RPGVO 2022 Round 2: PLAN YOUR BACKSTABS CAREFULLY, RICHARD

[074]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX)
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs)
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2)
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7)


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2)
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK)
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2)


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6)
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN)
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A)
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H)


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2)
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears)
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC)
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2)

[074]

GODLIKE

Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7) - [EDIT] i'm an idiot.  Okay, Orlandu still does get first go, but just barely.  Sephy now just has to worry about 1.5x HE damage rather than 2x.  Which is probably still enough to kill him on HP.  Sephy's at least above PCHP but not *that* far above.


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT) - why the fuck did I nominate Reclaimer for Heavy again?  Someone shoot me, this fight is unfair before Meliadoul gets screwed on her skillset's limitations.  Rushing Beat has *really* high accuracy, to boot, so shield hype isn't very probable.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2) - Nel has some skills that could feasibly hit widely enough to hit Margulis and his double, but...yeah, not confident enough to vote on this one.


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6) - This one, I'm not sure about.  Luminaire can get around counters...but Roy can use SoS to heal, and attrition is one of Crono's worst enemies in any duel; if Roy gets at least two shots of healing with the SoS, that'll be enough to gas Crono.  Three, and it's just unwinnable.  Going to have to give this to Roy The Sword of Seals
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A) - feels like a pretty clear-cut FE Versus Status match.
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H) - [EDIT] Explaining in perhaps more concrete terms, while I do understand that Byleth has a counter-dodging skill, unless FE has developed something closer to Speed Save style reactions as of 3H specifically to be nulled by this ability, I see baseline FE counters as Countergrasp at best in theory, and probably something sub-Countergrasp in practice.  To that extent, my decision holds.


LIGHT

Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears) - i can't believe I'm mathing this one out.  Maria is not a healer, so Kain has no issue just bringing nothing but Jumps, for...what would be at best, 4HKO damage to average.  Which 3HKOs Maria and goes first to Maria's utterly *abysmal* speed.  To describe just how comprehensively Kain wins this, though.

Maria gets one shot of sub-average (literally magic pixels against average) magic damage, and then three shots of significantly-below-average physical damage, with Kain having above-average durability on both fronts.  Graviton does about 29% of his health for the one shot it gets. Should she live that long, the three uses of Robo-Kick will do just short of 20%, leaving him at 10%.  She can squeeze one more shot of damage with Robo Beam, which would in turn take Kain down to 4% health.

Maria would then still need 13 turns' worth of basic physicals to close that one out.  She is not winning unless Kain literally sits there and does nothing.

Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) - THE DARK LORD SHALL TRIUMPH OVER PUNY--oh wait he took a point of damage nevermind.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Sephiroth's numerical speed is 155% average. You can take that a bit for ATB being weird if you want (depends somewhat on the ATB setting you use, FF7 on Wait is pretty literal but the default setting is definitely more wonky), but there's no way it's coming down enough to get 3-2'd by someone who only barely does so to average.

(Not weighing in on the match just yet, I do agree that it can go a lot of ways potentially depending on interps and judgement calls.)

[074]

Ah, fair enough.  My bad on that, I must've misread the stat topics.  I'll take that into consideration

[Random Consonant]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX) - I mean really you'd need to both disallow aeons AND vote based on Gen1 Mewtwo for this to work out to Yuna losing.
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs) - Faster, OHKOs.
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2)
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7)


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT) - Undernommed Reclaimer Dragon huh.  Well RIP Heavy.
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK) - Tide's probably correct here, helps that MK1 doesn't have light/dark for Vayne to resist.


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6) - Yeah on top of the issue of Roy being able to heal with the Barking Blade (I'm probably of the mind to let him do so OPB at least) the defense bonuses also make him fairly durable.  If Crono goes for Confuse he runs into the fact that doubles and counters offset and gets outslugged (5HKO with Swallow and he really shouldn't be doubling with Rainbow) and if he tries for Luminaire he uh 4HKOs but only has the MP for those 4 so really all Roy would need to do there is heal once.
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN)
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A) - Hold's turn 1, Chrom can do sweet fuckall about this.
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H) - Yeah I remember this back when it was RICHARD vs. Kaze, and none of the differences here work out to making a difference as far as I'm willing to hype them.


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2) - Isn't a ToS mage.
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears) - Isn't Maria.
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) - Isn't Jogurt.
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2)

[Tide]

GODLIKE
Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX) - I forget whether Mewtwo outspeeds Yuna but it also kinda doesn't really matter, because what exactly is he going to do to scare her with the one turn he gets?
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7) - Orlandu comes reaaaally close to OHKOing Sephy and I'm not quite sure what Sephy's counter plan here is. I guess Shadow Flare is a potential return OHKO but my recent playthrough of FF7 has reinforced how good independents are, which hurts Sephy's damage. Sure, Orlandu has high faith, but Shadow Flare is also evadeable and there's no reason why Orlandu won't use Aegis here, so he's winning about 50% of the time as well, with caveat that Orlandu goes first.


HEAVY
Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT) - Melia versus a boss that has no breakable equipment Ruh'oh
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2) - X can equip a lighter buster to bypass the weight penalty and bring his speed higher so he outruns Millenia to turn 1. However, he doesn't have any real means here to OHKO since IIRC, WE gain occurs at the start of the turn. Transforming into Ultimate Armor won't get him the 35% WE gain until next turn and that's just a turn he won't get since the moment Millenia goes, she can just SBE lock him until he dies.
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK) - The wiki died, so I don't remember what options Vayne has. EDIT: Checked both some guides as well as my actual save file - looks like equipment in MK1 didn't have any set affixes on them. This is very bad for Vayne. He needed either an ID type weapon (even on MK base physicals) or something that nulls/resists Light. Without either of those, I don't see how he wins. Blessing of Light gives Raze basically twice Vayne's resource depth so in a straight slugfest, he's guaranteed a loss.   
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2) - Think so. Elemental Leather really puts a damper on how scary Margy is to Nel and the shadow clones are more of a hindrance here since Nel definitely has some wide area Battle Skills that I'll see as GT. Margy might be a tad faster but he can't really put enough pressure on Nel since she has a ton of healing, leaving his only way of winning this on ACALA SEAL. That's not really going to work against someone who doesn't need to stall.   


MIDDLE
Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6) - Probably. FE counters do a lot of work in lower divisions and I'll certainly buy Random's argument and see Crono as being outslugged.
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN) - Stocke's best damage is Fire. Greninja has a 50% resistance to that and Stocke's next best damage is about half of that. He's already losing Speed by a notable margin and getting almost 2-3'd and has no Water resistance. I don't see how he manages.
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H) - In another universe, Byleth would replace Jeralt and Monica would be replaced by Chameleon Man. RICHARD TACTICS wins again.

LIGHT
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears) - Maria is real bad guys. Like yeah, Kain is bad, but Maria is like *bad* bad.
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) - While I can't actually vote for this, I'll note hamster with a helmet is no match for SONIC BOOM.

[SnowFire]

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX)
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs)
Just OHKOs, right?  Even hits a mild Holy weakness for added insult.
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2)
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7)


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2)
This matchup takes forever.  XS2 boss durability is a thing, but Elemental Leather does put a crimp in Margulis, and his MT Physical attack that isn't fire-typed doesn't unlock until later in the fight (Kalagnirudra in the stat topic).  I think Nel can plunk away before too ludicrous a Stock count is acquired, though.  (Margulis could still win if he's allowed to just directly charge Seal of Immobility but nah, he can't until hitting low HP in-game, at least the later stages.)

MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6)
Yeah, even a single Binding Blade heal charge makes Crono's job very difficult.  Lvl. 5 Roy has 1.22 PDur / 1.27 MDur, Lvl. 9 Roy has 1.47 / 1.52, and some pretty decent evade due to great Luck, so.
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN)
Historica Stocke does 3HKO here with physical damage.  Greninja 3HKOs back (Torrent helps on the last hit), while being faster, except with accuracy issues.  And I do believe that a miss on 80%/80%/90% (58% chance to hit all three) is very bad.  Seems coin-flippy if favoring Greninja.
EDIT: Eh, sure, will go for Greninja.  Usually stricter on status attempts than just raw damage coinflips.
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A)
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H)
Y'know, I almost would never hype up Byleth's Divine Pulse in the DL (it's clearly a team bonus, mechanically), but Chameleon Man might be a rare exception.  Byleth should only have to dodge single ID attempt against a boss listed as being "inaccurate" and should double and has magic if he isn't visible.
EDIT: I'll buy CM turning invisible as close enough to a "counter" that sure, Windsweep hype it is. 

LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2)
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears)
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC)
GO HOME AND BE A FAMILY MAN
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2)
Zell has 1.01 PCHP.  Sten's 3-turn damage in Fireball -> 2x Missile (466) KOs average even under the G. Dragon average, so yeah, he should have this.

[superaielman]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX)- Ugly.
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs)- Yuri 1 clearly wins, Yuri2 clearly loses.
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2)- Also ugly.
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7)- If Seph can't one round he's toast here I think. I don't think I would see Fly helping against Cid either.


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)- Pass.
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2)- Letting Millenia get turns is a bad idea.
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK)- Suspect Vayne runs out of gas here but open to arguments.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2)- Nel's damage I would consider ST and I don't remember Margulis's physical damage being that bad. I don't think she can heal her way out of trouble here.


MIDDLE

Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A)- Hold is bad news here.


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2)- Feel confident enough to vote against Genis here.
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears)- Maria be puny.
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC)- Speaking of puny.
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2)- Yeah I would bet Sten can chip past a limit. Zell's basic physical scares no one.

[Magic Fanatic]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX) - I feel like Yuna's going to champ because Aeon Parade and there's nothing anyone can do about it.  Can I say I considered nomming Yuna because Godlike rep from Dissidia, but decided against it because of how degenerate Yuna is in Godlike?
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs) - I'll go with Super's assessment here.


LIGHT

Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) - Jogurt wakes up in the hospital after a fever dream where he champed Godlike.  The reason he's in the hospital?  There was a stiff breeze on the way to his match.
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2) - Yeah, I can get behind the argument of proper chipping.

[SnowFire]

Re Super: Margulis's physical damage is indeed quite bad, at least if Elemental Leather strats are allowed.  From the stat topic:

Shakti:  160 Slash/Pierce Physical damage
Shiva:  265 Slash/Pierce/Fire Physical damage (unlocks at 80% HP)
Rakta:  400 Fire Ether damage, Downs target
Kalagnirudra:  270 Hit Physical damage, MT, ignores Evade (unlocks at 80% HP)

To an estimated PC HP average of 1500.  Elemental Leather is halving the Fire attacks, though.  Further, when Margulis wants to unleash a Stock combo, he needs to start with a halved Rakta to Down his targets.  Nel has 96.5% HP, so Rakta -> 2x Kalagnirudra = (400/2) + (270*2) + (270*2) = 1280 XS2 damage = ~0.85 PCHP.  So a 2 stock, 3 action combo isn't enough - Margulis needs to hit all 3 Stock for a 4-action combo to win.  Granted, his pokes force Nel to heal earlier than she'd like which slows her offense, but...  this is a *long* time to do damage.  I guess Shadow Stratz might work if you don't see Nel as having area damage, in fairness, but get him killed really fast if Nel is seen as having area damage.  (Shadows also only unlock at 80% HP, although that matters less due to monstrous XS2 boss durability.)

[Dark Holy Elf]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX): Mewtwo gets a turn, but can't do anything decisive with it.
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs): SH1 > Riou > SH2. I've been convinced SH2 is his overall better form.
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2): Fou-Lu has the HP for this. I guess it's not... totally crazy that Ryu2 could pull some shenanigans with Guts healing after taking out Fou-Lu's potentially lethal Dark Wave on turn 1. But probably not.
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7): All the magic evasion Sephiroth faces means this is a rare time I'm inclined to take the Aegis Shield at full value, which prevents me from worrying about whether Cid gets one-hit-killed here (50% Mevade + miniscule chance of critical tilts it Cid's way). Anyway, Cid is faster and should 2HKO I would think.


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2): Don't see any reason Spellbinding Eye doesn't just do its thing here.
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK): Pass.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2): Elemental defence + Nel being good in long fights + she has enough damage to not let Margulis get any sort of truly crazy stock chain.


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6): I'm really not very comfortable with SoS healing hype, you just... don't use it for that in-game. Storebought items exist etc. I'd sooner let staff users self-target tbh. ... that said, Roy is tanky enough that I think he can win this slugfest?
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN): See Snowfire, with two caveats: one, I don't see much reason to vote for the 42% chance over the 58% chance in situations like this, and two, I think there's a solid chance of a Greninja doubleturn here for me.
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A): Oh dear.
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H): So Windsweep prevents counterattacks. If this includes "turn invisible" then Richard just can't win, ever. I'm inclined to say it does. If Richard gets to go invisible he wins, but otherwise he has zero damage.


LIGHT

Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears): Oh dear.
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC): Maybe Jogurt would beat Balrog due to his lack of low attacks?
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2): Probably.

[Random Consonant]

I'm not at all sold on Windsweep being able to stuff Chameleon Man's vanishing act, its ability to bypass counters does nothing to prevent other consequences that arise from being attacked such as Pavise, Miracle or Ancient Dragonskin, and the timing interaction that Tide lists in the topic suggests that such a thing would happen before the game would check if conditions for an actual preventable counter are met, by which logic Windsweep should accomplish exactly nothing of worth, never mind how this interpretation would affect other scenarios such as physical reflection from people like Ness.  Plus from my own recollection of both playing and watching others play WA3 nothing about it feels remotely like a counter.

The magic argument is more compelling since White Magic Avoid +20 means Chameleon Man's ID would be turn lol as long as Byleth could keep it up and they would have access to Bishop but... grah, Aura does less than half average damage (and even one point less in Bishop since it has worse magic than Enlightened One) which is surely along the point where even with WA3's trashy defensive stats, Chameleon Man's better magic defense would start mattering, to say nothing of Nosferatu's incredible 15HKO to average without the horrifically unreliable might boosting from Crest of Flames activations so I'd have some serious reservations on trying to sell it to others considering how nebulous figuring out WA3 boss durability tends to be.

[VySaika]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX) - Does she even need Aeons here? I don't think she does.
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs) - I vote on SH2 Yuri, sooooo
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2) - I'm not even going to think about some weird Guts setup. Nope.
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7) - Aegis? Aegis.


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT) - Mel vs enemies without stuff to break dot tee ex tee
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2) - SBE, moving on.
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK) - ...I'm just going to assume Tide is correct about this.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2)


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6) - Sure, Roy has the durability for this.
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN) - Surely Greninja gets a double in there in time.
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A) - Ah...Chrom RES woes.
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H) - I...do not remember this Chameleon Man at all. Geez it's been a long time.


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2) - Surely he can handle Genis.
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears) - I am actually cracking up at Nama's math here~ This is great~
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) - Free round
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2) - FF8 PC vs someone with any vague semblance of damage control. And I'll buy Snowfire's math, sure.

[Dark Holy Elf]

@Random: I might be misremembering how Chameleon Man works because I agree that as Windsweep doesn't prevent pre-emptive effects such as Miracle and Pavise (both of which trigger as part of the damage calculation), it therefore wouldn't prevent things like e.g. FFT's MP Switch. However, the stat topic says "Chameleon Man starts off visible. The moment he is struck by any attack that damages him, he will go to his invisible form and become immune to physical attacks"

That sounds to me like the attack hits him, and as a counter he shifts forms. If that's the case I'd see Windsweep working (and I certainly would see it working against, say, FF5 Liquid Flame's form shifts). But again I don't remember the specifics of this.

[Cmdr_King]

GODLIKE

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX)
Riou (Suiko2) vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs)
Fou Lu (BoF4) vs. Ryu (BoF2)
Orlandu (FFT) vs. Sephiroth (FF7)


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2)
Raze (MK2) vs. Vayne (MK)- oh heck with this, fuck it.
Nel Zelpher (SO3) vs. Margulis (XS2)


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6)
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN)
Lich (FF1) vs. Chrom (FE:A)- Lich is absurd in Middle when you aren't directly spoiling him (he's not TOO hard to spoil but woof)
Chameleon Man (WA3) vs. Byleth (FE3H)- I may be being generous on this interp just to not have to ponder RICHARD here further.


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2)
Kain Highwind (FF4) vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears)- Honestly Maria probably like 3HKOs, shame Kain can fucking land a Jump in the time it takes her to get a goddamned turn.
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC)- No vote.
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2)- I seem to recall Zell even has somewhat worse Limit thresholds than the rest of the cast?

[Random Consonant]

@Elf, yeah I'd hard disagree with the stuffing Liquid Flame's formshifting but it absolutely would stop what it does beforehand (...ignoring whether or not Windsweep would actually be able to damage it in the first place (it's wind in Three Hopes!!!) but obviously the question would matter for similar effects regardless), much like how I'd say Windsweep would stop Hamedo in FFT but not certain other reaction abilities like Speed Save or Abandon (well, past whatever respect you'd give Windsweep's higher accuracy), the two sorts of things don't feel remotely similar enough to me here, though as I don't recall whether or not it interrupts Gatling (which would be incredibly badass) I'm certainly not going to be militant about this.

e: I think, put another way, FE4 Nihil not stopping FE4 Pursuit is closest to how I feel about this offhand?  It's a skill but it's not really a *skill* skill if that makes sense.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Effects which prevent counters in FF5 also prevent Liquid Flame's form-shifting; in fact, reading the AI script, it's almost inconceivable to me that any effect could stop the blaze/fira/magnet counter but NOT the form shift, as they share a trigger. Here's the script:

Code: [Select]

React:HP Damage{
     No Interrupt{
          Blaze
          Unhide Monster: Liquid Flame (Randomly Hand or Whirlwind form)
          }
     }
It's literally: "counter to damage: act twice. First action, use Blaze/Fira/Magnet. Second action, shift forms". Windsweep would pretty clearly prevent the entire "counter to damage" script, at least in my books. It doesn't make much sense for it to pick and choose.

(also ignoring wind elemental debates obviously, your point is well-taken there)

For what it's worth I'd defiitely see Windsweep stopping Speed Save. The examples you give of things Windsweep doesn't prevent are pre-emptive effects rather than counters, and Speed Save's a counter; it's a specific "move" (even showing "Speed Save" on the screen similar to any other spell/action) which occurs as a reaction to taking damage.

[Random Consonant]

I mean you say it doesn't make sense to pick and choose since they share the same trigger but FE doesn't even do multi-part counters with wildly different effects like FF5 does in the first so you're asking me to judge in favor of a less comprehensive system which doesn't make sense from my end, so I dunno there, seems like this is an argument where we both lose, so to speak, since we're hung up on completely different aspects of the problem and are just gonna wind up talking past each other at this rate until Tide comes along proves we're being dumb about this.  Mechanical advantages should translate; Windsweep stopping formchanges, post-battle effects (ignore 3H has no positive post-battle effects that apply on the target's end for a moment), or indeed anything that isn't striking with a weapon/spell does not in my view.

(unrelatedly jesus christ code does not show up well on this skin, text that light on that light a background is criminal)

[DragonKnight Zero]

Keep forgetting to post my votes...

Orlandu vs Sephiroth: Orlandu doesn't really have a way to dispel Wall and it reduces the effectiveness of Night Sword spam.

However, seems I overestimated Sephiroth's durability.  And Orlandu is fast enough to get the first shot and take out nearly all of Seph's HP.  Even with Wall, the next attack will kill.  Works for me.

Genis Sage vs Ryudo:  Both have their main damage moves rely on charge times.  Ryudo takes hits better so I'm kneejerking his way but could be argued.
Maria Balthasar vs Kain Highwind:  Using 074's math, Maria can land a KO with 5 uses of Robo Kick and one other attack and not run out of EP.  Kain's going to run her out of HP first so the point is moot but it makes the fight look a little less hopeless for her.

[074]

Votes and results are locked in.  Also I got the pacing wrong, so we're leading off with Losers' Pools this week.  Thank you for understanding.

GODLIKE:

Mewtwo (PKMN) vs. Yuna (FFX) ||||||||
Riou (Suiko2) |||| vs. Yuri Volte Hyuga (SHs) |||
Fou Lu (BoF4) |||||| vs. Ryu (BoF2)
Orlandu (FFT) ||||||||| vs. Sephiroth (FF7)


HEAVY

Reclaimer Dragon (WA4) ||||||| vs. Meliadoul Tingel (FFT)
X (MMX:CM) vs. Millenia (G2) |||||
Raze (MK2) ||||| vs. Vayne (MK)
Nel Zelpher (SO3) |||| vs. Margulis (XS2) |


MIDDLE

Crono (CT) vs. Roy (FE6) |||||||
Stocke (RH) vs. Greninja (PKMN) ||||||
Lich (FF1) ||||||| vs. Chrom (FE:A)
Chameleon Man (WA3) ||| vs. Byleth (FE3H) ||| (TIEBREAKER)


LIGHT

Genis Sage (ToS) vs. Ryudo (G2) ||||||
Kain Highwind (FF4) ||||||||| vs. Maria Balthasar (Xenogears)
Jogurt (ShF1) vs. Guile (CC) ||||||
Zell Dincht (FF8) vs. Sten (BoF2) |||||||