r/whowouldwin • u/mrcelophane • May 06 '15
Character Scramble! Character Scramble III Championship!
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Hello all and welcome to the championship for the third installment of the Who Would Win Character Scramble! Many of you have probably seen these posts popping up on the subreddit with some regularity and have been wondering what they are.
The Character Scramble is a game that started on this sub a little over half a year ago. The basic premise is that each participant is given a team of random (or "scrambled") characters that were submitted by other participants. Each week, the participants write a Bloodmatch letting us know how their team would beat their opponent's team (determined by best-of-1 brackets) based on special rules. If you would like to participate in next season, please sign up for the email list above to be notified of the sign up topic and more. If you want more information regarding the character Scramble. you can read every post ever made for the scramble by clicking on the hub post link at the top of this post, and feel free to ask any questions you may have in this thread.
Each season follows a different theme which determines the limitations and overall power level of each of the characters allowed. The theme is determined by the champion of the previous season. This season's theme was created by /u/dat_bass1 and was called "The Scramble Ball Run" and involves a race across America for vast sums of money.
Our Heroes (and villains) have traveled from the West Coast and dealt with everything from generic thieves, crossing piranha infested rivers, and taking down super powered foes that required the cooperation of both teams...and that is not even taking into account the fact that a different scramble team was fighting them every week.
Below, I will post the prompt that our two finalists, /u/7thsonofsons and /u/House_of_Usher, were working off of.
When you are ready to vote, USE THIS FORM. It will remain open through the weekend. This post will likely stay stickied till only Friday, so please save/bookmark it if you want to vote but need the weekend to read through these excellent responses.
The finalists have spent a lot of time on these, so please read both posts fully before voting.They may take a little while to go up so please be patient.
The Prompt
FINAL ROUND: MANHATTAN RHAPSODY
It's been a long time coming. A couple of months ago, you signed up for a race across America with an enticing cash prize, dreaming of fame and fortune, and it's been pretty much non-stop action since then. You've finished six stages--each of which presented its own unique set of environmental hazards--covered more than 2000 miles total, and fought what feels like dozens of other contenders along the way. Now, you're finally here, at the beginning of the seventh stage--『The Final Push』--and there are only three other contenders left, besides you and your associates.
Time to settle this the only way it ever could be settled. With an all-out sprint to the finish.
RULES
Fight for the Finish: This is a straight-up race from Brighton Beach to Trinity Church (as always, give it up for MS paint), with a checkpoint at Brooklyn Bridge (you don't have stop, but you do have to cross it). As soon as the starter's pistol is fired, it's on, and the victory condition is having one of your teammates there first.
Weapons Free: The race organizers (that is, those of them who still remain) have pretty much given up and accepted that this whole event has been and will continue to be looked on as a barbaric outrage by critics the world over. You're free to duke it out as you race (in fact, considering that this is a tournament on /r/whowouldwin, you're expected to!).
Mind the Crowd: The sides of the route will, most likely, be packed with adoring fans. It'd be a good idea to be careful of them.
This is for all the marbles: Not only will the winner take home a cool hundred billion dollar cash prize, but, thanks to a bet made between the two competing teams, all the magic idols left in play.
What now?: How will your team split up the prize once one of them wins? How will they use the single wish that assembling all the idols in one place grants? IT'S UP TO YOU, THE AUTHOR, TO DECIDE!
13
u/mrcelophane May 06 '15
My Team: The Brains, The Brawn, and The Bending
The Brains: Amadeus Cho (Marvel-616). Seventh smartest person on Earth-616 and a living hypercomputer. He can calculate literally every possible mathematically quantifiable probability instantaneously, and if it involves numbers on any level whatsoever, it’s up Cho’s alley. Respect Thread. Cho gets to keep his adamantium mace, perfect for redirecting energy blasts and whacking people over the head, along his prodigious intellect, useful for calculating how to redirect said energy blasts and whack said heads. He is the team leader and the undisputed brains of the outfit.
The Brawn: Kanji Tatsumi (Persona). Black belt in Furniture-Fu, Master of Chair-to-Chair combat, and Maestro of Blunt Instruments. Peak human strength and durability, and can send foes flying across the room with just one swing of his preferred weapon, the folding chair. Can also summon his Persona, Take-Mikazuchi, a giant-lighting-halberd-wielding-terminator-goliath with various electrical attacks. Can produce an electric field capable of stunning opponents at close range.
The Bending: Bolin (Avatar: LoK). Earthbender, Lavabender, and has loads of combat experience from his time fighting evil with Avatar Korra. Good battlefield control, great offensive and defensive capabilities, and a nice way of balancing out the team. He has a horse for this competition (not for this round), but can move faster by earthbending the ground beneath him if necessary.
/u/7thSonOfSons’ Team: Team /u/7thSonOfSons
Jack Raiden, Unfortunate Cyber Swordsman (First Body): Half Man, Half Machine, all awesome, limited to his first robot-body. Holds back submarines, fights Rays, dodges knives and isn't afraid of anything. Had sort of a terrible life, but now he's here to kick ass and swing swords.
Jin, The Studious Killjoy Samurai: A ronin from the Samurai Champloo series. Highly skilled Kenjutsu fighter, incredibly intelligent, and more than capable of reading an opponent to get a feel for their fighting style, while being one of the most technically skilled fighters in his series. Cuts through mooks like Arkham Origins Batman. Sword swings and sudden movements are almost FTE.
The Xenomorph, The Arsonphobic Slaughter Engine: Ironically, the Apex Predator. Surprisingly intelligent, fast, stealthy, tough, powerful, and above all: vicious. The Xenomorph is an incredibly adept hunter-killer who makes killing humans as easy as one, two, bleed. AND THIS ONE UNDERSTANDS ENGLISH! Lovingly nicknamed “Rex” by his teammates.
Analysis:
After stormy brawls in the American Midwest, non-combat hijinks along the Mississippi River, an Ocean’s Eleven-esque heist, and a confrontation with Celo Phane himself, it seems fitting the last round should be a simple mad dash (or “scramble” if you will) to the finish line. Of course, nothing is ever so simple on WhoWouldWin. Analysis will be divided into:
Advantages in general
Disadvantages in general
Analyze possible match-ups within the context of the scenario
Strategy Discussion
Final Note following the story
The Good:
Fire. Or more specifically, lava. Bolin’s ability to bend molten earth is a silver bullet against one of the more troublesome competitors this round, the Xenomorph. The Xenomorph’s aversion to fire should logically also apply to lava, which is many times hotter and many, many times more deadly.
Brains. From the beginning, I have been claiming this advantage. Cho is smarter than anyone on my opponent’s team, and while my opponent’s team does contain decent strategists (Jin, and to a lesser extent maybe Raiden), Cho’s planning gives my team a major edge in predicting and countering the other team’s plan and tactics. Unfortunately for me, due to lack of technology in the 1890’s Cho will not be able to just hack Raiden, but that would have been unfair anyway.
Terrain. Bolin is especially helpful given that the path is narrow and easily blocked off. Bolin has the ability to slow down the opposition just by creating a wall of rock or moat of lava, and his earthbending is especially useful for moving quickly over linear distances in short bursts by launching himself and teammates forward.
Versatility. Although Jin, Raiden, and the Xenomorph all have various quirks and tactics, at the end of the day their main battle strategy to to get in close and kill. While this is an effective tactic and certainly one my team needs to watch out for, my team has a more versatile skillset: Bolin has movement, battlefield control, and range attacks, Cho offers planning and almost-precog math powers, and Kanji offers his Persona as another fighter, a personal electric field to stun close combat types, and more range with lightning bolts. Finally, nowhere is it stated the teams will have knowledge of the other’s skills, giving the team with more tricks (mine) an advantage in having more aces up the metaphysical sleeve.
Range. Touched upon above, but it deserves special mention. Bolin’s earthbending and lavabending are both effective at a distance, and Cho can channel Kanji’s lightning bolts through his mace, giving my team far more ranged capability (Xenomorph projectile spit excluded).
The Bad:
Power. In general, my team is outclassed in one on one combat with my opponents, especially against Raiden. Slowing, avoiding, and outpacing the opponent’s team is the number one priority, otherwise my team kicks the bucket quickly.
Speed consistency. Bolin can hurl my team forward using earthbending, but this tactic is not continuously usable. Raiden, Jin, and the Xenomorph can run faster and longer than anyone on my team without any interference.
Killing Intent. Simply put, my team is very much averse to killing. However, Raiden, Jin, and, the Xenomorph are all killers, albeit sometimes reluctantly. Going for lethal blows would not be out of character for the opponent’s team, while my team is limited to non-lethal tactics. Exception: I think Cho, Bolin, and Kanji would likely be okay with killing the Xenomorph, due to its inhumanity and questionable sentience.
Electricity. Or rather, electrical resistance. Just like Bolin’s lava is my team’s silver bullet against the Xenomorph, Raiden’s resistance to electricity renders Kanji and Kanji’s Persona’s attacks almost useless against him.
Fangirls. More of a problem for both sides, really. Bolin is going to be swamped, Cho may get a few, Jin is going to get about twice as many as Cho, and Raiden will get more than even Bolin. Kanji and the Xenomorph might have 1 or 2 admirers in the crowd given their personalities and looks; so this is probably not an issue for them. Fangirls are dangerous, and must be avoided at all costs.