JJOCT7 R3M8 Quality

Judge SHODAN (Ceep)

For Zhengqi, I think this is an eminently fair strategy and one that puts up a fair challenge. The call of using her cycled abilities to swap between interference and repositioning is a strong method of keeping pressure on the otherwise massive potential of Chase and Jyotsna working alone, and her late game use of projectiles was a solid method of striking at the players if they got cocky. I like how you constantly managed the player threat without seeming like you forgot about the stamina issues and relative lack of direct speed on the Stand body. I don't have a lot to say; this is a really cut and dry well made strategy. 7/10.

I have relatively more to say about the players’ strategy. There's a lot of style in this, and I really like the macro of how you move around the buildings. Deciding not to necessarily go in a straight shot up, but in a winding motion to avoid the robot seem very solid to me, and I like the use of Chase's kicking as the major source of propulsion. It's a unique way of using the high amount of reach Jyotsna has, and gives you a lot of flexibility for scaling the buildings. On the other hand, I feel like Chase's aerial movement slot felt unnecessary. Jyotsna was the one handling all of the aerial motion, with Chase there mostly for propulsion. I also felt like Jyotsna felt a bit overburdened; having to keep up grinding for the duo, keep them in motion, and perform a wide variety of other specific techniques defensively. I don't think Jyotsna quite has her Precision or ability to keep up the amount of stuff she's doing strained to a breaking point, given how you do prepare around it. But it is a pain point I noticed; perhaps Kickstar My Heart could have been more active on defense as a body?

I felt you did very well at Counterplay. While Zhengqi didn't end up protecting certain items, like the insides of the penthouses or gluing up the evidence, the preparation against her felt like it made for a stronger, healthier strategy, which doesn't fall apart based on one unexpected decision. I feel like your general plans are all very solid. I think this strategy gets a 7/10. Everything here works, even if I feel like Jyotsna is overstressed at points, and there are a lot of small things you do well. Good job!

Judge Skynet (Arch)

We’ve got quite an earth-shattering match in Vasitanagarh! Chase Frederick and Jyotsna Mathur team up against the menacing Zhengqi Dianyou and her big, destructive robot! It’s bad enough going on a paper run throughout the block, but its even worse with mech stomping after you. So, in this office complex rumble, how do both teams do?

Starting with Chase and Jyotsna, they waste no time in setting up Chase’s streaks he’ll be performing throughout the match, all while donning their battle form: the Manticore. This is quite the versatile piece of tech, given Chase’s control and speed paired with Jyotsna's durability and versatility. Using this new form, they hop to it and begin collecting information. They make sure to first discuss their methods of scaling the building as well as protocols for when they need to get down, either by force or by choice.

Once they have their safety nets and gliders, they proceed to collect the info they need, taking care to prioritize wherever Zhengqi and targeting the building close to her. I quite like this approach, as they take on an active role in the collection aspect of the match, making sure that Zhengqi isn’t setting up anything anywhere they aren’t already at. There isn’t much you can do to stop a giant robot when you’re the size of ants, but this is certainly a good way of taking the thing on their terms.

Speaking of taking on the robot, they also go over their game plan for dealing with Zhengqi’s arsenal. They make sure to stay either elevated or indoors, making sure to evade most of her attacks, which between the both of them, they have quite the surveillance system. Using this information, they try to evade in ways that would debilitate the robot, by making it destroy supports that could be holding it up. Overall, they provide good answers to the question of “how do you handle this ability”. Making sure to stay out of the air when glue is going off, dropping planks of wood over oil slicks; the duo have threat assessment down pat.

Overall, I’m going to give this strategy an 8! I think they understood the strengths and weaknesses of both themselves and Zhengqi quite well and demonstrated that with their extensive planning. Well done!

Onto Zhengqi, she makes an immediate effort with her robot to rush her opponents, using the acceleration mixed with the size of the robot to intercept them before they can get anything started up. From there, she assesses her threats and responds accordingly: slow Chase down to wear his streaks out, and gas out Jyotsna to allow for predictable hits, prioritizing the former to manage his streaks. It’s a solid start, with Zhengqi immediately putting pressure on the players, refusing to let up throughout the match.

Though she can’t keep them where she wants them forever, Zhengqi devises a method to being in two places at once: let them grab the information from whatever buildings they like, as the more they grab, the less buildings Zhengqi has to defend, and the harder it will be for the players to get the remaining info. This is a smart play, especially for someone with limited mobility (though she does address these mobility issues, as well as how she plans around them). Finally, Zhengqi streamlines her harassment of the duo, leading to a final confrontation that ends in their exhausted frames going down for the count.

Overall, I’m going to give this strategy an 8! Much like the strategy Chase and Jyotsna gave, I believe Zhengqi understood the threat her opponents had and responded appropriately. I also appreciate how she built the efficiency of her strategy around the limitations of her bulky robot, rather than try to push it to the limit for diminishing returns. Well done!

Judge GLaDOS (Coop)

Starting with Zhengqi, definitely feels like we could’ve gotten away with making the robot stronger as the limits to its ability roulette are very apparent in the strat. That being said I think this does a pretty good job working around that anyway. It very easily could have just been “list of things to do for each ability mode” but instead the strat takes the effort to plan out the time table for when each ability can be used and what the most effective use in that moment would be for it. I think the latter half definitely loses “Steam” a bit and could’ve stood to be more aggressive against the players at the end (especially once their target narrows down to Zhengqi herself) though. Still a solid piece of work though, Zhengqi gets a **7** from me.

For the players, there’s a lot of cool combo techniques at play here and some of the contingency plans in place (though mostly not needed) were very smart Planning on your parts. I do take issue with some of the streaks Chase is building up though - the sheet clearly states that the ability applies to specific actions taken yet there were quite a few streaks here (Synchronizing, Aerodynamic Maneuvering, Demolition) that are “concepts” rather than actions. If you want to label these streaks with such names that’s fine but you need to stick to a specific action that Chase is doing for each of them. The general gameplan is still highly functional even with these hiccups though so I’ll still be giving this a **7** as well.