User blog comment:Leolab/Ancient User Tourney, Round 7: Hirai Norio (Cfp) v Oliver Moreau (Winter)/@comment-17814994-20160629083603

Elgb's "..........  I Got Nothin' Else :(" EDGES!!!

Initial: I have to give this one to the naginata hands down. The katana is the more refined weapon for a more civilized age with its longer and sharper blade, as well being as having a multitude of combat styles and techniques crafted through generations of Japanese swordsmanship. But the naginata is just the longer weapon to keep your opponent at bay. The katana maybe legendary, but it's a curved blade initially designed to be used on horseback and against unarmored peasants. While it can also be used on foot and against other armored warriors, a naginata can do the same but in a easier and more efficient way. EDGE: Winter

Short: I have to give this one to the katana. Both are legendary curved baldes in their own time, but the katana has always been considered to be the sharpest bladed weapon in history to date (pre-Industrial Age -wise). I also have to disagree that the reason why the katana is the sharpest is because it was "folded" or that it was mad ewith ironsand or wahtever. The katanas quality of steel is not a problem here because even if the damn thing is made up of ironsand, there are katanas in existence who are hundreds of years old, but still retain their sharpness. The real reason why the katana is so sharp is because of its unique perfectly-shaped triangular blade that can slice deeper than the hollow ground-shaped blade of the cutlass. Even if the cutlass is a one-handed sword, it's still a blade that is dependent on its weight to cut, while katana can slice through someone only by its sharpness alone. So in a battle between two slashing weapons, the katana is just the weapon that can slash through more efficiently. EDGE: Cfp

Mid: I gotta give this one to the naginata. While the kanabo was designed as a heavy weapon, it's just a glorified club with studs on it. It's strong enough to bash through light shields and armor, but it's also very slow and cumbersome. The naginata on the other hand doesn't have the same armor busting power, but it does have precision and accuracy that allows Oliver to pinpoint Hirai's unarmored parts. It also doesn't help that Oliver's musketeer cuirass is light and mobile enough to be able to dodge a kanabo with little difficulty. EDGE: Winter

Bows: I don't really think both warriors will be using their bows that much in this battle, but whatever. Hirai has the advantage of being a better archer due to his samurai lineage, but Oliver's packing the harder-hitting and faster-firing recurve bow with poison arrows. Even if he doesn't use the bow, he can probably use the poison arrows as a last resort to stab at Hirai if both combatants go desperate. EDGE: Winter

Special: I gotta give a slight edge to the twins on this one. While they're a bit more complicated to use than the katar, they can still stab as well as slash and parry more efficiently. Oliver's also a bit inexperienced in the katar, probably more so because they're so unique and exotic. While it's simpler to use, I think that Oliver is carrying them only as a novelty weapon. Hirai on the other hand doesn't have that kind of problem. Wakizashis are the side-weapons of a samurai, while Cfp only mentioned that Hirai uses them against polearms, historical samurais do utilize them for other reasons as well. While in most cases they are a last resort weapon, they can be used in perfect conjuction with a katana. And while some of you might think that dual-weilding with a wakizashi is impractical, you have to know that there are a number of samurais, like Miyamoto Musashi, who would prove otherwise. EDGE: Cfp

Armor: The Musketeer armor is the more solid armor. While judging from the picture I'm thinking that it only protects the torso, it's still the more durable armor than the domaru. Scale or lamellar armor are hard when they're brand new, but overtime, continuous bashing will strip its scale away and thin it down. A cuirass doesn't have that kind of problem and a musketeer's armor has been proven to survive high-powered crossbows and even early firearms from time to time. EDGE: Winter

Deadliest Warrior?

Initially, I was going for Oliver Monrue due to him winning most of my edges, both in weapons and armor. But then again, he's just an up and coming mercenary compared to the more experienced Hirai Norio, who by the way is a samurai who's trained in warfare since he was a child. While he lacks Oliver's knowledge in fighting in other countries, at least he's mastered the weapons he's using in this battle since he was a child. A lot of voters believed that Oliver's weapons are in random and doesn't complement each other, and I think they are right. Oliver doesn't have the knowledge or experience using most of his weapons and that could be a problem. Hirai is more comfortable with what he has, he's mastered alot of them since he's a samurai and so he's got nothing to worry about.