I see the vultures are already circling over the dying body

Just want to help as you maybe remeber

From a quick scout of you players I have noticed you have a lot of players with 1 or 2 skills very high then the others a lot lower.

Two problems here,

The wage is calculated across the average of the top two skills

The selling price is taken from the higher skill as a base starting point

This means that your wage bill is unnecessarily high and your players are less attractive to buy as they have a higher base starting price AND they will cost more in wages.

It's far better to train players evenly across a number of skills.

Avoid buying players with one or two really high skills and the rest with low skills.

Strength Speed and Intelligence are not included in either calculation but Agility is.

On another note I haven't been at all active in the last two months for work reasons. So much so that I hadn't even renewed my Supporter account which I did today. I see the season for me isn't quite lost yet but it's not been a great start.

Fortunately the draft isn't important really any more so the three pieces of crap I drafted wont do anything to hinder me.

Week 5

3 Matchups to Watch in Thunder 1

Instanbul Sultans (2-2) at Inbhir Narann ( 3-1)

The Instanbul Sultans come into this game looking for back-to-back road victories after their 41-23 victory over the Pamplona Walls (0-4). Despite there .500 winning percentage, QB Guvançmuhamed Shadrin has had a rough start to the season with 4 TD's vs 6 INT's while getting sacked 17 times in 155 dropback attempts.

While some blame could be placed on the offensive line, WR Resmi Ayasha needs to help his QB out in this matchup. While his 32 catches lead the team, he is only averaging 9.3 yards per catch with 1 touchdown and a long of 20. He has 7 registered drops and only 8 broken tackles. If he is going to drop passes, he needs to make it up with big plays from creating broken tackles that lead to first downs or scores.

Inbhir Narann had their perfect season come to an end with a 43-10 defeat to the newly cemented division foe Vicious Attack Dogs (3-1). The OL gave up 8 sacks, and 2 passes went straight to the Attack Dogs with no pass deflection involved. That can't continue.

In this matchup, look for LB Naor Ubarov to make some impactful plays. He has 15 tackles without a miss, along with 2 sacks and 2 interceptions. DL Carmichael Ross will need to set a tone at the line of scrimmage as well. He has 2 sacks, but only 3 TFL in those 4 games, along with 6 tackles and 3 misses.

Gone are the days when Inbhir Narann owned the Instanbul Sultans. That ended in seasons 31 Wildcard matchup with the Sultans winning 38-3 after losing the first 4 matchups between these two managers. Early predictions have the victory going to the Sultans.

I like Inbhir Narann at home in this one 34-27.

Kokomo Mantis (2-1) at Wolfings (3-1)

These two teams last met in season 24, in a Supercup matchup won by the Wolfings 54-6. No need to tell you much has changed since then. Or has it?

Kokomo Mantis is coming fresh off a bye which allowed them to get the chest-pounding celebrations over with that came with weeks 3 victory over slow starting Chesterton Cheese (2-2).

Pay attention to DL Simón González. This guy can wreak havoc along the line-of-scrimmage and has done just so with 9 tackles, 5 for a loss with no misses. He has put the QB on their backs 3 times already this season. His front line teammate Carsten Winter has also been able to force 2 fumbles. These two must show up.

The Wolfings have dominated in all three games that they have won this season. If they get to feed the ball on a regular basis to Jozef Stewart (286 rushing yards and 2 TD's) and Yuriy Marynets ( 311 rushing yards and 2 TD's) who both average over 4.5 yards per carry, then your pretty much screwed.

The Wolfings look to dominate with 5 set offensive lineman, and Halim Pejovic looks impressive early on. He has a 66.9 success rate, has more good blocks and pancaked than misses, and leads the OL in snaps played. Early predicts has a safe win for the Wolfings.

I like the Wolfings at home with a 34-9 score.

Xu Da (2-2) at Norfolk Dumplings (4-0)

Xu Da comes into this game, winners of two in a row. What they would like to do is win a trophy of any kind, something this team hasn't done since season 28. But taking one game at a time, they will need RB Cristóbal Suárez to raise his modest 3.9 yards per carry average closer to 4.5.

It's only right that he takes advantage of the early dominating offensive line play of Deshi Khor (72% success rate) and Dewei Sú (64% success rate). Combined they have so far 217 good blocks, 101 missed blocks, and 160 Pancakes.

The Norfolk Dumplings are looking for their first division trophy in Thunder 1. They are off to a great 4-0 start in what is shaping up to be a tough AC South division, whose combined record is 14-2.

In this matchup, CB Kadir Mansoor will need to continue his stellar play. He has his share of missed tackles (7), but has pick opposing QB's off a total of 5 times already with 3 taken back for touchdowns.

QB's have also been quick to rush throws his direction due to the pass rush of LB Eugene Mayer who has 11 tackles with 0 misses, and 4 TFL coming on 4 sacks. I sure hope Xu Da doesn't plan or need to rely on passing every down!

This will be the 5th matchup between these two division opponents in league play, and the Dumplings has looked comfortable in every game, winning all four, with the closest margin of victory being 12 points. Early predictions are favoring the Dumplings.

I am going with the Dumplings in a game close for 3 1/2 quarters, 27-17.

Bonus Inside Look: Meet the Granville Skunks

The Granville Skunks own a perfect 4-0 record going into week 5. The franchise owns a total of 28 trophies, 3 of which the Skunks and manager vancouver can claim as their own. Seasons 9- 16 saw the franchise win a total of 12 trophies including 3 Thunder 1 AC North division crowns from... me!

Thats when I owned the Cleveland Haters under the name Pookie! Too bad we don't match up this regular season. Under vancouver LB Rex Nevarez is having a monster start to this season. 27 tackles with 1 miss. 10 sacks, 2 INT's, and 1 touchdown.

This team has a real chance to win their first Thunder 1 division trophy. I am calling it right now, they will be the Thunder 1 NC champs. Rex Nevarez will see to it!


Thunder 2 Early Access: Bluebombs (4-0)

What kind of competition will the Bluebombs bring if they promote to Thunder1? Hard to tell. Right now the manager is in finical trouble, as bad TM buys have finally caught up to this team.

Depending on how this turns out, we won't ever get an answer. Managers usually fade into the sunset after troubles like this arise. Hopefully, someone in our great Thunder community can reach out, or find someone who can and guide this team back to prominence.

They are seeking their first division crown.

What's happening with the Thunder Elite? : A point to make with the Styrian Bears (2-2)

In case you missed it the Styrian Bears had their own finical scares recently. That seemed to be cleared up quickly, however.

On the field, the Bears have seemed to decide to save the scoring for home games only. The 41.5 home average vs 15.5 away average might not mean a thing....or it could.

They will be home against the Montesacro Mermaids, who seems to give up points as if they were giving away gift cards. Styrian Bears will improve to 3-2 after this game. That's the point I was trying to make!

For Our Readers:

Can you answer the following?

1)Which Thunder Elite team will be the first to enjoy a 3 game winning streak?

2) Will the Thunder 2 NC East once again finish with 3 teams with a winning record?

3) Which Thunder 1 AC South team will be the last to remain unbeaten?

Let's get your answers Thunder!

Bluebombs are trying to see a few high earners so hopefully they'll be able to recover! But with a half built stadium and no media center it will be a tough season...

Excellent write up

Great write up kevinisking but I think you have put the mockers on my team
I wake up this morning and find my star CB Mansoor is injured for 27 days

Oh wow! To be sure of this I would need to feature your players every week. Would you agree to such a test?

I stole a little bit of your style from last season.

You should contribute to the RZA insider magazine