T4R1M25 Quality Delibs

Tom Brady:
Rah! Rah! Sis boom bah! It’s T4’s first Sports Match! Both of these strats are bits of a doozy formatting-wise and do things that are bit questionable given the way football is actually played, but these matches aren’t to be judged off of “who knows football better.” Rather, I’m treating both strats with as much grace as I can and, like some of the judges have advised, judging by two metrics:

How good was each team’s offense against their opponents
How good was each team’s defense against their opponents

If I were to take a sports match, I might consider build my strat around broad-strokes “Offense”, “Defense” sections, but, as another judge put it, “my job is to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.” Then again, that’s an entirely separate sport!
BLS OFFENSE VS O11 DEFENSE:

When all BLS has is a hammer, everything looks like nails. BLS uses their characters’ physicality to their fullest, playing the running running game and charging through defenders as Tim tags along. The two BLS techs that deserve not are Adam’s C POW blood boosting - big enough to help tip the AGI tides in their favor, but not so much so that an 2 AGI human would flounder with them - and the Iron Man system. I think the system is on face viable with A PRE and 3 Physics for steering and B POW for thrust.

This is a technique that could easily be abused - Scott just taking the ball and flying to the end-zone would drop this score significantly for “laming out” - but merely hovering a foot off of the ground is sufficient, and ends up working in BLS’s favor. O11’s Spectrum Mystery makes the terrain a mess of pitfalls and tripwires while DJ tries to play a physical game and drag BLS down.

Unfortunately, I think relying on only one D POW body is ineffective, given the difference in POW and STR on BLS’s part. Moreover, Iron Man provides a decent way to avoid the terrain and while The Phantom of the Grand Guignol (Defense) and DJ’s D RGE A SPD/PRE yarn-tendrils do help mitigate Iron Man, O11’s defense doesn’t readily deal with BLS’s drive, which is a bit on the simpler side of “we run and push people away.”

O11 OFFENSE VS BLS DEFENSE:

O11’s offense is a lot stronger than their defense due to its clearer game plan. With Nora as primary quarterback, Akira and Sleve/Nert/Mohn going out for passes, O11 also goes for full Jojolity. Curse Sign: Straw Doll Kamikaze and String of Fate form a devilish combo where swarms of fake and real footballs fly and suddenly shift directions. Akira also sees some good use, using OoT as a means to warp her opponents’ clothing and clear space for herself and Doll Crusader to morph the ball mid-flight and further adjust its trajectory.
Unfortunately, BLS’s defensive game has this in mind. Scott goes to tackle individual players as need be while Adam uses 8-12=16 blood hands to holds the line and go for interceptions. Although Scott and Tim will definitely have a harder time with the swarm of fakes, Adam’s ability to track the real football which is coated in his blood, making him the star of BLS’s defense while Scott was the offensive MVP.

CONCLUSION:

While O11 has a wealth of tech to help them with the match, I feel like its flaws are found at a broader, more strategic level. Although basic knowledge of football would have been helpful for both teams, it wasn't necessary in order to foresee BLS’s driving offense: it could have been expected from their Jojolity. Terrain manipulation and illusions can only go so far, and a more comprehensive defense that preempted their offense was needed here.

Akira and OoT go rather underused, most of its minionmancy/topology-manipulation being saved for the ball or used reactively when Akira is rushed. A contingency admits that “creating a minion that’s as big as Akira to block him will be unlikely, because of his speed and the lack of objects,” which shows an oversight of how the sidelines have plenty of electronically fitted equipment for OoT.

This is particularly damning when War Sign: Little Legion discusses tying large objects from the sidelines to weigh down BLS, objects that could have gone to Akira’s army. Objective matches often pair “straightforward path to victory” against “outplay path to victory”, O11 was clearly the latter. While Nora is the stand out performer of O11 - and maybe even the match, pulling out a lot more than I expected when I first saw at her Stand - more synergy between her and Akira was crucial to winning this match.

For example, the mere presence of minions on the field - maybe connected with C DUR yarn - makes BLS’s drives more of a slog. Making their runs into a grueling affair would have increased the efficacy of the timeout plays and have especially punished BLS for dealing with minions with a casual “Adam steps on them.”

While I think this match is a solid, strategic victory for BLS, O11 impressed me enough to keep me from dropping their score too low. BLS: 8/10, O11: 7/10. Although I will say BLS would probably receive a lower score if their general lack of means to deal with minions had been exploited - both teams did a good job. Some more tactical variance on BLS’s part and better and broader understanding of Win and Loss states - and strating according to those states - on O11’s would have netted them higher scores.

Joe Montana:
There is nothing else quite like stand user sports, the first sportsball match of T4 I half expected this to happen but turns out not too many people here know the rules of football  or how its played(myself partially included). With that in mind I won't fault the players too much on the match about the rules of the game. Also use the players on your bench nobody likes being benchwarmer, they want to play the game too.

O11:
This that all said, I think O11's strat was a bit lackluster compared to what I expected. The yarned field was nice, the fake footballs were fine, but more could have been done by Akira, namely minion foot balls, minion yarn ropes, Boost gear (Mikitaka style), while she does use shapechanging the ball as well as hindering the opponent, there was a good chunk of wasted potential that could have been used. I will get into your passing game more in jojolity, but effective passing requires you to have somebody in a position to catch the ball, preferably way down field already. I don't fault you for not going for long bomb passes, more that pass positioning could have also netted you points in a quicker fashion.  All in all I think a 7 is about right for the score. Heavy focus on interference and subterfuge can work, but if the other team can catch onto your tricks you are left pretty high and dry with lackluster football play.

BLS:
This strat by contrast is much more well rounded with solid charging and anti interference plays. The movement tech and extra pairs of hands helps to nicely deal with O11's yarn field and being able to keep possession of the ball. I really don't have much to say against this strat, it plans fairly well around the opponents and uses the tools at its disposal effectively.  An 8 sounds about right here, while I think this strat will win the match overall, its not too insurmountable that O11 doesn't put up a decent fight.

Peyton Manning:
Alright, I don't watch enough football to know what to reference for this, but the person who was supposed to have this delib spot is missing in action and I've gotta sub in last second. A classic sports movie story. (Don't worry, I've read and thought about the strats, just didn't plan on writing about them, though this delib may be a little disorganized.)

WHEN O11 HAS THE BALL
Adam uses Bloody Mage Hand to catch up to the person holding the ball, if not steal it directly. This appears to be one of the primary plays on defense. Oceans' 11 scoring strategy is naturally long throws with the Stands helping to guide the ball where it needs to be.

WHEN BLS HAS THE BALL
The major defensive play here by Ocean's 11 appears to be tripwires and damaging the ball. The nonstandard rushing plays of Thunder Underground and Iron Man stand out here for BLS in terms of being able to hold onto the ball and get where they need to be.

Both teams have really good contingencies that tell me that both teams will certainly impress in the match, and if I had more time, I would gush about it in more detail. However, I feel that the core strategies as detailed above work out slightly in BLS's favor, if by a fairly small margin. Like my other judges, I'll give them an 8/10 to O11's 7/10