Hertha: “The opponents for the SHC North in the first 7-game series are the teams in the SHC East. So what do we think about them, Günther?”

Günther: “Well… The SHC East is a division hard to evaluate. Legion is one of the best teams in the whole league, but they are also trying a different approach to Blood Bowl than most of the other teams. Instead of strong blitzers and linos with guard and mighty blow, they go the agile, dodgy route. Two of the other teams, the Rangers and the Greenskins, were almost in a hiatus in the second half of season 3. They were mainly concerned about getting the season finished, so it’s hard to tell how good their teams are and what their coaches can get out of them. The Manticore coach can pull of incredible wins, like against the Legion in Season 3 and the Buccaneers in the opening match in season 4. However, they quite as easily lose against teams they should have beaten, such as the Marauders, who won a 260k uphill battle against the Manties in week 8 and the Greenskins, who won a similar 280k uphill battle in week 13. With the 6-3-7 record in season 3, the Manties are anything but predictable when it comes to their result in a given game.”

Hertha: “That’s right. And the task of assessing the SHC East becomes even more difficult when we notice that of all the eight divisions in the league, SHC East was the one that improved the most during the draft. Collectively, the four teams improved by 1290 TV, a good margin down to second place which was SHC South with 1190 TV improvement. At the start of the season, Legion was ranked as #3, Rangers at #18, Manticores at #20 and Greenskins at #22.”

Günther: “Anyway, we still hold the Legion as the divisional champion. They are, after all, the superbowl runner-up and they have the third-ranked team. Their coach is very good and I think their concept is both fresh and gamewinning. However, they have already lost three players, one of them an agile blitzer, and they cannot sustain their chances with this level of attrition. Also, they only have one point from the first two matches.”

Hertha: “As number two in the division, we suggest the Rangers. It’s really a toss-up, but you have to land on something, and rangers is chosen as second based primarily on the coach’s reputation. Rangers restructured after last season and moved to Bilbali, getting an infusion of needed capital and morale. We think they will be dangerous, and they have caused a frightful amount of casualties so far, with 4 against the Bruisers and 6 more against the Sharks. They do, however, have only one point and need to convert their player removals into TDs and points.”

Günther: “Yes. And their ball-handlers are a weak point. Neither the two quarterbacks nor the three catchers are very agile, and none of the quarterbacks have additional passing skills. And even though Richardson has extra move, sprint and sure feet, he still isn’t a natural one-turner.”

Hertha: “Yes. Rangers took horrible losses in their second game against the Manticores in Season 3, but their new killer blitzer Ramiro Maextu has had an excellent start, with 5 casualties in 23 blocks, a conversion rate of 0.217!”

Günther: “As number three in the division we expect Greenskins to edge just in front of the Manticores, but it will be a close one, and we also think they will both be just behind the Rangers. They have two strong linos and a catcher with improved agility, and lots of Guard and Mighty Blow.”

Hertha: “And they made some nice new acquisitions during the draft, although their new blitzer Jordan Reed manage to get a brocken neck against the Avalanche, and is likely to get retired. Who needs a blitzer with dodge who has reduced agility? They have also added enough sidesteppers to prevent a one-turn attempt from teams without natural one-turners. So third place for them this year, and maybe even second if the Rangers cannot convert their destructive potential into touchdowns.”

Günther: “And that brings us back to the Manticores. It’s hard to place this team as number four in their division, but just like SHC North, this is likely to be a very competitive division, and somebody must lose out in that competition. We think it will be the Manticores this year. They simply haven’t improved enough. The new big guy is a nice replacement for franchise player Karl Malone, who retired due to two niggling injuries. He has tackle instead of dodge, but is otherwise similar. The two new blitzers are a strange pair, though. Swearinger has Pass Block and Pro, and Lacy is an excellent running blitzer with strength and sure hands. He has scored all 3 TDs for the Manties so far this season. Despite this, their team lacks agility in quarterbacks and catchers and they have no skills with which to stop a one-turner attempt. Their coach can pull rabbits out of a hat though, so who knows what they can do when it comes down to it, as they proved in the season opener when they beat #2 Buccaneers in a 570k uphill battle.”

Hertha: “And what do we think about the force levels in SHC East versus the same in SHC North?”

Günher: “Well. One could point to the fact that none of these divisions has a markedly weak team. Grizzlies are the worst ranked team in the two divisions at #25. All the other divisions except KFC East has worse ranked teams than that. Also, teams like Crimson Cascade, Rangers, Manticores and Greenskins are usually associated with lots of casualties. The season 3 opener between Cascade and Greenskins had 11 casualties, among them the death of Cascade catcher Joe Adams, and the bloodiest match ever in DLE in terms of team value lost, with another 11 casualties and the death of three rangers stars, quarterback and franchise player Cedric "the Elf" Smith, killer blitzer Jay Cutler and catcher Odell Beckham was in week 15 of season 3 between Rangers and Manticores. This should make the SHC north vs SHC East one of the most hardfought seven-games series in the league. I personally expect the SHC North to be better, though. Vikings and Wolfskins should be more than a match for all these teams, perhaps except for the Legion. And Grizzlies and Crimson Cascade should fight on equal terms with them as well. I do expect that at the end of the half season SHC North will have managed more points out of the cross-divisional games than the SHC East, but not by much…”

Hertha: “Interesting matches will definitely be the three intra-divisional matches between the Rangers, Manticores and Greenskins. They will likely be decisive in determining the rank after the expected number one Legion. We also look forward to seeing the match between the Wolfskins and the Legion. Another classical meeting between brawn and agility.”

Brought to you by Hertha Wendlinger and Günther Schiele, Carroburg Tageszeitung