I looked at the MTPO rules and they banned it because it can alter the way the game plays, so that makes sense to me, and I would assume it's the same here. Time to find an alternative.
I saw in the rules the RetroArch is banned as an emulator, but RetroArch is a frontend that can use other emulators like SNEX9X. Is using SNES9X as the emulator under the RetroArch GUI also banned? I couldn't find anything to clarify this point.
Nicely done! Really solid execution. Do you find the rapid quick dives saves time?
This is the method I use to do Alohomora locks fast and consistently on any difficulty, without glitches.
I'm not a fan of the plants/potions build, with the exception of the 1 talent for Edurus because it's so OP. I think dark arts might be the best all arounder for most MQ content, but testing will be needed to know anything for sure.
Petrificus in AoE may prove to be very powerful for fast clears in some places, but it's a late talent, so hard to tell if it'll have much use for time saves by the time you can get it.
Edurus potion and Focus potion talents are completely broken. Edurus you can get at level 5 and it makes you invulnerable and reflects spells for the duration.
Plants are also pretty OP. The level 5 chomping cabbage duplication is very strong. It requires having plants to use, but the eyeball chests, and some dupe glitches for those make buying easy. Growing them might even be worth the time.
Aside from those, all the protego talents can be really strong, especially if you are underpowered compared to what you're fighting.
It seems it's possible to buffer basic casts. An easy way to try it out is using the training dummy in the Crossed Wands area. When you get to 4 basic casts in a row, just tap your basic cast key 4x inside of about 1 second, and you'll automatically fire off all 4 casts in succession.
This appears to work just like any standard buffering, queueing them for the first available frame. Not a big time save, but added up over a run, it can be, especially if you factor in the extra 1-1.5 seconds you have to read the battlefield or react while the queue is dumping.
It also means a bit less fatigue knowing it may be completely pointless to just spam the key to try to press as early as possible after a cast finishes.
Nice to see someone new, and a really clever route.