Levels
The following content pertains to earlier eras of Blaseball and may not be relevant to the current version of the game.
Depth, eDensity, Credit Ratings, and Levels are all terms used to measure and describe the "depth" of a team. While these terms are frequently used interchangeably, they have different meanings:
- A team's eDensity is a quantity measured in units of bl/m³. It can be understood as the team's "weight" or "buoyancy" (the latter is more accurate, as eDensity can have negative values). The eDensity of a team is determined by many factors including the team's Championships, Wins, Runs, Players, and Ballparks. eDensity is visible on the Team Info page.
- A team's Depth is determined by its eDensity and the position of the MVP line. Having higher eDensity increases a team's depth and having fewer players above the MVP line increases the depth of all teams. Depth became visible on the Depth Chart starting in Season 20.
- A team's Level, also described as the team's Credit Rating, is a way of describing the team's Depth with named labels instead of a numerical value.
More specifics and technical details on eDensity and how it interacted with the game can be found in A sinking feeling: Investigating the relationship between team eDensity and Level Which was published by the Society for Internet Blaseball Research.
What are Levels?
Levels first appeared in Season 14 and were displayed on a team's stats page. This rating showed how deep a team was on the depth chart, and once a team reached Low A, a small red blinking dot would appear next to a team's name, making them susceptible to attacks from the Consumers.
The list of known levels is:
- 0D
- 1D
- 2D
- 3D
- C
- Low A
- High A
- AA
- AAA
- AAAA
- AAAAA
Depth Chart
The Depth Chart first appeared in Season β20 and was a way for teams to visualize where they fell along the league's levels. The Y axis of the grid represented a team's eDensity in relation to the League, while the X axis represented an unknown variable affectionately nicknamed "pog and cringe" by fans.
The top of the chart featured a desert, and was first reached by the Atlantis Georgias on Season 21, Day 74. When the team reached the 0 mark on the chart it prompted the following message from The Reader:
touch down
special teams
tumbleweed sounds
This resulted in Blaseball0 being updated to show a large number of cacti, and revealed a blagonball.
The bottom of the chart featured a number of clouds as well as the gate that was seen on Blaseball2. While the gate was first visibly reached by the Ohio Worms on Season 21, Day 75, the Seattle Garages and New York Millennials each reached the corresponding level before the chart was visible. On both occasions, tweets from the Commissioner noted that he had heard a "strange noise" but not to worry about it, and the gate on Blaseball2 appeared to be damaged. When the Worms reached the gate it prompted the following message from the Monitor:
something smells fishy
woah
herring
my favorite
how did you know
good hunch
This allowed players to upshell certain events to get Red Herrings, allowing them to unredact entries from Prehistory in the Library. This also resulted in Blaseball2 being updated to show a large number of Red Herrings bursting free from behind the broken gate.
During the Season β23 election the chart was flipped so that the desert was at the bottom and the gate was at the top.
eDensity Manipulation
As the Expansion Era continued, there became more and more ways that teams were able to control and manipulate their level to move across the depth chart. This was primarily used to avoid the threat of consumers, though some teams found other ways to work with the mechanics provided to them. The following is a collection of ways that eDensity could be manipulated both intentionally and unintentionally.
A more detailed list of things that effect eDensity, and their exact values, can be found on the SIBR eDensity page.
Player Modifications
The following modifications were known to be have an effect on player's eDensity rating.
| Icon | Name | Target | Description | Duration | Cause | Category
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2x | Player | Every Run that this Player bats in or allows will be multiplied by 2. | Permanent | Will | ||
| Attractor | Player | When this Player scores a Run, they'll join the Shadows of the Team that scored them, if they're not already on their Roster. | Permanent | Secret Base | ||
| Ego+ | Player | This Player has a boosted Ego. | Permanent | Being above the Idol Board's Squiggly Line during the Endseason. | ||
| Ego++ | Player | This Player has a boosted boosted Ego. | Permanent | Being above the Idol Board's Squiggly Line during the Endseason while having the Ego+ modification. | ||
| Ego+++ | Player | This Player has a boosted boosted boosted Ego. | Permanent | Being above the Idol Board's Squiggly Line during the Endseason while having the Ego++ modification. | ||
| Ego++++ | Player | This Player has a boosted boosted boosted boosted Ego. | Permanent | Being above the Idol Board's Squiggly Line during the Endseason while having the Ego+++ modification. | ||
| Heavy-Handed | Team | All Items held by Players on this Team have positive eDensity. | Permanent | Blessing | ||
| Light-Handed | Team | All Items held by Players on this Team have negative eDensity. | Permanent | Blessing | ||
| Negative | Player | This Player is a Negative. Negative players have negative eDensity. |
Permanent | Arcana Drawing, Undertaker | ||
| Perk | Player | This Player has been rewarded Percolated energy. They will Overperform in all Coffee weathers. See also: Glossary |
Permanent | Winning the Coffee Cup | ||
| Replica | Player | This Player will fade to Dust at the end of the Season. | Permanent | Gifts |
Ballpark Modifications
All Ballpark Modifications added to a team's density, but the following Ballpark modifications were known to have an additional (positive or negative) effect on a teams's eDensity rating.
In addition to modifications, a Ballpark's level of Fortification, Grandiosity, and Filth were known to play a significant part in the park's eDensity.
| Icon | Name | Target | Description | Duration | Cause | Category
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti Flood Pumps | Ballpark | Whenever a Flood happens in this Ballpark, its Filthiness is greatly increased. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Antigraphene | Ballpark | Fortifications are 5x more eDense than usual in this Ballpark. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Ball Pit | Ballpark | Every Foul Ball hit in this Ballpark will add 5x the eDensity that it normally would. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Balloons | Ballpark | A small, permanent amount of negative eDensity is added for each Run or Win earned in this Ballpark. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Bird Hotel | Ballpark | When the Home Team parties, a number of Birds will come join the Party. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Birdhouses | Ballpark | Birdhouses invite Birds to come live in your Ballpark. Every time a foul ball is hit in a ballpark with Birdhouses, a bird will be added to the ballpark, reducing its eDensity. |
Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Condensed Floor Plans | Ballpark | Grandiosity is 5x more eDense than usual in this Ballpark. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Flood Balloons | Ballpark | A medium, permanent amount of negative eDensity is added for each Flood in this Ballpark. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Flood Pumps | Ballpark | Flood Pumps will prevent Flooding weather from making your Ballpark filthier. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Graphene | Ballpark | This Ballpark's Fortifications are 5% the eDensity of a standard Ballpark. | Permanent | Blessing | ||
| Hot Air Balloons | Ballpark | A large, permanent amount of negative eDensity is added for each Incineration in this Ballpark. | Permanent | Renovations | ||
| Open Floor Plan | Ballpark | This Ballpark's Grandiosity is 5% the eDensity of a standard Ballpark. | Permanent | Blessing |
There was one additional renovation that played a role in a park's eDensity that was not a modification - the Light Switch. This was available to be built by teams, and would allow them to "Switch" their park's eDensity, making any attributes that add to eDensity to instead remove it, and any items that remove eDensity to instead add to the ballpark's total.
Item Modifications
The following Elements affect Player eDensity. Unlike all other known Elements, these Elements continue to have an effect even when the item is broken.
| Element | eDensity |
|---|---|
| aDense | -10 bl/m³ |
| eDense | +10 bl/m³ |
Aside from these Elements, Items do not usually have an eDensity value. However, there are two known Team modifications that give Items eDensity – Heavy-Handed and Light-Handed. The former causes Items belonging to players on the Team to weigh +2 bl/m³ plus an extra +2 bl/m³ for every Element they have. The latter causes Items to weigh -2 bl/m³ plus an extra -2 bl/m³ for every Element they have, then also checks to see if the eDensity of the item is still positive (due to the eDense element) and flips its polarity if so.
Idol Board Manipulation
One of the most complicated ways to manipulate the levels of teams was tied into the league-wide idol board. The MVP line and the eDensity of teams interacted to create the levels for the rest of the league, and that line could be moved by placing specific players with particularly low or high eDensities along the board in the right slot. The MVP line (often called "the noodle") would always split the eDensity of the board in half, so a very heavy or very light player could move the "halfway point" up or down, resulting in the line being moved and affecting the entire league's levels.
This resulted in many campaigns and plans among fans to try and manipulate the MVP line and keep teams out of range of consumers, making use of very light players and very heavy players to keep the line at the top or bottom of the board. This in turn created pressure towards the end of the season when it was time for MVPs to be called, as a low MVP line resulted in more players gaining Ego, but a high MVP line resulted in more risks of consumer attacks.
Consumers
Once a team's level is in Low A or above, they are at risk of being attacked by Consumers, with the risk increasing as their level increases. Consumer attacks have a unique appearance in the game log, with a silhouetted Shark appearing in the log, along side a dramatic all uppercase message. Players who are attacked by consumers lose a number of stars across all categories, as well as losing eleven characters from their Soul Scream (thus reducing a player's total Soul by one).
During the Season β23 elections the Depth chart was flipped meaning that teams that were at C or below were instead at risk to Consumer attacks, and teams that were at higher levels were instead safe from Consumer attacks.
Due to the collapse of the Sun(Sun) Supernova Consumer attacks stopped happening after the Season β24 Earlsiesta, due to the draining of the Black Hole (Black Hole).
Redactions
If a player's Soul Scream was ever reduced to zero a player would become redacted, gaining the modification of the same name and being removed from the team's roster. The first two instances of this were on Season β15, Day 104, when both Alyssa Harrell and Nagomi McDaniel were Redacted from the Baltimore Crabs' roster. On Season 21, Day 82, Forrest Best was redacted from the Dallas Steaks via consumer attacks, and became the first player ever to be redacted twice.
After the league was flipped at the start of Season 24, fans were quick to notice that some consumer attacks began to exclusively target the leadoff hitter for some teams. This focused bombardment resulted in the redactions of Agan Espinoza from the New York Millennials on Day 11 and Ziwa Mueller from the Yellowstone Magic and Herring Winfield from the Baltimore Crabs on Day 22.
Consumer Defense
By the end of the Expansion Era players had several ways to avoid consumer attacks.
Season β15 Election introduced Items, which were the most common method players were able to use to defend themselves. When consumers attempted to attack any player with a non-broken item, the player "defended" the attack with that item, at the cost of single point of durability. Once an item was broken it no longer provided this protection.
In Season β21 it was discovered that when two Hard Boiled players were on the same team they gained the Yolked modification. Yolked players would fend off any consumer attacks in any game their team played, including attacks on their opponents. This interaction resulted in replicas of Liquid Friend and Uncle Plasma becoming stronger together and "POWERBOMBING", "BATTERING RAMMING", and "AVOCADO TOASTING" consumers when they played.
In Season β23 teams were given access to "Chair" items, that would allow the player to fend off consumer attacks the same way that Yolked players were able to. While these items had limited durability, this allowed players to fend off consumers for their teams and their opponents.
Chorby Soul
Initially one of many early incinerations in Season 3, Chorby Soul became one of the driving forces of understanding and manipulating eDensity due to their extremely high Soul. While a player's Soul is normally only a small portion of their team's eDensity, Soul's Soul was far outside the usual 2-9 range, at 1777. This was noticed by fans who were quick to wonder what this would do to a team's eDensity. While this question was quickly answered, Soul became the subject to many repeated (and often unwanted) Plunder wills and necromancies, and was made Legendary and moved to the vault at the start of Season β18.
A full record of Soul's unfortunate escapades is as follows:
- During the Season β14 elections, Soul joined the Seattle Garages due to the Garages' Plunder will, sending Arturo Huerta to the Shadows and becoming a pitcher in the process. This marks Soul as the fourth player to return from the Hall of Flame.
- Due to frequent and repeated Consumer attacks, Soul's star counts in all categories reached 0.0 on Season β15, Day 7 after ten Consumer attacks. Soul's attributes reached the lowest they could possibly be during these attacks.
- During the Season β15 elections, Soul was traded to the New York Millennials in exchange for Penelope Mathews via the Millennials' Plunder will. Soul's Debt modification was also changed into the Unstable modification by the Garages' Reform will.
- On Season β16, Day 88, Soul was incinerated and replaced by Mikan Hammer.
- During the Season β16 elections, Soul joined the Boston Flowers due to the Flowers' Plunder will, sending Margarito Nava to the Shadows and becoming a lineup player in the process. This marks Soul as the first player to return from the Hall of Flame multiple times. Soul was then traded to the Baltimore Crabs in exchange for Silvaire Roadhouse via the Crabs' Plunder will.
- On Season β17, Day 1, Soul was incinerated and replaced by Trinity Smaht.
- In Season β18, Before play began, Soul was Preserved.
- They were not seen again until the Semi-Centennial, where they hit a home-run against league leading pitcher Winnie Hess.
Chorby's Soul
In the Latesiesta of Season β18 fans were able to purchase Chorby Soul Collector's Edition in that Season's Gift Shop, complete with an item replicating Soul's eDenisty called Chorby's Soul. This item was Legendary, meaning it could not be broken or dropped, and was a ring with the eDense item modification applied 154 times. This was still technically lighter than the original Chorby Soul, and in total three teams were given a replica of Chorby Soul in their gift shop for their debut.
As the replicas faded at the end of the season the batting and pitching versions of Soul were made available in the Gift Shop, though they did not have the rings from the Collector's Edition, and were simply very bad pitchers and hitters who were also Unstable. In Season β21 teams were able to purchase a Chorby Soul Soul Edition, which were given copies of the Chorby's Soul item. This time however, even after the replica's Soul's departure, their Soul remained in circulation.
- Season 21, Day 81 - Gloria Bugsnax steals Chorby's Soul II from Chorby Soul IV
- Season 21, Election - The Light-Handed Atlantis Georgias used an Item Move Will to take Chorby's Soul II from Bugsnax and give it to Clove Ji-Eun.
- Season 22, Day 73 - Yellowstone Thieves' Guild steal Chorby's Soul II from Ji-Eun and give it to Tiana Wheeler.
- Season 22, Election - The Yellowstone Magic use an Item Move Will to force Wheeler to drop Chorby's Soul.
- Season 23, Day 73 - Tot Clark retrieves Chorby's Soul II from the Bargain Bin.
- Season 24, Day 6 - Clark is incinerated, finally removing Chorby's Soul II from circulation.
While that could have been the end of it another version of the item, Chorby's Uncertain Soul, made it's way into the game where it was active up until the end of the Expansion Era. This version of the item was not nearly as heavy as the original, only having the Uncertain, Batter and RAM modifications attached.
- Season 21, Day 81 - Gloria Bugsnax steals Chorby's Soul II from Chorby Soul IV. A known bug causes the item to be cloned and one copy is sent to the Bargain Bin
- Season 23, Day 72 - Rush Valenzuela retrieves Chorby's Uncertain Soul from the Bargain Bin
- Season 23, Day 83 - The Solarium Thieves' Guild steals Chorby's Uncertain Soul from Valenzuela and give it to Sigmund Castillo.
- Season 23, Day 86 - Using the Tunnels ballpark modification, Liam Snail steals Chorby's Uncertain Soul from Castillo.
- Season 24, Day 99 - Blaseball is nullified by Black Hole (Black Hole).
