ELEMENTAL ARMORY BENCHMARK · LEVEL 5

Qwen3.5 9B at level 5, match 1

Won 2 to 0 with Fire/Plant/Lightning/Dark against the rival's Lightning/Wind/Ice/Water. The rival in its seat lost the same match. All of Qwen3.5 9B's matches.

RESULTWon

ROUNDS2 to 0

LEVEL5

DECISIONS3

ILLEGAL0

MODEL TIME9.3 min

COSTlocal, no list price

TOKENS IN / OUT9,556 / 6,041

REQUESTS5

The decks

Its deck	Fire Meteor ★★★, Flame Wheel ★★★ Plant Wild Growth ★★★, Thorn Hedge ★★★ Lightning Skystrike ★★, Forked Bolt ★★★ Dark Nightfall ★★★, Reaper ★★★
The rival's deck	Lightning Spark Pair ★, Ricochet Bolt ★★ Wind Countergust ★★★, Tailwind ★ Ice Blizzard ★★★, Frost Comet ★★ Water Crosscurrent ★★★, Tidal Orb ★★

The deck reply

<deck>
Fire: Meteor, Flame Wheel
Plant: Wild Growth, Thorn Hedge
Lightning: Skystrike, Forked Bolt
Dark: Nightfall, Reaper
</deck>

The game's players on this match

Player	Result	Rounds
Qwen3.5 9B	Won	2 to 0
Rival in your seat	Lost	0 to 2
Starter player	Lost	0 to 2
Sharp player	Won	2 to 0
Tuned player	Won	2 to 0

Every round

The drawings show both balls' paths from the opening launch, as the game shows the arena: the model's ball in blue starting at the bottom, the rival's in red from the top. The table has each round's launches, who won, the health left and what every card did, the game's own battle details, with the reply that chose it. The match file carries an arcade-session/1 envelope: the seed and these launches replay this exact match at Elemental Armory commit 78afdf2.

Round 1: Fire against Wind, won

Round 2: Plant against Water, won

Round	Its launch	Rival's launch	Result	HP left	Battle details
1	Fire at 0°	Wind at -152.4°Wind snuffs Fire	Won4.4 s	66 / 132rival 0 / 132	Its cards: Meteor: 0 hits, 75 damage; Flame Wheel: 0 hits, 57 damage Rival: Countergust: 0 hits, 0 damage; Tailwind: 2 hits, 66 damage	Reply (most dangerous, counters Fire/Dark): You need Lightning (likely) or Plant. If they pick Lightning: You need Dark (guaranteed win). If they pick Ice: You need Fire. If they pick Water: You need Plant or Lightning. Which is the "best" single ball to minimize loss? If I play Lightning, I lose only to Ice. The rival has Ice. So I lose 1/4 matchups (maybe). If I play Dark, I lose only to Wind. Rival has Wind. I lose 1/4 matchups. If I play Fire, I lose to Water, Wind. That's 2/4 potential losses immediately if those are strong. Plus maybe Plant/Ice? Fire beats Ice. So Fire loses to Water and Wind. (2 vs 2). If I play Plant, wins vs Water. Loses to...? Usually Lightning > Plant? Or Dark > Plant? If Dark swallows Lightning, who is dark's prey
2	Plant at 0°	Water at 90.3°Plant drinks Water	Won2.8 s	132 / 132rival 0 / 132	Its cards: Wild Growth: 1 hits, 63 damage; Thorn Hedge: 1 hits, 69 damage Rival: Crosscurrent: 0 hits, 0 damage; Tidal Orb: 0 hits, 0 damage	Reply g"). If they play Lightning, Dark wins big. If they play Ice or Water, Dark is still strong (Nightfall drains health regardless). * Plant loses to whatever counts Plant. If Lightning counters Plant, Plant is risky. * Lightning loses to Ice. If they have Ice, you lose the round quickly due to slow + burst. * Therefore, Dark is the optimal choice to handle a potential Lightning pick (which they might do to counter your Plant) and has good tools against Ice/Water via damage/steal. 5. Launch Angle: * You want to minimize time in range if they have a slow or long-range auto. * However, `Reaper` is an auto that curves around ("hooked scythe"). `Nightfall` marks and steals. These need the rival to enter their area. * Launching at 0 degrees

Round

Its launch

Rival's launch

Result

HP left

Battle details

Fire at 0°

Wind at -152.4°Wind snuffs Fire

Won4.4 s

66 / 132rival 0 / 132

Its cards: Meteor: 0 hits, 75 damage; Flame Wheel: 0 hits, 57 damage

Rival: Countergust: 0 hits, 0 damage; Tailwind: 2 hits, 66 damage

 (most dangerous, counters Fire/Dark): You need **Lightning** (likely) or **Plant**.
If they pick **Lightning**: You need **Dark** (guaranteed win).
If they pick **Ice**: You need **Fire**.
If they pick **Water**: You need **Plant** or **Lightning**.

Which is the "best" single ball to minimize loss?
If I play **Lightning**, I lose only to Ice. The rival has Ice. So I lose 1/4 matchups (maybe).
If I play **Dark**, I lose only to Wind. Rival has Wind. I lose 1/4 matchups.
If I play **Fire**, I lose to Water, Wind. That's 2/4 potential losses immediately if those are strong. Plus maybe Plant/Ice? Fire beats Ice. So Fire loses to Water and Wind. (2 vs 2).
If I play **Plant**, wins vs Water. Loses to...? Usually Lightning > Plant? Or Dark > Plant? If Dark swallows Lightning, who is dark's prey

Plant at 0°

Water at 90.3°Plant drinks Water

Won2.8 s

132 / 132rival 0 / 132

Its cards: Wild Growth: 1 hits, 63 damage; Thorn Hedge: 1 hits, 69 damage

Rival: Crosscurrent: 0 hits, 0 damage; Tidal Orb: 0 hits, 0 damage

g"). If they play Lightning, Dark wins big. If they play Ice or Water, Dark is still strong (Nightfall drains health regardless).
    *   **Plant** loses to whatever counts Plant. If Lightning counters Plant, Plant is risky.
    *   **Lightning** loses to Ice. If they have Ice, you lose the round quickly due to slow + burst.
    *   Therefore, **Dark** is the optimal choice to handle a potential Lightning pick (which they might do to counter your Plant) and has good tools against Ice/Water via damage/steal.

5.  **Launch Angle**:
    *   You want to minimize time in range if they have a slow or long-range auto.
    *   However, `Reaper` is an auto that curves around ("hooked scythe"). `Nightfall` marks and steals. These need the rival to enter their area.
    *   Launching at **0 degrees**

Angles are as each side sees the arena from its own end: 0 is straight at the other ball's start, and positive turns clockwise.