And, of course, here comes the second part:

An overview of the NC Conference from the perspective of a newbie

East

The KMN Mandalorians are in the Elite for the 6th season in a row, with being a playoff contender every season. Their division rival Alpin Ducks have been in the Elite for 12 out of the last 16 seasons and are currently the best rated team in all of RZA. This division is completed by the mystics and the Social Distance Runners, two teams that each already had runs in the Elite. They play the NC North and the AC North. Geez

NC North

Here the Space Kraken and the Dublin Oilers reside, having a tight grasp of the division since S51. The Leverkusen Leopards returned to the Elite, being absent for two seasons. And the fourth team is the Free Agent Mascots, who were once the best team in RZA and rejoined the Elite, not from the Admirals, but the Monarchs. Funny enough they have to play the AC West (the Admirals-Divison) and the NC East. There are some great match-ups coming from this one.

NC South

The San Diego Blitz have been in the Elite forever and won this division for the last 4 seasons in a row. There has been some turnover behind them, though, and this season they are joined by the Zombaes for a second season in a row and the returning Dumbarajko Elephants and Raspberry Bush. Another division with A LOT of experience on this level. They play the NC West and the AC South, and I'm very curious if the Blitz manages to get to 15–1 again

NC West

Another team being a member of the Elite forever are the Chelt Nam Bobbers, and they won this division for the last 5 seasons in a row. The Paladins return for a second go in the Elite. They are joined by two totally new teams, being the Alaskan Fur Trappers and the HAMBURG SEA LIONS. They play the NC South and the AC East, and it will be a very hard ride for both newbie teams this season.

Here's a little taste of how infallible I am.

These predictions, nay guarantees, are the first ones I've made since season 50.


AC

AC East

Thunder has fallen on hard times, losing their 3 best teams in the last couple seasons in Heroes, Thangs, and of course the Bridges. They've had an influx of teams come in with the region transfer option and it's probably the last season for the current elite teams to win anything with ptdoc sure to rule Thunder for the foreseeable future. Somehow they pulled both Dragons and Fire to inflate their records a little bit.

Deflators 10-6
Air Force Falcons 8-8
Bradford Northern 5-11
Fredericksburg Comanches 4-12

AC North

The bonecrushingJackets made a surprise run to the conference championship after a historically bad Fire season only winning 29 games. Ticats are back to reclaim their crown after a shocking relegation in season 51. But hey, at least we get some sweet knight on knight action. They'll get a deep Sea Devils division as their unlucky draw.

TigerCats 12-4
CardiacBonejackets 10-6
Fargo Knights 6-10
Glastonbury Grail Knights 4-12

AC South

Claymore has emerged as the premier AC region, and it's not close. The duo of Yorkies/Seagles is only eclipsed by the Monarchs duo. This season they are rejoined by Elite animal vets, Falcons and Lions. I suspect Claymore will wrest the title of most wins from the Monarchs and the AC champ will hail from Claymore once again.

Sydney Sea Eagles 13-3
Peoples Republic of Yorkshire 13-3
Saker Falcons 8-8
Diorite Lions 7-9

AC West

Big shout out to Lions and his littlemen for finally making Elite. I was rooting for you and then there was the contact debacle. Glad to see a quick recovery!
Admirals used to have a lot of depth, but due to many retirements and a few defections, they find themselves a middling region. They'll still have a team fighting for a wildcard spot but I'm not sure it'll happen as they play the 2 toughest divisions and get a rematch with their old friends the Mascots.

BobBoy Magpies 11-5
ChosenOnes 8-8
Melittlemenon thepitchhitchin 4-12
VenoM 1-15

NC

NC East

The Sea Devils are the deepest region. Always bringing up teams that can compete to stay up. Losing the Retirement muskrats hurts though. Sea Devils are lucky enough to pull Monarchs for the 2nd season in a row. Is this the season the Hollilorians get over the hump? Will the Ducks continue the upset streak? Will Buzi have any body parts left after his gambling missteps?

KMN Mandalorians 13-3
The Alpin Ducks 11-5
mystics 8-8
Social Distance Runners 6-10

NC North

The Monarchs reclaimed their crown as best division last season, and now add the immortal Jack6 and the original Elite champion and Admiral defector Mascots. They don't get the bonus of playing Thunder again, instead they get a Sea Devils repeat (Monarchs are apparently not allowed to play Dragons. It hasn't happened since season ...I have no idea I stopped checking after I went back 15 seasons. So apparently it's just not allowed to happen.) The Kraken couldn't pull off another championship and it was their first season without a trophy in the last 4. The last time a Monarch team didn't collect a trophy in a season was season 44, so it was a good run.

Dublin Oilers 14-2
Space Kraken 13-3
Leverkusen Leopards 6-10
Free Agent Mascots 6-10

NC South

This is the first time Galaxy will be Peteless since season 47. But everyone's favorite Pachyderm grand marshal is back! The Bush is good for a couple upset wins each season as well. Could be a fun little Galaxy battle, especially since they face off against Claymore.

San Diego Blitz 12-4
Zombaes 9-7
Dumbarajko Elephants 6-10
Raspberry Bush 6-10

NC West

What can I say about the Dragons that isn't mean. If my cohort was still around I'd interview him for a quote. They are still looking for a title. Jonny is a really nice guy, so I understand no one wants to challenge him for the Dragon throne, but someone could just hang out with him for a bit. The last time Dragons won more than 30 games (which is still just average) was season 42 and only 2 30 win seasons in the last 15. They won't break the streak this season either.

Chelt Nam Bobbers 12-4
Paladins 5-11
hamburg krill (HSL) 4-12
Alaskan Fur Trappers 3-13


Playoffs

Now the part you've all been waiting for with bated breath. (Or baited breath for all you fishing aficionados.) This is also guaranteed to happen, I'd bet Ablefty's right testicle on it.

AC
1. Seagles
2. Ticats
3. Magpies over 6. CardiacKids
5. Yorkies over 4. Deflators

1. Seagles over 5.Yorkies
2. Ticats over 3. Magpies

1. Seagles over 2. Ticats

NC
1. Oilers
2. Mandos
6. Ducks over 3. Blitz
5. Kraken over 4. Bobbers

1. Oilers over 6. Ducks
2. Mandos over 5. Kraken

2. Mandos over 1. Oilers

In a grand matchup of successful managers returning with new teams, the Spacefarers with less than 8 legs zap some birds that like water.

Championship
2. Mandos over 1. Seagles

I hope some of you have fun this season!

Nice post!

Just one comment, my ducks are not the best rated team right now. I guess you looked at the Top 100 rated teams which shows the best rating that a team ever had. In my case, this rating is one or two years old.

But I reckon I have one of he best ones right now. Also let’s not forget that the rating is calculated based on the rating of each player from the last official game, no matter the number of snaps. My good rating hides my lack of depth on many key positions (OL, LB, TE, FB) explaining partially my lack of success in Q4.

I did bought several vets at the end of last season to try to improve that area. It came expensive, but I plan to maybe play one more year and one last World Cup and then stop annoying KMN.

Thanks for clearing this. I was led to believe that it's the rating right now when a fellow manager congratulated me for holding up with you and referencing this Top100-list when we met in the Supercup last season

@Rufio: Thanks for a very enlightening write-up

Top100-list

Yeah, I remember this game. Not the brightest showing for my ducks. But then I was not surprised to see you promote in Elite. May we meet at some point in the PO again (and I would agree for a late 7 points win again ).

Thank you Krill and Rufio ! This awesome. Krill, nice start into Elite already, giving us a nice overview.

And Rufio. What can I say. The master is back !

If you continue to write like this, I will for sure kick all of your a.... and stay in Elite, because this is something that makes this game a real pleasure

Based on the last season plus Rufios season predictions we have a first ELITE POWER RANKING for season 53 :

1 Peoples Republic of Yorkshire 13-3 
2 Space Kraken 13-3 
3 San Diego Blitz 12-4 
4 CardiacBonejackets 10-6 
5 The Alpin Ducks 11-5 
6 Sydney Sea Eagles 13-3 
7 Dublin Oilers 14-2 
8 ChosenOnes 8-8 
9 KMN Mandalorians 13-3 
10 Deflators 10-6 
11 Chelt Nam Bobbers 12-4 
12 BobBoy Magpies 11-5 
13 TigerCats 12-4 
14 Zombaes 9-7 
15 Air Force Falcons 8-8 
16 Saker Falcons 8-8 
17 mystics 8-8 
18 Diorite Lions 7-9 
19 Dumbarajko Elephants 6-10 
20 Free Agent Mascots 6-10 
21 Leverkusen Leopards 6-10 
22 Social Distance Runners 6-10 
23 Fargo Knights 6-10 
24 Raspberry Bush 6-10 
25 Paladins 5-11 
26 Bradford Northern 5-11 
27 Fredericksburg Comanches 4-12 
28 Glastonbury Grail Knights 4-12 
29 Melittlemenon thepitchhitchin 4-12 
30 hamburg krill (HSL) 4-12 
31 Alaskan Fur Trappers 3-13 
32 VenoM 1-15 

Ok folks, its time to open your wallets to make your bets.

Here are mine :

Away team Power Rank Home Team Power Rank
Air Force Falcons 15 vs. CardiacJackets 4
Last season both teams met at the Falcons home. The Jackets didn’t break their bones but managed to win 17-13. Now we have the rematch in and I believe in another close win for the jackets.

Alaskan Fur Trappers 31 vs. Chelt Nam Bobbers 11
We are still in summer in the Northern hemisphere and summer is not the season for furs. Bobbers open their season with a repeat win to the last supercup playoffs.

Deflators 10 vs. Bradford Northern 26
The Deflators will take no bull from the yoyos from Bradford. They take home a win from their trip to the North.

Dublin Oilers 7 vs. Zombaes 14
Last season the Irish won 37-10 at the Zombaes. I can see a similar result for tomorrow.

Dumbarajko Elephants 19 vs. KMN Mandalorians 9
The Elephants are known to be able to trample just about any team. But they never met Mandalorians before and might be in for a bad surprise. The points stay in Hamburg.

Fredericksburg Comanches 27 vs. TigerCats 13
Both times the Comanches met with the TiCats, the TiCats won. I believe it will be thre in a row.

Free Agent Mascots 20 vs. Leverkusen Leopards 21
The second feline team will be pleased to know that they are allowed to also toss the ball instead of just running it. The question is if this will help Jack’s team as they have lost 5 of their 6 encounters. My prediction follows this trend. Mascots win in Leverkusen.

Glastonbury Grail Knights 28 vs. Fargo Knights 23
When Falcons meet Jackets, it’s difficult to see how such battle will happen. Here we have knights fighting knights. And knights will win and knights will lose. My money is on the knights from Fargo as they have already won their last 3 matches.

hamburg krill (HSL) 30 vs. Paladins 25
Now here is a match difficult to predict. They have never met. And you might be as me and wonder what this match is all about. They have never met. And you might be as me and wonder what this match is all about. Krill are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word krill, meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often attributed to species of fish. Paladins is a shooting game. I am completely clueless what to say here. Home team wins.

Melittlemenon thepitchhitchin 29 vs. ChosenOnes 8
MATCH OF THE DAY ! In season 46 the hitchin still won. In season 47 and 52 the Chosen Ones were the winners. For the first matchday I choose the Chosen Ones as my chosen ones.

mystics 17 vs. The Alpin Ducks 5
Two of my favorite managers will battle it out. You may believe that anything but a win by the Ducks would be a surprise. But in season 51 Johnny’s Aces scored a nice away win in France. This time the Ducks will win.

Peoples Republic of Yorkshire 1 vs. VenoM 32
Sometimes the match schedule is brutal. Rufio picks you as last team of the league and you get the current champion in your first game. Not fair. Hail to the champion and their first season win !

Saker Falcons 16 vs. BobBoy Magpies 12
The first BIRD BOWL of the season could be a close match. They have met 12 times before and each team has 6 wins. Surprisingly the last 4 matches all produced a win for the away team. Let’s go with this trend then.

San Diego Blitz 3 vs. Diorite Lions 18
Why are lions the king of the jungle? It's mainly because of their ability to dominate their habitat. For starters, lions are apex predators, being at the top of their habitats' food chain. But I don’t see how lions prevail when confronted with a bombing campaign. 7 times out of 11 it didn’t end well for them. This match will make it 8 out of 12.

Space Kraken 2 vs. Social Distance Runners 22
I can see Rufio celebrating when he saw the draw for his first match that will immediately his league related one match losing streak. The Runners defense will probably execute a social distancing strategy and the Kraken will have plenty of choices to pass or run their touchdowns.

Sydney Sea Eagles 6 vs. Raspberry Bush 24
Do you have raspberries in Australia ? Shadow will like them.

Up to you to comment ! Yes, you !