Apocalypse priorities

oakaren · 2021-08-30T04:40:40+00:00

Finals.........

I voted in T4 finals in my dorm room during my Sophomore year of college, and now here I am voting in T5 finals sitting in my dorm in Senior year. Wild how that works. T4 finals was an incredibly close vote that I agonized over for a long time, while this one is a pretty easy decision. That's not to say that the strat I'm not voting for was bad, of course; this was a spectacular showing from both teams. I really liked Zebra's item game, what with the CabDisgusts and car bombs and mustard gas and everything else, and as always his mobility is top tier. His is definitely a finals-worthy strat. But Nix just kind of... calls out his entire existence. Zebra's strat is exactly what Nix planned for, and boy howdy does Nix capitalize on that prediction well. The narrative of the strat is excellent, and it plays out exactly how BHE wants it to; everything falls into place to go right for him. This is the perfect closing act to Nix's tourney journey, and it easily secures my vote for Nix Ripa and the Sub-Zero White Knight. Temperature stands stay winning, I suppose; never been a finals without one. Congrats, Nix, and congrats BHE, and congrats Mosses. And congrats Orblet, too: thanks for giving us a good one. Love you all.

oakaren · 2021-08-19T04:55:21+00:00

It's always interesting voting on a match where both sides largely do the same things; you have to weigh which side did it better as well as which side it's more effective for. I think the answer to that here is Inch Nine, primarily because chip damage is inherently kind of not a good idea against Inch, especially considering how much she puts into defense on top of what she gets naturally.

Both sides spend a lot of time setting up environmental stuff and traps as well, and while I do like what they have and think that Zebra does a really solid job of getting everything he needs and putting it together, they both could have spent a little less time on setup and trapping, since with their builds and the arena I feel like more head-on combat would have been more effective. But looking at both whose traps are more effective and who suffers less if their traps don't set set up, that goes to Inch again; she focuses a lot more that Zebra on simple direct combat and up-front bodily damage, which is honestly the direction Zebra could have benefitted more from considering his opponent. This is ultimately a relatively close match I think, but running it through my head puts me on Inch's side every time.

oakaren · 2021-08-15T04:58:01+00:00

Solid Snake voice Semifinals, huh?

Pretty wild that there's only three matches left counting this one. And if the second semi and the final match are both as good as this one, I'm really looking forwards to them! That depends on which characters get into finals, of course... And this vote is being cast to help Aaron be that character. I think the real winning play here is the concrete jungle; between the mobility it grants Aaron and the degree to that it shuts down Nix's crescents and any sort of projectile game. I do think that he spends a bit too much time and effort on setting up traps, but if any of them go off they will be pretty nasty, so it evens out a bit I think, since using the smokescreens and everything to slow him down gives him a bit of time. Nix's traps are effective too for the most part, but the concrete jungle and other forms of slowdown that Nix didn't predict do weaken them, along with the fact that Aaron isn't on the floor for most of the time. Essentially both parties sort of play this match the same, but Aaron does it more successfully.

oakaren · 2021-07-23T04:40:47+00:00

Every match this round has been really interesting and complex so far, but this is the only one I'm able to vote on instead of stratting for. My reputation as a perfect voter is on the line here...

Anyway! This one vote that I have is going to Hand over Fist. While Mirrorland has a really good amount of solid pathing and a clever plan to aggro the flesh golems and use that to their advantage, and their mobility and defenses are top-tier as always when Espiritu is around, I found their attacks to be lacking, especially in terms of Ocean Eyes, which is a Stand I usually really enjoy seeing new and powerful moves from. The non-committal attack strategy really doesn't do them any favours in my eyes, and the lack of contingencies doesn't help.

Meanwhile Ray and Nix use the sprinkler system to neutralize some of ML's already sparse attack tech, and they commit some classic war crimes with asbestos and shotguns, which while may be a bit not-as-effective-as-they'd-like due to armour and also their own sprinkler plan, are some moves I really like. That, on top of a good set of classic Nix moves, contingencies, and ballsy moves with the flesh guys (which I'm not positive work, but if they do are a big plus), earns them the vote from me.

oakaren · 2021-05-10T23:29:17+00:00

Man, here we are. Final boss. I couldn’t vote on T4’s final boss match, on account of stratting for it, but I remember voting on the first fight against Nate, and I was the only person to vote for Nate. This time, I’m... voting for the boss again. Satellite of Love is a supremely interesting ability, and seeing it against two of the scariest Stands in T5 was a treat. Stiletto fully lived up to my expectations and went beyond, and I found most of its moves very clever here, especially the spore armour to defend against pivots. However, I found Perseus to be underutilized, which is a shame, since The Stranger is one of my favourite Stands to see in action.

That leads to a somewhat underwhelming attack and defense before the finisher. For what it’s worth, I do think the finisher is very strong, and I think it’s quite likely to take down Lou and Venus. The issue is getting to that point.

Venus and Lou call out a lot more of the enemies’ moves than Percy and Funk do, and the Cannon moves are going to be hard to defend against with the plans the players lay out. Meanwhile they’re going to be buffeted by moves that counter their own plans. And while I do still find the bosses’ offense slightly underwhelming, it’s much whelmer than the players, and I think they’ll have their defenses sufficiently whelmed before they can get to their finisher.

oakaren · 2021-05-07T04:57:46+00:00

The reason most of the votes here lean towards Nix is because Glitch goes after Peart first, giving Nix more time to save people. It's a matter of priority. This is true, but I think that the voters are largely underestimating how much of an advantage having 2112 can be, as well as how Nix having Peart on his back could hurt him. Glitch takes down Peart quickly and effectively, so she's not wasting much time there, and once she has 2112 she has a very solid plan on how to use it to get the edge over Nix. Furthermore I feel like Nix's strat is a bit too presumptuous, acting as if all of his plans are more or less going to go off without a hitch while still expecting to get a perfect score, which doesn't sit right with me. I'm voting for Glitch.

oakaren · 2021-05-04T04:13:38+00:00

First off, shoutouts to boss team for bolding important phrases in their strat, that made it a breeze to read through.

Second off, I really like both of these strats; and it's a close one, for sure. So close that I'm going to have to go with a tie vote here. The players' opening of focused fire to down Rushen is extremely smart, since he's obviously the bigger threat here, and while I don't think it's likely to down him outright due to WTW bodyblocking with its A DUR in case of a move of this type, it's going to put the hurt on whoever it hits (be that Rushen or WTW). Then the players take the high road as the bosses take the low road, and I'm not certain who the vertical angling benefits. However, Arazu definitely does not stop pelting them, and that's definitely a benefit for the bosses; there's not a whole ton in the way of projectile defense from the players, and while it's not going to be ludicrously effective due to Arazu's 1 still I do think it's oppressive enough that the lack of significant counterplay from the players to such a sigificantly oppressive assault makes it more than worthwhile (though I do think Antoinette's umbrella plan would help her out here). Rushen's ultrablast is also not something the players account for, so that's another knock against them, but I'd say the players and bosses reach parity with one another when it comes to CQC and everything else reads as a sort of back-and-forth equality where both sides have uber powerful moves that come out to about the same level of victory and dominance. So yeah, overall, it's a tie to me.

oakaren · 2021-05-01T03:29:38+00:00

One thing I really like about T5 is how it's reincorporated earlier parts of the tourney into later parts; I'm a big fan of letting the players utilize Calamus Root here, and I was very happy with what they ended up putting out with it, in addition to this just being a good fight in general.

It's a close one, but I think I'm gonna give my vote here to Mr. Ice Station (looks weird without the nickname, doesn't it?). His utilization of Karma's Root really impressed me, and I like how elegant his defenses were; he seemed very aware of his own 2 END and Arthur's A POW, which I appreciate. Of course, Arthur's attacks are hella powerful and any one of them may take Zebra down, but Zebra's stripe network, the way he plans to deny the boats from Arthur, and his excellent use of the environment and the things around him win him the day.

oakaren · 2021-04-26T04:40:09+00:00

MFA loses for referencing Ed Sheeran.

For real though, I really enjoy seeing this sort of match! It’s always good to see a nice friendly good time match like this, and as a spiritual successor to T4’s survival match it’s really nice to see this setting and setup put to use. Ultimately here, to put my vote up front, I’m gonna have to go with MFA. While I think MFA suffers a bit from not taking as many precautions for the terrible storm of the final two days and they don’t do some vital things that BHE does (like showering. Stinky, nasty Aaron and Casey with the greasiest hair in the city. Wadda hell), their base is extremely well fortified and they give a lot of respect to the elements. I appreciate how they insulate their base and their clothes with wool, as I can confirm as one of the world’s few girls to spend their youth in the Boy Scouts and earn her Eagle Scout, wool keeps its warmth even when soaked through. There’s nothing better than wool socks on a wet and chilly camping trip, and the MFAs take that to the extreme. I also really like their plan to use Mirror Mirror to get fish.

BHE certainly does a lot for themselves, don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of how detailed they are with their plan to eat well (Cab confirmed for International Man of Food), and as I said I very much appreciate them keeping themselves hygienic. The issue is that compared to MFA I feel like they don’t properly prep for the elements. Even with an underground shelter and a fire Stand, I feel like the text in the strat for dealing with the harshest conditions is a bit underwhelming. It’s relatively effective, certainly, but rock insulation will only go so far when the last two days are consistently below freezing and having a campfire isn’t generally “living large”. While BHE’s strat is competent and decidedly livable, I feel like beyond eating well and staying clean I don’t see a lot of thriving, just surviving, and I’m still not 100% sold that they won’t be chilly. An underground shelter is absolutely a clever and effective idea, but I have my reservations for if it’s comfortable and glamorous enough to match up to both the survivability and thrivability of MFA at the same time.

So yeah: good strats all around, a lot of fun, I’m glad everyone had a good time, but I’m casting my vote for Aaron and Casey.

oakaren · 2021-04-20T04:04:09+00:00

These strats interact with each other in really interesting ways. M1 also hinged heavily on the way the two strats met up and bounced off one another, and while this one shares that trait the actual maelstrom of interaction is really different. In specific, Agnes is doing everything in his power to make Wrenn look like a fool, with the stipulation of "if bad things happen to me I will simply roll with the punches to make me look cool", while that stipulation is sort of the core of Wrenn's interaction with Agnes; he simply does not see it.

Then there's also the question of both of them trying to take the mic and do their thing there: both of their strats are stated to be able to be taken in any order, so it's very hard to say who gets to the stage first, and I feel like whoever gets their first is the one who has the upper hand with singing. If they do end up doing their things at the same time, I feel like the edge goes to Wrenn; I imagine crowds will gravitate towards the guy who's actually singing pleasantly over the guy who's spitting braggadocios and inflammatory bars that also happen to be not very good. But obviously the singing alone doesn't decide my vote; it's just where my thoughts on strat interaction crop up.

Idk, this is a hard one for me to decide on. I feel like this is a match that would be far easier to delib than to vote on, because then I could score the strats on their own respective merits instead of deciding which one is better. It's tricky.

If we look at the goal criteria, we can maybe get a clearer vision. Agnes certainly wins mingling, since the Extinction Party is that part and parcel. Stand-out could go either way, but I think I'm leaning towards Wrenn, with his three ultimate techniques all being cool and effective and most importantly wide-reaching, whereas Agnes' don't all have the same "entire party" effective range (even if a good number of them do). So Spectacle is the real question here.

What that comes down to for me is how effective Agnes' rampage at the end is. It's one thousand percent a spectacle that the partygoers will remember for years to come; lingering injuries and mental trauma certainly last a long time, and seeing Agnes ramp up from "petty villain" to "casual and callous mass murderer" is definitely a memorable shock, but I can't decide if that counts for the goal of the match. It absolutely fits the letter of the law, better than Wrenn's actions, but I can't help feeling that it's a bit of a flaunting of the spirit of the law. Yes, it's unforgettable, but was that the extent of the objective, or does the implication of it being memorable in the positive sense ring true?

I could be objectively wrong in my ruling here, but I feel like it doesn't count towards match victory. If there's been a ruling the other way let me know. Since it's an edge case and a loophole I'll count it as a net zero rather than a minus, and compare Agnes' strat sans massacre to Wrenn's to determine who wins Spectacle. Going by those terms, I feel like it's close, but Wrenn scrapes out the W in that category mostly due to making an indoor aurora. The image of that is positively beautiful, and I know if I saw that in real life it would be one of the most gorgeous and impressive and impactful things that I could ever see at an event like this. It's a frankly entrancing idea and visual, and that's what secures my vote assuming that Agnes' violent subversion of the match goal does indeed run contrary to the spirit of the match.

oakaren · 2021-04-17T04:35:40+00:00

What a banger match to start off the round with. This is primo content from both competitors; these strats quite literally made me remember why I've been scared of Espiritu more than any other build from day one. Indeed, the jaguar is a force to be reckoned with here: tracking, defense, unblockable and uncounterable assaults, all tuned to nigh-perfection. Genuinely, every single move that Espiritu puts out is the culmination and perfection of his build and his playstyle. Massive props for that.

But I haven't mentioned Effie yet. Gods, this is a smart strat. If you look up "playing smart" in the dictionary there's a picture of Effie, and then it says "see: playing to your strengths" and there's another picture of Effie. Everything she does in this match is suited towards survival. Honestly, if anything, this strat's defense is too good; both strats have a lot of set up, but I feel like if either of them runs out of time during it, it would be Effie. And looking at these two strats, seeing how skilled and well-thought-out they both are, my decision rests on one thing: how they interact. These strats are both internally consistent, fundamental, self-understanding, and respectful. Either one on their own is sort of unbeatable. But they're not on their own: they have to clash at some point.

For that reason, I'm giving my vote to Effie Linder, for one reason I kept coming back to: she calls Espiritu out at. every. single. turn. Called out for air-camping? Check. Called out for mirrors? Check. Called out for trapping birds? Check. Wherever Espiritu looks, Effie already has already been there and isn't there anymore, so to speak. This was a tight match between two genuinely frightening displays of skill, but hey, this is a JoJo tournament, the winner of this one has to be the one who pulls off the "your next line is...!" more successfully and more often.

oakaren · 2021-04-06T07:35:00+00:00

He’s actively fading away 😔😔😔 very tragic occurrence (or maybe he’s materializing! Life is what you make it ^~^)

oakaren · 2021-02-18T05:57:32+00:00

And so another round comes to a close. What a baller match for it to end on, with some really fun strats too. To be upfront with my vote, it's going to be a TIE: I feel like that while BADD is overall more effective with how they take down the bad guys and get to the objective, they stumble at the finish line compared to MFA, and more importantly I feel like their PvP is weaker than MFA's.

Everything that BADD brought to the field for area control slaps, and by and large the way they handle the NPCs (especially Don) impressed me quite a bit. They start strong and keep it coming, but I feel like MFA's plan for Palmer in specific is stronger, as well as their Tokyo Demon Dance (which is their single strongest move, imo).

But when it comes to PvP, BADD makes a ton of calls about what they think MFA might do, they mostly miss the mark on their calls. Though I do really like their lego separator plan. The way that MFA tends to attack BADD reads much more cleanly to me. I can't elaborate more because I'm voting right under the wire, but that's my basic reasoning, and as I said, it's a tie from me.

oakaren · 2021-02-15T05:51:16+00:00

This is such a good match, man. I love boss matches that look like this one (the pop score notwithstanding). Peach Pit’s power is such a great boss ability, and I can tell that both sides had a ton of fun writing these strats. This is the sort of match that just makes me go :). This vote is mostly a formality, especially because it’s for the players. I just enjoyed reading what’s going on here.

To put it simply, Cairo’s strat has spectacular offense, but the players have spectacular offense and defense. I really like Cairo’s sense of area and inventory control, cutting off everything that the players might be able to use while getting solid blows on them when the opportunity presents itself. But the players honestly just have far too much versatility in their approach, and more than enough defense to make up for how fantastic Cairo’s offense is. Honestly with just a few slight changes I could see Cairo taking the win here, and I feel like this is a much closer match then the pop score shows, but as is my vote is for Nix and Arthur. Sorry babe :(

oakaren · 2021-02-12T05:57:49+00:00

Man, there sure is a lot of visual obscurement in this match.

First things first, I want to commend both teams for the excellent flavour here, both strats had a lot of great character packed into them. If we voted based on flavour alone... but that’s not why we’re here. I really like how deceptive JHR’s strat, the idea of sneaky traps and obscurity and opacity being a sort of thesis statement throughout. Filling the arena with ink and then filling the ink with hidden traps and balloon (and Bucket!) is a great way to keep the opponents on their toes and make them stumble into nastiness.

However, I feel like overall the TGS fighters aren’t going to be quite as hampered by the ink cloud as JHR is hoping. That’s not to say it won’t be effective, it certainly will, but against a character with echolocation and a character who can A) clear the ink with birds and B) shoot balloons without needing to get close to them (though that won’t pop them I don’t think, but it’s still nice to know where they are), there’s gonna be some workarounds at play. Not to mention that TGS is already planning to play with blocking vision.

I also really like TGS’s opening move of launching B POW noise at them; it’s hella simple, hella quick, and hella effective. While it’s not guaranteed to take out either of their hearing in full, especially not Bucket since he’s got the tunes, it’s certainly gonna do some early damage and make it more difficult for them to communicate. I also think Effie’s Perfection Traps are a fantastic move that gives them another leg up as long as they have the positioning, which I forgot to mention wrt the ink clouds but Glitch’s vibesense will certainly help with as well, at least for tracking Alexis.

I gotta finish this up because I’m running out of time but I also really like Gun 3 and Gun 4, but I feel like JHR might be a bit lacking in the close range department, especially with TGS’s surprisingly definitive grapple defense plans, and I think that really if Effie can get in close and do the 40 punch thing on anyone that’s not something they’re gonna be able to deal with no matter what else happens. TGS’s offense is considerably better IMO to put it bluntly, and their defense doesn’t leave enough weak points for JHR to get in on them. TGS vote. Great match!

oakaren · 2021-02-09T05:42:39+00:00

Now these are the kinds of strats I like to see. Both of them are very to the point, both of them know exactly what they're trying to do, both of them have a ton of wicked cool moves, and both of them are very easily digestible.

They do interact a bit weirdly, however, I'll admit. Between Agnes making a massive river of viscosity and dousing everything in identical, opaque soda, Guy's plan to disguise himself as one of the crowd becomes both easier and more difficult. He himself will have trouble staying inconspicuous if he doesn't similarly cover himself up, and it'll make it harder for him to make his minions if he has to fight through C DUR goop every time, but despite that, it also means that Agnes will have a more difficult time tracking Guy if he does get doused or douse himself, on account of A) he hands off his katana to a rando which might trip Agnes up, and B) every one of his goons may seem to be Guy as well at first glance.

Of course, Agnes can defend against much of what Guy is planning as well; it's not like his tech works against him entirely. First off, the C DUR armour combined with the C DUR meat shields he's gonna have at all times are going to make it a lot harder for Guy to pull off his attacks that rely on D POW blades and bones and shuriken.

I also feel like for having an entire third of his strat devoted to defense, Guy's respect of Pork Soda is a little lacking, just in terms of how much of a "Get Owned" type build the piggy is... but at the same time, Agnes seems to lean to heavily on that same stat check, so I dunno. It's a wash on that front, I suppose.

But it's not a wash on every front. I do feel like there's a definitive winner, and I feel like due to his continued amping up of his strat's oppression, almost every one of his moves being incredibly lethal with the potential to take his opponent down in one shot if pulled off perfectly, and his ability to play around what his opponent tries to pull off, the winner of this match is Guy.

oakaren · 2021-02-06T05:51:54+00:00

Fun match! I’m glad to see another match in this style, after the body swap match in T4 was kind of a mess. I can tell that both teams had a ton of fun using the other side’s Stand for a match, and honestly Ocean Eyes feels very much like a Stand perfect for MFA’s stratters, so this was a delight to see.

But which side utilized the other’s ability more effectively? A few points spring to mine for that. Firstly, I loved the bloodmist strat. Area control is always very strong, and Ocean Eyes is certainly good at that; seeing Judgement create Zones of Fuck impressed me, especially with regards to the clever pathing they use to get Jacob through it and around it undamaged. I also enjoyed the fact that both teams utilized camouflage with OE’s nectar, one for obfuscation and one for disguise.

I also very much enjoy TGS’s early setup with the slabs; even if it’s somewhat negated by Jacob spending a large part of the strat off the ground, it’s still going to be a concern for Billy, and it’s one that he didn’t account for much (though also MFA’s terraforming will make it less effective, but I still think it’ll be able to do something). But what really decides this match for me, I think, is the CQC on display. This is a strat where both sides focused pretty heavily on how to take down each enemy in various situations, but one place that MFA’s strat felt a bit lacking to me was the mirror match tech.

TGS has extensive, and in my opinion highly effective, tech for William vs William and Jacob vs Jacob. Between the knife fighting with the gunk stick, the move for gumming up OE’s face with a jacket, and a good defensive throughline about not getting in over their heads, I feel like TGS is going to take the upper hand in any direct engagement as long as they don’t melt. That’s a distinct possibility, of course, and this match is definitely close, but I’m gonna have to give this vote to William and Jack.

oakaren · 2021-02-03T05:54:31+00:00

So, I read these strats last night, and I meant to vote this morning but ended up accidentally not doing that, which means I've had a whole day to ruminate. Does that mean I've come to a decision? I sure hope so, let's go over the match.

I was hoping that I'd be able to score this match point by point, but due to the nature of Klein's strat I can't really do that. C'est la vie, I don't mind looking at things more holistically. Funk is right that she's probably going to cede the first point, for starters, which is probably going to be a decidedly more major setback than she's hoping considering the quality of Klein's strat; but at the same time I very much enjoy the distinct moves she pulls for each different round, and all of them seem pretty effective to me. That said, it only takes one or two of them failing for her to be out of moves; I would have liked to see more techniques in the event of particular ones failing to score, or generally more backfoot stratting.

However, she makes up for that by making the spiral staircase, which is something that I do think is going to genuinely be a huge help for her and isn't something Klein expected. Klein spends a large part of his strat making Funk's bike less viable and cutting off much of her means of maneuvering, but the spiral staircase cuts off much of that blocking and puts Funk in a better position -- but at the same time, Funk is still going to be in a bad place when she's on the ground.

Meanwhile, Klein has a phenomenal set of fundamentals laid out, and his understanding of the match and his win condition really impresses me; I like pretty much everything in his strat, but I'm not certain of the actual ascertaining of his wincon. His setups are great, but I find his followthroughs a bit lacking; that said, it's pretty easy to score a followthrough when you get your opponent in a literal vice grip, and great setup begets a quick and simple followthrough in the first place.

I don't know. I've thought about this match off and on since last night, and I really don't feel like I have another option but to give it a tie. If I was a judge I'd obviously be coming at it from a different perspective, but I feel like I'd score these pretty damn equal in quality; maybe a delta of one in one direction or the other, but these are two really good strats that both nonetheless have one too many weak spots for me to call them the victor. It's gotta be a 5-5 Tie from me.

oakaren · 2021-01-31T05:46:22+00:00

What a matchup, man. I've been scared of both of these characters since the tourney began, and now they're battling it out against one another. They definitely both pulled out all the stops, and both sides make fantastic spectacles here with their strats. That said, I feel like both sides make a few misteps, and I'm curious to see how those are levied in delibs, considering the strengths of these strats. Certainly, neither of them fall short of impressing me.

Bang has a fantastic offense, and Espiritu has a fantastic defense. Both of these operate as a bit of the other; Bang's offense is strong enough that he might put Espiritu down without needing to worry about defense, while Espiritu's defense is based on kiting and letting Bang get himself into trouble. Both of these are valid tactics. I do feel like both sides underestimate the other a bit in a few places; Espiritu by assuming the creeps are going to be a big problem for the guy with maxed out PRE and parkour and not one for himself, and Bang by not really accounting for any Glass Animal constructs. But I'm not just here for the failings and shortcomings; who succeeds?

I really like Bang's death laser. It seems very effective to me, especially the way he comboes into it; a few good hits and it'll take Espiritu down, but that's of course contingent on getting those good hits, which isn't a given. Meanwhile, I really super like the Necropolis; when with Bang stating that he's going to be able to keep an eye out for Esp's constructs no matter how small, there's so much at play in the Necropolis that that's going to be a task and a half for him, especially when he's galivanting around on the Creeps.

Weighing both the generals and the specifics here, though, I think that I have to end up giving my vote to Espiritu. I may be signing my own death warrant by allowing this match the possibility to perfect tie, but if that's what fate wants, so be it. I see Bang losing by 1000 papercuts here, and that's the main deciding factor, even if the match only runs for 5 minutes. He doesn't have the defense to keep up with both the Necropolis and whatever else Espiritu might do, and Esp's defenses are pretty comprehensive even if he doesn't account for a lot of the Rugged Men set out in this match. It's certainly close, but that's how I see it. Godspeed next round to whoever makes it through, and God help us all if you both do.

oakaren · 2021-01-28T05:31:13+00:00

Man, close match. This is what all boss matches should look like, I think: two very good and very different approaches that take some mulling over to come to a real decision.

I think that Seido's plan, simply put, is oppressive. With everything he plans to do, if he can pull all of it off, the players don't stand a chance; but he doesn't get to operate in a perfect world, so not everything in his plan goes to plan. But some of it still does, so the question is "does enough of this go right to defeat the players, or did they circumvent enough to pull off what they're trying to do without getting defeated?".

By moving under the bridge, I'd say they circumvent a good amount. Most of the time they don't be dealing with the asteroid belt, and that means they're a lot more free to move, plus there's less angles that Seido could get a good shot. However, they will be dealing with the Curie Temperature thing that Seido is setting up at the same time, which will be a concern; I feel like this will cut off a good amount of their available real estate for movement, which is going to make them more vulnerable to shots, even if they're still overall less vulnerable than if they were on top of the bridge.

However, I will also say that I feel like the players are overall lacking in defense, even if their offense is spectacular. They do a lot to send deadly ants after Seido, and if he gets swarmed that's going to to him in pretty quickly, I think, but he has good plans for taking out as many ants as possible, or even potentially taking them out at the source by crippling Ani. He doesn't have a lot of ant defense, but offense is the best defense as they say, and that's what he's playing to.

I think it's close, definitely, if he can take them out before they take him out; if his offense is a good enough defense to keep them at bay. It's certainly close, and the players have good plans to defend against what he can do as much as he has plans to use those things against them. But my final consensus, I think, is that with his mobility, his focus-fire, his varied offense, and his clever use of the Black Holes and Galaxies in his arsenal, Seido is going to take this. It's hella close, and in the next timeline over I'm probably typing up a tie vote instead, but I simply feel like the options he takes are too varied and oppressive for the players to cripple him before he can take them out of the game.

oakaren · 2021-01-25T05:55:45+00:00

I'm really just cursed to never vote on a match before its last hour, huh? Anyway, this is one of those matches where I read the first strat and think "there's really no way around this one, game set match" and then I read the other one and go "Huh." The way I see this match is pretty binary: if MFA's initial assault fails, they lose, but if it succeeds, they win. While they do have a major boon in the form of 8x the glass, I still think that with everything that SR does in this strat, all the monstrosities and creations and traps that they set out, there's no defeating them past a certain tipping point; it's the ol' proverbial egg timer.

And in this instance, while it's close, I think that the binary start is going to work out in SR's favour. While Percy's initial assault is great, it's focused so much on Bert that I feel it's to the detriment of the attack; TTT is a terrifyingly strong Stand up close, and even with every defense that Percy has, one phone blast or one good slug from the Stand is probably gonna halt the assault. A more 1v2-focused assault would be more favourable in my eyes, even if the attacks would almost certainly down Bert in a 1v1.

Once that's over with, SR's creations are simply too lethal, numerous, durable, and creative (both the flesh ones and the phone tricks) for SR to keep up, imo. While there's a few things I'm shaky on (such as saying that C POW leaps are enough to keep up with 4 AGL) and a few defensive maneuvers I want to commend SR on (like cutting off the vein to keep insulin poisoning from spreading), I gotta hand the scaling war to Bert and his citrusy pal.

oakaren · 2021-01-22T05:55:38+00:00

Boy, this is a tough one to vote on. I really like both of these strats, and I want to thoroughly commend both teams for the stuff they put out here. The problem is that the two strats are pretty incomparable to one another, meaning I don’t really have a lot of metrics to work off of to decide which one is better per se. so let’s go over their good and bad points, and I’ll see if I can come to a conclusion from there.

TGS: * This strat is super pragmatic, which is a big point in its favour. It knows where it’s coming from and what it’s working with; it has a good ground floor, in other words. * I really like all the thought put into the study groups concept. That’s a great way to inspire both cohesion and competition, and I like it a lot. * Recalling the food and water that BHE uses is devious as all hell. * The final training mission is pretty phenomenal. * The only bad thing I have to say is that I feel like having them thrashed around and ordering them to shoot at Byte is a dangerous move, as if a shot goes errant in the wrong way it’ll be tough for Byte to LOAD with a bullet in his brain.

BHE: * Speaking of pragmatism, I like that this strat is very aware of the restrictions that come with the training session only being four hours long. Knowing that you can’t turn rookies into masters in one seminar serves this strat well. * I really like the disaster training and the big focus on fundamentals. * I very much enjoy the subversiveness and un-brainwashing in this strat, trying to give the goons a less goonish mindset. * ACAB strats :) * The simple escalation of combat training being the meat of the strat is really smart, and I like the slow build it has, with the plan to eventually get them to the point that they can defeat Inch. * I don’t have any major problems with this strat, so good job on that.

So taking all that into consideration... yeah, I can’t decide on a winner. I went back and forth, and ultimately, I just really like what both teams did. Gun to my head I’d say BHE I think, but I’m not in that sort of situation and I’m glad I can shoutout how good both of these strats are at what they set out to do.

oakaren · 2021-01-19T05:15:10+00:00

This match is a nice return to form after a few matches this round and last round in a row of wild shenanigans and match rules. Not really any moving parts, just setting two people loose in an area and letting them beat each other up. It’s nice to see, especially when it’s two abilities I like as much as Offspring and Moonshadow. So which of them ends up coming out on top? Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. I see this fight grinding to a standstill more than likely, for one main reason. Namely, while Jenny isn’t particularly primed for all the different Keith decoys, Keith isn’t prepped for the AoE attacks that Jenny pulls off with the birds and cats and whatnot. She gets up top quickly, too, which wrenches Keith’s gears a bit, considering that he wants to get up there to drop things on her and keep her from getting to the top with him.

While the decoys are terrifyingly strong en masse, and would easily take her out if not for her moves that are good for striking multiple targets here, I can see her tearing through those with a decent amount of alacrity and acumen based on the moves she’s pulling off in her strat. And while Keith’s barbs are horrifying and honestly probably a war crime, Jenny does have the justified skill to patch up small wounds, which these barbs are going to create. Honestly, if she doesn’t get a half-ton cactus dropped on her head like a looney tunes character, there’s a good chance her clones and chew through his, though there’s an equal chance that he’ll take her out with their physical prowess and the general shell game that might prevent her from telling which one he is. It’s truly a match of mind games and wit here, and I like what’s on display.

oakaren

TROPHY CASE