☢ ☢ ☢ FFT Arena AI Tournament Season 2 ☢ ☢ ☢

[Fanatic]

"Despite forum reservations about Concentrate being out of control when it was first introduced, not a single unit is utilizing that support this season. "

..Uh, what? Both me and Dragonblade are using it...

[reinoe]

spoiler: Prelimenary Match 2

Great Job Torgo!  Quite a balanced team.  The Dancer was spamming yell a little too much in round 2, but thats because the Monk didn't use Masamune on his allies.  I'm kinda worried about Torgo's prospects though.  That dancer needs to be spamming Witch Hunt right from the start and she's not, even though she was up against a team that used a lot of MP.

[Jumza]

"Despite forum reservations about Concentrate being out of control when it was first introduced, not a single unit is utilizing that support this season. "

..Uh, what? Both me and Dragonblade are using it...

I'm running 2 units with concentrate on my team

[Zareb]

So, uh, have any of you made a team after submitting one for a tournament only to discover that your newly-crafted team is better than said tournament-submitted team?  Yeeeahhhh.... check it out....

spoiler: Spoilers / 2013-07-06

Player: Zareb
Team: Spoilers
Palettes: Green/Brown
Last Revision: 2013-07-06

================================

Balk
Male
Serpentarius
70
40
Monk
Sing
PA Save
Martial Arts
Fly
FS Bag

Chakra Band
Power Sleeve
Cursed Ring

Spin Fist, Repeating Fist, Wave Fist, Earth Slash, Stigma Magic, Chakra
Battle Song

================================

Zalbag
Male
Serpentarius
70
40
Monk
Sing
PA Save
Martial Arts
Fly
FS Bag

Chakra Band
Power Sleeve
Cursed Ring

Spin Fist, Repeating Fist, Wave Fist, Earth Slash, Stigma Magic, Chakra
Battle Song

================================

Alma
Female
Serpentarius
40
40
Paladin
Talk Skill
Abandon
Unyielding
Teleport
Phoenix Blade
Diamond Shield
Cross Helmet
Gold Armor
Wizard Mantle

Nurse, Reraise
Death Sentence, Mimic Daravon

================================

Ramza
Male
Serpentarius
40
40
Paladin
Talk Skill
Abandon
Unyielding
Teleport
Phoenix Blade
Diamond Shield
Cross Helmet
Gold Armor
Wizard Mantle

Nurse, Reraise
Death Sentence, Mimic Daravon

================================

EDIT: Won against 15 random teams in a row on random maps on my first try.  Phoenix Blade+Nurse = lol.

[Ahong]

spoiler: Prelimenary Match 2

Uh, i think i found my archer's sister :D.

[reinoe]

So, uh, have any of you made a team after submitting one for a tournament only to discover that your newly-crafted team is better than said tournament-submitted team?  Yeeeahhhh.... check it out....

spoiler: Spoilers / 2013-07-06

Player: Zareb
Team: Spoilers
Palettes: Green/Brown
Last Revision: 2013-07-06

================================

Balk
Male
Serpentarius
70
40
Monk
Sing
PA Save
Martial Arts
Fly
FS Bag

Chakra Band
Power Sleeve
Cursed Ring

Spin Fist, Repeating Fist, Wave Fist, Earth Slash, Stigma Magic, Chakra
Battle Song

================================

Zalbag
Male
Serpentarius
70
40
Monk
Sing
PA Save
Martial Arts
Fly
FS Bag

Chakra Band
Power Sleeve
Cursed Ring

Spin Fist, Repeating Fist, Wave Fist, Earth Slash, Stigma Magic, Chakra
Battle Song

================================

Alma
Female
Serpentarius
40
40
Paladin
Talk Skill
Abandon
Unyielding
Teleport
Phoenix Blade
Diamond Shield
Cross Helmet
Gold Armor
Wizard Mantle

Nurse, Reraise
Death Sentence, Mimic Daravon

================================

Ramza
Male
Serpentarius
40
40
Paladin
Talk Skill
Abandon
Unyielding
Teleport
Phoenix Blade
Diamond Shield
Cross Helmet
Gold Armor
Wizard Mantle

Nurse, Reraise
Death Sentence, Mimic Daravon

================================

EDIT: Won against 15 random teams in a row on random maps on my first try.  Phoenix Blade+Nurse = lol.

I'd imagine that your Paladins are not using ReRaise though, granted I haven't seen your tests.  Unless you're running ReRaise in case Phoenix Blade gets broken or Cursed Ring gets stolen, I'd replace it with something else.

[Zareb]

I'd imagine that your Paladins are not using ReRaise though, granted I haven't seen your tests.  Unless you're running ReRaise in case Phoenix Blade gets broken or Cursed Ring gets stolen, I'd replace it with something else.

That's precisely why it's there; it just serves as a back-up just in-case my equipment gets broken/stolen.  So far, I haven't seen them use it... thankfully!

[The Damned]

(*is also using Concentrate on 2 units, technically 3 due to the stupidity that is Hidden Knife, and thus has no idea what reinoe meant there if that's not some horrific typo*)

I am very tempted to continue that list that I was making that Gaignun already finished out of sheer stubbornness, but, meh, it can wait if it gets done at all now.

Instead I'll just reply to some things and save commentary on the Preliminary Winners Round until the third one is done.

Interestingly after my SYTYCD team went 3-0 during Doku's test video I seriously considered submitting that team which would have had the one Mime.  But I thought to myself "do I want to win or do I want to do something interesting.  Most times I'd want to do something interesting, but I figured I'd try to seriously win this thing.

Meh, I can understand that I suppose, especially in the case of the usual suspects. I say "meh" because even I'm not normally that competitive, I don't think there's necessarily mutual exclusivity between the two choices as you imply. It's not like you can't make something interesting that's also highly capable of winning, even with having to compete in the current (general) field of Quickening, Spellguns, Insult (read: Berserk status being infinite and negative rather than neutral), Kagesougi and Cursed Ring.

Maybe someone should leave a note at the Master Guide. So that noone ever builds a Team on a ability that doesnt work. I knew i should have tested this Team a bit more...well.

Yes, someone should have. A bit late now in general though, given that both of the only techniques never used by the A.I., Persuade and Tsumazuku, are dying in 1.39 anyway. (Clarifying EDIT: Ugh. Omitted "never" before. Also, technically, Tsumazuku has seen use...supposedly; it was strictly off-camera. No one has any idea what's up with Persuade still given the A.I. usually whores CT00 abilities like they're going out of style.)

For the record, besides those abilities, Shieldrender & Bow Gun have been known not to work since 1.38a and the Purple palette has been acting up for...years. The palette thing should at least be noted in the Master Guide since I'm not sure when, if ever, that's going to be fixed. I'll go make an official note of it in the complaint thread since I exist only to bother FFMaster and monopolize cynicism.

Well Damned, monopoly doesn't take as long as you think. If you're playing by house rules like "Free parking gives you money" it gives the game unnecessary longevity. If you play by the regular rules it goes by quicker.

Here's an example on what I'm talking about: Monopoly - Game Grumps VS

I'll take your word for it. I'll watch the video when I get back tomorrow...if I come back tomorrow. I'm not even sure.

Do you mean Shieldrender never attacks twice?  It does in my (pre-hotfix) version of FFT.

As far as I'm aware, it doesn't at all in post-hotfix versions. The same with Bow Gun. I could be wrong and I'm ready to be "pleasantly surprised" though. Shrug.

I feel special now...

Oh, Otabo...you were always special. <3

Good luck to everyone.

May the RNG have mercy on ALL of our souls...

Hahaha. The RNG? Merciful? Maybe if you're Vigilanti (who, even then, makes competent teams on top of having a lot of luck).

Also, what souls?

Attention fellow hosts: When you upload the match you're recording make sure to put them in the Season 2 Tournament playlist I just created

Will do.

*will probably forget when the time comes*

Is it too late for me to join?

Probably.

Barren has the last word on things though I'd imagine.

[JamesOnyx]

I also made a much more efficient team after submitting a lackluster one.  It solely focuses on two Scholars with Malestrom in combination with Coral Sword/Rubber Costume/Diamond Armlet/Distribute and two other units with Earth Dragon and Strengthen Earth/Absorb Earth/Half Water/MA Save.  The sheer power they can accumulate without taking "damage" because of distribute while whittling down the opponent was pretty amazing.  It got owned on small maps though, but most magic based teams do.

[Barren]

Is it too late for me to join?

Unfortunately it is too late, the tournament has already begun.

[Torgo]

lol
when did he make that face?

I was actually just looking for a goofy face shot of him from Eegah, but that was one of the first things to come up in an image search, and it was too perfect to not use.

Anyway...

spoiler: prelim round 2

It's nice to get a proper win. Thanks guys! I think my saving grace more than anything was Jonin wasn't packing too much in the way of serious ranged power. Getting the opportunity to close the distance is pretty crucial for me.

reinoe: Yeah, I'm still bummin' out that Roxy isn't doing any Witch Hunt. On the small map it's understandable, but I think on the larger map it's just a matter of the ai giving haste buffing a priority when she's not in range. I think in the future I'll take away Yell. Eegah's Masamune is good enough for haste buffing. That said, her using Throw Stone to cancel charges was exactly the reason I wanted to give her Basic Skill.

CT5Holy: Thanks for the observation about Carbunkle. I'll probably reallocate those points to something else in the future. Maybe Silf for status effects, or Leviathan for buff removal. (Titan would be redundant, and undesirable besides in lieu of Quake.)

And since it was talked up in the video and in the comments, I have some meandering thoughts on the Platinum Sword and its viability, but I'll probably save that for the balance thread. Later. I haven't slept. In the mean time, dat 357 crit. :cool:

[CT5Holy]

FFT Arena S2 Preliminary Round - Andante vs JamesOnyx

[Andante49]

Great match JamesOnyx

spoiler: Prelims Match 3

The Water/Lore combo is definitely scary, didn't think my team had a shot in the tie breaker. Good luck in the loser's bracket, I'll most likely be down there soon too.

*looks at Barren's team and shudders*

[JamesOnyx]

Yeah, good games.  I needed one more revival unit, only having two seriously hurt me.  Also the Geomancer...

spoiler: "Preliminary Round 3"

Those Bahumuts.

[Dokurider]

spoiler: Prelim 1

I think the idea behind Idiot Wind is to use the lack of HP to trigger Meatbone Slash more often, which is some nice out of the box thinking. I think Defense Up/Magic Defense Up/Unyielding would roughly achieve the same thing more safely. In any case, congratulations on winning the first match Woodenbandman. Your mad hobos have to fight units that are just as stab happy. Real spooky Black Op type guys in fact.

spoiler: Prelim 2

First off, I haven't gotten to say this yet, but I think Platina Sword/Parry Blade + Leather Mantle is a strong combination. As for Yell, I remember way back in 1.3 (the patch Arena is based off of) when Yell in it's modern form was invented, the math was done demonstrating that Yell was ultimately an inefficient way of spreading Haste because it's single target nature meant by the time said Yell unit gave Haste to everyone, Haste had already expired on another unit. In my opinion Yell should only be used alongside Haste/Haste 2

TheJonin big downfall was his unnecessarily high Fury. Without that necessary physical resistance, Torgo's 900 year old caveman and fainting two swording bimbo damaged them way too easily. Even Arch Hall Jr. put some hurt on with Bloody Strings. I also think if you're going to give your Cursed Priest Equip Armor (actually wasn't too bad, some form of self healing was needed) you should get Gold Armor as it protects you from Seal Evil/Consecration, especially if you're going to lean on Esuna exclusively without any other form of Petrify curing or status cleaning in general.

Torgo, your next opponent is a real triple threat, between a Repel Tail Ninja, the one among many Katar Thieves, and a mini-Elmdor, you have a quite a handful for your next fight.

spoiler: Prelim 3

I liked both of these teams. Between high damage Elementals and a solid Lore team, both were pretty well built teams. Andante's Time Magic Chemist's low faith wasn't as detrimental as I thought it would. Slow 2's accuracy was still good enough to connect reliably, Sinkhole's accuracy is a little iffy, but Comet doesn't care about Faith. The only spell that really suffered was Haste, and that's partially because it sucks right now because of it's bad accuracy. And in the grand scheme of things, it was inconsequential that you were missing Hastes because you weren't missing Slows. I think that you should drop Mythril Gun for Romanda Gun because the +range and damage is more helpful than trying to make Haste hit more.

As for JamesOnyx's side, I think your Black Magic Samurai could have used Nether Water instead so that she wouldn't be unnecessary vulnerable to magic and still output good damage minus the nifty dispel bonus. I also think not having Murasame Draw Out was a big mistake. Personally, I would have dropped Masamune for Murasame because it would have helped way more than Masamune, especially with MA Save support.

17 * 1.25 = 21.25
21 * 4/3 = 28
(8 + 2) / 2 = 5
28 * 5 = 140
So yeah CT5, his damage output was making sense. His damage just dropped every time he cast on a non elemental panel.

The Water/Lore combo is definitely scary, didn't think my team had a shot in the tie breaker. Good luck in the loser's bracket, I'll most likely be down there soon too.

*looks at Barren's team and shudders*

You might actually have a decent chance. Raise 2 eliminates the Cursed Ring units, and your hard hitting Elemental will punch through Main Gauche Mediator. It's just a race to kill everyone before Cursed Ring kicks in.

[Barren]

Well Andante, its like Doku said, its a race against the clock pretty much when you face me. So hopefully your team can eat mine quicker before my RNG based offense overwhelms you

[Gaignun]

I hereby proclaim that whichever team beats mine will require a nerf.

Also, condolences in advance to Barren for having to cast Dokurider's matches.  Those matches are going to be long.

[woodenbandman]

Please note that my team is called the Justice Hobos

[The Damned]

(Ugh. I meant to post this last night, but my commentary on the very first round of the tournament got a bit...out of hand.)

So noted, woodenbandman.

My team is officially called "The Sleep Is Too Damn High!"--not that anyone cares.

Hmmm...I just realized that I can do some things when I'm recording my matches for the tournament on my own channel depending on how Losers' turns out. Hmmm....

*muses on this*

Anyway, now that the Preliminaries are finished, I'll do commentary that doesn't repeat what I've already said on Youtube. The first of these ended up being extremely long and it's less "match commentary" and more "hostile team takeover". I "apologize" if the tone of it comes off (too) harsh as well, though I'm not saying any of this stuff to be malicious--just trying to help while being perhaps too blunt about things as per usual:

spoiler: woodenbandman vs. EmmaNigma

For the record, since I still think EmmaNigma's name is female-sounding, I'm going to use female pronouns for "her"; my apologies if you are actually male, Riddler's Daughter.

Anyway, here woodenbandman won because all of his units do more damage, his Dancer does actually great damage and EmmaNigma essentially walked into the match up with only three units due to how Idiot Wind was set up. Also, EmmaNigma's whole team has...issues, which is why this got so absurdly large.

Speaking of the Chemist, not having armor, Draw Out Secondary and having Flash Hat with a Spellgun was a rather large problem, if I can understate things. As I said on Youtube, the Flash Hat thing I can perhaps understand if it was an attempt to exploit the "Innocent = Faith and Faith = Innocent" glitch from vanilla that everyone forgot about until CT5Holy brutally reminded us with Muramasa & the -ton Ninjutsu around 1.34. That got fixed by FFMaster in the next patch. (That or being under mistaken impression that the 70 Faith would apply even over Flash Hat's Innocent, which I suppose is also understandable.)

I guess I could even understand it as attempt to further the chances of Meatbone Slash going off, though if that's the case, then really another non-Spellgun gun would have been more appropriate, like Mythril Gun.

The lack of armor bit, though, was a real...enigma. [/gets hit by Throw Stone]

I guess Dokurider's guess is...a reasonable one, especially if she wanted Maintenance on that unit, which I always find it nice to see someone else use. (This since it makes me look less paranoid. Oh, who am I kidding? Nothing makes me look less paranoid, even when my paranoia is actually appropriate.)

That said, given Meatbone Slash is dependent on HP, even if her having the lowest HP of the team was necessary (which it isn't), that's rather counterproductive. It also probably doesn't help that she's on the same team as a Summoner with their utterly crap HP if that's the case.

Really, if you wanted to keep Maintenance for her, then you would have likely been better served by going with Chivalry Secondary for Nurse and/or Iron Will or another secondary. If you really wanted Draw Out, then Kiyomori & Masamune would probably be the best way to go. This is evidenced by how little damage Draw Out was doing despite Idiot Wind having neutral or good compatibility with all of woodenbandman's team since Chemist's MA is middling. A better Secondary definitely would have helped even with the Flash Hat & Spellgun issue.

Finally, when it comes to Idiot Wind, it doesn't exact help matter she still has a whooping 1,250 JP unused. This even though she has no Movement AND has Item as a skill set. I can understand not using up some leftover JP even if you can. For example, Park Place purposely had 150 JP leftover--before CT5Holy reminded me I had forgotten to count opening up Paladin for Counter--simply because other skills would have been "distracting" to the A.I.. Item is one of the few skill sets, however, where you can buy pretty much everything in it and still have the A.I. act competently and use what you want when you want them to.

Of course, the JP problem kind plagues the whole team aside from the Monk: the Summoner has 750 left she could still use (on healing and revival) and the Archer has a whooping 1,100 left (that would probably be at 1400 since she really doesn't need Cover Fire given she has basically no MP). I'm rather puzzled as to why this is. I could understand if EmmaNegima was confused and thought that RSMs were only allowed from the two jobs a unit was using...but the Archer has Chrono Trigger from Time Mage instead of Speed Save from Archer, which completely nixes that idea. So...?

Speaking of the Summoner, Counter Flood is like...the worst possible Reaction on a Summoner, especially a female Summoner, given that Summoner has the worst PA of all classes; even Brave Up would be better, actually. Despite their high MA, Summoners are pretty much garbage with everything in the Elemental skill set, RSMs included, save for Equip Shield; the same goes for Wizards and Time Mages. On top of that, given the Summons used, even after it's rightly nerfed in 1.39, Golden Hairpin would still be way better than Holy Miter (without Prismatic Rod) due to Strengthen: Holy & Dark and the amount of MP it gives. That it gives quite a bit of MP is important what with not having Move-MP Up, Carbunkle, MP Restore or Absorb MP (and would still be even if you do have those since Summons are expensive MP-wise).

Regardless, Ether just does not cut it for the sheer amount of MP Summoner uses unless said Summoner is using Half of MP. Similarly, trying to use Counter Flood just for status procs is...tempting, but unless you really have no other choice for a Reaction for some reason, then you should really forgo it unless you can actually do decent damage with it. ("Decent" is subjective of course, especially since in this instance you don't have to worry about out-damaging Auto Potion. I'd personally say that 60 or more is at least "decent".)

In addition to all that, only one unit on this team has revival and it's the most fragile (possibly by intention) unit while the only unit with Reraise is in a class with the worst HP possible (and really should have revival & Silence protection anyway).

To be blunt, this team is easily the worst one in the tournament. Not that this is any personal failing, especially since it's just a game for fun, or that woodenbandman's team, The Justice Hobos, won solely because of it--it sure as hell helped though. And, hey, EmmaNegima at least has an excuse being an utter newbie; I'm pretty sure my team for last non-SCC tournament was one of the worst teams in that, if not the worst, though it "helped" that I didn't really didn't care about it.

The egregiousness of it, however, is actually kind of helpful as an example of what not to do and how even things like this can be "easily" fixed with some thought. So, since I'm being such an asshole already, let's take that into maximum overdrive:

Here's what I'd personally fix (without just outright changing unit's primary classes) with explanations why. (I'm sure there are better fixes since I personally think I'm rubbish with teams most of time, but, hey, all the better really.)

spoiler: Insert Bad Stephen King Movie Here

Primary Palette - Something that isn't Purple.
Alternate Palette - #2 Blue

================================

Idiot Wind
Female
Taurus
40
70
Chemist
White Magic
Meatbone Slash
Maintenance
Pilgrimage
Blast Gun

Green Beret
Earth Clothes
Defense Ring

X-Potion, Hi-Ether, Antidote, Chronos Tear, Echo Grass, Maiden's Kiss, Soft, Holy Water, Bandage
Cure, Raise, Wall

Total JP: 500 + 450 + 100 + 250 + 1200 + 300 = 2950

spoiler: Reasons

Position: Since the Chemist's "job", beyond being a healer and shooting things up with Blast Gun, is to get knocked into Critical and kill or at least cripple with Meatbone Slash, she should really be the first unit. It also helps that since her HP is going to be higher than the Summoner almost by default, that she should be as far away from the more "tempting" (read: lower HP) unit on her team as possible when starting out. Being first also helps her resurrecting abilities, even though she's still slower than the Archer.


Zodiac: Changed to Taurus from Pisces for good compatibility with Summoner & Archer, though the former could somewhat backfire if she gets charmed since she'll probably OHKO the Summoner even without 108 Gems. Given she has Pilgrimage, she'd probably OHKO the Summoner after a while even with Worst compat.--Cancer--though, and Raise already hits at 100% on the Summoner, so it's possibly acceptable. Still, Neutral with the Summoner could be best, especially if also given Best with the Monk. (This means also changing the Chemist to Capricorn.)


Secondary: I was going to initially go with Chivalry as I mentioned above for Iron Will before I realized that a) Nurse is relatively redundant to X-Potion unless you're wearing enough armor to get her above 360 HP and b) Iron Will was the only useful thing in Chivalry for this unit. Granted, Reraise could have also been useful, but the A.I. can be kind of stupid about using that (instead of healing) and it's only so abusive without Move-MP Up. The same with Nurse giving Regen and that not really being quite that worth it compared to other things she could be doing; this even before the fact that A.I. kind of...obsesses over Nurse between it healing and adding Defending, which doesn't help the Chemist anyway.

So instead she got White Magic for an Iron Will that can be shared at 100% in the spell Wall, even if Wall otherwise kinda sucks in 1.38d; it's getting a boost in 1.39. She also gets access to a form of resurrection that brings back more HP while still basically being 100% and that plays off her new Movement. It helps that Chemist and Priest have the exact same MP, so even without access to Robes, she can still cast a decent amount of spells when she needs to.


Movement: Given Pilgrimage is part of what makes Spellguns extra stupid currently.


Hat: Because Flash Hat just doesn't work with Spellguns and because Green Beret has the exact same stats, only with special attributes that are actually useful to this type of unit.


Clothes: And because Meatbone Slash really needs more HP to work off while Earth Clothes are currently the only clothes that give any MP at all. Brigandine, Santa Outfit or Black Costume would also be acceptable; I wouldn't recommend any of the other Clothes though, including Rubber Costume, at least with the present accessory.


Accessory: Given that current Defense Ring is kinda overpowered and blocking Silence is "necessary". She could probably do without an accessory that blocks Silence given Echo Grass, though that's really there more for canceling Berserk on others than anything else, which is why Defense Ring is there instead of, say, Magic Ring. As such, Reflect Ring and Dracula Mantle are also acceptable, even those are both slightly counter to her "wanting" to get hit. I suppose 108 Gems would also be acceptable if you wanted to have even more power overall, especially from the get-go. 108 Gems would also help make sure that she doesn't get killed by Poison and thus has to be killed directly (or by a counter), which helps Meatbone Slash; with Antidote, that's not going to happen anyway though unless she also gets Don't Acted (by Kagesougi), so....


Abilities: As already stated, the Chemist had a bunch of leftover JP and there's really no excuse to not use up that JP, especially with Item, even if you want her flying across the field and destroying everything. Best to prepared at least. As such, she essentially has access to every Item now except for Phoenix Down, which became redundant with Raise. Still, if worried about Raise missing due to half of the team having 40 Faith (even though it still has pretty good odds), then Cure can be dropped for getting that back.

It should be noted, though, that even with Worst compat. on the Summoner, the Chemist still has a 89% chance of Raising the Summoner even before Pilgrimage starts increasing Faith. So, really, it's more an issue of making sure that Fairy can reliably resurrect the Chemist than vice versa.

Wall has already been explained. Cure is just there because it a) benefits from Pilgrimage, meaning it should eventually out-heal X-Potion even on the 40 Faith units, b) gives additional AoE healing, c) is extremely quick and d) can be used by a Chemist without falling prey to Poison like too many other White Magic users. (Also, it's because Cure 2 kinda sucks presently and you don't have the JP for Cure 3.)

Finally, I guess you could go with Esuna if you're paranoid about Charm, since the A.I. usually will un-Charm itself with Esuna unless it can kill an ally or resurrect an enemy. Given she has a spellgun & can probably OHKO the Summoner in all circumstances and has resurrection, however, that may not be optimal. Still, she could stand to lose Bandage and either Cure or Antidote if Esuna is really wanted and Esuna will only get more accurate the more the match drags on.

================================

Mollusk
Male
Cancer
70
40
Monk
Ninjitsu
HP Restore
Overwhelm
Warpath
FS Bag

Chakra Band
Earth Clothes
Vanish Mantle

Spin Fist, Repeating Fist, Earth Slash, Stigma Magic, Chakra
Shuriken, Meiton

Total JP: 500 + 500 + 400 + 250 + 1050 + 300 = 3000

spoiler: Reasons

Sex: Changed from Female to Male given you don't see female Monks for a reason unless they have Dance secondary. Even then, the only reason they aren't obviated by Dancers with Punch Art is because of Headband exclusivity. Still, female Monks are unfortunately markedly inferior to male Monks in terms of PA, which is all-important to Punch Art, and their MA isn't even that much better. This even if you're paranoid about the Archer getting Charmed and then Charming the Monk right after that. (Said paranoid is partly why, on my team for this tournament, my Oracle is Male instead of Female.)


Weapon: Even if the A.I. can be stupid about attacking with bags, Monks tend to be the least stupid about it so long as they have Repeating Fist (and are on even ground with their target). The boost from FS Bag is rather noticeable given half of Monk's abilities are still, unfortunately, quadratic and thus heavily reliant on PA; the +2 PA also boosts everything they have save for Secret Fist (which is almost exclusively used by units with Punch Art Secondary rather than actual Monks anyway).


Clothing: Vanish Mantle has immunity to Water, which means that a) the Monk couldn't heal herself with Suiton even with Rubber Costume and b) Rubber Costume is really only absorbing Lightning. If you really want to keep Vanish Mantle (and Earth Slash), then the Clothes used should be Earth Clothes. Otherwise, Power Sleeve or Black Costume would work, if less well; Santa Outfit is disqualified for reasons similar to Rubber Costume. The extra MP from Earth Clothes also helps considering Shuriken & the -tons are a bit expensive (for a physical class).

Alternately, you could sub out Vanish Mantle for 108 Gems and keep Rubber Clothes, though you of course lose a lot of physical evasion and all of your magic(k)al evasion, even with 40 Faith, could be bad.


Abilities: Wave Fist gets kicked out because the Monk already has Earth Slash and Shuriken. No need to have Wave Fist on top of both of those, especially now that the Monk has Chakra to heal his MP (and HP). He got Stigma Magic because he could since it's really, really good, especially with Chakra Band; it basically makes the unit immune to Charm alongside curing (too many) other things. In an AoE. Instantly. Did I mention it's really, really good and possibly overpowered (again)?

The Monk lost Suiton for Meiton due to Thief Hat halving Earth, Wind & Water currently; this even if Thief Hat is often found in the company of Black Costume and/or Cursed Ring, which renders Meiton moot. Still, it's better than being "walled" by one item.

Of course, given the -tons are kinda...underwhelming (and interchangeable) right now unless paired with Flash Hat or Gokuu Rod (or lots of PA-boosting), you could lose Whatever-ton & Spin Fist (which usually is mediocre at best anyway) and get Revive.

================================

Matryoshika
Female
Virgo
70
40
Archer
Steal
Speed Save
Concentrate
Move-HP UP
Mythril Bow

Thief Hat
Secret Clothes
Angel Ring

Weapon Break
Steal Heart, Speed Ruin

Total JP: 500 + 400 + 650 + 750 + 350 + 350 = 3000

spoiler: Reasons

Reaction: I can understand wanting more Speed on an already fast unit, especially without whoring out the soon-to-be-finally dead Quickening. (She could get off two of them, though, and be at 14 Sp even before MP Restoring, but meh.) Dipping into Time Mage solely for Chrono Trigger, however, really isn't worth it. Maybe if you also wanted Float Movement and/or Time Magic too, but then the Archer has no way of healing herself and, again, doesn't have the MP for very much.


Support: ...It's Concentrate. Also, it benefits Weapon Break and Speed Ruin.


Movement: As aforementioned, if she's knocked into Critical, with no way of healing herself, she'll just retreat and spend the rest of the match in the corner if she doesn't get healed. You generally want to avoid that in most instances if so possible, so while not restoring her HP for any great amount, Move-HP UP means she'll eventually get back in the fight of her own accord if no one else can heal her.


Accessory: Defense Ring served no purpose unless you were really paranoid about Berserk or Sleep (or Death Sentence), especially since you'd have no more Water to absorb without Suiton. If you still want Absorption, then just go with Diamond Armlet, which has the added benefit of blocking Slow. If you're paranoid about Berserk because it makes the A.I. act like a complete idiot when it comes to distance weapons in most instances, then there's Reflect Ring, which slightly boosts Steal Heart and which Haste 2 doesn't care about. If you're paranoid about Sleep, then there's Chantage, which comes with Reraise. I went with Angel Ring because it both has Reraise and is the only accessory to block Blind, which now negates Concentrate (which really should probably be noted in the Master Guide now that I think about it...). The Archer's accessory slot is pretty flexible otherwise though. Hell, you could even go with Sprint Shoes (since Cursed Ring is currently rightfully losing +1 Sp going in 1.39) if you want to make her even faster.


Abilities: Execute goes because it gets made redundant by Concentrate, especially since I'm pretty sure it doesn't get around Projectile Guard given it's technically weapon-based. Cover Fire goes because she's only able to fire it twice, it competes with Speed Ruin (or Quickening) in MP use and hers does paltry damage even at its maximum. I can understand the want of some AoE on any team, but you have to make sure your AoE is actually, you know, good--that's often more difficult than it seems though, so it's not like you're alone there.

Lack of any real MP is also part of the reason she didn't get Hawk's Eye or Quickening, though the latter is still of course serviceable. It's arguable about whether it's outright better than Concentrated Speed Ruin though, given Speed Ruin benefits everyone, not just the Archer. Quickening probably would be better, however, while it's still around given how stupidly broken it is. Still, Speed Ruin does give her a way to get around Projectile Guard that Quickening doesn't.

Regardless, she gets Weapon Break since I figure if she's going to fly around the field, she might as well be as assholish as possible and (try to) destroy most units' weapons. Most non-Faith-based units and even some Faith-based ones are rather reliant on their weapons and yet no one really uses Maintenance with any regularity, even my paranoid self. Destroying weapons also helps out everyone else on the team beyond the "take less damage" thing since it means people have to get close to the Monk and Chemist, who are deadly up-close for differing reasons; it also gives both those units more time to walk around and build up power. The Summoner benefits from less damage too of course, especially if it's a spell-gun, but otherwise there's no special benefit for her outside of being able to activate MP Restore more often; I'm sure the Summoner appreciates dying less though. Maybe.

================================

Lucinda
Female
Capicorn
40
70
Summoner
Time Magic
MP Restore
Short Charge
Float
Wizard Rod

Golden Hairpin
Wizard Robe
Magic Ring

Moogle, Fairy, Odin, Bahamut, Cyclops
Haste 2

Total JP: 500 + 450 + 400 + 200 + 850 + 300 = 2900

spoiler: Reasons

Zodiac: Changed from Scorpio so that she has Best compat. with the Monk now, which allows for Fairy to have a great chance of hitting him (89%) even with his 40 Faith. Also makes it so that she can hit the female Archer with a relatively good chance too (80%) even with her 40 Faith. Similarly, if the Monk had/has Revive, he's basically guaranteed to be able to resurrect her as long as she's on even ground.


Secondary: Changed from the useless-to-Summoners Elemental secondary to Time Magic secondary for all of one spell (and Movement), but that's already more worth it given she had no active Elemental abilities anyway and Move-HP Up was healing for crap on her.


Reaction: Changed for reasons similar to above, though here it was so she wouldn't have to spend JP on Carbunkle or Move-MP UP (or Absorb MP).


Movement: Changed for reasons similar to above, with Float being generally underrated and useful to make sure that the Monk doesn't accidentally "nuke" her, due to Charm or otherwise, with Earth Slash; like the Chemist, he might have otherwise done that instead of curing himself of Charm with Stigma Magic if could kill her. Float generally also helps avoid a good deal of other powerful things, including less "friendly" Earth Slashes and the haxiness of Local Quake, and not having to worry about terrain is also good.


Hat: Changed for aforementioned reasons. It's really not that noticeable a drop in Bahamut while being a noticeable increase in damage for both Odin & Cyclops even without another MA-boosting accessory.


Accessory: Honestly, I was just going to go with Defense Ring here before the Chemist got it since, like Golden Hairpin, it's a bit overpowered in its current form as already said. One could easily go with Magic Ring instead though, if they don't care about blocking Sleep and/or Berserk, especially since that would boost Bahamut back up to the Holy Miter levels and boost Odin & Cyclops even more. Also, absorbing Holy & Wind isn't too shabby, especially on someone with 70 Faith.

Other MA-boosting accessories, sans maybe Red Shoes given the A.I.'s tendency to charge forward idiotically, would also probably be acceptable. Of them, despite it being underwhelming, Genji Gauntlet is probably the "best" alternate since it gives the fragile Summoner some M-EV that she otherwise completely lacks.


Abilities: Given the Summoner really needs to be a support unit even with the damage she can do, she needs both healing and resurrection, especially since the Chemist on this team is a tad suicidal by design. So Moogle & Fairy are "mandatory", even with half of the team having 40 Faith.

As for Time Magic, well, that was solely for Haste 2. With the Summoner last now and having Short Charge, she'll be able to Haste everyone on the team in one-go usually since she hits everyone for 100% due to compatibility even with 40 Faith. This is part of the reason why I was comfortable with the Archer losing Chrono Trigger since the Summoner can step up and give her Haste assuredly now.

Unfortunately, Time Magic as a whole is rather expensive JP-wise, which is "bad" when combined with the also expensive JP-wise Summoner class. The expense is clear when you can "only" get six abilities despite staying entirely in-class RSM-wise. Still, Time Magic's JP costs are being reduced in 1.39. I'd most likely use the extra 50 JP gotten back from Haste 2's reduction to get Comet, especially with Auto Potion getting nerfed a bit.

Of course, you could still get another 100 JP spell now, but it should probably be a Summon Magic spell. Haste & Slow currently suck, with the former being redundant, and Don't Move can have uses, but the Summoner should be "nuking" things when she's not healing, reviving or Hasting. Between Ifrit, Shiva & Ramuh, poor Ifrit should probably be avoided, if only because Cursed Ring users almost always wear Black Costumes and they also block Cyclops presently. So it's really between Shiva and Ramuh. Of the two, Ice tends to be the least absorbed element constantly and a Magic Ring user most likely won't be wearing a Santa Outfit (and vice versa), so....

================================

I was going to just be lazy and essentially make this an Earth-absorb team by giving the Summoner Lore secondary instead, but meh. I figured I'd put some thought into something for once, especially since the only elemental absorb team in the tournament is already Earth-absorb.

spoiler: Torgo vs. TheJonin

Speaking of Earth-absorb, TheJonin mainly lost because everyone on Torgo's team hits pretty hard, while hitting pretty fast, pretty far and healing. Meanwhile, TheJonin's team more wants to take its time, as is especially obvious with a non-Quickening Cursed Ring user, but unfortunately every unit has 70/70 when they really didn't need them; this is compounded only by the fact that none of them have M-EV at all despite the 70 Faith or any real P-EV. Additionally, TheJonin couldn't get anything off between Torgo's Quake being CT 1, Throw Stones and missing Charms. Basically, rocks fell (or got thrown) and everyone on TheJonin's otherwise decent-on-paper team died. (The Priest's set up is...really odd, at least equipment-wise since I don't understand why Equip Armor is there--the other units are all at least theoretically decent.)

Not much else to say except to repeat what I said on Youtube in that Platinum Sword does more damage than I thought it would. Of course, the critical somewhat skews that, which is part of why I'm still skeptical about it; also, it's Dancer. Their skill set may have horrible issues, but they do scary damage when they're actually attacking.

Amusingly, while possibly becoming more respectful of Platinum Sword, this match made me realize just how much Parry Edge currently sucks though. Even with Two Swords, a Mantle and Abandon it didn't boost the Dancer's evasion by as much as I thought it would. Geez. It seems like she might have been better off going with Equip Shield then, especially since Escutcheon II would have made her M-EV go through the roof.

Parry Edge might suck even more than the current Yell, which is...saying something.

Oh well. We'll see how much Two Swords works for her damage when she isn't OHKO'ing people as it is with just Platinum Sword.

spoiler: Andante49 vs. JamesOnyx

This was a really good match, especially given both combatants are first timers. Despite Punch Art being weak on the Geomancer, which is an easy mistake to make given Punch Art's quadratic formulas make it either pathetic or destroy faces with almost no middle ground, I think that unit wasn't the weakest link on JamesOnyx's team.

Instead, to me, the Samurai not having Murasame is ultimately what contributed to the loss, especially since she had MA Save (as Dokurider also commented). Having Masamune is all well and good, but even as overpowered as that thing is, it's usually only really abusive when you have either two Masamune users or at least another Haste-inflicting user. Otherwise the Masamune unit likely ends up wasting three of its actions using Masamune on other units. (This whether or not you want everyone on the team to be Hasted & Regened).

You also saw that the A.I. has the unfortunate issue of often Masamune itself it rather than actually healing once it's resurrected with less than full HP. Not that the Samurai actually had access to self-healing, which was the problem. Murasame also would have helped immensely with two other units having Distribute given the A.I. will gladly Murasame allies while healing itself even if they aren't hurt.

Otherwise, the Samurai's set-up was fine I suppose even with a relative lack of MP and I'd say that Andante49 ultimately won just because his Draw Out user was sturdier by comparison. They both did really good damage, but the Black Magic Woman ran out of steam too quickly in terms of both HP and MP. It also helped that Andante49's Geomancer hit harder than JamesOnyx's Geomancer overall, even if she kept dying first.

Regardless, always nice to see the relatively unused Giant Axe, the katana Chirijiraden and Bahamut be used and used well, especially in a relatively close match.

Good first attempt everyone.

Notic(e)able EDIT: Man, I am abysmal at spelling "-able" words correctly. Regardless, I clarified some syntax and fixed about three dozens or so mostly small omissions or typos, most in the first commentary.

[Malroth]

I love the Dammed's analyses of teams,  they're so educational