“FUMBBL SMACK Sched VET CLXXXIII round 1

A very hard fought game by both teams, either team could and at times probably should have won. In more than 10 OT draws in tournaments on FUMBBL (I lost count after 10) I have never won the coin toss. That's no exaggeration, NEVER! So today's win while maybe not deserved (although probably neither was the loss), I happily welcome an OT coin toss win.

Highlights - the Spiked Ball did absolutely nothing as the Desperadoes never failed a ball handling roll (and made 3) during the first half. Meanwhile, the Tauruses had to use the apothecary very early (1st turn or 2nd turn) and the dwarves armor was horribly flawed the 1st half.

Desperadoes were very patient on offense, and though we put pressure on their front we never had a shot at the ballcarrier. The DP went out on the 1st foul and it was only a stun. Fouls this game were pretty lame, with the worst being a few KOs but only the one ejection.

We started breaking armor the 2nd half with a vengeance, and got a player advantage that we nearly kept the entire rest of the game. Sadly, a failed KO roll going into OT squelched that. The score in the 2nd half was pretty much assured around T5, so a good chunk of the 2nd half was just the Tauruses beating up on humans.

Overtime saw us winning the toss and electing to receive. As with the start of the 2nd half, we had to use a reroll right away on some double skulls. Our blocking this game was actually pretty sub-par, with skulls and too many pushes. The Desperadoes played stout defense, and since we started 9 on 9, we were actually outnumbered because of the ballcarrier (see Stonetroll's and Kam's excellent articles in the latest GLT. I tried to put this advice to use and I think it made a small difference in the outcome.

The humans had a small chance to win - 5+ pickup in 2 TZs then a dodge and maybe a gfi (?). They made the pickup, then failed the dodge with no rerolls. The follow-on Stun result pretty much sealed the game. The last turn INT didn't impact the outcome, but I'm glad I chose a dwarf blocker who was close to skilling up.

No FF adjustment was probably a fair call, and the money was decent after the reroll, especially considering the Desperadoes blew us out of the water with the FAME result (+2!!!). At least we rolled the important 6 on the penalty shootout.

Thanks for a challenging game, fluffy_bunny. I'm sure we'll meet again in a future tournament. Keep entering SMACKs, attendance has been down lately and we need all the people we can get. Good luck with the team.

Additional fluff/notes:
- The Taurses MVP went to the CD with the least amount of time played - Utu Sunsmasher
- The Apothecary was used in T1 on Anu Skytyrant. Good thing, as he made that INT at the end
- After racking up 3 CAS in regulation time, Ishkur Stormforge gave himself the rest of the game off. Someone forgot they were in a tournament
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