JJOCT7 R3M17 Quality

Judge The Jackal (Logic)

This is a weird match to delib.

Even within the maxim of “judging strat theses by their execution,” there are a few philosophies on how to judge strats that we’ll ebb and flow between according to the circumstances. The framework most compelling to me follows from the text: “Doing impressive work on a strat’s central aspects alone is enough to reach somewhere in the ballpark of 6-7, but what pushes a strat to an excellent job beyond that ceiling (or shores up one that is lackluster in some manner) are doing impressive work on multiple prioritized elements.”

However, that occasionally runs into instances where, either by the approach of the strats or the design of the match (I don’t care to assign “fault” here, if such a thing were reasonable to do), the axis based approach underlying the delib rubric doesn’t give much to say.

The match can be considered in two phases: reaching then assassinating Sing Now! With respect to the second, his Stand is meant to provide some texture to the final encounter, but otherwise it is where the players would meet and most directly compete over the objective. (Counterplay) Ouroboros has more text to this encounter than Gugulethu, but compared to/amid the narrative and the rest of the strat, it is somewhat generalized. (Somewhat relying on Gugulethu taking out Ouroboros in the melee and then sneak attacking her, Logistics/Planning)

The first section is the majority of the gameplay, and both strats check the boxes on their way to the second. (Planning/Competency) Although some more signposting would have been appreciated to track players’ paths through the mansion (Formatting), the nature of the objective makes the path intuitive (Planning/Logistics). While I have some Technical concerns to some tactics (which are not the focus of this delib), as mentioned above, both players competently attend to the challenges the match presents them. (Competency) Ouroboros uses his physicals, tankiness, and Charisma to wade his way towards Sing Now!, while Gugulethu systematically takes out each guard in her path.

There is where I would go into the tech/tactics, looking for the Logistics/Competency/Technical/Creativity/Counterplay, but I run into something of a lock. As mentioned above, Ouroboros does make arguments along these axes, telling the guards to watch out for Gugu as he braces for ｢Sail Away｣ flooding (Counterplay), but I’m unsure how robust to consider these plays given their necessarily general nature. Given the emphasis on the pathing to the objective and the number of obstacles, one could convincingly argue Gugulethu’s optimistic/happy-path dispatching of guards is Elegance in approaching its thesis.

Looking at the score descriptions, both strats are “undeniably solidly good in how [they approach their] central thesis,” but trying to derive more specific comments is difficult across the now three frameworks. On balance, Gugulethu gets a [7], and Ouroboros gets an [8], largely off of the Narrative work done exploring his headspace in this solo outing.

Judge Jason Bourne (Arch)

It was only a matter of time. Sing Now! has been in the player’s crosshairs pretty much since his introduction. And with the Middleman gone, he’s finally got nothing to hide behind. Our assassins, Ouroboros from Evergreen and Gugulethu Duiker of the Dead City Haunts, both have their work cut out for them. Swathes of guards, a large tower, and even Sing himself stands in their way. With all that established, how do they do?

Starting with Ouroboros, we have a fairly straightforward strategy: blend in with the guards and use his newfound role and natural charisma to worm his way up to Sing Now!’s penthouse. He achieves this in a lot of interesting ways, including his convincing of the guards to treat the clouds as a threat, as well as tricking the guards into going to the penthouse through his own theatrics. The former not only disrupts Gugulethu’s own assassination efforts, but affords him and his fellow guards a safe path through any flooding while Ouroboros makes his way further up. The latter plays into his final plan, bring the whole fight to the top floor, have Gugulethu take out as many guards as she’s able to, and ultimately fall by her hands. This is a ruse, of course, allowing him to disable Gugulethu and “save” Sing Now!, using what little trust that garners to take the mogul out himself, retiring his role as a security guard and taking over the role of Sing Now!

This new role seems to fit Ouroboros just fine, given the way he pulls the strings of both the guards and his “rival” towards his favor. It’s an efficient strategy that uses his blunt, but durable body for cunning and scheming his way to victory. Thus, I’m giving this strategy an 8! Well done!

Moving onto Gugulethu, we have a similarly simple plan: take out the guards in an ever-growing storm, using the debris of furniture, trees, and even bodies to make the rising tides even more deadly. Of course this takes some setup, first by taking out the guards near her at the beginning, and moving her way to electrify everything she comes across. She traps doors and then knocks on them, prompting guards to get taken out just on virtue of investigating the danger, she has Act 2 eviscerate trees and branches to add more electrical fodder to her flood. Once built up, it becomes increasingly more difficult to avoid this “electrical flood”, guaranteed to take out anyone who comes into contact with the debris, only adding more with each fall. Finally, she gets to Sing Now!, dodging objects slided towards her and sending them back towards him with an electric touch. Finally, she takes out the mogul with a CO2 dive knife, ending him in a violent, yet swift manner.

This is a brutal strategy that builds upon its momentum fairly efficiently. It’s a simple strategy, as stated previously, but greatly effective. Thus, I’m going to be giving this strategy a 7! Well done!

Judge John Wilkes Booth (Flame)

Finally. Sing now, for Sing Now! is dead. Or will be — both players have done a good job of reaching his tower and accounting for how his Stand is used.

Starting with Gu, her plan primarily focuses upon using her own weapons (taking note to recover almost every item [Logistics]), Act 2 with little focus on the first Act beyond setting up some flooding with the water she has access to after she clears the first couple rooms. This Flood acts as a way to storm forwards, sweeping guards into the electrified objects — While the effect of unsummoning ACT 1 removes Gu’s control over the waves, the map itself lends to the flood southwards anyways. The electricity generated upon impact being absorbed by the waters being unable to move, while it does somewhat weaken the tech as a whole, I still believe it is effective enough for what Gu wants — especially as she can always follow up on anyone still remaining.

Speaking of: the duo of user and Stand tear into everyone else, especially once they reach the tower and have to leave the flood behind — she also decides to take off a rifle from one of the guards, using it primarily to scare opponents into cover (and thus unable to shoot her) while using her much more reliable Skills with her speargun to actually take them out if need be. The Plan is straightforward, just taking a route and moving through it: a solid strategy overall! **7**

Moving onto Oreo, he goes in with the goal of disguise — pretend he’s a drunkard who needs escorting out, then taking the face and uniform of the guard as well as his equipment. Utilizing his newfound access to radio chatter, he plans to make Gugulethu appear to be the sole/main threat while he blends in and moves without suspicion and ideally where Gu isn’t heading (Logistics/Planning) — and with some interference planned as well: from giving info out to the guards so they can better tackle her, to taking her out of the equation first and be the ‘hero of the day’ (though not if that would mean Gu gets the kill first, Planning several times for if things don’t go to plan and how he acts to still be the one to take out Sing).

While solid enough on its own, the main aspect of the strategy has yet to be addressed: the Narrative. An exploration into Ouroboros’s headspace as he thinks over both past centuries as well as the impact of his newer allies within Evergreen, leading into his masterplan to kill and replace Sing Now! in a much more dramatic way than the earlier replacement. A fun read through and solid strategy, which I’ll be giving an **8**!