JJOCT7 R1M30 Quality

Judge Ahab (Ceep):

Starting with the players, I think theres some good work here. I think your opener deserves praise; it’s a solid response to the most aggro Rasna plays, though I feel that the choice of having Amelia go in on Rasna needed significantly more meat to feel safe; she starts without direct backup from Angelino and CD and I think that there is a world where she gets blitzed down very quickly. I don’t have any issue with Angelino’s opening, and think in context of the actual interplay of the strats that Amelia’s aggression is rewarded.

Your midgame and endgame is solid enough, I don’t think there are any outsized issues and strategically it’s very solid. That said, while I have little to say strategically I also have little to say tactically in a decidedly more ambivalent sense. The actual tactics are thin on the ground- while I see that Amelia plays around Angelino, the techniques he uses are a bit thin on the ground and his own resource use seems iffy. Amelia has solid stuff for trading, but not being grappled; one of the biggest issues for her. While the overall approach is good, I feel that there are several parts, especially when they engage Rasna directly, that feel far, far less detailed than they should. All of the ideas are fine, but there’s not enough to fully support them. Were I the sort to use the rubric directly more, this is something like good Competence, but notably lacking Counterplay.

It’d be remiss for me not to mention the flavor; I’ll go into more detail on this in Jojolity but to summarize; it’s good and works very well! No complaints, and it doesn’t really overstay its welcome.

Overall this is a solid and well realized strategy that is lacking in some areas with the tactical detail I think it really wanted. I feel comfortable giving on balance a 6/10 here.

For Rasna, there’s a strong emphasis on narrative here, and a lot of the things I had to say for the players is similar here; there’s a strong overall idea narratively and strategically, but it’s thin on the ground tactically and seems to lack authorial direction. Much of Rasna’s mobility and tempo plays like the brazen bull and thumbscrew chicanery are solid, and I think the barbed wire grappling can easily catch Amelia off guard. She has strong options for midrange, though something I noticed was that her ranged projectile game seemed very thin. For example; why not use the same thumbscrew launches for bullets? It’s less of an issue given she’s relying on barbed wire for her midrange play, but it still stood out to me as something that could have been very strong.

That said, Quality is a measure of what a strategy is trying to do. There are a few very good mechanical plays and, while I don’t think the mechanics of Rasna’s kit are explored as extensively as I feel they could, I feel the character and narrative of her are. For a flawed mechanical side and a very, very solid narrative angle, I feel confident with another 6/10 on balance.

Judge Quegqueg (Surface):

RASNA - A fun narrative romp through Rasna's mind. The prose was very fun, but I found the strategy underneath to be somewhat lacking; it felt "overly simplistic" in a matter of terms when the narrative was stripped away and the actual maneuvers were investigated. It was to the point that Angelino's power was never even mentioned once in the strat- a sort of grave sin that I've got to doc a lot of points for. Overall, the strat doesn't take Rasna's opponents very seriously "as opponents"; there's very little thought given to what they would or could actually do, and the strat always assumes that Rasna will have run them down into complete inaction. **4 quality.** I'm also incredulous as to Rasna being able to make barbed wire with her power in the first place, but that's not factoring into my overall score since there's *enough* of an argument for it.
I did like how Rasna used Amelia's power a lot, though. That stuff was pretty fun- the immediate play at the start with spreading the blood around with the effect wowed me hard from how much of a quick and clever application it was.

PLAYERS - I'll be a little merciless with this next sentence: there's no way the feedback loop with Rasna's tools happens. There's absolutely no reason it would work like that.
Past that, it's pretty alright. Pretty paint-by-numbers "run really fast and preform certain tasks" type strat; a classic. Nothing about it particularly wowed me, and there's some overconfidence when it comes to Rasna's speed at item creation (she *is* 5 AGI), but it's a serviceable strat. **6 quality.**

Judge Ishmael (Snek):

Hello Hello everyone! What a wonderful final match this has been! I’m pleased to give you one of the final delibs of R1, so let’s take it away… starting with the players!

This is a strategy with the sort of strong central plan needed to take down a threat as scary as Rasna. While I critiqued the way that the players’ strategy versus the Tigers focused more on Konan than Pico, I think this strategy strikes a great balance between both players, and they play to both their combat and narrative strengths. Both of them are able to split Rasna’s focus between them, with Amelia predicting and punishing certain plays while Angelino begins his setup. You weaved his 1 stat into your strategy by doing what you could to protect the ghosts, and overall made good use of all your user skills. You also pay attention to how Angelino gets his charges, which I appreciate. Then, moving into your CQC, you continue to use both players to compliment each other while exemplifying separate goals. Amelia in particular makes good use of her fighting style in this section. The two players work in tandem to showcase quality Planning, with strong general Competency and Counterplay. Not only that, but you craft an interesting and engaging Narrative throughout, without readability issues.

However, there are also some issues at play here. Firstly, I do not know if Rasna’s stand and skill works in such a way as to create an infinite feedback loop, and that is a strong assumption to hinge a good deal of your finisher on. If it did anything, it seems more like it would double damage at most. Another issue with your finisher is that it seems like, after disarming Rasna, Angelino has a lot less to do. This is a shame, since it feels like there are nonviolent ways that he could help. He has enough to do throughout the rest of the strat, but I found I could have used more robust plays here. My final issue has to do with [Cigarette Daydreams]. While I enjoy the use of its ability and accept the plays with its wingspan, I feel like you underestimate just how slow and vulnerable your stand is. Your sheet states that it’s usually around Amelia, given its low SPD and DUR, yet it is positioned at the top of the map by itself. Its ‘retreat’ is generally assumed to go well despite being E SPD, and there really isn’t much info on how to protect it. It makes me wonder if it can really get where it needs to be without being attacked and retiring Amelia. Since CD has such an important job it’s going to be constantly calling attention to itself, so I feel as though this relative lack of focus on protecting CD comes off as a bit of a happy path.

Taking these lows together with your high highs, I’m going to even this out to a [7]. There’s some shaky stuff here, but it rests on a strong tactical and narrative foundation.

Now for Rasna! True to the delib, this is a mixed bag of a strat. You make fun use of your abilities, using various tools for power and mobility. Using the coffin for outfighting is great, and the barbed wire is definitely a scary piece of tech. You do a great job at making Rasna scary in general. This strat has a strong vision, and a solid enough core You also have a fantastic narrative, which I will comment on (extensively) during Jojolity.

Unfortunately, this strat has a few notable issues. As it stands, and I get why this is the case, this strat follows a pretty happy path. Amelia and Angelino are bowled over not only within the text, but by the text itself. This strategy really could have benefited by accounting for some of the specifics of their kits, or working around them more. Additionally the pain maximizing is a great jojolity play, but I just don’t know whether it would work, though at the very least you do account for the fact that Rasna can’t keep it up forever. Finally, I really could have used more. Especially with a stand like Rasna’s, I love what we got, but would have wanted more variety.

Overall, given the mixed nature of this bag, I’ll give this one a [5].