her opponent’s head rather than trying to be a big hitter. Physically, it’s just not in the cards for her to be slinging offense. Maybe she landed those same shots in an earlier round, so going for them was fine, but awareness on court is important, and Jabeur was trying to give the set away. After winning, Jabeur celebrated a bit which left me puzzled. It’s natural to be happy when you win, but I feel a little odd about these matches sometimes. Fernandez didn’t land a first serve for the last 20 minutes, threw in a ton of errors, and tried to hit an overhand winner for some reason off a return at 5-5 in the tiebreaker. It was a nice win, but Jabeur made this match hard on herself. I might be in hater mode today and I apologize, but it feels like sometimes players tap their head or pump their fist after overcoming challenges that they themselves created.
Positives for Jabeur were the times she put one extra ball back. She has had a middling season, and seeing her dig in is great. Her racquet skill is some of the best on tour as well, so the gets aren’t just a boost, they’re downright effective. She has the ability to stretch to her forehand and put squash gets back extremely low, and to flick cross-court forehands that seem impossible from how extended her arm is. Jabeur’s depth of talent is why she is still slightly favored in this match, because again, Clara Tauson is coming in at a high level. Tauson beat Ostapenko, and followed it up by putting Kenin through the ringer. Kenin had no chance in the first, but in the second she was able to reel back a break of serve and apply some decent pressure. Frustratingly, she just wasn’t able to execute in the big moments. At 15-30 5-5, Tauson hit a lob that was going a few feet out (to the side). While running backwards, Kenin seemed unaware of where she was in the court. She tried to play it overhead and missed. It was a momentum killer, and she ended up missing the remainder of her offensive opportunities.
Throughout the match, the big difference in the two was Tauson’s ability to score quickly. When she lands first serves, or if you give her a moment to get a full swing anywhere inside the baseline, you are toast. She has the type of power that Anisimova/Collins generate on their backhand, and she has a heavy forehand. That is why I suspect Jabeur will have a tough time winning this quickly. Jabeur has the endurance and variety to frustrate Tauson, but this feels like a battle of two big offenses, and Jabeur’s is a bit less consistent at this point. I want to believe Jabeur wins in 3, but she will need to step up her game and avoid the type of letdown she had in the second against Fernandez. Tauson is several tiers above Leylah and Osorio in terms of offensive opportunities, and both those players were able to get in winning position in at least one set. I’m still going to go with Jabeur in 3. Tauson has beaten some offenses, and some defenses, but Ons is the most complete player she’s faced so it feels very much like “prove it” territory for me.

Arnaldi vs Tsitsipas :

The story in Arnaldi’s match seems to be Rublev’s temper, but don’t let that overshadow Arnaldi’s performance. For me, Rublev’s temper is partially his fault, and partially his team’s. I’m especially sensitive to this after watching the last round, but being reactive to the outcome of points is a bit of a leak. If you are easily moved by events, then you are always able to be moved. It compounds, because if you are really good at something, there is no reason to believe that minor failures will continue, or even matter. It gives your opponent motivation, it wastes your valuable reserves of adrenaline and dopamine (depending on good/bad outcomes), and it’s honestly fairly distracting for an opponent. Just generally speaking, if my opponent is smashing his head with a racquet, I don’t really want to beat him. I’m still going to, but I want to compete and win, I don’t really want to add suffering to someone else. It’s unprofessional, it’s a detriment to his game, and it puts his opponents and umpires in an uncomfortable spot. Of course, he knows this, but it should hit home in this moment that he lost this match because of his lack of composure, and lost it to a player who thrives because of his composure.
Matteo Arnaldi plays steady consistent tennis. He works hard, he constantly works on his game, and he isn’t reactive out there aside from hyping himself up. He beat Fils because of deviations in his level of play and because he made it clear he wouldn’t miss. Fils forced shots and missed because he was unwilling to do the work. He beat Rublev because despite Rublev opening the match hitting clean and crushing winners, he just stayed the course and kept competing. When Christmas disappeared, Rublev noticed, and he did not like it. The crux of the issue is, he did not accept it. If I am upset about the way things are, that is natural. If I grit against the way they are, I suffer. If I accept the way things are, I am (counterintuitively) instantly free to begin working on changing them. It doesn’t mean we celebrate errors or loss, but resetting to the present moment is a major key to winning in professional sports and tennis players in particular have a difficulty with this.
I’m not trying to dump on all these players or attack them here either. All of them are tremendous athletes and are mostly excellent ambassadors and competitors. All of these struggles are natural and we all experiences the highs and lows of competition, but Rublev wants to win and this is something he needs to work on to do that consistently. If his coaches aren’t working on this with him, they’re doing him a disservice. If they are and he isn’t buying into it, he’s doing them a disservice. Everything is fine with Rublev’s game but the holes are clear. He needs more reps at net, he needs to develop dropshots, and he needs to not smash racquets.
For now, it’s Arnaldi vs Tsitsipas. Stefanos has been excellent this event, and he opens as the favorite for a reason. Zhang played solid in round 3, but he was helpless against Tsitsipas. Stef is holding serving quickly, and the speed with which he’s finding a forehand to the open court off of players’ returns is the catalyst of this. His stamina is a major weapon in these conditions and in this format, and his serve/forehand is one of the best left in the event. If Arnaldi wants to win, the plot is simple. Isolate Tsitsipas’ backhand, and get deep in sets. In the late stages of a close set, Tsitsipas is still prone to some shanks. I really do think Arnaldi needs to win the first set to have a shot here, but had Rublev been playing Tsitsipas I think we’d be expecting a somewhat close match so there’s no real argument for Arnaldi to get blown out here. He has a complete game, and he has good discipline. He’s lanky so he might be able to return well, and he can send his backhand down the line so Tsitsipas can’t just camp in his backhand corner. Forehand to forehand though, I think Tsitsipas wins. Losses to Ruud, Jarry, Medvedev make me think that Arnaldi has a bit of a ceiling, but all those were close affairs so Tsitsipas should have his hands full here. Tsitsipas in 4-5.

Alcaraz vs Auger-Aliassume :

Shelton and FAA was fairly hyped, but only Felix delivered. Shelton wasn’t really that bad, but FAA just showed he’s more comfortable on the surface. He faced no break points, and won comfortably in straight sets. His next match will be a lot more difficult, as he plays a version of Carlos Alcaraz that is cruising through the draw without really playing his best tennis. Alcaraz vs Korda was a strange contest. It reminded me a bit of Zverev or Rune playing matches they know they’re going to win. They don’t want to play extra sets, so they play a bit more carefully and just make sure to outlast their opponent. What ends up happening is the score stays close, and the stronger players needs to win a tense tiebreaker or break late in the set. Sure, they still win, but I think that an all-out assault from an earlier moment would allow them to fatigue their opponent.
These guys are all in tremendous shape (even Kotov), but there are levels/paces that they can’t hang at for long. Someone like Alcaraz can push the pace and wear Korda down, and once he breaks from that level, the odds of him winning the next sets easily are more likely. We watched Nadal and Djokovic do this to opponents for a long time, and the late sets were almost always blowouts after frantic openers. We watched Federer do the same thing mentally to opponents with a constant onslaught of offensive shots and tricky slices. If you don’t push the pace to a level your lower-tier opponent can’t hang at, they end up playing at a pace they’re comfortable with and then you play the same level of Korda in set 1 as you do in set 3.
Hater mode continues, but in this case I think it’s all assuming that Alcaraz is totally healthy. If he’s saving his arm for later, he played Korda perfectly. Sebastian continues to battle even with the best players on tour, and in the big moments he doesn’t change his game. 4-4 in a tiebreaker isn’t the time to force anything, but if you’re the underdog and have nothing to lose, it might be a good choice to ratchet up the pace a little, or take some chances. Instead, he seems to throw in rally ball errors. The two forehand misses he had in the tiebreaker were rough, but worse was that they weren’t even shots that were going to score. He was just guiding the ball in straight over the net. I guess in the end, beating Alcaraz, or even playing him even for a time, is a huge ask. It was a great match.
FAA will have his best chance to beat Alcaraz here. Alcaraz’s arm is potentially not 100%, and Korda probably should have won a set. I think the pace alone that Felix brings will wake Carlitos up a bit, and he has beaten FAA the last few times they’ve played so he’ll know which shots to employ and when. Even with his arm a question mark, Alcaraz’s speed around the court and ability to extend rallies are the right assets to score on FAA. Auger-Aliassime’s main issue on tour is that he can overhit forehands and cough up unforced errors. It should be noted also that FAA Shelton was played under a closed roof, which helps Felix’s serve a bit. The weather in Paris looks pretty nice for the rest of the tournament, so it’ll be warm and ideal for Alcaraz to wear him down and isolate his backhand when he can. FAA is good enough to compete at this level, but hasn’t been doing it regularly enough for me to think he can do so here for 3 whole sets. Alcaraz in 4.

Hurkacz vs Dimitrov :

Dimitrov leads this h2h 5-0. All the matches have been close, but you don’t get to 5-0 against Hurkacz unless you can reliably return serve. If you can reliably return serve, you can beat Hurkacz, and on clay it should be even more beneficial. Hurkacz has played excellent in this clay swing considering his status as a servebot, and leading into Wimbledon and the North American swing I think his baseline improves have him primed for some titles. He had a hard test with Shapovalov in round 3, and the new and sort of decent Shapovalov put up a good fight. Dimitrov had an easier time with Zizou Bergs, despite dropping a set. Bergs broke Dimitrov a bunch in this match, but Dimitrov’s slice gave him a lot of trouble. Grigor was content to just keep hitting the court, and it was enough in the end. Bergs had trouble lifting his forehand inside in off of the slice, and it meant going mostly inside out which Dimitrov was only too comfortable with. The quick turnaround is a concern here, but I don’t think the Bergs match was as labor intensive as it could have been. There were numerous rain delays, and the scores were close but only because Dimitrov didn’t redline. He served with control, he hit to big targets, and he secured the bag.
I don’t think Hurkacz gets beaten quickly here, and I don’t think Dimitrov is automatic just because of the h2h. He should win, but Dimitrov lost to Rune/Mensik/Fritz recently and those are all players right around Hurkacz level. If this goes to a 5th, I’d be pretty worried for Dimitrov’s chances. Picking Dimitrov in 4 feels tough, because Bergs got to a 4th and he wasn’t really playing his best today. The h2h is hard to ignore, so I’ll go with Dimitrov in 5. The quick turnaround might leave him tired but he should be able to outduel Hurkacz in most volleys and the low slices will be tough for the big dude to get down on.

Sinner vs Moutet :

Nothing like a seemingly simple one to end a full day of criticizing professional athletes for not being perfect <3. Moutet has been the most entertaining player in this event. He has won and lost lopsided sets, he has gone for every shot possible, he is chatting with the crowd, and he is giving the home country something to believe in. Considering he couldn’t even hit a two-handed backhand for a good chunk of the past year due to wrist surgery, it’s pretty impressive for him to get his game back to a really high level. Ofner was beating him early in the third round, but he was also sweating profusely. The workload of defending against Moutet’s big forehand strokes and his clever dropshots is exhausting, and Ofner’s game dipped as the match went on. It’ll be fun to see Sinner trading with Moutet, and it’ll be another look at his physical ability to see how quickly he moves to the frontcourt and how he defends Moutet’s forehand inside out. Generally with a hip injury, it’s sprinting forward and leaning wide to that side that becomes an issue.
Sinner has sort of entered a big however many group in terms of his results. He is able to beat the lower tier players for the entire match, and is consistently able to do so. There are no holes in his game, and aside from his hip issue there is no reason to think he loses here. Moutet has the game to make this the match of the day, but it feels like he’s spent a lot more time and energy on court and that’ll cost him. Sinner in 3.