Hair Tourney: Group A

[SnowFire]

...Love Attorney Flonne slammed her law book to the desk adamantly.  "Don't you see?  If we let this go on, they'll think we're all dumb princesses in distress, or soldiers with attitudes!  We have to stand up for our own diversity!"  Soldiers Borus & Kornell obviously agreed.  "Why do those cursed green-hairs lump us together like that?  I'll kill 'em all!"  Princess Nadia Guardia, recently returned from vanishing into a time paradox, joined them.  "I should be able to go to the fair dressed as a commoner without having everyone think I'm the Princess just because I have blonde hair and look identical to some statue!  Is that too much to ask?"

Ziggurat 8 proffered the next question.  "So what's the next step?  Go forward with your blonde-discrimination class action lawsuit?" Flonne paused a moment.  "Well, yes, of course.  But it might impress the judge if we kill all those infernal gingers & carrot tops & bruins first.  Get a bit of love-intimidation on our side, you know?  I *am* an angelic assassin lawyer, after all."

 

In honor of the World Cup, our team matches will be done via a groups system, everyone in the group plays everyone else.  Except that 3 sets of 4 leads to a very awkward finals, so we'll do something a little different instead, you'll see.  You really want to know now?  Fine.  It'll be 2 Groups of 5 in A & B, with a special Group C for the 2 stragglers that'll have their matches split across the groups, then do the finals with the cross-group winners.  e.g. the winner of Group A will play the winner of Group B for the championship.  Group C will be a little weird, but if a C team gets a better record than a group winner, then they can sneak into the finals; should be easy to just look at record for them.  Curses at orange & bald having enough to get in after all!  I thought a group size of 6 would be too many matches in a single topic for why that was out.) Our contestants:

Team Brown - Guv (no call team) (DQ8), Lilka (WA2), Anastasia (SH2), Labrynthia (WAXF), Aeris (FF7)
Team Blond - Flonne (Dis1), Ziggy (XS), Borus (S3), Kornell (G3), Marle (CT)
Team Red - Maxim (L2), Eliwood (FE7), Id (XG), PC Heat (DDS), Karin (SH2)
Team Green - Clive (WA3), Gale (DDS), Demi (PS4), Nephenee (FEs)
Team Orange - Wakka (FFX), Rhys (FEs), Citrine (XS3), Alena (DQ4)

And our matches (short form only, though I can whip up a long-form if there's interest):

Team Brown vs. Team Blond
Team Brown vs. Team Red
Team Brown vs. Team Green
Team Brown vs. Team Orange

Team Blond vs. Team Red
Team Blond vs. Team Green
Team Blond vs. Team Orange

Team Red vs. Team Green
Team Red vs. Team Orange

Team Green vs. Team Orange

Go to!

[SnowFire]

So...  for whatever it's worth, there are only 4 5-member teams, but 3 of 'em got in this group, oh well.

I'm about to go peacefully Civ with super, but I dug these initiative splits up for my own reference, take with a grain of salt and use your own favorite numbers, etc., but might be a useful reminder of rough speedbreaks.

Lilka (1.07) > Anastasia (.98) > Guv & Aeris .92 > Labby (.77)
Borus (really fast) > Iron Fist (1.02) > Flonne (1) > Ziggy? (~.98 XS3, ~.86 if XS1) > Kornell (.89) > Marle (.82)
Id (1.14, goes to 2.50 after), Karin (1.01) >  Eliwood / Heat (1) > Maxim (.86)
Demi (1.08) > Gale / Nephenee (1) >> Clive (goes last)
Alena (goes first) > Citrine (1.09) > Wakka (1.01, goes to 1.07 after) > Rhys (1)

[Dark Holy Elf]

I'm assuming Snowfire's numbers are correct, except more respect for TB speed spreads for me, and less respect for XS3's (only matters for Citrine, I probably vote on XS1 Ziggy due to remembering him better). Also there are a few matches where "both sides want to wait for someone else to act, then react". I tiebreak this for how easy this is to do in the home battle system: e.g. ATB games are the best at it, traditional TB are the worst, FE/DDS somewhere in the middle.


Team matches give me headaches so many of these may be incorrect. i.e. I am easily swayed by arguments, make 'em if you want!

Team Brown vs. Team Blond: Marle needs to die, and Ana + someone can make that happen. And... only Borus can really stop her, and while his sword of rage will really hurt, I don't think he one-rounds. And Lilka can heal her anyway. So Marle's dying. The rest of the team should ensure Lilka's death... but Guv is good, Anastasia is good... actually Guv may even be able to save Lilka with a timely heal. Aeris and Flonne are both dead weight, Labby kinda matters... unsure but thinking Lilka/Guv/Ana is too much here.
Team Brown vs. Team Red: Again, I like Team Brown's core. Ana+Aeris kill a PC a round, Lilka and Guv are great support and can even help with gunning teams down MT if needed. Id can be blitzed and the rest of the redheads aren't too great? Heat's charm could turn this but I don't think it's enough.
Team Brown vs. Team Green: Demi puts Lilka to sleep, Gale + Neph take out Ana. I don't think brown can recover from there.
Team Brown vs. Team Orange: Mm. Brown has no easy takeout on Wakka (E&C means ATB Aeris can't do a finishing poke, and I'd respect Rhys getting in a heal more than Citrine applying a finishing blow there). Status is out because, again, of Rhys. So both Wakka and Alena can carve through the enemy team, and Citrine can at least be annoying.

Team Blond vs. Team Red: Id can bring down Marle in a single turn. Borus and Kornell then take out Id before he gets going. At this point... red still has too much decent damage left, they can very likely gun down Kornell before his second turn, and blond's lack of status at this point on means we see things like Maxim IPs and charm connecting. Blond really wanted a way to get Marle turns.
Team Blond vs. Team Green: Neph can one-round Marle, and I think between Gale status, Demi's revival/healing, and good general offence green can handle blond otherwise.
Team Blond vs. Team Orange: Alena and Wakka kill things really well, Rhys slows down the offence the other way.

Team Red vs. Team Green: Again think green has the bases covered well here. Id + Karin... can probably kill Gale but so what Demi has revival and Gale MT + Clive kill Id while Neph rips into someone (Karin?). Red at this point doesn't have the bodies needed to finish off the opponents, I think.
Team Red vs. Team Orange: Still don't think red has an answer to how good Wakka and Alena are.

Team Green vs. Team Orange: Demi is the big problem for team orange, since she can regenerate herself and revive/destatus her allies. They don't... actually have a great way to deal with her until Citrine is beaten up. Making progress is pretty difficult for orange too, though. Let's say Alena attacks Demi to force her to heal, so she does (or gets killed), then Citrine silences Gale and Wakka statuses out Nephenee. Clive can do something but Rhys offsets it... Alena goes again and once more thrashes Demi. She either heals and lets her statused teammates rot, or restores them and gets killed... feels like a losing proposition. Orange team looks like the best in this group... two durable status-users (even if Citrine is limited, she's MT) and good offence + a healer.

Orange 4-0
Green 3-1
Brown 2-2
Red 1-3
Blond 0-4

[Nephrite]

Just some basic arguments for a few before I do much voting:


Team Brown vs. Team Blond
Team Brown vs. Team Red
Team Brown vs. Team Green -
Team Brown vs. Team Orange - Euthanasia does damage (not much, but it does damage) and I'm also not entirely sure how inclined I am to let Rhys heal status that doesn't exist in his home game. Assuming that's the case, Wakka can't actually do anything on his turn, even if you assume it's Poison + Seal, because that turns off both physical and magical techniques. ... But looking at it, I don't think it matters, since it appears Citrine has a 100% MT Silence move? If that's what Ether Seal does, anyway...  So I guess nevermind! That's pretty brutal.

Team Blond vs. Team Red
Team Blond vs. Team Green
Team Blond vs. Team Orange

Team Red vs. Team Green
Team Red vs. Team Orange

Team Green vs. Team Orange

[SnowFire]

Team Brown vs. Team Blond
Brown has 3 revivers, Blonde only has 2, and Kornell using revival really cuts into their offense.  Kornell does have the buffing to overcome a stally strat from the brown side, but eh, Guv will be unleashing either MT damage or heals both of which are bad.  I'm pretty sure XS1 Ziggy has one of his techs be MT which'll help, but eh, he has to worry about turning on Aeris then.  It's close, but the great trouble Team Blonde has doing damage that'll stick before late turn 2 combined with the inability to safely revive Marle makes me lean Brown, sure.
Team Brown vs. Team Red
Hmm.  Heat's Charm is only 60%.    Anyway yeah, the Redheads have a lot of beatdown aimed at killing one person dead, which isn't what you want vs. 3 revivers.
Team Brown vs. Team Green
Don't think Elf's strat works too well, Labby would just revive Ana then.  That said...  Gale has MT ID, and only Anastasia blocks it, and the sluggish Team Brown can't stop Gale from getting a turn.  Funny since the greenhairs are hideously lightning-weak for some reason, but I think only Labby punish them for it...  if she gets a turn, which is doubtful.  Ana + 1 survivor just can't win.
Team Brown vs. Team Orange
Citrine's silence is MT?!  Did not notice that.  Quake in fear of the Orange hairs, once more only Ana (usefully) blocks the status, and that sinks Team Brown even ignoring Rhys.

Team Blond vs. Team Red
I'll buy Elf's argument.
Team Blond vs. Team Green
Borus & the Iron Fist might barely be able to take down Gale (and Borus wishes he had lightning-elemental SoM not fire-elemental)...?  (.26 + .47 = .73 PCHP, so prolly not, actually)  except wait Demi can throw a heal in there, which would get Gale a turn, which means MT ID incoming.    And sure, Nephenee can kill Marle manually if her high MDef causes Gale to miss her.  Kornell just can't solo this set, for all that he can put on a good show.
Team Blond vs. Team Orange
Hey, the MT silence isn't useful here for once!  Iron Fist + Borus take down Rhys, and Borus eats a counter.  Citrine + Alena punch out Marle.  Wakka...  statuses out Ziggy?  Flonne shoots up Alena.  Kornell revives Marle (at half health).  Clive...  shoots at Kornell?  [Current status: Rhys dead, Marle half health, Ziggy asleep, Alena / Borus / Kornell slightly injured]
Alena...  punches out Marle.  Borus hits Alena [in addition to previous Flonne damage, but Alena is shockingly durable].  Citrine weakly hits Kornell and hopes Balance Down does something (but both G3 & XS3 bosses can be debuffed, so it'll work...).    The Iron Fist hits Alena (.26 + .47 + .33 damage so far).  Wakka hits Kornell.  Flonne shoots up Alena again...  I think this is finally fatal, ~1.50 PCHP or so by now?  Kornell revives Marle, but then Clive will shoot Kornell and probably finish him off (Gatling if needed otherwise), which will also kill the Iron Fist.  So...  Wakka & Clive vs. half-health Marle, asleep Ziggy, wounded Borus, & Flonne.  Well Wakka solos if he can just kill Marle at this point, does Wakka have the damage needed?  no, especially since his weapon is ITD vs. the awful defense Marle.  BUT he can Osmose her for some absurd amount of MP draining which might turn off the revival / magic damage spigot.  Except Marle has super-huge MDef!  So close match, could go either way.  If Wakka only 2HKOs Marle's MP, then she'll full-revive Kornell..  but his magic damage is kinda trashy at killing Wakka any time soon.  Alternately, backing up, if Clive kills Marle and Wakka is seen as having sufficient damage to take down Kornell, that also wins for Orange-hair.  Let's see....   Kornell has taken Clive shot + Citrine damage + Wakka damage.  Hrmm, nah, think the team needs a Clive shot or Gatling to take down Kornell's HP for me.  Anyway...  oh wait, Marle's revival wouldn't bring back the Iron Fist, and that's the only part that has magic damage.  lulz.  Even in the Wakka-only-2HKOs-Marle's MP scenario, he might well just solo the Iron Fist if it somehow came back because Kornell magic backup is bad.  So yeah, Orange pulls it out, but it's dang close.

Team Red vs. Team Green
More of that "Demi heals off Id's damage and sets Gale up with a turn and he uses MT ID and turns the fight" thing.
Team Red vs. Team Orange
Even just silencing Heat isn't bad here.  Silence Heat ( & Maxim), murder Karin, now nobody can stop Wakka.

Team Green vs. Team Orange
I think Clive needs to OHKO Rhys for Team Green to stand a chance here..  but I think he does with Lock-On (Rhys durability not good).  That'd enable Team Green to make progress even with Gale silenced.  Maybe I'll think on this one later, Orange is team on the clock once Rhys dies to make something happen since they won't have healing and Demi does.  EDIT: Or Silence/Misery can turn off Lock-On.  Sucks to be Clive.

Orange 3-0 (?)
Green 3-0 (?)
Brown 2-2
Red 1-3
Blond 0-4

Pretty similar to Elf ultimately, pending review of that last match when brain less fried.

[DragonKnight Zero]

Team Brown vs. Team Blond
Even if Marle somehow lives to a turn to apply status, leaning towards not enough.
Team Brown vs. Team Red
Sandbagging the way to victory.
Team Brown vs. Team Green
Ha ha, MT death.  How accurate is it?  I'm kneejerking Lilka dodges it the first time but she and Anastasia can't really recover by themselves.
Team Brown vs. Team Orange
Why hello there MT Silence.  Knock out Anastasia and the only hope of winning is Seal Evil.  And as hilarious as it would be to trigger it and lose to Princess Guard physicals while Stopped, I believe they can chip around or Wakka status tricks or plain killing her earlier.

Team Blond vs. Team Red
Power of Love can keep the blonds afloat longer.  Dragging things out will see Heat landing status though.  With no fear of status, Maxim can swap out for Crystal Mail and the 38% IP cost means he's much more likely to able to access it.
Team Blond vs. Team Green
I see Ziggy as mechanical enough to be vulnerable to Demi ID unless he has access to a blocker, among other issues.  Flonne offense is mostly a non-issue under Barrier.  This is before the usual arguments.  Yeah, too much in favor of Team Green.
Team Blond vs. Team Orange
So if Clive is needed to tip the battle over for Orange, that decides it for me.

Team Red vs. Team Green
3 members of Team Red have ID immunity.  It still isn't enough.  Id gets blitzed.  Clive can overkill with Gatling on Maxim when the time is ripe.  Karin lacks the damage output to overwhelm Demi.  Maxim is better off trading Dual Blade for a Boom Sword, which isn't legal.
Team Red vs. Team Orange
Being heavily reliant on physicals is a bad thing against Evade & Counter

Team Green vs. Team Orange
Does Clive dodge silence before his first turn?  He'll surely KO Rhys with a 2 shot Gatling if Lock On is somehow not enough.  Silence stops both Lock On and Gatling though.  Edit: It hits, tough beans.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Orange > Green > Brown > Red > Blond

[SnowFire]

Closing this tomorrow.

Also, alas, since it seems like Silence will shut off Clive's Lock-On, looks like Team Green gets beaten out by Team Orange, vote edited.  Oh well, looked close for a bit.

[Cmdr_King]

Team Brown vs. Team Blond: Marle needs to die, and Ana + someone can make that happen. And... only Borus can really stop her, and while his sword of rage will really hurt, I don't think he one-rounds. And Lilka can heal her anyway. So Marle's dying. The rest of the team should ensure Lilka's death... but Guv is good, Anastasia is good... actually Guv may even be able to save Lilka with a timely heal. Aeris and Flonne are both dead weight, Labby kinda matters... unsure but thinking Lilka/Guv/Ana is too much here.
Team Brown vs. Team Red: Again, I like Team Brown's core. Ana+Aeris kill a PC a round, Lilka and Guv are great support and can even help with gunning teams down MT if needed. Id can be blitzed and the rest of the redheads aren't too great? Heat's charm could turn this but I don't think it's enough.
Team Brown vs. Team Green: Demi puts Lilka to sleep, Gale + Neph take out Ana. I don't think brown can recover from there.
Team Brown vs. Team Orange: Mm. Brown has no easy takeout on Wakka (E&C means ATB Aeris can't do a finishing poke, and I'd respect Rhys getting in a heal more than Citrine applying a finishing blow there). Status is out because, again, of Rhys. So both Wakka and Alena can carve through the enemy team, and Citrine can at least be annoying.

Team Blond vs. Team Red: Id can bring down Marle in a single turn. Borus and Kornell then take out Id before he gets going. At this point... red still has too much decent damage left, they can very likely gun down Kornell before his second turn, and blond's lack of status at this point on means we see things like Maxim IPs and charm connecting. Blond really wanted a way to get Marle turns.
Team Blond vs. Team Green: Neph can one-round Marle, and I think between Gale status, Demi's revival/healing, and good general offence green can handle blond otherwise.
Team Blond vs. Team Orange: Alena and Wakka kill things really well, Rhys slows down the offence the other way.

Team Red vs. Team Green: Again think green has the bases covered well here. Id + Karin... can probably kill Gale but so what Demi has revival and Gale MT + Clive kill Id while Neph rips into someone (Karin?). Red at this point doesn't have the bodies needed to finish off the opponents, I think.
Team Red vs. Team Orange: Still don't think red has an answer to how good Wakka and Alena are.

Team Green vs. Team Orange: Demi is the big problem for team orange, since she can regenerate herself and revive/destatus her allies. They don't... actually have a great way to deal with her until Citrine is beaten up. Making progress is pretty difficult for orange too, though. Let's say Alena attacks Demi to force her to heal, so she does (or gets killed), then Citrine silences Gale and Wakka statuses out Nephenee. Clive can do something but Rhys offsets it... Alena goes again and once more thrashes Demi. She either heals and lets her statused teammates rot, or restores them and gets killed... feels like a losing proposition. Orange team looks like the best in this group... two durable status-users (even if Citrine is limited, she's MT) and good offence + a healer.

Orange 4-0
Green 3-1
Brown 2-2
Red 1-3
Blond 0-4

Works for me.