Quantum Sufficit

[Rymdkejsaren]

PRELIMINARY PRE-MATCH REPORT THAT'S REALLY JUST A SILLY GIF

 

 

 

[Galenth]

Awesome victory! Congratulations, waiting for the report!

[Rymdkejsaren]

MD1: MATCH REPORT

(A very serious title for a very serious match.)

 

Oh boy.

 

After some hiring and firing, the TV difference ends up at a square 150k and QS induce a wizard. Carnival wins the toss and choose to receive. They choose a tight defensive formation and leave their ball carrier half-way down the field.

 

Team Captain Uncle Soondead comments: "Going into this season, we figured we'd hit the ground running and don't stop until we win or die. And we knew attempting the 2-1 grind against a superior Nurgle team would be a great way to lose slowly while also dying, so after years of training Duckbutt not to go charging in on turn one, I told him to do just that. He didn't need much convincing."

 

QS blitz through the side with Duckbutt and mark the ball carrier, while attempting to tie down their other players. However, an AG4 goat with tackle still has a shot at Duckbutt after a dodge out. 

 

Fortune strikes (for Duckbutt).

 

 

On top of that, Carnival end their turn with three players unused when a one-die block comes up .

 

QS manage to mark the carrier with Puppers and the other goat with a ghoul, and Duckbutt can blitz out. The ball carrier goes down and the ball bounces... to Puppers! He's marked down by a single pestigor in the next turn, but is curiously open to be cleared by a blitz by Uncle Soondead. 1-0 in turn 3.

 

Carnival advance down the right flank, wary of setting themselves up for a fireball. QS scramble to defend, and despite not having a full line they hold steady, in part due to some poor blocking dice for Carnival when trying to break through. As the clock ticks, Carnival instead dodge out with their carrier but have to leave him vulnerable downfield. QS can get a blitz in and Duckbutt KO's the carrier and marks the ball. An attempt to pick it up and pass with a rotter fails and leaves Carnival's clawpomb in the end zone, open to get surfed into an MNG in the final turn of the first half.

 

Time for QS to receive, and once again they opt for aggressive play against a tight defensive formation. They push through on the left, leaving Carnival players tied down. Carnival break through but do not pose a major threat the following turn. QS see a chance to employ their wizard, Barry Totter, to stall (of all things). Another incredible effort from Totter with a 4/4 hit rate and one KO, QS end up in a position to hold on to the ball in relative safety.

 

The situation at the end of turn 10. Once again, Uncle Soondead's ability to stay far down pitch and then throw the ball far means the ball can be moved safely up the pitch. And coach RK remembered disturbing presence this time, too.

 

After holding out for an additional two turns, Duckbutt sees the pestigors coming and decide it's time to score. 2-0 in turn 13.

 

Carnival make short work of the next touchdown. QS are down three players and are unable to mount an effective defence. 2-1 in turn 14.

 

It's getting sweaty for QS who are down two players and need to hold on to the ball and the win for two turns. That looks difficult as the kick that puts the ball 1 square from the line. QS mark it best they can and then Duckbutt swoops in, opting not to risk a blitz this turn in favour of picking up the ball. After some consideration, he also opts to risk the pass to Uncle Soondead downfield, which succeeds and the ball is safe, for now.

 

The next turn, the pressure is up as Carnival move in multiple potential blitzers and scoring threats. After some deliberation, QS opt to mark the scariest threat with their only free player, then run off and pass up-field, a long pass in the disturbing presence of a Nurgle warrior. But this is what Uncle Soondead trained for, and both the pass and catch are successful. The ghoul, Sméagol IV, runs off and secures the win for QS. 3-1 in turn 16.

 

A marvellous and unexpected start of the season for QS. Not only a win, but facing off against some very scary Nurgle, they come out with only two MNG: a linezombie and Puppers.

 

Live footage from the QS locker room:

 

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

Carnival were stopped at several important times by bad block dice. They also played conservatively, perhaps a bit too conservatively at times, forgoing important marks if they required GFIs and generally avoiding to roll dice when possible. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say, and there's proof in the pudding when the pudding is three OCC championship titles.

 

Yet the upstart necros come into the championship for the first time and are looking to shake things up, ready to take big risks for big rewards. Playing closer to the edge paid off -- this time.

 

But there are eight more teams looking to knock some reality into these risen dead.

 

Team Mascot Dainbread comments: "Brains!"

[Doomy77]

Great start and an excellent report! All the other matches will be easy now, obviously.

[C2MC]

20 hours ago, Doomy77 said:

Great start and an excellent report! All the other matches will be easy now, obviously.

 

Or he gets lulled in to a false sense of superiority, causing a massive downward spike for the remainder of the Season.

[Rymdkejsaren]

I'm quite convinced Doomy was being ironic.

 

I will make no assumptions about the results of future matches based on the result of this one. That would be silly because it's Blood Bowl and it's the bloody OCC championship. Expecting anything other than an uphill struggle would be silly. 

 

That being said, starting out like this has done a lot for my morale. Even if I lose my next two matches spectacularly, I can lean on having beaten a triple champ in my first match. 

[Doomy77]

Irony all the way, baby!

[Rymdkejsaren]

So in case anyone wondered why all I ended up with was two mngs, I guess here's the answer (nurgle in blue):

 

[Doomy77]

That’s quite pushy.

[Grufff]

Watched this match last night in a hopes of learning the Necro ways ahead of my MD2 against Sataric's Nurgle.

Congratulations on the victory! Was a really nice win where things just kept coming up Necro!

 

You've got me thinking I should maybe take a few more risks with my guys (they'll probably just die knowing my luck though)

[Rymdkejsaren]

I'd say taking as many risks as I did in that match isn't advisable. Going in with the wolf like that is what got him niggled in the first place, and considering how often I used to do stuff like that, it's a wonder he's still alive at all. It's a balance; hybrid teams are decent at everything but not great at anything, meaning when they want to push a certain playstyle, the risk will be bigger.

[Borke]

It's also a case of: What are the costs and what do you stand to gain?

 

If it's the Championship on the line, maybe taking more risks is worth it. If you're just starting out with a new team where the cost of rerolling at the end of the season isn't that high, maybe taking that extra dodge with your Wolf to level him is worth it.

 

But if on the other hand you are at the start of the season in tier 2, with a team that already has 4 seasons of development in them, you know that a) your team will need to live for at least 2 more seasons before you can play for the Championship, b) you don't know how the season will go, but you don't necessarily need to come 1st, so each individual result isn't as important and c) if something goes wrong, it'll take 4 seasons to get a fresh team back to this point. In that situation, taking fewer risks is probably the way to go.

[Rymdkejsaren]

Someone should have told me that 10 seasons ago.

[Bouffon]

Yes, long term survival is the thing. Only thing you should be wary of is going down a tier, as that means you have to go up to your previous tier again. Nine more matches is more dangerous than some risky plays.

[Rymdkejsaren]

I'm not here to survive. I'm here to live!

[Doomy77]

4 hours ago, Bouffon said:

Yes, long term survival is the thing. Only thing you should be wary of is going down a tier, as that means you have to go up to your previous tier again. Nine more matches is more dangerous than some risky plays.

I disagree entirely. Go balls out, you’re in reach of the title.  If it fails, rebuild and try again.
 

[Bouffon]

Once you reach the championship, then you can crash and burn in a blaze of glory. 

[Rymdkejsaren]

16 hours ago, Bouffon said:

Once you reach the championship, then you can crash and burn in a blaze of glory. 

 

That's the current situation.

[Rymdkejsaren]

MD2 PRE-THINGY

 

Quantum Sufficit vs Rotten Not Forgotten

 

Here are the teams:

 

 

 

First necro mirror of two this season, and against a more traditional team build. Curiously, while the wolves aren't to be disregarded, the wights are the biggest threats when it comes to the bashing department. A level 1 golem appears to be the only weak point. Their linezombies are both numerous and developed, favouring a wrestle/dirty player which, along with the bribe arena, invites both fouling and being fouled. QS has issues in the linezombie department after losing two fend/block zombies recently, which is a bigger blow than it might sound as it weakens the core defence significantly.

 

180k inducements will likely go towards the obvious, but even if Barry Totter the wizard can pull a repeat of last match's fireball, it may prove tough to break through the meat wall. QS will once again have to rely on their unconventional players to get those touchdowns. But then again, that's how they've gotten this far.

[Doomy77]

Hey, Saxon Man #9 is still around!

[Rymdkejsaren]

MD2: THE REPORT

 

QS start out by pulling a sneaksy move suggested by Sméagol IV. Gollum VIII is fired in order to get a journeyman zombie for fodder and some extra inducement cash to hire Wilhelm Chaney instead of a wizard.

 

The weather is a blizzard and QS begin defending after losing the toss. The Rotten take it slow and Chaney draws a lot of their attention, and already in turn 3 he's fouled off the pitch, though he regenerates the injury. The fouler is sent off, and with the Rotten's STR 4 wight and a QS linezombie KO'd, the teams are still on equal footing.

 

The Rotten push the right flank hard but can't break through. The ghoul ball carrier retreats but the werewolf sent to cover him trips. QS get a shot at the ball carrier, assuming they can make one of two 1-die blocks work, but even with the RR it fails, and they again focus on holding the line.

 

Another breakout attempt in turn 7 takes the Rotten towards the middle, and there's a real threat of a touchdown. QS feel it's time to risk it and send Krimples the flesh golem to mark despite two gfis in the blizzard, one which eats a RR. Then Duckbutt can charge in, and although no damage is done, the final positions hold the line much better. The Rotten head back to the sideline and the situation looks problematic for QS ahead of the Rotten's turn 8.

 

 

But again, Krimples moves in for some of that sweet guard and Duckbutt charges in, taking out the pomb wight and marking the ball carrier, after which Uncle Soondead dodges through the defence and places himself square in the way of the Rotten's scoring path.

 

The Rotten spot an opportunity to do some damage, and instead of trying for a double dodge scoring opportunity with the ghoul, go for a 1-die frenzy blitz on Soondead to surf him out of the way.

 

 

Team Captain Uncle Soondead comments: "Well, sometimes you gotta present yourself as a juicy surfing target to distract the opponent from scoring."

 

0-0 in the first half.

 

For the second half, the Rotten are down one player and are missing both their wights, so it's looking dark for them. But a daring spectator with a solid throwing arm decides to even the odds:

 

 

! Not a lot of value for those 240k gold. The teams are suddenly more evenly matched.

 

Uncle Soonded grabs the ball and heads to the back of the pitch, and as soon as the Rotten push towards him, he passes to Duckbutt who runs the ball up the pitch and out of reach.

 

Meanwhile, players are leaving the pitch left and right, and as the Rotten close in on Duckbutt, QS decide that the stall might be the lower risk when comparing casualty boxes. Sméagol VII has been murdered and is playing for the Rotten, and a zombie and a golem who regenerated are set to come back. The Rotten only need to succeed 1 out of 2 KO rolls to get a full team. Meanwhile, QS have four KOs and enough removals that they would have to succeed all four to get a full team. So they stall, even when it gets risky.

 

Let's take a moment to appreciate the value of the grab skill, which lets you tie down those pesky side-steppers. Here, it lets Krimples screen a wolf off from the ball carrier (who ran off to the left):

 

 

But inevitably, the Rotten get their chance at the ball carrier, and this time both the 1-die block and the bounce end up in their favour:

 

 

But then maybe they push their luck a bit far in the blizzard...

 

 

Duckbutt takes out the ghoul and Uncle Soondead swoops in and picks up the ball, and QS are able to hold onto it until the final turn, notably marking down a wolf with a double GFI, while the Rotten fail to mark Soondead again due to another GFI mishap and no RRs remaining. 1-0 in turn 16.

 

The Rotten attempt a one-turner, but without RRs on hand it's a long shot that fails. The match goes to QS.

 

Team Captain Uncle Soondead comments: "Well, there's no doubt that lady Nuffle chose to favour us in a few turnabout moments, but I feel we made a good showing considering how we were mostly fighting uphill. Also, I think that sneaky Sméagol fellow got what's coming after he got that nice Gollum chap fired."

 

Once again, Quantum Sufficit dance the victory dance!

 

 

Next week: humans.

[Remthar]

Seems to be off to a good start up there.

[Rymdkejsaren]

Starting out with two victories certainly wasn't my expectation. The trick is to keep expecting nothing. I won a lot at the start of the first season, and as soon as the possibility dawned on my that I might actually promote to the championship, I got jittery and lost two matches.

[Rymdkejsaren]

MD3 PRE-REPORT

 

Quantum Sufficit vs Thieving Unfortunates

 

Here are the teams:

 

 

 

Team Captain Uncle Soondead comments: "How come the first team I actually feel worried about playing against are bloody HUMANS?"

 

Indeed! Now that we've started the season with two victories, things are suddenly feeling serious.

 

QS spent their winnings on a new ghoul and a zombie to bolster their ranks, but the TV difference will still be 200k and change. A wizard seems more likely this time as we have our wolves, but we'll see what fancy strikes coach RK on match day.

 

The Unfortunates have a solid roster and two superstars, a STR 4 star blitzer who is quite dinged up and an AG 4 runner who is a potential scoring machine. Depitching either would do a good job of increasing QS chances of a win.

 

Meanwhile, the stars are stealing all the SPPs for QS and Dimples still hasn't gotten a second level for guard, and with the loss of a couple of developed linezombies there is a need for spp love on the newbie zombies as well. A few well-placed MVPs and casualties could go a long way, there.

[Rymdkejsaren]

And looking at the leaderboards. this match is quite important, despite how early we are in the season. I will have to get a lot of meditation done ahead of it so that I can put all those thoughts aside and just play. We're playing tomorrow (Monday) evening.

 

Ok, breathe...