Pack Opening Review. Episode Six. Let's do this!
Here we are again. Another day, another pack opening. It has been a long while since the last one. And there is a big backlog of packs to open. Nine to be precise. Six regular packs and three Ultimus packs. But I will save the Ultimus packs for last. They may not even be in this episode. It will depend on how long this one will be. But expect the next episode to drop shortly after this one. We are back on the grind, and we are going ham on it. Also, expect a new Unfiltered to drop, to talk a bit about the season that is culminating on Friday, and the first part of my article on the league economy to start dropping from the weekend of early next week.
But enough with those, you will see them when they drop. Let's see where we stand from the last episode:
Total cards opened: 36
Legend (Blue/Sapphire): 1 - 2.77...7%
All-Pro (Red/Ruby): 1 - 2.77...7%
Star (Gold): 6 - 16.66...6%
Starter (Silver): 12 - 33.33...3%%
Backup (Bronze): 16 - 44.44...4%
Now, before I open the first pack, I will tell you that we will check what is on the regular packs first. So, first pack for today,a nd the first card is... Backup Roger Batoff. Expected. With all the luck I got. Batoff was the wide receiver for Philadelphia Liberty, and he was drafted in the Season 11 International Simulation Football League Draft. He went inactive fairly quickly and bounced around teams, Arizona, Yellowknife, and most recently, San Jose, only to become a free agent in season 20 and not be signed by a team since.
Next up is another Backup, a young defensive end, from the Sarasota Sailfish, Son Goku. A season 23 draftee, it only makes sense he is in that tier. I only expect to see great things from him in the future. I think he has not been called up yet, so he has all the future in front of him. And with playing in a position that maxes important attributes below 1000 TPE, if he can max earn, he will have a very long career, in a position always in demand.
Third card of the first pack is Backup wide receiver from Season 5, Fresh Booter. He was drafted by the Las vegas Legion, now known as New Orleans Second Line, but he peaked in Arizona, where he spent most of his career, and considering he is in the Backup tier, he did not have a great career. He was inactive around season 10, and after season 11, he was a free agent, and automatic retirement got him.
But let's move on to the fourth card. It is... BAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. What a name. It is another backup, but the name makes up for it. Dick Cheese Jr. Gotta love this one. I know for a fact there is a player called Dick Cheese III in the league. Not sure if DC3 is active, but judging Cheese Jr. was a season 13 player, and ended up peaking in the backup tier, I doubt it. But prove me wrong. Cheese peaked in Philly, but he got a dope name. Also, to avoid having dick cheese, wash your gentials carefully boys! Ladies like cheese, but not from that source.
This pack is TRASH man. Literal garbage. Fifth Backup in a row. I really hope the Ultimus packs give me something better. But anyway, this is a season 1 linebacker, who peaked while playing for the Colorado Yeti, Arby Krimlaw. I will give him props for wearing 69. Nice one buddy. But other than that, he was below average. Not like the Yeti were a good team before McDummy anyway. And the fact that Er had his multis, was the simmer, and on Arizona, does not help either. Anyway, can the last card of the pack be good at least?
"Heart of the cards, I call upon thee". i hope this will work. It did for Atem, it can work for me. "This card is useless!". It is useless. It's another Backup. From season 1 and San Jose, tight end Break Bottles. Did he break bottles? No. Did he had the potential? Maybe. But we will never know as he peaked low. Six backups in a pack. Not sure if that was the intended goal of packs. I guess the daily limit should be increased. There is no way we unpack all the cards before the season is over. We gotta be very very lucky to do so. The system needs changes. But there was a whole point task about it. I think the Dotts team will get the feedback and adjust the pull rates accordingly.
Anyway, moving on to the second pack. First card is the SEVENTH backup of the day, a wide receiver, from the San Jose SaberCats, Damien West. Another season 1 player that left the league and abandoned his player early, capping very low on TPE. It will be interesting to see at some point how many season 1 players ended up with a card ranked higher than gold. At least his name is written in the league history books as a member of the inaugural draft class.
Next up is a change from all the backups to a starter. From the biggest draft class in league history, that of season 22, Honolulu Hahalua's wide receiver, William Alexander. He is still young on his career, only in his 3rd major season, he appears to be a solid earner. He has to keep up like that if he wants to have a prolonged career and hopes for Hall of Fame. Because, let's be honest here, you need huge stats to be on the Hall of Fame. And from what I have seen, the committee is hard to convince.
FINALLY! A high rarity card. All-Pro quarterback, from season 2 and Baltimore, Avon Blocksdale. I don't know much about the player, but I know a lot about the user behind Blocksdale. Slm is a hell of a guy. He was my first GM in Norfolk, back in season 14, and the very first guy I ever talked to when I joined the league discord. He was the one to convince me to not make a quarterback because the position was saturated. I have to say, I enjoyed Kroustis' career. Does Kroustis belong to the HoF? We will know in three seasons. A man can only hope.
Next up is Starter defensive tackle, Ricardo Sandoval, from Colorado. He was drafted in season 3. Drafted by Baltimore, traded to Las Vegas, then moved to Colorado, where he peaked, and lastly, San Jose, before his career was over. He was a Pro-Bowler during his stint with the Yeti. But the early days of the league were wild. That is all I can say to keep it short.
Next is backup (what else did you expect it to be?) wide receiver, from the dark ages of the league, in season 1, Cooper Christmas.
His career was quite uneventful, ending up in Arizona as an inactive player, where he either got automatically retired or just became a free agent, only to be signed by nobody.
And the last card of this pack is... another backup. At least it is an offensive lineman this time. Or not. It is a backup card. Backups are bad. We don't want them! Back to the card now, Tyron Smith entered the league in season 2. His majors career was in Yellowknife, but he was sent down to the San Antonio Marshals, now Minnesota Grey Ducks, where his career ended as an inactive player.
This was a better pack, but overall, the pulls in this one have not been so great. Now it begs the question. I am at around 1360 words. Do I stop, or do I open one or two more packs shooting for the sweet $400k bonus for 2.5k words? I guess I will try to hit the 2.5k words bonus. So more packs. MORE PACKS I SAY! Let's unwrap another sixpack of cards. I hope it were beer, but beer is bad. Stay away from drugs kids!
Starting off this pack with a season 12 player, defensive tackle Thomas Clark. Backup tier. He peaked in Baltimore, and if memory serves me right, he was part of the amazing season 14 team. Yup, I was right. He was then traded to NOLA, went to Arizona on an inactive bid, and the same way to Yellowknife. Not more to say here.
Next is Starter Alfredo Crisco. I already got that one, first card I ever pulled. Well, it is what it is. Next card is Star Jonathan King, cornerback from the season 3 draft class. The card has a typo, misspelling the name, but whatever, that is minor. His career had the ups and downs. Drafted by Orange County, sent down to the development league, only to be called back again to end the career there.
Next up is a season 16 Starter tight end, Armor King. He peaked in Colorado, where he spent all his career. His user, Jackets28, is a good lad, from the few interactions I have had with him. Regarding the player however, I could not find much on the forums. Anyway, let's move on to the next player though. And please, no duplicates this time, alright?
Next is backup tight end, Rolf Larsendorf, from the Las Vegas Legion. He was drafted there in season 1, in the league's inaugural draft, and stayed there until he went inactive, and presumably automatic retirement consumed him. Why I said Las Vegas instead of New Orleans? Rolf went inactive before the relocation/rebrand happened. By the way, we are going international now, but Las Vegas still needs a team. Revive the Legion? A totally new team? I have no clue. But Las Vegas needs a ISFL team, and it better happen in the near future.
Last card of the pack is... from the daunting season 22 draft class, Starter cornerback, Matt Cross. He currently plays in the city of brotherly love, for the Liberty. Like I said for every player of the last two or three draft classes, he is still young, he has all the time to develop into the player Philly will need to make a deep push for Ultimus. The past season, Philly was just unlucky, but they have all the right pieces to contend. Matt Cross is one of them. And he plays in a very important position as well. Good cornerbacks are important against high end receiving corpses. I wish him all the best!
Another 700 words till 2.5k. One more pack, no more duplicates, and I think we got this. Or I can just blaber like that. Not like we have to follow a certain theme. It is free topic. Although I used to suck at free topic essays, this one seems easier. Because you can talk about something you are familiar about and the grader cannot give a failing grade to this.
Alright then, fourth pack of the day. Let's hope this is a good one. We keep on the regular packs. Ultimus packs will be opened in a future episode.
First card of the last, I hope, pack of this one is... a backup. From the season 5 class, wide receiver John Wachter. He peaked in Arizona, and I assume he eventually went inactive, considering the low TPE peak. Let's look it up in the forums though. Yup, he went inactive. Drafted by the Portland Pythons in the DSFL draft of season 4, by the Baltimore Hawks in the ISFL draft of season 5, then traded to Arizona, then traded to Colorado, from where he was let go in free agency, where he remained unsigned, until automatic retirement consumed him.
Next up, is backup kicker Archibald Booter, from the inaugural season 1 draft class. What a name. Befitting of a kicker. With Marquette King, a punter, as the render. He was drafted by Yellowknife, where he spent all of his seasons, before retiring. He even had signed a contract from season 3 till season 6. I guess instead of going inactive, there is another alternative. Retire and recreate if you want to make a comeback.
Next up, another backup. Defensive tackle James Brown. He was drafted in Season 7 by the Portland Pythons, with the 6th overall pick, and in Season 8 by the Yellowknife Wraiths, with the 14th overall pick, where he spent his whole career, before becoming inactive, signing an inactive deal, and then being let go in the free agency, from which he was automatically retired.
Needless to say I have pulled FOURTEEN BACKUP CARDS! FOURTEEN! This is ridiculous. Spending my hard earned money to get terrible cards. But it is what it is man. It is what it is. At least give me some sweet low tier pulls like Sweet James-Jones for example, SHWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETs in the comments please, for a legend of the meme culture of our league, second to none other than GimmyGOAT10, aka Gimmy Jaroppolo, whose card should be released at some point. Dotts team, do you hear? We want a Gimmy card! Imagine what I can trade it for if it gets released and I pull it. Interesting. Anyway, back to revealing cards. We got three more!
One of them is the fifteenth backup card of the day, cornerback Stuart Little IV. I got many questions for this. Why IV? What happened to the other three? Why would someone name his kid after themselves? I do not understand this. Anyway, this is a season 18 player, which is safe to assume as an inactive, considering his low tier, and the fact that S18 will regress at the end of this season. Just for the sake of it, he reached his peak TPE while playing for the Philadelphia Liberty.
The penultimate card for today is... another backup, and another fourth of his kin. Jeff Jefferson IV. Same questions as above. But this time, it is an even older player. A member of the season 12 draft class. Which means he got automatically retired, after going inactive, like many old players that peak with low TPE. He reached his peak while playing in the Bayou, for the Second Line. At least I hope he enjoyed the Cajun cuisine while being there.
And the last card is... ANOTHER DAMN BACKUP! Linebacker Brady Stropko. He was part of the inaugural season 1 draft class. He was drafted by Arizona, and then got traded to Las Vegas, so that Er could field another multi (in case you did not figure it out, IT IS A JOKE!), where he went inactive, and then released to free agency, from where the automatic retirement consumed him. He barely missed the relocation/rebrand from Las Vegas to the Bayou.
Now that we are done for this episode, let's check the pulls summary:
Total cards opened: 60
Hall of Fame: 0 - 0%
Ultimus: 0 - 0%
Awards: 0 - 0%
Legend (Blue/Sapphire): 1 - 1.66...6%
All-Pro (Red/Ruby): 2 - 3.33...3%
Star (Gold): 7 - 11.66...6%
Starter (Silver): 17 - 28.33...3%
Backup (Bronze): 33 - 55%
Duplicates: 3 - 5%
It is a tough one, but we gotta keep up with the grind. We still got cards in sights. And the end of the Ultimus week is fast approaching. We are back at it, and it will be hard. I still owe you the Ultimus packs. Tune in to the next one to read about them. Oh btw, we are at 2.6k words, so WOOOOOOOs in the comments please!
And that's it for this one, folks. I may be back tomorrow with the next pack! Peace!
Here we are again. Another day, another pack opening. It has been a long while since the last one. And there is a big backlog of packs to open. Nine to be precise. Six regular packs and three Ultimus packs. But I will save the Ultimus packs for last. They may not even be in this episode. It will depend on how long this one will be. But expect the next episode to drop shortly after this one. We are back on the grind, and we are going ham on it. Also, expect a new Unfiltered to drop, to talk a bit about the season that is culminating on Friday, and the first part of my article on the league economy to start dropping from the weekend of early next week.
But enough with those, you will see them when they drop. Let's see where we stand from the last episode:
Total cards opened: 36
Legend (Blue/Sapphire): 1 - 2.77...7%
All-Pro (Red/Ruby): 1 - 2.77...7%
Star (Gold): 6 - 16.66...6%
Starter (Silver): 12 - 33.33...3%%
Backup (Bronze): 16 - 44.44...4%
Now, before I open the first pack, I will tell you that we will check what is on the regular packs first. So, first pack for today,a nd the first card is... Backup Roger Batoff. Expected. With all the luck I got. Batoff was the wide receiver for Philadelphia Liberty, and he was drafted in the Season 11 International Simulation Football League Draft. He went inactive fairly quickly and bounced around teams, Arizona, Yellowknife, and most recently, San Jose, only to become a free agent in season 20 and not be signed by a team since.
Next up is another Backup, a young defensive end, from the Sarasota Sailfish, Son Goku. A season 23 draftee, it only makes sense he is in that tier. I only expect to see great things from him in the future. I think he has not been called up yet, so he has all the future in front of him. And with playing in a position that maxes important attributes below 1000 TPE, if he can max earn, he will have a very long career, in a position always in demand.
Third card of the first pack is Backup wide receiver from Season 5, Fresh Booter. He was drafted by the Las vegas Legion, now known as New Orleans Second Line, but he peaked in Arizona, where he spent most of his career, and considering he is in the Backup tier, he did not have a great career. He was inactive around season 10, and after season 11, he was a free agent, and automatic retirement got him.
But let's move on to the fourth card. It is... BAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. What a name. It is another backup, but the name makes up for it. Dick Cheese Jr. Gotta love this one. I know for a fact there is a player called Dick Cheese III in the league. Not sure if DC3 is active, but judging Cheese Jr. was a season 13 player, and ended up peaking in the backup tier, I doubt it. But prove me wrong. Cheese peaked in Philly, but he got a dope name. Also, to avoid having dick cheese, wash your gentials carefully boys! Ladies like cheese, but not from that source.
This pack is TRASH man. Literal garbage. Fifth Backup in a row. I really hope the Ultimus packs give me something better. But anyway, this is a season 1 linebacker, who peaked while playing for the Colorado Yeti, Arby Krimlaw. I will give him props for wearing 69. Nice one buddy. But other than that, he was below average. Not like the Yeti were a good team before McDummy anyway. And the fact that Er had his multis, was the simmer, and on Arizona, does not help either. Anyway, can the last card of the pack be good at least?
"Heart of the cards, I call upon thee". i hope this will work. It did for Atem, it can work for me. "This card is useless!". It is useless. It's another Backup. From season 1 and San Jose, tight end Break Bottles. Did he break bottles? No. Did he had the potential? Maybe. But we will never know as he peaked low. Six backups in a pack. Not sure if that was the intended goal of packs. I guess the daily limit should be increased. There is no way we unpack all the cards before the season is over. We gotta be very very lucky to do so. The system needs changes. But there was a whole point task about it. I think the Dotts team will get the feedback and adjust the pull rates accordingly.
Anyway, moving on to the second pack. First card is the SEVENTH backup of the day, a wide receiver, from the San Jose SaberCats, Damien West. Another season 1 player that left the league and abandoned his player early, capping very low on TPE. It will be interesting to see at some point how many season 1 players ended up with a card ranked higher than gold. At least his name is written in the league history books as a member of the inaugural draft class.
Next up is a change from all the backups to a starter. From the biggest draft class in league history, that of season 22, Honolulu Hahalua's wide receiver, William Alexander. He is still young on his career, only in his 3rd major season, he appears to be a solid earner. He has to keep up like that if he wants to have a prolonged career and hopes for Hall of Fame. Because, let's be honest here, you need huge stats to be on the Hall of Fame. And from what I have seen, the committee is hard to convince.
FINALLY! A high rarity card. All-Pro quarterback, from season 2 and Baltimore, Avon Blocksdale. I don't know much about the player, but I know a lot about the user behind Blocksdale. Slm is a hell of a guy. He was my first GM in Norfolk, back in season 14, and the very first guy I ever talked to when I joined the league discord. He was the one to convince me to not make a quarterback because the position was saturated. I have to say, I enjoyed Kroustis' career. Does Kroustis belong to the HoF? We will know in three seasons. A man can only hope.
Next up is Starter defensive tackle, Ricardo Sandoval, from Colorado. He was drafted in season 3. Drafted by Baltimore, traded to Las Vegas, then moved to Colorado, where he peaked, and lastly, San Jose, before his career was over. He was a Pro-Bowler during his stint with the Yeti. But the early days of the league were wild. That is all I can say to keep it short.
Next is backup (what else did you expect it to be?) wide receiver, from the dark ages of the league, in season 1, Cooper Christmas.
His career was quite uneventful, ending up in Arizona as an inactive player, where he either got automatically retired or just became a free agent, only to be signed by nobody.
And the last card of this pack is... another backup. At least it is an offensive lineman this time. Or not. It is a backup card. Backups are bad. We don't want them! Back to the card now, Tyron Smith entered the league in season 2. His majors career was in Yellowknife, but he was sent down to the San Antonio Marshals, now Minnesota Grey Ducks, where his career ended as an inactive player.
This was a better pack, but overall, the pulls in this one have not been so great. Now it begs the question. I am at around 1360 words. Do I stop, or do I open one or two more packs shooting for the sweet $400k bonus for 2.5k words? I guess I will try to hit the 2.5k words bonus. So more packs. MORE PACKS I SAY! Let's unwrap another sixpack of cards. I hope it were beer, but beer is bad. Stay away from drugs kids!
Starting off this pack with a season 12 player, defensive tackle Thomas Clark. Backup tier. He peaked in Baltimore, and if memory serves me right, he was part of the amazing season 14 team. Yup, I was right. He was then traded to NOLA, went to Arizona on an inactive bid, and the same way to Yellowknife. Not more to say here.
Next is Starter Alfredo Crisco. I already got that one, first card I ever pulled. Well, it is what it is. Next card is Star Jonathan King, cornerback from the season 3 draft class. The card has a typo, misspelling the name, but whatever, that is minor. His career had the ups and downs. Drafted by Orange County, sent down to the development league, only to be called back again to end the career there.
Next up is a season 16 Starter tight end, Armor King. He peaked in Colorado, where he spent all his career. His user, Jackets28, is a good lad, from the few interactions I have had with him. Regarding the player however, I could not find much on the forums. Anyway, let's move on to the next player though. And please, no duplicates this time, alright?
Next is backup tight end, Rolf Larsendorf, from the Las Vegas Legion. He was drafted there in season 1, in the league's inaugural draft, and stayed there until he went inactive, and presumably automatic retirement consumed him. Why I said Las Vegas instead of New Orleans? Rolf went inactive before the relocation/rebrand happened. By the way, we are going international now, but Las Vegas still needs a team. Revive the Legion? A totally new team? I have no clue. But Las Vegas needs a ISFL team, and it better happen in the near future.
Last card of the pack is... from the daunting season 22 draft class, Starter cornerback, Matt Cross. He currently plays in the city of brotherly love, for the Liberty. Like I said for every player of the last two or three draft classes, he is still young, he has all the time to develop into the player Philly will need to make a deep push for Ultimus. The past season, Philly was just unlucky, but they have all the right pieces to contend. Matt Cross is one of them. And he plays in a very important position as well. Good cornerbacks are important against high end receiving corpses. I wish him all the best!
Another 700 words till 2.5k. One more pack, no more duplicates, and I think we got this. Or I can just blaber like that. Not like we have to follow a certain theme. It is free topic. Although I used to suck at free topic essays, this one seems easier. Because you can talk about something you are familiar about and the grader cannot give a failing grade to this.
Alright then, fourth pack of the day. Let's hope this is a good one. We keep on the regular packs. Ultimus packs will be opened in a future episode.
First card of the last, I hope, pack of this one is... a backup. From the season 5 class, wide receiver John Wachter. He peaked in Arizona, and I assume he eventually went inactive, considering the low TPE peak. Let's look it up in the forums though. Yup, he went inactive. Drafted by the Portland Pythons in the DSFL draft of season 4, by the Baltimore Hawks in the ISFL draft of season 5, then traded to Arizona, then traded to Colorado, from where he was let go in free agency, where he remained unsigned, until automatic retirement consumed him.
Next up, is backup kicker Archibald Booter, from the inaugural season 1 draft class. What a name. Befitting of a kicker. With Marquette King, a punter, as the render. He was drafted by Yellowknife, where he spent all of his seasons, before retiring. He even had signed a contract from season 3 till season 6. I guess instead of going inactive, there is another alternative. Retire and recreate if you want to make a comeback.
Next up, another backup. Defensive tackle James Brown. He was drafted in Season 7 by the Portland Pythons, with the 6th overall pick, and in Season 8 by the Yellowknife Wraiths, with the 14th overall pick, where he spent his whole career, before becoming inactive, signing an inactive deal, and then being let go in the free agency, from which he was automatically retired.
Needless to say I have pulled FOURTEEN BACKUP CARDS! FOURTEEN! This is ridiculous. Spending my hard earned money to get terrible cards. But it is what it is man. It is what it is. At least give me some sweet low tier pulls like Sweet James-Jones for example, SHWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETs in the comments please, for a legend of the meme culture of our league, second to none other than GimmyGOAT10, aka Gimmy Jaroppolo, whose card should be released at some point. Dotts team, do you hear? We want a Gimmy card! Imagine what I can trade it for if it gets released and I pull it. Interesting. Anyway, back to revealing cards. We got three more!
One of them is the fifteenth backup card of the day, cornerback Stuart Little IV. I got many questions for this. Why IV? What happened to the other three? Why would someone name his kid after themselves? I do not understand this. Anyway, this is a season 18 player, which is safe to assume as an inactive, considering his low tier, and the fact that S18 will regress at the end of this season. Just for the sake of it, he reached his peak TPE while playing for the Philadelphia Liberty.
The penultimate card for today is... another backup, and another fourth of his kin. Jeff Jefferson IV. Same questions as above. But this time, it is an even older player. A member of the season 12 draft class. Which means he got automatically retired, after going inactive, like many old players that peak with low TPE. He reached his peak while playing in the Bayou, for the Second Line. At least I hope he enjoyed the Cajun cuisine while being there.
And the last card is... ANOTHER DAMN BACKUP! Linebacker Brady Stropko. He was part of the inaugural season 1 draft class. He was drafted by Arizona, and then got traded to Las Vegas, so that Er could field another multi (in case you did not figure it out, IT IS A JOKE!), where he went inactive, and then released to free agency, from where the automatic retirement consumed him. He barely missed the relocation/rebrand from Las Vegas to the Bayou.
Now that we are done for this episode, let's check the pulls summary:
Total cards opened: 60
Hall of Fame: 0 - 0%
Ultimus: 0 - 0%
Awards: 0 - 0%
Legend (Blue/Sapphire): 1 - 1.66...6%
All-Pro (Red/Ruby): 2 - 3.33...3%
Star (Gold): 7 - 11.66...6%
Starter (Silver): 17 - 28.33...3%
Backup (Bronze): 33 - 55%
Duplicates: 3 - 5%
It is a tough one, but we gotta keep up with the grind. We still got cards in sights. And the end of the Ultimus week is fast approaching. We are back at it, and it will be hard. I still owe you the Ultimus packs. Tune in to the next one to read about them. Oh btw, we are at 2.6k words, so WOOOOOOOs in the comments please!
And that's it for this one, folks. I may be back tomorrow with the next pack! Peace!
Code:
2624 words![[Image: VuJTbPi.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/VuJTbPi.gif)
![[Image: CmonSkiuuupSalamandersSig.png]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/758471909196562442/776932919251304469/CmonSkiuuupSalamandersSig.png)
