Time To Play A Game

[Tagger 2,722]

This draft was all going so smoothly. It looked like we had a top three group of Podrick Cast, Samuel Gate and Matt Thompson, and then we had a group of players like Malenko, Preencarnacion and Stromberg who were sitting just behind them and then we had guys like Vega, Kovalev and Harding who were in a group of those who would normally without a shadow of a doubt be a first rounder in years past but could very realistically fall to the second round because of the talent in this draft. It was a deep draft, but it was a straightforward draft. But no, Roger Sterling had to kick the front door open, barge his way into the living room, unplug the TV and make us play board games for the remainder of the night. Why? Because he’s a dick, but here’s a media article about board games because I’ve decided that’s what we’re gonna do.

 

If Seattle takes Sterling First Overall – We’re playing Three-Dimensional Chess

 

Three-Dimensional Chess is a very apt board game to use to describe if Sterling went number one, because there are three things that happen as a result of it:

-          Bears lock down a player who will be the best at his position for at least half of his career.

-          Drafting Sterling instead of having Blake Campbell make a GM player who is a goalie takes one prospective goalie out of the goalie market, and provided you have a goalie, the less goalies the better for your team

-          You force Riga into a decision on whether they need to take Aamo at 5/6 to make sure they get a goalie ahead of Toronto (who have Ironside locked in as a defenseman, so he can’t switch to goalie).  

 

The thing for Seattle is that they can potentially get these exact same advantages if they take Sterling at four, but that obviously requires Riga to have not already picked him at three, so if they definitely wanted to play this game of “keep away”, they would have to do it at number one.

 

If Quebec takes Sterling Second Overall – We’re playing Monopoly

 

Monopoly is for masochists and masochists only. It’s a game that takes far too long to get going, has a clear leader pretty early on in the game but it doesn’t ever end and if anyone ever tells you they’ve finished a game of Monopoly, it’s not because they finished the game, it’s because the game finished them and they got the hell out of there. Quebec are the only team in this first round that do not necessarily need a goalie as they have Tristan Iseult who is sitting at a very solid 261 TPE, so there isn’t really a good reason for them to take Sterling, but if they did, it would be crazy, but not terrible. Season 42/43 Stockholm Vikings had a similar situation as Quebec would have been in, drafting two goalies in Jax Barnstormer and Blake Campbell in Season 42 and Coca-Cola in Season 41. They were able to trade Coca-Cola (who never made the VHL) for an early second rounder (which was used to draft Golden Jedtsson, a solid 400 TPE player), and traded Barnstormer in a deal that saw Stockholm receive three of the league’s best players in return. I don’t think it would work out as well for Quebec as the trade market is real slow and low value right now and they would be better off just taking Thompson/Gate/Cast, but it’d be an interesting situation to watch unfold.

 

If Riga takes Sterling Third Overall – We’re playing Chess

 

Just normal chess, and hey, there’s nothing wrong with normal chess, chess is awesome. It’s just two players battling it out on a board, and that battle sets the scene for the Riga-Seattle that will take place if this pick is made. If this pick is made, the likeliest outcome is that Bears take the remaining of the top four (Cast, Gate, Thompson), and then go with a GM rule goalie later on. If that’s the case, it’s sets up a very interesting and close battle between two simultaneously rebuilding teams without any of the extra things to consider that Sterling going to another team creates.

 

If Seattle takes Sterling Fourth Overall – We’re playing Shogi

 

If you’re not aware of what Shogi is, it’s basically Japanese chess. There are things that are obviously different (otherwise it would just be called Chess), but with a few plays, you’d probably be able to figure out the differences between Shogi and Chess. Which what made this one like Shogi, it’s the different perspective to the Chess from a pick earlier. In a scenario where this has happened, Riga has taken one of the three players that Campbell has coveted (Cast, Gate, Thompson) and Seattle have taken the remaining 200 TPE player in Sterling. The outcomes of this are very similar to the first overall, but one would imagine that if Riga don’t take Sterling at number three, then they are either; 1) not too concerned about the idea of Seattle taking Sterling or 2) didn’t believe he would.

 

If Riga takes Sterling Fifth/Sixth Overall – We’re playing Avalon

 

For those who don’t know, Avalon is a game about deception and finding the truth. There are 2 bad players and four good players. The bad players know who each other are while the good players don’t know who the bad players are, and it’s basically their job to find those bad players and stop them from interrupting their quest. A post that was made recently by Blake Campbell suggested that if Riga does not take Sterling at three, then he will take Sterling at four. But maybe this is a bluff geared towards making Zeptenbergs believe he needs to select him at three, so that Campbell can pick up one of his original top three (Cast, Thompson, Gate) at number four. But, what if Zeptenbergs calls him out on his bluff, takes one of Cast, Thompson or Gate at three and Campbell (behind the scenes secretly set on being a goalie), sticks with that idea and picks someone like Malenko at fourth overall. This will have been a case of Riga working well to avoid being bluffed at getting someone who will be the best goalie for many VHL seasons, but that would still leave Toronto with a decision at seven. With an uncertain goalie market to follow after this draft, could they afford to risk leaving Aamo till ninth overall knowing that the Bears (still technically without a goalie at this point) pick at eight, or do they take the sure thing and take Aamo at seventh overall, leaving the Bears with a better depth forward at eighth.

 

If Toronto takes Sterling Seventh Overall – We’re playing Seventh Dimensional Chess

 

Because it doesn’t exist, but hell, I’d be all for it if it did.

 

There is one more option though amongst all of these things though, and one that hasn’t really been mentioned to this point, and that’s if Riga don't take a goalie and changes Kurtutecis to a Goalie, which is still legal at this point and the only loss for Kurtutecis would be the 30-odd TPE he has gained to this point (with the rules as listed, he’d get to keep recreate TPE). At that point, we’re playing mind games within mind games to the point where we can’t take it any more, flip over the table, and it’s now it’s just a straight up knife fight!

 

Man this draft is great.

 

1000 Words. Using for Weeks Commencing 6/25 and 7/2

[Beerfridge 48]

53 minutes ago, Tagger said:

if anyone ever tells you they’ve finished a game of Monopoly, it’s not because they finished the game, it’s because the game finished them and they got the hell out of there.

 

[Victor 11,044]

1 hour ago, Tagger said:

Monopoly is for masochists and masochists only. It’s a game that takes far too long to get going, has a clear leader pretty early on in the game but it doesn’t ever end and if anyone ever tells you they’ve finished a game of Monopoly, it’s not because they finished the game, it’s because the game finished them and they got the hell out of there.

You just described Settlers of Katan tbh.

 

1 hour ago, Tagger said:

1000 Words. Using for Weeks Commencing 6/25 and 7/2

Now that the Fong and Marlow-Marta are dead and buried, this is going to be my next victim.

[Tagger 2,722]

2 minutes ago, Victor said:

You just described Settlers of Katan tbh.

I'd never actually heard of that game before, but I just had that thing where I checked Wikipedia and it basically just called me an idiot for not knowing. 

 

As for killing the multiple media spots for weeks in advance, sure. I mean at the end of the day I'm the real loser here, I wrote so much I can't use the Free Week from the site going down 

[Tagger 2,722]

Also that last post was my first venture into the new emoticons and I have decided that my next VHL.com article is talking about the site's description of some of them because they are special. 

[Will 4,662]

Hm, all about me. Just as I planned! 

 

38 minutes ago, Victor said:

Now that the Fong and Marlow-Marta are dead and buried, this is going to be my next victim.

 

Agreed, not the finest output of Devise's tenure certainly 

[Beketov 9,140]

5 minutes ago, Will said:

Agreed, not the finest output of Devise's tenure certainly 

If we’re both against this why does it still exist?

[Victor 11,044]

7 minutes ago, Beketov said:

If we’re both against this why does it still exist?

My job here is done.

[Beketov 9,140]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

My job here is done.

To be fair I’ve hated it since it was put in. Just had other shit to deal with.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Monopoly doesn't take that long if you don't use house rules. No free parking, limits on houses, no going around the board once before buying, no $400 from landing on GO, etc...

 

@eaglesfan036

[Tagger 2,722]

Making this post for the new update system to confirm I'm using this for second week