Aristeia! - Action From The Varunadome - Deepwater Dragons vs Cherry Bombs

Tonight in the Varunadome the Deepwater Dragons met the Cherry Bombs in a match of Scorched Earth.

With the Carano mod still in effect the Deepwater Dragons team is unchanged, with the linup of Maximus, Valkyrie, Padre Mendoza and Dart taking the field for this, the third round of the pre-season league.

The Cherry Bombs linup is, likewise, unchanged from what you may have seen in their earlier preseason matches. They bring Prysm, Miyamoto Mushashi, Bixie and Parvati into the match.

Round one sees Maximus taking up a dominant position in the initial, central, scoring zone, to be joined by Prysm and Padre Mendoza. Mushashi moved up into a flanking position and launched an pair of attacks on Mendoza, but was unable to deal enough damage with Maximus in position to protect the good Father.

Dart then sniped out the Bombs key striker, with Focus and great aim for the First Blood of the match. Bixie jumped over the two Dragons guarding the edge of the scoring zone, only to meet a messy fate on the wrong end of Valkyrie's axe, leaving the Bombs two Aristos down at the end of the first round.

With the Bombs trailing on the scoreboard they retained the Underdog and made zone two scoring for the second round. Prysm lashed out at Padre Mendoza, but thanks to his healing managed only to Taunt Maximus. Then Valkyrie charged, but dealt no effective damage, although her Frostburn on Parvati would prove decisive. Parvati was forced to Reset in order to move, preventing her from reaching the scoring zone. As Bixie and Mushashi dropped into potential future scoring zones Dart and Mendoza failed to achieve much other than Taunts for their efforts against Prysm, while Maximus strolled unopposed into zone two to score.

Picking zone six to score next the Bombs did what they could to lock down the Dragons, while keeping Bixie and Mushashi in position for a 3-4-5 sweep to victory. With most of the Dragons forced to attack Prysm this seemed to be working well but a one-hex miss-positioning of Bixie prevented her, with -1 Energy, from reaching the zone and Dart dropped Ambush to double-move into the scoring zone and pick up the points for the Dragons.

Playing to keep the margin down the Bombs picked zone three to score in the fourth round. Parvati activated first and Dart chose to Switch in response to a solid attack in order to achieve a mutual Frag. While Mushashi scored unopposed, Valkyrie and Mendoza double-teamed Bixie to eliminate her and Maximus finally finished off Prysm.

With two Dragons standing beside the only possible final scoring zone there wasn't really much of a chance for the Bombs to pull the match back. Dart and Mendoza tried to take out the returning Parvati, but couldn't pull out the damage in this final round for the extra frag.

 After a tough night in the Varunadome the Cherry Bombs ended with only two points and just the one Frag, on Parvati.

The Deepwater Dragons finished with two Frags each on Dart and Valkyrie (only one token got placed in an error) while Maximus managed to pick up one Frag of his own.

Although Prysm did a good job of keeping the Dragons marked up in the mid-game, the early losses proved hard for the Bombs to overcome.

Some rough luck in several of the facedowns certainly didn't help.

Key moments in the match included:

1: The first turn elimination of Mushashi and Bixie, as well as Padre Mendoza surviving the attacks from Mushashi. Good dice helped with the Dragons Frags, and the poor rolling streak of the Bombs started early here, but it was the placement of Maximus and Mendoza's healing which kept Mushashi from getting his kill.

2: The Frostburn from Valkyrie on Parvati, preventing the Cherry Bombs from getting an Aristo into the scoring zone on round two, along with Maximus ability to simply walk away to score himself.

3: The impact of the Energy penalty on Bixie, as well as her one-hex miss-positioning, preventing her from scoring in round three, along with the well timed Ambush allowing Dart to secure the win for the Dragons.

4: Allowing the Cherry Bombs to score on round four, in order to secure the only remaining zone for round five, ensuring a solid margin overall and giving time for extra Frags (even 'though that didn't play out).

Final Score: 8 - 2

Frags: Dart 2, Valkyrie 2, Maximus 1, Parvati 1

Aristeia! - Action From The Varunadome - Deepwater Dragons vs Bad Wolves

VS

Brutal night at the Varunadome tonight, with the Deepwater Dragons crushing the Bad Wolves 9-0 in only two rounds of King of the Hill.

Valkyrie moved on winged feet to smash down her opposite number and put the Dragons up 4-0 at the end of Round One.

Solid defense and healing kept the Dragons out of the Infirmary through Round Two, with Valkyrie, Padre Mendoza and Max combining to take down Murtair and Kosmo to end the match with the flawless win.

 Looking back on the match, there were a few key moments which defined it:

1: Pulling Odin's Breath on the Mulligan draw to get the Dragons Valkyrie to put down her counterpart in the Wolves in the first round.

2: Having the No! in hand to cancel the Scram from the Wolves Max at the bottom of round one.

3: Getting off Frostbite on the Dragons Valkyrie so she could tank through the first part of the Wolves second round offensive with Kosmo.

4: Having Ice Wall in hand, and using it, to keep Mendoza up when the Wolves threw Murtair at him in round two.

5: The combined offensive potential of Valkyrie, Mendoza and Max (getting a rare Frag of his very own) putting down Kosmo and Murtair really sealed the deal.

As always, the regular trickle of healing from Mendoza allowed me to keep up the offensive pressure (especially with Valkyrie), and Valk's ability to offend with defense made up for the need to be static.

Plus, obviously, some great dice on the Dragons side and some real shockers on the Wolves.