Kasumi's Thoughts: IJL 2025 Summer Regular Season DAY 12 MATCH 1 (SZ vs DFM)
Even before it starts, this is an extremely important match for SZ. They are right on the edge of the line for qualifying for playoffs in 6th place, with DFM being in 5th. Out of the teams that are still not confirmed to qualify (DFM, SZ, FL), DFM currently has the most advantage with 4 wins and 0 net wins in comparison to SZ's 3 wins and -8 net wins. The -8 is quite painful in fact. SZ wants to not only win this match, but win with 2 rounds if possible. I do believe they'll still be below DFM even if they win this matchup due to the difference in net wins, but it'll at least give them safety in securing a spot in the playoffs.
To win, Burio should keep playing Rounds 1 + 2, and it's great to see that SZ has switched to this strategy but they really should've been doing this from the beginning. Burio not only has a great Goatman that he will always use R1 but also an amazing Hullabaloo and Opera Singer. With only one hunter ban in Round 2, the opposing team will be forced to go against either his Hullabaloo or Opera Singer — he'll always be able to use either one. Strategically, it's perfect. This would also alleviate a lot of pressure from Yuuri, who has not only just debuted and is therefore more inexperienced but is also just not suited for Round 2 in terms of his character pool. I felt genuinely bad for him throughout this season because he's clearly more comfortable with Round 3 hunters like his absolutely phenomenal Geisha, but it just seemed like he was being forced into the role of Round 2 with hunters like Hullabaloo... when Burio was right there.
But enough about the theoretics. Let's dive into the actual match:
SZ chooses Arms Factory, the most picked map in IJL so far. I honestly don't have the best impression of Goatman on this map, but perhaps the pick is due to Burio's confidence in his ability to play Goatman regardless and the survivor's strength on this map.
Burio plays his Goatman as always, but debuts a new trait: Patroller. This was seen by Kakiri the day before, and it seems like it's a strategy being used to counter Puppeteer. It gets him the down quite quickly on Nerisu and the situation did look quite grim, but Burio's decision to not chair in the endgame and attempt to get a win allowed the DFM survivors to push for a tie.
In the second half, SZ chooses Gardener and the recent trending survivor Professor. I've found that SZ likes to use Gardener quite a bit, so this is completely normal. I suppose the view on Professor has been reevaluated due to his potential against Goatman, due to his scales being strong against Goatman's cages and his innate Scaled Skin passive to negate 0.5 damage once.
The SZ survivors get a very secure tie, and honestly had the potential to push for a win and it does seem like they wanted to. tarako's decision to stop heal stalling was wise, as it allowed for a secure tie. Chikin was also wise in his decision to preserve his trait. Overall very secure from both sides.
Round 1 is tied 4-4, with a risky tie from DFM and a safe tie from SZ — interesting stuff.
DFM picks China Town, a map that's become rarer in this day and age especially in IJL but nevertheless a great map for all the meta hunters.
SZ is up first, with the very strong comp of First Officer, Priestess, Fire Investigator, and Coordinator. A bit heavy on the decoding debuffs, so it seems like they really want the win. Opera Singer is banned, which is most logical as Flywheel Effect is more preferable against a Hullabaloo and Ivy as opposed to Broken Windows against Opera Singer — it allows for the ease of persona builds.
Chikin's trait is Excitement, a choice I never really quite agree with. And this game was a perfect showing of why — with the way Chikin swapped targets onto the Coordinator after pressuring other survivors, SZ definitely knew he had Excitement and all mone had to do was preserve his gun when he was chased and render Chikin effectively traitless. Together with the Priestess support, it made for an amazing kite and brought the survivors to a 4 man endgame. With mone finally using his flare gun at the end, it forced out Chikin's Excitement and preventing him from utilizing his Trump Card — a beautiful 3 escape. A wonderful display of how strong Coordinator can be against Excitement... and the weaknesses of Excitement.
Burio does indeed continue to play for Round 2 (as he should). DFM goes for a gutsy choice with the Forward pick (of course it's Takoyaki, of 37k points fame), which proves to save their game because Felix unfortunately goes down to a Terror Shock quite fast. Once again it looks quite grim for DFM, but they're somehow able to pull through and bring the game to a tie. The 37k points really pulled through. Burio also brought Insolence only. A choice... I honestly don't know how much it affected in the grand scheme of things.
SZ chooses Moonlit River Park, which is a great choice for Yuuri so I am relieved. On the other hand, it's quite a good map for Yami's character pool as well. It could really go both ways.
SZ's survivors are up first and they pick Embalmer, Mercenary, and Psychologist, which are possibly the safest survivor picks in the game (which is perfect, they only need to tie this next round to win), and then... Journalist. However, she's actually a great pick against Yami who has both a Wax Artist and Gamekeeper, hunters that he'll definitely want to use to aim for a win.
The Journalist is chased of course, but soar is able to force Blink out and does pretty well — it's not often that we see Journalist kites in competitive (or Journalist at all). His rebound is quite long as well, and combined with the Embalmer's coffin, SZ seems like they're in a great position for a secure tie. However, when gnk's Embalmer is chased after soar is eliminated, he's downed at the cipher with 94% progress, with no coffin or Borrowed Time to his name. All of a sudden the odds seem to slightly shift towards Yami. But while Yami's Yithian is at 4th stop, tarako comes to 1st stop to finish gnk's cipher and mone comes to rescue. gnk is able to embalm himself and the cipher pops, he's able to force out blink while in the Tide Turner status of the coffin which prove itself to be critical to the game's outcome. tarako's on the 1st stop gate, mone makes a beeline for 4th stop after rescuing and he's able to get dungeon. Fabulous decision making from SZ, but I can't help but feel terrible for Yami — he's so expressive and his frustration clearly shows on his face.
DFM survivors now need a 3 escape for OT, 4 escape for a win — Yuuri only needs a tie. This is the perfect time to play Geisha... which is what I thought before DFM bans her. Upset, but completely fair and valid, Yuuri's Geisha is amazing. The bans are quite Ann leaning, and then he chooses something I am highly against in a position where you only need a tie... Hermit. He ends up getting a 4K, but I will forever maintain the position that choosing Hermit when you only need a tie is far too big of a risk and is not safe tactically. But hey, what do I know.
SZ gets the win and the 2 rounds they needed. Yuuri is awarded MVP, and it's fully deserved despite my reluctance to accept the Hermit pick. I'm really happy for SZ but especially Yuuri, I really do sense something special in him and I feel like this was a huge turning point for him. This is a big step in securing their spot in the playoffs, SZWIN!
