R1M13 Quality Delibs

Judge Boggis (Logic)

While Races and Collectathons were common in T3/T4 and T5 onward have broadened the range of what Objective matches can look like, we’ve coalesced around new match types nonetheless: “Contribute More”, “Performance”, and the like. Matches like this one can be considered “Logistics” matches where the goal is to manage multiple processes and sabotage, see also R1M6 Cooking Match.

This match expressly focuses on “marketing”, the ability to attract customers to one’s stall via physical contact and advertising. Lotus Street Manifold has potentially 27 bodies on the field, giving them incredible stage control through sheer numbers, with Helena able to use Hearts to boost herself around the field. D.D. has the ability to project objects as advertising and interface with technology (rather than having physical influence), but Chase is incredibly scary in this match for his X-factor and his ability to flex into any role necessary.

My balancing philosophy for matches is parsimony and giving players breadth to explore their kits and characters, so this is a match that provides a springboard to do so, especially with a Jojolity that encourages broad, general use of the environment and items. Snek did a badass job with the writeup and the scenario, so let’s get into it!

IMPACT starts with Market Research, Chase actively surveying the crowd while D.D. sets up back at the shop and at Square 1. I don’t have much to really say tactically since this section focuses on character writing (Planning/Narrative) and the broader, signed appeal of the association to the Mount Parapollah National Park. It coheres!

From there, Chase plays as salesperson, using his perceptiveness, rhetoric, social awareness, and footwork to bounce from customer to customer and tailoring specific sales to specific customers and their wants, while D.D. violates the GDPR to download information about patrons and ping their phones with targeted ads. (Competency) While trading breadth for depth is a strong call given your skill sets, D.D. is doing a lot at once for her 8 cables, running advertisements while doing targetted advertising. I think both are simultaneously possible, but some finer allocation/prioritization would have been appreciated. (Competency/Logistics)

I think the Sabotage/Counter-Sabotage section is a bit more scattered (Logistics/Planning), several of its tactics more tacked onto the underlying gameplan. Individually, I think they work fine, but I would find some more compelling if they were fleshed out. For example, Norman’s ghosts have massive range all over the map, but this section only discusses them with respect to stealing from other stalls or “Chase [going] over with his Stand...to take out [LSM Stand constructs redirecting or subverting the flow of traffic].” I would have liked to see a bit more detail and integration with some of these tactics (Counterplay), but it makes me scratch at their efficacy at worse; the core gameplan is solidly intact.

The strat understandably goes into steady state before closing with a fire sale, so I’ll close here. Even if I think the (counter)sabotage could have been better integrated, the core ideas clearly work: a high [7] seems fair.

LSM starts with a rushdown smash and grab. While it’s unlikely that the stall is rendered inoperable, I think it’s certainly likely that LSM gets enough material to trade for Clocks, and the opening section adequately sets up its Clock generating tactics. (Planning/Logistics) From there, LSM uses its sheer body count to flood the field: painting murals, setting up stanchions, cutting up and handing out coupons, and offering recycling services as currency. (Competency). I think you could more explicitly allocate and emphasize the resources on the field throughout this section to show priority and coverage, but this is still well done. (Logistics/Planning)

I have similar comments with respect to the integration of (counter)sabotage as with IMPACT (Counterplay/Planning/Logistics), but I have two more targeted comments. First, I think the strat could have been slightly better organized; as implied above, once you’ve done your opening plays, you drop a lot of information on tactics all at once. Not only would it help with prioritization and understanding the timeflow (Planning/Logistics), but it would help readers understand the “direction” of your strategy (Formatting). I’ve long extolled the virtues of subdividing sections, and putting all of the mural stuff into one (sub)section, for example, would be a good way to help.

Second, Helena and CD seem to be underutilized, the Stand acting as a vague midfielder. What confuses me is that its boosting ability and limb creation aren't given as much of a premium, when the latter works in tandem with God Arms and the former is a force multiplier for (counter)sabotage. This ties back into my comments on sabotage, where more robust strategic integration for the various tactics would emphasize Helena/CD’s role within the strat. (Planning/Logistics)

All in all, I really like the item play of the middle section (Competency), but the overall strategic and written framing muddies the expression a little bit. I think a [7] is reasonable on balance.

Judge Bunce (Extra)

I'm gonna come out swinging and say that I think both teams really knocked this match out of the park, with creative, thorough, and organized plans that are both incredibly compelling. Excellent work to the players and the teams here; you've both got products to be proud of.

Starting off with IMPACT, since it showed up higher in the comments, there's a lot of great ideas here. Both Kickstart My Heart and Cat Step feel incredibly well-utilized, and every drop of value is squeezed out of users and Stands alike. Chase's constant stacking is used to great effect, as expected, and the commitment to a small but well-selected suite of different aspects to give momentum makes it almost a given that he'll be sustaining it throughout the majority of the match. DeeDee, meanwhile, uses particularly the Fiber Optic cables incredibly well, creating an incredibly hardy virtual display that's both on theme and inventive; among a bunch of standard fare stalls, this one would be hard to miss unless you were intentionally avoiding it.

As I said, you get as much as you can out of every aspect of your strategy in my eyes, which is certainly grounds for a high score. One thing in particular that I greatly enjoyed, however, was the fake cat dying. It came entirely out of left field, giving it even more oomph than it would have had already, and is an odd mix of goofy and sad that sells it so well. Really, I don't have very much in the way of notes here; good concepts, good execution, a pinch of out-of-the-box creativity; I think this is a pretty clean **8.** Everything about the strategy feels tight; it's hard to find any significant fault with it. A great product, to be sure.

Moving on to LSM, I love the aesthetic here; leaning into the goth aspect gives the strategy a lot of flavor and makes it feel especially distinctive. As far as actual mechanics, this delivers on all counts. Considering how breezy of a read it was, I'm quit impressed by how meaty it winds up being in terms of gameplan. I love the murals from a quality perspective; it's exactly the sort of eye-catching decor that would set one stall apart from the rest, it's entirely in-character, and it has a certain *je ne sais quoi* to it that just makes it fit. Honey I'm Home's Ghost Arms get busy, carrying a lot of the local workload, while Cemetery Drive plays a much more aggressive game, acting as both saboteur and protector to Death Kebab for Cutie; this division of the workload plays well to each Stand's strengths, and I enjoy the emphasis if not focus on sabotage as a key part of the win condition.

I do feel Helena in general could have done more, and that Norman pulls a bit too much weight, but I don't find it so egregious as to impact the strategy's soundness. That said, the most defining part of this strategy to me is the marketing, and boy do you market. The coupons are a nice touch, and certainly pull their weight, but where I think this pays off the most is in accepting trash as payment. Putting aside the ecological soundness of such a move (since it isn't relevant to quality), managing to rope functionally free product into the strategy in a way that doesn't feel entirely cheesy or against the spirit of the match is praiseworthy; the objective is for volume of customers, and while amount of profit is an implication, playing with the idea of profit as this strategy does pushes me to give this a **9.** Not only does this strategy feel tight and coherent, it feels unique in a way that I think warrants a higher score. Again, very well done.

Judge Bean (Ceep)

These ones will be on the shorter side, largely agreeing with the points raised above. I think that LSM did very solidly, with the initial play to mess with IMPACT at least helping put them ahead, while I also feel their work overall is solid. The defenses against being popped by Chase and the overall spooky aesthetic is really solidly done. I don’t have a lot to say here, everything is damn solid and works well! A 7/10 seems fair to me; I think you did basically everything I could ask.

As for IMPACT, I’ll be giving a 6/10; while you also did overall well with Chase used for his massive utility very well, I think that the overall effect seemed a bit less cohesive than LSM. Your interference was a bit less effective for what it was. Meanwhile, DD is again solidly used, but I think that there could have been a bit more to tighten up the sort of ‘steady state’. I don’t have a lot to say to complain about though; good job!

I’ll note I felt crowd control and effective sabotage were a bit underutilized, but leave it there.