“CIBBL Empire Regionals Rd1

First game was a heavy defeat for the Swan Riders. Actually, it happened what we were afraid for: the claws massacred the trees (Actually for a while Drychaen died, but our Apo brought him back. Unfortunately, he will not manage to play in our next game), Mighty Blow and Guard did the rest (18-45 blocks, one of the worst blocking records). We actually managed to play only one half, the second without our trees was so one-sided that nothing useful can be deduced.

Coach Kharigor said that despite losing Drychaen in the first block of the game (important note: we did not put the Trees in LOS in order to avoid that...) the team managed to be competitive for a spectacular amount of time. Actually, I think that we were winning the positioning game with the resources we have and what they had until a critical mistake happened at turn 5 when #5 Shado forgot to stand up and marking the Minotaur so #6 Oddana manage a 2d block pushing the beastman cage near the sideline with the tree blocking the centre exit. They will probably manage to escape, despite that they didnot have any RRs, but the following turnover destroyed any hope for an organized defence. Turn 7 we manage to sack and stunned the opponent ball carrier through the dodge power of the stunties, but at the end it did not matter. They pickup the ball without problem.

During the second half, on their first turn they removed the second tree. This was the final blow in the motivation of the team, since they lost all the capability to pick up, dodge or pass, despite the efforts of the coach to set some desperate plays, which were difficult, but at turn 3 we managed to create a window, which could allow us a chance to draw. Poor #3 Shado was again the fateful player that fumbled the pass. Poor buddy, it does not matter, next time you will do it. The game snowballed from there, but nobody will ever say that we did not try.

So one tree for the next game. Maybe it is time to find the number of Deeproot, then.”