A wild week in Sim leagues for me.

[Shindigs 1,771]

One Green, Two Gold

So a lot has happened last week, that's for sure. Technically the new VHLM GMs were announced on the 27th, so Sunday week before last. But due to me being in Sweden I was asleep at the time and didn't get the new until Monday last week, so it still counts as happening last week. This was something I'd had my sights set on ever since I did the JST in S81. Before that I'd really been planning on pretty much just getting any GM/AGM job available, as I just wanted to get more involved in the league, but didn't have any concrete goal in mind. I was very happy to have landed with @FrostBeard in Bratislava and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. But since the JST took place just after that hiring, I always kind of knew that it was likely only going to be a one season thing, assuming I actually was fortunate enough that I'd get picked for a VHLM GM job.

 

After getting the experience of GMing new players and helping them adjust to the league, it became very clear that it scratched the same itch that being a class leader for raiding guilds in WoW did for me back in the day. There's just something about that teaching role that I enjoy so much. Being able to see someone succeed because you gave them the tools to do so is very rewarding for me, whereas actually succeeding myself doesn't really do anything other than stop me being disappointed in myself.

 

So far in my ~1 week of being a GM I've learned a few things. The first one being that doing scouting interviews through Discord DMs is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it lets you actually kind of get to know the member you're talking to, what they are like. Not to mention getting to know if they can actually be reached on Discord. Since one of my goals as a GM is to have a very active LR, that's something that is a very high priority for me. If Halifax LR taught me anything this last season, it's that an active LR that's losing can still have more fun than an inactive LR that's winning. On the other hand, waking up to like 26 Discord pings for several days in a row was a *slight* pain to deal with. Now it just so happens that I'm on sick leave at the time, so it taking 4 hours to get through all that wasn't as much of an issue as it otherwise might be. But it did leave me just a bit exhausted.

 

At least I learned from it, I learned that next draft season. Maybe, just maybe, I shouldn't send out 20+ DM interviews a day. Because I did start early, so really there was no need to be so hasty. I could have just sent out like 5 a day over several days and still get done on time, no problem. I feel like this season will have a lot of these moments of learning through fucking up in more or less hilarious ways. All in a day's work, right?

 

Now with the one green taken care of, what about the two gold? Well, the first one is VHL related, so a fair few will know that Team Canada won WJC gold with me GMing them. Honestly I don't take much credit for it, as I just had access to some absolute gem players to pick from. I did leave some high TPE guys still on the list for World/Asia to draft. But in hindsight maybe I was just a bit too greedy? I felt like I was in a kind of difficult position, as I ended up being a Swede GMing Canada. If you're GMing your own country everyone knows you're doing what you think is best to win. But when you end up in that situation, it feels like if you make decisions that maybe favor more low TPE players getting their first bite at the WJC. Then maybe you'd be seen as intentionally not trying to win, because you have no "real" investment in that team winning? Maybe I'm just overthinking it and no one thing like that? But it was always in the back of my mind when I was doing the tournament. Also, when Bo was in at 200 TPE last season, it was mostly just depressing seeing him get ran over. So I don't see how that experience really helps the enjoyment of a 1st gen much? But maybe that's just a me thing?

 

Finally, in closing the 3rd gold. Which isn't really technically a gold, it's a ring! Yes, my player The Clue Glue Glem was part of the second SBDL back-to-back in league history as the Lions beat the record breaking Whiteout in the finals. Now granted the Glem comes off the bench and usually only plays anywhere from 8-28 minutes a game. But our star player fouled himself out after 9 minutes in one of the games, leading to the Glem playing almost a full game and putting on quite the display with a 34/13 (we don't talk about his FTs, okay?). Then in game 3 for the title, The Glem struck again by blocking the last minute shot from one of the greatest scorers in the league, to seal the deal for the Lions. Granted I don't know the first thing about basketball, but @jhatty8 and co. really made me feel welcome in the LR over there and helped me get way more invested than I ever thought I'd be. During the finals they were essentially live commenting the game in the LR, building up the hype and excitement to levels I haven't felt in the VHL. The upside of non-instant sims, you actually get that slow burn as the results unfold in front of you.

 

In closing, this has by far been my most eventful week in sim leagues, as I went from having won nothing (as a player or GM) to winning twice in the span of a week, and also landing my dream job in the league. So thank you to everyone that's been involved in not just the things that happened this week, but everything good that's happening around our little group of sim leagues. I only ended up here on a fluke from clicking a random video on youtube, from a channel I had already stopped watching and unsubscribed from. But I'm so happy that I did.

 

This will be my first time claiming a MS instead of a Graphic, I feel so dirty! No, but in all seriousness I'm running a fever and my vision is blurred, so not feeling like making graphics while all that business is going on.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Shindigs