R4M11 Quality Delibs

Judge Satoru Akefu (Yuri)

Hi! Judge Yuri here! You’re both getting tens.

I would like to do quality and jojolity delibs in one go for this match, due to how closely intertwined those things are in these strats (and also because it would make things way easier), but unfortunately precedent demands I keep things within regulation. But it says a lot that I’m struggling a little to separate the two in my mind for this match. Very rarely is a strat so good at what it does that I struggle to find the words, and that happening for both strats in one match? It’s been a while. I could ask for nothing more fitting for the final boss of the tournament.

Let’s talk about the boss strat, first. When we were originally concepting the bosses for the tournament, it was decided early on that one of the newbies to judging should helm the final boss. I gave up on that early on because I wanted to take R1M30 more than anything else in this world (shoutouts to Ruse), and eventually it whittled down to Archerous, who took it and went wild. I didn’t know what to expect, since he was the judge who I had seen the least writing out of on our team, but I’ll be damned if the guy didn’t put in the work to make for one of the most memorable main villains in Tournament history, Shalin earning her spot next to Nate Selleck and GIANTS in one of the most well written strats I’ve read in quite some time.

Shalin’s opening is strong, if not a tiny bit happy path. Blocking off an immediate approach with a powder barrage and high tailing it out of there is a good way to avoid the immediate Muuru Mauling that would surely come from being in the same spot for more than two seconds. But it’s immediately after this where the actual cleverness of the strat rears its head. Shalin utilizing the NPCs on the map to hinder the approach of the enemies is a pretty dang smart move that immediately pays off, forcing hindrance after hindrance into the face of her enemies from the word go. Her tactics are perfectly designed to take advantage of this, crafting subtle but dangerous traps to whittle down her opponents while they attempt to follow her through the maze of disgruntled workers and building security she’s left behind.

Shalin’s movement tech and pathing is strong enough to enable this plan, allowing her to keep up the wild goose chase through building after building. Your combat counterplay is strong - imbuing Muuru with speed as he activates 13th Floor is a *very* funny visual - and it makes it clear that actually engaging in Shalin’s wild goose chase is extremely dangerous. If the players engage how she wants them to, something she’s fully capable of forcing, it’s over. Your finishers are appropriately brutal and extremely believable, especially with how much she’s been harrying them beforehand. I have no complaints. 10.

Onto player strat!

Muuru fairly immediately surpasses expectations in the simplest way - the saree. It’s an incredibly small change to how his mobility operates, but it works *wonders* for a match like this, especially against such a calculated opponent. Even the smallest changes to the usual approach can work wonders. Evergreen got a taste of this in a previous match, where Nojus simply Didn’t Stream The Match, so it’s nice to see them turning this on its head - and this isn’t the only time, either, with Vasil being the one to don You May Die. His skillset makes him far more dangerous with it than Muuru, able to avoid danger with a bit more ease, and allows him to keep up with how mobile Muuru is inevitably going to be throughout the match.

Under normal circumstances I would hesitate to believe a play along the lines of “and then we break her ankle instantly”, but Muuru is framed as such a good distraction that I didn’t even realize that was *close* to the direction you were taking until she’d already gotten Got. Extremely clever writing, and very believable.

I mentioned earlier in this delib that if the players engage with Shalin the way she wants them to, something she’s fully capable of forcing, they die. And it’s kind of crazy how well they *don’t* do that. It pains me that we have to judge these things in a vacuum, because this strat contains some of the nastiest callouts I’ve *ever* seen, but alas. The Sculpture Garden is a wonderful, multilayered piece of tech that does everything it needs to and then some, turning what was once a perfect arena for Shalin into a living hell. For something so simple it is alarmingly effective, and capitalized on perfectly. Wheelz breeding is similarly insane - I’m beginning to notice a pattern here where every piece of tech you pull out completely blows me away. This is in fact a pattern that continues through the rest of the strat (using Wheelz to let everyone see Stands??? Come onnnnnn) to the point that I am running out of things to say. I have no complaints. You play ball perfectly, from start to finish, and land one of the most well earned finishers in T7’s entirety. This is a masterclass. 10.

Judge Yoshihiro Kira (Extra)

Quality:

To start with the players, this is an absolutely brutal strategy that jams so much tech into it without a hint of it feeling like a tech sheet. It genuinely seems that there's a whole new world of pain for Shalin lying in wait in every paragraph, both physical and mental. Your counterplay here is particularly noteworthy, with moments of seeming nearly clairvoyant with how well you read your opponent. If it were the reads alone, this would already be a great setup, but the punishes are just as brutal - from the sneak attack on Shalin's ankle early on to the constant harassment by the garden, Shalin is left no refuge, her enigmatic mask fully stripped away before the eyes of the statues, keeping Muuru constantly aware of exactly where she is and what she's doing. Without any barriers to hide behind, it's a matter of time until the city is cleansed of its parasitic problem once and for all. A strong plan that leverages Vasil's and Muuru's kits extremely well to create a targeted assault against exactly the kind of fight Shalin would like to see. The only thing I could even think of as a complaint is that there's a bit of a murder drought, but preparing for murder is just as good. An easy **9** from me.

As for Shalin, you have an incredibly robust and oppressive gameplan that's primed to steamroll any upstarts who think they can interfere. The constant trapping and conservative use of Thimbles does well to keep Muuru and Vasil on the backfoot while ensuring Shalin is never starved for options. Leveraging You May Die's drawback to land easy trap setups is a clever use of your opponents' weaknesses, and while there's no stated skill that directly backs up Shalin's charisma tactics, you justify it well enough tangentially that I think it works fine given the circumstances. The only issue I do find is that it's a bit optimistic early on - getting away from Vasil and Muuru long enough to get to really trapping a building is a bit harder than I think you give it credit for, which definitely delays your plans a bit. All in all, it's still solid all around, well deserving of an **8.**

Judge Enya (CPU)

Quality

Starting with Shalin, this is a very well conceived defensive and response based strategy. Shalin has a long list of ways to use the speed she steals both defensively in its most basic to hold back her opponents and offensively to batter them with ranged attacks. There’s a lot of solidly done tech here; her trapping really is oppressive if the players don’t chase her down with vigor and there aren’t a whole lot of holes in Shalin’s strategy. I would mention that she doesn’t quite deal with the chance that Vasil outranges her and plays from his own greater range, but all in all it isn’t much of a weakness, and Shalin still earns an 8/10 for a very solid strategy that doesn’t leave a lot on the table.

For players, they have a somewhat more difficult task- to get through Shalin’s defenses and prove that they can handle all of the unfair abilities that Shalin has defensively. Essentially, can they keep up with Grandma, and can they prove that they’re better prepared for her? The tourney populace has given their answer at time of writing, but mine is a strong “yeah, probably”. There isn’t a ton I have to materially critique about the strategy. The methods of milling down her traps by Muuru is all solid and well conceived, and there’s a lot of reads in the strategy that work out well for the players. Vasil stays (somewhat) safely outside of Shalin’s range, harrying her with statues while setting up Muuru for a smorgasbord of vicious pincer attacks. Muuru keeps the pressure up, milling down her traps and keeping her from using the people around the stage as harassment by showing them the truth of ｢Diamond Life｣. While Muuru is less directly protected, I feel that given his healing and Shalin’s relative lack of pinning him down until Vasil is dealt with, it’s not a big deal. Another solid 8/10.