Magus' Contest History

Who is Magus?
God himself honors but one video game character, and one video game character only. That character is Magus, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Magus is simply that damned amazing.

When Chrono Trigger first begins, you are led to believe that Magus is the main villain of the game. As such, the party uses their ability to travel all over every stretch of time in an effort to find a way to defeat Magus. After a lot of searching, they party soon realizes that they need the Masamune in order to take him down. After another ordeal simply to find and repair the legendary sword, everyone finally goes into Magus's castle with the sole intent of beating the hell out of him.

Little did the party know that in their efforts to defeat Magus, they were essentially taking down a would-be ally. After the long, arduous battle with the supposed fiend, Magus revealed that he was only using those around him to gain power; the power necessary to summon, and hopefully battle, Lavos himself. A giant wormhole soon opened up, and everyone was thrown into different points in time.

Luckily for Magus, he was thrown back into the era in which he was born: 12000 BC, the time of Zeal. Magus used his knowledge of the past to pass off as a powerful oracle, and he was quickly able to work his way up into the most powerful ranks of the mighty kingdom of Zeal. The party soon makes their way to the time of 12000 BC as well, and even though they never encounter Magus, they do encounter the "oracle" a number of times. After more events pass, virtually every major character in the game somehow meets in front of Lavos within the Ocean Palace. Magus's guise of being an oracle ends here, but something else of major importance ends here as well.

After the events of the Ocean Palace, most parties would give up. But not the party in Chrono Trigger. In their defense, they are truly a symbol of a collective group never giving up no matter the cost. But the cost soon became a choice that would very well be between life and death. The party encounters Magus on the North Cape with the choice to fight him for his actions in the beginning of the game, or they can simply let him go after having learned of Magus's true past. Many people choose to battle Magus at this point, but those who let him live are granted the reward of Magus himself joining the party in their efforts to take down Lavos. With Magus in the party, they are given one of the most powerful allies in the game, but they are also dealing with a character who has no regrets about ever saying what is on his mind. But considering how stupid some of the characters act in the game at times, a character telling them the truth about themselves is a nice breath of fresh air.

Magus is one of the single deepest characters ever conceived, and he has everything necessary to do so. He has the looks, he has the attitude, and he has a deep, well thought out script that only enhances his legend. He also has a knack for staring any danger in the face and laughing at it. The story of Magus that the party members see for themselves is deep in and of itself, but there is also a giant backstory that goes along with Magus being the way he is. Magus is a brilliant character, and not only is he easily the deepest character in Chrono Trigger, but he can make a good case for being the deepest character of all time.

"If history is to change, let it change! If the world is to perish, let it perish! If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh! I'm coming, Lavos!" - Janus Zeal

Magus's Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 4-4

Summer 2003 Contest - North Division - 13 Seed
 * Northern Round 1 --- Defeated (4) Sam Fisher, 60598 [66.25%] - 30866 [33.75%]
 * Northern Quarterfinal --- Defeated (12) Ganondorf, 55179 [50.30%] - 54529 [49.70%]
 * Northern Semifinal --- Lost to (1) Link, 38747 [34.93%] - 72188 [65.07%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 9th Place [33.80%]

Summer 2004 Contest - Hyrule Division - 6 Seed
 * Hyrule Round 1 --- Defeated (11) Luca Blight, 57128 [81.04%] - 13367 [18.96%]
 * Hyrule Quarterfinal --- Lost to (3) Crono, 23539 [30.22%] - 54361 [69.78%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 9th Place [32.57%]

The single biggest snub in the Summer 2002 Contest was Magus, so it comes as no surprise that the newcomer who performed the best of all newcomers in the Summer 2003 Contest was Magus himself. Magus wasn't a character on par with the elites like many would have liked, but him managing to finish in the Top 10 in the Xsts two years in a row proves beyond any doubt that Magus has enough of a fanbase to hold his own in these contests. And even with Magus being adjusted accordingly in the SFF Adjusted Xsts this year, it is still very possible that he still managed to suffer a small shot to his overall strength with the massive SFF that appeared in the bracket. Magus may not be able to beat the likes of Link or Crono, but it's not a stretch to see him being on the level of Sonic or Solid Snake. In a balanced bracket, Magus is an absolute force to the characters that hover around his level in strength, and we can only hope that we get to see what Magus is truly capable of in future contests.

Summer 2005 Contest - Devil Division - 3 Seed
 * Devil Round 1 --- Lost to (6) Knuckles, 50153 [49.14%] - 51909 [50.86%]
 * Extrapolated Strength --- 20th Place [29.26%]

"In a balanced bracket, Magus is an absolute force to the characters that hover around his level in strength, and we can only hope that we get to see what Magus is truly capable of in future contests."

Oh he showed us what he was capable of. No worries there.

There is overrated, and then there is Magus. After Summer 2003, Magus's match against Link had him in the top ten in the stats. He was stuck behind SFF (supposedly) in 2004 and was simply given the same value.

What did this all lead to? When the Summer 2005 bracket was released, it was widely believed that the Devil Division was Magus's to waltz through, and that only Squall would pose any real threat to him. As such, virtually everyone picked Magus to win the entire division before his inevitable rematch loss to Crono.

But Magus's little run through a balanced bracket in which he would show his true strength was over before it even began, as Knuckles not only proved that Magus was overrated, but outright beat him. And even had Magus held on to defeat Knuckles, Squall would have likely beat the hell out of him anyway. Lord only knows what in the world happened in 2003 that caused Magus to become so overrated in the first place, but the real Magus has begun to show.

The funniest thing of all is that due to being such a heavy favorite, Magus might still be overrated in the stats. Is it truly safe to pick Magus to take down the likes of a Luigi, Auron, or Master Chief?

Summer 2007 Contest - Division 3 - First Group
 * Division 3 Round 1 --- 1st place, 39354 [30.87%] - Phoenix Wright, 30548 [23.96%] - Bomberman, 30467 [23.90%] - Crash Bandicoot, 27107 [21.26%]
 * Division 3 Round 2 --- 3rd place, 23700 [17.80%] - Mario, 62062 [46.60%] - Big Boss, 33146 [24.89%] - Phoenix Wright, 14263 [10.71%]

Has anyone taken a larger fall than Magus? It's getting harder and harder to believe he once put up 35% on Link once upon a time. 2005 proved he had been overrated, but people were still surprised by what he did. Somehow, he looked even worse. He struggled to break 30% on a fourpack that featured four characters who are low midcarder/fodder level, at best. He trailed Phoenix Wright for a full hour to start that match. He lost updates to Crash Bandicoot.

Then, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, Magus got smoked by Big Boss. To be fair, he had his Naked Snake picture, but even so, you wouldn't expect their strengths to be that far apart. Chrono Trigger as a whole took a big hit in this contest, and it's getting harder and harder to pick Magus with any confidence in a match against a solid midcarder. Who's the strongest person he can beat now? I don't even know.