Parties & Rivals Team Tourney - Semifinals

[SnowFire]

Shockingly, despite rushing out to an early lead, Xorn saw his empire of despair collapse to the Silent Scream of Ramza Beoulve.  The Ice Lightning might have shut him up, but it couldn't silence his cries of overwhelming power that shook the heavens.  Something like that, at least.  Meanwhile, the vaunted SOLDIER Sephiroth got beaten up by some Japanese high school kids, and some high-school aged super-soldiers cleaned out the video game demons infesting Balamb Garden's computer, earning them a high score.

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) (5-0)
--
Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW) vs. Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) (5-0)
Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave) (2-1)

Heavy
Ulrika, Chloe, Pepperoni, Goto, Enna (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) (3-0)
--
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7) (4-3)
Ryu, Rei, Momo (Breath of Fire III) vs. Divine Weapon (Wild Arms 4) (5-0)

Middle
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) (4-2)
--
Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III) vs. Lyn, Eliwood, Hector, Athos, Serra, Nils (Fire Emblem) (4-3)
Kefka (Final Fantasy 6) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger) (6-3)

Light
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) (3-2)
--
Daos (Lufia 2) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2) (5-2)
Loki (Valkyrie Profile) vs. Crono, Marle, Lucca (Chrono Trigger) (5-3)

Bonus Match
Squall, Irvine, Quistis (w/ Elemental Attack junction) (Final Fantasy VIII) vs. Serph, PC Heat, Gale (Digital Devil Saga) (4-Nice try, Taishyr)

We finally have our crop of unbeaten teams!  The Champs from Round 3:
*Brahman.
*Ulrika's Mana Khemia 2 team.
*Ramza's Final Fantasy Tactics team.
*Ash & Pikachu's squad.
But it isn't over yet!  Nope, this is a double elimination tourney, so there's a bit more business to settle.  On the bright side, these teams can lose this week and still force a 3-way finals, but wouldn't it be better to win out all the way through?

Also, this week's bonus match is brought to you by Nephrite, Exxon, and the letter M.  More taciturn youthful exuberance than you can shake a stick at, and also Geddoe.

BORING PROCEDURAL STUFF:

Remember back in Week 2 when I mentioned that I screwed up and mismatched Godlike's loser's bracket?  We get to pay for that mistake this week, as a result that's impossible when pairings are done correctly occurred - the DQ8 team has played all 3 of the other remaining semifinalists (Brahman, Zophar, and the MK team).  This would be fine if the DQ8 team was the unbeaten champ, because then it'd just get a bye, buut they lost to Brahman.  So.  Um.  Sulphur and Lady were eliminated last round, but they're getting pulled back in so that DQ8 and Zophar have opponents.  The MK team was the lower rank due to winning only narrowly so they have the unlucky pairing of Brahman.  (It's probably obvious, but even if Lady or Sulphur win this week, they're still out next week.  They just got lucky and have delayed their riding the bench.)

Without further ado, the semifinalists...

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia)
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave)

Heavy
Ulrika, Chloe, Pepperoni, Goto, Enna (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Ryu, Rei, Momo (Breath of Fire III)
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2)

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile)
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2)

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III)

[superaielman]

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia)- Think the lack of revival is bad news.
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave)- Zophar needs FS here.

Heavy
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2)- Indaleico can put too much pressure on.

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)- Orlandu opens by OHKOing Hugo, and can probably solo things from there.
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile)- Loki's got the MT focus to pull this off.
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2)- Pile on Lilka, win.

Bonus Match
Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III)- ID. Bye!

[SnowFire]

Godlike
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)
Call Team helps here, but can it whittle Lady's HP fast enough?  Lady only needs to kill one monster to make the Teams much less scary, and can probably conserve her stock.  Once she's killed all the teams she eats Magic Burst and Lightning Stab, and if she's still alive then she blows up the DQ8 team.  While my Lady HP respect is not huge, not sure my Call Team consistency respect is that huge either, so currently leaning Lady.
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave)
I give Zophar FS, sure, but I also give Sulphur his invincibility rocks.  That means Zophar spends his first turn going crazy MT to blow up the rocks and eats a Terminate.  Then he eats another Terminate.  FS is a very slow move and Sulphur is fast so Sulphur gets a *third*, fatal turn in before Zophar can FS him out.

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)
Well, not quite so simple as OHKO Hugo, since Hugo will ride Fubar to avoid that.  FFT can all block Sleep, though, and then kill *Joe* instead, and have Melia break Lilly's weapon?  Don't think Hugo/Fubar can take it from there.  Alternatively maybe even the Hugo/Fubar combination goes down too fast to the FFT blitz.
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)
...good match.  Will have to think about it, leaning Xorn though, even with Lavos's form-shifting.  Think Xorn is tanky enough to take the assault.

Light
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2)
Even if Lilka & Tear's deaths trade off TotA wins the slugfest by weight of numbers.  Lilka defending turn 1 doesn't help.

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III)
My assumption is that Silent Lake is faster than Tir here?  And Wind of Sleep is even faster than that, though I'm unsure of how much legal status resistance is floating arond.  Awaiting arguments otherwise, suspect Suiko3 wins the slugfest that follows if the world gets Laked.

[Monkeyfinger]

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia): Anna has a move that neuters all elemental damage for the party, and Brahman can't use Light effectively as long as Pamela's out since it eats his press turns. Even with eternal zero, he shouldn't be able to one round these kids, and so Jess just keeps an MT healing timed card out at all times, taking the odd break to regain SP. It's a long slog but I don't see a way for Brahman to break this failmate.
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)

Heavy
Ulrika, Chloe, Pepperoni, Goto, Enna (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Ryu, Rei, Momo (Breath of Fire III): Nevermind, no fatal statuses on team MK2. Kaiserbreath just chews them all up.
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2): Noah + One More moves is too much.

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III): Meh.
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile): His focusing actually works here.

[Taishyr]

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia) - Light doesn't have a phys element attached (mentioned in chat), so should bypass Pamela walling; Earth and Wind aren't covered by the elemental walling, and frankly the elemental wall skill never impressed me ingame anyway so. Gutchecking that they could do it with revival! But they lack that. Closer fight than it should be thanks to switch shenanigans but it's not close enough.
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave)

Heavy
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) - Tenative. If one person is weak and one person is immune to a skill in P4, does it give a One More?

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile) - I don't bloody well know.

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III) - S. v, s.a.f.

[Monkeyfinger]

Heavy
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) - Tenative. If one person is weak and one person is immune to a skill in P4, does it give a One More?

Yes. It's Nocturne and DDS where immunity trumps weakness.

[Talaysen]

Heavy
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) - Tenative. If one person is weak and one person is immune to a skill in P4, does it give a One More?

Yes. It's Nocturne and DDS where immunity trumps weakness.

You mean every SMT game except P4.  It definitely didn't work this way in P3 either.

Also, I remember Andy(?) mentioning before that Mana Khemia characters cannot die when support defending (they are left with 1 HP).  Not sure if that means anything here.  Will need to look closer.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Andy probably saw Guts kick in, because I've definitely support-defended MK PCs into death.

[dude789]

Godlike
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW) Yeah, Call Team is pretty much the perfect way to counter Lady

Heavy
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) I think two people with Mediarahan is too much for Indy to handle. Was Noah Ice? Even if it was, I think good use of guarding helps the P4ers get through.

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile) Too much damage.
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2)

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III) I think?

[DjinnAndTonic]

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia) - I think the switching is enough to handle sluggy mcdurability here.
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW) - Similarly, Call Team foils Lady.
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave) - Kneejerk, haven't been paying attention to the arguments.

Heavy
Ulrika, Chloe, Pepperoni, Goto, Enna (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Ryu, Rei, Momo (Breath of Fire III) - Ryu3 could probably solo, but Rei can get off a shot of ID first, too.
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2) - The right kind of synergy to take on Indy.

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III) - Not allowing Weapon-breaking on casts who can't have their weapons removed. Armor-breaking works, but I don't think it's enough with the Hugo offense and the Yellow Scarf shenanigans. While the FFT team is taking out Joe, the S3 team takes out Orlandu. Downhill for the FFT team from there.
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger) - Speedy motherfucker.

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile) - It's super-effective! Just think the damage piles up faster than the pokemon carcasses.
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2) - Similar outnumbered problem.

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III) - Team Tenkai has too much MT magical smash, so Team Elemental Runes' only chance is Silent Lake. However, unlike Luc and Sasarai, 5 out of 6 Tenkai stars are pretty awesome at physicals. And Thomas is an evade whore~

[Dhyerwolf]

Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2)- Kind of gut, but Noah is mean even if two of the PCs null it. Sure, Yukiko could Defend every single turn. Then it's one less person to actually act, which doesn't help since they kind of need to get past the Earthquake death zone (Since uh...that's near OHKO damage even after the defense up, which only exists on the one other healer, and everyone but Yosuke is below average durability enough to then bite it to that anyways).

[SnowFire]

This closes tomorrow.

Also on the Suikoden fight...  Hugo's Wind of Sleep is definitely faster than Silent Lake so that doing anything really should tip the fight if Silent Lake outraces the ID, and even if it doesn't Wind of Sleep might get Tir anyway.  So definitely standing by my vote on that one.

[Talaysen]

Godlike
Brahman (Digital Devil Saga) vs. Vayne, Jessica, Nikki, Flay, Pamela, Anna (Mana Khemia)
Guv, Yangus, Jessica, Angelo (Dragon Quest VIII) vs. Lady (Shadow Hearts: FTNW)
Zophar (Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete) vs. Sulphur (Phantom Brave)

Heavy
Ulrika, Chloe, Pepperoni, Goto, Enna (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Ryu, Rei, Momo (Breath of Fire III)
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie (Persona 4) vs. Indalecio (Star Ocean 2)

Middle
Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, Orlandu, Meliadoul (Final Fantasy Tactics) vs. Hugo, Fubar, Sgt. Joe, Lilly (Suikoden III)
Xorn (Grandia III) vs. Lavos (Chrono Trigger)

Light
Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Snorlax, Espeon (Pokemon) vs. Loki (Valkyrie Profile)
Luke, Guy, Tear, Jade (Tales of the Abyss) vs. Ashley, Brad, Lilka (Wild Arms 2)

Bonus Match
Tir, Riou, Thomas, Lazlo, Freyjadour, Tenkai Star [Suikoden Tierkreis] (Suikoden series) vs. Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, Sasarai, Luc (Suikoden III)