Happy New Year Fumbbl! Time to look back on my year 2016 on Fumbbl, which was all dedicated to a single project. You see, I had a mind to make the TOP25 in sonrises' ranking, just once, and in 2015 I didn't fall too short, being 34th. So I resolved that 2016 would be the year.

As most of you know the ranking is based on consecutive wins. I knew that I could win four tourney matches in a row, which depending on the tourney is worth 108-158 points. Looking at previous years, I figured I'd need a little more than 600 points to be inside the TOP25 (as it turned out, 677 this year). So I figured if I entered enough tourneys, I should be able to collect enough winning streaks of 3-4+ to get to that margin. Therefore, it came down to the number of tries.

One limiting factor was how many scheduled games per week I could tolerate, and another limiting factor how many prep games I would be able to get in and how successfully I could prep my teams for tourneys. I used to average about 3 games per week, but for the first half of this year I cranked it up to 5, and maybe 2 of them scheduled, I was really pushing the limit. All of that had to be dedicated to the cause. No (L) or (S), not even Secret League, no novelty or low tier teams, no metagroup shenanigans, just tourneys and tourney prep. I focussed on tourneys that had at least 4 rounds, because moar points.

So I entered every Major (well, missed the cut for the UI) and (almost) every Minor. I didn't always have perfectly prepped teams but I had reasonably prepped teams for the most part. And of course RRRs, with no team prep required and their more relaxed schedule, they worked pretty well. A little more random than the higher TV tourneys but given that there are quite a few coaches better than me who regularly play in the RRRs, I don't think that worked to my disadvantage. So whenever I was out of one RRR I applied to the next one straight away. I had a mind to also try my hand in some XFL or other but I simply couldn't fit that in.

I had several bad streaks in between where I thought I was never going to make it, and seriously considered scrapping the whole project, cutting down on my Fumbbl time and playing some Flings or Secret League. I had my early highlights such as winning a CoS Qualifier with High Elves or a RRR with Wood Elves, but things only really started coming together in July/August when I won two Minors (with Undead and Wood Elves) and played in the challenge phase of the LC with Dark Elves.

In the August standings I was showing as 11th, with North of 700 points, so it seemed I had achieved my goal already, after going 2/3 of the distance. Which was just as well since otherwise I might have thrown a fit at the dry spell that followed after. Well, I may have slacked just a little bit, too. By the end of the year I'm back down to my average of 3 games per week. ;-)

With no points since the LC I was still clinging on to 15th place in the November rankings, but knew a lot of coaches still had points coming in from XFLs and the Fumbbl Cup. Got some last minute points in myself as Black Jewels once more delivered in the R Minor. In the end it was 903 points and 19th place, yay! But I sure ain't doing this again any time soon. 2017, more leisurely pace. ;-)

Here's how my various teams contributed to the final score:

276 Black Jewels, Ranked Dark Elves
158 Walpurgis 2, Ranked Wood Elves
158 ~Corpse Pride~, Ranked Undead
153 Rise Like A Phoenix II, Blackbox High Elves
108 Golden October, Blackbox Wood Elves
50 Bundesliga Dino, Blackbox Lizardmen

TL;DR: With effort and a plan I managed to be 19th in the 2016 TOP25, but once is enough.