High Elf Blitzer rolls 5+5

[RogueThirteen]

High Elf Blitzer rolls a 5+5 for his third level-up. He already has Block; Dodge; Guard. (rest of team below)

The +1 Movement was really tempting, but with MA8 Catchers able to cover the field so well, I figured the +1MA would have diminishing returns for the TV increase. I ignored the doubles/ten and just went for Side Step, since my biggest problem is against cage offenses with lots of Guard in the corners.

I want a Blodger with Guard who can mark a cage corner and then Side Step his way next to the ball carrier so that I have a better chance of creating an opportunity to hit the carrier. Curious what others would have done.


Thrower - Accurate, Leader
Blitzer - Block, Dodge, Guard, 5+5
Blitzer - Block, Dodge, Tackle, Side Step
Catcher - Catch, Wrestle, Dodge, Tackle
Catcher - Catch, Wrestle, Dodge
Linemen - Str4
Linemen - Guard
Linemen - Guard
Linemen - Kick
Linemen - Wreslte
Linemen

[stashman]

+1 AV will keep him alive a bit longer. This makes him a 7349 and thats a fast and agile orc blitzer!!!

[burgun824]

I went Mighty Blow because Elf teams are so lacking on strength players. I like your rationale though. Sounds like you made the right choice.

[MKL]

I went Mighty Blow because Elf teams are so lacking on strength players. I like your rationale though. Sounds like you made the right choice.

Seconded.
M-Blow is the classical choice, but elven teams capitalize greatly on Guard+S-Step.
Probably S-Step is the right choice on the short-medium term.
As a third choice, maybe I dare Grab or Juggernaut, only if my opponents have a lot of S-Step o S-Firm, respectively. But that's a third, less competitive, choice.

[Smurf]

Mighty Blow. It helps to remove players from the other team. Handy!

[RogueThirteen]

Interesting, a LOT of love for Mighty Blow. A bit unsurprisng, as Mighty Blow always seems to be a go-to skill recommendation regardless of race or position for most STR3+ pieces, especially when it's on a double.

Just in the interest of getting an interesting discussion of coaching styles and strategy started, here's my case against Mighty Blow. I'm curious to hear rebuttals, of course, because I fear I might undervalue Mighty Blow too much (I've never taken it). I think Mighty Blow is one of those "great on paper, 'meh' on the pitch" kind of skills, with the exception of certain particularly bashy teams and especially Claw pieces.

• Player removal seems pretty moot at this point in the league (about 10 games in), because pretty much every team has ~14+ players. This means I have to remove at least three to really get a sustained numbers advantage (four probably, if you factor in the Apothecary). As High Elves, on my best day I get two CAS. With Mighty Blow, this player might nab one, maybe two more CAS a game if he's really lucky. That still doesn't really give me a sustained advantage in numbers. Besides, I'm elves, I don't need a numbers advantage to score and when I stop you from scoring it's typically going to be because I created or capitalized on an error or turnover, and you having one or two less players on the field doesn't increase those chances a whole lot.
  
  Mighty Blow won't really help this Elf Blitzer level any faster, as he's already at 31 SPP. Getting to the next bracket in a tabletop league is going to be a long way off, even with one extra CAS a game, which is being generous. And he's about as skilled as he needs to be, so TDs are a last resort for this piece as I'd rather score with new catchers and linemen to help get them into the game more. 51 SPP on just CAS and MVPs is going to be way too far off to make this a consideration, and even then getting this guy one more skill doesn't seem all that important as he's already a stellar piece as is.
  
  As one of the team's few Blodgers, this player's job is more about getting in the way and marking key defenders than it is about throwing hits. Especially since this piece has Guard, I expect to find myself wanting to move this piece where he's needed to give the best Guard assists (Dodge and MA7 are useful here). This means unless I also always want to use my blitz for this, then this player won't be throwing blocks as often as he would need to in order for me to get my mileage out of Mighty Blow. (Sidestep will especially help in this regard). Nonetheless, even without Guard I'm still not sure Mighty Blow would be any more tempting on an interference piece like this.

But, I think that's just my general playstyle. I think managing risk (Dodge, Block, Leader, etc.) and managing space (Side Step, Stand Firm, Fend, Grab, Juggernaught) are far more important than pumping a lot of resources into player removal, because even with skills devoted to it's still a really chancy occurrence that requires lucky rolling [unless you have access to Claw, in which case it's only less chancy].

Then again, I think there's a good chance I'm missing something given how much attention Mighty Blow gets from most coaches and given how much attention skills like Piling On and Claw get (both negative and positive attention).

Discuss!

[juck101]

Ss

Blodge guard ss is stunning and you dont have much ss yet. Mb is
Ok but overrated I think. With tackle mb has synergy but so far he's a clear spp leader and lacks tackle so I would not want mb in isolation. Ss gives options to each of the 3'skills the player already has

[burgun824]

My rebuttal: All elves already have blow as a skill, why wouldn't you make it mighty?

[dines]

Agree with your reasoning. Blodge, ss, guard is an amazing player combined with AG4, had two of them on my dark elf team. If it was the other blitzer I might go for mb instead, due to the block, tackle, mb synergy to hunt opposing catchers.

For elves I don't see mb so much as a way to getting the upper hand in players, rather a surgical tool to target the gutters, catchers and other juicy targets of the opposing team.

[MKL]

(...)
But, I think that's just my general playstyle. I think managing risk (Dodge, Block, Leader, etc.) and managing space (Side Step, Stand Firm, Fend, Grab, Juggernaught) are far more important than pumping a lot of resources into player removal, because even with skills devoted to it's still a really chancy occurrence that requires lucky rolling [unless you have access to Claw, in which case it's only less chancy].
(...)

Well, Rogue13, fundamentally I agree with you. Player removal is chancy, positioning is solid.
But elven team usually have no trouble spamming S-Step and Dodge: positioning is their forte.

S-Step+Guard is a great combo, M-Blow+Guard got poor synergy. But the built-in weakness of the elven teams is the lack of S-skills: Guard in primis, secondarily M-Blow, then the other, less used skills. Hence the drive to take such skills at every chance: lack of availability.

(...)
Player removal seems pretty moot at this point in the league (about 10 games in), because pretty much every team has ~14+ players. This means I have to remove at least three to really get a sustained numbers advantage (four probably, if you factor in the Apothecary).
(...)

What you call “sustained number advantage” is more relevant in a quick-td context: most coach (even elven ones) stall and grind, where a long bench is less a defense against player removal.

That said, I like to take skills as Grab, S-Firm and Juggernaut in lieu of M-Blow and sometimes Guard too... but it's a private vice I'm not too fond of

[solarflare]

I like side step here. It's a good skill by itself. It has great synergy with guard. And I think it helps him to live longer because it should save him from being blocked once or twice a game due to you having the choice of where he goes on a push.

[dines]

(...)
But, I think that's just my general playstyle. I think managing risk (Dodge, Block, Leader, etc.) and managing space (Side Step, Stand Firm, Fend, Grab, Juggernaught) are far more important than pumping a lot of resources into player removal, because even with skills devoted to it's still a really chancy occurrence that requires lucky rolling [unless you have access to Claw, in which case it's only less chancy].
(...)

Well, Rogue13, fundamentally I agree with you. Player removal is chancy, positioning is solid.
But elven team usually have no trouble spamming S-Step and Dodge: positioning is their forte.

S-Step+Guard is a great combo, M-Blow+Guard got poor synergy. But the built-in weakness of the elven teams is the lack of S-skills: Guard in primis, secondarily M-Blow, then the other, less used skills. Hence the drive to take such skills at every chance: lack of availability.

(...)
Player removal seems pretty moot at this point in the league (about 10 games in), because pretty much every team has ~14+ players. This means I have to remove at least three to really get a sustained numbers advantage (four probably, if you factor in the Apothecary).
(...)

What you call “sustained number advantage” is more relevant in a quick-td context: most coach (even elven ones) stall and grind, where a long bench is less a defense against player removal.

That said, I like to take skills as Grab, S-Firm and Juggernaut in lieu of M-Blow and sometimes Guard too... but it's a private vice I'm not too fond of

Wouldn't that be more true in a perpetual format such as fumbbl or cyanide rather that tt? I think you get more "here and now" value out of sidestep than mb.

[Ullis]

I voted Side Step. It has better value on this player right now.

But overall I think every elven team will benefit from MB on one player, a blitzer type or ST3 catcher being the best pick. Having a numbers advantage with elves is awesome.

And Rogue13, MB is better for player removal than Claw unless you're just playing AV9 teams. MB increases the chances of removing someone a lot.

[Smurf]

The choice is to ignore the double?

As it's a one in six chance shouldn't the choice be thinking of those hard to reach skills?

[mattgslater]

The choice is to ignore the double?

As it's a one in six chance shouldn't the choice be thinking of those hard to reach skills?

Meh. Doubles let you grab stuff on your track that you couldn't otherwise get. There's no point in abandoning your track just to have something rare.