Season 55, Week 2

[Dhyerwolf]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN)
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs)
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5)
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK)
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN)

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5)
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3)
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA)
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7)

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM)
Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6)
Colette Brunell (ToS) vs Dominia (XG)

[Dhyerwolf]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN)
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs)- Gut. Brahms is faster, Dhouly doesn't OHKO. 25% chance of smash+50% of smash=Brahms activates his PWS of doom.
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)- Will need to math this out when my comp isn't slow from downloads. Lesca 3HKOs...when she can access Absorb. Empyrea may just eat through Lesca HP way to quickly. Gutting Empyrea for now. Lesca doesn't like not starting with the damage here.

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5)
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)- Unless the sleep->heal->ignore evade thanks to having her enemy asleep can buy Toadstool a win before Joshua kills her with a crit.
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK)- Yosuke versus durability
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN)

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5)- Number crunch later, likely Nanaki though.
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3)- Dekar 2HKOs, Landis probably kills on his 4th turn and neutralizes Dekar's 2nd attack, but its not enough.
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA)- Massimo is the obvious choice, but about how long did Tear's Invincibility move last?
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7)- Oh god, SL hype and crit hype?! Don't know here.

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM)- This really depends on whether I see Cinnamon halving Wind in hyper mode. Think the match is pretty clean one way of the other. She does, then she 2HKOs and doesn't worry about the counter. She doesn't, and Soren is unloading a counter, a normal attack, and an Astra attack, overwhelming her.
Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6)- Randomly gut checked this one, but won't be surprised at all if the effective numbers show it to be different. Not too different, but Rebecca has more speed.
Colette Brunell (ToS) vs Dominia (XG)- OHKOs.

[Monkeyfinger]

Godlike:

Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs): He's really good at chipping, so he never has to give Brahms a turn below 50%
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5)
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK)
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN): That ID is not turn 1 against legendary stats. So... dragon dance first turn. If Cristo tries to ID, Ray kills with hyper beam next turn. If Cristo uses upper, Ray dragon dances next turn, shrugs off an ID attempt, then doubles and kills with 2x Outrage.

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5)
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3): Gutting that freeze/permafreeze is really mean against someone that slow.
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA): Full AP berzerk charge does it.
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7): Elaine has 1 SL charge, a terrible crit rate, and crits might not even do much because they're just extra damage before defense, not even true ITD, and so "overkill" defense blunts or outright stops them.

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM)
Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)
Colette Brunell (ToS) vs Dominia (XG)

[Fudozukushi]

Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA)- Massimo is the obvious choice, but about how long did Tear's Invincibility move last?

Less than the cast time.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs) - Faster, 2HKOs and avoids the OHKO because Dhoulmagus' magical backup damage is pretty trashy. Honestly, I doubt even VP2 Brahms loses due to the parasitic healing (which quite possibly lets him avoid being 2HKOed).
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8) - Absorb 2HKOs Empy HP.

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5) - Is faster, 2HKOs, isn't even 2HKOed (if only due to Lightning resistance). Barubary is worthless.
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8) - I don't even see Sleepy Time as ITE. This just tosses Toadstool's chances into the crapper.
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK) - Yosuke can't 3HKO Tony unless he wants to be 2HKOed through Endure - and that's being generous. That's game.
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN) - See Monkey, really. ID being turn two just gets Cristo in a bind, and Quaza goes first to begin with. Surround could be a point, but a 3-2 is quite possible under the circumstances and after a single Dragon Dance, Rayquaza is heal-locking Cristo with fury.

Nanaki (FF7) vs Sharmista (S5) - I think poke+L1 may very well be capable of getting Sharmista killed. This is sad.
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3) - I'd agree with Dhyer that killing in the fourth turn wouldn't be enough to get that win... but Dekar gets 3-2'd.
Massimo (MMXCM) vs Tear Grants (TotA) - Freaks Tear out.
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7) - No tinking hype from me, which means Elaine just SLs and two-rounds Nergal's scrubby ass. His defense is honestly overrated anyway.

Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8) - Irvine fucking sucks.

[OblivionKnight]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN) - Nate.  Has a bigger penis, him being the number one man in Japan.  Excuse me, Number One.
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT) - Kurando.  Man, Orlandu hates having 0 defense!
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs) - Dhoulmagus.  Brahms is a vampire, and Dhoulmagus is in a game with a night/day cycle.  Dhoulmagus just waits until it's sun, then BAM.  Stake through the heart and all that.
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8) - Yunalesca.  Have you SEEN her boobs?  They're bigger than your head!

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5) - Barubary.  Makes better write-ups.
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8) - Toadstool.  Seriously, you ever tried cutting them apart?  It just oozes all over you, and might even be poisonous!  Joshua comes from a desert country - I'm sure he knows not to do such things, especially since it's happened before during the events of Sacred Stones.  As such, Joshua simply tries to cook her, and of course, as we know, women > men when it comes to the kitchen thing.  Now, make a goddamned sammich!
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK) - Tony.  While both are clumsy and sometimes bumbling, Tony at least gets the girl.  What does Yosuke get?  Lots of heartbreak
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN) - Rayquaza.  Dragon Quest games rarely involve dragons except at the very, very end, and Cristo really isn't the person that deals with them, hence, he's out of his league here.

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5) - Nanaki.  A talking dog-thing is pretty cool.  Sharmista...does anyone remember her?  Really?  Or him - it's hard to tell with Suikoden.
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3) - Dekar.  Hard to argue with an axe to the face.
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA) - Massimo.  Big fucking robot.  How is it supposed to be put to sleep?  If Tear had water magic, I could see it, but...
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7) - Nergal.  Elaine tinks against the mighty Nergal.

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM) - Soren's only resisted attack is fire tomes (duh, Cinnamon resists THUNDER, not LIGHTNING...kind of retarded to make a robot that resists sound, but whatever).  Therefore, no problems there.  With the might of Rexcalibre, the world is his!
Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8) - Irvine.  Gun.
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6) - Relm.  Control.
Colette Brunell (ToS) vs Dominia (XG) - Colette.  See the write...wait, it got cut down so much   Oh well, Dominia sucks.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

* Jo'ou Ranbu crunches Red's physical vs. Sharmista HP, ignoring she's below average for defense by a non-negligible amount.

Dear god, Red physical x2 = borderline dead Sharmista off the HP alone. I undersold his Limited Moon offense (heck, it deals the same as the L1!). More importantly, though, this means that I'm not even sure there's a way Sharmista wins this unless stun hits turn one. That... um, yeah, it's fairly clear-cut. Sharmista sucks.

[Ultradude]

Heavy:

Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)

Middle:

Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7)

Light:

Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6)

[superaielman]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN)- Lugia can't really damage Nate.
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)-Mismatch.
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs)- Dhouly's below average speed. Kersplat.
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)- Boss. Yunalesca's durability isn't that impressive thanks to summons existing, but... eh. Yeah, boss.  Empy's just far better at slugging in a long fight than Killer.

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5)
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK)- Strong kneejerk.
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN)- Don't know.

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5)
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3)-  Don't buy Landis 3-2ing. He's barely average speed and Dekar's not that slow.
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA)- I think?
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7)- Strongly leaning Elaine.  But we'll see.

Light:

Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)- What Snow said. If you have any shred of damage control or actual decent damage, you own Irvine.

[Taishyr]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN) - I ... think?
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs)
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)

Heavy:

Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK) - uh.
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN) - Gutcheck says ID won't land in time, stalling Rayquaza is an exercise in futility.

Middle:

Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3) - Nowhere near the freeze respect others have.
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7) - Fuggit.

Light:

Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6) - Control hype. >_>

[Dark Holy Elf]

Godlike:

Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT): Faster, puts pressure on immediately, Kurando is heal-locked back at best while a status lands.
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs): VP2 Brahms only but... he actually may hold up pretty well here. Dhoumagus may not 2HKO him before draining, definitely doesn't after. So does Brahms 3HKO back? Eh... probably not. Though... not certain Dhoulmagus pulls off the 3HKO back? Probably does with High Speed Combo, but that's a limit... but probably one he gets by the last turn, which is enough to pull him over the top. So probably Dhoulmagus, and this match belongs in Heavy.
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8): Draining.

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5): Faster 2HKO. G Dragon makes Baru's HP kinda emo.
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8): Ignores Mute, Sleepy Time doesn't always hit, and those crits are coming eventually.
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN): Ray's legendary stats are all in offence, not defence. 1.1x average MDef? That -may- make Beat turn 2, but offhand I don't think so. Not sure it matters, Cristo is tanky enough to survive DD + Hyper... maybe not 2x DD + Hyper, though? But I don't think Ray's quite fast enough for a 3-2 even with two Dragon Dances in there (the second barely touches Ray's speed). It's... there's enough judgement calls there that Ray could win, but I don't think so. Might also consider a vote change if someone tested DQ4DS's Whack.

Wait. Ray's best strategy here isn't to buff, it's just to spam Dragon Claw all day. That can't be stopped by Upper, and he doubles well before it runs out of ammo. So.. yeah Cristo really does need that turn 1 ID. One judgement call = switching to abstain for now.

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5): Sharmista is sure disappointing.
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3): Fairly close. Does come down to that 3-2, and a little numbercrunching says Landis just misses it: 104% speed vs. 73% speed isn't good enough.
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA): Gets off a fatal Berserk Charge turn 3 and has no chance of dying before then. Think I've underrated Massimo in the past.
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7): What the hell, people. Characters with average Strength (physical) deal 14 damage to Nergal. Without supports, or buffing. That's not even close to tinking. After scaling it's a OHKO or 2HKO depending on how you scale. Elaine is 3HKOing at worst (barely below average damage), and SL gives her 4 turns. Yeah.

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM): Cin is really good against magic (yes, I extend her "three basic elements" resistance to the three basic elements in FE, especially since Wind and Ice are the same in FE).
Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8): CC has damage control.
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6): Ummm... I think.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Will need to math this out when my comp isn't slow from downloads. Lesca 3HKOs...when she can access Absorb. Empyrea may just eat through Lesca HP way to quickly. Gutting Empyrea for now. Lesca doesn't like not starting with the damage here.

Yunalesca has Absorb available in all of her forms, at any HP.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3): Fairly close. Does come down to that 3-2, and a little numbercrunching says Landis just misses it: 104% speed vs. 73% speed isn't good enough.

Dekar's speed is actually above 70% average? I always figured it hovered somewhere in the realm of the high 60%.

[Monkeyfinger]

Why isn't a 4-3 good enough?

[Dark Holy Elf]

I'm not sure I follow.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

... if you assume Dekar misses his second turn due to stun and it resets his CT, you're probably right, a 4-3 is enough because Dekar just doesn't OHKO - Landis attacks, Dekar attacks, Landis attacks, stuns, Dekar loses turn, Landis doubles and attacks twice, entering the turn three threshold for permafreeze and, on average, making Dekar at least lose another turn, and at worst, five Landis turns should be fatal to Dekar. Although I'm not so sure about that, since it enters more elaborate turn manipulation shenanigans and picks into a realm that S3 stun doesn't cover in and out of itself.

[SnowFire]

Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8) - Let's see.  All - or at least all the major ones, and probably all of them - FFX bosses are immune to Demi, which is basically a psuedo-status.  Gravity doesn't exist in DQ8, but Empy is also immune to status.  And for what it's worth, as far as psuedo-statuses, Empyrea is (according to Dark Holy Elf's later post in the stat topic) completely 100% immune to stat-downs (much like Yunalesca herself is basically immune to all status - including Demi).  Conclusion: No, a gravity effect ain't working here.

[Bardiche]

Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VPs)

Heavy:

Barubary (BoF2) vs Lyon (S5)
Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)

Middle:

Nanaki (FF7) Vs Sharmista (S5)
Dekar (Lufia 2) vs Landis (S3)
Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA) - I think she can get off a Forcefield to block off his attacks, and heal plenty and harm him. But man, I'm starting to hate ARPGs in the DL because the way they shine in-game translates so poorly to turn-based settings.
Elaine (S3) vs Nergal (FE7) - Only one charge of SL? Well!

Light:

Steena (CC) vs Irvine Kinneas (FF8)
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6)
Colette Brunell (ToS) vs Dominia (XG) - Probably Colette? Gotta look at stat topics, Dominia somehow makes me go "Who again?"

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA) - I think she can get off a Forcefield to block off his attacks, and heal plenty and harm him. But man, I'm starting to hate ARPGs in the DL because the way they shine in-game translates so poorly to turn-based settings.

Wait, there's a universe in where Force Field isn't impressively useless? That thing only caused me grief until I turned it off Tear's AI so she'd stop wasting the time and TP casting the thing. I wouldn't have known it gave invincibility by playing the game, given how utterly awful it was in-game.

[ThePiggyman]

Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA) - I think she can get off a Forcefield to block off his attacks, and heal plenty and harm him. But man, I'm starting to hate ARPGs in the DL because the way they shine in-game translates so poorly to turn-based settings.

Wait, there's a universe in where Force Field isn't impressively useless? That thing only caused me grief until I turned it off Tear's AI so she'd stop wasting the time and TP casting the thing. I wouldn't have known it gave invincibility by playing the game, given how utterly awful it was in-game.

That's probably because it costs of a lot of TP, and the AI usually used it against attacks that would only normally do double-digit damage. I think it's completely valid against anyone who has something that requires charging.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Problem is that Massimo doesn't, really. He gets the WE threshold to unload his damage whenever by turn two, and there's nothing forcing him to unload it while Tear puts up Force Field. And given how it runs out in less time than it takes for her to -cast it- to begin with, what stops him from just waiting until it's vulnerable? Where is she getting the leeway to actually make headway? It just lasts too little for it to be of any use against anything at all, it's basically a wasted action.

[Bardiche]

Tear doubles. Occasionally. She can restore TP by attacking then.

I'm tempted to just not vote on that match at all because of ARPG mechanics being kind of Urgh.

[Ultradude]

Tear doubles. Occasionally. She can restore TP by attacking then.

I'm tempted to just not vote on that match at all because of ARPG mechanics being kind of Urgh.

No way she restores enough TP attacking OR doubles with that kind of casting time.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Tear doubles. Occasionally. She can restore TP by attacking then.

If she's charging her sluggish to slow as molasses spells, oh no she isn't. Massimo isn't even that slow, and I'd struggle to see even First Aid as above average speed (and that's Tear's fastest spell. TotA spell charge times are egregious failure).

[Nitori]

(Boring) Godlike:

Nate Nanjo (Pers) vs Lugia (PKMN)
Kurando Inugami (SH2) vs Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)
Dhoulmagus (DQ8) vs Brahms (VP2)
Yunalesca (FFX) vs Empyrea (DQ8)

Heavy:

Princess Toadstool (SMRPG) vs Joshua (FE8)
Yosuke Hanamura (P4) vs Tony Eisler (MK)
Cristo (DQ4) vs Rayquaza (PKMN)

Middle:

Massimo (MMXCM) Vs Tear Grants (TotA)

Light:

Soren (FE9) vs Cinnamon (MMXCM)
Rebecca Streisand (WA5) vs Relm Arrowny (FF6)