R5M7 Quality Delibs

Judge Hard DK (Coop)

Quality-

I refuse to apologize in any capacity for any aspect of this match. I was told to make Mario Party and so I did.

Anyway, despite this being easily the most complex tourney match (so far) both of these strats are incredibly fun and easy to read. I’ll get to big analysis stuff after this but I’m going to start this by saying I’m gonna give both teams an **8**.

General Gameplans: I think it's pretty funny that both sides have effectively the same game plan here to “try to be the loser until the last minute”. I had figured the Duel and Mecha Minigame would lead to some amount of sandbagging to obtain the edge in those, but I hadn’t really considered just stockpiling all of the Clocks and neither side buying Stars until the very end. This probably leads to both those situations being decided by whoever has the higher Clock count which both strats may have been strengthened from accounting for but that’s certainly more “benefit of hindsight” rather than a proper criticism. Perhaps worth noting that this strategy is fairly risky though and that a player who picked up Stars as they could afford them and then dedicated the entirety of the final 3 minutes to using the crowd and their own abilities to stop the opponent from reaching the Star Vendor could’ve easily sunk this plan; I’m loathe to nitpick “forgotten” things in a match like this but some contingencies for ensuring your ability to reach the Star Vendor at the end would’ve made the endings to both strategies much stronger.

Navigation: I really like how each side took simply moving around the Market into account here. Where Muuru goes crazy with pestering and analyzing Roxanne with their shenanigans, Roxanne ironically doesn’t move that much at all and leverages their “losing” strategy better by only ever worrying about bouncing between two stalls. As a side note for Muuru that is more of a dev note from me rather than anything else - I hadn’t actually meant for character stamina to be a factor that teams had to consider at all but that was definitely a clever move regardless and one of the very rare instances of “emotional manipulation” (the pestering of Roxanne to gleam information on how they react and move) actually being a valid move instead of being something that could easily be swept away with a “you can’t guarantee/dictate how your opponent will react to you”. Granted, as a voter I would probably say Roxanne being not as mobile as expected would certainly dampen the benefits of this but it's an expertly crafted move regardless.

Tasks: Task 1 was pretty much completed by both sides as I expected them to and Tasks 2/4 were pretty much throwaway comments for both strategies (which given the context of how each plays out is perfectly fine for the record). Task 3 is where both strats shine in this aspect of the match though, I’m glad I gave teams free reign to decide what the store they were representing was. Roxanne’s knick-knack stall of items that all happened to be classic Mario Party items and Muuru’s costume shop of conveniently placed disguises that ended up being included in other aspects of the strat were both very fun takes on the challenge. For task completion in general though, Muuru’s strat really toes the line for whether he is accomplishing more than one task at a time or not though the intricate planning and pathing you have throughout the Market sections saves it crossing that line.

Happenings: Other than how each side planned on utilizing the Comeback Duel (I’ll get back to this in the next section), I’m not super impressed by how either handled these. Granted, only having backup plans for the Super Helper event makes sense in the context of “trying not to take the lead”, but the Meal Rush feels very much of an afterthought in both strats. As I stated in General Gameplans, one side choosing to utilize the heavy crowd to prevent the other from reaching the Star Vendor in the final moments could’ve easily destroyed both’s “losing” strategies so this being clearly the last thing that was written in both strats is a bigger red mark in this context than it might normally be. As it is, both players provide adequate methods for weaving through the crowd (Extendo-Legs for Roxanne, ｢You May Die｣ for Muuru) which ultimately should work fine but both are certainly prone to strong endgame counterplay.

Minigames: I’m pretty happy with how these turned out and how each side handled them. Ballz II Men and Food Fighters went pretty much how I expected so I don’t really have anything to say about those but the other four turned out pretty interestingly. For Towers of Sway, I really liked Muuru using the first go at it to utilize ｢You May Die｣ to find the perfect path without worrying about it’s guaranteed too much and then coming back for the Duel to optimize the speedrun and I was also impressed at the efficiency of Roxanne’s sap usage and movements for this Minigame. For Red Hot Potato, Roxanne has an overall better plan to win this Minigame as her use of sap and space make compelling arguments for both having the bomb and running away from it. Although Muuru’s “running away” strategies are super impressive (using prior experience running away from Roxanne in the Market and the Moonwalk method in particular), I find the “having the bomb” half of this game to be more than a bit lackluster, boiling down to a last second rush with ｢You May Die｣ and Wheelz Boosts. As what was simply just supposed to be the relaxing “just collect coins dude” Minigame, I’m surprised that both sides ended up taking I Am A Jockey so seriously, though that may be the product of both needing to stock up on Clocks for the finale. Muuru sliding around on the horse was a pretty funny visual though.

For the final Minigame, November Pain, both players make impressive usage of their Stand Mechas such that whoever ends up getting in the Mech is probably going to win this Minigame. Which is where we get to the weird interaction of “both teams have the same general game plan” since both of you are so set on being the Mech Pilot that your survivor strats are very bare bones in comparison. Where both Mecha halves of this Minigame are focused on combining all the weapons together to entrap your opponent, it feels a bit odd that the contingencies for running away from Mechs only treats these weapons as isolated threats to outmaneuver.

That’s pretty much all I got to say about this match, thanks for putting up with my bullshit lol.

Judge Bowser Revolution (Archerous)

Quality

We have quite the doozy of a match on our hands. In a game that has inspired much tension among even the closest of friends, we have some jovial folks participating that are ready to give it their all. Muuru Saviragowda from Evergreen competes with Roxanne from the Gallery of Wayward Reverie! The goal: Collect the most stars! Seems simple, right? That’s what you’d think. So, how do our participants do?

Starting with Muuru, we are given a rather straightforward strategy for keeping ahead in the star-collecting game. During downtime, Muuru opts to be a general nuisance towards his opponent. He distracts clients, plays keep-away with the signs, and uses his movements capabilities and stamina to force Roxanne to operate at max capacity at all times in order to get stars. During this time, Muuru also studies her movements in chase, familiarizing himself with what she reacts to and how she reacts. The goal is to not only keep her from effectively gathering materials, but to punish her low endurance when she does go for them. This is further used whenever they enter a game. She’s tired from trying to keep up with Muuru. Mixing that factor along with his reading of her movements and his own ability to move in ways she can’t easily predict lead to her starting her games with a disadvantage. From there, Muuru is able to perform his usual stunts, such as aggressive pathfinding for the Towers of Sway, or exploiting her frail wooden form to throw her with a bomb.

Though the match has many complex moving parts, Muuru works throughout to ensure that he has an edge whether he’s currently winning or not. Once he can dance circles around Roxanne, he can claim all the stars he needs for victory. It’s a solid plan, thus I’m giving this strat an 8. Well done!

Onto Roxanne, she starts off with a more reserved strategy. After all, when your opponent can move like Muuru can, why compete with that when you can corner the market on two particular stalls? Throughout the market portions, Roxanne devotes her efforts to sample advertising and pulling off fun and exciting tricks with the trinkets from Task 3, boosting sales for both. Alternating between them, she creates a stable source of clocks for herself, rather than trying to beat Muuru at his own game. An airtight move on the puppet’s part. As for the games, Roxanne employs a more careful and reactive strategy throughout most of them, making sure to fire at just the right moment. When dealing with someone as slippery as Muuru, you have to make every shot count. Her ultimate aim is to win all the games she can, or at the very least tying them when possible. She seeks to control the flow of stars in her favor, even manipulating her own star count to turn the tides, which is a deciding factor for Red Hot Potato and the Comeback Duel.

Roxanne embodies precision and care throughout the match, something that's very important in a complex match with a speedy opponent. She’s calculating even during her downtime. It’s a solid strategy, thus I’m giving it a 7. Well done!

Judge Chance Time (Extra)

Quality:

To begin with Evergreen, there's definitely a lot to unpack given just how much needs juggling here. Getting into gritty details could easily turn this into an essay and a half, which I feel would bog down the overall point of giving an as-objective-as-possible overview of what worked well and what didn't. To that end, I'm not really going to get hyper specific, and instead try to speak to the broader strokes her - prioritization and optimization.

There are a few things that stick out in this regard, specifically clock management and minigame minutiae. The strategy of hoarding clocks without buying any stars to try keep yourself in second place is very forward-oriented and works to try and extract as much value from the lucrative comeback duel as possible. Additionally, the throughline of transferring strategies and skills from one minigame to others helps give you a much stronger long-term performance without risking bloat. Additionally, you recognize your advantages in your physical stats and play to them as much as possible, leveraging superior mobility and endurance along with the precision of You May Die in order to essentially outlast Roxanne over the course of several intensive activities. The strategy on the whole gets more out of less, which gives it a pretty consistent "engine" for getting through the match with plenty of clocks accumulated, all to be exchanged for stars in the last moments of gameplay to explode from second to first in a near-unreactable fashion. All said, it's a clever strategy that plays to the strengths of Muuru and his Stands and leverages the nature of the match a
series of events to essentially tune itself up over the course of the match. I was on the edge here, but given the complexity of the match and how well you rose to the challenge, I think it's more than fair to award a **9.**

As for Gallery, there are plenty of similarities here: sandbagging early on, with a focus on accumulating clocks and winning minigames. There's significant depth given to each individual minigame, while most of the inbetweens are given less importance - when the goal isn't immediate star accumulation, it makes sense. It leverages the versatility and disruption potential Roxanne brings very well, but I do think it slightly underestimates at times how hard it is to get anything to stick on someone as slippery as Muuru. That aside, it has a robust gameplan that prepares for various gamestates at any given point, adapting to whether Muuru also sandbags or whether he tries to rush stars. During downtime, you quickly work out a cycle that maximizes your clock generation at any given point, and during minigames, you focus on winning as many bonus clocks as possible to secure that critical lead in buying stars, not to mention getting the bonus star at the end. It's a fairly similar strategy in its fundamentals, albeit with scarce moments of overreaching - I think that knocks it just barely down to a very high **8.**