Warrior General Games

Sawdust is doing a great job with the rankings but Ill hold up my part and do a little blurb every 2 weeks or so, I was waiting for after Game 8 because I wanted to look back at the half way point.

Alpha

Barger Hill at Minsk
-Barger Hill has played 7 of 8 possible Alpha playoff teams and won them all, they have only two more challenging games the rest of the season and could have an undefeated season, the way they have been playing, they are clearly the best Alpha team, second place Dubrovnik still has a say in that, but Barger Hill has looked very good so far and now gets to pad stats and test tactics for the playoffs.
-Minsk hasnt rebounded from being sold, they got beat by the EABS, which notably has more talent because their owner didnt cut anyone loose. Minsk has 1 more winnable game on their schedule and should end the season 3-13, which is good enough not to be relegated.
-The Game: Clearly Barger Hill rolls, they can do what they want and it wont be close.

NY Knights at Dubrovnik
-Dubrovnik, lets forget about the week 1 surprise against Vilinus, this is the same Dubrovnik that just rolled over Alpha last season and if you look at their other 3 games against potential Alpha playoff teams, they have won convincingly. The issue for Dubrovnik is that of their remaining 8 games, 6 of them are against good teams and they had the unlucky draw of playing Lafayette in Week 16, which could be a playoff Seed decider for both teams. Still, Dubrovnik has had a solid season and should continue to do so, but they still have a lot of measuring stick games to go.
-NY Knights, they have played 6 out of 8 playoff teams so far, so they have a hell of a tough schedule to this point. That being said, their loss against Minsk last week probably sealed their fate of being relegated, which isnt that bad of a thing, they might have thrown the game considering that they had the talent to beat Minsk. They have 2-3 winnable games to close out the season, but Im not sure that they can do it, they will probably only win 1 more game, against Team Phoenix and then be relegated with Phoenix.
Game: Dubrovnik rolls, they can do whatever they want and will still win.

Sarajevo Reapers at GCP
-tGCP, have faced 4 potential Alpha playoff teams so far, they have split the games 2-2, losing to the two heavy passing teams. Their road from here on out gets even tougher, as 6 of their last 8 are against potential playoff teams. They close with Dubrovnik and then a good Leningrad team which could determine which bracket they end up in, in the playoffs. I believe they want to avoid a pass heavy matchup NFL or Barger Hill in their playoff bracket.
-Sarajevo, has had a 4/4 schedule of cupcakes and contenders, they already had to play Barger Hill and managed to shut down the passing attack of NFL. With squeakers against Kazan and Demon Brigade, Sarajevo could have been 7-1 and the Alpha landscape would look very different. Their defense is still very strong, but their offense took talent hits, but they are showing that they are still a solid team. 5 of their last 8 are against playoff teams and all of them except maybe Dubrovnik appear to be coinflip games. They get to know by Week 14 where they will be in the playoffs.
Game: This actually will be an interesting game, I think it is a strength on strength game, you know that Sarajevo is going to run, thats what they do and thats what they have the talent to do, tGCP has shown that they are better against balanced or running teams .. so this should be like two trains crashing into each other .. lets see who comes out of the mangled mess in the best shape.

Demon Brigade at Red Army Regulars
-RAR, has played 3 playoff teams and lost to two of them and well .. had a strange win against Kazan, they completely shut down Kazan. RAR has traditionally shortened games by running and then playing defense, so they keep games respectable when they might have got out of hand with a passing team. They have 7 of 8 playoff teams left and drew the Hellraisers from Zeta. The schedule to this point has been soft, but if the RAR wants to keep their lofty 3rd place in Alpha they are going to get the chance to show what they can do from here on out.
-Demon Brigade, has the exact opposite schedule, they have played 6 of 8 playoff teams and lost two of them. From here on out they have to play 3 teams that will challenge them and only 1 where they might be the underdog. Other than being throttled week 1 by Barger Hill, Demon Brigade actually has looked stronger this season than they have in two seasons, I expect them to continue to push for one of the top spots in Alpha this season.
Game: Its a tough one, RAR can run the ball, shorten the game and they are a good team, Demon Brigade can score a lot of points, but they also can give up a lot of points. I call this a coinflip game, the winner is whoever the sim and events of the game helps or hurts.

Kazan at Team
-Kazan, 6 of their 8 games have been against Alpha playoff teams, thats pretty tough. The losses against tGCP and Dubrovnik seem explainable, the low scoring loss to RAR does not. Also their schedule is horribly backloaded, they have 3 games here in the middle of the season that they shouldnt be challenged and then their last 4 games will all be tough, not giving them much of a chance to correct things if they lose one of those games. Also because Barger Hill leads off their series, it could snowball because they could lose one, which makes them more of a target to lose the 2nd and soforth. I dont like this schedule at all, but Kazan will be in the playoffs this season and looks like they havent boosted all the way.
-Team, finally one of the "stealth cupcakes" of Alpha will be relegated. They have possibly 1 winnable game the rest of the season and will be relegated. This is good because although they fielded a team for the past 3 seasons, Phoenix has been horrible, but horrible in Alpha has meant really horrible and so they always managed to be the 4th or 5th worst team. Now they are out and some quality team will replace them.
Game: Kazan rolls, not even close .. they should test tactics for their real games later in the season.

NFL at Washington
-NFL, they have played 5 possible playoff teams and split the games 2-3, they really needed a win against Sarajevo to show that they had moved to a new level this season and it didnt happen. They have a medium schedule to finish out the season with 4 playoff teams and only Dubrovnik should be significantly favored. The Week 15 game versus Kazan already looks like it should be a really important game for both teams.
-Washington, has played 4 playoff teams and lost in each of them, some of them they got stomped in. The issue is mostly that Washington has very few people on it, a large part of their roster is inactive and people other than Greenguy or fatherof2 arent that great of players. As the competitiveness of EE Pro and particularly Alpha has increased, the strength of Washington has decreased. They have 5 games against playoff teams to go, that makes me think that unless something really changes, they end the season 7-9, but they could battle for an 8th seed playoff spot if they were to upset RAR.
Game: Washington hasnt shown any fire in 2 seasons, NFL is still on the rise and needs to win games like this to continue their improvement. NFL should win this game by at least 14.

Hungarian at Vilinus
-Vilinus, other than a surprise upset (looking more and more every day like bad early season tactics by Dubrovnik), Vilinus is this year's Kazan, they keep it close, but cant pull it out. Of course while most of Alpha has boosted, Vilinus hasnt, so it will be interesting to see their strategy for keeping a playoff spot and when they time their boosts. Of their last 8 games, 5 are against playoff teams and they have the misfortune of drawing Scotch for their interconference game, which for a team that isnt assured of a playoff spot, is really bad news. Luckily 2 of those playoff team games are against the softer teams expected to make the playoffs and are winnable, Sarajevo should be a coinflip, but it is a MUST win along with Washington and RAR.
-Hungarian, this team is horrible, they arent even trying to be competitive, it is a team of newbies who invited all their lowbie friends to come and play on the team. Im not sure why anyone would do that, because they are going to lose like 50 games in a row before they are finally relegated to EE A leagues, which will take 3 seasons.
Game: Vilinus rolls, gets a morale boost and needs to figure out how they are going to beat Sarajevo in 2 games.

East Alabama at Sheboygan
-Sheboygan, this team is on life support, they still have the talent to pound on cupcakes, but not the experience or talent to really compete. CT got his account banned, probably to encourage people to give up on him coming back. Most of the contracts are set to expire late this season or early next season and then the team will be a big mess. Chaos Theory as a team shows just how horrible the cupcakes in Alpha are though, when a non-competitive team beats up on teams winning by 80 points, then its clear just how bad those teams are.
-East Alabama, the new owner walked into a good and bad situation. Good news was that beefeater abandoned ship without renegotiating the contracts of his team, bad news, it looks like the new owner has had to release or renegotiate those contracts himself. This team wont be relegated, they already won 2 games, with 3 more winnable games on their schedule, they could have a respectable 5 wins, which puts them around where I think Washington will end up. Of course during the offseason there is going to be major bloodletting, just like Sheboygan.
Game: Sheboygan still has way too much talent to lose this game, their new owner just walked into a way better situation than the one for EABS.

uhh, looking forward to reading this in a moment

First off let me say that due to massive gutting, I think top to bottom Zeta is weaker than Alpha this season. The bottom three Alpha teams are really bad, but what makes the difference is that where Alpha teams were gutted, several of them the players were abandoned on the teams, whereas in Zeta, the teams were completely cleaned out. At the top, both conferences are really strong, but instead of how deep Zeta was last season, it lost all the quality depth and now its a mess.

Zeta

Leningrad at Dubai
-Dubai, they have played and beaten all but 1 team that might have a chance to beat them this season. They have 4 more playoff teams, but realistically they have disposed of their major challengers already. Clearly the success of Dubai is the story of the season in EE Pro and whether or not they go undefeated in the regular season will come down to Week 15 and whether Prague can slow down their passing game, if not, they go into the playoffs as the 1 Seed.
-Leningrad, played 4 possible playoff teams so far and lost 3 of them, they beat Cincinnati who is in the same boat as they are, some elite talent, but just not enough of it. Leningrad has turned around a lot since Hoser took over it from tpat, but 5 of 8 of their last games are against possible playoff teams and they had the unlucky draw of tGCP as their crossover game.
Game: Unless Dubai wants to throw this game, they will probably win it, I dont see any games where Leningrad has shown that they could win this game, but they have shown that they can keep it closer than expected, so expect the same again.

Scotch at SGA
-SGA, just thwapped Prague showing that the loss to Dubai was more sim than talent. SGA has played 4 likely playoff teams and won 3 of them, of course one could say that they have played 3 gutted teams, 3 marginal teams and 2 real competitive teams and probably be more accurate. Of their last 8 games, they have 3 real competitive games, 1 marginal game and 4 blowouts scheduled, which makes it about the same as their first half of the year, but they get some of the worst teams in the league at the end of their schedule, so if the need to run up the score for seeding, its quite possible for them to do that.
-Scotch, lets throw out the bogus loss to Prague Week 1, as Scotch had bad AI settings for that game and never punted or never kicked a FG, Scotch has played 4 of the best that Zeta has to offer and won 2 of them (3 if you count Prague). The loss to Dubai is very strange, a team outpassed Malachorn .. that doesnt often happen. In fact, Dubai just got ahead and then ground the time out. The rest of the season looks favorable for Scotch, they have only 1 real challenge, thats SGA, after that, they have the lower seed playoff contenders as 4 games and 3 blowouts. Note however, Vilinus could very well boost for Scotch, which would make it a very different game, right now Vilinus is a lower seed in Alpha, but they have the depth and talent to be a really good team and besides SGA would be the best team that Scotch would face after tomorrow.
Game: SGA seems like the more complete team, of course if they cant defend the pass like they couldnt against Dubai, then there will be issues against Scotch as well. But since they just pounded my team Ill give them credit and say that they can win this one too and show that they learned something.

Prague at Silesia
-Prague, other than getting lucky that Malachorn had bad tactics, Prague has played two real contenders in Zeta and lost one and should have lost the other. Prague managed to beat up on the 3 lower seed playoff contenders and 3 weaker teams, but overall their first 8 game strength of schedule shows nothing other than Prague can beat up teams who have problems. The schedule from here on out looks like Prague has 2 games in the near future that are against serious contenders and then 1 in Week 15 against Dubai. Greek Fire will keep it respectable, but they arent going to really contend this season, otherwise Prague has 4 assured wins and could go anywhere from 15-1 to 12-4, which all depends on when they want to boost, but its likely Dubai will be the first team to see Prague at even 90% boosting, depending on how the playoff seeding looks, I certainly have an idea which seeds I want and which teams I want to play in the playoffs, so maybe we wont boost until after Week 16.
-Silesia has been lucky up to this point, playing only 2 top teams, but their schedule to the end of the season is a bit rougher, starting tomorrow. They have a 4 game stretch which I would consider the hardest schedule I have seen of any team. They have 4 games after that which are all winnable .. now .. I have always given respect to Greek Fire, but Silesia has GREAT tactics, they have had no talent the past few years and always managed to upset a team or two that they had no business beating. That being said, they wont be relegated again this season, because gutted Belgrade, Transylvania, Szolnok and Moscow are all in worse shape.
Game: Prague will do what they want and take out some frustration on Silesia before facing Lafayette in 2 games.

Bora Bora at Helsinki
-Helsinki, hasnt had a hard schedule so far, they have played 3 playoff teams and lost 2 of them. The 2nd half of their schedule looks much harder, with 6 of the 8 teams being possibly playoff teams and 3 of those being strong contenders. Helsinki with its really good DBs were tested early and beat by passing teams, which makes you wonder .. what is going on over there this season?
-Bora Bora, they had a mixed early schedule, playing some of the worst EE Pro has to offer and some of the best. When they played the best, they lost in convincing fashion, their big win over Cincinnati shows that they will probably be a 7th seed in the playoffs. They have 4 games against really strong teams left, 2 mid level teams and 2 gutted teams. They should win 4 more games at least and Week 16 against Kazan should be an interesting game, that is unless Bora Bora has already cashed it in again. All of their contracts are set to Day 40 again and will probably disperse their team to the other teams affiliated with these specific agents, those teams being:

Reykjavík Aggies http://goallineblitz.com/game/team.pl?team_id=279
Drinkin Hellraisers http://goallineblitz.com/game/team.pl?team_id=208
St. Louis Beer Barons http://goallineblitz.com/game/team.pl?team_id=1552
Lafayette Ragin Cajuns http://goallineblitz.com/game/team.pl?team_id=811
D-League Dream Team http://goallineblitz.com/game/team.pl?team_id=972

Pretty sure that about covers where most of the players will end up, most of Bengals89's players already moved to Reykjavik.

Game: Bora Bora loses, Helsinki wins .. no surprises.

Cincinnati at Lafayette
-Lafayette, two tight games against the best Zeta has to offer is all that seperates Lafayette from having two losses and none. So far their schedule has been 2 top teams, 3 middle teams and 3 cupcakes, so not terribly tough. The 2nd half of the season they play 4 top teams, 1 middle team and 3 cupcakes, so their schedule gets harder, but not by too much with all the cupcakes in Zeta. They are probably the 2nd or 3rd best team right now in Zeta, following SGA and Dubai, of course since they havent really beat anyone, its hard to tell, they will get their chance in a week or so when they play SGA.
-Cincinnati, their schedule has been favorable somewhat and they are still .500, not good if you are trying to make the playoffs. Losses to Leningrad and Bora Bora probably means that Cincinnati wont make the playoffs, not only that but Bora Bora who is looking at a 7th or 8th seed just stomped them, not a good sign. 5 of their last 8 games are against elite competition, they have 2 games against cupcakes and 1 game against the Greek Fire which might show each team where they are at, because I believe that game will settle 9th and 10th place in the conference. Drawing the top team in Alpha didnt help anything, but they also didnt win key Zeta games already, so unless there are some major upsets in the last 8 games, particularly against the 5 elite teams, its the first time in the first 3 seasons of EE Pro that Cincinatti doesnt make the playoffs.
Game: LRC wins .. in fact it wont be close, talent, tactics, history all points to them.

Belgrade Black Hand at Greek Fire
-Greek, despite having played all the best teams in the conference besides Prague, the Fire have kept games respectable and gained my respect at least. Considering that this was Rome and it was COMPLETELY gutted before this season and yet realistically this team is on the edge of a playoff birth and possibly beating mid tier teams like Cincinnati and Leningrad, that is a hell of an accomplishment. They have 5 more winnable games in the next 8 and could win up to 7 if Bora Bora and Cincinnati doesnt watch out. They arent a playoff team this season, but if big n rich keeps rebuilding the team and uses the offseason reduced chemistry hit period to his advantage, there is no reason why this team couldnt be a playoff team next season .. I mean Bora Bora is clearly going to gut, the only big problem is that 2 new teams will come up, so there will be even more elite teams.
-Belgrade, a too typical story, guy takes over gutted team, no players .. players there want out, because they were traded to a gutting team. They have maybe 1 more winnable game this season, but with 2 wins already, they are probably saved from relegation considering there are 4 hard gutted teams in Zeta.
Game: Clearly Greek Fire wins, they should score a lot and enjoy kicking the crap out of a gutted team.

Chernobyl at Transylvania
-Transylvania, a lucky break for the new owner happened, he got on the team and got two other gutted teams in order to help stop the bleeding. 6 of their last 8 games are against possible playoff teams, which isnt a good sign for a rebuilding team. Their first game however is against Chernobyl which is a possible win, m10sousa has shown that with a few players he can blow out cupcakes, something that Rezlov of Chernobyl hasnt. They should lose 6 more but wont be relegated due to the fact that Szolnok is horrible (Zeta's version of Hungarian) and Moscow is being held onto by tyrant for reasons that he isnt making clear.
-Chernobyl, a squeaker against a team that has less talent than his does (Silesia) and beating up on one of the two worst teams in EE Pro is what is keeping Chernobyl off the bottom, good news is, they have played 6 possible playoff teams, the bad news is that there are still 3 on the schedule, but the next two games determines the fate of the Mutants .. if they were to lose to Transylvania it pushes them even lower and then a loss to Moscow would mean that there would be a tie at 2 wins, which would put a lot of gutted teams in danger. Chernobyl really needs the next 2 games to stay in EE pro.
Game: I think that Transylvania will win, funny thing is .. Chernobyl had longer to rebuild than both Greek Fire and Transylvania .. but Fire is WAY in the lead and Chernobyl is behind in rebuilding. I know its hard to rebuild, but keeping competitive against people in your same situation is what determines how you do.

Szolnok at Moscow
-Moscow, is an assessment really necessary here? Tyrant is holding onto this team and doing strange AI settings, probably to test out how the game does things. Then he is GM of numerous other teams and has a large number of scrimmage requests out. There is a plan here, but he is doing his plan at the expense of Moscow and the strength of EE Pro.
-Szolnok, I believe this is another actual team of people from Eastern Europe, much like Silesia .. except that these people dont know as many people or as much about GLB as Silesia. This is Zeta's Hungarian Hogs .. they have a few lowbie friends, put them all on the team and are sucking it up. They are going to lose umpteen in a row and either quit or eventually get relegated down to EE A in 3 seasons.
Game: I figure Szolnok will actually win this game because they are trying, Tyrant could win this game with his team of CPU players against Szolnok, but I figure he will keep up his testing of tactics and Szolnok will actually win one, causing all kinds of problem with relegation.

good write-up dude

Originally posted by Randy03Texags
Scotch at SGA
...Scotch had bad AI settings for that game and never punted or never kicked a FG

...


Prague at Silesia
...Malachorn had bad tactics


We STILL have to hear so much about all of that?

Yeah Mal .. you should have 1 more win .. my team is not better than yours. You should have scored a lot more points than us and blasted us into the ground like SGA did. I want to give credit where its due, you have a better team than the record shows. I also dont know how Dubai managed to slow your offense down so much .. I guess they have a better offense and defense than us this season.

Very nice job Randy! Really good research of every team.

EXCELLENT!!

Originally posted by Kenchi
Very nice job Randy! Really good research of every team.

EXCELLENT!!

We'll see you week 15!

Duh!

Nice write-up.... I'm looking forward to the next couple of games.

Great work as usual.

Helsinki,

what is going on over there this season?


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Our higher ups are too busy procreating...Whores.

Did Randy just say Alpha is better than Zeta? Great write up though Randy.

Randy is a fool. Why would I take Bora players on my Slow build team?
Did you have a big %^&* stuck in your mouth and @#$ when you wrote this?

Also to say they will go to Drinkin and Lafayette? When did we take Bora players on? It must have been cutting off oxygen to your brain. Next time only take it 9 inches deep. 15 is to much.

Randy is just full of "it"