We’ve got three incredible fights ahead of us today, so let’s get right to it! (As always for Day Five posts, if you have no idea who these people are, I recommend you take the time to look at Tatooine Days 1-4 listed above. It will definitely help)
1. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. 4. Carnage
One of the issues of trying to break down every single fight (yes, all 127 of them) over the course of a month is that I often have to just throw words or phrases out there as a defense for my ruling without ever really having the time to explain what exactly that means and why it’s such a good defense for a particular fighter. For example, since this is the Tatooine Region, there have been several Jedi and Sith in this region of the bracket, and one of the biggest reasons I’ve chosen them in battles against opponents that seem more powerful but less precise is that they are more disciplined, but I don’t believe I’ve ever explained exactly what that meant. Since there are only three match-ups today (and this is really the only reason Obi-Wan defeats Carnage here–spoiler alert), now seems like the best opportunity to explain what I mean by the term.
If a fighter is disciplined, I’m obviously not referring to his or her ability to maintain a consistent, healthy diet. Part of being a disciplined fighter is able to stay cool, calm, and collected under pressure. He will not be affected by any outside emotions, positive or negative, in their battle methods. Essentially, they’ve gained some sort of mental clarity that allows them to face danger without blinking and formulate battle plans and adjust on the fly without being affected by fear or intimidation. It’s easy to see how Obi-Wan’s mental clarity will aid him against Carnage, a truly vicious symbiote with animalistic rage and incredible strength. Most opponents would be intimidated by such a creature, and one could easily see how a charging Carnage would strike fear into the heart of his opponent, but Obi-Wan won’t blink.
This is a big deal when you add it to the other half of fighter discipline: the ability to strike at an enemy’s weak point for maximum damage. Let’s face it: Carnage doesn’t have many weak points. Its power level is massive, he can summon any weapon he wants with his tendrils, and he has rapid regeneration abilities. The only way to take him out is a perfect strike to one of his few weak points (for Carnage, I’d say it’s decapitation or bust, but a perfect strike to the heart might be enough). Instead of swinging wildly and hoping to get lucky, Obi-Wan will continue to dodge (the passive abilities of the Force will allow Obi-Wan to sense Carnage’s moves ahead of time) until Carnage makes one mistake, and that’s when he’ll strike.
Essentially, it’s Obi-Wan’s discipline that pushes him from a great swordsman to a complete fighter, and that’s what this tournament is really all about. Carnage is a ferocious beast, but he won’t be able to outsmart Obi-Wan. It’s a struggle, but Obi-Wan advances.
3. Darth Vader vs. 7. Piccolo
I know a lot of you (especially me) were surprised to see Piccolo upset Wolverine on Day Three. Piccolo’s skill set is a lot deeper than most people realize, and his abilities perfectly matched Wolverine point-for-point, except Piccolo had more range. I haven’t heard anyone give me a counter-argument, and I stand by that decision. But now, it’s time for Piccolo to fight a completely different type of fighter: Darth Vader.
Like I said with Obi-Wan, Darth Vader is very disciplined, and his force powers will allow him to sense Piccolo’s movement, even if he can’t see Piccolo for himself. Piccolo would be a fool to try to engage Darth Vader in hand-to-hand combat (the light saber has better reach and could cut the Namekian in half), so the entire fight is based on what happens when Piccolo sends his Destructive waves. Since I’m not really a Dragonball Z expert, it is time for me to do what I always do when I feel lazy when I don’t know the answer: turn to our friends and the experts at picking between two things, Chris Pranger and Kyle Martinak from No Right Answer.
Anyone who’s watched No Right Answer before knows that Chris is a massive Dragonball Z fan, so he seems like the perfect person to ask who would win this fight. Here’s his tweet: “Darth Vader will have the advantage if he knows the Special Beam Cannon defensive Chop. Otherwise, Piccolo will take it”. So, is it safe to assume Darth Vader could reflect Piccolo’s ranged attacks? I thought about this for a while, and at the end of the day, I’m willing to bet the Force could be used to deflect these strong ranged attacks. If Jedi and Sith are able to deflect blaster beams moving at the speed of light, why should any other energy based attack be different? Yes, it’s far more powerful, but the factor in question is not the size of the hole in the ground created when the attack is deflected. If energy beams can be deflected by the force, I have to believe one of the most powerful Sith to ever live could deflect a Special Beam Cannon.
Maybe the strength of the attack means that Vader could only deflect a few before one got through, but the weakness of Dragonball characters is that their energy attacks are an extension of their own energy, and using such attacks drains their life force. I think Piccolo would exhaust himself before Darth Vader let one through, and at that point, it only takes one light saber to the throat to take the battle. It’s not easy, but Darth Vader moves on.
It’s time for our final battle of the Tatooine Region…
1. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. 3. Darth Vader
…and wow, is this a classic. We’ve already seen two iterations of this fight on the big screen. Well, that should make my job easy, right? I mean, if they’ve fought before, I can just make my decision based on what happened the last two times, and that’s that. So let’s look at the fights so far:
1. Star Wars Episode III: Obi-Wan defeats Anakin Skywalker, but is unable to give the finishing blow to his old apprentice. Anakin ends up getting third degree burns in the lava and becoming Darth Vader.
2. Star Wars Episode IV: Darth Vader defeats Obi-Wan, slaying his old master.
…Damn. That didn’t tell us anything! Well, it’s easy to see that Darth Vader is at the pinnacle of his power in the original trilogy (Episodes IV-VI for those of you who don’t know), so now we just need to figure out when Obi-Wan is at the height of his power; if he’s at his height in Episode IV, we have a winner. Quick, to the twitter!
Here’s where Kyle comes into play: “Obi-Wan had his most power in Episode III”.
…Well, there you go. Both defeated the other while at the height of their power. There’s no easy way to determine who is the most powerful. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to determine what would happen when Episode III Obi-Wan went up against Episode VI Darth Vader, as both are among the strongest users of the Force in history. There aren’t even intangibles that give one an advantage: both are disciplined fighters with use of the Force and mastery over their craft.
The match definitely goes to the wire, but I do think there are a couple of factors that give Obi-Wan a slight edge:
First, a lot of a Jedi’s power comes from his ability to be swift. Making acrobatic leaps and being able to respond quickly to any threat that prevents himself is a necessity. It’s clear that Vader’s suit is a limit to his mobility, as are the injuries that will never fully heal from their encounter in Episode III. It’s hard for me to imagine Vader being able to keep up with the more agile Obi-Wan in a full fight.
Second, Vader hasn’t really beaten anybody. I mean, sure, he defeated Obi-Wan in Episode IV, but Obi-Wan was older and past his prime. And even then, there’s some indication that Obi-Wan could have kept fighting, but chose instead to sacrifice himself so the rest of the team could get away. Vader beats Luke in Episode V, but Luke is far from being a Jedi Master at this point (he hasn’t even completed the training), and Luke’s rage towards Vader causes him to sacrifice his technical skills in an effort to simply slice him into bits (yet another reason discipline is so important to a swordsman). Obi-Wan in his prime was able to beat an almost-in-his-prime Anakin, as well as Darth Maul. Those are more impressive victories at the end of the day.
It’s close, but at the end of the day, I think Obi-Wan advances, if only just barely.
So there you have it: Obi-Wan joins Mewtwo in the Final Four of the Tournament of Champions. Agree with my decision? Think I’ve lost my mind? Let me know in the comments below. And be sure to come back on Monday when I take a look at the Hogwarts Region. Will Voldemort be the third 1 seed to advance to the Final Four, or is another fighter lying in wait to steal the region? Find out next week. Until then, this is MaristPlayBoy, signing out.
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