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2007-03-30

Week 5 - Arena Football League

Week 5 starts tonight.

As much as I would like to forget week 4 (5-4 for the week and 21 and 11 for the year) lets take a look at what happened. No one should be surprised that Dallas and Philadelphia both won. Georgia won but only by two points against San Jose. The big surprises for me were the Avengers beating the VooDoo. New Orleans is playing very well and I didn't think they would have any problems with the Los Angeles team. Of course nothing could have been as shocking as seeing the New York Dragons win one in Florida. Not only did the Dragons (my favorite team) prove that they can win without Andy Garcia they drop perennial contender Tamp Bay to 0-4.

I only go to see part of the first have of the Dragons game. I was pleasantly surprised by the play of Rohan Davey. He played a pretty solid game and got the Dragons into the win column. I still think that the Dragons will struggle waiting for Garcia to return from injury but they might be able to complete if Davey continues to improve his game.

Week 5 looks to have some really good match ups and the separation between the great teams and the merely good will continue.

Georgia Force(4-0) at Columbus Destroyers(1-2)
The Force come into Columbus with a 4-0 record. As much as I like Columbus this year I don't think they can over come the Force. So the Detroyers drop to 1-3 after this match.

Arizona Rattlers(1-3) at Kansas City Brigade(1-2)
Kansas City is playing really well. Well enough to beat the Rattlers.

Orlando Predators(2-2) at New Orleans VooDoo(2-2)
Orlando gets back above the 500 mark by winning in New Orleans.

Austin Wranglers(2-2) at Dallas Desperados(4-0)
Mike Rose picks Austin to defeat Dallas in a monster upset. This battle of Texas is going to be a battle from start to finish. Dallas is so powerful I am starting to wonder if anyone will be able to beat them this season. I am going to go out on a limb and side with Mike Rose. Austin wins to drop teh Desperadoes to 4 and 1.

Tampa Bay Storm(0-4) at San Jose SaberCats(2-1)
Something is very wrong in Tampa Bay. I can't see them leaving San Jose with a win. San Jose will translate some strong play especially on defense into a win against the struggling Storm.

Philadelphia Soul(3-0) at New York Dragons(1-2)
Does New York have enough to upset the Soul? I don't think so. The Dragons will do better than the 60-7 shelling they took from Dallas but they will not be able to beat the Soul.

Los Angeles Avengers(2-1)) at Chicago Rush(3-1)
Okay I am starting to believe in the Rush. I will take Chicago to beat the Avengers in a close scoring game.

Nashville Kats(2-2) at Colorado Crush(2-2)
Nashville beats the Crush to go from a 0-2 team to a 3-2 team. Expect a big game from Dan Alexander for the Kats.

Utah Blaze(3-1) at Las Vegas Gladiators(2-2)
Utah continues to shine and goes to Vegas and defeats the Gladiators by a big margin.

Grand Rapids Rampage(1-3) has the bye

2007-03-28

Wraith Scythe

Wraith Scythe is a very useful weapon, and one of the few healing option available for the Hunter and Warrior. While anyone can heal with Freya Lightsworn or Deacon Joanna the options for healing without resorting to allies is limited outside of the Priest and Paladin classes.

A bit pricy at 4 resources but relatively cheap with a strike cost of 2. As this weapon deals 2 damage and heals 2 damage (without any modifiers) that is really a 4 point swing. And by allowing your hero to heal this axe opens up some attacks that might have been avoided without it. It has enough power to destroy Parvink and heals enough to negate the Gnome protectors attack.

If a Warrior manages to equip this axe, drops a couple of Demoralizing Shouts and then adds a Heroic Strike - suddenly the axe is dealing 5 damage and healing for 5 damage. If attacking an ally the Demoralizing Shouts reduce the damage being dealt back. A couple of turns of that kind of muscle and anyone will be looking for a way to neutralize this weapon.

I can't see this axe supplanting Annihilator as a staple in most solo decks - but it should remain a solid second or third choice among players that are looking for weapons.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

2007-03-27

Caught Off-Guard

Caught Off-Guard is a pretty basic (and common) ability card. For a cost of 1 it allows you to reduce the attack of one target by 2.

I have never seen this played in a competitive tournament but I have faced it a couple of times in casual play. It is a nice common card that unfortunately doesn't see a lot of play because so many other cards seem to bump it out of decks during construction. The biggest benefit for this card is that it lasts the entire turn so once played it will reduce all the attacks form that source. So played against a Feral Thangral, or a Windseer Tarus, or a Galeway Steamwhistle buffed Warrax the effect will carry over to the second (and in some cases third and fourth) attacks as well.

I can't see this card getting a lot of play because it just doesn't give you a lot of bang for your buck.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Stronghold Gauntlets

Stronghold Gauntlets are a a crucial piece of equipment. I faced a warrior at regionals that used these gloves to do some serious damage. This armour card not only gives you 1 damage prevention they also give your weapons +1 attack and block your opponent from targeting your weapons for removal. All that for only 3 resources.

I had problems finding ready answers for my opponent once these hit the table. It meant that playing out something like Moria Darkheart or Shattering Blow only got rid of the gauntlets and left the weapon on the field ready to do more damage.

I would rank this card as one of three that should be in any warrior deck. Along with Deathbringer and Deathdealer Breastplate this is a card that will make a warrior deck something to contend with. For someone like me that does not play a warrior or paladin one redeeming quality for the card is that it is limited to those two classes.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Lessons Learned: Regionals

I finished 6th overall at the regionals last weekend.

This is frankly better than I expected to do as my deck is not a powerful deck. I played an Elendril rush deck but I tried to beef it up and remove some of the weenie elements. I did not want to play a cookie cutter Elendril deck, but there are elements of the deck that work well. I ran a very ally heavy deck with 4 furys and 4 Bloodclaws. I also had limited abilities. 4 Aimed Shots were ready for a late game push or for instant ally removal.

Round 1: Gorebelly. I was a little worried as I have played this player before but I had never faced his solo warrior deck. I started out okay, but I knew that the early turns would be in my favor as he built up. I managed to rack up quite a bit of damage but I stalled late in the game and could not get the final damage done. His buffed weapons tore through my defense and I did not have a late game answer. Game two went much the same way as game one, but I was able to clear away some of his weapons but I was blocked from doing any real damage by his armor. I managed to come away with the victory because an aimed shot top decked and I did just enough to end the game. Game three did not go my way. I did not get any early game advantage and again his weapons started tearing through my allies. He also got defense up early that negated any attack I might have mounted. A feeble late game surge did not do enough to allow me to get a victory. So match one ended and I had a 0-1 record.

Round 2: Timmo. I know this player and deck very well. We play at least one a week and sometimes as many as 5 or 6 times a week. The first game went perfectly in my favor. My opponent made a tactical error when he got threw and did damage but did not have the resources to poison my hero. He conceded when I had enough board control to defeat his hero and he had no defense available. Game two I got a near perfect draw. I dropped multiple allies turn two and turn three and even with my opponent destroying allies as fast as he could I had a overwhelming board advantage and was able to rush my was to the victory. At the end of round 2 I was 1-1.

Round 3: Warrax. This was actually a type of mirror match. We both had rush decks. I put myself in a huge hole when I misplayed and was assessed (correctly assessed) a game loss penalty in game 1 of the match. I was very worried as we started game 2. I drew poorly and after a mulligan had a below average hand. I managed to weather an early Latro and Teep attack and took control of the board. Late game I managed to top deck Aimed shot again and evened the match. I drew well for game three and started out with a lot of small allies. My opponent cleared the board but I was able to keep grinding away. I used two Aimed shots to take out 1 health healing allies. Late game I had Fury and Sentry Gwynn out. he was very low on health so was looking to block my final attack. He top decked Skullflame Shield and played it and a Parvink. He later expressed that he should have taken a second Parvink from his graveyard and put it on the board. It would not have mattered. I was sitting with a Multi-Shot. I pulled a card, laid it as a resource and hit his hero for 2 and destroyed his Parvink. He conceded the game as once Parvink was destroyed either Gwynn or Fury would do enough to finish his hero. This was a significant match for me as it was the first time I have beaten someone at a tournament that is not part of my gaming group. After round 3 I was 2-1.

Round 4 (final round): Sen'zir. I have played against this deck before and had not performed very well at all. This match did not take long, nor did I put up much of a fight. I was defeated on turn seven of the first game, and after turn six of the second. I could not keep allies on the field as he managed to clear any threat I managed to bring out. I tried stalling late in game two but he was able to remove any obstacles and deal me a lot of hurt. So the day ended with me at 2-2.

So I finished 6th over all.

So I came away with a very nice Zy'lah playmat and some new goals. I want to finish a tournament over the .500 mark. I think I might have been able to do that playing a more traditional weenie rush, but I still want to play a more powerful deck, and be able to withstand a few Frost Nova like splash effects. The competition was a bit more serious compared to the other tournaments I have played in. I was issued a warning (illegal play - targeting a weapon when stronghold gauntlets were in play) and got the game loss penalty for my moronic mistake with Parvink on turn two. Going forward I think I need to put a few more defensive cards in to answer for the solo decks and perhaps that Arcanite Reaper can find a place in my hunter deck.

Overall it was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I could not stay for the Lazy Peon tourney that followed the regionals. I think I will build a lazy peon deck around Radak or Dizdemona and see how it performs.

2007-03-23

Starfire

Starfire was my first rare card. I got it in my first starter (Moonshadow). I was quite excited as I looked through that first deck. I built my first strategy around Starfire as a game winning condition.

I like this card. Other than Pyroblast it is the highest direct damage ability in the game. Other cards like Backstab can do more damage but they rely on other cards or effects to be in place to be able to do that kind of damage. Chain Lightning and Multi-Shot do more damage (6 each) but they spread the damage over multiple targets.

So Starfire is the biggest ability you can pack in the game. At a cost of 5 it is a little expensive but there are not many allies that can withstand the damage inflicted by Starfire, in the Heroes of Azeroth set only 13 allies (not counting Tewa Wildmane) have 6 or more health. And you get to draw a card to boot. The biggest limitation is that it is not an instant, so you need to play it during your turn and you can't use it to respond to a big threat.

One interesting Moonshadow combo available is Starfire and Nature's Swiftness. On turn 3 you can play Nature's Swiftness for 3, which allows you to play your next card for 5 less than the regular cost. A big 5 damage Starfire on turn three can really put a dent into your opponents plans.

Contrary to my first plans Starfire is not an effective victory condition. It can help with pesky cards like Lady Jaina Proudmoore. In my druid deck I run a couple for ally removel in the mid to late game stages. It can be as good as a vanquish against most decks and can turn the tide of battle.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Churchof the Game post.

Vesh'ral

Vesh'ral is one of the most valuable allies in horde rush decks. He is fairly cheap at a cost on only 3 and with 3 Attack he can do some damage. With Ferocity he can start dealing the hurt as soon as you play him.

However, Vesh'ral is on the weak side as this troll mage has only 1 Health. This leaves him open to the mass damage effects of Frost Nova and the Skullflame Sheild. So although he can dish out the damage he just can't take it.

It is pretty easy to see why this card is popular in many players decks. You play him on turn 3 and start hammering away at your opponent. It doesn't matter that he is easy to kill, with an attack of 3 he is usually a 1 for 1 trade.

Of the ferocious allies Vesh'ral is my pick for an early game card because of his big attack and with a protector in play to keep him around he can become a problem to your opponent. An effective grouping is Vesh'ral with Voss Treebender and Guardian Steelhorn. You use Voss Treebender to get Vesh'ral through protectors to your opponents hero and Guardian Steelhorn to keep Vesh'ral around for a turn or two.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Church of the Game post.

2007-03-22

Arena Football Week 4

Looking Back
Week 3 had some excellent matches. Unfortunately only got to see the second half of one game on AFLNet, the rest of the games I only got to see recaps or read about the results and this weekend looks to be the same as I have several events to attend on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I wish I would have been able to watch either the Dallas or Nashville game last week. Dan Alexander (Nashville) and Josh White (Dallas) both had 5 rushing touchdowns. I don't think I have ever seen 5 rushing touchdowns in a game never mind by a single player. I think this is a direct result of the new substitution rules.

Looking Forward

Week 3 was a much better week for me. After spending the time to look at the matchups I went 6 and 1. This gives me a record on the year of 16 and 7. Unfortunately as I write this the ArenaFootball.com site is still featuring a lot of Week 3 content so my research for many of these games is limited. I never realized how much I relied on the information I could get from the arena football site until this week.

Colorado Crush(2-1) at Philadelphia Soul(2-0)
The soul have not done well against the Crush in the past but a strong defensive effort will allow the Soul to defeat the crush in this weeks Thursday night game.

New York Dragons(0-2) at Tampa Bay Storm(0-3)
In this someone has to win game it is quite simple - no Garcia means no win for the Dragons.

Grand Rapids Rampage(1-2) at Utah Blaze(2-1)
Michael Bishop makes his Rampage debut. Utah is doing very well. I am going to go out on a limb and go with Grand Rapids for the upset.

Las Vegas Gladiators(1-2) at Arizona Rattlers(0-3)
Both the Gladiators and the Rattlers come into this game after losing in Week 3. This is the week the Rattlers get into the win column.

Chicago Rush(2-1) at Columbus Destroyers(1-1)
The Destroyers come off the bye and host the defending champion Chicago Rush. I keep seeing Chicago high in the power poll, but I don't see why. Sure they won it all last year but they were only 7 and 9 in the regular season. I will take the Destroyers over the Rush this week.

San Jose SaberCats(1-1) at Georgia Force(3-0)
Even this early in the season there is a lot of talk about the Dallas Deperadoes but the Force are also a team to watch. Even though San Jose is 5th in the Week 4 power poll, I think Georgia is too strong for San Jose and wins this one by a large margin.

Los Angeles Avengers(1-1) at New Orleans VooDoo(2-1)
The VooDoo are playing extremely well. I think that while the Avengers are playing well they will not be able to beat the VooDoo this week.

note: Looking at the stats for the Avengers they seem to have had the bye last week, but apparently so did the Columbus Destroyers and the San Jose SabreCats.

Nashville Kats(1-2) at Austin Wranglers(1-2)
I will take the Kats to upset the Wranglers this week, proving that I don't hold a grudge against a team that beat the Utah Blaze and kept me form being 7 and 0 last week. The Kats have a great defense and I think this week they can head to Texas and return home with a 2-2 record.

Dallas Desperados(3-0) at Orlando Predators(2-1)
This will be a real battle. It is also probably the toughest game to pick this week. Orlando is a very good team and I would pick them to win against almost any team this week. However, Dallas is too goods and is going to win a close game against the Predators.

Kansas City(1-2) has the bye this week.

Kor Cindervein

This is the first in series of short card reviews for theWorld of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Kor Cindervein seems to be a pretty plain Alliance ally. A simple 3 resource ally with 3 attack and 3 health. This Dwarf Paladin is included as part of the Moonshadow,Timmo, Elendril, and Graccus starter decks (from Heroes of Azeroth Set). At first glance this common card seems pretty boring and uninspiring. However, if you look at the card more closely Kor does have some good in game value.

While Kor does not have any fancy powers he is a valuable assets.

  • With 3 attack he will take out a significant list of allies on a one for one trade. Of the 52 alliance allies 29 have 3 or fewer health, on the horde side 34 of the 52 allies have 3 or fewer health, and 8 of the 12 neutral allies and pets have 3 or fewer health. Some significant allies that fall into this category are Latro Abiectus, Parvink, Tristan Rapidstrike, Confessor Mildred, Guardian Steelhorn, Vaerik Proudhoof, Windseer Tarus, Fury, Helwen, Landro Longshot, Saltwater Snapjaw, and Thunderhead Hippogryph.
  • With 3 health he is above the damage threshold of Fire Blast, Frost Nova, Frost Shock, Multi-Shot, and Skullflame Shield he also performs well against Chain Lightning, Cleave, and Sinister Strike.

So if you are concerned that your Apprentice Teep and Sha'lin Nightwind will be vulnerable to any of the "deal 1 damage to all allies" effects then consider this dwarf as a replacement. I pulled Apprentice Teep from a deck I am building for regionals and I have been happy with Kor as a replacement. I did and now I have learned to like this card a lot.

Now that I have played with him I would rate him as a very good support card. He does not supplant Parvink as my favorite 3 resource ally, and he will never be the first ally I think of when building a deck, but I can see now why he was included in so many of the starters. He can be very effective in game even without special effect powers.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Churchof the Game post.

2007-03-17

The Show - Ze Frank

Ze Frank posted his last installment of the show today (first episode - last episode).

As I watch this episode for the third and forth time I am sad to see it go, as it gave me a lot of joy each day. I was not one of the lucky ones that was watching form the very beginning. It was a post on bOingBOing on June 21, 2006 that made me aware of the show and about a month later I started tuning in each day.

I also make note, as I watch this last episode that although I am not a hard charger I am also not really a sports racer. Ze took us all on a tour of his world and invited us to build something. And people did build things. I think what makes me the saddest about the end of the show is that I realize that I am an outsider looking in. As with so many things in my life I took form this community but I did not really contribute anything of merit. I read the forums, but never posted. So in this year long ride that Ze finished today I was an observer instead of a participant.

This strikes me as something I need to be aware of, something I need to act on. I need to start doing more and talking less. I need to become more active and open and outgoing. As I was writing this post i started writing how I would have to go back and watch the older episodes I never got a chance to see... but I think I need to go out and make something instead.

I have finally gotten into a regular habit of posting here, but I need to do more. I need to start interacting.

So I close with a big Thank You Ze! the show was fantastic, and in the end it not only entertained me and made me laugh, but it has opened my eyes and hopefully put me on the road to being a better person.

2007-03-16

Lessons Learned

I am really enjoying the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Now that I have been playing for a while I am starting to see some of the errors I made when I was just starting the game. When I started the game I saw all these cards that allowed you to interact with your graveyard. There are cards that let you pull allies from your graveyard and put them back into play or back into your hand. Cards that pulled allies out of your graveyard (or better yet your opponents graveyard) for an in game effect.

Early on I focused on this aspect of the game. I loaded my decks with 4 Chasing A-Me 01 quests. I had 2 Call the Spirit in every deck I built. I made sure that the horde decks had Ophelia Barrows and alliance decks had Medoc Spiritwarden.

I also put at least 2 Blueleaf Tubers into each deck because I thought that would allow me to reuse cards that I have put into the graveyard earlier in the game. I was thinking... it doesn't matter that I only have 1 Starfire. IF I use it I can always use Blueleaf Tubers and reuse the same card again.

The first lesson learned: focus on your deck not your graveyard.

Then I shifted my focus to abilities. I saw that the abilities had a really big in game effect. Pyroblast, Chain Lightning, Starfire, Healing Touch, all of these can turn a game around. So I started to remove allies from my decks to allow more of these abilities.

Unfortunately, this justified my original mix of graveyard scouring cards. I could put in just a couple of Sarmoths and keep bringing him back again and again. I added a lot of protectors because I could stall the game with them and have some slow burn (Curse of Agony) or big splash (Pyroblast) abilities for a quick end game.

Finally I started to notice that I was being beaten by decks because I was focused on at best stalling techniques and at worst purely defensive mechanics. Stalling can be a valid game strategy but stalling is best suited to take control of the board and then take some action. My decks were stalling and after I had control of the board I didn't really have anything to act with, so I would gain the upper hand and wait for my opponent to take it back. A purely defensive strategy is likewise fairly weak as you are preventing your opponent from winning but you are not making any progress to winning yourself.

Second lesson learned: focus on your victory conditions, not on blocking your opponents victory conditions.

So I have started to rebuild many of my decks nearly from scratch.

I started by looking at the decks that I play against in local tournaments and casually. In tournaments many of the decks I have faced have been rush decks. Casually the decks are more of a mix with more burn decks than I see in tournaments.

So I started by building a Warlock control deck. I started by stripping out the extra quests and abilities that were not giving me some board advantage. I stacked my deck with some bigger allies for my end game, and dropped quite a few protectors. I kept some early game protectors to allow me to develop the game I wanted. I dropped a few of the slow damage over time abilities and pared down the abilities in my deck looking for viable removal.

What I ended up with is a fairly effective warlock deck. I also built the deck so that it could easily switch to horde or alliance.

The next step was to rebuild my hunter. This deck had been quite effective casually but did not preform well at the one tournament I it in. I looked at the deck and again took out the extra quests and the unimportant abilities. I realized when I started rebuilding the deck that I had built a deck that on paper would perfrom well but that did not match my personal play style. SO I started to pull out allies like Apprentice Teep and replace her with bigger allies that would survive a Frostnova or a Skullflame Shield.

So after a few months of playing I am starting to get of the rust on not playing a CCG in many years and I am starting to see the better strategies of the game. I am focusing on my own victory rather than preventing my opponent form working towards his victory. I am concentrating on my deck rather my graveyard. I am also focusing on the current game rather than trying to force the current game into the pattern of previous games.

I find the game tremendously fun to play and I look forward ot the lessons I will learn in up coming tournaments. I look forward to the new expansion and can't wait to see some of the new cards that will be released with the Dark Portal set.

2007-03-15

Sneak Preview

After Regionals Mark at Gamers Lair has a sneak preview of the new Dark Portal expansion set.

March 31st, 2007 9:00 am at Gamers Lair

Sealed Pack with 4 Dark Portal Boosters and 2 Heros of Azeroth boosters.

Looks like I will be spending another Saturday at Gamers Lair.

Ficlets

A new site for collaborative writing was started recently. Ficlets lets authors write short fiction snippets. The stories grow by others writing sequels and prequels to the existing stories.

Looks like a real fun way to share and build stories.

AFL Week 3

Week 3 will have some excellent matchups. The Soul visit Grand Rapids in a game that will feature some fantastic offense. Dallas trvels to Kansas City and this year the Desperadoes are going to bring an exciting game no matter where they go. The VooDoo continue to play well representing New Orleans, and they travel this week to Las Vegas for a game with the Gladiators.

I didn't do as much research for week 2 and it showed. My record last week was 3-6 putting me at 10-8 for the year.

Utah Blaze(2-0) at Nashville Kats(0-2)
I really want to pick tha Kats this week but the experts are giving the edge to Utah. Utah has been a suprise this year jumoing out to a 2-0 start. I have to go with the experts and give Utah a third win this season.

Philadelphia Soul(1-0) at Grand Rapids Rampage(1-1)
The soul should win to start the season 2-0. The Soul started the season with a bye but last week were very strong against the Kats. This week the Soul bring their string defence to Grand Rapids and will leave Michigan with a 2-0 record.

Austin Wranglers(1-1) at Orlando Predators(1-1)
Last week the Predators lost in overtime, this week they won't let the game stay that close. Ryan Altizer at arenafootball.com predicts this to be an exciting southwest division battle.

Dallas Desperados (2-0) at Kansas City Brigade(1-1)
Although Mike Rose at arenafootball.com picked Kansas City to upset the Depesperados. I can't see the Brigade pulling the upset the week so I am going to pick safe and put Dallas at 3-0 on the season.

Arizona Rattlers(0-2) at Coloroado Crush(1-1)
Colorado has been very string this year and will make it look easy against the visiting Rattlers.

Georgia Force(2-0) at Tampa Bay Storm(0-2)
The Force travel south to Tampa Bay and will leave the struggling Stgorm with a 0-3 record.

New York Dragons(0-1) at Chicago Rush(1-1)
The Dragons without Garcia are not going to beat anyone. Chicago is not going to have any trouble winning this one. New York is going to wait a while to get a win this year.

New Orleans VooDoo(1-1) at Las Vegas Gladiators(1-1)
The VooDoo win again. The key to the game is going to be defense. A big play, turnonver, or defensive stop will lift the VooDoo to the victory.

Columbus Destroyers(1-1) have a bye this week.

2007-03-08

Regionals Are Here

I really like the World of Warcraft card game and I am very excited that the regionals are coming to Edmonton. Gamers Lair will be hosting regionals On March 24, 2007.

I can't wait. I am building decks for both the regional tourney and the lazy peon events.

AFL Week 2

Looking back at Week 1 I noticed a few things.
The new substitutions rules has made the game better. Teams can put in running packages and the ironmen have been made less important to teams. Being able to play both ways will still be an important part of the game but you won't see anymore games with back up quarterbacks playing defensive line.

The Dallas Desperados are THAT good. I thought Dallas would be a good team this year but after destroying the Dragons in week one they showed me and others that they will be the team to beat in 2007. I'll have to see if the Dragons are that bad. in a sport where a couple of defensive stops can win you the game they went most of the game without being able to score. I only saw parts of the game on TV but I don't remember the Dragons getting a first down.

The games I saw (on ABC on Sunday) and online with AFLNet were great. A lot of offense and energy. I am looking forward to seeing more games. Unfortunately I don't think many more games will be on TV locally so AFLNet will be my source for games for the next while.

My picks for this week (My record for the year is 7-2)
Las Vegas Gladiators (0-1) at Grand Rapids Rampage (1-0)
The Gladiators lost by 21 to the Wranglers last week and will lose by at least 15 the Rampage this week.

Columbus Destroyers (1-0) @ New Orleans VooDoo (0-1)
Many of the experts are picking New Orleans. I think that Matt Nagy will lead the Destroyers to a victory over the VooDoo.

Philadelphia Soul (0-0) at Nashville Kats (0-1)
With Philadelphia having a bye last week they have their first game in week two of the season. Just like the Destroyers last week the Soul will leave Nashville with a win - dropping the Kats to 0 and 2.

San Jose SaberCats (0-1) @ Chicago Rush (0-1)
Chicago is the defending champion but they were only 7 and 9 last season. Chicago struggled with Kansas City last week and will be hard pressed to defeat the SaberCats. Unfortunately Chicago will have to wait another week for their first win of the season as San Jose gets its first win of the year.

Kansas City Brigade (1-0) @ Coloroado Crush (0-1)
Kansas City looks to build on a victory over the defending champs while Colorado will try to overcome a 2 point loss to Grand Rapids. The experts at areanfootball.com all pick the Crush but I think Kansas can pull an upset and defeat the Crush.

Utah Blaze (1-0) @ Arizona Rattlers (0-1)
Utah barely defeated the Voo Doo last week and will be hard pressed to beat the Rattlers. Arizona was dominated in a high scoring game against Georgia in week one. Arizona will be able to upset the Blaze and will take the game leaving both teams with a 1-1 record.

Tampa Bay Storm (0-1) @ Dallas Desperados (1-0)
I thought that Dallas would win a close game last week against the Dragons. Dallas showed me how dominant they could be against a undermanned New York team. This week Dallas hosts Tampa and will win again. It looks like Dallas is the team to beat early in the season and the Storm will be looking to crack the Dallas defense that held New York off the scoreboard for more than 40 minutes last week.

Austin Wranglers (1-0) at Georgia Force (1-0)
Georgia managed to score 69 points last week. They will have a harder time scoring this week against the Wranglers but will still score enough to get a second straight win.

Los Angeles Avenges (1-0) at Orlando Predators (1-0)
The Predators had a solid game in Tampa Bay last week and Shane Stafford will give his new team a 2 and 0 start with a win over Los Angeles.

New York gets the bye this week, but judging from their performance last week they might still get a loss this weekend.

2007-03-03

Sunday's Games

Another quick one - I'll put up a more in depth post Monday.

5 games Sunday
Dallas Desperadoes at New York Dragons. New York 69 Dallas 72
Chicago Rush at Kansas City Brigade. Chicago 66 Brigade 42

Grand Rapids Rampage at Colorado Crush. Grand Rapids 54 Colorado 49
Las Vegas Gladiators at Austin Wranglers. Gladiators 49 Austin 56

San Jose SaberCats at Los Angeles Avengers. San Jose 45 Los Angeles 59

This season I am 3-1

Georgia at Arizona and New Orleans at Utah

Real short post...

Georgia over Arizona 54 - 49
New Orleans loses to Utah 52 - 42

So far this year I am 2-0

2007-03-02

Destroyers at Kats

The opening game of the season was a penalty filled affair. The teams combined for 12 penalties in the first half. Nashville dominated the play in the first half but went into halftime down 31-29. Columbus was able to have the halftime lead in large part due to their special team play. Kick returns by Damien Groce and Josh Bush allowed the the Destroyers to have 3 touchdown drives that covered less than 40 yards combined.

Late in the first half Columbus nearly had a huge defensive stop but Nashville managed to convert on a 4th and short and score a 57 yard field goal.

Columbus came out of the half and dominated the Kats. After the Kats scored before the halftime break, Columbus scored 16 straight points. A big defensive stop 9 minutes into the second half gave Columbus all the momentum. Columbus dominated the third quarter finishing the quarter up 44 to 29.

Nashville opened the forth quarter converting on a 4th and 10 to extend a drive and finishing the drive with Dan Alexanders 3rd rushing touchdown of the game. The Kats got right back into the game by getting a defensive stop when the Kats defense sacked Destroyer QB Matt Nagy on 3rd and 10 to force a field goal try of 62 or 63 yards. With the field goal attempt going into the stands Nashville started on the 20 yard line and score to pull within 2.

Nashville looked to go ahead with a successful onside kick but another penalty nullified the onside kick recovery and game the ball back to Columbus. Maty Nagy quickly found Damien Groce for Groce's third TD of the game.

Nashville scored a late touchdown to make it close but Columbus was able to hold on and start the season with a road victory.

Columbus next at New Orleans March 9, 2007 20:00 EST
Nashville next vs Philadelphia March 9, 2007 20:00 EST

Tonight Orlando and Tampa Bay play in Tampa. Orlando lost 69-54 to Chicago in last years Arena Bowl while the Storm missed the playoffs finishing with 7 wins and 9 loses. This is one of arena footballs most heated rivalries, which makes the move of QB Shane Stafford from the Storm to the Predators even more surprising. He will travel with the Predators and take on his former team.

Wayne Morris from ArenaFootball.com gives the edge to Orlando. I have to agree. Orlando 62 over Tampa 49.

My season record 1-0

2007-03-01

AFL Season Opener



Tonight the new AFL Season starts with the Columbus Destroyers visiting the Nashville Kats. You can expect the high scores and exciting play that is the hallmark of the Arena Football League. Both teams finished last year with 8 wins and 8 loses. Columbus missed the playoffs - but set a team record for wins in a season - while the Kats made the playoffs but lost in the wild card round to the Chicago Rush.

According to ArenaFootball.com the Kats have a 2 wins and no loses in match ups against the Destroyers. But the Destroyers enter the game with new QB Matt Nagy (acquired from the Georgia Force in the off season) ready to run the offense. Nagy will be facing a Nashville defence that has lead the league in sacks the past 2 seasons. For Nashville, QB Clint Stoerner will have to be sharp to keep his offense on the field against a talented Destroyer defensive unit lead by standout DB Jerald Brown.

Although the experts seem to be giving the edge to Nashville I think that the Destroyers with new QB Matt Nagy will pull off the upset - my prediction Columbus 42 over Nashville 35.

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