R1M27 Quality

Judge Superball (Logic)

This is a pretty straightforward match between two mid-range, defensive brawlers. Jyotsna has an amorphous body that lets her maneuver more easily and grants a potent “offense-defense” form of area control. Mrs. Mayura is plenty mobile herself, her Riccochet skill applying to herself-as-a-projectile on the bouncy stage, FWTBT’s telekinetic scale swarm gives her similar area control, in addition to purifying the stage effect for some potential setplay. As a result, a lot of this match is dependent on how both parties position, engage, and disengage.

Ultimately, both strats deal with particular locations but not quite “positions”, focusing on particular item play around exhibits for the Jojolity but generally alluding to ranges, angles, and distances. (Planning/Logistics)

Mayura kites through the stage, using salt and Scale constructs for projectiles and weapons, before trapping Jyotsna in a pinball hell for the finisher. (Planning/Competency) It’s cogent, but I think some of the stage control is a bit under considered; FWTBT’s Range is 5m to DICTATOR’S 20m, meaning that to telekinetically hit Jyotsna is to be deep in her effective range. This isn’t a major concern given the emphasis on projectiles, but telekinetic attacks are at clear risk that could have been more directly addressed. (Counterplay)

Jyotsna’s path through the stage is less to kite, but to engage. The first two sections are dedicated to describing Jyotsna’s smoke body defense and her destruction of the stage. (Planning) While the constitutional principle of “evaluating the presented thesis on its terms” precludes me from taking points off, I do have to note that the structure as presented presents a split focus between chasing Mayura and destroying the stage. Resource denial is cogent (to a point), but I worry that some forward momentum to the priority of CQC is lost. (Planning/Formatting)

Speaking of which, the CQC section displays a strong understanding of the strengths of an amorphous body and conservative poking and counterpunching, but is largely contingent on FWTBT playing around melee, seemingly in literal close quarters. (Competency/Counterplay) Given Mayura’s own mobility and my aforementioned comment on forcing positioning, it's not clear how Jyotsna gets so close for swarming attacks; this endgame will take more moves to checkmate than anticipated. (Logistics)

In the end, I see the strengths and weaknesses of both strats to be roughly similar, and best encapsulated by the endgames; a grinding series of glancing blows as each chips away at the more robust, slightly underestimated natural defenses of its opponent to the effect of a structural gap. High [6/10]s feel appropriate here.

Those of you playing Tourney Bingo, please check off “Base Match” from your boards.

Judge Trampoline (Arch)

Are those ‘real’ dragon bones?! This place has everything! Including our latest brawl: Jyotsna Mathur, high-ranking gangster from the Dead City Haunts vs. Mrs. Mayura, local librarian of the Gallery of Wayward Reverie. Though the latter seemingly has home field advantage, the criminal mastermind still poses a serious threat. So, how do our combatants do?

Starting with Jyotsna, she first cloaks herself in fog, fit with a cover over her head for extra protection, her varman. Using the fog body defensively is a smart play, especially given that her opponent is capable of attacking at almost any angle. Best to limit those angles as best you can. From there, she moves into resource denial by smashing the exhibits to pieces, keeping Mayura from utilizing them to their fullest. For the same reasons as above, this is also a solid move.

Once Jyotsna has finished tearing the museum asunder, she readies herself to face her opponent in combat, using some fun tactics to deal with this deadly foe. She does this by taking advantage of Mayura’s powerful Stand. It’s going to hit her, so why not use that opportunity to strike at its vitals and chip away at its weak points. It’s a bold tactic, but given her ability to mitigate serious damage, either through the durability of the fog or by shifting her vitals around, its one that she can definitely pull off.

Overall, I’m going to give this strategy a 8 out of 10. I found it to be a deceptively simple plan of attack, but one that accomplishes a lot in a short amount of time. It offers many opportunities to deny her opponent resources at minimal cost to her safety. However, even then she isn’t completely safe, given how much she has to go through to beat the Stand itself. In a way, she evened the playing field as best she could, before having to sacrifice herself to beat such a scary opponent. Well done!

Moving onto Mrs. Mayura, she starts off aggressively by forming her scales into a knife, and immediately rebounding it towards Jyotsna’s face. If this hits, it will disable her supernatural senses for a time. Using this moment of distraction, she’ll use a Rebound Jump to rocket her towards the exhibits, while throwing another dagger at the chandelier above Jyotsna, forcing her to dodge or take the full brunt of the heavy object. This opening move sets the tone for the rest of the strategy, focusing on quick, overwhelming attacks to keep her attention where Mayura wants it. This is a particularly solid strategy when fighting someone made of smoke, as if left unchecked, she could overwhelm Mrs. Mayura just as easily.

Once in the museum proper, she makes use of the tighter space to more effectively ricochet and rebound her scale weapons, making sure to rebound herself to dodge any attacks. She also makes a point to create reflective surfaces around the map, setting up for further rebounds. With all this salt being spilled, Mayura hopes to overwhelm not only Jyotsna, but her supernatural senses as well, as her salt is considered a part of her Stand, thus will stand out to Jyotsna. These distractions will help her to either trap her floating head in a net, or to get more devastating attacks off on the gangster.

Finally, once she has Jyotsna where she wants her, Mayura uses all the reflective points and bouncy walls to throw a flurry of scale attacks at her, waiting for a single slip in her defenses, pelting her with projectiles while For Whom the Bell Tolls goes in for the final blow.

Ultimately, I’m going to give this strategy a 7 out of 10. I think the focus on rushing her opponent with projectiles, while using the museum’s cramped nature to limit her movement is a solid move against a dangerous, slippery opponent like Jyotsna.

Judge Pogo Stick (Extra)

While I would normally split these into paragraphs and discuss them separately, I think it's slightly more cogent here to use a lead in paragraph, since these strategies have similar strengths and weaknesses. Namely, both strategies put their eggs very much in one basket, Mayura's in offense and Jyotsna's in defense. Not to say that either strat totally lacks what the other has, but there's a very clear focus in each. This focus leads to both strategies having a notable weakness on the other end; Jyotsna doesn't really start hitting until she's already taken a few hits, putting her at a disadvantage going into confrontation, while Mayura's defense mostly amounts to "smack Jyotsna away and run," which only works so well against an opponent so mobile. Now, if this were a pop vote, this would be where I'd decide whether Mayura could actually break Jyotsna, but that would be a step too far for comparison. That said, I do think this split affects these strategies differently.

Jyotsna earns a respectable 7/10 in my opinion. Her offense is lacking in large part until the end of the strategy, with her excessive focus on resource denial leaving her open to getting worn down from a distance, especially given the huge variety of ranged options Mayura brings to the table. When she does get into CQC, however, her offense quickly ramps up, letting her at a minimum attempt to even the odds by leveraging her high constitution and power.

Mayura gets a solid 6/10, mostly because her defense never really improves beyond playing keepaway. The mirror shield is inventive, but doesn't really address many of the things that make Jyotsna scary, mainly her ability to attack from any angle. Perhaps if the stage wasn't so enabling for her opponent's mobility, that plan would be slightly more compelling, but as it stands, without a significant speed or positioning advantage, combined with Jyotsna's inherently improved resistance to projectiles thanks to her steam form, it's a tough sell to say that Mayura can keep her distance until she's ready.