END OF AGE 91: AGE REVIEW w/ MERCILESS (THEME CROWN)

Today we welcome our Theme Crown Winners, Merciless!

See what they had to say below!

1) How does it feel to be supported by the community with winning the contest?

Hey W1nD. Thanks for getting in touch. I just want to start by saying that every crown is a team effort, but particularly the theme crown, so a big shout out to all the Merciless crew for their efforts over the last few ages. Utopia lives and dies by its community and it’s great that people get so invested in themes.

2) Is this the first time you have won the theme contest?

No - neither for me nor Merciless. I’ve won it twice before with Majesty (conspiracy theories and unusual injuries) and last age with Merciless too (SteelPenguin memorial). That one was particularly special though - it was amazing to be able to commemorate SteelPenguin’s memory after he passed during the age. His brother was a part of Merciless, so it’s a family affair. And the number of other KDs who got on board with their own salutes was amazing.

3) How did you come up with the Idea?

Massive shout out to Sadira for this one - she had a great idea and we riffed off it to get to the final version. Often that’s the way for a best theme. You can be sitting on an idea for a while, but someone will come up with some great variations that elevate it. And I’ve also found that a humorous UTO crossover is a great way of doing that.

4) Who made your banner?

Our banner game was pretty weak this age; in the past it’s been much stronger. We like to have several that we can rotate depending on the phase of age, or whether we’re trying to poke fun at someone in particular. This age, though, I think it was a team effort to come up with a solid starter and we stuck with it (after Optimus sorted out some formatting!). Definitely at this point worth shouting out to Evil Queen who has an inside line on some professional graphics - those banners are excellent (like the SteelPenguin one).

5) Are you looking forward to age 92?

Since we’re between ages I’ll answer if I’m looking forward to next age! I think it should be pretty exciting. Some radical changes always give opportunities for potent combinations. After all the fuss with proposed, I think we’ve ended up with lots of different and viable combinations. Apart from DE/Gnome hybrid. Yuck!

6) Is there anything you would like to say to the community?

Kind of said it before, but it’s a big family, albeit one that loves fighting. Right now the meta is warring and that’s where the main sense of competition and spirit is. But we’ve had some real fun crown races in the last few ages when it hasn’t been one KD dominating. Anything that closes up the pack and makes everyone more competitive is good by me.

7) How do you feel about the prizes awarded?

Prizes are cool, and in the past the mods have sometimes made exceptions and been gracious enough to tailor it to the needs of the KD. It’s nice that the theme crown pays out - a great incentive. I am also a really big fan of the new “win stuff and name a scientist” thing. I think it’s a really nice way of respecting the community.

8) Is there something you could recommend to improve the contest?

I would really like to see improvements in taunt banners. So many people these days are used to firing gifs and memes around - but taunt banner is really prohibitive in terms of size and format. Let’s get animated gif taunt banners that pop up when an opponent bounces an attack! We’re not as browser-limited any more, and I think that improving taunts could really be a fun thing to do especially if people keep them on-theme (like dragon names). Plus, it’s a way of generating extra income for the game, right? Surely it’s a no-brainer.

Thank you Very Much Merciless, What a great age!