Web Video / Bannerfall SMP

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Red Kingdom Barkeep: But above all, absolutely watch out for–
Blue Kingdom Barkeep: Do not even fraternise with–
Both: –the Blue/Red Kingdom.

— Official Trailer

Bannerfall SMP was a private Minecraft multiplayer server hosted by POWCreations in collaboration with noName Ideas. It featured several prominent Minecraft YouTubers and streamers from mainly Cowboy SMP and other adjacent series, such as the Minecraft Misadventures SMP.

It is set in a fantasy world divided between two mighty kingdoms: the Red Kingdom and the Blue Kingdom. Either is a lovely place to live, full of scenic views, guilds of different classes, and dungeons to explore and defeat. However, the two kingdoms absolutely cannot stand each other, and each kingdom would like nothing more than to wipe their sworn rival off the map. In fact, both are currently gathering forces for just such a battle…

The SMP was livestreamed, similar to most previous POW works. It was officially announced on January 16th, 2026, and began on January 26th. On March 22nd, it was announced that the SMP would end on April 6th.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all tropes pertain to the characters, not the content creators who play them.

Due to the livestreamed nature of the work, all spoilers will remain unmarked for the duration of the SMP, then marked retroactively after its conclusion.

Bannerfall SMP contains examples of:

• Anti-Debuff:
  • The Healing spell "Cleansing Aura" emits a purifying aura that cleanses negative effects from nearby allies.
  • The Nature "Thorns" spell allows a Mage to summon a wave of magical thorns that poison and slow down other players, including those from one's own kingdom, but would remain immune to such effects themself.
  • In general, Rogues are the only class that doesn't suffer mining fatigue in the other kingdom's territory. They also only have a 10-second cooldown for placing blocks in the opposite kingdom, whereas other classes would only be able to place one block per minute.
• Armor and Magic Don't Mix: Downplayed. Mages can wear leather, copper or chainmail armor, but anything heavier will seriously slow them down. Usually they want to be towards the backline anyway.
• Back Stab: Thanks to the "Backstabbing" ability, when a Rogue attacks another player from behind, there's a chance for the victim to be inflicted with the Poison effect.
• Battle in the Centre of the Mind: On Day 58, the group transported into the Mental World of Cambam's memories gets thrown into a Boss Battle against the Entity/"the Core of Cam" that caused The Plague. Successfully defeating it causes Cambam to emerge with a clear head.
• Betting Mini-Game: The Farkle command allows players to play the dice game against each other or a computer NPC, where they can optionally wager gold or items over each round.
• Big Damn Kiss: While Apo did kiss Cherri while both of them were drunk on Day 64, on Day 69, they finally share a kiss sober, complete with a Relationship Upgrade signified by them exchanging flowers.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Shandrea's teaser for the series ends with the phrase "Ze horen mij", which is Dutch for "They hear me".
  • Owen replied to his character reveal post with the phrase "Gwaed am waed", which is Welsh for "Blood for blood".
• Bittersweet Ending: The conflict between the Red and Blue Kingdoms has not been explicitly stopped or resolved, but the residents have reached an understanding (at least for now) and selected Bek to rule over both kingdoms. Also, the Creaking King is defeated, but at the cost of Nom and Sausage's lives, and there is the implication that Cambam has been made into a physical carrier of the Creaking Heart.
• Blood from the Mouth: On Day 52, certain players' symptoms of The Plague progress to the point where they start coughing up blood, represented by them taking one heart of damage. Known players who have experienced this include: Scott, Katie and Mae (Day 52) and Kitty (Day 53).
• Blow You Away: The Air school of magic allows Mages to harness air for movement and combat: "Flight" can allow users to soar through the air, "Air Assault" unleashes a powerful ring of wind to blast enemies away, "Whirlwind" launches a whirlwind gust that lifts those caught inside, and "Suffocation" launches a bolt that suffocates those caught inside. Eloise specialises in Air magic, meaning she gains a boost to Air spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast an Air spell.
• Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": On Day 32, the cast refer to Ravagers as "bears".
• The Cameo:
  • The Knight, Rogue, and Mage tutorial NPCs are modeled after and voiced by ZombieCleo, GoodTimesWithScar, and ImpulseSV, respectively. Cleo previously appeared in Vampires SMP, and both her and Scar were players on Pirates SMP. The arena NPC is also modeled after Cleo.
  • In the backstory animatic CherriFire posted in the lead up to the series, her father is played by POWCreations regular Rendog, who later makes an in-person appearance in the series.
• Canon Welding: Several mentions have been made to Bannerfall taking place in the same world as Pirates, being set approximately 500 years after the end of the latter series.
• Casting a Shadow: Late on Day 31, 4C and Mae "summon"^note build a tall, black, demonic figure called Frarry to "attack" the Red Kingdom, which Graecie attributes to the fact Rogues spend much of their time in the shadows, thus allowing them to learn how to harness it.
• Cat Up a Tree: Discussed. Kitty has a tendency to hide in and spectate events from the tree-tops. She can easily jump down and is never stuck there, but it's prompted at least one instance where Nom asks if they have to call a fireman to get her out.
• Chekhov's Gun: Cambam was exiled from Meadowhall for using dark magic to cure an unknown sickness. The Plague that starts showing up turns out to be that same sickness.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • The two kingdoms are named after colours and the colour of each player's IGN corresponds to their kingdom: red for the Red Kingdom and pale blue for the Blue Kingdom.
  • Zig-zagged with the individual players' outfits, as several Blue Kingdom players wear red or adjacent colours (e.g. Owain's red armour decor and Graecie's pink ensemble) while half the Red Kingdom players wear cooler tones (e.g. Apo's blue Moon Knight armour and Bek's green armour decor). Frogue lampshades the latter on Day 1, remarking how the Red Kingdom isn't wearing a whole lot of red.
• Company Cross-References:
  • The custom advancement for throwing a javelin at something is called "War of Hearts", bringing to mind the moment the song was played for in the Outsiders SMP.
  • One of the NPCs who can be summoned for a Farkle wager is the "Merchant Lord Gnarpy", complete with extraterrestrial mask.
  • On Day 3, Kitty and later other players stumble across an abandoned graveyard in the woods containing graves for Louis, Truffle, Hook, the Baker, the Gardener, and others.
  • During the Jesters' visit on Day 14, Mae sets down a Booby Trapped bell; Tubbo can only barely warn Owain not to ring it before he does so, crashing his game in the process. Likewise, during the same event, one of the Jesters' abilities is to play a Jump Scare of a Freddy Fazbear pop-up like on the Pirates SMP.
  • When 4C is sent to Purgatory by the Rogue God, he plays three Farkle matches against final bosses modelled after Cultists from the Church of Iris.
  • At the Night Market on Day 37, one of Avid's conches turns out to play the acoustic version of "Not Right" when blown.
  • On Day 49, Scott says that when he was returning to the Blue Kingdom after his father's death, he ran into a pack of wolves that were migrating east.
  • On Day 70, Nom tells Scott that he could pull off having ginger hair, and Scott and Mae's perspectives end with them sailing out to sea in memory of Nom, much like how Scott's Pirates counterpart sailed out to sea in memory of Acho.
• Connected All Along: Cambam and Sausage turned out to have already met prior to the start of the series, and Sausage was the one to start teaching dark magic to Cambam.
• Death Is Cheap: Unlike most POW SMPs (and more along the lines of Pirates), there is no life system in place on Bannerfall and players can die as many times as they wish to with no penalties, aside from potentially having their dropped inventories stolen by another player.
• Deliberately Monochrome: On Day 58, the first area in the Mental World of Cambam's traumatic memories is a version of the Red Kingdom deliberately built with pale blocks, with the only Splash of Colors being the pearlescent froglights (a signal for the Entity) and the Red Kingdom's throne.
• Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Alluded to on Day 32, where the Cirque du Vert mention a past incident involving one of their Blazes named Bathalzar that has been dealt with, and the Blazes have been sent to "the farm upstate", while vehemently denying that it's a euphemism for them being dead.
• Early Fireball Spell:
  • Subverted. Sausage first attempts to teach Cherri to channel her innate fire magic by summoning a fireball on Day 1, but isn't successful in doing so.
  • Averted entirely for everyone else as no other POV character is able to use fire magic at all, since it's not considered a school of magic native to the lands of Bannerfall.
• Easily Elected: Cambam, El, Cherri, and Mae's bids for Monarchy are all uncontested because no one else in their respective Kingdoms wanted the job at the time.
• Elective Monarchy: The Monarchs of both kingdoms are randomly selected from a group of self-nominators every two weeks, with previous monarchs being unable to re-run for election.
  • On Day 1, Cambam and Shan are elected as the first SMP-era Monarchs for their respective kingdoms.
  • On Day 11, Cherri and El are elected, not that either of them had much competition.
  • On Day 25, Frogue and Mae are elected as the third Monarchs.
  • On Day 38, Frogue is ousted as the Red Monarch and Kitty is elected as his successor. In the Blue Kingdom, Scott is elected with far fewer issues.
  • On Day 52, Katie and Nom are elected as the fifth Monarchs, to escalating tensions.
  • On Day 66, Sausage and Graecie are elected as the sixth Monarchs.
  • On Day 70, Bek is elected as the seventh Monarch, this time to rule over both kingdoms.
• Elemental Powers: The schools of magic accessible to Mages are all forms of elemental magic: Air, Water, Healing (Life), and Necromancy (Death) are all exactly what they say on the tin, whereas Nature covers both plants and light/illusion; while Mages typically choose to specialize in one specific school, they can (and often do) use spells from all schools with few repercussions. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Soluna's Royalty Superpower uniquely revolves around Playing with Fire.
• Ethereal White Dress: As Mages, both Eloise and Scott wear white or otherwise light-coloured clothing.
• Eye of Newt: On Day 32, after a spellcasting accident results in a "Freaky Friday" Flip, the cast must gather the eye of a newt, a certain potion, and (allegedly) something hard, shiny, and reflective across the kingdoms in order to reverse the spell.
• Flight: The Air spell "Flight" allows Mages to soar through the air.
• Floating in a Bubble: The "Bubble Capture" ability allows Mages to "create a sphere of water that traps and drowns their enemies", being able to control the bubble's movements at first. Later in the series, the latter is changed to dragging the bubble and whoever it may contain to the Mage who summoned it.
• Flooded Future World: Bannerfall takes place around 500 years after the fall of the Ice Walls in Pirates, which led to the Ecclesiae Sea (with its abnormally high sea level) spilling out and flooding the world beyond. It is said that the island that Soluna is located on used to be a mountain before the flooding.
• Forced Transformation: The side effects of eating the Creaking King's Creaking Clump to become more powerful (and in Nom's case, also cure The Plague) is physically transforming into a Creaking, a condition the Creaking King conveniently neglected to mention to Nom and Sausage when they took the deal. After Nom consumes the Creaking Clump, Creaking sounds begin to emit from him intermittently and he hears a voice telling him his "patron cannot be pruned by friendship" like how The Plague would essentially ultimately be cured. This culminates into physical changes starting on Day 68 for Nom and Day 69 for Sausage: their eyes turn from their original colour to amber, pale wood starts to grow on their faces, Nom saying he now feels different after breaking Creaking hearts in the Dungeon and can feel whenever someone is watching him, and their eyes becoming misaligned on their face to resemble the Creakings' vertically stacked eyes.
• Forever War: At least two centuries before the events of the SMP, the Kingdom of Bannerfall was split into the Red and Blue Kingdoms for reasons that no one is quite certain of anymore, leaving the two kingdoms caught in a constant state of warfare. The SMP takes place about a month after a major battle that left both kingdoms in ruin, hence the recruitment and reconstruction efforts as both sides were left to lick their wounds.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: When the Cirque du Vert travelling circus visits the kingdoms on Day 32, Bax casts a spell intending to turn Apo into a bird, but it backfires and results in the attendees all swapping bodies with someone else. Apo is put in Sausage's body, Bek is put in Shan's body, Cambam is put in Graecie's body, Cherri is put in Mae's body, Frogue is put in Bek's body, Graecie is put in Scott's body, Katie is put in Frogue's body, Kitty is put in Apo's body, Mae is put in Cambam's body^note but returns to her body early due to disconnecting during the event, Nom is put in Kitty's body, Owain is put in Cherri's body, Sausage is put in Katie's body, Scott is put in Nom's body, and Shan is put in Owain's body. The attendees are then sent to gather various materials across the kingdoms to reverse the spell, which Bax is able to do.
• The Gambling Addict: Much like in Cowboys, the moment many of the players learn of a dice game they can play on the server — in this case, Farkle — they gain the "urge" to start gambling their gold away like crazy playing it, with many quickly left in debt. But 4C probably takes the cake in being such an avid gambler that Eloise's first royal decree is to legally restrict how much he can gamble at a time, lest he drive the entire kingdom into debt.
• Green Thumb: Half of the Nature school of magic is dedicated to botanical magic: "Nature's Growth" spell allows Mages to accelerate plant growth, whereas the "Thorns" spell allows them to summon a wave of magical, poisonous thorns. Since Scott specializes in Nature magic, he gets a boost to botanical spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast them.
• Happy Ending Override: Downplayed, and more of a Bittersweet Ending Override. Pirates SMP ended with Iris being defeated, the Ice Wall she was maintaining falling, and Ivy sacrificing herself to bring an end to the Corruption once and for all, leaving the surviving cast free to go on their own adventures. The finale of Bannerfall (set later on in the same timeline) would imply that the Creaking Heart, already a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to the Corruption, is the Corruption in a new form: it claims to have been around for 500 years (the length of time between Pirates and Bannerfall); its expressed desire to "puppet [players'] bodies like a marionette" is similar to Ivy's possession by the Corruption and the Mage God describes it as "corruption" and "old magic" capable of taking new forms. This retroactively undercuts some of the impact of the ending of Pirates, especially with the implication that Cambam has been forcefully made into a physical carrier of the Creaking Heart.
• Healing Hands: The Healing school of magic is centred around health restoration and protection: "Touch of Undying" gives the target a blessing that saves them from death once, "Healing Circle" unleashes an expanding ring of healing energy to restore the health of all it touches, "Power Word: Heal" launches a bolt of healing energy that fully restores health and grants Absorption, and "Cleansing Aura" emits a purifying aura that cleanses negative effects from nearby allies. Cambam specialises in Healing magic, meaning he gets a boost to Healing spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast a Healing spell.
• Hope Spot: 4C's extensively long and gruelling parkour trial in Purgatory ends with him being presented with a button on a command block, seemingly one that will set him free. 4C presses the button… and is told "Were it so easy…", and the Rogue God taunts 4C some more before forcing him into an impossible Farkle game.
• Incurable Cough of Death: The first sign that a player is infected with The Plague is a cough, represented with a coughing sound and white particles gathering near them.
• The Inspector Is Coming: When Legundo the Parcel Elf announces via a letter that his visit to inspect the kingdoms is scheduled for Day 52, this causes some stress in the kingdoms who want to try and make themselves look presentable to him.
• Interrupted Suicide: It turns out that when Sausage saved Cambam after he fell from the tall Meadowhall Mage Tower, he had actually prevented Cambam from committing suicide, as the reason he fell was to try and free himself from the entity possessing him.
• Invisibility:
  • Rogues have the skill "Shadow Invisibility", which allows them to blend in with the shadows. When in a dark enough area, they become completely invisible (with even armour becoming obscured) for a limited amount of time, but their invisibility will end early if they attack or are attacked twice. By leveling up this skill, they can become invisible for longer and activate it in brighter light levels.
  • The Nature school of magic has the spell "Invisibility Touch", which can be used to turn a target (either another player or the Mage themself) invisible for three minutes upon touching them. This also makes them undetectable to hostile mobs. As a Nature Mage, Scott specializes in this spell and sometimes uses it psychoactively.
• It Is Not Your Time: The reason why Sausage saved Cambam’s life after he fell from a tall tower prior to the start of the series was because Lady Death had told him that it was not Cambam's time to die as he had a bigger purpose.
• Kissing Under the Influence: On Day 66, after Apo and Cherri return home from the Moonlit Masquerade while still being drunk from the event, Apo kisses Cherri before going to bed.
• Knighting:
  • Katie is formally knighted as Lady Katie the Brave of the Red Kingdom on Day 18 with server-members from both kingdoms in attendance.
  • On Day 54, Kitty is officially knighted as Ser/Lady Kitty of Bannerfall, with Owain performing the ceremony and Katie in attendance. Kitty chooses to take the same oath as furs caretaker: to always do the right thing for the betterment of everyone.
• Lady and Knight: In their shared backstory, Apo is the Knight assigned by the King of Soluna to protect Cherri, his princess daughter.
• Light 'em Up:
  • In addition to a Green Thumb, the Nature school of magic also covers light-related spells, though mainly illusionary in application. Since Scott specializes in Nature magic, he gets a boost to light-related spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast the same spells.
  • Sausage notes shortly before the start of the SMP that his late mother was a Light Mage.
• Long-Range Fighter:
  • Mages can only do 50% mêlée damage with a sword are weakened by wearing strong armour, and cannot use most weapons. This restricts most of their fighting abilities to ranged combat, sans a few contact-initiated spells.
  • Likewise, Rogues deal 25% less damage with a sword and all other close range weapons are completely unusable for them, making them far more suited for ranged combat.
• Locked into Strangeness: The physical effects of the deal with the Creaking King-induced Forced Transformation into a Creaking include the person's hair turning white.
• Loophole Abuse: A healing Mage cannot heal afflictions that they cast themselves. Since the Entity that caused The Plague in both Meadowhall and Bannerfall was possessing Cambam and otherwise seems to lack a physical form, Cambam was deemed as the Mage who cast the sickness, hence his inability to cure it on his own, something the Entity was more than willing to take advantage of for his Poison and Cure Gambit.
• Make Them Rot: The Necromancy spell "Necrotic Touch" allows Mages to curse a target with the Darkness and Wither status effects by touching them, with the latter effect being potentially lethal.
• Making a Splash: The Water school of magic allows Mages to harness water for movement, combat, and utility purposes: "Water Walk" launches users from water by propelling them in the direction they are facing, "Water Wave" summons a wave that sweeps away enemies and extinguishes fire, "Bubble Capture" creates a sphere of water that traps and drowns its target, and "Hold Water" allows users to bend water to their will by grabbing, moving and throwing water blocks. Shan specialises in Water magic, meaning she gets a boost to Water spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast a Water spell.
• Masquerade Ball: The Moonlit Masquerade is held on Day 66, where the players get to dress up in fancy outfits and have a ball of a time. Players arrive in fancy ornate clothing and masks, are given an alias based on the Major Arcana from tarot to use for the night and get tasked to find the person who has been assigned the same word as them.
• Master of Illusion: In addition to a Green Thumb, the Nature school of magic also covers light-related spells to generate illusions. Since Scott specializes in Nature magic, he gets a boost to illusionary spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast the same spells.
• Medieval European Fantasy: Next to the (relatively) mundane setting of both seasons of Rats, the nautical Adventure-Friendly World of Pirates, the Weird West of Cowboys and the Gothic Horror-inspired Vampires, Bannerfall stands out as the most classically "fantasy" of any POWCreations work so far, with its royals, guilds, and magic.
• Medium Blending:
  • The Jester's appearance in Owen's Day 32 livestream starts with him in expected Minecraft form playing a lute, only for the segment to transition to and be performed in live-action, complete with an accurate recreation of the Jester's outfit and him playing a real-life lute. Also, Owain's backstory in that same livestream is depicted in animatic form.
  • In Scott's perspective, Darius Springwell's final moments and the flashback to Scott's Traumatic Superpower Awakening are depicted in animatics.
• Mental World: On Day 58, Cambam, Apo, Cherri, Nom, Frogue, Scott, Katie, and Mae are transported by a spell into Cambam's memories, where they are taken through some of his most traumatic experiences before being thrown into a Battle in the Centre of the Mind against the Entity.
• Mimic Species: The Mirror/"Mimi" from Day 63 gets their name from how they replicate people's appearances to look just like them, but with clown makeup.
• Mirroring Factions: Despite despising the opposition, the two kingdoms are both highly boastful about their own scenery and guilds. The trailer even hammers it in by having the Red and Blue representatives speak alternatingly and in unison for each point when advertising their own kingdoms.
• Monster Arena: One of the Arena's settings allows players to fight five waves of mobs, primarily Illagers, in Easy, Normal, Hard, or Extreme mode. Players may choose to fight alone or as a group, but must pay tickets at a cost depending on their chosen difficulty level.
• Monster Clown: On Day 63, Katie is haunted by a spirit of a jester called the Mirror/"Mimi", a mimic that styles themself to look just like her but with clown makeup. Mimi was killed for being "too funny" and was sentenced to the Dungeon for doing worse things than killing an allay, and encourages Katie to kill anyone who doesn't find her funny.
• Mundane Utility: Despite them being designed for combat, Knight abilities such as "Shield Bash" and Apo's unique "Shooting Star" have been variously used to help them get around faster.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In Cherri's backstory animatic, Rendog voices the King of Soluna, who is dressed in red. This wouldn't be the first time Ren took on the role of a "Red King".
  • According to cc!Scott on Day 2, some of the spell ideas were taken from the WitchCraft SMP. The "Bubble Capture" and Raise Undead" spells are reminiscent of the Water Witch and the Necromantic Witch's respective starter spells.
  • One of the NPCs who can be summoned for a Farkle wager is Sparrow as a Copper Golem.
  • The abandoned graveyard for the Forgotten Kingdom in the woods containing graves for Milo and "the red lady, always hunting", among others.
  • During the Jesters' visit on Day 14, Tubbo remarks that the colour scheme of the trader boat in No Man's Land reminds him of L'Manburg (or more specifically, its flag).
    Tubbo: Why does this ship look like L'Manburg?! Never mind!
• Necromancer: The Necromancy school of magic allows Mages to summon and control the undead. "Command Undead" forces all nearby undead mobs to serve the caster's kingdom, "Raise Undead" summons 8 undead mobs that are loyal to the summoner's kingdom for 5 minutes, "Life Leech" allows the caster to heal by dealing damage for 3 minutes, and "Necrotic Touch" curses a target with Darkness and Wither by touching them. Sausage specialises in Necromancy, meaning he gets a boost to Necromancy spells that other Mages wouldn't get if they cast one.
• Night of the Living Mooks: Two Necromancy spells have this effect.
  • "Raise Undead" allows Mages to summon 8 undead minions that will be loyal to their summoner's kingdom for 5 minutes.
  • "Command Undead" allows Mages to exert their will over nearby undead, forcing them to serve the caster's kingdom.
• No, You: Shortly after Cambam announces a banquet for the Red Kingdom on Day 1, the two kingdoms start trash-talking each other again in the in-game chat, which just as quickly devolves into the most stereotypical sibling argument possible.
  Nominalgravy: Eww stinky red kingdom
  KatieGoBrr: no you
  […]
  Nominalgravy: No you times two eletric[sic] boogaloo
  KatieGoBrr: NO
  […]
  KatieGoBrr: IT DOESNT WORK LIKE THAT
• Non-Heteronormative Society: Soluna seems to invoke this. According to invokedcomments made by CherriFire, gay marriage and hormone replacement therapy are not only legal in Soluna (with the latter being free), but apparently mandatory.
• Our Mages Are Different: Players of the Mage character class can choose up to 4 spells per day (or more as the series goes on) out of a total of 6 different schools of magic by communing with the Kingdom Orb, and while Mages can use spells from every school, they gain a boost by using magic of the school they specialise in. Spells are cast with spellbooks or staves by correctly inputting a sequence that is displayed on screen, and the primed spell must be cast within a few seconds or it will fizzle out. There are some spells that require concentration, and only one of these can be active at a time, but the concentration spell's effects will be lost upon taking damage. Mages are the only character class who can brew potions and enchant, but will deal 50% less damage with a sword, cannot craft weapons, cannot cast spells or deal damage from horseback, and will be slowed if they wear armour stronger than copper. In TV Tropes classifications, they are primarily a mixture of the Gadget User, Chemist, and Racial variants, as magic usage is often hereditary and associated with Elf and Human lineages, but individual Mages may have inclinations towards other sub-types, such as Sausage being a Theurgist type as an acolyte of Lady Death.
• Parental Favoritism: Discussed. Several times during the "Freaky Friday" Flip of Day 32, Sausage (in Katie's body) runs after the Blue Kingdom blabbering about how "their" parents prefer "her" over Nom, to which Scott (in Nom's body) responds by non-canonically killing "her".
• Patriotic Fervor: Both the Red and Blue Kingdoms are very proud of themselves, and equally vicious to the other side. Zig-zagged by the players themselves, who run the gamut of genuine patriotism to only being aligned with their kingdom for personal reasons, and many are not hostile with those from the opposite kingdom purely out of principle.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: After the "Freaky Friday" Flip and the reveal that Cirque du Vert was trying to rob the kingdoms of their valuables, the Blue Kingdom decide to steal one of the circus' Happy Ghasts and adopt it as their own, believing it to be valid repayment.
• The Plague: On Day 37, the first signs of a contagious infection started to show in the players. The affliction is of unknown origin, but is theorised to be connected to the Creaking King and the Dungeon. It leaves infected players weakened over time, to the point where they will eventually start to lose a heart from their total health until it presumably leaves them completely dead. The infection is spread by coughing in the vicinity of the uninfected. By Day 52, the plague has spread to every player other than Cambam, though Nom joins the ranks of being cured on Day 54, both thanks to making a Deal with the Devil.
• Point Build System: Rogues, uniquely, work on this system. While Knights have (almost) universally the same abilities and Mages can select from a wide variety of spells, rogues divide points between their four main class features, allowing for more specialization.
• The Power of Friendship: The Entity's defeat on Day 58 in the battle in the centre of the Mental World of Cambam's traumatic memories is won when the only thing capable of damaging it is people making sincere attempts to assure and reach out to Cambam.
• Produce Pelting:
  • One of the Jesters' abilities is to summon tomatoes in order to pelt them at other players.
  • Defied at the Cirque du Vert's show on Day 32, where tomatoes are banned from the circus to prevent allergic reactions.
• A Rare Sentence: The "Freaky Friday" Flip of Day 32 malfunctions slightly and gives Mae her original body back a bit too early, resulting in…
  Scott: Uh, there's currently two of our Queen running up towards us.
  4C: Oh! How?
  Tibby: Well, that's a new sentence.
• Pronoun of the Dreaded: The Creaking King only refers to whoever or whatever caused the Forced Transformation of him and his subjects into Creakings as "It". He later alludes to having been "a fool" to trust "them" and "her", with it being left unclear who he is referring to. The "them" turned out to be Knights who tried to claim the King of Bannerfall's kingdom for themselves, and the "it" turned out to be a sapling that the "her" offered the King of Bannerfall that she claimed would return his kingdom to him, but instead "fed on [his] regrets [and his] failures" and transformed him into a host for the Creaking King. That said, the identity of "her" is never revealed.
• Really 700 Years Old: Elves have extended lifespans — Graecie is 167 years old and Legundo is old enough to have met Graecie and her parents when she was a baby and spent 50–200 years searching for the kingdom of Bannerfall (now the Red and Blue Kingdoms).
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Frarry, the demon Mae summons to attack the Red Kingdom, has large, red eyes.
• Required Secondary Powers: The "Thorns" spell allows a Mage to summon a wave of magical thorns that poison and slow down other players, but would remain immune to such effects themself.
• Role-Playing Game 'Verse: The SMP divides its players into different classes, each with their own skill tree to unlock. There are also plenty of sights to see and dungeons to defeat.
• Rookie Red Ranger: Both of the first SMP-era monarchs, Cambam (Red) and Shan (Blue), are new arrivals to their respective kingdoms when they're elected. This is lampshaded by multiple players.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: There are ruins of a long forgotten kingdom that seems to be the predecessor of the current Red and Blue Kingdoms, but the story of "the Forgotten Kingdom", and the ruins by extension, seems to be lost to time.
• Self-Duplication: The Nature spell "Mirror Image" allows Mages to create magical doubles of themselves that mimic their movement.
• Shield Bash: One of the Knight class' unique abilities is to launch forward and slam into their opponent while blocking with their shield.
  Honourable Knight: If you want to turtle up, forgo parrying with a shield. But know that that slab of wood can do more than just defend. If you jump while blocking, you'll bash forward. Slam right into them. There's nothing fancy about it, just physics and willpower, and it gets the job done.
• Shock and Awe: Sausage describes the bolts summoned using the "Arcane Bolt" spell to be bolts of lightning.
• Shout-Out:
  • The spellcasting mechanism, which requires a Mage player to press a sequence of arrow keys in quick succession, has immediately received comparisons to DanceDanceRevolution.
  • Cherri's stream titles often evoke musical references, with her Day 1 stream being titled "I Used to Rule the World", Day 20 being "Why Is My Reflection Someone I Don't Know?", Day 25 being "Queen of Nothing", Day 70 being "Ready As I'll Ever Be", etc.
  • On Day 1, Sausage likewise describes the "Arcane Bolt" spell as him "shooting lightning bolts from [his] fingertips like the lord Palpatine".
  • On Day 14, when Mae is swapped into the Red Kingdom and told to jest for them, she decides to sing "Hot to Go".
  • Nom's Day 19 stream is titled "Two Birds…".
  • On Day 25, Scott jokes about a travelling bard with a musically talented pet beetle called "The Beetle" who once passed through Barrowhill.
  • The circus troupe passing through Bannerfall on Day 32 is named 'Cirque du Vert'.
  • The Cirque du Vert's pet "bear" is nametagged 'Freddy'.
• The Show Must Go Wrong: The Cirque du Vert's act on Day 32 goes according to plan until the final act, where Bax attempts a difficult spell to turn Apo into a bird that backfires and makes all the attendees swap bodies.
• Shrink Ray: The Arcane spell "Enlarge/Reduce" can be used by a Mage to touch a target to change their size for two minutes, which can be used on themself or another player. The effects also stack if more than one Mage uses the spell on the same target.
• Sibling Rivalry: Nominal and Katie are siblings on opposite sides of the Red/Blue Kingdom rivalry. Downplayed in that while Katie still wants to distinguish herself, they're still on reasonably good terms and Nom values Katie's life and well-being far more than kingdom allegiances. Double Subverted on Day 52, when Nom's mental health takes a turn for the worse and declares that he would end the war himself at all costs, on the same day he and Katie are elected as Monarchs for their respective kingdoms.
• Signature Move: Every Knight has access to the same general abilities plus a unique special move:
  • Apo has "Shooting Star", where she can use a spear to launch upward, then dive down like a shooting star.
  • Bek has "Spear Spin", where she can deflect projectiles and damage enemies by rapidly spinning a spear.
  • Cherri has "Fire Infusion", where she can release a wave of fire that sets enemies ablaze.
  • Graecie has "Graceful Lunge", where she can use a spear to lunge without draining saturation.
  • Katie has "Pocket Sand", where she can blind targets for 2 minutes by throwing sand in their face.
  • Nom has "Mace Smash", where he can charge up a mace and and smash it into the ground to create a shockwave. In-series, however, he refuses to use it again out of shame for using it against his own comrades.
  • Owain has "Greatsword", where he can sweep right, sweep left and thrust forward in a 3-hit combination attack.
• Spell Book: Mages are able to cast spells using a spellbook — which may be alternately retextured to resemble other magical objects like staves. The pages within a spellbook are incomprehensible to those who are not its rightful owner.
• Spotting the Thread: On Day 1, Shan notes how when a Mage uses the "Mirror Image" spell, one can still tell who's the real Mage by their head movements, since all the illusionary duplicates would just stare straight ahead.
• Squishy Wizard: Mages have access to some powerful spells that can wreak all kinds of havoc on opponents, but are unable to wear armour stronger than copper without being slowed, so their physical defences are generally lacking.
• Stars Are Souls: Implied. The animatic of Darius Springwell's final moments shows a star that stands out in the night sky, and Darius tells Scott that he and his mother will watch over him. When Darius passes away, a second bright star appears in the sky close to the first one, implying that those stars are the late Springwells who will be watching over their son.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Having fallen on hard times, the Cirque du Vert take advantage of their circus act to rob the two kingdoms of exorbitant amounts of valuables like gold and diamond blocks. Once this is discovered, the residents of the two kingdoms point out how all they had to do was charge a higher ticket price than just two gold per person, as opposed to resorting to robbery.
• Sticky Fingers: In general, since Rogues have enhanced stealth and movement, they often try to steal anything that's not bolted down when given the chance, be it robbing the storage of the opposite kingdom or even pickpocketing their own allies. Day 32 even has Nom, normally a Knight, suddenly gain the "urge" and "muscle memory" to steal forbidden items like bedrock while swapped into Kitty's body.
  Kitty: (while the two monarchs are meeting on Day 1) Anyway, I gotta go pilfer through their chests now!
• Strength, Sorcery, Finesse: Both kingdoms employ the service of Knights (Strength), Mages (Sorcery), and Rogues (Finesse).
  • All Knights have access to a parry (which can trigger a Counter-Attack when used successfully) as well as a Shield Bash and a unique special move. They're also the only class that can use non-sword mêlée weapons, wear armor heavier than copper, use an anvil, or partake in Mounted Combat.
  • Mages prepare spells for the next day every night and have a very wide selection to choose from, but usually specialize in one school of magic and have special buffs when they use spells from that school, e.g. requiring two hits to break concentration and deactivate the spell as opposed to just one. They're also the only class that can use the enchanter or brew potions.
  • Rogues have a Double Jump, are capable of Feather Fall, and have a unique special move similar to the Knights. They also have access to four abilities — "Pickpocketing", "Wall Jumping", "Shadow Invisibility", and "Backstabbing" — that they can prioritize however they like through the Point Build System, and are the only class that doesn't suffer mining fatigue in the other Kingdom's territory. They also only have a 10-second cooldown for placing blocks in the opposite kingdom, whereas other classes would only be able to place one block per minute.
• Support Party Member: The Mage class was originally designed to play support while Knights battle with their combat skills and brute strength, having lower PVP or PVE capability and being unable to wear heavy armour. That said, certain spells like the "Arcane Bolt" and "Necrotic Touch" were designed with offensive uses in mind, and when used creatively, certain spell combinations can go from individually inconvenient to outright lethal when used together.
• Teleportation: Mages can learn the "Teleport" spell from the Arcane school, which launches a bolt of energy and will teleport the Mage to wherever it landed, like using an ender pearl in vanilla Minecraft.
• That Came Out Wrong: The "Freaky Friday" Flip of Day 32 has resulted in statements like "[X] is in [Y]" or "[X] is in [Y]'s body", to Owain's dismay. Scott admits to trying to phrase it in a way that makes it feel less like a double entendre, but they persist anyway.
• Three Approach System: The server has three classes of characters to choose from:
  • Knights, a fighter aligned class whose skills make them suited for direct combat. Their primary abilities are parrying with a sword and using a shield to knock enemies back. They can use all weapons with no drawback, can wear armour at the strength of iron and higher, can use anvils and deal damage on horseback. However, they cannot enchant or brew potions.
  • Mages, who study and wield magic of many different schools that can empower themselves, assist others or hinder enemies. These spells are cast through completing a sequence, and they can choose 4 spells per nightfall for the next day by communing with the Kingdom Orb. They can enchant and brew potions, but damage they deal with a sword is reduced by 50% and they cannot use or craft any other weapon. Furthermore, spells cannot be cast while on horseback.
  • Rogues, who are sneakier types with skills that lend themselves to thievery and trickery. They can allocate up to 9 Rogue Points to a total of 4 skills, can place and mine blocks in combat much faster than other classes and can mitigate fall damage by crouching at the right time. They are most suited for ranged weapons, since they deal 25% less damage with a sword and all other close range weapons are completely unusable. Also, wearing armour stronger than leather causes slowness, and they cannot make or enchant weapons.
• There Is Only One Bed: On Day 1, Shan and Graecie look for a place to sleep through the night, but they only find one bed (actually two beds pushed together, but effectively one bed due to Minecraft logic). They look at the bed, then at each other… and happily share the bed for the night.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: On Day 5, Scott tells Cherri that his magic developed during a specific life-threatening situation. Cherri then tries to hurt herself, thinking it may activate her own latent fire magic, but it doesn't work.
• Vancian Magic: Downplayed. The mages work on a Vancian preparation system, where they can select up to 4 spells to prepare every night using a special orb located in their kingdom, but they can cast those spells as many times as they want (although there is a Cooldown).
• Walk on Water: The "Water Walk" spell launches users from water by propelling them in the direction they are facing, effectively allowing them to run on water.
• When the Planets Align: The Mage Tutorial describes the night to be a time "when the stars align", which allows the Mage to "commune with the arcane" and reselect their spells for the next day.
• World Tree: There is a large tree on top of the Dungeon, but when a group first managed to get the Creaking King below 50,000 health points during a Dungeon run, the tree began to wilt, suggesting that its health serves as a signal for the strength of the Creaking King.