1.Playoff Predictions
NOLA at home against the Wraiths is going to be a real good matchup. NOLA was the favorite for much of the season until the last few weeks, where they dropped their last 4 matches. OCO became our front runner coming into the playoffs. Good thing for NOLA, they remembered how to win, and won a nail biter of an overtime against Orange County. Now, they come into this Ultimus as heavy favorites over the Wraiths. Despite the 4 losses to end the season NOLA still finished with the #1 rated offense and #2 rated defense in the regular season. For comparison, The YKW rated #4 and #5 respectively. Both teams overcame the odds against with wins on the road, but it is NOLA with their superior record during the regular season who gets to claim HFA during this Ultimus. Yellowknife has been good this year, taking out the Hawks on the road, a team many thoughts would win the Ultimus this year. That being said I do think NOLA takes this game convincingly. Last weeks game against OCO was probably our playoff game of the season. I think NOLA just has to perform at a basic level today to take the trophy and the glory, and hand YKW yet another Ultimus loss
6.Next Year
As a member of the London Royals, my team finished tied for last in the DSFL with the Dallas Birddogs. Things looked grim for much of the season aside from standouts Acura Skyline and Derred De Ville. That being said, the DSFL is a weird league. Because it is a junior league to the NSFL, turnover is frequent. A team can go from winning the Ultimini to failing to qualify for the playoffs in one year. Because of this, I believe both expansions teams are primed for playoff runs. Their players are young, and while they will be drafted in the NSFL, they’ll likely be sent down for an additional year of DSFL. Other teams will lose players and need to redraft many, while the expansion teams will have maxed out teams by mid-season. I suspect both teams will qualify for playoffs next year, the overall quality of the DSFL will improve drastically, so long as there are no major call ups for either team. I do think because of the TPE gain/week that the Royals were managing, that they will be the better team as the season goes on. Even now, TPE/player is relatively on par with the rest of the league. Many won’t see it coming but both expansion teams are going to be dominant next year.
9. Dynasty
I’m not going to convince you that the Royals will be a dynasty. In truth, no DSFL team will ever achieve that with how much HFA affects the game in the DSFL, and the turnover due to callups in the NSFL. Any team that does manage to string together 2-3 Ultimini’s, will achieve this from sim luck and not true dynasty building strategy. The NSFL is different however. In the NSFL, HFA is not king, your players stay with you so long as you pay them, and winning strategies pay off and aren’t negated by silly penalties. I believe NOLA will be the next dynasty in this league. From my brief time interacting with their scouts, NOLA strikes me as a team that has built a winning culture from the ground up, focusing on players in the draft that would be good fits in their LR’s. This is evidenced by the fact that NOLA is playing for the Ultimus today, and still yet holds the #2 pick in the draft, in which the rumors are they are targeting standup citizen of the NSFL, Tesla. In addition, NOLA handles their contracts unlike any other team that I’ve talked to. It just makes so much sense from a sim standpoint. Unless other teams follow suite, NOLA will take over this league one season at a time.
19. Team Culture
Something I’ve noticed is that many scouts from the NSFL who come to interview me, ask me if I have any questions about their LR. The one question I always ask is, are people in the voice chat for game day? Is the server an active LR with personalities on mic? Nearly every scout says no, people are active in chat but not in voice. Well, in my time with the London Royals, I’ve had the pleasure of participating in an LR that often was on the mic for game time, giving our opinions on the games. It gave all of us a chance to meet our teammates, and do engage in some interesting conversation that just wouldn’t happen in the text channels. It made the process of losing most weeks as a new expansion team, a lot more fun. This will be something I surely will miss going into the NSFL. It’s my hope to foster some real culture in whatever team drafts me. Sim leagues are always more fun with the personalities of each league. The actual on field product itself is pretty stale. Watching the sim screw your team over is depressing. Having friends to share in your grief makes it that much more bearable.
NOLA at home against the Wraiths is going to be a real good matchup. NOLA was the favorite for much of the season until the last few weeks, where they dropped their last 4 matches. OCO became our front runner coming into the playoffs. Good thing for NOLA, they remembered how to win, and won a nail biter of an overtime against Orange County. Now, they come into this Ultimus as heavy favorites over the Wraiths. Despite the 4 losses to end the season NOLA still finished with the #1 rated offense and #2 rated defense in the regular season. For comparison, The YKW rated #4 and #5 respectively. Both teams overcame the odds against with wins on the road, but it is NOLA with their superior record during the regular season who gets to claim HFA during this Ultimus. Yellowknife has been good this year, taking out the Hawks on the road, a team many thoughts would win the Ultimus this year. That being said I do think NOLA takes this game convincingly. Last weeks game against OCO was probably our playoff game of the season. I think NOLA just has to perform at a basic level today to take the trophy and the glory, and hand YKW yet another Ultimus loss
6.Next Year
As a member of the London Royals, my team finished tied for last in the DSFL with the Dallas Birddogs. Things looked grim for much of the season aside from standouts Acura Skyline and Derred De Ville. That being said, the DSFL is a weird league. Because it is a junior league to the NSFL, turnover is frequent. A team can go from winning the Ultimini to failing to qualify for the playoffs in one year. Because of this, I believe both expansions teams are primed for playoff runs. Their players are young, and while they will be drafted in the NSFL, they’ll likely be sent down for an additional year of DSFL. Other teams will lose players and need to redraft many, while the expansion teams will have maxed out teams by mid-season. I suspect both teams will qualify for playoffs next year, the overall quality of the DSFL will improve drastically, so long as there are no major call ups for either team. I do think because of the TPE gain/week that the Royals were managing, that they will be the better team as the season goes on. Even now, TPE/player is relatively on par with the rest of the league. Many won’t see it coming but both expansion teams are going to be dominant next year.
9. Dynasty
I’m not going to convince you that the Royals will be a dynasty. In truth, no DSFL team will ever achieve that with how much HFA affects the game in the DSFL, and the turnover due to callups in the NSFL. Any team that does manage to string together 2-3 Ultimini’s, will achieve this from sim luck and not true dynasty building strategy. The NSFL is different however. In the NSFL, HFA is not king, your players stay with you so long as you pay them, and winning strategies pay off and aren’t negated by silly penalties. I believe NOLA will be the next dynasty in this league. From my brief time interacting with their scouts, NOLA strikes me as a team that has built a winning culture from the ground up, focusing on players in the draft that would be good fits in their LR’s. This is evidenced by the fact that NOLA is playing for the Ultimus today, and still yet holds the #2 pick in the draft, in which the rumors are they are targeting standup citizen of the NSFL, Tesla. In addition, NOLA handles their contracts unlike any other team that I’ve talked to. It just makes so much sense from a sim standpoint. Unless other teams follow suite, NOLA will take over this league one season at a time.
19. Team Culture
Something I’ve noticed is that many scouts from the NSFL who come to interview me, ask me if I have any questions about their LR. The one question I always ask is, are people in the voice chat for game day? Is the server an active LR with personalities on mic? Nearly every scout says no, people are active in chat but not in voice. Well, in my time with the London Royals, I’ve had the pleasure of participating in an LR that often was on the mic for game time, giving our opinions on the games. It gave all of us a chance to meet our teammates, and do engage in some interesting conversation that just wouldn’t happen in the text channels. It made the process of losing most weeks as a new expansion team, a lot more fun. This will be something I surely will miss going into the NSFL. It’s my hope to foster some real culture in whatever team drafts me. Sim leagues are always more fun with the personalities of each league. The actual on field product itself is pretty stale. Watching the sim screw your team over is depressing. Having friends to share in your grief makes it that much more bearable.
