R2E3 Quality

Judge Dust 2 (Dice)

Overall short strategies, but at least we didn’t come to a total stalemate that was hypothetically possible with this set up. While both teams were short handed when writing the strategies, there are some neat ideas worth highlighting.

Before I get into the strategies, I want to talk about the match up itself. Both Haru and Oliver have high strengths, but major drawbacks. Haru’s ability is firmly at the top in a niche on surveillance information, but lacking in combat capabilities outside a pistol. Oliver’s stand is one of the highest point total in the tournament, and doubles both as an armor and stand body that can take strong positional advantage with its dual body, but its downside is made apparent by its somewhat restrictive repositioning sync requirements.

So here we have a match of two specialized stands in what is effectively a battle of who can put themselves in a better position and maintain said position.

Haru:

A short generalized plan around keeping distance, delaying and obstructing Oliver, and unloading as many bullets as needed. The opener also helps to potentially buy you some time to disengage and get your set up.

There are a number of ideas here that take advantage of the stage with the creation of hazardous terrain, use of the caverns to echo bullets, and the makeshift gas mask.

The idea to take false shots I think is your strongest tool at your disposal, the way you need to bypass The Champions and hit Oliver is one of the keys to securing the match. By making use of the caves and the ricochet networks, you can potentially set up situations where you can fire at Oliver from multiple angles and potentially from different hallways.

I will mention though, there is a lack of explicit detail on use of Private Eyes to keep track of Oliver’s location and there is a lack of strategic depth in making use of such information, but overall I think the general strategy can work or can be somewhat assumed at places. There are just some places though where the strategy can be better adapted or planned in more detail with relevant information applied.

I’m going to give this a low 7/10, there are issues to note, but overall this is the basis of what could be a stronger strategy. I would highlight that the way sections and ideas are laid out are a bit haphazard, with parts of the sections happening as the match progresses in a linear fashion while other ideas are more contingency based with unspecified or generalistic framework.

Oliver

Most strategies here are also around creating blockades and preventing escape routes. I think the Cabinet pushing is a bit hand waved at times as well as the restriction placed on The Champions. The squeeze gambit can work, although it can be risky if Haru manages to evade behind the Red Champion or even worse get into the 5-10 dead zone neither stand can occupy.

Locking down exits and escape routes in the long term can be very helpful though if Haru manages to get out of line of sight, but into a room or space you know your opponent has to be in.

The Blue Champion Rush down in those cases ideally can fix the line of sight issue and put you into a position where you can box Haru in further by reallocating to block another exit or getting into a new position to attack.

With the boxing in you do however, I probably would have appreciated some diagrams to show where you plan to position yourself and your Stand armors. Not the worst thing in the world, just makes my job eyeballing or guestimatting avenues of attack a bit more difficult. You do end up covering the different situations decently well though.

I’m going to give this strategy a 7/10. Overall your ideas are more likely to succeed than not if your intuition and positioning is correct and there isn’t any extra time spent needing to recalibrate. That said the specifics could use some better highlighting and some of the explanations end up rambling a bit and bleed into each other.

Judge 2Fort (Flame)

Round 3 is just around the corner, but now it’s time for the last of the 2nd round’s exhibitions!

Starting off with Haru with a quite short strat, he immediately blinds Oliver using her stand to cover his eyes, before aiming to shoot out his wheelchair to force him to use pieces of TC to walk - and blocking off passageways if she can’t break it (Counterplay). The strat notes that she will only keep eyes up when needed, despawning them once they aren’t needed (Logistics). Her initial gameplan is to hit and run, making sure Oliver is never in the same room as him while they can still shoot at the doctor with ricochet. With their plan adapting for whether Oliver is turtling or if Haru doesn’t get as much set up time, overall it’s a solid strategy - however: while its shortness isn’t a weakness it isn’t really as much a strength, with nothing particularly amazing standing out, and the contingency paragraphs being hard to make out from within the rest of the strat make me give this a **7**.

Moving onto Oliver, he immediately covers himself in most of TC’s plates and leaves the wheelchair. He immediately moves to pressure Haru, throwing a cabinet with the Red arm before moving forwards to threaten her with knife swipes. Good logistics is shown, as Oliver intends to move Haru away from the south while also stating that he pauses at a part in the map and explains why (so he can duck into the corner if needed), before moving to between the two doors in the room Haru starts in if he kept her in there - and he fully intends on keeping him there, intending to corner her in a two fisted knife toss scenario. While I’m not sure if Throwing 2 will consistently keep avoiding vital areas, worst case scenario Haru next shows up in a full body cast. With good contingencies for Counterplay - such as for if Haru leaves the room, making for a better pincer attack from Oliver and RC - and a simple finisher, I feel that this strat doesn’t really have any flaws. An **8**!

Judge Blood Gulch (Cory)

Super short strats here, and while I think that is to their detriment in a certain sense, I think you both make decent efforts in spite of it. Haru runs a fairly tight game of hobbling Oliver as best she can and adapting to whatever plays he might be trying.

A bit of fun stuff sprinkled throughout (I'm a big fan of the fakeout shots), but I think that the length really shoots this in the foot. A general focus is fine, and what you have in that regard looks good and reads well, but more elaboration on things like Private Eyes usage could have gone really far in netting a higher score; as is, they’re used in fairly boilerplate ricochet plays and de-summoned at specific times, and that’s it.

I waffled between a 6 and a 7 for a while as I read this strat, depending on whether or not I viewed the aforementioned shortness as a structural issue or more of a misstep. Ultimately, I’m comfortable handing this a low 7. What you have is a good skeleton with some interesting plays sprinkled throughout; with even a little bit of expansion, I’d feel more than comfortable giving this a higher score.

As for Oliver, there's definitely a stronger focus on defense and specific plays. I'll second other judges concerns on plays needing to be in separate paragraphs, and I definitely think that your Throwing skill doesn't lend you any proficiency at catching things (even ignoring the amount poured into the skill, it's not a part of the description). It’s ultimately the only large issue I see across the strat, but skill misuse is a very big mistake stratters can get into an unfortunate habit of, and I’d rather you hear this now than in a more consequential match.

Past that, however, what's here generally works well; save the aforementioned play and issues with readability, I'd be more than comfortable giving this a 7, well done!