Archerous' R5M3 Delib

Quality

After every battle, there has to be someone who has to clean up the wreckage. Might as well leave it to Paranoia from the Gallery of Wayward Reverie, joined by her coin friend Markov, as well as Angelino Caballero, who brought his fellow Moonbeam Rider, Kibō Inago. Though this is more of a friendly competition, that doesn’t mean there aren’t stakes. So, the question stands: who cleans up the best?

Starting with Gallery, I think they have a solid strategy of not only cleaning up the place, but ensuring that they contribute more to the effort by default. Markov’s Cleaning Cycle is a feat of ingenuity that makes efficient use of the resources around them. Not only does it launch scrap out of the arena, but it doubles as a weapon against interlopers as well. As for Paranoia’s efforts, she takes a more antagonistic approach to the prompt, straight up attacking her opponents and even the battered NPCs to keep Angelino busy. She makes use of her stealth to play a particularly violent game of keepaway from Angelino, effectively making this match a 1v1, with Paranoia tilting the odds ever so slightly in their favor with her map hazards. Together, the pair presents an efficient way to deal with the challenges this match brings with a deceptive simplicity. Thus, I’m giving this strategy an 8. Well done!

Onto the Riders, I think the duo has their work cut out for them, what with aggressive opponents and extra stage objectives. Fortunately, I think they take to the task incredibly well; excelling, even. While Angelino takes immediate care of the injured, taking the time to get to know them, Inago is on scrap duty, making use of his own wind boosted by Angelino’s movements for an extra oomf. This scrap removal also doubles as a means to get rid of pesky intruders, by knocking down the piles onto animatronics looking to get a strike in on the vigilantes. All of this is in service to create the Wind Turbine, a concerted effort between the Riders to not only batter scrap, but to collect it and move it out of the arena as well. Angelino even calls in a few favors from his newly rescued pals to pick up any slack. This is a solid plan of attack, even against their more violent foes, whose attacks they dispatch with using ignited chemical barrels to block the attack and gas them for the trouble. And if that doesn’t work, Inago can just move some scrap around to box them in for a moment. All in all, they take this challenge in stride, and make great use of their resources to clean the cave. For their trouble, I’m giving this strategy an 8. Well done!

Jojolity

As for Jojolities, I’ll be brief. Both the Gallery and the Riders had some great examples of flexibility throughout their strats. Just looking at their ultimate cleaning techniques, (the Cleaning Cycle and the Wind Turbine respectively), it's clear that both teams had a clear goal in mind when going for this Jojolity. The many moving pieces of the Cleaning Cycle show a great deal of flexibility from one barrel. Not to mention the use of both the Rider’s Stand effects to create a harmonious whirlwind, as well as their use of empathy to inspire those they saved to help as well. As mentioned before, the Riders made great use of their resources.

However, one complaint I hold for both strats is that beyond these great examples, I believe there is more room to explore the concepts further in the strats’ mechanics, as both resorted to standard and predictable plays against the other match elements, such as the animatronics and further scrap removal. This is important and certainly expected for the match, of course, but I don’t feel like these plays added onto the Jojolity in any meaningful way.

However, there is also a narrative aspect to these strats, and that cannot be ignored (nor should it). There is a great deal of adaptation in Gallery’s strat, with Markov learning how to navigate Paranoia’s juvenile temperament and needs. Angelino and Inago make an effort to adapt to their situation as it unfolds, taking out animatronics based on the patterns they learn throughout the match to shifting their roles within the Wind Turbine as needed. With all this being said, I’m giving both Jojolities a 7. Well done!