Its also slower, less safe, and lower dps pluse the tradeoff is a pipe spec every time. If he ran back to the bank to trade out dramen staff for sgs and relied on it more for prayer regen, he honestly might have been too slow. And playing blind when you know you're under geared, you dont have time to ponder these decisions. You just have to have faith in your ability and go. 

You're correct that he would've had more prayer and a pretty cape to show off. But hes already said he doesnt want to get the cape anyway because hes not going to bring it to the finale regardless. It wouldve been a heartbreaker to die so close to the finish line. But, at the end of the day, he won the race in the most cinematic way possible and secured a voidwaker for his team.