SIDELINE REPORT: Nemion Oceanics vs Pelgar Mystics

This week, the Sphyr and the Judwan faced off on the Pitch. My friend Dan had not played his Judwan in quite some time and wanted to bring them out. They are a nicely painted team and it was good to see them back in the game. I decided to try out the Sphyr, and though I had seen them played before and played against them, it was my first time as their coach.

The Setup

Yellow - Judwan Strikers, Dark Blue - Sphyr Guard, Light Blue - Sphyr Jack, Green - Sphyr Striker

I set up in a pretty aggressive forward formation. Dan countered with a fairly standard defensive formation, except for the one strike are off to the side, assumingly  place there in order to be able to get to the ball later.

 The first rush went pretty well for the Sphyr. I ended up getting my guard to slam one of the outside defenders on the three point strike zone out of the way. While at the same time using a striker  to both assist with the slam, by threatening the Judwan player, and setting himself up to catch the ball. I easily got the ball through it to my other Striker, and scored a three point goal.

The second rush saw my opponents players head down the pitch and attempt to move my players out of the way for a three point strike. Just to not go as easily as he had planned, as his Feint actually ended up having him slammed onto the ground. My opponent ended up settling for a one point strike.

*Sigh*

I could go rush by rush at this point and describe what happened, but honestly it was a comedy of errors on my part -  I missed three strike attempts and flubbed picking up the ball once. That pretty much cost me the game.  On my opponents part, it was slowly moving down the pitch, moving my  players out of the way, and scoring three point strikes.  The job one finally ended up winning by a landslide in the 10th rush.

 In no way am I trying to take away from my opponents abilities. He played a pretty flawless game. He utilize the abilities the Judwan have to throw long distance and score 2 great advantage. Plus, he is experienced at using Feint like a pro. He won the game fair and square.

My dice were on a cold streak. Oh well, such is life.

"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you." - the Stranger, The Big Lebowski

What did we learn:

• The Judwan are still quite a viable team. Now, take that with a grain of salt of course, because it will entirely depend on your opponent. The matchup against the Sphyr is actually a pretty good one for the Judwan.
• The Long Arms ability never ceases to amaze me. It is just fantastic. 
• The Sphyr all right quite remarkable team, even though I lost, I could tell that there potential is near limitless. They are like a human team, but with a couple of extra tricks, and Movement 6.
• Both teams in this game head Movement 6. Movement 6 is where it's at. 
• Tail vs the Judwan is useless.  OK, not entirely useless. I realize that it would be great if one of them were trying to steal from you, but being honest, I never had a single rush where that was even an option for them. There was always a time for me to attempt a strike -  I never had the ball on their rush. Wished it worked against Feint.
• Feint - in the hands of a skilled (and averagely lucky) player, this ability is really good, and very hard to counter. 

TACTICS: Protection Sphyr (Sphyr tactic)

Protection Sphyr

Green - Sphyr Striker (with ball), Red - Sphyr Guard

This is how I think you could most efficiently use your resources to protect a Sphyr ball carrier. Because sometimes you cannot always make it to where you need to be to score.

Striker: The Striker with the ball is positioned the way he is to best utilize the Sphyr's Tail ability. By facing the wall in the way he is, it is going to give a -1D to anyone trying to Steal or Slam him from behind (which is any hex available). It also has him positioned that to pivot one and fly down the side of the Pitch eleven hexes if necessary. And don't forget, on a double to dodge, on your move, you should turn your back on your attacker.

Guard: The Guard is there to provide an additional Threat to the hex beside the Striker. If he is Slammed, he can Slamback. If he loses the Slam, he has nowhere to go, so he falls into the same hex-still defending the Striker somewhat. If he wins the Slamback, he can choose not to Follow Up.

Two Sphyr = simple but effective ball protection.

TEAM: Nemion Oceanics (Sphyr Team)

Nemion Oceanics (Sphyr Team)
Reviewed during early Season 4 for DBO only


Strengths: 
Tail - The Sphyr tail makes the everyone just plain better. No longer do you have to worry about turning your back to someone. Heck, if you think they might try to Steal the ball, you are better off turning your back to them! This feature alone added to the average stats would make them good either but, there is one statistic that is not exactly average.

Movement - These guys are fast! The extra point bump from the average human Movement stat really makes a difference. Sprinting those extra two hexes, or even to Run that one extra, can make all the difference in the world.


Weaknesses:
Average - No starting dice, the human stat line (save for Movement), not terrible at scoring or killing, but not built for scoring or killing either. This might be a turnoff to some coaches. If you want to play a skew team, go somewhere else. This team does not have a lot of special rules (Tail is it), and no monstrous stats.


MVP Recommendations:

Buzzcut - This is the kind of team that could really make Buzzcut shine! Not that he isn't one of the best MVPs period. But with the Sphyr, Buzzcut has a team that can keep up with him and watch his back! If you want to add some one to crack some skulls, Buzzcut is the perfect match for the Sphyr.

Irsala Sephalin - Keeping with the look and theme of the Sphyr, Irsala is a great choice. Plus, she is a hell of a jack. Her Movement is not quite as fast as a Sphyr, and she has no Tail, but she does have Alert. She also has Gotcha! for some crippling of the of side's players. Plus, she has the same Skill stat as a Sphyr, which makes her a decent jack grabbing the ball and tossing it for a Sphyr Striker to score with. Oh yeah, and she has Steady and Toxic!





Overall: 
The Nemion Oceanics are going to be a force to be reckoned with in one off games and league play. They are not the strongest team on the pitch, or the toughest, or the best at scoring. What they are though is pretty good at everything, and they are all fast! The Sphyr are going to easily take a lot of people by surprise by being well-above average.


Grade:
A -