MD 4 pitted me against another familiar face - Da Basher and his Khorne team (Epik Kaos). I played them last season, in a game that iirc was a 2-0 win for the wolves, at a time before rampant player death ravaged my team. Basher also suffered some attrition - Barristan killed his super-star thirster with a well placed boot, and last week saw the demise of an Agi 5 ball handling cultist. As a result, for the first time this season, i was up against a team that was of a similar TV - in fact, I only had 10K inducements (aka even match).
Since there was no decision to be made about inducements (there weren't gonna be any), on my way home I was pondering whether it would be better to kick or receive. Turns out that was a moot debate too, because I lost the coin toss, and Basher chose to receive. The kick landed very deep, and turn 1 saw a failed pickup, which tempted me into stretching my defense and applying pressure. What followed was a series of "I blitz you, you blitz me", with the same scenario playing itself out 4 times in a row. I knocked the ball carrier down 4 times. Khorne recovered the ball 4 times in a row. The last time was near my endzone, and so they scored on turn 6/5 - 0-1.
There were no injuries during the first drive, but I KOed two Khorne players, and they KOed a zombie. My zombie woke up, their players did not, so I lined up 11 on 10, having 3 turns and 3 RRs to work with. Remarkably, I DIDN'T fail pickup this time, and the extra turn allowed me to feint left, while leaving a ghoul in position to go up the right side. Basher responded by crashing my position with his Thirster, and my options were a dodge with Hides in Bushes (he has Agi3 / Dodge), followed by a 2d frenzy blitz into the thirster with a -2d followup on a push; or a dodge by the ball-carrying wolf followed by a handoff to the ghoul (no relevant skills, but a team RR in hand). Since I had a team RR available, I decided to forgo the possibility of a -2d followup and went with the 3-3 dodge-handoff. The handoff needed to be RRed, but it worked, which allowed the wrestle ghoul to break away up the right side, and I was able to walk in the equalizer on turn 8/8 without the need to make any further rolls - 1-1.
During my first drive, a cultist got KOed, but he promptly woke up for the second half. The herald and the daemon, on the other hand, stayed sleeping, so it was 11 on 10 to open the second half. My opening blocks didn't go all that well, but I got the ball and KOed a cultist by piling on with Hides in Bushes. On his turn 9, Basher responded by predictably fouling my wolf with 2 assists - armor break, BH, regen, ejection. SIGH. I know, I know, but does it have to work EVERY TIME? Anyway, aside from the annoying patter of every goddamn foul against my wolf striking gold, the ejection made it almost a wash (slight advantage Basher, as my best blitzer was gone for the whole half). I started slowly pushing upfiled, but couldn't really make good headway. A few turns later the Thirster ended up next to my MB flesh golem, who was miraculously not prone - the resulting 1d block fractured the Thirster's wrist. The apo offered to fracture his skull instead (helpful), but the incompetence was masked by a passed regen roll. Some more useless shoving followed, until on turn 15/15 Basher blitzed Snaps at Fleas (my level 2 wolf)... and MNGed him. No regen this time. My scoring play on turn 16 was a bit meh - needed a 1d block to not skull, and then needed 2 GFI to score, with a RR available. All 3 rolls were adequate (push on the block, both GFI worked), and I went up 2-1 on turn 16/15.
One might think this would be the end of it, but no. Because it's this kind of a season, Riot gets rolled, and now it's turn 15/15, with Basher in possession of a team RR and free reign to set up in my half as he pleases - I aligned 3 rookie zombies on the LoS, and everyone else in the "line" formation next to the endzone - I even left Hides in Bushes on the bench just in case a Rock gets thrown. Anyway, Basher sets up, I blitz one of the receivers down, sandwich the others, and put a ghoul to face mark the daemon with the ball. Basher throws all his blocks, which all work, clears the ghoul away, then Dodges one of the sandwiched receivers, needing 4-3-2-2 to make the endzone - he does, albeit it costs him the RR. Then comes the 5-3 pass for the draw - accurate pass... catch failed, GG.
Saved by the catch, so to speak.
My first win in 7 weeks of OCC play. Overall, can't complain about anything, really - the wolf MNG sucks, but it could be worse. And it's not the superstar wolf. And I rolled 80K winnings (-10K spiraling), so I get to bank a nice 70K into my severely depleted treasury. Most importantly, it's 3 points in the standings, breathing life into what was looking like a very dead season. Super Flea's Toot and Come In (passing Khemri team) next week.