[MSGP] Regional Qualifiers - Chubu Region

About a week is left until the Grand Prix.

It is time to run down the Qualifiers that started last month. First up is the Chubu Region. I'll talk about the qualifying teams and how they did during their matches

The Dungeons

This is the dungeons for this Qualifier:
Time Attack: Fire Stone Statue (top 16 times advances)
Round of 16: Water Monster of Destruction
Quarterfinals: Wood Song Bird
Semifinals: A Ritual of Revenge (Princess Takiyasha)
3rd Place: Fire Stone Statue
Finals (Best 2 of 3):
#1 - Fire Stone Statue
#2 - Water Monster of Destruction
#3 - Clown Prince of Pumpkins (Jack-o'-lantern)

#3 Team - 運極周回

Roster (Left to Right)

卍裕卍 (Rank 240)

PALL MALL (Rank 183)

Kuroten♂ (Rank 246)

あぺっくす (Rank 349)

Match History

Time Attack: 2:24:67 (7th)
Round of 16: 3:08:14
Quarterfinals: 3:09:76 [Vod]
- Prometheus (Evo) / Smopol (Asc) / Alice (Asc) / Asuka & Eva-02 (Asc)
Semifinals: Lost [Vod]
- Asuka x Uri (Evo) / Lightblade Murasame (Asc) / SST Tinker Tyrant (Asc) / Arthur (Asc)
3rd Place: 2:43:11 [Vod]
- Lin Zi (Asc) / Royce (Evo) / Amakusa Shiro (Asc) / Oda Nobunaga X (Asc)

This team is consistent. Their Quarter's team has a lot of flexibility since it doesn't rely on a Shield Breaker which requires positioning or turn adjusting. They have enough power from their bump combos to destroy the shields and have Prometheus get a pinch for Siren. Their lost in Takiyasha was due to a fast and dangerous comp by the #1 team which bumped them to the 3rd place match. During the 3rd place match, it was a very clean run by them with double Etherean Slayer L from Lin Zi and Royce.

Overall, this team has consistency in all their runs. There are no glaring holes in their monster choices or play. However, they are consistently average which might not help them advance very far in the actual event.

#2 Team - espoir

Roster (Left to Right)

あおいxx (Rank 198)

よっくん (Rank 217)
破天荒楓ぃ~X (Rank 256)
りょうじぃ (Rank 221)

Match History

Time Attack: 2:31:52 (9th)
Round of 16: 2:51:49
Quarterfinals: 3:17:67 [Vod]
- Himiko (Evo) / Asuka & Eva-02 (Asc) / Alice (Asc) / Agnamut X (Div)
Semifinals: Won due to opponent's defeat [Vod]
- Lightblade Murasame (Asc) / SST Tinker Tyrant (Asc) / Arthur (Asc) / Zorro (Asc)
Finals: [Vod]
#1: Lost
- Amakusa Shiro (Asc) / Royce (Evo) / Margarite (Asc) / Margarite (Evo)
#2: Lost
- Mustang (Asc) / Guile (Evo) / Atlantis (Evo) / Belphegor (Asc)

This team got really lucky. They won the Semifinals since the other team got an unlucky bounce that gave them the win (and the other team was in the lead). In the Finals, they got destroyed with a 0-2 lost. Also I didn't get the Margarite picks on their first Finals match. I guess they are their best Water monsters? In their second Finals match, I didn't like the Atlantis pick. Sure her Null Block works well in the dungeon and she has a 4 Turn Piercing SS. The bad part about it is that using a strike shot takes time which dragged them down. 

Like I said, they got really lucky in their playoffs. They only got 2nd place just by being on the other side of the bracket of the first place team. 

#1 Team - 極楽元町会

Roster (Left to Right)

よおちゃん (Rank 400)
Pkrn (Rank 338)
KATO (Rank 224)
じぐもん (Rank 223)

Match History

Time Attack: 2:18:08 (3rd)

Round of 16: 3:23:43
Quarterfinals: 3:08:02 [Vod]
- Kaworu & Mark.09 (Evo) / Sakamoto Ryoma (Asc) / Prometheus (Evo) / Himiko (Evo)
Semifinals: 3:51:90 [Vod]
- Abe no Seimei (Asc) / Beelzebub (Evo) / Sanzang Fashi (Evo) / Arthur (Asc)
Finals: [Vod]
#1: 3:06:99
- Amakusa Shiro (Asc) / Jeanne d'Arc (Asc) / Beethoven alpha (Evo) / Godstriker (Div)
#2: 2:49:96
- Alice (Asc) / Gulliver (Asc) / Cu Chuliann (Evo) / Archimedes (Evo)

Well another lucky team. They went past the Quarterfinals due to the opposing team choking at the very end. However, they picked it up during the Semis and Finals. Their team for Takiyasha was a fast but dangerous team. It was mainly designed to defeat the boss before they get defeated by the lack of fast mob/shield clear. During the first Finals match, they proc their Amakusa's Knockout ableberry and never looked back. They brought Archimedes during the second Finals match who is a Demon Slayer XL for Kraken.

Although they got lucky in the Quarters, they are very versatile team. From the monsters they brought in the matches, they got a wide monster pool to be ready for almost anything. Since we don't know the actual dungeons for the Grand Prix, I think they can devise team comps that can defeat other teams.

Summary

#1 team, 極楽元町会, may probably get the farthest out of all 3 teams. They have very niche monster picks for specific dungeons. #2 team, espoir, didn't impress me that much due to poor monster choices. #3 team, 運極周回, are good but their ceiling is not that high when you compare to the #1 team. 

However, I don't think 極楽元町会 will win the tournament. Although I didn't saw all the qualifiers, they didn't surprised me in terms of their play. I may be a little harsh but being able to pinch and position should be the bare minimum in this tournament. Only way they can get farther is if the dungeons roll in their favor since they have a large monster pool between the 4 of them.