Steve

Review: This is a great example of the term "less is more". Very simple but was done extremely well. The renders are crisp and engaging. Almost like they really are emotionally engaged with the team or themselves. Your color brush stroke back layer looks very well done and has the proper blend mode to make it push the renders to the front. The small blur on the background plays a big role in this as well. One thing I would have done differently is the renders are a bit muted. A bit of highlight on their happy little faces might have added even more emotion to this project. Well done sir. It is simple yet not so simple. Presents itself well. A true legend. 9.5/10

Review: Now this is a unique graphic. Something that should be reviewed and admired for its creativity. The nonstandard format actually has good balance and presents it's self well. The color on the jersey and team logo look really good. Along with the blue shadow on all your elements that complement the collection of elements. Halifax always holds a special place in my mind as it was the first team my first player was signed to. So, in my biased opinion, this graphic is outstanding. I can comment on one thing that I think could have been done to clean this up a bit. I would have cleaned the render's visor and have it transparent. Outside of that, it's a winner. Great job 9.5/10

Here we are, in a wild card series against Warsaw. As of this article, we have only played two games which we won both. I am not sure that will happen again but I can always hope. Moscow hasn't really changed much during the season other than adding to our defense. A few line adjustments here and there but nothing major. It's not like we had a bad season at all, several teams were able to push us down the list when we needed to push up. There are several teams that look scary but to be honest, I think Moscow has the horsepower to push harder than the season indicated. We were hot early in the season when other teams were kind of coasting. Very similar to last season when out of the blue, we get smacked down in the first round by a team that wasn't near the top until the last half of the season. It seems like the European conference is just too tight and a few off games will see you drop like a dress on prom night. I do have confidence in the team to put up a good fight in every game. Every player has been working hard to improve their skills. Should be an exciting playoffs. Word count:214

Presser for the week ending Cinco de Mayo 1. Did you ever think we would be in a wild card series after having been at the top of the conference? 2. Many players have had career best seasons. Are you happy with your player's season? 3. What are your plans for developing your player? Is there a skill or two you are working on? 4. Our goalie seems to be playing very well for the most part. Can a 2nd year goalie take us to the cup finals? 5. Were you under the impression that this season was the one we were going to make our big push? 6. What team should we be worried about assuming we finish off Warsaw?

Review: Interesting looking graphic you have here. The render is sharp and right on the edge of being overcooked, but not. I am curious to know if you made the background images or found a picture to mount your render to. Either way, it looks badass. The font is a bit rough for all caps but is readable and well placed. Going back to the render, he seems a bit small and wonder if he was enlarged a bit if it would offer a better balance. Overall it is an impressive looking graphic with some unique elements. I say, well done. 9/10

Review: Finally, a closeup of a player with ultra detail, well done sir. I like the theme and it seems to fit in with your multi render style that you are know for. The format is a bit off, but to be expected with such a small graphic. Good use of this color palette, it works well with the team. I like the text even though the logo overlay makes it a tad hard to read. It is a graphic that looks good and well done. I am impressed with the detail of the render's face. Great job. 9.5/10

If you look at the European Conference, you will see that the race is so tight, it's hard to figure out who will end up at the top, or anywhere really. The top five teams have been playing lights out all season. I figured by now there would be some sort of separation, a small buffer, a gap between the handful of teams in contention. Nope, it is still a fight to the finish or a big train wreck. There will be winners and losers in this race for sure. Moscow has to get back into winning form and finish the last ten games with some strong play from the team. It has been a bit of an off and on stretch for us lately. A stretch that we want to come out of on the winning side. I feel we have the talent to compete with any team. We are looking forward, not backwards. I think our future is solid and I expect us to end the season on a high note. Word count:173

Presser for the week ending 4/28 1. Are we having fun yet? Tight race in the EU. 2. What team have we played that has surprised you the most? 3. It's been a bit dead in the locker room lately, why? 4. How is your player doing compared to your expectations? 5. Do you think we need to shake lines up or just ride it out? 6. Who does Spartan listen to on Spotify?

Review: Wow, I really like the looks of this graphic. The background is insanely good and fits the theme extremely well. I like the approach of not using the team logo but an awesome looking wolf instead, well done. The render has a great look and contrasts extremely well with the muted colors of the background. I find this to magnify the focal point to the highest level. The text is top notch although it blends into the background a bit but still looks great. I think one point should be made about your lighting at the top. In my opinion, this was not needed. Or, if you have a light source at the top, you should have it lighting up the elements it directly effects, or should effect. Overall, this is a kickass graphic. Great job. 9.5/10

Review: You have a lot of good-looking effects floating around this graphic. The background has all the elements you could ask for and they look great. From the splashes to the particles, and of course the smoky looking overlay you used to create a great foundation for this themed project. Here is where it gets a bit tricky. The render fits the part but to be fair, it isn't the cleanest of cuts. It could have been a low-resolution image and hard to get a good cut, I don't know. I like the theme and I think you got that right. The text is good and is functional. Maybe a missed opportunity with the text would be using some blues to make the shadow and fill. It's all subjective and you did an overall fine job. Good stuff 9/10

I want to talk about the scoring skill. I know there has been some interest in boosting the scoring to bring the goal tenders back down to earth, but I see a major flaw in this approach. If you spent every tpe that you own and only put it into scoring, you can only reach 93, 2 behind what Simon T considers elite. So, what is the problem? From my tainted perspective, the scoring skill is too condensed, not enough skill space to separate a lower skill from a player that has invested a lot more into the skill. I think the proper fix is to make it so you can at least reach 95. Let the slider stay neutral and let the skilled players have the feeling that they didn't waste the time and effort to invest in a skill that seems very unstable. Sure, there are many that are succeeding with a high level of scoring but there are many that are not that invested that are scoring a lot. Is this a intentional to make lower earners more relevant? Playing with this ancient version of Simon is hard enough, let's not try to outguess a madman. I haven't had the feeling of skill synergy in a long time. I go back and look at build guides from 2019 and I am not finding those are even close to how players make builds now. I wish there was a way to get that tier separation back without the exploits that went with it. I am not complaining because my player is not producing, Gunner is on a record pace. I would just like to have a logical approach to making a build and not being able to even reach the top end of scoring due to the ratios has made me rethink how things will work in the future if something isn't adjusted. All I am suggesting is that the guys that make these changes should revisit the ratios and make the changes that makes sense and creates a competitive player base. Word count: 344

Presser for the week ending 4/21 1. The players seem to be inactive in the locker room, why? 2. Our recent upgrade to defense hasn't panned yet. Any ideas what is going on? 3. Although we were on top of the EU world, we have fallen lately. Where will we end up? 4. As a whole, the team looks strong and resilient. Are you looking for that big win streak that I am? 5. Our tender is doing a good job when you consider this is season two for him. Can the team rally behind him and push us to glory? 6. Overall, not counting this last week, are you happy with your player?

Review: I really like this design. You did a fine job with this theme and the attention to detail is noticeable. The effects are very good especially the background layers. It looks like you put some time into this one and it really paid off. I like the text effects, it looks proper for the era you are displaying. A nice glow for the render looks good and the logo swap is looking good. The team logo under the background layers really looks good. Even though the background is very busy, the render still is the focal point. Very well done. 9.5/10

Review: I like this style for the most part. Not a huge fan of the color palette but that is your choice. The design is solid and I think it has potential. You have a good render with all the important items removed and replaced with a proper logo. The format is odd but looks balanced. I think the background is killing your render. I think the render should be the focal point and it seems to be dimmer and not as sharp as the background. The text is large and easy to read. Kind of cool font you used. HSL adjustments can be a way to manipulate colors but there are many more accurate ways to skin that cat. In this context, this looks good. Job well done. 9/10

As of today, Saturday the 6th, the league will break the halfway mark for the season. It has been a very competitive season so far in both conferences. The European conference has a potential five team race for the top spot. To be honest, they are all good teams and any one of them could get hot in the second half of the season and be the team to beat. I think there is a good chance the league leader will come from the European conference, even though we fewer teams in the rebuild mode than the North American conference, I still think the top team will be from the European conference. Any way you look at it, we are in for a hard fought season and a great playoff. Whoever wins the cup will be a team that had to go through hell to earn it. It looks like there won't be any push over teams. A good sign that the teams are working to be the best they can be. Of course Moscow will win the cup but there will be a couple of close series. Good luck to all. Word count: 192

Presser for the week ending 4/14 1. Moscow looks to be in a potential 5 way race for the top of the conference, how will we do? 2. What team is our biggest threat in your opinion? 3. The lines have seemed to settle down a bit and sim more stable, do you agree? 4. Have any ideas about any changes the team should look at? 5. Syko has shown some elite skills in recent games. Can he lead us to the promised land? 6. If you could have one league related change, what would it be, if any?

I am saddened to hear this. Transparency is the cure; jail time is the punishment.

Review: I like this player card design. The layout looks good and the boxes and text seem to be placed in a logical order. You did a good job with the team logo and the overall feel hits the theme as intended. I wish the render was a bit sharper, he seems a bit low resolution but not too bad. Your gradient border is interesting, I wonder if going from bottom to top would look more fitting. I don't know what to think about the signature on the graphic. It looks good but wondering if it was meant to look like a player signed it or if it's just part of your design. Overall, I am a fan of this design, and you did a fine job with it. 9/10

Review: I like this for a couple of reasons. First thing is you mentioned Salt Lake City. I live in Utah so that gets a big plus in my book of pluses. Second, you posted this graphic on my birthday, so it's a no brainer to review it. I like the design of this graphic. Simple yet effective. I can appreciate the render without digging through layers of effects to find him. The background is really well done. It doesn't dominate the render but compliments it. Text is of course, easy to read. So overall, you did a fine job with this one. Good job. 9/10

With twenty games played, Moscow Menace has been on a good run. We saw this last season as well but that didn't translate into playoff success. Will this season's success push us harder into the playoffs? I think so, for a few reasons. We have grown up and our roster is very well balanced. It has played out that the top line has been fighting in the trenches and our second line has been exploiting the lack of depth of our opponents. It flops back and forth on which line will have a good sim depending on who we are playing but for the most part, the whole team has risen to the occasion and are reaping the rewards of the hard work everyone has been putting into the team. It is still early in the season and of course a lot can change. With the power houses below us and the North American conference kicking some major ass, it indicates we are in for a fun but brutal playoff. We have the will, the talent and the leadership to be successful. Let's see where this ends when the time comes. Word count:191

Presser for the week ending 4/7 1. We seem to be a consistent winner at the moment. Will we keep this pace? 2. Do you think we are peaking too early or it really doesn't matter? 3. I like the lines and the balanced scoring, thoughts? 4. Do you have any thoughts on line changes you would like the team to try? 5. How is your player playing? As expected or better/worse? 6. Easter Sunday, you looking for eggs and eating chocolate rabbits?