Yeah, I believe that the Japanese players are stronger and they'll get even better during the tournament as well -whereas I gave players that we haven't seen their final stats. With that in mind, maybe I should have Amadeus a bit weaker than the rest of the top players -as we'll see him play "soon".
What about the other American reps we haven't seen yet, like Pacino and Jackson? Wondering about this because of the gap between Dodo/Kiko and Rocky. Or do you think Rocky is just bad compared to the others?
Wasn't really interested. I just didn't want Rocky to have stronger stats than any German rep, but he's a HSer so maybe I should had reflected that? I don't think Rocky is bad it's just that I imagine Kiko and Dodo being in America's top 5 -the former being their second best player.
Same for Crawford -as you mentioned- and the 2 Greek players that were mentioned but we didn't see, had no real interest in them ^^'
I imagine Kiko playing a lot like Zeus, the little we saw of him at least. I didn't think anything special for him, though, just that he's among the best players in the US and that he's a player that looks to overwhelm his opponents with precise shots and amazing speed.
I had the idea of leaving the Aussie D1 at 22 total, while at the same time having them with a rather mediocre stamina stat. I thought that, as both could use Tachyon, that they shared a strong stat -which, in this case, is power- and that Neutrino implied that Millman had an advantage somewhere else -Tech.
I feel Ochi's stats are actually not appropiate with how strong he is -and his Mach for that matter. Anyway, I also said I imagine the Japs getting buffs in their stats so Ochi getting more power to fit his new Mach doesn't sound crazy.
I feel Ochi's stats are actually not appropiate with how strong he is -and his Mach for that matter. Anyway, I also said I imagine the Japs getting buffs in their stats so Ochi getting more power to fit his new Mach doesn't sound crazy.
Well, he doesn't have a new Mach though. He just removed his 60% limiter. Fair enough on the rest.
Gonna post some of my own stuff later.
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Looking back, I haven't talked about stats in here for quite a long time - the only one of my spreads I still 100% agree with is QP's. So to recap briefly from other discussions, I don't believe the Japanese HSers are any stronger now than they were during the G10 matches and I don't think they'll grow by heaps and bounds throughout the WC. My reasoning is simply that they haven't in the matches we've seen so far:
Duke showed his true style, but we can conclude that he already had all that stuff before.
Tokugawa didn't have any actual self-improvement either. The comments make it clear that he already had the Premonitions way back and Asura he already used against Byoudouin and merely reawakened it at the end of the match.
Ochi only removed his 60% limiter, otherwise he was the same as before.
Tohno didn't show anything new except arguably that his knee was a little better than before. We did get to see what a complete Execution looks like, but he could obviously already do that.
Tanegashima, again, only used a move we had already seen before and then showed his ability to adapt to new circumstances.
If we don't get a vol 20.5 with updated stats, which seems unlikely at this point considering Konomi hasn't announced anything yet and vol 20 hits the shelves next week, that's also an indicator for me that there's simply not enough new material to fill those pages (although he did mention he's juggling like 3 projects earlier today on twitter, so maybe it'll be a surprise).
In any case, because of that I feel comfortable keeping the international players at around the same level the Japanese guys were in 10.5 and maybe I'll be proven wrong in a couple days.
I'm not sure which spread I prefer between the 6 STA, 4 TEC here and the 7 STA, 3 TEC I used in the fan league. The latter is more "interesting" to me because double 7s would be unique, but he's very evenly matched with Ochi in their match, so simply redistributing Ochi's spread is appealing to me as well. Rereading the match, I feel like his special aura is mainly a speed boost and ultimately contrasts Ochi's Mental Assassin ability. So I guess in singles he might actually end up being stronger than Ochi though it's hard to say because Ochi didn't target him with the assassination.
This is one of those things you'd think I would've researched way sooner, but apparently Evangelus was a Greek tactician back in the day:
Evangelus' Tactics: this work, probably written in the 3rd C. BCE, is now lost; Plutarch's texts suggest that it contained diagrams, making it the earliest known treatise on tactics to be illustrated, a feature of later treatises such as those by Asclepiodotus and Aelian Tacticus.
Since these tactics are now, well, lost, it's not exactly possible to deduce anything from them, but at least it shows that Evangelus is clearly supposed to be a counterpart to Oishi. We can also see a bit of tactical play in his combinations with Heracles. From those few bits I imagine his play is centered around a pseudo-Synchro effect where it's uncertain which player hits the ball when and to where. Following that I imagine his general stats are far from impressive though.
Gonna stop here for now since I didn't expect to write anything of value about Evangelus; more later.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that Apollon was the one who "lost his head" and not Orion? After all, in mythology it was Orion who got shot in the head and Apollon who ran away. I wonder if Konomi switched their names by accident.
Anyway, talking about stats, I'm still pretty confident in them specializing in Power. Looking at their Executions and Tohno's, for Tohno it doesn't matter how hard he hits the opponent as long as he hits the right spots. On the other hand it looks like the brothers just go for generally vital spots (Tohno has bruises on both shoulders and multiple near the knee cap) and then hit them with a lot of force to incapacitate the opponent. Also still confident about the 19 total estimate for Orion and I think Apollon being a bit higher, given that he's a year older, is also fair.
Zeus (27)
SPE: 5, POW: 5, STA: 5, MEN: 7, TEC: 5
I don't know what to do with this guy to be honest. I'm pretty sure about the 7 Mental, but that aside he could have pretty much anything and any total. He has some pretty favorable comparisons in Volk, Byoudouin and Tezuka for what it's worth. On the other hand I still feel he should've been able to win that sixth game despite not being able to read Tanegashima's actions anymore if he was really straight-up stronger. So because of that I can't bring myself to go above 27 in base stats, although factoring in his abilities he might well be at or at least near pro level.
Probably a safe bet to say that Hermes specializes in Speed. I also reckon there's a decent chance he would've faced Shiraishi after the switch if they had gone the distance, so pretty much just copied over Kenya/Kamio's stat distribution.
Vulcan is much more difficult to pin down than Hermes. From what I found his main characteristics in mythology are craftsmanship, being associated with fire and being lame. The first point actually reminds me of Koshikawa (support from the shadows), but the obvious issue here is that we don't really know anything about Koshikawa either.
So the best I got is this: assuming Greece parallels Fudomine, and Vulcan would've played Tokugawa, he could be like Ibu (who played vs Ryoma). This is actually particularly fitting because one myth says that Vulcan once crafted a throne that would bind the one sitting on it, i.e. restricting their movement, i.e. somewhat similar to Ibu's Spot. I guess if this is true, Vulcan might temporarily paralyze the opponent's legs though and not their arms for instance and I can't see him having the Silent Killer personality either given his association with fire.
I guess looking at it this way, I could've extended this to Zeus and given him a 5/7/6/7/5 spread, but that's probably taking it too far. Or maybe not?
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So fun fact with all my Fudomine comparisons:
Heracles/Evangelus - Power Player/Doubles Specialist - Tetsu/Sakurai
Apollon/Orion - Body Shots - Uchimura (Vanguard Killer) x2 (we don't know anything about his partner Mori)
Hermes - Speedster - Kamio
Vulcan - Shackles/Paralysis - Ibu
Zeus - Leader, Great Aura - Tachibana?
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To move away from the international players for a moment, I've been wondering about the Mutsu twins recently. Let's take a brief look at the stats of the original No. 10 to No. 17 again:
Mouri: 5/4/4/6/5
Fuwa: 5/3/4/6/5
Date: 4/6/5/5/3
Ban: 3/6/5/4/3
Hakamada: 4/6/4/4/4
Mutsus: 4/3/4/5/5
Mitsuya: 4/3/3/6/5
What's noticeable is that the twins are the only players in this range with no 6 in any stat. But I wonder if their "6" might be exclusive to doubles? Since they have their innate twin connection thing going on, it seems to me like their default doubles stats could actually be 4/3/4/6/5 instead. Then again Washio and Suzki have no 5s in their spread either unlike Miyako, Taira, Nakagauchi, Hara, Akiba and Matsudaira, so maybe I'm off the mark here.
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Well, I wanted to wait with Australia until after seeing how Dorgias fares in his match, so here we are. @Hardy would you make any changes to your estimates after the latest chapters?
Starting with Fitzgerald and Hopman, I originally had these two a little lower for two reasons: (1) my estimate for Dorgias has gone up over time and since his teammates should obviously be lower, there was a lower ceiling for Fitzgerald and Hopman as well; (2) even though they wouldn't have been able to handle Black Dragon in singles, as far as doubles is concerned, they were pretty even with Yukimura and Sanada when neither side was using special moves. Since my current estimate for Yukimura and Sanada is 24, I feel Fitzgerald and Hopman are likely around the same level.
As for the actual stats, Hopman was specifically praised for his Speed, so that should be his highest stat in my eyes. Yanagi also complimented his Mental strength, but since only Hopman lost his senses and Fitzgerald didn't, I put Fitzgerald's higher. Both showed decent stamina and good technique, so the rest is pretty much just to reach the stat total.
The totals are again based on what I estimate Fuji and Niou at. Beyond that, their speed should be high since I'm guessing Tachyon relies on swing speed similar to Mach. Opted for a lower Stamina stat for McGregor because he only started using Mach in the tiebreak and Millman also seemed like more of a leader, so he got an extra Mental from that. McGregor's higher Power and Technique balance out those deficits.
Tough one because we haven't seen much of him yet. But the general impression I've gotten is that he is highly skilled (able to keep up with TnK), but doesn't have a lot of Stamina. I reckon he usually just beats people before he runs out of energy. Power just seems like the obvious specialty, Speed and Technique are kind of interchangeable in my mind, but I opted for the 6 in Speed because of TnK again. Mental is a bit of an odd case - you could either say it's really low because he gets angry so easily, but at the same time he has great determination as well. As you can see I went with the latter here.
I've got conflicting ideas for the other two, so I'll have to think about them some more.
First thing I thought -I wanted him to remain at 27 total, tbh I don't see a reason for him to be better than that, he might reach 28 though- and considering what he has shown:
The result ended up being close to what you wrote. I don't think he has shown power as his best attribute -although I can see his tennis style being more physical than technical-, but rather his mental fortitude -on the other hand, his racket might disagree with that...
3 in stamina was too little imo, the dude is prolly just running a lot to catch up with PoP Kintarou.
The result ended up being close to what you wrote. I don't think he has shown power as his best attribute -although I can see his tennis style being more physical than technical-, but rather his mental fortitude -on the other hand, his racket might disagree with that...
3 in stamina was too little imo, the dude is prolly just running a lot to catch up with PoP Kintarou.
Yeah, I see where you're coming from with both of those. The power question for me really comes down to how much power Kintarou has while using TnK - maybe an 8 at this point? I feel like Dorgias shouldn't be more than a point below that. For stamina I went with 3 because I wanted to keep the 5 in technique, but I think it would also fit if you think about reflecting Kyrgios' attitude towards practice. Wouldn't be surprised seeing 4 though, it's definitely the stat I'd raise if I was going for a 28 total instead.
Wasn't sure whether to swap speed/technique. I had him at 22 at first because I thought that he should be closer to Niou, but considering I used Niou to determine the D1 pair's total, modeling Hewitt after Atobe seems to make more sense.
A remix of Irie's spread since I can't think of any other way to give someone a chance at competing with Oni - which isn't likely in the first place, but still the best possibility I can think of to base anything on instead of blindly guessing. I might write an actual profile for him since the spread alone probably doesn't communicate what I have in mind.
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So what are everyone's stat estimates/predictions for Henri, Peter, Albert, Randy and Amadeus?
Technique and mental have their obvious reasons. He's described to be a genius and he managed to quickly shut down both ODS (for the first time that its weakness is shown and a player fully defeats it) and Nitoryu, so a 6 is well deserved for both technique and mental. Then you have speed; for me it seemed he was rallying quite well with Ohmagari and his Nitoryu, so a 5 in speed seems right. And finally, a 4 for both stamina and power.
We don't know practically anything about him, but seeing that he seems like he holds the position of strategist of the team, he is, for sure, one of the strongest players of the Swiss team (similar to Q.P. in Germany), so I put him basically around that level. There's also the moment where he told Henri: "I'll show you another way to defeat them", so he's extremely talented and powerful when it comes to analyzing and making strategies, that's why he probably has off the charts mental and technique. I got a Tanegashima like vibe coming from him too, but he seems even more formidable than Japan's No.2 in my eyes.
Albert and Randy (Total: 28)
SPE: 5, POW: 7, STA: 6, MEN: 5, TEC: 5
I think this is pretty clear to predict. Both of them are Duke's version of the Swiss team, and they can also enter into Destroyer mode, so their stats are probably equal to Duke's. They might have one or two stats stronger than Duke most likely since they are part of the No.2 team in the world.
Amadeus: Men 8, Tech 8, Sta 6, POW 6, SPD 6. Overall: 34
Volk: Men 8, Tech 6, Sta 8, POW 6, SPD 6. Overall: 34
Byodoin: Men 8, Tech 8, Sta 7, SPD 4, Power 4.5. Overall: 31.5
Oni: Men 7, Tech 5, Sta 7, SPD 5, Power 7. Overall: 31
Irie (true ability): Spd 6, Tech 6, Men 7, Sta 5, Power 3. Overall: 27
I think his poor stamina is a farce. He had no problem keeping up with Atobe in a stamina match.
I think Ryoga might even be a monster as good or better than players like Amadeus and Volk based on the description of his stats and the hype surrounding him but I will have to see him play first before I decide anything. At first I was hesitant to place Amadeus on the same level as Volk but his current feats are very impressive so it isn't farfetched at all.
Curious about the rationale behind Byoudouin's speed and power being the same considering one is supposed to be rather low and the other slightly above average.
Curious about the rationale behind Byoudouin's speed and power being the same considering one is supposed to be rather low and the other slightly above average.
So having actually seen Amadeus play and having seen that a big part of his skill set seems to be pinpointing weak spots and targeting those spots pretty much as soon as they present themselves, I wonder if all the big 4 players (so Volk, Amadeus, Camus, Medanore) will have an 8 in Mental (or a 7 if we don't go above that), but all for different reasons, similarly to Tanegashima/Kimijima/Ochi I suppose.
In my eyes there were two key parallels to how Volk and Amadeus reacted to adversary in their respective matches:
1. Vs 1st Adversary
Timing: The first key point I think was when the Japanese pulled out their respective special moves relatively early into the match, Black Hole for Tokugawa, Yips for Yukimura and the Glowing Shot for Akutsu (and I only say relatively early in Akutsu's case because the last game took so long).
Volk: Maybe surprisingly after the advice he gave to Tezuka during their practice, Volk chose a wait-and-see approach here. I have little doubt that Volk could've grinded out that first game and won it if he had wanted to, especially with Wirbeltaufe in the back. But he chose to give up that game - and not just any game, his own service game - to gain a good understanding of what kind of skills he was up against.
Amadeus: Amadeus' response to the Glowing Shot was to just smack it back and then he followed up with Darkness. Of course there are some significant differences in this scenario compared to the one involving Volk. Amadeus must have already dealt with that shot when he faced Byoudouin and while the point in question was played at a relatively early stage in the match, he seems to have been up 4-0 rather than 0-0. Still though, we'll see this pattern repeat itself in the second parallel.
2. Vs Super Power-up
Timing: The second point is obviously when the Japanese pulled some incredible power-ups out of nowhere - Tokugawa/Yukimura got Sixth Sense and Akutsu achieved Eighth Consciousness.
Volk: Akin to before, Volk didn't really do anything for two games. He was up 5-1 by the time Tokugawa and Yukimura unlocked their super skill and once again, he could've just pulled out Wirbeltaufe right then and there. But he waited. And the game he chose to attack on was his own service game, i.e. the one where he has the biggest advantage possible. What's telling here, in my opinion, is that he ultimately didn't do anything special to deal with Sixth Sense, he just hit through it, i.e. not something involving some sort of elaborate strategy. I imagine the main reasons why he chose to wait was to (1) get some more information in Sixth Sense; and (2) put himself into the best position he could strategically be in.
Amadeus: When Akutsu started his 5 man offense, Amadeus reacted completely differently from Volk. He was up 5-0 at that point, but he almost immediately kicked into a higher gear once he realized what he was up against. He didn't want to lose even a single game no matter - not necessarily because he couldn't afford to score-wise, but because of his pride. And then again, as soon as he found an opening, he immediately attacked it with Darkness.
I just think it's interesting that the two of them interpret their pro mentality so differently. Volk pursues a sort of guaranteed victory, hence his nickname, whereas Amadeus wants more like an absolute victory. At the same time, the way they counterattack is also different. From what we've seen so far, Volk hits through his opponent (I still don't think he has another move, especially not one that's drastically different) whereas Amadeus is more flexible and goes for whatever works.
Going back to the question I posed at the beginning, I think Camus might be a bit of a mix between Volk and Amadeus. I think he won't have any issues giving up a game here and there to gain the advantage in the long term, but I also think he'll attack in a more flexible way like Amadeus has shown. Not sure what to expect from Medanore. Maybe he'll be a mix the other way around where he'll hit through people, but also grind them down as much as he needs to.
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So, I wonder if anyone's perception on different players' stat spreads changed after what Tanegashima said in the last chapter. To briefly sum it up, he essentially said that Shiraishi is a perfectly-balanced player, meaning he doesn't have any obvious weaknesses, but with no defining strengths either, so he can't beat anyone with a bigger pentagon area. Contrasting that, he cites Tohno's unbreakable spirit and his own ability to return any shot as their defining strengths.
I guess there are two questions in there:
What "defining strengths" would you say other players have? Which ones don't have any?
Do you rate any players higher or lower than you did before?
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Also, on a slightly different note, some updated stat spread estimates:
That's too many to really go in-depth, but like I said elsewhere, I think the projected match between Duke and Camus indicates that there's a lower gap in stats than previously assumed. Didn't know what to do with Medanore, Bertie and Schneider in terms of distribution.
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So, since the fanbook releases next week and will hopefully include new stat information, here's a final prediction for the international players:
So do you feel 8 is just too high a stat for NPoT players? A total of 35 would be the max then and I'm not surprised Ryoga is closest to it, considering he may be the final opponent in the series and for Ryoma.
So do you feel 8 is just too high a stat for NPoT players? A total of 35 would be the max then and I'm not surprised Ryoga is closest to it, considering he may be the final opponent in the series and for Ryoma.
Yes and no, but mostly yes. I tried to compile rough thresholds for each stat somewhere, but the gist of it is basically:
5 - top amateur / U-17 level
6 - average pro level
7 - top pro level
The definition for 6 is supported by the power description of Gin's profile, which compares Gin's power to that of your average American pro (I reckon it would be the same for every other Westerner though). I think 7 is the highest regular number by this logic, simply because normally there's nothing that goes beyond the best pros. Note how I said "normally" though. If there is an 8 after all, I could see it representing interdimensional power. This would make sense with what it says about the glowing shot in Byoudouin's profile (surpasses Duke's power) and you could argue that's also the reason why interdimensional powers "break" the stat chart - if it's a value that goes beyond anything previously recorded at the pro level, they don't have a point of reference anymore.
Uhm, I still think we'll see 8s, reserved mostly for the top of the top in the world. Perhaps, for example, Volk would have an 8 in Tech. You've used a lot of 7s, too (edit: meaning, you gave a lot of these minors physical peak abilities which makes the "strongest of the strong" less impressive).
In Germany, any reason why QP has a higher total than Schneider, and a way higher one compared to Bismarck? If the latter is good at spotting habits, shouldn't his mental be one of his strongest points? Same goes with Siegfried btw, but I think that 7 in stamina is 1 point too many for him. Speaking of too many, while Bertie is a pro (and I have said before that I see 30 as the breakthrough to have the level of one, although for doubles it could be lower) I find 30 total to be just too much for a MSer.
With the most recent explanation about stats, I can see why you'd have a 7 for Zeus' mental, tho I personally still find the 6/6/6/6/6 very plesasant for him (however, he was quite more impressive than Tristan, so I guess it's not crazy to think he could be a point or 2 better in total). Vulcan and Hermes "are" gods but I still fail to see them as superior compared to Heracles, the three of them being in 26/27 sounds more appropiate. I can see your line of reasoning, however, even more considering either was meant to play Tanegashima the moment Zeus stepped into the court. Lastly, I think you have Apollon too high compared to Orion, even though I'm pretty sure I've rated both rather lowly in the past.
Thinking about Australia, the other day I had in mind that either Crawford or Hewitt was meant to be quite a shitty player. Noah had dispersed his best players in 2 matches, and had planned to beat Japan in 3 sets (at worst, I imagine, 4, just like Mizuki which fits that parallel you had). Any reason your Tachyons are so... different between each other? I think both are a bit underrated in your stats too (to the point I could easily see them at around 20) or you think their special move is just carrying them?
On the Swiss, I think Amadeus was on a class of his own (not to the level of Zeus or Dorgias in their teams, but still) so the gap between him and the 2nd best could be quite higher. Why is Albert that better compared to Randy? Henri at 6 Mental sounds more appropiate imo, 7 is a tad too much.
The rest is guess work but I like some ideas like the prince being a speed player (tho the ninja being only 1 point behind Camus and being fated to play Sanada is bugging me a bit). Overall, I quite like the stats you have given to the top players (Camus, Amadeus, etc) even if I personally would still use 8s in some of them.
Last edit: I can definetly the ninja at 7 speed and doing shunpo steps.
Yeah. Compared to Bismarck, it's simply because in the Pre-WC, Bismarck played D3 and QP D2, plus the crowd was a lot more hyped for the latter, so I think it's reasonable to think QP is the stronger of the two. In Schneider's case it's because I didn't want the gap between him and Bertie to be too big.
If the latter is good at spotting habits, shouldn't his mental be one of his strongest points?
[...]
Speaking of too many, while Bertie is a pro (and I have said before that I see 30 as the breakthrough to have the level of one, although for doubles it could be lower) I find 30 total to be just too much for a MSer.
I could see Bismarck being an Ohmagari case where he's not mentally weak in the strictest sense, but gets overconfident too easily. That being said, looking back I feel like I underrated him a bit. Not sure if it'd make sense to rank him above Schneider (probably not), but I could see a case for switching his total with Bertie's.
I just generally don't like not giving people a 7 somewhere if they're over 25 total. And Siegfried did survive a Duke Homerun to the face relatively unharmed, so if he's got a 7 anywhere, stamina seems like the most reasonable place to put it.
With the most recent explanation about stats, I can see why you'd have a 7 for Zeus' mental, tho I personally still find the 6/6/6/6/6 very plesasant for him (whoever, he was quite more impressive than Tristan, so I guess it's not crazy to think he could be a point or 2 better in total).
Vulcan and Hermes "are" gods but I still fail to see them as superior compared to Heracles, the three of them being in 26/27 sounds more appropiate. I can see your line of reasoning, however, even more considering either was meant to play Tanegashima the moment Zeus stepped into the court.
It's partially because of the way Konomi structured Japan's HSers' stats, with most of them being sequential and having little overlap outside of doubles pairs (the only exceptions being Ochi, Date and Mitsuya). It'd be helpful to have more points of reference on this without a doubt.
Thinking about Australia, the other day I had in mind that either Crawford or Hewitt was meant to be quite a shitty player. Noah had dispersed his best players in 2 matches, and had planned to beat Japan in 3 sets (at worst, I imagine, 4, just like Mizuki which fits that parallel you had).
Maybe. But Noah seems different from Mizuki to me in that his scenarios are less rigid (I think we went into detail on this before). A more compelling argument I could see is that he simply underrated Kintarou specifically. JJ was meant to go up against Oni it seems whereas they figured the final two members would be weaker players. So I wouldn't say shitty, but maybe not that great.
Any reason your Tachyons are so... different between each other? I think both are a bit underrated in your stats too (to the point I could easily see them at around 20) or you think their special move is just carrying them?
Honestly part of it was because making them similar kinda bothered me for some reason. It's not really clear to me whether Mac used Tachyon from the start or only started doing it during the tiebreak. If it's the former, I can't argue against them being more similar, but if it's the latter, I feel some of it can be justified. Mac seemed to be holding serve pretty comfortably still and if memory serves they considered "Niou's" serve rather weak by comparison.
That said, I do think they get carried by Tachyon to a relatively significant degree, considering they didn't manage to take a single point in the tiebreak when Japan was serving (in 137 attempts). As you probably noticed, I have both the Australian and Greek MSers at 23/21/19 respectively, but based on what we've seen, I wouldn't argue against rating the Australians comparatively lower.
On the Swiss, I think Amadeus was on a class of his own (not tot he level of Zeus or Dorgias in their teams, but still) so the gap between him and the 2nd best could be quite higher.
Mostly based on my theory that Albert will play the finals and Randy will have to give up his spot. I thought that if that happened, them being a Date/Ban pair would make sense.
Yeah, I can understand that. Was done on the assumption that he's a HSer for what it's worth, but I could see him being lower.
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So what stats are we thinking for the English MSers? In terms of total, that is. 24ish at best maybe or would anyone go beyond that? It seems to me there's some wiggle room even though France destroyed England.
Case and point two double players on team France have stat totals of 30. They are not even singles players and Team France ultimately is not even as good as Team Japan. Lets be honest JP is the more stacked team, they aren't even going to need to use their best pieces to beat France.
Yet we have rank number 2 on team Japan Shuji with only a stat total of 28. To be fair you can argue Shuji is actually only the 3rd-5th best player on team JP but its still absurd he has a lower stat total than some doubles players who Shiraishi was able to get the upper hand against.
Case and point two double players on team France have stat totals of 30. They are not even singles players and Team France ultimately is not even as good as Team Japan. Lets be honest JP is the more stacked team, they aren't even going to need to use their best pieces to beat France.
Yet we have rank number 2 on team Japan Shuji with only a stat total of 28. To be fair you can argue Shuji is actually only the 3rd-5th best player on team JP but its still absurd he has a lower stat total than some doubles players who Shiraishi was able to get the upper hand against.
I think that's an incorrect assessment, for two reasons:
Looking at the totals by themselves isn't enough. Like Tanegashima pointed out, it's possible to beat overall stronger players as long as you're superior to them in at least one area and make the match about what you're good at. It helps that this seems to be one of Kimijima's specialties as well - he can create situations in which you're in the best position possible and your opponent is in the worst position possible.
Japan isn't using their worse players because they want to, but because they don't have a choice (Duke over Byoudouin being the only exception we know of). They can't use Oni or Tanegashima in this round because then they apparently wouldn't be usable anymore for the rest of the tournament.
Japan isn't the more stacked team, they will win despite being underdogs. This goes hand-in-hand with Tanegashima only defeating Zeus thanks to a one-time trick and Oishi's and Tohno's recklessness paying off (none of which was guaranteed to work and if any of them hadn't, the round against Greece would've either been much closer or even ended in their defeat), and them potentially being in a lot of trouble against Australia if Atobe hadn't figured out Noah's role.
I think that both Yukimura and Tezuka deserve stat boosts. Yukimura should have 7 for mental after recovering from illness, also based on Volk's comments about him being a completely different, no-hesitation player, and after what he showed in this match I don't see how he couldn't be a 7. Yuki's stamina should boost to 4.5 since he's fully recovered, and he was able to play 3 tough sets against Tezuka. Tezuka should be boosted to 7 in technique which no one has yet, but now that he has Ultimate Zone it seems like he's earned it. Tezuka's mental should raise to 6 after his training in Germany. He showed in this match that he can counter yips, always stay calm, keep strategizing, save his strength and best moves for critical moments, and manage to win even after his ultimate technique was broken. That leaves Yuki at 25 and Tezuka at 25.5. I think Tezuka would still lose to Tane because Tane could play similarly to Yuki to break Ultimate Zone since he saw this match, but then he has a significant stat advantage (28). Possibly Tezuka could have boosted other stats than what I mentioned, but I didn't see anything in this match that would suggest that.
Both of their stats should be WAAAAAAAAAY higher now. Tezuka got Germany training which boost his physical stats drastically. Yuki got a deadly disease healed and trained hard as well. Just recovering from the disease alone should boost all his physical abilities.
Both of their stats should be WAAAAAAAAAY higher now. Tezuka got Germany training which boost his physical stats drastically. Yuki got a deadly disease healed and trained hard as well. Just recovering from the disease alone should boost all his physical abilities.
Both of their stats should be WAAAAAAAAAY higher now. Tezuka got Germany training which boost his physical stats drastically. Yuki got a deadly disease healed and trained hard as well. Just recovering from the disease alone should boost all his physical abilities.
Tezuka only trained in Germany for a month, so I don't think his physical abilities could have improved that much. It's not like he wasn't training in Japan his whole life. The only case I can see for that is that Tez/QP stomped Atobe/Irie, but we didn't get to see that match. He could have those stats in the future, or Tezuka could have those stats with TnK right now. In that case he's still only playing Tane evenly, so he's busted if Tane has a TnK counter which hasn't been shown yet. Presumably, Mu cancels all of Tezuka's other special moves.
