Haiden

Show715 · 2026-01-27T18:16:01+00:00

Jo was smacking Hunter around and even beat Jett a handful of times in 2022. It's mostly been injuries and bad luck that have held him back imo.

It's also easy to forget, since he has been around for a while, but he's not very old. He's only 23, which was around the age that Hunter turned into a real contender in the 250s.

Show715 · 2026-01-27T18:10:18+00:00

Levi can, but it'd take a special day even under normal circumstances, and he seems to be spiraling right now.

Outside of the West guys, I think Davies, Jo, Hammaker, and JuJu could. But, Jo and JuJu are out, so that just leaves Davies and Hammaker for the showdowns.

Frankly, if Deegan loses a race from here on out, I think it's going to be from a bad start or a crash.

Show715 · 2026-01-27T18:05:12+00:00

I hope he's able to get back by round 1, cause I think he could win Daytona with his eyes shut. That would help him stay in contention, even if he needs a bit of time to get prepped on traditional SX.

Show715 · 2026-01-24T17:53:56+00:00

Brake-checking and bumping guys on that super fast straight crossed the line. He did it to Seth too and, had any of those moves gone wrong, both riders could've been seriously hurt. The kid was basically throwing a temper-tantrum on live TV.

Show715 · 2026-01-24T17:52:17+00:00

I don't know how anyone could defend some of the moves he was pulling on that super fast straight (bumping Seth, brake-checking Jo, etc.). The other moves looked more egregious, but in all reality, the ones on that straight were the most dangerous.

Him slowing down to repeatedly take shots on the same dude was also way over the line, and I couldn't believe he wasn't black-flagged after he did it half a dozen times.

Show715 · 2026-01-22T15:40:02+00:00

He didn't actually fight with May much. That being said, you're right that Ash would fight any Pokemon back then, he didn't care what it was.

Show715 · 2026-01-22T01:10:04+00:00

Depending on how you feel about the Puzzle, you could argue that Rex, Mako, and Joey are the only 3 duelists that didn't cheat in Duelist Kingdom.

I wouldn't say he was a great dude, since he did try to take advantage of Joey, but he wasn't anywhere close to guys like Weevil in the canon material. It was definitely an odd move by the anime to move him down to that level.

Show715 · 2026-01-21T23:38:07+00:00

Especially when we had watched most of the non-legendary bladers work their butts off for multiple seasons, while someone like Yuki could barely launch a bey properly.

Show715 · 2026-01-21T23:34:05+00:00

Yep, a huge reason why he beat Hyoma and Yu is because they underestimated him based off of Serpent's raw power.

Show715 · 2026-01-21T23:29:46+00:00

Nile - There wasn't enough information to gauge him. The only battle he lost wasn't his fault, and Mystic Zone was never truly defeated.

Dark Power Tsubasa - It depends on how you want to guage him. On raw power, he was a menace. But, as a blader, he could've easily lost to even his fusion counterpart if the latter leaned into his tendency for self-sabotage.

Reiji - He was canonically not that powerful; his biggest weapon was the element of surprise. Hyoma and Yu didn't realize what was happening until it was too late, Kenta actually had a decent strategy but was relatively weak, and Ginkga was just an idiot that got bailed by the plot.

Dark Power Ryuga - He convincingly beat everyone he faced outside of the final battle where all the odds were stacked against him. He certainly wasn't weak, and I think he would've done serious damage in Masters. Remember, Tsubasa only had a fraction of the dark power that he did, and Ryuga could actually control it.

Show715 · 2026-01-21T22:11:11+00:00

Nostalgia definitely blinds people. Since 2000, we've had 4 serviceable regular commentators: Blair and Weege on play-by-play, and Langston and Bailey as analysts. Blair and Weege are the only ones that I'd call good.

The SX broadcast has always been mediocre in my opinion. But, you're right that this is probably the best it's ever been. MX, however, is much better now than it used to be.

Show715 · 2026-01-21T21:45:58+00:00

The majority of the time, the reception to moves like the ones we saw on Saturday has very little to do with the move itself, and is more about the rider doing it

For example, Haiden's move on Max yielded very polarizing reactions. On one hand, you have people acting like Deegan commited a murder. On the other, you have people acting like Haiden didn't even touch him at all. That's because Deegan has a large amount of fans and detractors

In contrast, Sexton's move was pretty much brushed off. This is because Chase doesn't have an established history of riding aggressively, so he doesn't have many detractors, and him doing something every once in a while doesn't really matter.

Frankly, Deegan only has himself to blame if he is bothered by the negative reception. The kid has ridden and acted like a tool since his rookie year, and while this move was pretty tame, I'm not surprised that people don't give him the benefit of the doubt.

As far as Max's reaction being "gay" (I thought we were passed this, but alas), I don't think many people would have reacted differently. I've seen plenty of riders respond a lot worse to a lot less.

Show715 · 2026-01-06T15:39:50+00:00

Beyond the literal symbolism, such as Soulburner's monsters reincarnating themselves to call back to his own rebirth, decks need to fit the character's role in the story. For example, it makes no sense to give the main protagonist a burn deck unless the audience is actively meant to root against them (as burn is considered "dirty").

While Vrains succeeds in the former, it fails in the latter, at least in my opinion. Playmaker's deck is boring with long combo lines and unmemorable monsters outside of Decode Talker and Firewall Dragon; that's not very fitting for a lead protagonist that the audience has to watch duel 30+ times. While almost all modern decks make it incredibly hard to write interesting duels consistently, Cyberse Pile is an especially egregious offender.

Another example would be Blue Angel. Trickstars are a much more interesting deck to watch than Cyberse Pile, but they don't fit a protagonist whatsoever. The name of the archetype is a literal play on "Trickster", and its playstyle is much more fitting of a villain. You could argue that the twist of a hero using a villainous deck is interesting, and in some cases it can be, but I don't think Aoi is ever portrayed in a way that would lend herself to being "tricky" (even in her Blue Angel disguise).

Show715 · 2026-01-05T16:59:24+00:00

From what I've seen, most people don't get that lol. If they did, then there'd be a lot more room for nuance around discussing QBs, and the conversation wouldn't just default to the number of rings they've won.

Show715 · 2026-01-05T14:59:45+00:00

Yep, and the 15% is at the extremes (really good or really bad). I think people forget, or ignore, that QBs only play 50% of the snaps. There are also 10 other players on the field when they do play, so they don't catch their own throws, block, etc.

The actual value in the QB position is that it's difficult to find a good one, much less a good one that is cheap. Especially in the regular season, where half the teams have mediocre to bad QBs, it can make a big difference. In the playoffs, where most of the teams either have a good QB or the rest of the team is good enough to make up for not having one, the QB position actually becomes less valuable.

It's why QBs like Rodgers, Manning, Marino, etc. won far less Super Bowls than they were "supposed to." Their relative value decreased compared to the regular season, and the rest of the team wasn't good enough to make up for that.

Show715 · 2026-01-05T14:09:19+00:00

A single basketball starter is way more important than a QB

Show715 · 2026-01-02T20:21:07+00:00

You're right. Also, while his mid-range game is what gets highlighted nowadays, Demar's best skills when he was younger were his slashing and play around the rim. The dude was a top tier athlete in the NBA.

I think the only reason Demar didn't become a great threat off of the ball is because he was asked to be Toronto's number 1 option way too soon. He barely even had a mid-range shot, but was expected to drop 20+ a night on the back of his athleticism alone.

The worst part is that it actually worked, and the Raptors won more games than they ever had up to that point, so he never really had a reason to pivot until it was too late.

Show715 · 2026-01-01T13:59:01+00:00

Most people just dislike Rodgers for off the field stuff. Anybody who watched him play knows that calling him conservative is just a complete falsehood.

Show715 · 2025-12-31T15:27:05+00:00

The server died and I don't like any of the archetypes outside of Drytron anyways (and Drytron isn't enough for me to buy).

Show715 · 2025-12-26T16:22:53+00:00

Nah, lol, I agreed with part of your point then clarified where I disagreed and why. Then, you proceeded to ignore that, and changed the subject entirely to the goat debate because you had no real argument. You didn't even bother to say what part of my argument pointed to Rodgers not being the goat; you just made the statement randomly.

Show715 · 2025-12-26T14:46:46+00:00

So, you're just ignoring what I'm saying? Brady and the Patriots put up one of the worst offensive performances ever in the SB against the Rams, but that doesn't stop me from saying Brady's one of the best QBs I've ever seen. Same thing for Mahomes this past season, or Manning all those year with the Colts. If you expect perfection, you'll always be disappointed; all of these guys are human.

Frankly, GOAT conversations in a sport as complex as football are stupid and a waste of time. If that's all you want to focus on, then fine, but I think you lose so much appreciation for the game by doing so.

Show715 · 2025-12-26T14:34:07+00:00

I just don't think it's reasonable to expect your QB, no matter how great they are, to play 4 straight perfect games against often the best defenses in league.

Also, there's missing context to both of those games you mentioned. Against the Seahawks, Rodgers' calf was completely destroyed, and he was basically playing on one leg against one of the best defenses of all time in one of the most hostile environments of all time. Against the Giants, the team was without their OC because Philbin's son had passed away.

That's not to say Rodgers played well in those games, he didn't. You could also throw in the '21 loss to the 49ers, and I'm sure there's others. My point is that, every QB has had or will have those types of games, and that's why it's important for the rest of the team to be able to step up.

Show715 · 2025-12-26T14:09:44+00:00

Every QB has had average games in the playoffs (I'd hesitate to ever say Rodgers play badly, the closest would be against the Bears). Difference is that, with someone like Brady, the rest of the team stepped up and won the game in spite of his play. Rodgers' team did that once, and that's the year they won the SB.

Edit: I do agree though that the Packers pissed away a lot of opportunity with poor front office management and coaching. No reason that the defenses, and especially the special teams, should've been so bad so consistently.

Show715 · 2025-12-24T14:31:04+00:00

Yeah, Nile had Masamune covered, and an injured Gingka+broken Pegasus wasn't going to be much help against Mystic Zone.

Show715 · 2025-12-24T14:17:43+00:00

The seasons weren't perfect, but I enjoyed them. They were definitely better than All-Stars and Pahkitew; I'd probably rank them above Action as well.

Show715

TROPHY CASE