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It’s the last match of the tournament and the last delib of my judging career, yet I don’t feel as sentimental as I expected. This isn’t a bad thing; as I believe you should maintain your form to the end.

Angelino’s matches have generally focused on NPCs to act as a leverage point for him and his opponents, but this match we opted to focus on the stage itself. 7x12m means every inch matters, and of particular note is the verticality. The ladders provide some means of elevation, but their limited number and the smaller stage puts emphasis on the great mobility and area control within both kits as well as their latent close-combat potential.

As a result, the delib constitution enables multiple ways to leverage this match: Planning and Logistics reward strong prioritization as flows through the match; Competency and Creativity reward paying attention to the finer details; Counterplay and Technical reward paying close attention to one’s own and their opponent’s kit; Formatting and Elegance reward streamlining the strat; and Narrative rewards telling a complete story over one’s strat. As Judge, it is my job to evaluate the expression of the strategy’s thesis across these axes, considering the axes themselves, the holistic evaluations of the final scores, and the balance of what went well and what fell short.

Angelino opens the match by looking to force Muuru’s positioning, rushing in to follow him to claim both ｢Wheelz｣ and ｢13th Floor｣. Much of this is for the Narrative thesis which I’ll discuss later, but Planning and Logistics wise, it’s “merely” cogent. This initial engagement is unlikely to negatively impact Angelino, but keeping to Muuru’s parkour and tempo to acquire ｢13th Floor｣ is likely more difficult than the strat lets on. (Counterplay) Mind, I don’t think it’s impossible, and the strat focuses on accumulating Wheelz instead.

Speaking of which, Phase 1 focuses on Angelino befriending ｢Wheelz｣ for his own purposes, recreating movement tech that he could otherwise with their own abilities by giving them his fuel. (Creativity/Technical) More specifically, Angelino uses tech that Muuru himself used, Wheelzdashing along surfaces where he otherwise could freely boost.

As we shift to Phase 2, I do have a few Logistical/Counterplay concerns. The strat acknowledges the difficulty in getting Muuru to relinquish the mask, as it cannot be stolen, and looks to force scenarios where Muuru must do so, lest he succumb to the greatest danger. Setting aside my “this may be more difficult than expected” comment vis a vis ｢13th Floor｣,Angelino looks to force Muuru’s hand by setting fire to the stage, Even if I waive “living plants are difficult to burn” (Technical), arson requires set up and specific use to be maximized, even on this smaller stage, yet it’s left to a line at the end of Phase 1. (Logistics)

The distinction that Angelino is Wheelzdashing is important, as he looks to acquire and use ｢You May Die｣ for the full parasitic set. (Planning) Parasitic Interplay details a fun suite of movement tech to chase down Muuru, separated by its floor of use. (Competency/Technical) However, I wish this section was more specific to the chase, to more robustly argue not only its success in parasite stealing, but also in pinning down the slippery Muuru. (Logistics/Counterplay/Planning) As is, the section and pursuit-and-corner tactics are a little more nebulous than I would like, but the focus is put on the interactions with the Wheelz.

Phase 3 is dedicated to combat, presenting tactics for fighting on the stage or platforms in order to fight through swarms of Wheelz if need be. (Competency/Logistics) Although it took me a bit to see the thrust of this combat section (Planning/Formating), the goal is “[get in for] close combat, apprehend, and grapple,” here on an evasive foe. Of particular note, the strat acknowledges the ideal state is having all 3 parasites, but explains how it may function without ｢13th Floor｣ or ｢You May Die｣, which negates the greatest of happy path concerns. (Planning/Counterplay)

However, while the combat tactics are given their general use cases and conditions, I find they could be more specifically leveraged in those situations, detailing how they intersect with the match conditions in practice. (Competency/Logistics) While I do think Muuru’s own offense is under addressed beyond general hostile conditions (Counterplay), this complaint holds less weight to me. The specific tactics themselves are well met and well explained, especially when they would have to be deployed on the fly.

The core thesis of Angelino’s strat is thus to use Wheelz and Muuru’s other parasites to defeat him, given the lack of traditional civilians or allies. (Narrative/Planning) While there are some creative individual plays arising from Angelino’s interactions with the parasites (Competency/Logistics), my main concern is that acquiring them and locking down Muuru is somewhat nebulous (Counterplay), partially due to the necessarily reactive nature of pursuit. I think that some more detail to the stage play and relative position could have shored up that aspect of the strat, but “[the strat] is undeniably solidly good in how it approaches its central thesis:” [7].

Muuru’s strategy is a demonstration of Sāvira, highlighting its adaptability and resilience in the name of survival, but my takeaway is one of aggression. From the beginning, Muuru catapults himself towards Angelino, turning any stumbles into further utility or offense. (Planning)

While I’ll discuss the Narrative of the flashbacks later, they maintain the flow of the strat and bolster the techniques and principles used. Rather than progression through time, each section focuses on “General (Neutral), Defense, and Offense”, which fits the structure’s prioritization of advantage-vs-disadvantage. (Note that Angelino’s more traditional, chronological structure works fine for its more “milestone” based gameplay—some may note that I emphasize breaking up Midgame sections into “Movement, Defense, and Offense” for similar reasons, as the Endgame is often contingent on achieving a sufficiently strong advantage.)

The general section is appropriately generalist, using Wheelz to launch projectiles at Angelino and any sought after fuel; blowing away steam, smoke, and fire; and maintaining pressure on Angelino all to get him to use his resources on things that do not advance his gameplan. (Planning/Counterplay) I’ve mentioned the importance of coverfire in the past to cover one’s own approach, but where this strat shines is in its management of its action economy. (Logistics)
While much of the movement tech (specifically Penguin Slide, Dictator’s Skies, and general Wheelz tech) is mentioned in the Defense section, its general utility can’t be understated: not only does it help Muuru mind his defensive positioning (Logistics), the detail on the specific poses so that Muuru can delegate specific tasks to specific limbs maximizes the value of individual body parts, reaching action economy that is often taken for granted in separate Stand bodies. (Competency)

This aggressive efficiency is reiterated in the Defense section, where the usual dodging and positioning is found, but the willingness to tank damage (and healing it later) for more advantageous positioning now (Planning/Logistics). Just as past matches saw Muuru setting up swarms of Wheelz for offense, here, they similarly play that sort of counteroffense, whipping up winds to buffet steam, smoke, and fire, (Competency) (I slightly scratch at how Dinner Bell’s winds are created, as I don’t quite follow how it works, but since it’s been accepted into case law, I’m certainly not going say anything about it here.)

Even as Muuru has fought more than his fair share of high power punchghosts, rather than repeat particular strings (looking at R6M4), the “saints” of Sāvira and the experiences of those fights have honed Muuru the Character and Muuru the Gamepiece. The specific tactics used in the Offense section are clearly derived from the scrappy moves used earlier, but leveraging the specific Stand properties to eat Angelino’s suit (Technical) while maintaining the positioning