Talk Fantasy Football

Okay, I'm up against our very own Happygrue, so I'm assuming he'll read this. Such is life: he's readied his team, so there's nothing he can do but gameplan. Game is in 34 hours from time of writing. As you will see, the odds are stacked heavily against me in this match. Happygrue has maybe the best Slann team I've ever seen, and by far the best one I've ever played against. If you took me at even money in this match I'd ask for some of what you're smoking, but I always have a puncher's chance, 'cause I punch.

Happygrue: Hop on Pop (21-4-14), 2.04M Slann. Krox, 4 Blitzers, 7 Linefrogs, 4 RR, Apo, FF10.
Krox: Block/Guard/BT/SF
Blitzers: +MA/+AG/Blodge; +AG/Blodge/Tackle; Block/POMB
Linefrogs: +AG/+ST/Blodge/Tackle; +AG/Wrestle/Strip; Block/Guard/Fend; 4x Rookie

Me: Ballbustore Mavens (9-6-2), 1.57M (so far) Amazon. 4 Blitzers, 2 Catchers, Thrower, 5 Linewomen, 3 RR, Apo, FF10.
Blitzers: Guard/MB; 2x Guard; Tackle
Catchers: Block/SS/Tackle; Block/Guard
Thrower: +MA/SH
Linas: +MA/Block/MB; +MA/Block; Block/Tackle; Block; Rookie

That leaves me as a 470k underdog. Money is no concern: got 670k in Treasury. My basic plan is to induce a Halfling Mistress Chef and AC/CLs to deny TRRs. "Say hello to my little friend! And her little friends!"

What do y'all think? Happygrue, if you must vote, vote pie. I did.

There's no guarantee I'll pick the winner. There is a guarantee I'll hear y'all out.

I’ve never been convinced that the masterchef is worth 300K most of the time. A Wizard, bribes, babes and apoths all seem more useful in a mostly AV7 vs AV7 game with 12 players a team.

A star or merc may be worth it as well.

Slann are AV8 though. He needs rerolls to leap. Could work.

Would be tempted to induce chainsaw, bribe, babes instead of master chef though. Merc with DP costs 100k, chainsaw costs what, 110k? And fouls better.

Wizard is a must. He can cagebreak at will, how do your Zons do it most reliably? With a fireball.

Don't need pie on this forum

I'm quite sold on the Chef. I don't see how any other inducement can break my opponent's strategy the way two hits from the Chef can. That basically nukes all his +AG, makes him think 3 times instead of just twice before pulling any Leapy goodness (that's part of why I got all that Tackle ahead of this game, the other parts being a gnarly Dark Elf team on the horizon and a desire to enter these ladies to the XFL). Normally I think he's overpriced, but against Slann he's potentially brutal. Even starting with just 3 RRs can be a killer.

I can break just about any cage: the only way offenses ever get anything on me is either bloodshed or shenanigans, which is why I want to deny him RRs. (I'm also about one RR light for tournament play, and the Chef takes care of that.) The Wizard would be for recoveries after he cagebreaks me. My main concern is offense. He's got great cagebreakers, and I give up more scores on offense than I do on defense (I score about the same amount, either way). I'm going to have to play with uncharacteristic discipline and hope he doesn't get lucky.

I thought about a Chainsaw. But on my last page of games, I have induced a Chainsaw twice and faced one once. Here are the results:

1) Induced Helmut. He kicked back on first use, KO.
2) Induced Flint. He snaked out on first foul vs net AV2 on a Mummy.
3) Faced Nobbla. He burned RR on early kickback, then stunned a player, then went KO on turn 2.

Waste of TV, that. For what, three free foul assists? I'd rather have the injury mod, thanks. She costs 20k more, but she has Dodge, does more damage on fouls, doesn't kick back, and isn't AV5. The 40k left over would be for "chef insurance" to deny RRs on BC/CF. I'm strongly inclined to take one of the inducement options listed: it's the last 170k I'm not sure on.

Not keen on my star options. Krox will own Bertha, Roxanna doesn't fit my style very well, Zara would have gotten a workout had SunDevil's Khemri won out, but not vs Frogs, and Willow would be the only player without either Block or Dodge.

FAME math: he's got 5/12 to get FAME +1, and no shot at +2.
BC/CF comes up 10/36 of the time, about 28% of drives. Let's say he'll get three meaningful shots, or about 5/6 of a roll.
No AC/CL: 5/6 x ((7x6)+(5x8))/108 = 205/324, about 2/3 of a TRRC
One each: 5/6 x ((7x3)+(5x6))/108 = 85/216, a little under 40%
Two each: 5/6 x ((7x1)+(5x3))/108 = 55/324, about 1/6
Three each: 5/6 x 5/108 = 25/648, about 4%.
Four: 0.

So, do I want him to be on 2.51 TRRs per half and pick up 100k in purchases or inducements, or do I want him on 2.58 and have a Dirty Player, or 2.7 and have a Wizard? My gut says the middle one.

This kind of makes me wish I had a little Wrestle, to line up on the Krox. But my Wrestlers all died forcing turnovers on blocks from unskilled opponents (3 deaths in 2 games, all caused the same way; in fact, I've never declined to use Wrestle and not suffered a casualty).

It may not be too late to submit a support ticket and get Wrestle instead of Tackle for the Block/Tackle lina. But I don't think so. I know how to handle him.

Matt - in your shoes I would take Chef + Wizard. Your opponent is already short by 1RR, IMO. Think what you would most hate if you were Slann - surely it is the Chef.

Let us know how you get on.

Totally. I'm just not sure which accompanying strategy is the best: Wizard to pop the ball, or DP to get rid of that super-frog. If I can get rid of the freak Linefrog, or the Krox, or two from among the Guard lino, the stripper, the two +AG Blitzers, or the POMBer, I will suddenly have the upper hand. Heck, if I can hit two of those objectives, this game could be mine in a hurry. If I get rid of that Kroxigor in the first few turns, his poor froggies will be lost to the Sea of Little Red Dots.

You could say the idea of the Dirty Player is to, uh, hop on Pop.

Seeing you bring a DP as an inducement will also have your opponent see what your plan is: Kill all frogz!

Baduk wrote:Seeing you bring a DP as an inducement will also have your opponent see what your plan is: Kill all frogz!

Is there any doubt? He knows who I am. He knows I'm going to mob him with zones and smash his face in, because that's what I do. I don't actually foul a lot, but I block around the clock, so even with very little fouling or POMBing, I deal a fair load of damage and don't let my opponents take many actions (I call my playbook The Sea of Little Red Dots, because when it's working most coaches spend about 90 seconds activating guys, looking at all their horrible options, deactivating them, activating other guys, looking at more little red dots, sigh...). It works really well against POMB teams, because they have to either get lucky right away with multiple removals in the first couple turns, or get mobbed and suffocated and forced into shenanigans. It does not work very well against teams that don't care about tackle zones: Vampires, Skaven, Stunties, ... Slann ....

If I take her, my goal would be not to use her on rookie Linefrogs, but to go for opportunity fouls against the stars. I figure my hit list to be Lars, Pop, Tango, Salsa, the Guard frog (blanking on the name, doing this from memory), and Marengue. That Wizard sure is tempting, but I have a bad feeling about it, so I'm tempted not to do it. Also, it is the Majors: the idea of inducing a Wizard out of petty cash is not a crazy one for him, and if he does, I want to be able to capitalize to maximum effect.

I have three hours and thirty minutes to decide. I'm going to do some chores and contemplate.

mattgslater wrote:I'm quite sold on the Chef. I don't see how any other inducement can break my opponent's strategy the way two hits from the Chef can. That basically nukes all his +AG, makes him think 3 times instead of just twice before pulling any Leapy goodness (that's part of why I got all that Tackle ahead of this game, the other parts being a gnarly Dark Elf team on the horizon and a desire to enter these ladies to the XFL). Normally I think he's overpriced, but against Slann he's potentially brutal. Even starting with just 3 RRs can be a killer.

Seeing as I just got done being beaten by Happygrue and one of his damned frog teams in our NBFL match last night, I can verify that this is actually a solid plan.

Normally I would concur that the master chef is a waste of inducement money and you still may want to give other options thought, but I will tell you this true story so that you may chew on it.

Happygrue successfully stalled off enough of the first half, after receiving the opening kick, to take a 1-0 lead at halftime. I couldn't get a good shot at his ball carrier and seeing as I was playing with Khemri I didn't want to risk being down men for a second half surge considering that I was quite effectively pummelling him and had the numbers advantage.

I receive the second half kick and methodically began my bashy march down the field. I quite literally was within a single throw-ra movement of the goal line, fully caged with guard toting TGs flanking my front. At this point I am 100% sure that this game will end in at least a tie. Grue, realizing that he wa running out of options, decides to pull some insane last minute, leap into my cage and 2d against strike my ball carrier. Not only does he succesfully make the leap into about 4 TZs, he comes up with a double POW/push on my dodge Ra. He of course has tackle so down he goes. Ball comes out, armor breaks, Throw-ra heads to the Badly hurt box. Ball bounces to a TG WHO CATCHES IT! I'm thinking at this point that he definitely doesn't stand a chance. Manages a single dice POW against the TG in the same turn and puts me out of position to recover the ball on the next turn. Pulls some more leapy magic and escapes WITH THE BALL on his next turn and ends up with a final score of 2-0 for the victory.

So I ask you, if he had no re-rolls would that have worked?

Game rescheduled for sometime early next week.