Battle for the Strongest Tier 10 on The Entirety Of Both Wikis

[Moritzva]

Speed Unequal.

Spike (Spike's Superstar Games) vs Akaji Shigeru

The Arena

Akaji is challenged by Spike to compete in the next Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour, sponsored by Spike's Superstar Games.

Akaji has 6 months to prepare a deck and learn how to play the game. He is also given a reasonable sum of money to make a deck. Spike has 6 months to choose a deck and prepare.

The format is Moder and neither know of each others decks. If either is caught cheating, they are disqualified and automatically lose.

They both know that the other is the greatest foe they have ever faced.

Who wins and why?

 

[Promestein]

Spike has a big advantage in that he has much more experience and knowledge of the game; even if Akagi can pick up and play MTG on an expert level, that's just talent, not knowledge. Spike knows basically every card and I'm sure he has extensive knowledge on a whole bunch of powerful combos - even if Akagi has the time to catch up a bit, he won't be Spike's equal in that regard.

It would be in-character for Akagi to go for something high-risk, high-reward, but it's impossible to guarantee anything - the guy is super unpredictable, and I'd think he's unlikely to just go for obvious number one decks. His plays are often seemingly illogical and look bad, only to reap huge rewards through psychological impact and clever play on his part. Of course, just as often, he goes for the simple decisions and easy wins, and versatile options.

He's been the superior of every opponent in Akagi when it comes to brains, and what he's struggled against most are Washizu's insane luck and Ichikawa's boring, but extremely competent, game-freezing play, based on simple fundamentals taken to the highest level. He completely psychologically outmaneuvered and destroyed both, though, which is really his greatest strength here - mindgames.

Akagi is insanely good at reading people and he's just as good at preventing himself from being read. A lot of his plays are meant to confuse opponents and prevent them from getting a handle on his personality or playstyle, all while he carefully manipulates them. He ends up figuring Urabe out so thoroughly that he was able to get him to play his specific winning tile from his hand, which was mostly safe tiles with a lot of options for discards. This is without getting into his various bluffs and feigns against Washizu, which completely controlled Washizu throughout the game. With this in mind, I think Spike would have difficulty figuring out his hands by following his eyes, even more so if Akagi realizes he's doing this.

Lastly, with his life on the line, Akagi will go for reckless, dangerous plays without hesitation, plays that basically anyone else wouldn't be able to go through with.

 

[Moritzva]

So, Spike is certainly going to know Akagi's at a skill disadvantage, but will certainly not underestimate him at first. This is Akagi, after all.

Now, he certainly won't expect Akagi to show up with an unoptimal deck, meaning Spike's sideboard might be a little unreliable. Chances are, Spike will play a deck such as Jund, and expect a more combo-oriented plan from Akagi. So, Spike will use a variety of strong, but fair creatures to beat down Akagi while disrupting combos where he can.

Akagi's seemingly unoptimal plays may confuse Spike, but it's also a grave weakness. If Akagi gets behind against Spike, he'll be hard-pressed to come back before losing. Assuming a Best of 3 match, Akagi will certainly need to adapt around the cutthroat Spike.

I, personally, see Akagi losing the first match- the all-around versatility of Jund and ways to view Akagi's hand with hand discard spells may trip up Akagi's usual strategy, as Jund is not a deck that's easy to come back from once you're losing.

The real question is, how will Akagi be able to adapt to the willpower of Spike along with his incredible path-making plays, especially in the next two rounds? He has the advantage of an unknown deck, and if Akagi does his research, he'd probably know most of Spike's deck. However, this also means Akagi has a worse deck, overall, which could be a massive hinderance.

I don't see Spike being able to out-mindgame someone like Akagi, even if he has certainly adapted to strategies such as his opponents purposely viewing their cards in awkward ways to throw him off. But, if Spike sticks to his guts and skill, Akagi may be hard-pressed to throw him off.

 

[Moritzva]

Bump.