T4R2M5 Quality Delibs

Ronnie James:
Starting off with YMCA, I will say for the most part I'm pretty happy with the strategy. There's a lot good here, knife shields, paper knives, the knife carts, all of which are solid offensive options. Knocking over the shelves was a pretty decent way to cut down on the FF mobility, and especially the knife carts are a good move to deal with bubble spam, as even with the large amount of bubbles that FF makes I can't help but feel a few would get in, or at least that they could act as a solid distraction.

That said, while on a tactical level the strategy doesn't have a lot wrong, on a strategic level it seems to fall apart a bit. You have a much stronger early game build, and I can't help but feel a focus on putting pressure on the Fellers early game would be pretty solid, especially with how their setup spikes and that focusing hard to put pressure on Noriko would force her to waste resources. Especially with The Man having a solid across the board Stand, preventing her from getting a proper minefield with aid from Climbatize would have been deadly.

As for the Fellers, I will say that I saw multiple potential weaknesses in your early game strategies. The bubble floor is harder to set up than you seem to think, and bubble barriers can be bypassed with enough knife spam or force. Bubble output is impressive, of course, but can be dealt with and Noriko herself taking some hard hits if rushed down. C Power explosions can be circumvented somewhat with shields, which if the YMCA had taken advantage of more, could have spelled disaster. Splitting up to search for clues was also a risky strategy, that again could be exploited if they had blitzed down Noriko, or to a lesser extent Connor.

Additionally with the C + C = A argument, I don't see it. Two punches from a C Power Stand does not link to a punch from an A Power one. Not to say it isn't going to be extremely dangerous to face, it will be, but the math doesn't quite add up. X Power is fun as well, albiet extremely difficult to set up.

That said, at the end of the day, the Fellers suffered some missteps in early game defensiveness that the YMCA did not press them on nearly at all. I really liked both of these strategies, but the Fellers had the straight up better endgame, leading me to give this match 9 for the Fellers, and 7 for YMCA.

DIO:
I have to concur with Holy Diver. Please, do not shorten people's names into initials. Stands and team names are alright, but once it gets down to names it just gets confusing to read. I can understand needing to squeeze some space out of your strat, but I'm sure there are better ways of doing so. We beg you.

YMCA -

As plenty have said before, I think you really let your rushdown potential go to waste here. FF's whole game is setup, and instead of denying that setup by keeping the pressure on you just kind of... let them do their own thing for a while. Which is pretty bad for you all things considered. With Man in Yellow, you have incredible potential to rush them down before they've got any significant defenses or traps up, and that was perhaps your greatest strength here. It doesn't entirely sink your strat, but it definitely would've given you a significant edge, as a large part of their strat relies on laying traps and setting up things that you just give them plenty of room to do.

You do have some good plays here, I see your line of reasoning with opening up the store by knocking the shelves over, your various knife-affixed apparel is entertaining, and the paper knives are a sufficient if not expected offensive tool. That said, I don't think FF hides quite as much as you might've expected for the shelf knocking to be all that useful. It maybe disables some of their soapy floor traps, but they've got plenty to go around with the room for setup that you gave them.

Overall, this was a strat with some good offensive and defensive potential that fell somewhat flat due to you neglecting to play into your greatest strength and losing what could've been an early lead going into a strong denial and CQC game for you. I'm going to give you a 6/10.
FF -

This is an entertaining and effective strat. It relies a lot on scaling and setup, and it would've been a bigger challenge for you if YMCA had played more into their early game strengths. Not that you don't have effective strats to defend against things, but it helps you even more to have that breathing room to set up.

Noriko getting her driving fix and becoming a travelling Scooby Doo trap machine is great; the explosive and soapy traps in the aisles might be somewhat circumvented by the fact that Flint is knocking over aisles but you could still possibly get a couple slips in ones that don't end up knocked over. Your floating cart missiles as well as the knife bubbles are good offensive tools that have great potential to be devastating. You have good environmental control and multitasking here.

As for Connor, you also make great use of your multitasking potential. Splitting Megalovania into squads to carry out different tasks was a good idea, and certainly gives you a good coverage of offense, defense, and knifence. There was some contention about the X power finisher play, however, even if it damages Connor somewhat, I think it's an effective finisher.

Overall, I think FF plays into their strengths quite well. They have great synergy together, and in tandem they exert great environmental coverage and pressure. Noriko's soapy coverage to hinder movement to all but her team along with Connor's Megalovania Squads really demonstrates their scaling power, and they reach their full potential quite handily, resulting in a strong advantage of mobility, and an all around advantage in both defense and offense.

Deciding on a score here took some decent consideration. For me, what decides a 10 from a 9 in quality is already having a strat that reaches or gets as close to fulfilling the full potential of both characters involved as it can, but with that extra oomph and wow factor to give it a push forwards; a strat that is not only greatly effective, but is also just a joy to read through.. I think your strat was high quality and exhibited a lot of entertainment in its plays and character interactions (The X power megalovania and Noriko's carting rampage were both really fun, to cite a couple specific examples.), surprising plays that I certainly wouldn't have expected in such a situation, and has that definitive "wow" factor for me, enough so to give it that extra push. So, I'm going to give you a 10/10 here. Great work!

Holy Diver:
As a quite preface, please don’t use initials to abbreviate names. There are better ways to save characters, and it makes the strat harder to understand. With that outta the way, let’s delib!

It’s been noted by many votes, so I won’t belabor the point here: YMCA has an incredibly passive early game. I understand the Jojolity play and I can see why you’d preemptively raze the battlefield, but to cede the early game to a C SPD-scaling zoner and  a force stacking, 57-year old billiards master is a strategically unwise.

It takes until Section 5 for YMCA to engage FF, using a slow cautious approach and clearing bubbles along the way, in addition to sending Man up to scout. Unfortunately, YMCA doesn’t anticipate the raw offense that FF brings. Connor spikes midgame with his DMCV-interference at midrange, as Noriko makes use of her Bus Driving to joust right at them, deftly maneuvering through her own minefield with several potent bombs in tow. YMCA has decent prep for a small skirmish with some strong AoE in the knife bomber planes, but it doesn’t match the overwhelming firepower FF brings.

Speaking of whom, for the sake of completeness, I'll make some brief remarks on FF's strat. First, I read X-POW as "stacking C POW:" given the almost exponential increase as the stat goes beyond human capabilities, I don't think it reaches this fabled "stat beyond A" (maybe a younger man would be capable), but the finisher certainly exceeds the basic C POW and I don't want to be on the other end of it. Second, I think FF's DMCV and lancing midgame doesn't explain how it sets up YMCA for this finisher - especially since it seems more like a desperation move - but by no means does this sink the strat. This is ultimately a minor point in the scheme of a strong strat.

I have to give this to FF, 9 to 6. There’s interesting tech here, but this differential comes from how YMCA faltered on a strategic level. When you have such different power curves, it’s paramount to understand and play off of pressure. With their mobility, CQC, and physical buffs, YMCA eschewed their strong early game. The bomber carts are a good mid/lategame tool, but not only can you prepare for it while pressuring FF, but you should be aware that FF will probably be stronger if it gets to that point and use the tech as insurance. YMCA made the blunder of using a stockpiling strat and assuming that they would be able to lockdown a passive FF in the lategame.