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This match report may contain language that you find distasteful.

If you are easily offended, sensitive, have no sense of humour, or have had something tragic happen to yourself or a loved one then look away now in case you have a reaction to something in the report.

The following terms may or may not be used in the following match report:

Assault
Bad coaching
Bad luck
Bash
Block
Bloody
Crap
Crud
Death
Dice
Dice rape
Hit
Kill
Lucker
Lucky
Murder
Smash
Splatt
Unlucky
Useless
Whiner
Whining
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A great game against a great coach. Some great luck for me and some awful luck for my opponent gave me the advantage, but it was still a great fun match.

The Guardians gave away two handicaps this match, and they were great ones for my opponent:

It Wasn't Me - on a MA 10 Catcher
I Am the Greatest - causing me to bench a 142 SPP Lino with Blodge, Guard, Kick, Tackle, +MA the whole match

This left me with 12 players, but one of them could only substitute for my Str 4 Wardancer - a key player.

The Guardians were received the kickoff and were not at all confident of any penetration with the Fate loaded with Diving Tackle players all over the pitch. However, a Quick Snap gave the Guardians an advantage as they slipped three players deep into Fate territory, knocking out one of their Wardancers on the way through.

The Guardians were soon up 1-0 as the Fate Wardancer Prometheus III continued his nap in the KO box at the start of the next drive.

The Fate pushed forward slightly before their AG5 Sure Hands Thrower paddled the ball clumsily on the ground as he attempted to pick it up (snake eyes).

The Guardians swarmed the Fate backfield and stole the ball with their AG5 Catcher. There was not an easy way for my opponent to get to my Catcher and so he started with some easier stuff up field, like blocking with his Treeman with Block. Well, it looked easiy, but a double skulls later gave the Guardians an easy 2-0 lead.

Very unlucky for my opponent so far.

The Fate lined up on offence again, and again made some small inroad into the Guardians half before their Wardancer failed a 3+ Dodge with RR and knocked himself out! Whilst this put the Fate on the backfoot, at least the ball was safely in the hands of their star thrower.

The Guardians applied some pressure sending their rookie Catcher Aladir Silverleaf deep and laying a tackle zone on the Fate thrower. The Fate ended Aladir's first match with a brutal block that caused him a serious injury before scoring a TD. (It was close, a 3+ catch required, and then a 2+ dodge with RR and a 2+ GFI, the catch was dropped first roll and made with a team RR).

The Guardians set up with one turn left and tried to do a chain pushback TD with their AG5 Catcher. The first block was perfect, sending the Fate blodger player into the first square. The next block was tragic. 3 dice by the Treeman, netting 2 Pows and a Skull. The Pow flattened the Fate player and the Guardians were one square short of a possible TD heh.

In the second half, the Guardians only had 10 players on defence and the Fate easily penetrated deep with 5 players on their opening drive. The Guardians applied some pressure but it was not enough as the Fate were able to free a player for an easy score (3+ to catch with RR required due to rain) to tie up the match.

The Guardians lined up on offence with penetrated deep with 4 players. The Fate covered the interlopers but did not send any players to pressure the Guardians ball carrier so they took an extra turn trying to improve their position on the field, before setting up a reasonably difficult score to take the lead once more.

On the next Fate drive, the Guardians did a Blitz! The ball went deep into the Fate corner and the Guardians had two players within striking distance. The Fate flattened one, but then fumbled their pass attempt leaving the ball near the end zone (very unlucky)! The Guardians were able to recover the ball to take a 4-2 lead with less than half of the final period remaining.

The Fate scored a quick easy reply to take the score to 4-3 in the Guardians favour, but there was only one Fate turn left, and so they could not draw the match without a Blitz or Injury Time and the Guardians escaped with the victory. Not before the Fate seriously injured one of their Wardancers on a one dice blitz rerolled into a Skull however LOL. Was apothed though luckily.
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Anyways, it was a great match vs a very good and fun coach. Full credit to Istarios who laughed merrily at his bad luck instead of whining and getting agro. A great sportsman and a pleasure to play.

Whilst my opponent had awesome luck with the two handicaps, the in game luck at crucial times was awful for him. Overall though, it was the Blitz that broke the game open. Even the initial bad luck was not that crucial in my opinion. Although Istarios had the early snake-eyes trying to pick up the ball leading to me taking a 2-0 lead, the halftime score was 2-1 regardless. If I had not stolen the ball, it might have been that scoreline anyway if I held onto the ball long enough before scoring from a 1-1 position. I also had a possible chance of a one turn TD by my AG5 Catcher foiled by my Tree not rolling any Pushes or Dodge/Pows heh.

So overall, I think it was the Blitz that decided the game. Otherwise it could have easily ended up a draw or a loss for me as my opponent played a top game and put me under a lot of pressure.

Anyways it was a great match and I wish Istarios and his team luck in the future.







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