Hmm, doesn't seem like that long ago when I hit 2k, but it's actually been quite a while, huh. As you grow older the time for trivialities like blood bowl grows ever scarcer but maybe that's what makes the games played feel more worth it :)

On topic of the last 1k matches, blackbox mostly, I took a very long break after burning out picking cherries in ranked but I was eventually seduced back into the game via the tabletop version and returned to the site in the dying era of BB16. I would continue playing teams without any goal or ambition whenever I was bored and this continued until I eventually found my way into Suomiliiga (the Finnish league) where I really got the bug for more serious competition, played for three season there until turning my sights towards larger tournaments.

I managed to make a somewhat deep run into the last GLT with my khemri team, eventually going out against JimmyFantastic (who would go on to to win the whole thing) in the quarterfinal round due to some boneheaded ball carrier positioning in the second half. After my shameful defeat I needed another goal to work towards and with majors being few and far between I set my target on the next prestigious thing, the illustrious Blackbox Trophy. I had attempted to compete in the past but rarely managed to make it past a few games before suffering team-wrecking (in my overly critical mind) damage and deleting the teams, but this time there was something new.

The vampire team update had just launched on Fumbbl and with them being so affordable in BBT squad currency I was able to make a powerful squad with the bloodsuckers, orcs, dwarves and chaos dwarves (AV10+ ftw). For the first time I decided to make a serious attempt of it if I secured at least a decent record with the vampires. And I did, I managed a 13/0/2 score partly due to being a filthy lucker, partly due to having a lot of vampire experience from CRP days.

Most of my games as vampires would go in a similar pattern, I would kick either by picking to kick or by my opponent choosing to attack first and then I would simply sit on my side of the pitch waiting for the ball to draw closer without activating my vampires unnecessarily. This would naturally funnel my opponent into bunkering in the middle which I could slow down and eventually crack with hypno or just making a mad dash sidecage which is like handing free blood bags to vampires. The draws certainly favored me a lot as I didn't have to face too many agility teams which I find much harder to deal with.

All that was left was steamrolling TV minmaxing tier 1 teams into victory which is exactly what I did. Nobody really cares about boring dwarf and orc grind stories so I'll cut that part out.

My 60th game with the squad was coincidentally (I swear) also my 3k anniversary match so what better way to let it conclude than to leave it up to the vagaries of the blackbox draw. I got coach ceetee with his chaos dwarves in a closely TV matched game, however I personally think my leaner build had the upper hand against the big hatters with bench. Long story short, game started as a struggle as I decided to kick and the chaos dwarves were more than happy to remove and stun most of my team in short order, however the opportunity for a sacking arrived in the form of a 4+ big un dodge which failed to dislodge the ball but eventually jammed up the ball carrier enough for the orcs to regroup, collapse on the ball and slip away with it for 1-0 defensive TD in the first half.

Second half turned nasty very quickly as my greenskins turned their mighty blow on and in short order removed five players in the opening turns and the game quickly winded down after that. I didn't want any risks so I opted for an early 2-0 touchdown lead on the 14th turn and just slowed the chaos dwarves down enough to make it a 2-1 at the whistle. My final score with the squad is a neat clean 60 points, 3 racial leads (vampires, dwarves and orcs) with 46 wins, 10 draws and 4 bitter losses. A record to be proud of for sure, but still somewhat unsatisfactory.

For sure all of my records and statistics have improved across the board especially in the last 100 or so games, but my mind still finds flaws in my gameplans and execution which just shows that the road of improving never ends, not even for top 5 Legends :)

I'll leave it on that thought for now, maybe 1k more to come?

To all of my haters, I love you all. To all of my lovers, what's wrong with you people?

-Jan