Uploaded November 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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The End Game - Black Mage with VanarisDB.

The Team:
PuaPehNurse2 (Striker) - youtu.be/9tJKdUdEXwc
xiaosia07 (Bishop) - youtu.be/Cup3z7w7Trc
ZehroHH (Zero) - youtu.be/p41MD8gJPOI
CarteThrone (Phantom) - youtu.be/4LWdsDFXeuc
VanarisK (Kanna) - youtu.be/5zcFUuBh2zY [Piloted by OnyxBasilisk]
VanarisDB (Dual Blade)

On the 8th of November we reached phase 4 for the first time. I had 6 lives. Thinking it's just straightforward with BoD, I didn't expect to die out before the timer ran out; we didn't have enough attackers alive to plough through the recurring shields. Watching my stream, the party discussed at lengths about what went wrong, what we can learn and avoid the mistakes I've made. Afterall, we've finally got past the toughest phase 3. We're only going to get better, arrive with all 6 into phase 4, just play it calm, play it safe, secure our first clear. 10th of November is going to be our day, our victory.

Invited a group of friends home to support me through the boss run that night. They were afraid to give me pressure, I assured them that it's only helping. With 5 people speaking from my mic, and my 5 other teammates from the comforts of their home, we engaged the black mage with a party of 10.

Things went well right from the start, even better than expected. We all have our event buffs, made mental notes of my phase 4 mistakes the previous run, even worked out an entirely new survival routine with moo to counter his difficulties in phase 3 just before the run. We partied up, settled our pink bean global buff, wild hunter buffs, picked up our runes.

CarteThrone: "Ready". Me: "Going in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

Phase 1: Binding them didn't take too long. Coordinated bursts for the fast kill.

Phase 2: Relatively comfortable by now. Weirdly this time there wasn't any meteors. Maybe the gods decided to go easy.

Phase 3: Burst upon entry: 25%. Sweeeeet. Phantom fountain on left, bishop fountain on right. Our tank was doing his magic. Moo doing well with the new strat. Marilyn was mostly safe and at ease. CarteThrone won't even switch off a second to concede unnecessary life counts. Random weird laggy mechanics occured. Then ZehroHH had a BoD emergency. Oh noooo! He struggled for quite sometime before his character got restored to full controls. Welcome back! Last burst of phase 3 now, Black Mage pinned to the wall. YOLO time!

Phase 4: We were isolated. I felt insecure since I can't monitor everyone's situation. But the fear of repeating my failure to preserve any of my 6 lives in my prior phase 4 attempt was taking over. We kept reminding each other to play it slow, play it safe. Don't jump directly into Black Mage without some form of immunity. As time went by I was dodging the bullets better than I ever did in Striker 1945 the arcade game. The end was near, I could feel it, we all could feel it. There was an absence of a particular voice towards the last 20%. I was too focused on not screwing up. Moments later, chants of "Goodnight Black Mage!" started. I was momentarily at a loss. Gathered myself, stayed out of danger, dodged a FMA, then peeked up to discover the HP hiding behind the newly generated white shield. The chants were getting faster and clearer. I joined in. My screen flashed...

Egg in the Beginning: We did it! "Goodnight Black Mage!" mega came about. More congratulatory messages came flooding in. I got everyone to change to drop gear.
Moo: "DHS everyone." Me: "What are you talking about we have authentic HS."
*pops open party window* My heart sank quite abit.
Marilyn then started cheering our victory over discord. We made it. Without her this time but she feels just as involved in our first clear. After months of dedicated training, getting together to practice, staying up after the runs to brainstorm strategies that work not only for us as a team but also individuals with their unique difficulties in encountering the boss fight, we've earned our victory.

I'm very proud and honoured to have involved each of us in the building of this dream team. Through passion, hard work, a willingness to work for each other and a tinge of toxicity induced by some other players, we have taken up this journey for a common goal and reaped our rewards. By carefully choosing the team, sharing resources, being considerate and inspirational in our own ways, I hope all of us can enjoy and remember the party in the spirit of friendship and camaraderie that is intended via our journey to the Black Mage.

Lastly, I want to express my appreciation for each of my team members in times when I was down and out from the social aspect of the game. Thank you for lifting me up on different occasions and making it through this journey with me because without you guys, I have nothing but my geekiness. We look forward to unsealing the genesis weapons together, and more uplifting news in life! 21 days is too long to wait for the next run. Let's clear with the full team next!