[X] Caster= A nightmare to attack on their home turf. [X] Archer= Adaptable sniper/dakka user. [X] Assassin= Never see it coming.
In that preferred order.
Brute force may sound appealing, but in all of the Grail Wars we've seen, none of the obvious powerhouses won. The only one who came close was Gilgamesh and if he had fought smartly he would have wiped out everyone. Trying to claim a strong hero only makes you a target to be ganged up on, a predictable opponent, and overconfident (i.e. Illya). The key to winning a Grail War is clever tactics and unpredictable shenanigans.
[X] Caster= A nightmare to attack on their home turf. [X] Archer= Adaptable sniper/dakka user. [X] Assassin= Never see it coming.
In that preferred order.
Brute force may sound appealing, but in all of the Grail Wars we've seen, none of the obvious powerhouses won. The only one who came close was Gilgamesh and if he had fought smartly he would have wiped out everyone. Trying to claim a strong hero only makes you a target to be ganged up on, a predictable opponent, and overconfident (i.e. Illya). The key to winning a Grail War is clever tactics and unpredictable shenanigans.
I would argue that Kiritsugu won the Fifth Grail War, mostly by running circles around everyone, and minimal coordination with Saber (Heck, he mostly used her as a distraction more than anything else). And in all three routes in the Fourth, Saber's power was hamstrung by Shirou's ineptitude as a master. All of her endgame victories were the result of (mostly) Rin's tactical maneuvering. And her worst defeats were because her enemies either outplayed her (Caster) or couldn't be defeated by brute force (Dark Sakura). Yes she was strong, and yes she did win, but she needed direction from others. Which is, admittedly, how the Master-Servant dynamic is supposed to play out. My main point here is that raw power may win a few fights, especially early on, but lasting until the endgame will require much more then that. I chose these classes because any one of them would grant us more variety and flexibility. They will also force us to out-think our opposing Servants. And as I said before, a uber-strong Servant marks us as "the one to beat" much too early.
The canon Casters dominate the early parts of the grail war because of their magical bullshit, the reason they lose is because they try to do too much too fast, all we need to do is not get all servants on our ass on day one and we are set with a Caster servant
"I want to summon an Archer Servant." You tell Luvia. It might be tempting to summon a powerhouse like Berserker or Saber, but not every battle can be won through brute force. Besides, having the strongest Servant puts a target on your back as the greatest threat. That will invite alliances dedicated to taking you down and that's not something you want to deal with, at least not on the first day.
Archer would suit you the best. They were versatile and would compliment your fighting style well. You were trained in boxing, so when you fight you'll be getting up close and personal with your opponents. While you're doing that, Archer could snipe enemies from after and provide cover fire.
"Very well. I will focus my search on Heroes of the Bow."
~
1/30/2004
That meeting took place about a month ago. Now you are in Fuyuki City, Japan, the site of the Holy Grail War. After touching down in Japan, you were escorted by the butler to one of the mansions in Fuyuki City owned by the Edelfelt Clan. Apparently during the Third War, the two Edelfelt sisters each had their own mansion built on opposite sides of the city. They were abandoned after the War and since fell into disrepair, but Luvia had them both refurbished recently. The one you are in now serves as your primary base of operations while the other is more of a safe house for you to fall back to in case you are unable to return to the primary base for whatever reason. You think you remember Luvia saying that you could have one of the mansions if you won but you aren't sure. You were pretty out of it during the ride over here due to jet lag.
Now that you're well-rested, you get up from the luxurious bed you were so graciously provided and get dressed. You exit the bedroom to find Sebastian the butler waiting for you.
"Good evening Miss Misha. I've been asked by Lady Luvia to escort you to your workshop when you're ready. But I imagine you might be feeling hungry after your flight so if you'd like, I can escort you to the dining room. Dinner should be ready by now."
As much as you want to get to work, you haven't eat since the plane so you decide to grab dinner first. Once your belly's full, Sebastian takes you down to the cellar. The thing that immediately catches your eye when you get there is the large summoning circle in the middle of the room.
"You look well-rested." Luvia's voice comes from across the room.
"Let's not waste any more time. If you've got the catalyst then we can begin." You tell her eager to get started.
"On to business then. Good, I like that. There's just one last detail we need to take care of first. You decided on summoning an Archer Servant. Now you must decide on which Archer you want. I have a few catalysts for you to choose from. Come over here and I'll show you."
You make your way over to the table Luvia's standing by. On the table are five different artifacts. The first of which is a tree branch.
"The first catalyst is a branch of a Yew Tree. The tree itself is not significant, but where it came from is as this branch came from a tree in Sherwood Forest." Luvia explains. That tells you everything you need to know about this catalyst. Only one hero operated out of Sherwood Forest, so if you were to use this catalyst then you would likely summon Robin Hood.
"Next we have a piece of the Argo." Luvia gestures to a worn piece of timber. "It's not exclusively tied to any one hero, so you can summon anyone who served on the Argo. Each of them a worthy hero in their own right." The Argo was the ship Jason and his Argonauts used in their quest to find the Golden Fleece. Any one of the Argonauts would be a valuable Servant.
"The next potential catalyst is this." Luvia picks up an ancient-looking harp. "This harp belonged to David, King of Israel." The Bible describes the tale of how David defeated Goliath with only his staff, a slingshot, and five stones from a brook. People nowadays refer to the story of David and Goliath as the first ever underdog story. As the story of how the little guy prevailed over a much bigger and stronger opponent. In the original context though, it's more about how the champion of God prevailed over a representative of paganism. In any case, David would definitely make a useful ally.
"This next one is part of a diadem that belonged to the Indian hero Arjuna." Luvia explains as she picks up what looks like part of a royal crown. You're not an expert on Indian mythology but from your research you know that Arjuna was the hero of the epic poem the Mahabharata. The diadem, you recall, was given to him by his father. It was destroyed in the final battle against Arjuna's rival and half-brother Karna. Blessed by the gods all his life, that would likely translate into being the ultimate Servant.
"Finally there's this." Luvia picks up a rather shabby-looking teacup. "This is a teacup of the highest quality...supposedly. While that claim is dubious at best, I can confirm that it did in fact belongto Oda Nobunaga." Now that was interesting. Oda Nobunaga was a famous general during Japan's Sengoku Period. While most people would associate the Sengoku Era with samurai, Oda Nobunaga was able defeat his enemies by embracing Westernization and employing the use of muskets on the battlefield, thus qualifying him for the Archer class.
"So as you can see, you have quite the selection to choose from. Which catalyst will you use?"
Luvia really outdid herself with these catalysts. Each potential Servant has their perks and you wish you could summon all of them. Alas, you can only choose one. So after giving it some thought, you decide to...
[ ] Use the branch of the Yew Tree.
[ ] Use the piece of the Argo
[ ] Use the Harp
[ ] Use the broken diadem
[ ] Use the teacup
Select up to two.
Adhoc vote count started by SlyGuy2895 on Nov 22, 2017 at 7:54 PM, finished with 34 posts and 26 votes.
