User blog comment:B214/Volume 23 discussion blog/@comment-25852719-20170905154547/@comment-31137559-20170905180949

Dulio and Brave Saints =/= Noob team. The teams were basically even in power. On one hand, you have the Red Dragon Emperor and his team, most of whom are combat veterans who have fought Khaos Brigade and Qlippoth. And Ravel, Bova, Ouryuu, and Elmenheide are pretty strong despite lacking the combat experience the others have. And then there's Grayfia.

And then we have Dulio Gesualdo, who was known as the Strongest Exorcist when he was a human fighting for the Church. And he's the strongest Brave Saint and is under consideration to become a Seraph. And he possesses the second strongest Longinus, Zenith Tempest. He is a very experienced combat veteran. And then those on his team are the Brave Saints of the Seraphs. These were the exorcists chosen not by just any angels but the Seraphs themselves. When the leaders of Heaven pick someone, it should probably tell you that these former exorcists are nothing to play around with. And they were also members of DxD and fought against Qlippoth gaining valuable combat experience. And plus Dulio and his team had Rudiger Rosenkreutz, the 7th ranker of the Rating Games and an Ultimate-class devil, as their coach and he's feared for his tactics and strategies by even Diehauser Belial himself and Diehauser has never even lost a game.

So it's a shame if you try to compare those noob teams Issei had been facing at the beginning to Dulio and his team. Even Baraqiel's team. Because Baraqiel and Armaros were basically the only threats and Xenovia and Irina basically swept through most of Baraqiel's team with ease. Losing doesn't cause you to get bad reviews. If that was so, why was Issei getting bad reviews even when he won those first three matches? Why did Sona get such good reviews despite her losing in Volume 5? It's about the performance. Issei and his team are far stronger than those noob teams they were facing. But those noob teams managed to expose openings in Issei's team. That made Issei look bad because there should be no way a noob team should be able to do that against the Red Dragon Emperor and his team. Issei won sloppily in a match that was supposed to be entirely in his favor. Even in Baraqiel's match, it was clear that Issei was stronger than Baraqiel and Baraqiel and Armaros were the only ones strong enough to fight against Issei and his team. And yet he fell for a trap against an inferior team. Although he won in the end. Now they see him as a terrifyingly straightforward team with tons of power. Now Dulio and his team are basically even with Issei and his team. And Issei only lost by two points. Everyone's going to lose at some point. It was a good match. Not saying there aren't going to be those that talk about Issei and his team. But please pay attention to who Issei and his team were fighting against.