User blog comment:B214/Shin DxD 1 discussion/@comment-31137559-20180728051748/@comment-28884330-20180729085142

"Again those points you use for Issei winning could easily be used for Rias winning." In what way? Does Rias have two Heavenly Dragon-class combatants? Will Rias become a Maou candidate by reaching the Top 4? Does Rias have the strongest team in terms of specs? No, she doesn't possess any of these, so the arguments used for Issei's victory cannot be used for Rias'.

"And what are you basing this claim that Issei's team is more powerful than Rias'? I could easily say that Rias' team is way more powerful than Issei's because of her team's specs." Well, if you said that then you would be straight-up incorrect. Rias could win even though her chances are lower, but her team's specs are still lower than those of Issei's team. Issei's team outclasses Rias' in brute force due to having two Heavenly Dragon-class fighters, including one who is greatly suited to fighting Rias' only Heavenly Dragon-class (Issei has two Dragon Slayers to deal with Crom Cruach) and another who has powerful abilities on top of his raw power, and he also has a superior strategist and a superior healer, not to count a Knight who is invulnerable to damage.

"If you look at BOTH sides' specs you would realize they're equal." One thing is to say that Rias could win the Rating Game, which has nothing wrong with it. But saying they are equal is straight up incorrect. Rias' "three" Longinus possessors only have two who are combat-able, and they are at around the Ultimate-Class Devil mark, which most of Issei's team members vastly surpass or match, while the third one hasn't used any particularly strong ability up to now and is completely defenseless on her own.

"Not everything works in a direct-power sense." And no one has said that Issei only wins due to raw power. The thing is that Issei's team surpasses Rias' both in power AND in strategy due to Ravel, not to count also in utility due to Asia and Roygun.

"If you have read the light novels, you should know how powerful almost every member of her team is." No one is saying they aren't powerful, but if you have reads the novels then you would also known how strong Issei's team members are, and how they are both stronger in number and specs than Rias' overall. It's not that they are not strong, but it's just that Issei's team is even stronger.

"Have you considered that Ddraig could be prevented from being summoned? Have you thought that the abilities of Avalon could be cancelled? Have you thought of anything besides Issei and Ddraig being Heavenly Dragon-level? Because there is way more to a Rating Gsme match than the sheer power of two people. Else Typhon would have won the match in Volume 25 even with Ddraig being summoned." Listing a bunch of what-ifs is not an argument for your side, because anyone can make an infinite number of what-ifs to support any position. Justify your position instead of using baseless hypothesis.

How would Ddraig be prevented from summoning by anything on Rias' team? How would the abilities of Excalibur's Scabbard (it's not called "Avalon") be cancelled by anything of Rias' team? What member of Rias' team aside from Crom is Heavenly Dragon-class? If you can't answer those questions with established facts then using that plethora of what-ifs only makes your position weak and poorly defended. Also you keep using the same pseudo-argument about sheer power, as if Issei's team only surpassed Rias' in sheer power or that anyone was saying so. As mentioned before, Issei's team has Ravel who is a better strategist than Rias, and he also has Asia, a better healer than Valerie and can also nullify damage and even summon a Dragon King, not to count a Knight who is straight up indestructible through conventional methods.

Typhon's team was defeated because of their own negligence, lack of strategical strength and also due to the power gap being mostly closed by Ddraig's summon, alongside the surprise factor. Issei's team is not negligent and overconfident and they have superior strategic strength to Rias', so the issue of Typhon's defeat cannot be applied here.

Once again, and for the finish, it's not that Rias' team cannot win, because unknown variables can affect the result of the game. But it just so happens that as it currently is, her team is outclassed by Issei's, not just in power, but also in strategy and at the very least matched in utility.