Well this was it, what everyone had been playing for I suppose in what was (at least on paper) a short season. This was a game between my 1180TV Nurgle and the undefeated
1470TV Norse. This Norse team is
dynamite, and I went in with a wizard, merc rotter and a play card (gives an
opponent Really Stupid) hoping for something, anything to even the odds.
My team was my 4 skilled Pestigors, 2 Nurgle Warriors one
with Block, a Beast of Nurgle with Stand Firm, and 5 Rotters (mostly
loners). This Norse team had been
pulling away from me, Week2 barely eaking out a 1-1 draw, Week4 barely
preventing me from a 2-2 draw, but also with many more casualties. Though I lost that one (2-1), the third seed didn't win his game and so didn't knock me off my perch. Once more unto the final week, and it was going to be the worst yet if
I couldn’t get a classic grind going and cart a couple AV7 off the field in a
hurry. Easier said than done, this was
the best version of this team I had faced yet.
His team was led by 2 runners, one blodge AG4 and one blodge
AG5 which is more than a little broken.
His hitters were 2 ST4 Block Ulfwereners and a MB/Claw/Frenzy/BreakTackle
Yeti affectionally named, “Chewie.” His
linemen were all various 1-skillers, and he ran no Beserkers. My saving grace, no beserkers. And no bench.
The first half was a showcase of Nurgle defense, including a
Turn1 casualty successfully apothecary’d, frustrating Chris to the point where his
AG5 ballcarrier attempted 6 dodges and 2 GFIs to score. He fails the first GFI, still leaving him a score
next turn with a 2+ dodge and 3+ pick-up.
He fails the pickup, and my team wanders aimlessly for the next 3 turns
to go into the half 0-0. This was a
sticking point, incidentally, my failure to ever look ahead and also
consistently forget inducements. With a
slow team like Nurgle, the whole point is to play a turn or two ahead since
that’s how long it takes your guys to get there and yet here I was ALWAYS in
the moment. I didn’t have anything else
going for me, here’s a team with universal Block (except Chewie), exactly
equal strength, much better AG, far better speed, more skills, more rerolls… I had a wizard, a twelfth rotter and
a BlockMB Pestigor named Pi’Noir. I
needed to be looking ahead. I took two
casualties to go into the second half without a bench.
The second half was honestly worse. I gave the ball to an unskilled Nurgle
Warrior, no idea what I was thinking. It
was 0-0, Turn 16 1-0 grind, put it in the books, I guess. He did what he had to, marking my ineffectual
ballcarrier constantly while closing the noose and keeping his distance while
whittling down outliers. It was a
beautiful defense. I used the fireball
Turn 14, KO’ing two defenders which gave me an outside (and I mean outside)
chance at the win. But my team was plagued
by bad rolls, including two guaranteed surfs ending in Both Downs, as well as
the aforementioned terrible ballcarrier decision, and we were destined for 0-0
OVERTIME!
At this point I probably didn’t deserve to win. Setting up on offense I was missing a Block
Pestigor and my ballcarrier Pestigor (who didn’t touch the ball), as well as
a Rotter for a total 9 players (3 Loners).
He fielded all 11. That’s right,
for the entire duration of regular time I had caused that Turn 1 casualty
healed, and the two fireball KO’s that were quickly recovered. Much of my play this game had been focused on
maximizing hits especially with Pi’Noir and I couldn’t remove Norse to save
anything. As in all my BB losses though,
it’s only with hindsight I realize how hard I leaned on a plan that wasn’t
working. Regardless, frustration was settling into resignation because I just didn't feel like my team has a Plan B. His OT Turn 1 stunned both
remaining Nurgle Warriors and a Rotter and we dutifully played out the motions of blitzing
down my ballcarrier and recovering it. I created a chance on defense hitting the blodger with a Pow, but the second die knocked it into a Both Down and I was delaying
the inevitable anyway. He strolls it in
for a 1-0 in overtime and the win. A
rookie coach who picked Norse game 1 and never looked back remains undefeated
Season 1 Champion!!
--------------------------------
Cant win them all, and this wasn’t some game that hinged on
a crazy 3+ roll in the final moments.
This was a blowout, and a simple continuation of the history of these
two teams. It helped that I played badly
and made some very bad calls, but I don’t think I ever had a chance. Going into the previous game I felt BAD for
him, thinking he has no way through my AV9 and with Disturbing Presence
shutting down the handoff game. But I
got out-casualty’d 7:3 over the past two games (which actually isn’t as bad as
I thought…) and I didn’t have any answers for anything else. I think more than anything this is just a
case of 1200TV Nurgle with no doubles or stat-boosts, and 1450TV Norse with boosts
in all the right places save maybe Yeti Block, just being a very bad matchup
for me. For his part Chris is infatuated with the gambling wildness of the
Yeti, and wants to try Chaos, so in that case it’d be awhile before he’s a
threat again. Which I wouldn’t mind- I
am really looking forward to playing someone else for a change!
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