Season 60, Week 1: Ragnar vs. Zidane. Can the viewers' brains survive?

[Dark Holy Elf]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8)
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs.  Killer (SH3)
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4)
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV)

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB)
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs.  Zidane (FF9)
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV)
Miang (XG) vs.  3-Marsilio (SO2)

Middle
1-Vesper (SO2)  vs. Jin (P3)
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7)
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT)

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7)
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2)
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5)
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7)

[superaielman]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8)- No comment needed.
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs. Killer (SH3)- Kneejerking Killer. This may be due to wanting a Killer/Lady fight, though!
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4)
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV)- No idea. Entirely depends on how much ITE X has.

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6) vs.Slust (OB)- Slust is faster and 2HKOs Edgar with ease, but... confuse lock. Slust's defenses may give him enough time for a double (Edgar can't ever afford AA), and he just needs one turn. Mmm, yeah. Actually, that sounds right.  He should get the turns in time, though I ought to calc it out to be sure.
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs. Zidane (FF9)- Somehow Zidane is less of a loser in every sense of the word here.
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV)- Zidane draws cannon fodder while Rune gets a boss with good physical 2HKO damage. Ouch.
Miang (XG) vs. 3-Marsilio (SO2)- Miang vs boss.

Middle
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)- Jill has a shitty translation to the DL, but she is more than able to handle a pure fighter like Anise.
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7)- Status.
Sophia (SO3)  vs. 4-Balk (FFT)- Don't allow Sophia Blood Scylla. She may be able to slug her way past Balk without it, but she'd need a lot of luck.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7)- Sure, I'll bite.
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2)- Leon vs anyone not awful.
Melville (S3) vs. Euram Barrows (S5)- It's Euram.
Funguy (CC) vs. 3-Lucius (FE7)- I think? Funguy's got the right DL stats to give Lucius trouble (HP/attack)- though I should check if his techs are magical or not.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8): I suppose Leo might get a turn. Go him?
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs.  Killer (SH3): One-rounds, don't see Killer doing the same even if he gets a turn.
Asgard (WA3)  vs.  Belial (WA4): From the XF stat topic:

Loses to Belial and that's about it, I think.

Ouch. WA3 actually has a better shot but it's still not one at all, Belial instant doubles and rips into the damage of his only attack which can actually hit anyone more evasive than Gallows, then keeps on smashing from there, probably 2-rounding.
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV): X can't deal with Saner + Deban.

Heavy
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs.  Zidane (FF9): Mini.
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV): Too many ways he's better.
Miang (XG) vs.  3-Marsilio (SO2): Death immune.

Middle
1-Vesper (SO2)  vs. Jin (P3)
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA): Anise is fairly scrubby.
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7): Goes first, has two shots at Sleep Powder + blitz and hits the right defence.
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT): Anti-paralysis amulet and healing. I'm actually not sure she needs Blood Scylla, though that makes it easy. Definitely doesn't if she had Reflection.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7): This match fails forever. Serra has terrible pdur, but Blastoise's physical game is a 6HKO. Serra raises this to a 4HKO. Even with Tail Whip to avoid counters, this still needs two Tail Whips and two Bites, triggering one counter and giving Serra four of her own turns. Serra 5HKOs and thus wins, even before considering her evade possibilities.

Alternatively, Blastoise uses his much better magical damage, but this still won't work. Sure, Torrent + Rain Dance + Hydro Cannon overkills average and takes off over 2/3 of Serra's HP (grr 2x mdur). Toss in a Rain Dance Hydro Pump and this kills! Unfortunately, both these attacks are inaccurate (80 hit and 90 hit respectively), and Serra is 39% evade, or 16% above average, which in either interp means that on average one of those attacks will miss. So we need two Hydro Pumps, and Blastoise is once again in need of four turns, this time two of which trigger counters. Not working.

What a pathetic match.

Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2): gj Leon
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5)
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7): Goes first, two-shots, isn't 2HKOed.

[superaielman]

Leon is half average damage. Leon loses.

[Monkeyfinger]

Godlike

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB): I doubt slust 2HKOs, which means he needs 2 doubles. That's too much of a stretch.

Middle
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA): Anise has a shot with her magic if you don't see it as slow as I do, though.
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT): Lightning's one of the few elements she can spoil.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7): If Blastoise's physical strategy comes that close to killing using silver averages, he should make it win under killer ones.

[Taishyr]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8)
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs.  Killer (SH3)
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4) - What I've seen gives Belial the win, but.
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV) - ... I think?

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB) - Thinking.
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs.  Zidane (FF9) - Kneejerk Ragnar.
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV) - 3x Rune should be okay here?

Middle
1-Vesper (SO2)  vs. Jin (P3) - ...
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7) - Gutcheck.
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT) - Poor Balk.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7)
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2)
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5)
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7)

[Fudozukushi]

Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)- Jill has a shitty translation to the DL, but she is more than able to handle a pure fighter like Anise.

Anise has magic.

Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA): Anise has a shot with her magic if you don't see it as slow as I do, though.

Blood Howling is one of the fastest high-tier magics.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Entirely depends on how much ITE X has.

He has none.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)- Jill has a shitty translation to the DL, but she is more than able to handle a pure fighter like Anise.

Anise has magic.

Magic that ends up as an awesome low 4HKO to average in the DL. That's completely excellent.

Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA): Anise has a shot with her magic if you don't see it as slow as I do, though.

Blood Howling is one of the fastest high-tier magics.

Considering how even the fastest spells (i.e. the L1 shit) end up pretty danged slow, that's like comparing Lyonesse's durability to Raja's. TotA magic in general is pretty egregiously sluggish.

[Dhyerwolf]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8)
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs.  Killer (SH3)
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4)
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV)

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB)
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs.  Zidane (FF9)
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV)
Miang (XG) vs.  3-Marsilio (SO2)

Middle
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)- FE 9 weakness was triple might, right? If so, Anise's Wind magic only has to be 8 damage to 2HKO Jill (Which it should be barely. Well, assuming 8 damage with 5 Might being average for in game mages). Jill doesn't 2HKO Anise.
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7)
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT)

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7)- 3HKOs against that defense I'm sure.
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2)
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5)
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7)- Wasn't fully sure here, but if NEB is voting against Lucius and uses a more favorable damage average, then this is probably the case for me too.

[Dark Holy Elf]

FE9 weakness is only double might, actually.

[Pyro]

Godlike
1-Lady (SH3)  vs. Sir Leopold (DQ8): Lady is boss.
Odd Eye (ShF2) vs.  Killer (SH3): I'll admit I'm not sure here.
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4): Indeed isn't it ironic, NEB?
X (MMX:CM) vs. 4-Rika (PSIV): I've played enough MMXCM to vote on this one.

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB): Not entirely sure here granted.
Ragnar (WA:XF)  vs.  Zidane (FF9): Ragnar wishes his Enrage skill or whatever forced physicals~
Garai (CC) vs Rune Walsh (PSIV): Outslugged rather badly. Garai is good at what he does.
Miang (XG) vs.  3-Marsilio (SO2) Miang is (horrible against) boss

Middle
1-Vesper (SO2)  vs. Jin (P3): No.
Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA): Everything else aside, FE10 Jill makes MINCEMEAT out of Anise. And I've no compunction voting on the FE10 form.
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7): Sleep Powder, Magical 2HKO.
Sophia (SO3)  vs.  4-Balk (FFT): If NEB is voting against FFT boss I will follow suit.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7): Serra'd have this if Lightning was actually, you know, Lightning.
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2): Oh.
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5): My.
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7): God. Light is pathetic.

[Dhyerwolf]

If FE 9 weakness is only double might, then yeah, Jill takes that since Anise isn't getting the 2HKO then (Which she was arguably just scraping anyways).

[Sei]

Godlike
Asgard (WAs)  vs.  Belial (WA4) - Barrier Storm's the only way Asgard has of hurting Belial and it just had to run off his HP.

Heavy
1-Edgar (FF6)  vs. Slust (OB) - Slust misses the 2HKO and instant double to me, so Air Anchor is enough.
Miang (XG) vs.  3-Marsilio (SO2) - Miang against ID immune

Middle
Venusaur (Poke) vs. Raven (FE7) - Sleep Powder plus Grass hitting Raven's sad RES stat.

Light
1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7) - I see Blastoise's Bite with a 4HKO and Serra with a 6HKO, but counters and Serra going first swings things her way. Don't think Tail Whip increases Bite's damage fast enough. This match is sa~d.
Jacques (S3) vs.  Leon Geeste (SO2) - Not Leon
Melville (S3)  vs. Euram Barrows (S5) - Not Euram
Funguy (CC)  vs. 3-Lucius (FE7) - Lucius does not handle solid physical fighters well

[DjinnAndTonic]

Jill (FE9) vs  Anise (TotA)- Jill has a shitty translation to the DL, but she is more than able to handle a pure fighter like Anise.

Anise has magic.

Magic that ends up as an awesome low 4HKO to average in the DL. That's completely excellent.

If Bloody Howling is a 4HKO and avoids counters. Anise might still win with it using the Regen Doll to tank Jill's attacks?

Not to mention that Bloody Howling will set off a FOF Cancel combo on turns 2 and 4.

[Pyro]

If Bloody Howling is a 4HKO and avoids counters. Anise might still win with it using the Regen Doll to tank Jill's attacks?

Looking at this match closely, Anise 3HKOs with her physical combo, barely (ignoring Meteor Storm because I don't think it gets 3 hits on human sized targets. Hell I'm not sure it averages 2 even). But this doesn't matter because With her good damage Jill just 3HKOs first right through the regen even assuming it goes off almost twice a round, though this is a close thing.

[Fudozukushi]

Anise's regen is  8% HP/TP every five seconds.  How you take that is up to you.

Anise's Wind spell is 4500 to Bloody Howling's 6100.  It probably has a longer cast time.  And she can't use the regen doll while using the Wind spell doll.

Anise's Surge Breaker arte (which is part of her best damage combo) has the Wind Element on it.  (Not reflected in the stat topic.)

Jill has slightly below-average HP(97%)(96%) and fairly below-average Resist(70%)(72%).  (dhyer)(meeple)

Anise has gamebest HP(108% yayyyyyyyy! no) and below-average PDef (93% lol Abyss defense).

[Yoshiken]

1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7) - I see Blastoise's Bite with a 4HKO and Serra with a 6HKO, but counters and Serra going first swings things her way. Don't think Tail Whip increases Bite's damage fast enough. This match is sa~d.

Can't vote on this match, but does Withdraw increase Blastoise's defence enough to give him the turns to win? Considering buffs/debuffs are based on the original stat and Blastoise's defence is pretty damn good to begin with, it might be more worthwhile to buy himself more turns than to cut down the number of turns he needs.

Alternatively, if you vote on newer versions, there's Water Pulse confusion hype.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Just read BtS and I wanted to add that this week's was particularly awesome. Just the right amount of mocking and one-upping going on with the guests.

And Axel's opening bit really caught me off-guard.

[Taishyr]

1-Blastoise (Poke) vs  Serra (FE7) - I see Blastoise's Bite with a 4HKO and Serra with a 6HKO, but counters and Serra going first swings things her way. Don't think Tail Whip increases Bite's damage fast enough. This match is sa~d.

Can't vote on this match, but does Withdraw increase Blastoise's defence enough to give him the turns to win? Considering buffs/debuffs are based on the original stat and Blastoise's defence is pretty damn good to begin with, it might be more worthwhile to buy himself more turns than to cut down the number of turns he needs.

Alternatively, if you vote on newer versions, there's Water Pulse confusion hype.

Serra's a mage, so likely not. >_>

[Dark Holy Elf]

Gen4 Blastoise -does- win, though, although not due to Water Pulse, but due to Aqua Tail - STAB and hits the right defence.

[Pyro]

You know I don't think I ever saw a Blastoise-series in Gen 4. But then I didn't do the aftergame.

[Dark Holy Elf]

They're only available after beating Ash (i.e. the very end of the aftergame) in HG/SS, and you can only choose one between Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander (all L5). Not legal to me, but your milage may vary.

[VySaika]

Gen4 Blastoise -does- win, though, although not due to Water Pulse, but due to Aqua Tail - STAB and hits the right defence.

The mental image here amuses me, as Blastoise's tail is this tiny little turtle tail(especially compared to his earlier forms). The only way he could hit someone with that is to basically sit on them. Which of course more then explains why it would hurt so much~

[Monkeyfinger]

How many tail whips would blastoise need to OHKO with skull bash?