Originally posted by leonidas
grr, i really AM a bit irked at not having had 5 minutes to point out a rather large issue with his final post -- now that he clarified all the bombs were OUTSIDE his sphere while he was INSIDE it . . .grr . . .
anyway, well done bw. 😉
You know, you're not supposed to try and influence their decision after it's over. You're also about as subtle as Skreet 🙂
Bada's Vote
Well, this match had some twists and turns. Sorry for my delay but I wanted to look through my comics, check the respect threads and verify some of the claims for myself.
Leonidas, your prep and plan are decently solid without many discrepancies. I also thought you did a good job at pointing out some flaws in Blair's plan. The whole teleporting thing was a glitch but you recovered nicely. I didn't like the reliance on precedent set by previous matches for some of your proof and would have liked a bit more in the way of new scans. It wasn't too difficult to review the past matches since I always do anyway when judging later tournament rounds.
Blair Wind, I liked your plan. It was direct and brutal. I'm just not convinced that Stark as Secretary Of defense in Pre Extremis would have the arming codes for the 50 megaton nukes or could get to 4 nukes, reprogram them in the 10 minutes and have them ready for your attack plus implementing the rest of your plan. This also doesn't allow the techno-organic virus to be dispersed. I hated deciding this since I do like your plan and you didn't have much of a backup.
My vote is for Leonidas
Smurf's Vote
Needless to say, you both did very well and this was the toughest to judge so far... congrats, etc.
This was an odd match, though. It seemed to me that Blair relied heavily on his prep succeeding, and Leo relied on it failing. Granted, Blair's prep was ambitious, perhaps to a fault, but not out of the realm of imagination. Taking into account that Tony would use the spots MUCH more efficiently then Spot ever would, that as the paranoid, powerful freak that he is, memorizing or prgramming into his armor codes for seriously powerful bombs isn't beyond comprehension.
ESPECIALLY considering he's had a hand in designing parts for US Missiles in the past, as was shown in Leo's scan, and then later in Blair's.
The idea of the illness dispersion, and extra armors was stretching it... but I was convinced that, havibng seen the armor cerack smaller missiles in no time at all, and with the knowledge that these ones were smaller then what they had been cracked up to be, I was convinced of the possibility.
I was convinced that Leo would win if Blair's prep went down the drain, but I was also convinced after Leo's intangibility was ruled out (that was a major survival possibility...), that the chances of him perishing through the prep was higher than otherwise.
So, with that all said, and with the knowledge that this IS Tony Stark behind the wheel... Blair Wind ftw
Well, this is the toughest decision thus far...but anyway, here is my vote.
Blair's Spot teleportation really is a tough one to beat. Having read lot of Spider-Man, I've seen what he can do...and that is an idiot Spot. Spot with the brains of Tony Stark? Sky is the limit. I was convinced that he can create Spots out of nothing (having seen it myself) and by combining the spots, he could make larger ones.
Leo was mistaken in that nuclear weapons are the size of small buildings, they are not. Smaller ones weigh less then hundred pounds, modern technology has truly made them smaller. Even the largest possible modernnukes weigh less then 20 tons, and BW, having the strength of Iron Man, would not have troubles carrying them with a fraction of his strength. His nuke plan convinced me, although Leo really did put out some good points. Tony Stark's intelligence combined with his armor hacking capablities, combined that he is the Secretary of Defense in my opinion would have been enough for him to get his hands on the nukes, even under the time constraint. He doesn't have to care about traveling, considering that he has those handy spots.
Now, however, here is the big strike. Leo wasn't allowed to use the intangibility/teleportation. Had he been allowed to do so, (and I do feel it is a bit unfair to ban it in the middle of battle), he could have simply avoided the blast from the nukes. IMO, his reaction time would have been enough to do so. However, as it stands now, rules are rules and Leo isn't allowed to do so. I wasn't convinced that he had the capablities to avoid the blast or other attack plans BW had.
I'm going to have to vote for Blair Wind. It was a really tough battle.
Judge's Vote
First of all, I'd like to say good job to both contestants. You guys did a good job.
Wow... this was the best tourney match (by quite a bit) so far. After every post, I was being swayed back and forth like a damn tree. It should be noted, however, that while both contestants did very well, I was a little shaky with the idea of Tony Stark hijacking 4 H-bombs from the US military for his own personal use. Regardless of the semantics behind the Secretary of Defense stealing nukes from the government (which is treason, btw... they wouldn't just hand them over), I wasn't convinced he'd be able to implement them in the manner he was hoping for ALONG with the rest of his plan. 10 minutes is just flat out not enough time for it.
Then of course, there was the whole spot dimension discrepancy. Whatever... I'll let that one go, considering it's not very integral to the match.
Leo's attack plan (while convoluted in some areas), was a nice way of attacking BW's character. A simple EMP, and Stark would be completely out of the equation. Even if the whole "nuke jacking" debacle took place (which I wasn't buying), Leo could still teleport out of the area before they went off. His character was surveying the field for the whole time, after all.
In the end, it came down to (for me) the believability factor. I wasn't convinced Blair's plan would work, while Leo had a solid and believable plan of attack.
Great job guys, however... my vote goes to Leo 👆
I want, first, to apologize for my absence, I realize you are waiting on my vote. I want to do my best to explain; you see, my sister JUST gave birth to her second child, and I've been doing my best to help her out these past few days, staying with her at her place. I honestly didn't PLAN to be 'irresponsible' when I offered to judge...but...
I mean...
Priorities. My new nephew is just a step above comic books.
I WILL however cast my vote momentarily.
Again, I apologize for the delay and...well...gimme a few, it'll be rectified.
Originally posted by Soljer
I want, first, to apologize for my absence, I realize you are waiting on my vote. I want to do my best to explain; you see, my sister JUST gave birth to her second child, and I've been doing my best to help her out these past few days, staying with her at her place. I honestly didn't PLAN to be 'irresponsible' when I offered to judge...but...I mean...
Priorities. My new nephew is just a step above comic books.
I WILL however cast my vote momentarily.
Again, I apologize for the delay and...well...gimme a few, it'll be rectified.
Alright, the tie breaker...
As Smurph pointed out, this match was quite exciting to read, and one could easily be swayed in either direction after any individual post. However, almost the entire thread was a back and forth of "I can nuke you!" "No you can't!"
Albeit, a little more well-put, and a little better supported, but you get the gist.
As the entire debate came down to "I can," "you can't" it's appropriate that the decision comes down to the very same thing. And it does - if Blair's prep goes as planned, Leo's gone in the first moment of the match. If Blair can't manage, Leo's attack will succeed and Blair won't likely recover.
With that said, it should be an easy guess with the following paragraph;
I honestly believe that Stark's analytical mind coupled with the Spot's mode of transportation COULD indeed get the required weapons within the required time - I admit it could seem a bit unlikely or unwieldy at first, but when looking at the Spot's showings as an idiot, we can only imagine what stark could accomplish behind the wheel. As far as reprogramming them goes, we've seen Stark accomplish far more difficult tasks, and fail at far simpler ones. It's just a question of which showings you believe are more accurate. Fortunately for Blair, I seem to believe Stark capable.
While I congratulate both contestants on a very well debated match, and wish both of them the best in any future matches, 'common sense' seems to be a bit beyond my grasp tonight; Blair.