Post by Trofie on Jun 29, 2021 14:56:45 GMT -5
1. We are nearly 10 seasons in. Who has surprised you the most as a Gm. (good and bad)
Sapular - This is interesting. I would say my biggest surprise in a good way has been 20s. I think he is a top tier GM and when I joined I didn’t really know the work he put into his team. However, as I have watched, seeing him and his ability to keep a very good roster and move and replace players with assets, either picks or players has been very impressive. As far as bad is concerned I am not sure. I am going to say Pointy as bad. I think him just hanging on is bad form. Either shit or get off the pot. I get it if you have real life stuff going on, but he is just taking up space at this point. I think that is bad GM’ing. He could have had a good team or rebuilt his team but just hanging out and doing nothing is bad in my opinion.
majic44 - I will pick one for each category:
Good - 20's - He has been a pleasant surprise. It had been a really long time since he was in the league, and even longer since he GM'ed but he has come in and done a good job competing. He has built solid rosters, drafted well and reshaped his team over the first 10 seasons. I was happy when he came back and hope he sticks around a long time.
Bad - Pointy - This answer really stems from the fact he has been almost non-existant on 6.0. Throughout his tenure as a GM in 5.0 he was around regularly, cared about his team and participated frequently. He was around enough that he joined a Madden league with me, Druce and Sap. I think Pointy is a good guy and can be a good GM when he is engaged. Would love to see him start coming back around more.
ankly - Good:
1. Chap: He's been great. Not only has he won titles, he didn't sell the farm to do it, and I know think he's positioned to be a very good team even after Papaloukas retires which is very impressive.
2. Druce: I've been impressed by Druce. Of the GMs who went all-in early to contend, he's the only one that won a title without ruining their future prospects. I don't necessarily think his young core is destined to dominate the league, but it was still an impressive reboot. He's positioned to get Fracs for years to come.
Bad
1. TimPig - Kind of an obvious one, but 6.0 just hasn't gone well for Tim. He traded out of Creation, and it's not clear what he actually gained from doing so. He dominated 5.0 so expectations were high in 6.0, but he just hasn't had any success at all.
JHB- I've been most surprised by Chap and BK. BK has generally learned how to more successfully evaluate players but he had a self-destructive streak in 5.0. I've been surprised that Soup hasn't turned it around more quickly after the Theo departure in FA, but I think the fire isn't burning as hot as it used to after he won that first title and proved he has still got it. Outside of that, not much has surprised me in terms of who has been pretty good and pretty bad. Maybe Tim not being very successful yet. He's seemed to drift in mediocre territory, which is uncharacteristic.
Handsomepete - I think Skrouse has been better than I remember in 4.0. He got the
smiley named after him for a reason, he used to splash cash on some mediocre FAs. But he seems to be taking a more strategic route to team-building and has his Magic set up for success in the long-term. Another surprise on the negative side is TimPig, who everyone should be easier on. The guy came into 6.0 after a dominant 5.0 run, but he seems firmly stuck on the fringes of the playoffs. He's taken some big swings on point guards like Calipari and Darrell Walker only to see them blow up in his face. He might've started in a bad wheel slot but he hasn't stumbled into a star yet, and it shows. Much love though.
Yawn - Chap! He done well. Bankz not having a breakdown yet.
Trofie - Chap has had an amazing run but I can't say I was surprised because I didn't know him coming into this. I'm going with Bankz, because I put him middle of the road in Gm rankings. As far as a disappointment I'm going with Pointy. I didn't know him coming into this but it sucks that you haven't someone in the league who doesn't have the time to retain their only good players.
2. The "Nets" moved West. Were they scared?
Sapular - 100%. Looking to get the #1 seed to the playoffs every year. Given the fact that the East is much stronger than the West, it makes sense that someone that is tired of not making it to the finals, moving to the West makes the path a lot easier for them. This also gives them a much easier schedule during the season to help inflate the record.
majic44- Listen, BK has made some bold moves during his 6.0 tenure and more than a few questionable decisions. With that said he has a title to his name which is a big accomplishment. I have no idea if he was scared as I think the West looked tougher than the east going into the season. Obviously the Stags contracting shook things up a bit, but overall I think the top 3-4 teams in each conference are relatively equal. Thats all the really matters when it comes to the playoffs; can you beat the 1-2 other elite team to make it to the finals.
ankly - Absolutely. He's admitted that he saw the West as the weaker conference where he can have more success. And honestly, he seems to be correct based on the current situation in the league. There are less top tier contenders and less up-and-coming teams. I'll be interested to see if we see some of the East teams sell off at some point. Not like tanking style tear-down of course, but I've got to think a GM or two will choose to fight another day in the East rather than trying to win as like the 5-8th seed while winning 50 games.
JHB- He has admitted it as much himself and tried to play it off as a strategic maneuver. He was scared of the old dynasty (Bankz), the rising dynasty (Ank), and the future dynasty (Hawks...seriously guys stop laughing).
Handsomepete - Clearly he must have had no fear if he chose to enter the terror-dome that is the Western Conference. I'm impressed BK decided to up the level of competition after cakewalking to 50 wins year after year in the East. After winning a title in the East he must've wanted to set the sliders up to difficult and get a real test.
Yawn - I don’t know about scared but the West sure seems like an easier time. I mean Chap is running that thing like cardio while Ian takes a year to collect some money with his all world PG. It’s certainly not the Beastern Conference.
Trofie - I think it was a brave/chicken shit move by BK. On one hand its tougher to win the title out here because of the better GM's. On the other hand you come out here when the West has been kicking the shit out of the East in the ASG year in and year out.
3. What are your thoughts on expansion? Was Odin colluding with TroyBarnes to quit when he did?
Sapular -So it didn’t occur to me that collusion was happening till mentioned in chat but as I thought about it, I would not be surprised to find that Odin knew of Troy leaving prior to it happening and Odin then “setting” himself up to benefit from it. I think this is exposing a big opportunity to exploit a loophole. I think no moves should occur till the off season. Things that impact teams should not happen during the season. If this was based off of the end of year records and nothing was done till then I think it would be “more fair” but I also think that in the event a team is contracted all players should go into FA.
majic44- That isn't even something I considered but I would not be particularly surprised if it was true. I was shocked that Troy stuck around as long as he has and even built an elite team. This is a very unique circumstance as I don't think we have ever had an elite team/GM quit. Its interesting that 2-3 elite players will find their way to new teams for free. This evens out the overall talent and ultimately helps the teams out in the west. As for expansion, I think its been a bit of a hassle in 6.0 as we have had to go through them in back to back seasons. I know all of us can give eric a lot of shit at times but I wouldn't want to be the one sorting through all of this. At times I wonder if it would just be easier to remove expansion all together. Make the new GM takeover the existing team, if they have traded all of their picks then slot them into the wheel and add an extra pick for those years to make it fair. That might honestly be the best, and easiest, solution.
ankly- I feel like Odin probably had the 1.1 in the contraction draft locked up either way. I don't think Odin colluded to have Troy quit. He probably sent him a text to trigger the official post in the quitting thread though.
Expansion/contraction is a pain though. Seriously annoying if this is an every-season type thing.
I get why expansion is necessary in a wheel league though. I do think we should just dump the contracted players into offseason FA, and I would get rid of the expansion draft though (just give the new GM like 150k in skrouse or something).
JHB- I don't think there was an over-arching plot to collude to benefit Odin in expansion. It might've ultimately been conveniently timed for Odin, but Troy has always kinda had one foot halfway out the door in 6.0 and Odin was just starting the process of looking to blow his team up a year before Troy ended up quitting. And who knows if Troy quits if Eric doesn't inconsistently apply his own rules when dealing with the expansion pick deadline that caused Troy to lose Motiejunas.
Handsomepete - I don't know if Odin colluded around the timing of Troy's quit, but the more I think about it, the more I think he at least knew Troy was thinking about quitting last year. Otherwise, I'm not sure why he would've passed on picking up Greg Oden in last year's disbursal draft. I think he wanted to keep his record bad in case Troy decided to quit this season and his record came into play again, and he was playing a tanking roster for the early part of the season.
Yawn- I don’t support the expansion/contraction set up. I feel like it is an extremely stressful thing on the league, it creates a lot of bullshit and animosity in a league full of people willing to play around in the muck over the tiniest infractions. I think having back to back years of this is incredibly difficult to process and makes shout and some of the boards pretty much unreadable.
I don’t think Odin was colluding because I think everyone has the best of intentions. Yay.
Trofie- I think it sucks. If you have a GM on the waiting list they should take over the team as is. We did it for years with no issues. If you're short a user let the CPU run the team until we have a full league. Until the #'s dwindle down. It fucks Gm's who get jumped on the wheel and rewards people tanking via contraction. I believe there was collusion. Do I have evidence ? No. But Odin has played off this simple jack character and there is always a motive there. He's a smart guy and he knows what he's doing.
4. Top 5 most Lucky Gm's.
Sapular- I will say I am one of those lucky GM’s. Getting McCray set me up and allowed me to make moves to be where I am. While it was unluck to lose Matthews I do think the further we get away from it the less it hurts me. From there I would say the other 4 are Andrew Luck, Ank, Duc and Chaps. Now I say this not to take a shot at their ability to GM but I also think that hitting on draft picks does have a bit of luck associated with it. I will say outside of me getting lucky, I also think that Andrew got VERY lucky and won last year as I look at his team and have no idea how he won
majic44 - Bankz - Hard to say where his team would be had he not had the luck of getting Carr and Ellis. Both of them beasted and have the love of the software ever since.
1.Odin - this is going to be a recency bias pick, but he sure picked a perfect time to tear down and "tank" considering he will have his pick of the Stags roster. I think alot of GM's would love to be in his position.
2.DeChap - this goes back to the 2 year FA luck that setup his team for a long run of success. Chap was able to land Breshers in the 3001 FA and then followed that up by snagging Theodoros the next offseason. That FA luck has propelled his team to a couple titles and a dominant run. Will be interesting to see how he pivots as both Breshers and Theodoros are aging.
3.Ank - It was tough to pick here but I am going with Ank simply because of the drafting luck. I understand that he set himself up nicely for the back to back drafts but its never a sure thing. Both Irving and Embiid look elite and should be a dominant duo for years to come. Thats not always guaranteed with rookies, so for that I will pick Ank here.
4.BK - again, it was a struggle to pick here but I chose BK for the final spot due to his trading/team building strategies. I think its fair to say that BK has taken an unconventional approach to team building, making some trades that seemed questionable. With that said nothing has really backfired on him. He was able to get a title and continues to compete at the top of the league.
ankly- 1. Skrouse - No title, but has had a lot of playoff luck on aggregate.
2. AndrewLuck - That last title was the luckiest we've had
3. Bankz - I would say that Bankz having those top picks in the first rookie draft was a form of luck. The balance between the 01 Rookie Draft and the 00 Creation file was not something people foresaw, so in a sense the people with top 01 picks got "lucky". For the most part, he's done well to build the top team in 6.0 so far out of that windfall. Also Majic not picking Dale Ellis is a sneaky huge piece of luck.
4. 20s - I was trying to think who has had the most FA luck. 20s due to Sharrar perhaps?
5. Ian - #hottake. His natural 1.1 was the CP3 draft. That's extremely lucky. Also Isiah Austin/Ron Perry/Blackmon got some nice TC's seemingly.
JHB - I think it's hard to quantify what is luck and what is skill at this point when discussing team-building moves, because I'm not entirely sure what process everyone uses to get results. You could say that Bankz and BK are lucky but they've had the best results in the draft and consistently manage to do that, not just huge lucky stabs. You could say Trofie has been lucky with some of his late 1st/2nd round picks but then again, he manages to consistently out-perform draft slot expectations.
You could make arguments about certain draft slot for creation being lucky or some teams having FA luck, but the league has been pretty in flux so far with the way creation file was structured and the talent level in each class that some moves that would have been seen as great strokes of luck, like Pete inheriting Gasol and then managing to get Slokar and Head with the last two picks in the draft now looks not nearly as impactful or "lucky" as they would have if you'd done this RT in 3005.
You could say that Bankz was lucky that he was the benefactor of choosing to be bad first and then trying to compete and people incorrectly valuing their creation picks vs future draft picks with the way the first couple of classes were built but several smart people hypothesized that may happen so is it luck or a strategic maneuver?
In summary, if I'm ranking the luckiest GMs I'm just going to go by order of GMs that won titles with the least amount of fracs because that's where it's truly just a dice roll.
That would make guys like Andy Luck and Chap our luckiest GMs.
Handsomepete- 1. Chap - I think Chap has done a good job managing his situation but there's no doubt winning the Theo sweepstakes in FA delivered two titles, and one of those was an improbable run from the five-seed.
2. AndrewLuck - lowest fracs for a championship winner with only .016. Very unique team and he's made some unpopular draft selections that have turned out not to be terrible, but still feels more like a magical RNG run than a team built for success.
3. Handsome Pete - Putting myself at 3 because I walked into a great situation taking over the Lakers and chose the coward's way out rather than Fason's more honorable route. I had a roster with multiple top picks, cap flexibility, and one of the more highly regarded rookies to enter the league. I also pulled two big contributors at the tail end of the 2nd round with throwaway picks. The net sum of all of that is I've got a decent warchest of assets for the future. I also made a conference finals because of injuries to my opponents.
4. Skrouse - I gave him credit earlier but he had a strong run of positive luck in the SRS table
5. Fecta - he's lucky he's cute because he's not winning anyone over with his resume.
Yawn- 1. BA got Shawn Kemp for no reason. Windfall!
2. Bankz is lucky because there is innocence in the world and he can feed off the naiveté of youth to fleece unsuspecting GMs.
3. Chap and Bk are lucky to have such a caring and loving relationship with fulfilling, meaningful sex.
4. Pete did a good job of nailing those 2nd round gems and moving all of a not contending team to future pieces. I think Pete has benefited from luck but he hasn’t squandered it either.
5. Yawn. Every day is living the dream buddy.
Trofie- 1. Andrew Luck- Won a title , limited fracs ran into another low frac guy out East
2. Chap- I'm not saying his titles are luck because he's had good teams. Should have a title , but not multiple
3. Skrouse - He probably is annoyed by people questioning how his team is good. But seriously how is that team good?
4. TroyBarnes - Not in the league anymore, but made some questionable deals and had some monster Tc's when it looked bleak
5. Yawns fiancee- boy did she hit the jackpot !
5. Yawn recently ate a chipoltle Burrito. Are you team Chipotle or Qdoba ?
Sapular- I am neither. I am team Moe’s Southwest. I say that as I have never had Qdoba. I think Chipotle is very average and nothing special at all. It makes sense that it was once a McDonanlds owned company. They are very good at creating “different” items but they all taste the same. Everything at Chipotle tastes the same. It isn’t bad, it is just very average.
majic44 - I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever had Qdoba, so my answer is Chipotle. Listen, Chipotle isn't anything spectacular but it is consistent. You know what you are getting every time and it rarely disappoints. I know almost nothing about Qdoba but I can always rely on Chipotle to give me a decent meal and to fill me up. I cant ask for much more when going to a fast food Mexican restaurant.
ankly - Team Chipotle for sure. I haven't had Qdoba in years. I don't know what Chipotle's secret is (E Coli?), but I enjoy their burritos.
JHB - I was strongly team Moe's for a long period of time but their quality has drastically declined and I think I also expanded my palate as well. Right now I'm Team Chipotle but that's only because there's not a Qdoba near me to secure the bag, though I do love a good Qdoba.
Handsomepete - Team Chipotle. I was a Moe's stan when I was younger, but I love me a Chipotle burrito. White rice, black beans, fajita veggies, lettuce, cheese, pico, red sauce, cheese, sour cream. I would choke to death if I tried to take down that burrito challenge though, so props to Yawn. I always knew he had a big mouth.
Yawn- I would take Chipotle over Qdoba all day every day. That weird diarrhea el diablo “queso” Qdoaba hawks is just an excuse to give unsuspecting white people the shits. My local chipotle is an absolute clown show that barely knows what is for sale but I visit that shithole maybe twice a month. I only visited Qdoba when I was young, dumb and too poor to know any better after a few too many beers at a work sanctioned HH. I associate Qdoba with bad times. It also tastes like bad times.
Trofie- I ate Chipotle once in my life and it was very bad. No redeeming qualities. Have terrible ethics and overwork children. I enjoy the weird diarrhea el diablo queso of Qdoba. They also don't charge extra for Guac!
6. Which division has the "Best" Gm's .
Sapular - I think the Atlantic has the “best” GM’s. I think that 20’s, Skrouse, JHB are all top tier GM’s. I think Odin is a good GM but does things quite a bit differently so it is hard to say as he does things in his own way which is very different than the “conventional” method. Prior to this contraction mess, I have seen him build a good team using primarily 2nd round picks which was impressive to me.
majic44 - I will go with the homer pick and choose the Pacific division. I have mentioned it already but BK has seen good success in 6.0 so far and built some good teams in 5.0. Druce is an OG and can always be counted on to build a contender when he is engaged. Dirt loves to trade and switch things up, but when he wants to he can put together a good team. Me and Tim had plenty of success in 5.0, and while we are still looking to get our first titles in 6.0 I think both of us will do it within the next 10 years. AndrewLuck isnt an active GM but always seems to have a competitive team. He is the reigning champ and that can never be discounted. Pete is the newest member of 6.0 but based on previous success I expect him to figure things out and put together a contender.
ankly - It's not the Pacific. They had a bunch of teams go all-in early in 6.0 who are now garbage teams with a bleak future. That's not good GMing.
Midwest is pretty solid now that I'm looking at it. Chap and Trof have been top tier. Ian has been solid. Now they have Fason who is a good GM.
I'll go Midwest.
JHB - I'm inclined to start by immediately eliminating the Atlantic Division and Midwest Division because all of my advanced metrics say that Pointy and Fecta are historically bad at sim (FECTA IS BAD AT SIM LOL) and their inclusion in those groups immediately precludes them from consideration. While I have stats on wins per million I don't have it sorted by the team that signed each deal so it's hard to determine with any real methodology who was exploited FA best and the biggest FA signings are essentially down to pure luck. Where I do have performance information on GMs is in the creation and rookie drafts, so if you take that performance and you sum it by division you get these results:
Div Wins
Pacific 269.21
Midwest 67.49
Central (25.16)
Atlantic(163.84)
I think it's pretty clear the Pacific has the best GMs.
Handsomepete - They're all good. Purely on sim league success, I'd go with the Midwest. For guys to hang out with, I'd lean Atlantic because Duc and I have the same taste in podcasts, JHB and I could talk South Carolina shit, I got blackout after going to a basketball game with Yawn and I didn't wake up with an organ missing, and 20s, Skrouse, Fecta and Odin are an interesting mix of personalities. I'm sitting at the Atlantic table.
Yawn- Well obviously the question here is more the definition of best. As you know I might not be Fecta levels of BAD AT SIM but I’m me levels of APATHETIC AT SIM. So what division would I want to be in a sim league with?
Atlantic – Too quiet. A couple of good dudes that I would enjoy hanging out with. BAD AT SIM though
Central – Jeez there are some really good guys in here. Hanging out with Bankz, Heebs and Ank would probably end up with some convoluted murder plot but I would be ok with that. Delap seems normal. Mike keeps odd hours and Dump and Sap are wildcards
Midwest – lots of weirdos. Trofie’s there though. Is soup still there? Two outstanding fellows
Pacific- the pacific is always the island of misfit toys. But there is a handsome pete there. So it’s not all bad!
Probably Central or Midwest I guess.
Trofie- Graded on 1-10 scale
Atlantic - 5 - some great guys here, some good gm's. Some quiet individuals
Central - 7 - some outspoken people here. Have some titles. Have some terrible teams.
Midwest - 8 - have some titles, GREAT personalities , added Fason, but still have Pointy .
Pacific - 7- Have titles, and imo have a group of guys that really make the league run and operate well.
7. There is a fire. Chap , Bk , and Bankz are inside. You can only save 1. Who is it and why.
Sapular - This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. My initial thought was to save Bankz as he and I have had a pretty good relationship. He has always been helpful to me and pretty straight forward. While I do see how and why he can be divisive, I have never really had an issue with him. However, the more I thought about it I think saving Chaps is the way to go. He comes with the least amount of “baggage”. While BK and Bankz often help keep Shout lively I think at times it is bit much and a little less nonsense in Shout would be good. I also think that of the 3 Chap is the least talented GM. I am NOT saying that Chaps is bad, I am saying I would rank the other 2 ahead of him, therefore allowing me to move up in the rankings, if only a little bit.
majic44 - I am making this choice based solely on who has angered/annoyed me the least, and that would be Chap. He seems like a decent guy and I have never had issues with him. I have come around quite a bit on BK but we had some great battles over the years. Bankz is similar in that I dont understand, or agree, with his point of view on alot of topics. For those simple reasons I would save Chap.
ankly- Is this the free square? Chap, I'll save you buddy!
I think he's more pure than the other two. Also, if we leave BK and Bankz in a burning building, they very well could put it out by sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
JHB - Chap as punishment for the other two for carrying on the most boring and pedantic rivalry in sim history.
Handsomepete - Bankz because he has kids. Maybe BK and Chap do too but I know Bankz does and I couldn't live with myself for sacrificing someone's dad. I don't think either BK or Chap could survive in a world without the other one, so in a sense I'm saving all three by saving Bankz.
Yawn- Well there’s no way that you can separate Chap and BK. In that situation Bankz gets saved because Chap and BK die in each other’s arms. Their hearts will go on. Bankz will quietly reflect on their sacrifice before immediately making it about him and shit talking about everything.
Trofie- Easy bankz. Bankz irl isn't anything like his online persona. I can only hope the same for Bk
8. Divisions as a whole are competing in Survivor. Which division are you voting off and who wins? Key players?
Sapular - So, I am voting off the Midwest. While I feel the Central is the strongest division, I think the next closest division would be the Midwest. Getting rid of them thins out the competition. While it does leave an East division, it removes pretty much any real contender that is in the West. While it still makes the path to winning harder, it does allow me to put 100% focus on the real competitors that are still left.
majic44 - I am going to stick with the Pacific division as I think we have the best mix of brains and athletic ability. I know nothing about AndrewLuck but I feel confident in stating that I think the rest of the pacific division GM's could hold their own in the challenges. In regards to outsmarting, I think we have a great mix of level headed headedness, trolling and deceiving personalities. I think the overall package our GM's bring to the table sets us up for a successful survivor run.
ankly - I feel like the Central would be a mess on survivor. A lot of drama. A lot of manipulating. We probably get voted off first.
I think the Pacific goes next because people would fear the Chapmigos alliance. Can't have that going into the merge. Also dirt would trade his immunity idol for a bag of rice.
Atlantic beats the Midwest in the end, but not before KC brings a certain masked crusader to the Loved One's visit.
Ultimately, Fecta wins.
JHB - I am immediately doing everything I can to vote out the Central guys because they have a numbers advantage. I could see Heebs being a huge issue in challenges because of his background rock climbing. Those skills seem to be highly transferrable to the type of athletic competition you see in Survivor. I think Ank would be a good strategic player and Delap is very likeable, which is a problem when you make it to the jury. Bankz is the type of guy you vote off last from the Midwest as you pick them off and then try to sneak him into your top 2 or 3 with you since the people on the jury will probably be so fed up with him he won't get any votes.
The Pacific I am not sure about. I see Dirty and TimPig thriving in a Survivor environment but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Tim is a definite challenge threat.
Midwest I could also see being a very tight group and a lot of very good social players but they're drug down by Pointy who isn't paying attention and Chap who is end-arounding them the entire time to go have a secret alliance with BK that immediately gets sussed out and they're the first to go home.
I'm not sure how strong the Atlantic team would be. We have some folks who would probably be strong social players. I don't see Odin fairing well in the Survivor environment. No idea the athleticism of some of our players but Fecta probably has the body type to thrive in some of the balance/endurance type challenges.
I think the Central would likely win TMBSL Survivor.
Handsomepete - The key to lasting long in Survivor is to avoid making waves and coast through as the stronger players get taken out. As a result, I would want to keep a division like the Central, with volatile guys like Bankz and Dump, around longer, especially with BK now in our division who's sure to draw plenty of heat on his own. I would chop the Atlantic because I think they don't have anyone that ruffles feathers and could easily coast through. I think Survivor would break down similarly to mafia, where the key players would be people like JHB or Ank who can build coalitions or pull off a double cross. I think Tim and Fecta would be good for endurance challenges, and Trofie would dominate that challenge where you have to hold onto a pole for the longest because the man knows his way around a pole. I think the winning division is probably midwest, as long as they sacrifice Ian to the island pretty early.
Yawn - Central and Midwest are probably the two most polarizing divisions so they would attract the headlines. Druce wins because he seems like the nefarious vote getting type. Plus he has minions to help him corral votes. Majic sacrifices himself for Druce to get back to his kid, Sap does it because he saw that it was successful for the Japanese at one of his first talkies in 1943.
Tim spends his entire time trying to destroy Ian even though people are generally apathetic towards Ian. JHB loses after he tries to clean an entire pineapple grove and has to be medevac’d. Heebs uses Ank as his pawn until everyone stops and realizes Heebs is up to evil shit. Bankz and Billy are voted off in about 3 minutes for making life miserable for everyone else. Skrouse tries to make an economy out of rice grains but walks into the ocean when realizes Eric is continuing life without him.Pointy goes to the wrong island. Ba makes it further than expected. Odin can’t be bothered to put down his island shrub he found that gets him high. KC surprises by being super personable and makes it pretty far before Soup and Dirty betray him.
Trofie- as a true student of the game i'm going with the Pacific. They would need to sacrifice Bk or risk losing before the merger. They have Dirt who knows the game, and if you've been fortunate enough to meet Pete you wouldn't be able to vote him out. Then you got Druce and Majic who will always be on the same side because Dad I mean Druce knows what's right. Tim seems like an athletic individual who is well liked. All the other divisions have bad balance. The Midwest and Central are too loud and everyone would hate them. Atlantic could be a sleeper pick but they have Fecta.
9. People don't seem to vote high on RT's. Which is bullshit. What would you vote this article?
Sapular - I would vote this article 55K. That is my “standard” vote. I feel that amount allows the author to do whatever they were trying to accomplish. Be it, amnesty, scout, SK or improvements. I also feel that RT’s are fun and we should have more of them. They can be silly or off the wall but I think getting random thoughts and opinions out there allows for better Shout conversation and allows us to stay away from the Bankz v BK or extremely controversial topics. I will also say they help us stay away from the stat breakdown shout convo. Those are nauseating.
majic44 - Ironically enough I think doing RT's are just as hard as a regular article. The questions are usually very diverse and require each participating GM to do some research and respond with thoughtful answers. You never want to be the guy in the RT that has the shortest, least thoughtful, answers as it can be pretty obvious when that happens. Overall I think the participants should get around 40k and the creator get 50k.
ankly - 80k for Trofie and 50k for participants
JHB - One million skrouse doll-hairs. This is absolutely electric content.
Handsomepete - RTs require a ton of effort and are among the more enjoyable articles to read, just to get a sense of differing viewpoints within the league. 40k to participants, 50k to organizer. 420k for participants, 69k for organizer.
Yawn-Doesn’t matter. Gimme that skrouse.
Trofie - Inflation is at an all-time high. I know of people that had to spend 70k to afford the luxury of 2 extra expansion slots. Ridiculous! We have a slow draft going on now because people can't even afford scouts. The bank doesn't give out loans and our government just does whatever the hell it wants.
Sapular - This is interesting. I would say my biggest surprise in a good way has been 20s. I think he is a top tier GM and when I joined I didn’t really know the work he put into his team. However, as I have watched, seeing him and his ability to keep a very good roster and move and replace players with assets, either picks or players has been very impressive. As far as bad is concerned I am not sure. I am going to say Pointy as bad. I think him just hanging on is bad form. Either shit or get off the pot. I get it if you have real life stuff going on, but he is just taking up space at this point. I think that is bad GM’ing. He could have had a good team or rebuilt his team but just hanging out and doing nothing is bad in my opinion.
majic44 - I will pick one for each category:
Good - 20's - He has been a pleasant surprise. It had been a really long time since he was in the league, and even longer since he GM'ed but he has come in and done a good job competing. He has built solid rosters, drafted well and reshaped his team over the first 10 seasons. I was happy when he came back and hope he sticks around a long time.
Bad - Pointy - This answer really stems from the fact he has been almost non-existant on 6.0. Throughout his tenure as a GM in 5.0 he was around regularly, cared about his team and participated frequently. He was around enough that he joined a Madden league with me, Druce and Sap. I think Pointy is a good guy and can be a good GM when he is engaged. Would love to see him start coming back around more.
ankly - Good:
1. Chap: He's been great. Not only has he won titles, he didn't sell the farm to do it, and I know think he's positioned to be a very good team even after Papaloukas retires which is very impressive.
2. Druce: I've been impressed by Druce. Of the GMs who went all-in early to contend, he's the only one that won a title without ruining their future prospects. I don't necessarily think his young core is destined to dominate the league, but it was still an impressive reboot. He's positioned to get Fracs for years to come.
Bad
1. TimPig - Kind of an obvious one, but 6.0 just hasn't gone well for Tim. He traded out of Creation, and it's not clear what he actually gained from doing so. He dominated 5.0 so expectations were high in 6.0, but he just hasn't had any success at all.
JHB- I've been most surprised by Chap and BK. BK has generally learned how to more successfully evaluate players but he had a self-destructive streak in 5.0. I've been surprised that Soup hasn't turned it around more quickly after the Theo departure in FA, but I think the fire isn't burning as hot as it used to after he won that first title and proved he has still got it. Outside of that, not much has surprised me in terms of who has been pretty good and pretty bad. Maybe Tim not being very successful yet. He's seemed to drift in mediocre territory, which is uncharacteristic.
Handsomepete - I think Skrouse has been better than I remember in 4.0. He got the
smiley named after him for a reason, he used to splash cash on some mediocre FAs. But he seems to be taking a more strategic route to team-building and has his Magic set up for success in the long-term. Another surprise on the negative side is TimPig, who everyone should be easier on. The guy came into 6.0 after a dominant 5.0 run, but he seems firmly stuck on the fringes of the playoffs. He's taken some big swings on point guards like Calipari and Darrell Walker only to see them blow up in his face. He might've started in a bad wheel slot but he hasn't stumbled into a star yet, and it shows. Much love though.Yawn - Chap! He done well. Bankz not having a breakdown yet.
Trofie - Chap has had an amazing run but I can't say I was surprised because I didn't know him coming into this. I'm going with Bankz, because I put him middle of the road in Gm rankings. As far as a disappointment I'm going with Pointy. I didn't know him coming into this but it sucks that you haven't someone in the league who doesn't have the time to retain their only good players.
2. The "Nets" moved West. Were they scared?
Sapular - 100%. Looking to get the #1 seed to the playoffs every year. Given the fact that the East is much stronger than the West, it makes sense that someone that is tired of not making it to the finals, moving to the West makes the path a lot easier for them. This also gives them a much easier schedule during the season to help inflate the record.
majic44- Listen, BK has made some bold moves during his 6.0 tenure and more than a few questionable decisions. With that said he has a title to his name which is a big accomplishment. I have no idea if he was scared as I think the West looked tougher than the east going into the season. Obviously the Stags contracting shook things up a bit, but overall I think the top 3-4 teams in each conference are relatively equal. Thats all the really matters when it comes to the playoffs; can you beat the 1-2 other elite team to make it to the finals.
ankly - Absolutely. He's admitted that he saw the West as the weaker conference where he can have more success. And honestly, he seems to be correct based on the current situation in the league. There are less top tier contenders and less up-and-coming teams. I'll be interested to see if we see some of the East teams sell off at some point. Not like tanking style tear-down of course, but I've got to think a GM or two will choose to fight another day in the East rather than trying to win as like the 5-8th seed while winning 50 games.
JHB- He has admitted it as much himself and tried to play it off as a strategic maneuver. He was scared of the old dynasty (Bankz), the rising dynasty (Ank), and the future dynasty (Hawks...seriously guys stop laughing).
Handsomepete - Clearly he must have had no fear if he chose to enter the terror-dome that is the Western Conference. I'm impressed BK decided to up the level of competition after cakewalking to 50 wins year after year in the East. After winning a title in the East he must've wanted to set the sliders up to difficult and get a real test.
Yawn - I don’t know about scared but the West sure seems like an easier time. I mean Chap is running that thing like cardio while Ian takes a year to collect some money with his all world PG. It’s certainly not the Beastern Conference.
Trofie - I think it was a brave/chicken shit move by BK. On one hand its tougher to win the title out here because of the better GM's. On the other hand you come out here when the West has been kicking the shit out of the East in the ASG year in and year out.
3. What are your thoughts on expansion? Was Odin colluding with TroyBarnes to quit when he did?
Sapular -So it didn’t occur to me that collusion was happening till mentioned in chat but as I thought about it, I would not be surprised to find that Odin knew of Troy leaving prior to it happening and Odin then “setting” himself up to benefit from it. I think this is exposing a big opportunity to exploit a loophole. I think no moves should occur till the off season. Things that impact teams should not happen during the season. If this was based off of the end of year records and nothing was done till then I think it would be “more fair” but I also think that in the event a team is contracted all players should go into FA.
majic44- That isn't even something I considered but I would not be particularly surprised if it was true. I was shocked that Troy stuck around as long as he has and even built an elite team. This is a very unique circumstance as I don't think we have ever had an elite team/GM quit. Its interesting that 2-3 elite players will find their way to new teams for free. This evens out the overall talent and ultimately helps the teams out in the west. As for expansion, I think its been a bit of a hassle in 6.0 as we have had to go through them in back to back seasons. I know all of us can give eric a lot of shit at times but I wouldn't want to be the one sorting through all of this. At times I wonder if it would just be easier to remove expansion all together. Make the new GM takeover the existing team, if they have traded all of their picks then slot them into the wheel and add an extra pick for those years to make it fair. That might honestly be the best, and easiest, solution.
ankly- I feel like Odin probably had the 1.1 in the contraction draft locked up either way. I don't think Odin colluded to have Troy quit. He probably sent him a text to trigger the official post in the quitting thread though.
Expansion/contraction is a pain though. Seriously annoying if this is an every-season type thing.
I get why expansion is necessary in a wheel league though. I do think we should just dump the contracted players into offseason FA, and I would get rid of the expansion draft though (just give the new GM like 150k in skrouse or something).
JHB- I don't think there was an over-arching plot to collude to benefit Odin in expansion. It might've ultimately been conveniently timed for Odin, but Troy has always kinda had one foot halfway out the door in 6.0 and Odin was just starting the process of looking to blow his team up a year before Troy ended up quitting. And who knows if Troy quits if Eric doesn't inconsistently apply his own rules when dealing with the expansion pick deadline that caused Troy to lose Motiejunas.
Handsomepete - I don't know if Odin colluded around the timing of Troy's quit, but the more I think about it, the more I think he at least knew Troy was thinking about quitting last year. Otherwise, I'm not sure why he would've passed on picking up Greg Oden in last year's disbursal draft. I think he wanted to keep his record bad in case Troy decided to quit this season and his record came into play again, and he was playing a tanking roster for the early part of the season.
Yawn- I don’t support the expansion/contraction set up. I feel like it is an extremely stressful thing on the league, it creates a lot of bullshit and animosity in a league full of people willing to play around in the muck over the tiniest infractions. I think having back to back years of this is incredibly difficult to process and makes shout and some of the boards pretty much unreadable.
I don’t think Odin was colluding because I think everyone has the best of intentions. Yay.
Trofie- I think it sucks. If you have a GM on the waiting list they should take over the team as is. We did it for years with no issues. If you're short a user let the CPU run the team until we have a full league. Until the #'s dwindle down. It fucks Gm's who get jumped on the wheel and rewards people tanking via contraction. I believe there was collusion. Do I have evidence ? No. But Odin has played off this simple jack character and there is always a motive there. He's a smart guy and he knows what he's doing.
4. Top 5 most Lucky Gm's.
Sapular- I will say I am one of those lucky GM’s. Getting McCray set me up and allowed me to make moves to be where I am. While it was unluck to lose Matthews I do think the further we get away from it the less it hurts me. From there I would say the other 4 are Andrew Luck, Ank, Duc and Chaps. Now I say this not to take a shot at their ability to GM but I also think that hitting on draft picks does have a bit of luck associated with it. I will say outside of me getting lucky, I also think that Andrew got VERY lucky and won last year as I look at his team and have no idea how he won
majic44 - Bankz - Hard to say where his team would be had he not had the luck of getting Carr and Ellis. Both of them beasted and have the love of the software ever since.
1.Odin - this is going to be a recency bias pick, but he sure picked a perfect time to tear down and "tank" considering he will have his pick of the Stags roster. I think alot of GM's would love to be in his position.
2.DeChap - this goes back to the 2 year FA luck that setup his team for a long run of success. Chap was able to land Breshers in the 3001 FA and then followed that up by snagging Theodoros the next offseason. That FA luck has propelled his team to a couple titles and a dominant run. Will be interesting to see how he pivots as both Breshers and Theodoros are aging.
3.Ank - It was tough to pick here but I am going with Ank simply because of the drafting luck. I understand that he set himself up nicely for the back to back drafts but its never a sure thing. Both Irving and Embiid look elite and should be a dominant duo for years to come. Thats not always guaranteed with rookies, so for that I will pick Ank here.
4.BK - again, it was a struggle to pick here but I chose BK for the final spot due to his trading/team building strategies. I think its fair to say that BK has taken an unconventional approach to team building, making some trades that seemed questionable. With that said nothing has really backfired on him. He was able to get a title and continues to compete at the top of the league.
ankly- 1. Skrouse - No title, but has had a lot of playoff luck on aggregate.
2. AndrewLuck - That last title was the luckiest we've had
3. Bankz - I would say that Bankz having those top picks in the first rookie draft was a form of luck. The balance between the 01 Rookie Draft and the 00 Creation file was not something people foresaw, so in a sense the people with top 01 picks got "lucky". For the most part, he's done well to build the top team in 6.0 so far out of that windfall. Also Majic not picking Dale Ellis is a sneaky huge piece of luck.
4. 20s - I was trying to think who has had the most FA luck. 20s due to Sharrar perhaps?
5. Ian - #hottake. His natural 1.1 was the CP3 draft. That's extremely lucky. Also Isiah Austin/Ron Perry/Blackmon got some nice TC's seemingly.
JHB - I think it's hard to quantify what is luck and what is skill at this point when discussing team-building moves, because I'm not entirely sure what process everyone uses to get results. You could say that Bankz and BK are lucky but they've had the best results in the draft and consistently manage to do that, not just huge lucky stabs. You could say Trofie has been lucky with some of his late 1st/2nd round picks but then again, he manages to consistently out-perform draft slot expectations.
You could make arguments about certain draft slot for creation being lucky or some teams having FA luck, but the league has been pretty in flux so far with the way creation file was structured and the talent level in each class that some moves that would have been seen as great strokes of luck, like Pete inheriting Gasol and then managing to get Slokar and Head with the last two picks in the draft now looks not nearly as impactful or "lucky" as they would have if you'd done this RT in 3005.
You could say that Bankz was lucky that he was the benefactor of choosing to be bad first and then trying to compete and people incorrectly valuing their creation picks vs future draft picks with the way the first couple of classes were built but several smart people hypothesized that may happen so is it luck or a strategic maneuver?
In summary, if I'm ranking the luckiest GMs I'm just going to go by order of GMs that won titles with the least amount of fracs because that's where it's truly just a dice roll.
That would make guys like Andy Luck and Chap our luckiest GMs.
Handsomepete- 1. Chap - I think Chap has done a good job managing his situation but there's no doubt winning the Theo sweepstakes in FA delivered two titles, and one of those was an improbable run from the five-seed.
2. AndrewLuck - lowest fracs for a championship winner with only .016. Very unique team and he's made some unpopular draft selections that have turned out not to be terrible, but still feels more like a magical RNG run than a team built for success.
3. Handsome Pete - Putting myself at 3 because I walked into a great situation taking over the Lakers and chose the coward's way out rather than Fason's more honorable route. I had a roster with multiple top picks, cap flexibility, and one of the more highly regarded rookies to enter the league. I also pulled two big contributors at the tail end of the 2nd round with throwaway picks. The net sum of all of that is I've got a decent warchest of assets for the future. I also made a conference finals because of injuries to my opponents.
4. Skrouse - I gave him credit earlier but he had a strong run of positive luck in the SRS table
5. Fecta - he's lucky he's cute because he's not winning anyone over with his resume.
Yawn- 1. BA got Shawn Kemp for no reason. Windfall!
2. Bankz is lucky because there is innocence in the world and he can feed off the naiveté of youth to fleece unsuspecting GMs.
3. Chap and Bk are lucky to have such a caring and loving relationship with fulfilling, meaningful sex.
4. Pete did a good job of nailing those 2nd round gems and moving all of a not contending team to future pieces. I think Pete has benefited from luck but he hasn’t squandered it either.
5. Yawn. Every day is living the dream buddy.
Trofie- 1. Andrew Luck- Won a title , limited fracs ran into another low frac guy out East
2. Chap- I'm not saying his titles are luck because he's had good teams. Should have a title , but not multiple
3. Skrouse - He probably is annoyed by people questioning how his team is good. But seriously how is that team good?
4. TroyBarnes - Not in the league anymore, but made some questionable deals and had some monster Tc's when it looked bleak
5. Yawns fiancee- boy did she hit the jackpot !
5. Yawn recently ate a chipoltle Burrito. Are you team Chipotle or Qdoba ?
Sapular- I am neither. I am team Moe’s Southwest. I say that as I have never had Qdoba. I think Chipotle is very average and nothing special at all. It makes sense that it was once a McDonanlds owned company. They are very good at creating “different” items but they all taste the same. Everything at Chipotle tastes the same. It isn’t bad, it is just very average.
majic44 - I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever had Qdoba, so my answer is Chipotle. Listen, Chipotle isn't anything spectacular but it is consistent. You know what you are getting every time and it rarely disappoints. I know almost nothing about Qdoba but I can always rely on Chipotle to give me a decent meal and to fill me up. I cant ask for much more when going to a fast food Mexican restaurant.
ankly - Team Chipotle for sure. I haven't had Qdoba in years. I don't know what Chipotle's secret is (E Coli?), but I enjoy their burritos.
JHB - I was strongly team Moe's for a long period of time but their quality has drastically declined and I think I also expanded my palate as well. Right now I'm Team Chipotle but that's only because there's not a Qdoba near me to secure the bag, though I do love a good Qdoba.
Handsomepete - Team Chipotle. I was a Moe's stan when I was younger, but I love me a Chipotle burrito. White rice, black beans, fajita veggies, lettuce, cheese, pico, red sauce, cheese, sour cream. I would choke to death if I tried to take down that burrito challenge though, so props to Yawn. I always knew he had a big mouth.
Yawn- I would take Chipotle over Qdoba all day every day. That weird diarrhea el diablo “queso” Qdoaba hawks is just an excuse to give unsuspecting white people the shits. My local chipotle is an absolute clown show that barely knows what is for sale but I visit that shithole maybe twice a month. I only visited Qdoba when I was young, dumb and too poor to know any better after a few too many beers at a work sanctioned HH. I associate Qdoba with bad times. It also tastes like bad times.
Trofie- I ate Chipotle once in my life and it was very bad. No redeeming qualities. Have terrible ethics and overwork children. I enjoy the weird diarrhea el diablo queso of Qdoba. They also don't charge extra for Guac!
6. Which division has the "Best" Gm's .
Sapular - I think the Atlantic has the “best” GM’s. I think that 20’s, Skrouse, JHB are all top tier GM’s. I think Odin is a good GM but does things quite a bit differently so it is hard to say as he does things in his own way which is very different than the “conventional” method. Prior to this contraction mess, I have seen him build a good team using primarily 2nd round picks which was impressive to me.
majic44 - I will go with the homer pick and choose the Pacific division. I have mentioned it already but BK has seen good success in 6.0 so far and built some good teams in 5.0. Druce is an OG and can always be counted on to build a contender when he is engaged. Dirt loves to trade and switch things up, but when he wants to he can put together a good team. Me and Tim had plenty of success in 5.0, and while we are still looking to get our first titles in 6.0 I think both of us will do it within the next 10 years. AndrewLuck isnt an active GM but always seems to have a competitive team. He is the reigning champ and that can never be discounted. Pete is the newest member of 6.0 but based on previous success I expect him to figure things out and put together a contender.
ankly - It's not the Pacific. They had a bunch of teams go all-in early in 6.0 who are now garbage teams with a bleak future. That's not good GMing.
Midwest is pretty solid now that I'm looking at it. Chap and Trof have been top tier. Ian has been solid. Now they have Fason who is a good GM.
I'll go Midwest.
JHB - I'm inclined to start by immediately eliminating the Atlantic Division and Midwest Division because all of my advanced metrics say that Pointy and Fecta are historically bad at sim (FECTA IS BAD AT SIM LOL) and their inclusion in those groups immediately precludes them from consideration. While I have stats on wins per million I don't have it sorted by the team that signed each deal so it's hard to determine with any real methodology who was exploited FA best and the biggest FA signings are essentially down to pure luck. Where I do have performance information on GMs is in the creation and rookie drafts, so if you take that performance and you sum it by division you get these results:
Div Wins
Pacific 269.21
Midwest 67.49
Central (25.16)
Atlantic(163.84)
I think it's pretty clear the Pacific has the best GMs.
Handsomepete - They're all good. Purely on sim league success, I'd go with the Midwest. For guys to hang out with, I'd lean Atlantic because Duc and I have the same taste in podcasts, JHB and I could talk South Carolina shit, I got blackout after going to a basketball game with Yawn and I didn't wake up with an organ missing, and 20s, Skrouse, Fecta and Odin are an interesting mix of personalities. I'm sitting at the Atlantic table.
Yawn- Well obviously the question here is more the definition of best. As you know I might not be Fecta levels of BAD AT SIM but I’m me levels of APATHETIC AT SIM. So what division would I want to be in a sim league with?
Atlantic – Too quiet. A couple of good dudes that I would enjoy hanging out with. BAD AT SIM though
Central – Jeez there are some really good guys in here. Hanging out with Bankz, Heebs and Ank would probably end up with some convoluted murder plot but I would be ok with that. Delap seems normal. Mike keeps odd hours and Dump and Sap are wildcards
Midwest – lots of weirdos. Trofie’s there though. Is soup still there? Two outstanding fellows
Pacific- the pacific is always the island of misfit toys. But there is a handsome pete there. So it’s not all bad!
Probably Central or Midwest I guess.
Trofie- Graded on 1-10 scale
Atlantic - 5 - some great guys here, some good gm's. Some quiet individuals
Central - 7 - some outspoken people here. Have some titles. Have some terrible teams.
Midwest - 8 - have some titles, GREAT personalities , added Fason, but still have Pointy .
Pacific - 7- Have titles, and imo have a group of guys that really make the league run and operate well.
7. There is a fire. Chap , Bk , and Bankz are inside. You can only save 1. Who is it and why.
Sapular - This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. My initial thought was to save Bankz as he and I have had a pretty good relationship. He has always been helpful to me and pretty straight forward. While I do see how and why he can be divisive, I have never really had an issue with him. However, the more I thought about it I think saving Chaps is the way to go. He comes with the least amount of “baggage”. While BK and Bankz often help keep Shout lively I think at times it is bit much and a little less nonsense in Shout would be good. I also think that of the 3 Chap is the least talented GM. I am NOT saying that Chaps is bad, I am saying I would rank the other 2 ahead of him, therefore allowing me to move up in the rankings, if only a little bit.
majic44 - I am making this choice based solely on who has angered/annoyed me the least, and that would be Chap. He seems like a decent guy and I have never had issues with him. I have come around quite a bit on BK but we had some great battles over the years. Bankz is similar in that I dont understand, or agree, with his point of view on alot of topics. For those simple reasons I would save Chap.
ankly- Is this the free square? Chap, I'll save you buddy!
I think he's more pure than the other two. Also, if we leave BK and Bankz in a burning building, they very well could put it out by sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
JHB - Chap as punishment for the other two for carrying on the most boring and pedantic rivalry in sim history.
Handsomepete - Bankz because he has kids. Maybe BK and Chap do too but I know Bankz does and I couldn't live with myself for sacrificing someone's dad. I don't think either BK or Chap could survive in a world without the other one, so in a sense I'm saving all three by saving Bankz.
Yawn- Well there’s no way that you can separate Chap and BK. In that situation Bankz gets saved because Chap and BK die in each other’s arms. Their hearts will go on. Bankz will quietly reflect on their sacrifice before immediately making it about him and shit talking about everything.
Trofie- Easy bankz. Bankz irl isn't anything like his online persona. I can only hope the same for Bk
8. Divisions as a whole are competing in Survivor. Which division are you voting off and who wins? Key players?
Sapular - So, I am voting off the Midwest. While I feel the Central is the strongest division, I think the next closest division would be the Midwest. Getting rid of them thins out the competition. While it does leave an East division, it removes pretty much any real contender that is in the West. While it still makes the path to winning harder, it does allow me to put 100% focus on the real competitors that are still left.
majic44 - I am going to stick with the Pacific division as I think we have the best mix of brains and athletic ability. I know nothing about AndrewLuck but I feel confident in stating that I think the rest of the pacific division GM's could hold their own in the challenges. In regards to outsmarting, I think we have a great mix of level headed headedness, trolling and deceiving personalities. I think the overall package our GM's bring to the table sets us up for a successful survivor run.
ankly - I feel like the Central would be a mess on survivor. A lot of drama. A lot of manipulating. We probably get voted off first.
I think the Pacific goes next because people would fear the Chapmigos alliance. Can't have that going into the merge. Also dirt would trade his immunity idol for a bag of rice.
Atlantic beats the Midwest in the end, but not before KC brings a certain masked crusader to the Loved One's visit.
Ultimately, Fecta wins.
JHB - I am immediately doing everything I can to vote out the Central guys because they have a numbers advantage. I could see Heebs being a huge issue in challenges because of his background rock climbing. Those skills seem to be highly transferrable to the type of athletic competition you see in Survivor. I think Ank would be a good strategic player and Delap is very likeable, which is a problem when you make it to the jury. Bankz is the type of guy you vote off last from the Midwest as you pick them off and then try to sneak him into your top 2 or 3 with you since the people on the jury will probably be so fed up with him he won't get any votes.
The Pacific I am not sure about. I see Dirty and TimPig thriving in a Survivor environment but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Tim is a definite challenge threat.
Midwest I could also see being a very tight group and a lot of very good social players but they're drug down by Pointy who isn't paying attention and Chap who is end-arounding them the entire time to go have a secret alliance with BK that immediately gets sussed out and they're the first to go home.
I'm not sure how strong the Atlantic team would be. We have some folks who would probably be strong social players. I don't see Odin fairing well in the Survivor environment. No idea the athleticism of some of our players but Fecta probably has the body type to thrive in some of the balance/endurance type challenges.
I think the Central would likely win TMBSL Survivor.
Handsomepete - The key to lasting long in Survivor is to avoid making waves and coast through as the stronger players get taken out. As a result, I would want to keep a division like the Central, with volatile guys like Bankz and Dump, around longer, especially with BK now in our division who's sure to draw plenty of heat on his own. I would chop the Atlantic because I think they don't have anyone that ruffles feathers and could easily coast through. I think Survivor would break down similarly to mafia, where the key players would be people like JHB or Ank who can build coalitions or pull off a double cross. I think Tim and Fecta would be good for endurance challenges, and Trofie would dominate that challenge where you have to hold onto a pole for the longest because the man knows his way around a pole. I think the winning division is probably midwest, as long as they sacrifice Ian to the island pretty early.
Yawn - Central and Midwest are probably the two most polarizing divisions so they would attract the headlines. Druce wins because he seems like the nefarious vote getting type. Plus he has minions to help him corral votes. Majic sacrifices himself for Druce to get back to his kid, Sap does it because he saw that it was successful for the Japanese at one of his first talkies in 1943.
Tim spends his entire time trying to destroy Ian even though people are generally apathetic towards Ian. JHB loses after he tries to clean an entire pineapple grove and has to be medevac’d. Heebs uses Ank as his pawn until everyone stops and realizes Heebs is up to evil shit. Bankz and Billy are voted off in about 3 minutes for making life miserable for everyone else. Skrouse tries to make an economy out of rice grains but walks into the ocean when realizes Eric is continuing life without him.Pointy goes to the wrong island. Ba makes it further than expected. Odin can’t be bothered to put down his island shrub he found that gets him high. KC surprises by being super personable and makes it pretty far before Soup and Dirty betray him.
Trofie- as a true student of the game i'm going with the Pacific. They would need to sacrifice Bk or risk losing before the merger. They have Dirt who knows the game, and if you've been fortunate enough to meet Pete you wouldn't be able to vote him out. Then you got Druce and Majic who will always be on the same side because Dad I mean Druce knows what's right. Tim seems like an athletic individual who is well liked. All the other divisions have bad balance. The Midwest and Central are too loud and everyone would hate them. Atlantic could be a sleeper pick but they have Fecta.
9. People don't seem to vote high on RT's. Which is bullshit. What would you vote this article?
Sapular - I would vote this article 55K. That is my “standard” vote. I feel that amount allows the author to do whatever they were trying to accomplish. Be it, amnesty, scout, SK or improvements. I also feel that RT’s are fun and we should have more of them. They can be silly or off the wall but I think getting random thoughts and opinions out there allows for better Shout conversation and allows us to stay away from the Bankz v BK or extremely controversial topics. I will also say they help us stay away from the stat breakdown shout convo. Those are nauseating.
majic44 - Ironically enough I think doing RT's are just as hard as a regular article. The questions are usually very diverse and require each participating GM to do some research and respond with thoughtful answers. You never want to be the guy in the RT that has the shortest, least thoughtful, answers as it can be pretty obvious when that happens. Overall I think the participants should get around 40k and the creator get 50k.
ankly - 80k for Trofie and 50k for participants
JHB - One million skrouse doll-hairs. This is absolutely electric content.
Handsomepete - RTs require a ton of effort and are among the more enjoyable articles to read, just to get a sense of differing viewpoints within the league. 40k to participants, 50k to organizer. 420k for participants, 69k for organizer.
Yawn-Doesn’t matter. Gimme that skrouse.
Trofie - Inflation is at an all-time high. I know of people that had to spend 70k to afford the luxury of 2 extra expansion slots. Ridiculous! We have a slow draft going on now because people can't even afford scouts. The bank doesn't give out loans and our government just does whatever the hell it wants.
