LogFAQs > #977236062

Team Sylvando's argument:

Ahh, can you smell that? Love is in the air! Or possibly victory. Regardless of which it might be, it's certainly something sweet - as sweet as Team Sylvando's plan to seize victory from its opponents.

So, first things first. Costa Valor is fairly open and easy to navigate, with the town of Puerto Valor situated to provide a perfect staging ground for the team. From its battlements, opponents can be seen coming from a mile away. This suits Team Sylvando just fine, because...they don't have to do anything! Merely get into position, scout out the opposition, and wait for them to get close enough to get pummelled. This is important, because it means that the first strike will set some brutal terms to the engagement. What does that first strike look like? Let's take a look.

There's only one real logical way into Puerto Valor, and that's through a bridge. You can see the terrain here:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/faqs/16/76716-146.jpg

This creates a perfect killzone for Heavy to shoot puny baby men from. It also means Sylvando and Marina only have to worry about a few obvious angles of attack, too. Heavy is equipped with the Tomislav, a minigun that boasts tremendous accuracy, perfect for sniping the opposition down from a comfortable long distance. Coupled with Sylvando's own debuffs and his haste and attack buffs, this will make the approach an absolute nightmare for Red's pokemon and Lara. Scorpion can bypass the killzone by teleporting in, and certainly that might let him deal with Heavy...if it wasn't for the team's secret ace. Ladies and gentlemen...meet Marina.

https://youtu.be/Ak09CUJWXl0?t=66
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdmsBcc1lo

Why yes, that IS a cute robot girl flinging around a megazord like so much garbage and flinging someone over the horizon (ignore the bit about not grabbing the lasers and rockets - she CAN do that, the first vid is a challenge run for style points. See the second for Marina catching a huge-ass laser beam and rockets like it's no big deal and flinging them back!). Marina is, by far, the most brawny mercenary in this match. If Scorp doesn't allocate his full focus to her, she will piledrive him straight through the ground, and no mistake. Teleporting in to disrupt Heavy might seem like a good idea...but it just means getting into Marina's strike zone. This underscores how easy the job of running defense is for Team Sylvando. The enemy team has to find answers to assaulting a chokepoint and fortified position while getting blasted with Heavy's unerring marksmanship (it's true! See the TF2 comics for more details), and it's not a fun or easy time. I'm looking over this myself and I'm not sure how they possibly win, frankly! They're quality fighters, but the intangibles...the intangibles are simply not there, my friends.

"But wait, Kan!", I hear you say. "Aren't you forgetting someone?". As a matter of fact, not exactly -- I was simply saving the best for last.

Sylvando is an expert showman. In his own game, he can play off anyone and anything, and function well in any teamcomp, and the same is true here. His mix of buffs speaks for itself, but did you know Sylvando also possesses a massive array of debuffs? Confusion, paralysis, sleep, charm, even fairly damaging poison...he can do it all, and best of all, he doesn't sacrifice offensive potency to do so, as they're addons to the baseline damage of his attacks. Couple that with his ability to drop persistent regenerative heals and also do burst healing, and he can fill any role his team requires of him, from up close OR from a distance. Thus, he makes for an ideal defender for Heavy as the enemy team tries to get close -- he can use his wind spells to throw them back, nerf them until they don't even know what they're aiming for, and, if anyone gets close enough, smack them silly with his whip and blade. This frees up Marina, once Scorpion has been dealt with or forced to retreat, to rush Lara and Red and dispose of them easily. His versatility allows his team to respond to any threat, and that is the key to victory here. Too many questions posed at Team Red...which they have no answers for.