User blog comment:Crimson and Darkness/Volume 25 discussion blog/@comment-82.160.23.173-20180626202008/@comment-28884330-20180704222240

@Kai Tyson "Baraqiel team was winning the match until Issei used infinity blaster which not only gave them the lead but also retired a couple members from Baraqiel's team." I never disagreed with this, but the only reason this Infinity Blaster could be readily used was because of Baraqiel's dumbass decision to leave Issei unattended even while predicting he would use Castling. Baraqiel was actually an idiot in that Rating Game. You're act as if that Infinity Blaster was just a mindless display of power. It only gave the immense lead you mentioned because of the strategy behind its use. Once again, strategy and power are not mutually exclusive.

"It was a good tactic on Ravel's part but the point is it emphasizes on overwhelming their opponents." Since when was overwhelming the opponent contrary to strategy? I honestly don't know what you meant by this.

"You bring up a good point about Rudiger but really is his team in general any weaker than Tannin's?" If it wasn't that much weaker than Tannin's then Rudiger's tactical genius wouldn't be so specifically emphasized and renowned.

"If both team are nearly equal than good tactics are vital" This is pretty much my entire initial statement. Seeing as you agree with it, it's weird we still discuss..

"but if one team is much stronger than that power makes tactics useless." The key point is here. Among the teams that have reached the finals there's no such enormous difference as to make strategy negligible, be it by raw power or abilities that allow one to close the gap. Besides, there's certain rulesets that affect everyone equally even with power difference. For example, what would Balberith or Verrine do if they got trapped the way Issei was in Object Break? Unless they're Rooks, there's no way they are getting out of that even with their immense power, and that could very well cost Zeno the match against teams that are god-class all around.

"Sona didn't make the top 16 because her team is practically fodder compared to them." We didn't disagree on this, so I don't understand why you made an entire explanation on why Sona lost. However, Vali did use strategy in his game with Rias. Indirectly, but he did. Gogmagog was seemingly taken out early in order to scout for Valerie, the lifeline of Rias' team and put her down. They also used Fenrir's power-up for the element of surprise. Both of these are strategic moves.

Whether they got bulldozed or not is irrelevant to this argument, because there's nothing to imply Mahabali is a strategic thinker and no one is disagreeing that in a pure mindless clash of power the higher amount wins. I never contradicted such a thing. Even so, there is a single strategic element confirmed in this game and it is the element of surprise in Zeno's team, which was on a losing streak, suddenly pulling broken characters for the game against one of the favorites. This was shown by everyone being surprised at the result. Meanwhile, there's nothing to go by that implies Mahabali did anything other than clash head on with Balberith and Verrine, and with that, it is obvious he would lose. Not really a point in your favor in this argument or a point that has anything to say in a discussion on the importance of strategy.