Board 8 > Mercenaries Draft State of the League: I've got the power (rankings)!

(+) Yeah! (+)

lu bu only lost to squall because of terrain + multi flares or something like that iirc

hi from Europe friends
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Those are like 19th century guns anyway.

I take Nathan Drake to beat him clean on any decent sizes terrain for instance just with hia sniper rifles - let alone post upgrade with the RPG.
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You could be the best fighter in the world, and not get any respect versus a guy with a handgun in this tourney. - DeathChicken

Quote seemed appropriate

Straight from the Mercs 1 vaults, even!
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Unless youre Chris Redfield or BSAA Jill
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trdl23 posted...

I love Kamek projects.

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Bump, will finish those rankings before wartime's over.
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Bumping again, working on those rankings!
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Derailed by RULINGZ but still alive

(seriously fuck that mess I will post tomorrow because I WILL finish this)
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rulinz
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up
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Finishing those player-by-player writeups tonight. As a teaser, here's who's coming up next...

4a) Mewtwo

4b) Eaed
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greengravy294 posted...

Round 1: Dante (Devil May Cry 4 (and 3))

Why?: His basic ability is very potent. He has no drawbacks in high tier, unlike a couple other top notch mercs there (Archer/Vergil). Jackpot is a very cool ability, even though it's rather limited in use. Cheap to boot. Quite frankly I think Dante is worth the #1 pick for the respect he consistently demands. You either deal with him with abilities, or you risk him soloing.

Basically when I evaluated mercenary potential, I went first and foremost for prior respect. Dante, of course, is number 1. But with a base ability that actually can be really, really good if used correctly and a cheap KO on a select amount of mercs he's providing as much actual ability coverage as the downright absolute #2 merc in the game: Archer (with at least 5 guaranteed abilities). And for being Dante, well that's fucking damn good. Archer could, in my books, be considered the #1 -- and I greatly considered him at #2.

Round 2: Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)

Sorey again hit on my team's core principles. Strong battle worth is something that is undeniable. In a game with limited resources, overwhelming teams with greatly respected mercs is just something you can't always combat against the enemy team. However Sorey brings two separate and incredibly strong facets to him. First off, he can purify an Otherworldly mercenary every 5 weeks. Hello Archer, Bayonetta, or...oh, Dante. In terms of timing this is at least usable on two mercs. With this context, Sorey's value is incredible. He is KO protection on no cooldown. Now figure in the upgrade to block enemy possessions and other shit from hitting him, the seraphim, and any sub-lord contracts? Way, way too good.

How he went undrafted by everyone for so long in the other group doesn't make much sense to me. He doesn't have any active abilities, beyond an upgrade, but his peacetime effectively makes his ability 'upkeep' well, always active. In a game without resources, dealing with the Armatization trigger in general is just going to be incredibly difficult to overcome.

Round 3: Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI)

Quite possibly the strongest re-release during playoffs. I really kind of think it speaks for itself that she, on her team's win, can replace herself with a fully upgraded mercenary. Ever wanted a merc, but you couldn't justify how much they sucked at first? Well there's your situational answer! Beyond that, the rework adjusted her upkeep back to 4 (aka M3 levels) and removed her materia upgrade in lieu for 30 seconds longer Trance. This isn't even really touching on her trigger being able to intercept removals. Once upgraded, she can tank anything, even stuff that wouldn't work on her. I mean that is money in and of itself and it's incredibly cheap.

Her combat worth is pretty top notch in low and quite competitive in mid, and I think 4's are really good in this set up for paydowns in general. She just makes Sorey even more valuable frankly.

more please
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Ban Sorey
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GANON1025 posted...

Ban Sorey

Ban Zaris banning GANON1025 for besmirching Our Saviour The Shepherd
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Im waiting for my team to be #1 power ranked then i can analyze more of my team
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4a) Mewtwo

Mewtwo - Ms. Ellie and the Boys (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Ryu (SF), Eleonora Yumizuru, Little Mac
Mid: Kefka, Zack Fair, Armstrong, Luca Blight
High: The Nephalem, Id, Grigori, Yuri Hyuga
Supports: Suika Ibuki (Link: Ellie)
Recharges:
Notes: Nephalem is a man

On paper this team is one of the most smartly constructed ones in the league. I wasn't sold on going for Armstrong first, but somehow Mewtwo managed to amass a truly excellent roster afterward. It has at least five removals (Luca, Grigori, Ellie, Mac and Kefka copying any of the above), excellent mid and high tier, and solid ability users in low to boot.

So why is this team ranked so low? Primarily, it's because Mewtwo has a lot to prove here. In past iterations of mercs, he hasn't really lost because his teambuilding skills were crap, he's lost because he couldn't sway the voters with his arguments. This is less of an issue when you can overkill a match with abilities, but even matches that seem like total burials need a measure of charisma to bring 'em home. This is what Mewtwo needs to work on, more than anything else: improving his communication skills to sway matches and steal games he has no business winning. Can he do it? We'll see...

4b) Eaed

Eaed - Suplex Through Time, Bitch (0-0, 16GP)
Low: Crono, Sabin, Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar, Leon Kennedy
Mid: Cloud Strife, Big Boss, Aigis
High: KOS-MOS, Samus, Final Fantasy 4 Complete Collection, Master Chief
Supports: Rosalina (Link: Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar)
Recharges:
Notes:

The bad about this team: Big Boss is doing absolutely nothing on it. None of the tiers are automatic wins in battle worth by default, thus necessitating ability spam. FF4 Collection and Brock Lesnar are completely unproven mercs, who could kill it or flop hard.

The good: Leon Kennedy has one of the strongest nerfing abilities in the entire game, shutting down every single mercenary hit by it. Sabin and Brock Lesnar's suplex combo can win entire matches, even in high tier, if properly buffed up. Chief is frightening when trying to Finish The Fight in high tier with so many bodies to wade through.

The lingering questions: Eaed is a newbie. Newbies traditionally don't do well in mercs, even if he has some help because he has a trustworthy mentor. Can he learn the unwritten rules of the game in time to get some wins and advance to the playoffs? Does he understand how to put matches out of a veteran's reach? Is his respect for each of his mercs appropriate calibrated, or will he lose matches by trusting them to do more than the voters think they can?
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3a) DeathChicken

DeathChicken - General Bub's Spiritual Hit Squad (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Crono, Juliet Starling, Geese Howard
Mid: Alice Liddell, Sora, Dracula, Aigis
High: Dante, Arthas, Kuja, Kain
Supports: Ruby Heart (Link: Dante)
Recharges:
Notes:

Look at that high tier! Look at that mid tier! Look at all the ability bullshit like Geese! Could this team even BE more frightening?

...Well, a little bit. I feel like Crono is a mismatch for this team, and maybe Aigis too. They sort of don't jive with the themes of this team, and a couple more KOs would reinforce it nicely. That's about it though. DC is a very wiley player with lots of tricks up his sleeve. I'm very confident he can make a deep run, maybe even take home the group 1 championship. There was a misstep day 1, but that's not indicative of the future I don't think. I fully expect to see him among the autoqualified top 4 teams in the playoffs.

3b) Tom

Tom Bombadil - Get N or Get Out (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Tails, Celes Chere, Little Mac, Geese Howard
Mid: Mega Man, Neptune, Death, Pit
High: Fox McCloud, Zero, X-Death
Supports: Old Man (Link: Geese)
Recharges:
Notes: MM Has Sacrificial Pact

What?! Everybody's favorite jobber this high?! As it turns out, yes. Tom's team looks kinda iffy at first glance (and Death IS pretty iffy, tbf), but when you look at it a little more closely, it's very frightening. It's gonna have abilities to throw around with Mega Man, a terrifying high tier squad with the Great Sacred Treasure, Geese to bail him out of sticky situations (with X-Death as a bonus boss on it, no less), and the ability to persuade voters to take his side. Tom's arguments don't impress me sometimes, but it's hard to deny they get respect. It's up to him to prove he really is all that and a bag of chips, but I think he can do it. Watch out, world! Tombolo is moving up to main event category!
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2a) Eddv

Eddv - Mobile Suit Knuckles (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Knuckles, Earthworm Jim
Mid: D.Va, Shanoa, Mega Man, Sorey, Zeratul
High: Raziel, Elma, Fox, The Wonderful 100
Supports: Dr. Light (Link: Jim)
Recharges: Sorey (Lailah, 5 weeks)
Notes: Mega Man has Turok's Energy Totem ability, Sorey has his Four Seraphim, Zeratul is Sorey's Sub Lord

The bad news for this team is that it needs some time to ramp up. Without all the required upgrades, it has weak spots and vulnerabilities.

The GOOD news for this team is that once it's ramped up, it's damn near unstoppable. Three Arwings or Ares 90s in mid or high, plus Raziel, plus the other one of Elma and Fox, plus Super Sorey with all the powers of the Wonderful 100. Multiple abilities from Mega Man. Reduced recharges thanks to Jim. The list goes on and on. Eddv's team looks vulnerable, but in actuality it's anything but. He shouldn't be underestimated - he's my pick to surprise everyone in Group 1 and make a deep run unexpectedly.

2b) Gravy

Gravy - Bossman Coolguy's Kingpins (0-0, 12GP)
Low: Eleonora Yumizuru, Agnès Oblige, Y'shtola
Mid: Sorey, Terra Branford, Kefka, Flynn, Mewtwo
High: Shulk, Yuri Hyuga, Dante
Supports: Dr. Light (Link: Mewtwo)
Recharges: Sorey (Lailah, 5 weeks)
Notes: Four Seraphim, Dante is Sorey's Sub Lord, Agnès is a Black Mage

There's two broken teams in Group 2. Ranking them is mostly academic and an exercise in drafting them out in ways even other leaders probably won't - suffice is to say I expect these teams to have 6-0 seasons going into their head to head matches and everybody else is fighting for scraps.

What makes Gravy's team strong? Well, for one he has tier control. One person is getting robbed across the season by this. For another, he has multiple KOs/possessions, and a way to renew his ability pool via Terra. He has plentiful ability defense, and he can replicate an ability in a pinch with Kefka. His battle worth is excellent, and he has no weak tiers. He also has sped up EXP growth, and battle experience the #1 contender in group 2 lacks. So what makes him weaker? Primarily, that I feel like Gravy sometimes overestimates his team. It's not very pronounced, but he's gotten blindsided before in the clutch and it has cost him. This season is an opportunity to exorcise the ghosts of the past and claim a title he feels he's owed. Will he succeed? Tune in during the next two months and a half to find out.
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Aigis has a purpose (that purpose being oh shit, if I get a chance to hype Labrys and what she does in Arena)
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1a) Luis

Luis - Hallelujah Essaim (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Sonic, Agnès Oblige
Mid: Haseo, Jaesa Willsaam, Neptune, Flynn, Selvaria Bles
High: Bayonetta, Vergil, Dizzy
Supports: Carmilla (Link: Haseo), Morrigan (Link: Selvaria)
Recharges:
Notes: Vergil is Selvaria's liege, Agnès is a Monk

I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about Mercenaries the game as a whole, moreso than the two teams I'm about to rank. You see, these teams represent two different approaches to the game that nonetheless touch on the same basic core. Essentially, Mercs is divided into four sides, more or less: Economy/Logistics, Politics/Strategy, Abilities/Tactics, and Charisma/Battle Worth. Because there's no econ and no long season, draft mercs throws out Logistics and Strategy, favoring Tactics and Charisma. There's generally two ways to get ahead in the game at the micro level (as opposed to the macro level of playing your enemies against each other, finding true friends because this is really not a competitive solo game so much as a cooperative factional one, and steadily increasing your economic power by any means necessary): you either come up with amazing, breathtaking arguments that take a debatable match and make it seemingly one-sided and field mercenaries who are so respected and well-known they basically get voters to argue for you, or you use abilities that make a debatable or bad match a stomp in your favor. Having tried both these approaches in my tenure as a leader in Mercenaries 4, I firmly believe ability spam is the way to go - voters can be biased against you, like the opponent's mercs more, or simply be doing rigged voting (particularly late in the game), but abilities don't lie and nobody can ignore them without getting DQ'd. It's simpler, safer, and easier on your sanity to rely on them. Luis chose abilities that affected the battle once it's hit the topic - he has very strong mercs, then he buffs them up to the eyebrows, then he wins 50-0 because any one of his mercs could solo the enemy team that seems pathetically weak by comparison. What's amazing about this team isn't the strategy, because it's simple, but the marvelous craftsmanship of it all. None of the pieces are incidental or useless, everything interlocks together in a charming way. Mercenaries is a game that allows for amazing amounts of self-expression in teambuilding, and when self-expression reaches a certain level of quality, it becomes art. This team is art, and I feel like there's no way it doesn't make top 4 regardless of final results.

1b) Boko

Boko - Boko Reunited (0-0, 20GP)
Low: Nilin, Tira, Morrigan, Kyo Kusanagi
Mid: Alucard, Ansem, Luca Blight
High: Lightning, Dark Samus, Grigori
Supports: Monokuma (Link: Lightning)
Recharges: Lightning (Faithful Servant, 3 weeks), Nilin (Memory Remix, 3 weeks)
Notes: Lightning has saved Serra's soul, Lightning is beary deceptive

Boko's team, by contrast, takes a different tack. It doesn't win by throwing in mercs that basically can't lose a battle. It simply doesn't let you play. If Luis' team builds up unstoppable forces that you can't vote against without being DQ'd, Boko's team tears enemy teams down, crushing them underneath the weight of an infinite barrage of removals. It's not at all dissimilar to the strategy I rode all the way to the championship, and I feel it's much safer - you can argue a team with 500% parameter buffs can't SOLO you five times over, but you can't argue your lone surviving 3/week after an offensive maelstrom beats the five 6s or 7s Boko will have after his ability phase is over. This, in the end, is why he's #1 and not Gravy - filthier, more unanswerable combos.
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And that's the pre-game power rankings! Next up, a simpler list: Underrated mercs you guys forgot to pick! Hopefully someone will read this and keep it in mind for the redraft. I'll pick ten mercs I think are criminally undervalued, and explain why it's a mistake that they aren't part of both groups' drafts.
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Bump
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Bump while I work on that top 10. Not forgotten about it!
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moar
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Bump, starting on these tonight after dinner
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ScareChan posted...

moar

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Thanks scare

I've been very sick and unable to post much :(

will try and get something done soon
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...
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Thanks so much for the bumps guys

I finally feel healthy again, so tomorrow, rain or shine, you're gonna get some writeups!
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hm
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Barmp
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bump
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OK finally got time

List starting now...
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Top 10 Undrafted Mercs, Or Why Your Draftpicking Sucks

Finding diamonds hiding in the mud is what the art of draftpicking comes down to - sometimes, this is really not easy and you end up grabbing scraps instead of feasting on some excellent picks. And sometimes, people just miss really really obvious wins and I just gotta wonder what happened. This list is dedicated to some such wins.


10) Harth Stonebrew

Quick question, is The Plan good? If yes, why is a version of The Plan that lets you stock uses when you don't need them something people refused to draft? Answer: because they suck. I'm still baffled nobody grabbed Harth. He's one of the few mercs I considered banning outright. There is nothing fair or balanced about this dude and the best part is the cheese is pretty freestanding - no combos needed to make it broken. You guys should really get on grabbing him IMO.

9) Raiden (MGR)

The SOLOS prowess of a 7/week on a 6/week with no nerf passive...went completely ungrabbed in both drafts. Meanwhile, somebody drafted The Agents (whom I really respect and all, but they don't sell themselves nearly as easily as Raiden does). I really don't get how people pick mercs sometimes. Ripper Mode is even a really nice selfbuff to really hammer home that soloing ability too! Who cares if the EXP costs are high? You're buying Raiden for being a 7 that has a halved paydown cost, not to abilityspam matches into wins for you.

8) Fetch

It's a 5...that pays herself down for free...that takes up one slot...that ALSO works as antipaydown on a two week cooldown...and somehow nobody grabs her. It's not even a case of 'shit battleworth' either because Fetch is pretty strong, too. Just a total brainfart on the part of every leader.

7) Squall Leonhart

Excellent 4/week battle worth, check. Aggressive ability defense on a low cooldown, check. A cheap KO, check. Great synergy with mages via Triple to make them bullshit strong, check. Yeah, I don't know why nobody grabbed Squall. Just an excellent standalone pick to round out a team with.
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That's all for today. Another three or four tomorrow!
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We continue with our set of picks everyone should've fought for, but didn't. Let's go!

6) Phoenix Wright

Forced rosterings are good. Forced rosterings are REALLY GOOD. They give you targets to ability screw and make matches far more predictable and simple. The fact Phoenix can also basically wipe out an enemy's roster entirely if they flub the mindgame is just massive icing on the cake. Pay attention to PSes, everybody!

5) Wario

Antipaydown is good. Antipaydown is REALLY GOOD Y'ALL. Wario gives you a deny on a powerful enemy merc every other week. What's not to love about that? The fact he ALSO lets you prep upkeep-based combos (like doubling the amount of people Dizzy kidnaps, for example) is what makes him a must-buy, though. Sooooo many bullshit combos to be done with that.

4) Sylvanas Windrunner

Speaking of combos, peep this girl out. First off, she offers you what is effectively a mission-kill through her Start of Battle (here's a command you can argue every time you use it: 'the merc walks forward into my team and gets smashed'. Congrats, Sylvanas just made sure one merc gets deleted!). On top of that, she gives you awesome self-KO synergy by possessing an enemy merc outta the fight. Put these things together and this is a sick merc who will pretty much always get the job done. Draft her!
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That's all for tonight. Last three top 10 undrafted picks tomorrow!
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SURPRISE! Bonus merc because I realized I didn't add her to the list when narrowing down to 10 entries and she's totally worthy.

Honorary Mention: Nisha

Ryu's Martial Law was kind of good, last I checked. So logically, it follows that a version of Martial Law you can do rostering feints with is amazing. And that's exactly what Nisha offers you - pay 10 EXP and you get Martial Law, plus a duel she's basically guaranteed to win if you target the right opponents (like say, a mage) because she has shields and super pistols and they don't. Add top of the line low tier battle worth (pretty much a solid 4/week in power IMO - just pick Fan The Hammer and always bring the Maggie) and you're set. One For Each Of Ya also lets you abuse any OP weapons your team might have, too. What's not to like?
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these are all

great mercs
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Problem with Nisha is nobody knows who she is and nobody respects people they don't know deeper than surface value
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I legitimately do not know who Nisha is.
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yeah my first reaction was "there's a merc named nisha?"

then I remembered her, but only because kan was talking to me about her previously
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Man, she's even in a GameFAQs GotY and everything.
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Luis_Sera89 posted...

Man, she's even in a GameFAQs GotY and everything.

She is very briefly in the game, as a one shot miniboss

She is prominently (in all the ways the Merc would get credit for) in the subpar spinoff nobody played

I'm the only one that guessed her back when we were playing the letters game, and even then I only remembered her as "the sheriff girlfriend of Handsome Jack" and had to look up her name
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she was towards the bottom of my low tier merc shortlist in M4, she's a good fit for a team with no other guns in low since her base ability is solid
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Sylvanas is a solid merc for sure
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in everything except battle

where she gets bodied by everything
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Yeah but shes great at being ko'd
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Too bad mewtwo has no problems with dead elves =(((
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This is true.

Anyone with a merc that needs to KO an ally should really keep her in mind for the possession.

Her mind control ability is great too. I never really got to show off its potential, but at the very least you can argue that they chuck off all armor and equipment. Or walk into an environmental hazard. Or step into the line of fire of their own team. Or basically take the worst possible course of action.
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