Brandon

My Signature Creation Process: https://streamable.com/nfv9go Almost all of my signature are made in this way, not sure if anyone can learn from this. About 60 minutes shrunk into 3 minutes. Like this signature, I pretty much always put too many layers, and then go back and delete a bunch. If you have any questions, just ask!

1. I'm not worried, we started 2 backup games to start the season and we're top 4 for goal differential. I think structurally we're arguably built the best out of any team (only weakness is wings), 2 strong centers makes such a massive difference in helping distribute scoring on both lines. I think (am hoping) over the course of the season, teams that went 3 defensemen will get exposed by having a 40 OV CPU soak up 30 minutes a game, and we will come out ahead (and DC). We'll see though. 2. I think Henri is an extremely well built player, and having Idaho on the other wing before probably soaked up a few hits that le Massif would have potentially gotten. This year is le Massif is looking to be competitive for the Scott Boulet trophy, I'll be following him closely. 3. I'm guessing it will be around 60 points in 72 games, with 24 goals and 36 assists. We'll see how my production keeps up, fingers crossed, and I'll take any point Simon wants to gift me. 4. My 2 surprises thus far are Chicago being 6-2 on top of the standings with 6,000,000 in cap space, although I think it's just a hot streak and they will fall. And I really thought Davos would be more competitive to start the season with all of the acquisitions they had over the off-season, but I guess we'll see. The EU is also strong which makes Davos' schedule more difficult than if they were in NA and with the same roster. 5. Being that it's my rookie season, I don't think I could be more invested. Super excited to be getting top line minutes as well! 6. I'll be doing a Europe trip for a month in a few weeks. Won't be as active, but will still have my TPE done. Haven't travelled outside the country since the start of covid, so it's something I'm looking forward to. I'm meeting up and travelling with a friend of mine who I grew up with, who I went to Europe with last time in July of 2018, and he simply never came back. He lived his whole life in North America (24 years), spent 30 days in Europe, and loved the difference in culture so much he literally stayed and didn't book a return flight. He has dual-citizenship (from his parents), so he found a job within 4 months of living there, and he said he has no plans on ever moving back. Crazy.

I don't have a font pack unfortunately, and also need more fonts. Although this is where I've downloaded all of my current ones, there may be some here you could DL and use --> https://www.dafont.com

D - Hulk Hogan 2 @Spartan you can complete the thread

A bunch of legends

G - Xavier Booberry F - Brendan Marner @Spartan

Damn that's a good call, didn't even think about Dusty. He could actually be the true darkhorse.

The king of text, this signature slaps. I've always been a huge fan of meshing green and blue together in a signature, and you executed this one to perfection. I really like the introduction of low opacity on the center of the rasterized text layer to make the logo pop through the text, such a fantastic finish that really brings home the entire signature to me. Good usage of the blur tool, and stock picture choices, the signature isn't too busy but also not empty at the same time. The one texture to the bottom right of his mask seems maybe a bit too high in opacity, but it all meshes together so well that it's hard to tell unless you are staring at the signature for a while. Insane job, love how you execute goalie signatures, I always find them the most difficult 10/10

1. Hammar Voss (@BOOM) The front-runner to win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, Hammar Voss will be playing 1st pairing minutes on an offensively gifted Helsinki Titans. Voss will be salivating with getting the opportunity to quarterback this powerplay. 2. Landon Wolanin (@jacobcarson877) Playing on the wing of league leading Saku Kotkakoivu will be a dream come true for Wolanin. After an extremely strong second half of the VHLE season, Wolanin will be looking to continue his momentum into the VHL. We could see a fairly high scoring rookie season if Kotkakoivu finds good chemistry with Wolanin. 3. Tomas Sogaard (@Brandon) With the departure of Moscow-legend Duncan Idaho, Sogaard will be receiving first line minutes alongside Seabasstard and le Massif, who have already established fantastic chemistry together. If Sogaard can re-find his game after a lackluster VHLE season, he could slot in nicely and put up good numbers. 4. Siyan Yasilievich (@badcolethetitan) A pass-first defenseman who creates unebelievable scoring opportunities from the rush (check his 1st assist % in the VHLE), Yasilievich will be looking to feed Detroit and Chara whenever he can. Time will tell whether Yasilievich will fall on the 1st or 2nd pairing for Davos. If he gets 1st powerplay time, we could see a high amount of assists for Siyan. 5. Leandro Goncalves (@leandrofg) A consistent performer throughout his whole VHLM and VHLE career, Goncalves will most likely be slotting behind Kotkakoivu on the 2nd line for the Wranglers. Wranglers will look to Goncalves to provide secondary scoring to supplement their strong first line. Darkhorse: Ryuji Sakamoto ( @der meister) Sakamoto has been overlooked in the predictions thus far, but don't underestimate him. Most likely getting 1st pairing minutes, Sakamoto will look to bring his physical and elusive game to the VHL. By far the fastest and most defensively sound player in the draft class, time will tell if his offensive production can keep up to the VHL level. If that's the case, you could see an unbelievable season by Sakamoto, being up there with the best defenseman in hits, shots blocked, and points.

Claim: Uncapped TPE Package (2/5)

1. Hoping I can pick up a goal by game 3. Any earlier and I'll be happily surprised, and later and I'll be itching to be on the scoresheet. 2. Good question, I'm just jumping into the lineup so I'd have to say Argos. 3. Scott Boulet for Duncan Idaho. Wrap it up in a present and gift everyone 1 TPE. 4. I was lucky enough to snag first overall and I couldn't pass up the Moscow legend Idaho. Interested to see how he plays on the DC roster, as it's looking pretty offensively stacked. 5. Probably the first game we play against either the Calgary Wranglers or DC Dragons. Both Goncalves and Wolanin were good teammates of mine who I've talked to a good amount so it will be interesting to see how our players faceoff against eachother. And for DC, a combination of Idaho, and me knowing Arce, v2, and Jardy from the early VHL days. First time I'll be playing against them in years. 6. Haha, oh man funny you say that and visited there, me and Hamilton, Ont have quite the past. Worst city as in most disgusting would be downtown Los Angeles passing through Skidrow, looks like a literal warzone. Although most disappointing city would be Antwerp, Belgium. Definitely not the worst city by any stretch, but I've been to 30+ cities across Europe and that one was the most boring by far.

D - Jerome Reinhart F - Taylor Mourning @Spartan

Sign me up buttercup

F - Duncan Idaho @Spartan

The road to the VHL hasn't been an easy one for Tomas Sogaard, but it's been one filled with lessons, experience, and familiar faces along the way. Drafted by the Moscow Menace 15th overall in the S83 VHL entry draft, Tomas Sogaard is looking to make the jump to the big leagues. After standing out in the S82 VHLM playoffs, with 11 goals, and 8 assists, for 19 points in 11 games, Sogaard struggled to find consistency and regain his goal-scoring touch in the S83 VHLE season. With a measly 42 points in 62 games, it was a tough pill to swallow for the young Danish prospect. It goes to show that nothing comes easy, and you will have to continually work hard no matter the results on the ice. Transitioning to the VHL, Tomas Sogaard is hoping to work on his scoring, skating, defense, and possibly checking in the upcoming season in order to best position himself to be able to succeed in such a competitive league, and to increase his odds to play on Moscow's first line alongside The Seabasstard and Henri le Massif, 2 extremely strong and consistently performing players for the last number of seasons. When talking with Tomas Sogaard, this is what he had to say about the S84 Moscow Menace roster: "Honestly, I'm extremely excited to be making the move up to the VHL and joining such a well-established and highly regarded organization such as Moscow. Euron Leonidas, the general manager, has done a phenomenal job at constructing the existing roster, and getting the most out of his team while balancing restrictions such as salary cap, and still drafting extremely well with late round draft positions over recent seasons. I have a lot of trust and faith in the decisions that Euron has made, and will continue to make." "What I'm most looking forward to is playing alongside such strong centers in The Seabasstard and Sergey Preobrazhensky, no matter what line I'm on, I know I can trust the people down the middle to drive the play up the ice and make the right decisions. It's been a while since I had such a strong and dominant center on my line, which was Leandro Goncalves in S82. I'm going to do everything in my power to work towards playing on that first line, but regardless of where I play, I'll be more than happy. It's hard to see a hole on this roster. It's an interesting feeling moving up to the VHL, it almost feels like I've been here before, so there aren't any nerves." Scouts are curious to see how Sogaard pans out in the VHL. After a strong VHLM and weak VHLE season, it's up in the air to how Sogaard will perform in his rookie VHL season. When comparing Tomas Sogaard to other VHL players, there is a clear weakness in his skating that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Although it seems like he has been putting in the work behind the scenes, so we'll see if it can translate to the ice. After being picked as the 2nd last pick in the first round of the S83 VHL Entry Draft, Sogaard is hoping to make himself one of the best of his draft class, a name to remember.

Euron Leonidas' reaction when he realized he had to give up Duncan Idaho due to salary cap issues. It's been quite the off-season for General Manager Euron Leonidas, who had significant cap challenges that arise when you're producing a championship contending roster for 4 straight seasons... it does eventually catch up to you, and in this case, it was the pocketbook. Over the cap by a significant margin, Leonidas was faced with the difficult decision of parting with one of his core centerpieces over the last 4 seasons simply because Moscow was over the salary cap. Duncan Idaho, Hard Markinson, The Seabasstard, and Papa Emeritus, all top-tier talent in their respective draft classes, and gelled together on the ice like a symphony. When testing the waters on the market, it was Duncan Idaho who garnered the most interest, and ultimately made the most sense to move on an asset management level. Seeing Idaho in the DC uniform next season will be sad to see for myself, and it will feel slightly off, but the Moscow roster wishes him the utmost success on that extremely talented roster. A new face on defense acquired this off-season as well, is Flynn Remy, who will add great depth and a strong 2nd pairing defenseman alongside Wattson Power. Some new prospects are entering the VHL for the first time as well, and hope to shine in their first season, those 2 names are Jason Argos and Tomas Sogaard. Two players who have played their entire respective careers together through Mexico City Kings to the Istanbul Red Wolves, and now on the Moscow Menace. Familiarity will help moving up, as they try to adjust to the faster pace game ahead. With only one week until the season starts, there is a lot of anticipation around the league for how each team will come out of the gate.

Claim: Uncapped TPE Package (1/5)

1. Excited. Despite losing Idaho, which is a big hit, I think we're still extremely competitive in a strong European conference. Our defense is stellar, and we've got a top goalie in Papa. Hopefully we get off to a good start. 2. Simply keeping track of his stats over the course of the last few seasons. He's been an absolute menace from putting up huge numbers on the score sheet, while also being a hit machine. 3. I'm excited to see how both of us perform. Argos and I played on the same line in the M, and our players meshed well. Last season my center linemate for the entire season wasn't built properly, so hopefully last seasons stats in the E were an anomaly. Regardless, I'll be grinding the max TPE. 4. Absolute steal of a trade with massive upside bringing Remy onboard for a low draft pick. He completes our D-core nicely, and will be a great addition to the lockerroom. 5. At max, we have 2 seasons left in the window (that's holding onto retiring players and getting no assets out of them, so not ideal long-term). I think as a team we see how we are half way through the season. Europe is such a competitive conference, anything can realistically happen. Last season we saw Helsinki miss the playoffs with an extremely strong roster. 6. Not too bad, love it being light out at 8:30pm. Weather here hasn't been the greatest, so hopefully I get more sun my way. May do a trip throughout Europe during the summer, but ultimately undecided.

@leandrofg Tribute to the GM who put the gold medal team together

Sign me up coach

We actually did it this year, great job Team Europe! @leandrofg

I apply

RIP North America

Outside of the top 3, there wasn't a whole lot of certainty around the league what would happen. After the dust settled, the S84 VHL Entry Draft sure didn't disappoint. Most teams getting great value for their respective needs coming out very pleased, many trades around the league, and I'm sure for a few GMs a moment or two of frustration as a player they were eyeing gets picked one before them. A few teams, without a doubt, are coming out feeling like they just pulled off a successful bank heist, and are shouting at their driver to start the car so they can secure the bag and quickly move into the off-season. But when it's all said and done, and the careers of each draftee is over, who will be the steal of the draft? Which single pick will provide the most value comparitive to the pick selected? When looking at the draft board, it's hard not to look at @samx Velociraptor Greg picked at 18, and @Eynhallow Noodles Marconi at 19, picked by LA Stars and HC Davos respectively. After reviewing moreso, however, I would like to point your attention to @weekz Cole Caufield jr. who was picked at 25 by the Toronto Legion, which might be THE true steal of the draft. I'm sure when looking back, based on the sheer amount of players involved, the chance this guess is right is relatively low. But we'll see when looking back in 4-8 seasons!