R2M22 Quality Delibs

Judge Rama (Logic)

So that’s what Sulka’s been up to this whole round!

This match was a fun one for Yuri, Shimo, and I to bat around: John Wick and The Raid were the immediate touchstones for this combat gauntlet match, where players would have to fight their way out.

Markov is readily kitted out for such a match, with her Stand ability to turn every item into a RWBY-esque multitool of murder and Emile Gulati’s 3 Bartending giving her an understanding of the club and glass handling. Trading aquatic environments for scavenged resources, Aventuros Macguffinus is in yet another situation but brings his obscene Range game to help him deal with threats from afar. On top of this open match design, the Jojolity encourages a wide range of tactics and approaches, so lets get into it.

Reese’s strategy is of the same measure, considered, and comprehension of IMPACT’s usual output (Planning/Logistics). Given my past comments and praise, I don’t have much to say: each encounter is well considered and planned for (Competency/Logistics) while being easy to read.

I do have some minor comments though. While you have the time for them, the planning sections are a bit jumbled due to their multiple tasks and priorities, making it harder to follow how they specifically work together. (Formating) B1 also somewhat lacks signposting for how Reese moves through the area, which is odd when B2 had maps but didn’t have as complex map movements. Finally, while I don’t think you beef the final section, it is somewhat of a Hail Mary sprint to the end, relying on a few distraction plays. I don’t begrudge the approach given the floor’s more open nature, but following the more meticulous first two sections, it was a notable shift.

All in all, despite my small comments, I think it’s another solid entry in IMPACT’s stratting canon: [7]

Markov’s strat is interestingly written, a Narrative romp through the club detailing how Emile approaches and deals with the guards. This narrative approach hits all the Planning/Logistics notes for checking the map elements as they come—and the techs show usual Competency and Technical—but it might come at the cost of being less robust in the face of pushback. Markov has incredible offense, but her singular body means should her positioning be compromised, she can be overwhelmed. Engaging too many guards at once—especially from multiple angles—can result in coverfire that can be too much for her. (Logistics/“Counterplay”)

Nonetheless, it is a /very/ compellingly written strat that highlights Markov as a character and a build. This is gonna be a match I recommend to newcomers to see how what tourney is like, and even with its issues, this is gonna be the strat I recommend to all to see what the exemplary strat is: [7].

Judge Kid (Extra)

Starting with Reese, he leverages both his inventory pieces and the provided pieces on the map to create a stealth-based strategy, pulling an Agent 47 and finding a guard whose uniform is conveniently of exactly the right size for him. Combined with some conveniently placed distractions, Reese will be able to move around pretty much unnoticed, opting to take the long way around to further reduce the heat on him. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say, and this strategy proves it, dealing with every threat on the lower floors with tactics rather than brute force so as to preserve stamina and avoid taking damage. I feel like this is just a very solid **8.** It's well-formatted, flavorful, thought out, and an overall solid strategy.

As for Markov, hiding doesn't quite encapsulate the plan - once Emile can collect resources, Markov is going on a guns-blazing rampage through the bar, spilling blood whenever necessary and quite often when it isn't. This strategy really plays to Markov's strengths as a build, focusing on raw damage output and tricky item play to cut a path through the unsuspecting security forces. And it's quite effective at that, too, since Markov's A POW is more than enough to render the Submachine Guns exceedingly lethal, especially when dealing with groups. There's a possible issue of getting overwhelmed, but with how quickly Markov means to mow down the obstacles and factoring in that Markov's generally going to be a quicker draw (since she's not stowing the weapons), I think this can also get a very respectable **8.**

Judge Wick (Alpha)

Ah yes, clubbing! I remember back when the internet used to make wordplay memes about this. But enough of that, let’s talk about strats!

I’ll lead us off with Impact because I read it first! First in First out, as my ancient, decrepit former bosses used to say! To get down to brass tacks, this was a nice, breezy read. It came in through the grate, stole it some rat corpses, and snuck its way onto my screen!

All told, I did enjoy my time watching Reese’s Pieces turn the guards into chum in my head, and Pieces was there to cover a variety of wonderful conflicts. Finn eventually showed up so thanks Finn!

Moving on, the moment-to-moment flow of movement tracks really easily, especially so with the diagrams and generalist approach to section heading! As readability is king, you scored wonderfully high marks here!

Though I can’t really think of any major stand-out plays, I did enjoy my time with Reese’s antics. I feel this deserves a high **7**!

Moving on to the Gallery, we have that wily coin setting up a good old-fashioned mind break/corruption tagged plotline which sees a bartender getting morphed into a psycho killer and Markov devotee by the end of it all!

With the breakdown out of the way, I’m gonna get a little visceral for a sec. See, my dad actually owns a French-Army surplus garotte wire that he genuinely believes is from the second world war. To my knowledge, a garotte is made to cut a person’s head off by constantly pulling the line back and forth, not just choke them out. Speaking of which, my main issue with this and other plays is the necessary time investment.

I know that time-based play is abandoned entirely as a concept decently early, so I won’t rag on it too much, but certain plays that would expend time seem to take up one or two sentences before being completely moved on from. I’m not asking you to give me a diatribe as to how long things take, mind, I’m just asking for the ‘small’ details to be explained.

With the nitpick out of the way, I’ll move onto the positives! This is a really good read, and while at first I assumed that the density of the text would prove to be a worthy foe, I found that it was written like a good book! Between the description of the mario kart item box in hand (the weapon switching technique) and other little bits of prose, I found myself enjoying each little tidbit more than the last!

I like the interplay of the narrative and strat, and I will say that it is spectacular to see into the warping mind of Emile through the machinations of Markov. I can give this a low **8**, despite my nitpick, solely because the writing is that clean.