BattleCON G19 - KingdomAces (Joal) vs. Zorblag (Tatsumi)

[KingdomAces]

Not planning on getting to this any time soon. The only things I know for sure is that Strike is going to continue to stay in the stockpile and that Force Special is going to be relegated to Discard 1. Literally everything else is up in the air, and I don't want to screw this up again. I don't like that I couldn't get the hit-confirm into Runeblade with Annihilator. Neutralizer seems guaranteed to get me stunned though, so I still DK.

He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well.

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Pregame

Discard 1: Force Special Grasp
Discard 2: Relentless Hand Cannon
Finisher: Annihilator
Stockpile: Strike, Shot, Runeblade, Binding Knife
Hand: Knuckle, Drive, Burst, Dodge, Ironstar

...after looking at my last setup, I realize I barely changed anything. Just having Knuckle and Dodge in my starting hand should be good enough, but I still get the feeling I messed up somewhere. Strike and Grasp are outclassed, and Runeblade isn't actually helpful until I take damage. Somehow Shot seemed pretty useless last game, but putting it in the Stockpile still feels weird, especially with Hand Cannon in discard. (Noting that in any other matchup, Shot and Hand Cannon would probably be switched, but here being able to move you seems more important.)

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 1

Slayer's Dodge

I kind of want to Relentless Ironstar, expecting Siren Drive (expecting Slayer's Knuckle, which is so obvious that we probably both know I'm not going to use it), but not only does that not get me a base, it looks extremely stupid if you do literally anything else. I'm kind of hoping you either move or burn Empathic here, but I don't think I can be too disappointed with any outcome of this, even if it leaves me at positioning disadvantage. I'll probably be taking Knife, assuming I don't take any damage. Runeblade otherwise. I'll confirm this when I move though.

Spoiler: Ante

Pass (then pass, if necessary)

[KingdomAces]

50/50's, Drive beats Burst, Knuckle beats Strike.

Spoiler: Beat 1 - Clash 1

60% on Drive being the correct choice, but I don't want to be down 13/20 after the first turn again. I'll take the three if I need to.
Slayer's

Dodge

Knuckle

[KingdomAces]

When was the last time I called something a 50/50 that was actually a 50/50? I'll advance and take Runeblade.

[KingdomAces]

oooJ

T

oo

Joal 17/3
Slayer's Knuckle
Force Special Grasp
Annihilator
Stockpile: Strike, Shot, Binding Knife
Hand: Drive, Burst, Dodge, Ironstar, Runeblade, Hand Cannon

Tatsumi - 18/3
Empathic Shot
Force Special Grasp
Guardian Xandjinn
4 Familiar Counters

[KingdomAces]

I just realized we have the exact same discard 2, that doesn't happen too often.

Spoiler: Beat 2

Dual Wield Ironstar

[KingdomAces]

Yeah, forgot to ante again. I think I won't.

[KingdomAces]

oooJToo

Joal 15/4
Dual Weild Ironstar, Runeblade
Slayer's Knuckle
Annihilator
Stockpile: Strike, Shot, Binding Knife
Hand: Drive, Burst, Dodge, Hand Cannon, Grasp

Tatsumi - 18/4
Riptide Strike
Empathic Shot
Guardian Xandjinn
0 Familiar Counters

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 3

Cutthroat Hand Cannon

Spoiler: Ante

Pass if pass

[KingdomAces]

^Is assuming I'm right about how Dual Wield interacts with the 3 limit on your UA. I might want to change Beat 3 if you still have a counter left.

Either way I'm using Runeblade for the health.

[KingdomAces]

Does it really count though since you would have stunned me anyway?

Advance 1.

I think I know what I want to do next Beat, but I kind of want to put it off for now so I don't talk myself out of a better move again.

(Two minutes later, I've already forgotten what I had in mind here. Edited out a move name in case that was it.)

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 4

For some reason I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well.
Slayer's Drive

[KingdomAces]

Pass

[KingdomAces]

Well, at least that wasn't the worst possible outcome. Can I get an advance on my Knife?

(Clash is coming)

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 4 - Clash 1

Slayers

Drive

Grasp

And I'll take the Knife at End of Beat, even though I can't have it now.

[KingdomAces]

I'm so shocked.

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 5

For some reason, I really don't like this position.
Force Special Dodge

No ante.

[KingdomAces]

Okay, I'm just not in the mood right now. I'll figure out what I want to do from here later when GTFO isn't the only thing on my mind. Current thought is Advance 3, but I don't actually know what I'd do from there, and I don't think it's worth cornering myself unless I know exactly. what I'm doing.

[KingdomAces]

You know what, the longer I wait the harder this is getting. Just doing the first thing that comes to mind. Advance 1

oo

T

oJoo

Joal 13/8
Force Special Dodge
Slayer's Grasp
Annihilator??
Stockpile: Strike, Shot
Hand: Drive, Burst, Knuckle, Binding Knife, Ironstar, Runeblade, Hand Cannon

Tatsumi - 18/7
Empathic Strike
Fearless Dodge
Guardian Xandjinn
4 Familiar Counters

[KingdomAces]

Spoiler: Beat 6

Cutthroat Knuckle

Spoiler: Ante

Power

Seriously, I have no clue what my problem is right now, but I clearly have one.

[KingdomAces]

I might just need a break, or something. In addition to the below, which ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be, I'm just stressed with life in general right now.

Spoiler: Depressive Ramblings

That being said, there is a very real possibility that Tatsumi specifically is getting on my nerves. Stylewise she is fairly easy to predict, since Fearless pretty much needs to be held back and Wave is a really bad option in most scenarios. What I just can't get past though is that Soak 3. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough to hit you with Grasp/Hand Cannon, but as is I'm pretty much forced to just let you hit me while I do absolutely nothing back to you because if I try to kill Juto I'm just going to get Empathiced to death and then you'll get him back next turn with the Soak 3. That's probably the real reason why I was able to mount a comeback last game, because you moved off of Juto and didn't seem interested in moving back on top of him. I could deal with the +Priority. I could even deal with the added Power and Range, as scary as being able to be hit from anywhere on the board with any move is. At least I can still have a hope of making progress.

I've kind of wanted to say something about this for a while, but never did because then you'd just use Siren/Riptide/Whirlpool/Dodge to get the Soak back whenever I did manage to get you off of Juto. I should be able to figure out a way to deal with this, since that would remain a problem regardless of the matchup so she must have been balanced with this in mind. I just can't ever think of anything other than stall until there's something I can actually do, which doesn't really work because then you have other things I don't really want to deal with, and I keep on wasting my own good answers, but don't realize that until afterwords. Anyway, putting this in a spoiler so I don't have to look at it again.

I

really

want to keep playing, just it never feels like the right time to do so. That's why I think I might just want to stop thinking as much, at least temporarily, so we can get back to the parts of the game that feel fun rather than feeling like I'm hitting my head against a Juto-wall.

[KingdomAces]

I was thinking of going back to Lixis, to restart fresh. Not now though, probably some time this weekend.

[KingdomAces]

I didn't even look at Magdelina before saying that, but yeah Naturalizing seems really bad for her.

Also, I think I mentioned previously that I'm using reference pictures made by not the creators. The one I found for Magdelina gives her a lot of buffs, and completely changes her Spiritual style. This is noting that probably the same people nerfed Lixis. These three things make me think that Lixis is greatly favored in the matchup. I haven't thought about the matchups, but I could switch to Joal or Tanis if Lixis seems like she would be too unfair.

(I really don't think Joal was part of the problem at all. I definitely would want to play a repeat character, but I'm not currently interested in Vaanah and Adjenna doesn't actually play the same game everyone else does, so that seems like it would go against the point of a refresh.)

I really feel as if we should finish this game though. I don't think it's right for us to stop a second game just because it's not going well for me. I wouldn't think about each move anywhere near as much as I've been doing, but that doesn't mean I'd want to quit entirely.


Anyway, I'm done for the week now, so I should be able to get back into this.

[KingdomAces]

Eh. I guess I don't really care that much. I just really don't like to give up. Moving on is probably the better idea.