Warrior General Games

Since Ramsfan really didnt look at anything and just wildly chose how the conferences were going to break down, lets really look at each conference and see what we think. I will do my best not to do any Alpha bashing.

Alpha Assessment - In Order of Season 3 Finish

1. Sheboygan Chaos Theory (18-2) Alpha Champs

Chaos Theory stepped down from being the owner, Im not sure why he didnt put RollTide or GoGetta in charge instead. CT's players remain on the team up to this point, which is an interesting development, because all of them have contracts through Season 5, which "could" mean they are all stuck now and CT's plan to leave backfired. Regardless, their Season 4 really depends on how much the two old GMs knew about running the team and whether CTs players stay. If CT and all the inactives come back, then they are a solid team and will certainly reach the Alpha playoffs again.

2. Dubrovnik Destroyers (18-2) Alpha 2nd Place

A solid team talent and tactics wise, almost the entire team is inactive right now and it is just worrisome how quickly they will get it back together. They are short 1 CB, Im not sure if they had 4 last season though either. Regardless, if all their inactives come back they will be in solid shape for Season 4, but some good talent got added to Alpha, so you cant expect them to have a perfect record like they did last season (and maybe its better luck not to).

3. General Patton's Demon Brigade (11-9)

For an 7th seed in Alpha they tore it up. They are one of the more deep teams talent wise in Alpha and had a competitive game with the eventual conference champs in the playoffs. Fully expect them to be in the playoffs for a 4th straight season and they may improve their overall record, depending on whether they boost early or not.

4. Sarajevo Reapers (15-5)

This team is the opposite of the Kazan Golden Horde, they won their tight games, but all their scores show how they are just holding on to their more elite status. Getting blanked by Dubrovnik in the playoffs really showed that they have slipped a notch from their Season 2 EE Pro Championship. They need talent upgrades in several positions, but their defense is solid again and will keep games close. They will probably see the playoffs again as there just arent that many teams that will challenge them below them.

5. Barger Hill Burglers (15-5)

This team has solid talent, they are all active right now and I believe are planning how they are going to kick butt in Season 4. This team probably has the 2nd most talent of the returning Alpha Pro teams (behind Dubrovnik) and if games were won on talent alone, they would certainly be right up there with Dubrovnik. They got a bad 1st round game with the Demon Brigade, which as Ive already said, is also a solid team talent wise and has been there before. I believe that Barger Hill just had the hard bracket and had bad luck, they guessed wrong against a good team, or tried to be cute and they will learn from that. Expect Barger hill to be right there in Season 4.

6. NFL Fanatix (11-9)

This is where the returning Alpha teams start to fall off, the Fanatix improved immensely in Season 3, but similarly to Sarajevo, their talent just isnt quite there with the big boys. If you look at their schedule you ask "who did they beat?" Kazan, Minsk, Washington and St. Petersburg. They should be expected to beat those teams again, minus Kazan possibly, as Kazan just had bad luck in tight games last season, but that wont be enough to get in the playoffs this season, because with the addition of Vilinus and the GCP you will really have to beat an elite team to make the playoffs and they are just in the same boat with Sarajevo .. do they take another big step forward this season or does the addition of actual competitive teams slow down their rise.

7. Washington Chairmen (8-12)

Oh what has happened to this team? It seems that Greenguy was able to dominate when his own players could anchor the team, but the talent level on this team has just continued to erode since entering EE Pro in Season 2. Washington has always preferred a passing attack, but the talent just isnt there to do that anymore and there are numerous questionable builds from higher level players. I believe the competition has improved from teams like the Fanatix and new blood such as Barger Hill and Dubrovnik and passed this team by. Unless some major recruiting happens, this team is in worse shape than Sarajevo and the Fanatix. If you ask who they beat? Kazan and Minsk both in tight games, otherwise they just feasted on the fact that there were so many bad teams in Alpha that SOMEONE needed to make the playoffs. Dont expect that to happen again this season.

8. St. Petersburg Red Army Regulars (9-11)

This team is strange, Ill say that right off. They have the talent to be a more competitive team in Alpha than they are. But I think the issue is mostly builds and not levels, I took a look over their builds somewhat and there are real issues, so even if they look okay level wise, the bars give away what the case really is. This is clearly a step down from the Sarajevo and NFL tier, where they need some levels but have good builds, this team needs some levels and build work. They will not make the playoffs this season and could have as little as 3 wins, but I doubt more than 6.

9. Minsk Koats (9-11)

This team has a good OL, not great but good and that is their saving grace, because they lack skill players, lack DL depth, lack good safties, slow LBs .. the list goes on and on. Builds are a major problem here and they need talent at numerous offensive positions to take advantage of their solid OL. If you look at their scores, there is one fluke win over the Demon Brigade and their tactics of shortening the game and playing defense tends to work, but they didnt beat anyone last season and got beat up on by near relegation Zeta talent. Serious issues here, if there werent already 3 and possibly 5 teams in Alpha battling for the 2 relegation spots, they might be one of them. But instead they will get 3-5 wins and stay in the league at least 2 more seasons pending them folding up shop, or seriously upgrading their talent.

10. Kazan Golden Horde (11-9)

This is actually a solid team, there is a good level of talent on offense, the builds are pretty good except for depth at WR and some interesting things at TE. Defense gets a little dicey as LB and S builds arent very good, but still this team is at least around the level of the Fanatix, Sarajevo and should win more games this season. Their scrimmages showed that they can at least beat up on the lower teams in Zeta, which means that they should compete with the lower-middle of Alpha. A possible low rank playoff team if they can manage to bump off someone on their tier. Still not an elite team however, but better than their record against teams in this conference.

11. Georgia Tec-9s (9-11)

Similar to Minsk, the saving grace of this team is that they have a solid+ OL, skill position builds need improvement, defensive depth, levels and builds are a major issue. They managed wins over Washington and Demon Brigade last season and might be competitive with Washington again if they can just get some talent around L20 to sign with them. This team is in the same tier as Minsk and the RAR, they need help and wont make the playoffs in this improved conference.

12. Team Phoenix (4-16)

This team is barely better than Silesia who has NO Players, they only beat 4 Alpha cupcakes and are no where near competitive, this is where Alpha falls down to a whole new level of non-competitiveness. There are actually a few good players on this team with good builds, their best player Young Moss took off for USA Pro, but still is a GM of this team. The main issue is that they dont have levels and REALLY dont have depth and its questionable if they have any sort of tactics at all, because Silesia is in just as bad of shape but manages to be somewhat competitive with limited talent. This team gets 2 wins max this season, if New York and Hungarian can manage to beat them, they will be relegated, its also likely that they will disband, most of the team's contracts expire this season.

13. New York Knights (I wish they would change their name to something European) (3-17)

The upside, they didnt get relegated and if they can get all their players back active, I believe they wont be relegated again this season, in fact Id say they are more on par with the Tec-9s talent wise. That being said, they will be battling the Tec-9s, Koats and RAR for 4th to last place as they still dont have the talent to really compete. Its unlikely that they will be relegated however and should at least keep games within 50 or so this season .. at least most of the time.

14. Hungarian Golden Warriors (2-18)

The fact that this team didnt get relegated is proof just how bad the bottom two teams in Alpha were. Now the team has 99% of its contracts running out in the first week of the season and will be a complete mess. It is 100% relegation material and they wont win 1 game this season.

The Two New Teams

Geriatric Couch Potatoes

This team is solid with talent, there are numerous build issues across the board, but overall compared with the rest of the league, they are definitely in the top most group, but I wouldnt say that they should be comparable with Dubrovnik or Barger Hill. This will be an upper playoff team and should be very competitive, beating most of the previous teams here. They are more in the realm of the Demon Brigade as "almost there". No putdown to yalls team, it is very good, but Im comparing you to the best.

Vilinus Maulers

First off the thing that is most striking is that they are 100% active even now, that is impressive. Builds are also more in the elite realm, but they lack a few levels. This could team will be in the top 4 teams in the league, very solid.

Okay thats all I have to say for now, Ill come back and make my Alpha predictions and work on Zeta later, I need to pick my wife up from the train station now.

I hate you

So Alpha breaks down into Tiers like this:

Elite (Will definitely be in the playoffs):

Dubrovnik
Barger Hill
Vilinus

Very Good (Will also be in the playoffs, but just not quite at the elite level):

Geriatric Couch Potatoes
Demon Brigade

Good (Will be in the playoffs probably, but can use some work):

Chaos Theory (could move up to Very good, if CT comes back)
Sarajevo
Fanatix
Kazan

Average (Probably wont make the playoffs, but maybe):

Washington
St. Petersburg
Minsk
Georgia
New York (doesnt quite belong here, but is working on it and doesnt belong in the lower group)

Bad/Gutted (These teams are horrible and are only in EE Pro this season because other teams were even more horrible)

Team Phoenix
Hungarian

Originally posted by Randy03Texags

Elite (Will definitely be in the playoffs):

Dubrovnik
Barger Hill
Vilinus


Whoops now there are expectations....maybe it was better to be disrespected

Thanks for taking the time to do this Randy. You may take heat for some of the things you say, but at least someone is doing this. The Horde is looking to bounce back after a disappointing season where we just couldn't catch a break.

Originally posted by BigCheese
Thanks for taking the time to do this Randy. You may take heat for some of the things you say, but at least someone is doing this. The Horde is looking to bounce back after a disappointing season where we just couldn't catch a break.

yup yup yup...we will have a better year...

thanks for taking the time...

Good work here!

Nice, thanks for the write-up.

Good work Randy.

The thing about our team is, we dont have the highest levels. We do have some of the best builds though, and thats a fact.

Zeta Assessment - In Order of Season 3 Finish

1. Stalingrad Gryphon Army (18-2)

When using similar levels as Alpha, this team has elite talent, and very good depth. They probably got their best matchup talent wise against Helsinki last season in the Zeta CCG, but they got it done and have all the tools to get back to the top again this season. Everyone is active and that is a good sign that they are trying to figure out how to keep improving and get back to the league CCG next season.

2. Helsinki Hell Raisers (15-5)

Higher initial talent than SGA, but not quite the depth. Still definitely an elite EE Pro team, comparable with the talent on Dubrovnik. Only real weakness is that they dont have a backup QB, if Chipmonk gets rattled with sacks or ints, he can lose the game for them, which is pretty much what happened in the Zeta CCG it seems. Still a really excellent team and would be among the elite of either conference.

3. Budapest Brawlers (16-4)

They gutted their team, Bort laid the smack down and now they will be back in EE Pro or SA Pro with a weakened team. The present team that is there pretty much pissed away his chemistry grace period and has only signed 4 human players. This team seems to be a major trainwreck and will lose 0-200 every game this season if not moved.

4. Belgrade Black Hand (18-2)

Also a 1QB team last season, their QB got rattled in the playoffs and threw 4 ints in a 3 point loss to Helsinki, clearly a big reason for their loss. This season they ditched Lance to a crappy team in a lower Oceania league and the two guys that make up 90% of their team brought in their own QBs. Talent is elite, depth is good, the only issue with this team is that they are a little too "inbred" for my tastes, meaning that there are really only two members of their team and its hard to improve and get new ideas and tactics when there are less brains at work. That wont matter of course because they still have excellent builds and great levels to bully around teams that just cant hang with their talent. Will be a top playoff team this season, but if other teams like Prague and Helsinki boost early, like they didnt last season, those could be losses this season, which they werent last.

5. Prague Punishers (16-4)

Some elite talent, good but not great depth like Stalingrad, probably highest overall level average in EE Pro. Depth while not many people is high level depth. Some builds could use improvement but overall builds are superior and comparable to anything in EE Pro. Will be in the playoffs again for the 4th straight year for certain, the only question is can they improve their few weaknesses so they dont choke at QB again this season. Kicker has been dramatically improved in the offseason, as has WR. (note 5 players are going to be cut so my roster right now is a little heavy, I am trimming it once the 6 days after the new contracts with max bonuses is over).

6. Greek Fire (formerly Rome Gladiators) (9-11)

First off, its a bummer that Hazy left, the previous Rome team could have been a Top 4 or 5 team in Zeta last season, but the past is the past, lets look at what took his place. Big n Rich has been busy building this team, he signed a lot of quality L20+ talent and this team should be at least competitive this season. I dont believe they will be that good, but they will be competitive enough to allow for the owner to get some new talent and learn how to run a team. This is about as good as you can expect for a gutted team.

7. Dubai Lightning (12-8)

Again a 1 QB team got put out in the playoffs because their QB got rattled and they lost their offense. This team would actually be in the "Very Good" level in Alpha, they have good levels, good depth and good builds on offense, on defense there is some build work to be done and maybe that is what is keeping them from going to the next level. They just made the playoffs this season and they will probably make the playoffs again with the gutting of Budapest and Rome ensuring that at least 1 spot from last season is open with the additions of two new teams.

8. Cincinnati Tigers (10-10)

Now I saw that kenyon guaranteed a 4th seed and finally a home playoff game for the Tigers this season, lets see if there was any real fire behind that or a lot of hot air. To their credit, Cincinnati has been in the playoffs all 3 Seasons of GLB, so they have at least been there before. A lot happened in this offseason, the most vocal member of their team (demonicangel) left and took his players with him, also they added some new talent, but when compared even to Dubai depth and builds are lacking, particularly on offense. Also, same as last season, the best builds arent necessarily starting. Toysoldier's players were the better builds last season and they sat on the bench, now it looks like he has retired most of his old players and he has a few newer ones (and looks to have renamed a few of the old ones with his new girl theme instead of Raider theme). Regardless, the talent really isnt there this season and they arent going to make the playoffs, much less the 4th seed. Its also disheartening that demonicangel left, as he had superior builds and toysoldier moved many of his guys off the team ..

9. Moscow Dragons (11-9)

Here is a team that continues to confound me, they have good talent, good builds, and decent levels and still manages to lose games that they shouldnt. The two teams that can really capitalize on the gutting of Zeta are Moscow and Novosibirsk. In fact, there is a last playoff spot and I believe that Moscow will be battling Novosibirsk for it, as even if Budapest comes back, they have lost talent and I really believe that Novosibirsk can take a big leap this year, so its up to Moscow to match them or be left behind. I expect Moscow to win 7 games for certain and they can possibly beat a few more. Their DBs are very high quality as are their WRs .. OL is also very good .. if they all just had a few more levels and maybe more brains at work over there (its my understanding that despite what the agent names say, tyrant pulls all the strings), that they might get some tactics together to really use all that talent and really high quality builds.

10. Rockford Warriors (11-9)

Last season it was clear that their only win over an elite team was their week 16 upset of Barger Hill, that still didnt stop Rockford from gutting, nor did it stop them from holding onto the team well into the offseason, effectively giving a new owner very little chance to rebuild the team, like the new owners of Greek (Rome) and Chernobyl have been able to do. Unless an owner comes with an entire team of his own already set up, it seems pretty hopeless to think that this team can do anything this season other than lose badly and get relegated, just like Budapest. Interestingly enough Budapest and Rockford were tied together in all kinds of various ways, both teams shared players and GMs and all kinds of stuff, so its even stranger yet that they chose to both gut at the same time.

11. Novosibirsk Grey Wolves (10-10)

Was it the soft competition that lead to a late season rally of 7-2 last season or was it the fact that TPat finally let someone who has time and that cared take over the team and it was allowed to win? Im not sure, but this is the team that could pull itself out of the cellar this season. They have always had talent, often times elite talent and had TPat turned the team over 2 seasons ago to someone who cared, its likely they would be an elite team now. They lost some talent as Hoser released some people who wanted out, I told him not to, but he said hes nice (I probably would have released the people too). Regardless, besides needing depth at a few positions, the team still has talent level wise. They finally added a 2nd QB, so they can finally not suffer the "1 QB" issue like Belgrade and Helsinki. They "could" make the playoffs this season, but it seems more likely that Moscow will, but who knows, Moscow does less with more and maybe Novosibirsk can live up to their talent.

12. Transylvania Drachen (9-11)

This team is really hot and cold, just like demonicangel always said .. one day they can scare SGA, the next day they squeak one out against the Sooner Syndicate .. I believe they mess around with their tactics far too much and make knee jerk reactions to things and just dont stick with some tactics over a long enough time to really improve them. Problem is, this season they lost some talent and it looks like they might not have enough left in the tank to really compete. They still have more talent than the two new gutted teams, but still not as much talent as Moscow or Novosibirsk. I was hoping that they would have a good season and would stick around, as Reject warned that this season might be the last and from what I see, its likely to be a bad season and it will be the end for the Drachen. Everyone is signed to Day 40 contracts, so it looks like that might be the case.

13. Chernobyl Mutants (9-11)

Well I thought that Rezlov was doing a better job filling in this team, I believe he is looking to recruit a few elite people and not filling in enough with L18-20 people who he might have a better chance getting, like big and rich is doing over with the Greek Fire. However, he does have a center, QB, kicker and one good LB .. so he has something to build around .. getting a solid OL would be key, along with some DBs .. but Im not sure this team can win many games this season, but thats okay, 2 games will avoid relegation and Rockford and Budapest are those two teams, maybe they can also beat Silesia .. but Silesia has crazy good tactics because somehow they win with like 10 human players, 30 CPUS and its pretty wild. That brings us to the last team.

14. Silesia Miners (4-16)

This team has 16 human players and they are still significantly better than Team Phoenix or pre-gutted Hungarian Golden Warriors. They have issues in that they are Polish and they cant really recruit. Originally the team was probably 10 people, 5-6 of which had like 30 multi accounts and all got banned, since that time they have managed to keep somewhat competitive despite their entire team being banned in Season 2 and then all the contracts running out in Season 3. I figure that Season 4 will be no different, they will beat up on a few bad teams and avoid relegation and will keep on, they will be the 3rd worst team in the conference just like Season 3 (which is really funny that Sooner got relegated to a team with 16 human players).

New Teams

Lafayette Ragin Cajuns

Team is pretty deep with good builds overall, there are some weaknesses, but they seem to be adding talent. Im not sure whats up with Stobie bringing several players over, but thats cool. They are known for winning with defense, but from what I have seen looking at the team, that should be tested this season. Regardless, they are up in the level of the certain playoff teams, we will have to see where they end up as there is a top group in Zeta that doesnt have a lot separating it.

Scotch Cocks

Right now this is like "Malachorn" and filler .. I mean .. there are a few other people on this team, but there is very little depth, still no HB at all (its cool Malachorn"s FB looks like a cheaper HB that looks quite good at running). There is some elite talent on this team and all the builds look very good, in fact they have some of the better builds Ive seen. Their defense should be really good and if their offense gets enough people on it, it should also be good. The only issue is that Malachorn has clearly max/minned his players so much that with the revamping of the code this season it could really backfire on them. Furthermore this is a 1 QB team, and no matter how good that QB is or thinks he is, a lot more teams are going to hurry him and sack him this season and after enough hits, he wont be as good. I have used this thread to warn people about 1QB systems .. maybe they will take note, but I doubt it .. I saw some ego about this QB in the AAA forums. Anyhow, they will be a playoff team I figure, but it will be interesting to see if they get more depth, because that might be the difference between getting to the conference CCG and not.

See

http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=651646&page=1

For what I see happening in Zeta this season, only now I revise that Greek Fire will be around Transylvania, either 1 above or 1 below.

Scotch Cocks pass blocking is better than you think. Check out our games against good teams from last season. Still very low hurry and sacks numbers.

Nice work Randy.. I agree with your assessment of Fanatix.

Why the hating on Sarajevo? We played good games with BHB and the Destroyers in the regular season, and heck the same with CT. If you think we cant beat an elite team, see the season 2 championship game. Your obviously still bitter about that. LoL I dont mean half of this, but some of it im serious about, if you dont think were an Elite team, watch us finish in the top 4-5 again.