Birthday Cup Review: BW3/Rina vs. Zidane/Vivi

This was one of the best fight threads I have read on this entire site!  Damn this was one hell of a roller coaster!  This one was probably the easiest for me to grade.  Black Waltz was the biggest key to this entire section.  He sent out the most pain, but also received and blocked the most, which I will discuss more on later.  Rina and Zidane both took the fair share of beating, and were the only two standing at the end of the thread.  Vivi, dealt the second most damage in my opinion, but also took the most.  All in all I'd say that BW3 and Rina dealt the most and Zidane and Vivi took the most.  If this fight were to continue, I do think that Zidane would have taken the upper hand with his superior speed, but I can only grade what's been posted, and that's gotta be with me giving the nod to BW3 and Rina

This one, believe it or not, decided the outcome of the entire fight to me.  Tactics decide a lot, and this time, it was the most important factor in the fight.  I think BW3 and Rina both showed a lot of skill, particularly Rina with the way she was thinking on her feet as much as she was.  Black Waltz showed great tactics by focusing on Vivi, but that's also what worked against him.  Zidane did awesome coaching Vivi and taking control.  Vivi worked amazingly well with his partner and the two were able to form clear strategies to turn the tables on BW3 and Rina.  Black Waltz loses points here for going rogue, and party turmoil ended up costing this category for them.

All four of these guys need praise for how well they did here.  I'm sure as hell glad I didn't fight either team this round.  Alright, I really wish this was two separate categories.  In terms of Descriptive Writing, I think Zidane and Vivi take this, but by a very slim margin.  BW3 and Rina both were very clear and concise in their actions, but it was easier to me to visualize Zidane and Vivi's actions.  Sportsmanship...goddamn I had a helluva time trying to figure out which way to take this one.  On one hand, BW3 dodged a TON of attacks early on.  On the other, he earned himself a ton of extra credit with the overloading of his system angle, and Rina did amazingly to earn credit for the duo as well.  This is a team that wouldn't have even had the party turmoil to lose Skill and Style without the incredible way they kept to their characters.  BW3 absolutely WOULD have been focused on revenge after the immense hit to his pride.  Zidane and Vivi both did exceptionally well here, and I do wanna point out how spot on Vivi had been with staying in character.  This was exceptionally shown with Vivi's trip towards the end of the fight.  As soon as I read that, I immediately thought "Damn, that's good.  That's good Vivi RPing right there."  I just cannot pick a side on this one.

So first and foremost, I want to say that this entire battle on me on the literal edge of my seat, constantly eager to see what would transpire in the following rounds. However, I will say that after reviewing the entirety of the thread that both were quite fair with the amount of damage they'd dealt and received. None the less, I will have to give this one towards Rina and Waltz, they effectively lead both Vivi and Zidane on a very finely orchestrated dance - despite both of our mage falling to their sustained injuries. I would venture to say that if this battle drug out that there is a good chance that Zidane would have emerged victorious, not to belittle Rina's capabilities, however Zidane is a speedster and is capable of dishing out massive damage without remorse and in the cast that he inflicted blind of Silence, it would strip her of a vast majority of her arsenal.

This category of was notably harder to judge than the category above. I say this because I've had the pleasure of threading with each person involved in this thread at least once throughout my tenure on the site. So I can attest that each has a very unique and diverse writing style, each of which was showcased excellently during the extensive length of this battle. I will say that I felt the Black Waltz 3's sinister and ruthless demeanor was very in-character and that Rina's opposition to his course in the midst of battle was an interesting twist - albeit, it was one I foresaw coming because Rina is soft-hearted and compassionate. I will say that Zidane and Vivi's strife between being turned against one another was another interesting dynamic, so I will have to ultimately give it to them.

So I feel like both parties were very fair in the damage that they dealt and received - implementing a number of rolls, percentages and other factors to ensure that there was an undeniably fair precession that existed. I will say Vivi's Dual-Cast' secondary effect and implementation of the Trance effect during the battle definately was a dynamic that just simply blew me away. I also like how Vivi's final action was the very same action that he took against Black Waltz 3 during their encounter on the Airship, so perhaps I am biased because I definately loved how that it went full-circle. It is for that very reason, that I'd like to award this category to Zidane and Vivi.