User blog comment:Crimson and Darkness/Volume 24 discussion blog/@comment-39.43.197.190-20171021030507/@comment-31137559-20171023040042

Issei needed to lose a match and who better to lose against than Dulio and the Brave Saints, who were the strongest exorcists in the Church before being reincarnated as angels and were chosen by the leaders of Heaven themselves. Dulio's and Issei's teams were pretty evenly matched. With the members on their team being experienced combat veterans(well except for Bova, Elmenhilde, and Ouryuu) who had fought against Qlippoth. So Dulio's team was the best team that Issei could have lost against.

With Cao Cao's win over Sairaorg it was a good match. And note that Cao Cao is a master tactician and strategist who intensively researches his opponents. And plus with his True Longinus is easily a match for anyone even Sairaorg. Even though Sairaorg did deal immense damage to Cao Cao, it was too late and the match had ended.

Those were different kinds of Rating Games. Where it didn't just come down to defeating the enemy king. So Issei's and Dulio's teams were evenly matched and Dulio had the slight edge due to Rudiger Rosenkreutz being his advisor. But still they were good matches.

To be honest, it just seems to me that Ishibumi is setting Rias up to lose. She did get powerful team members but is that really enough to win? The Longinus possessors like Issei, Vali, Sairaorg, Tobio, Dulio, and Cao Cao are most likely stronger than Vasco Strada even with his younger body. Lint and Valerie have Longinus but their experience is nowhere near most of their fellow contenders. Crom Cruach is a huge threat but still he's only one god-class being. And plus I don't see Vali losing against Rias. Ishibumi knew how people would react to Rias' new team members and I believe that he is just setting her up to lose.

Who knows? Issei might summon Rias for a new power-up because Thanatos is too strong for him with his nerfed DxD. And Rias loses because she suddenly just disappeared from the game and Vali wins that way while in the middle of his battle with Crom Cruach.