Archerous' R6M3 Delib

Quality

We’ve got a colossal match on our hands, though it doesn’t start off that way. Before the kaiju fighting can properly begin, our combatants must first face an even greater challenge: parenthood! Our combatants, Vasant Bulsara from Evergreen and Lucil Caravan of the Gallery of Wayward Reverie, both bring their bravest faces and a great deal of patience to this match. However, even raising children can become a competition, especially when they are so inclined to violence. So, which parent better equips them for the task?

Starting with Vasant, he makes a very intentional effort to throw Lucil off of her game. He makes a mad dash towards the caves on his bike while discarding anything of his that could act as an access point for her network. Once his lotuses start to bloom, he stays on the defensive, blowing away both projectiles and himself from his attacker, ensuring that any fight will be short and sweet, something Vasant desperately needs. From there, he uses his blue kaiju to create rubble at the mouths of paths, closing Lucil off from easy access to resources. Once he’s played keep-away long enough, he will have had enough time to train and feed his Kaiju, even allowing it to ascend, making it a formidable opponent. As he fights beside it, they make quick work out of Lucil and her kaiju, covering her network, unraveling her web, and limiting her movement options to land a final blow.

For a kaiju match, Vasant takes a lot of effort to address Lucil, and I think that is an incredibly smart move. The only way to deal with a hyper-aggressive opponent with crazy rushdown capabilities is to rush yourself and limit her mobility options every chance you get. This isn’t to say he neglected his child, as it grew to be a powerful and well-nurtured beast, but it was ultimately a very good call to keep Lucil on her toes to properly foster that growth. Thus, I’m giving this strategy an 8. Well done!

Onto Lucil, we’re given a vastly different strategy: steal the baby. It sounds crazy on paper, (and it is), but Lucil puts in the work to properly keep the pressure on Vasant, either through dogged pursuit or leveraging his bike. When she does acquire the baby, she wastes no time in bonding with it, but most importantly, choosing its path before it inevitably goes back to Vasant. From there, she nurtures her own green kaiju, giving her much needed sustainability to keep on fighting until the end. And when the inevitable clash between siblings occurs, Lucil helps her kaiju teach the rebellious one a lesson.

Lucil’s strategy is unconventional, but highly entertaining. But more importantly, it hard focuses on control. Everything from swallowing rocks to forcing Vasant to choose between his kaiju or the safety of himself or his bike to even the aforementioned forceful choosing of the other Kaiju’s path, ensuring that its attacks favor Lucil more. It’s all in service of defining the fight on her terms, and hers alone. It’s a bold play, and she has the mobility and wit to back it up. Thus, I’m giving this strategy an 8. Well done!

Jojolity

As for Jojolities, I’ll be brief. Both parties brought their own flavors of parenting into this match. Vasant went with a nurturing angle, following the steps his own father took in raising him, continuing the cycle of learning and fostering growth. There are some sweet moments between Vasant and Ananda, showing that a bond that transcends human and kaiju has been formed. Thus, I’m giving this Jojolity an 8. Well done!

As for Lucil, the baby-nabbing is an unconventional approach to parenthood, but from her perspective, this is what’s best for both kaijus. After all, why shouldn’t monsters be raised by a monster? Despite the violence in the retrieval stage, Lucil cares for both kaijus as if they were her own children. And for all intents and purposes, they were. She raised them, fed them, and sacrificed herself as a mother to provide for these kids, following them all the way through their growing pains. The bold maneuver at the beginning of the match serves the narrative incredibly well, and the integration of this parental journey throughout the strat was a joy to read, even in a twisted sort of way. Thus, I’m giving this strategy a 9. Well done!