The Rusty Cup: Part one - Preparation

 The Rusty Cup: Part one - Preparation

Brewers, who do I bring to a tournament and who would I look to field...

Hello Guild Ballers!

This is my preparation for the York Tournament.  I will not be putting this up untill the event has started and only if I get to WIFI during that time.
See this as Part one of the Rusty Cup:

First off I'd like to point out that I'm not the mathematics wizard.  I like to play my own game without having to worry too much about 'best choices' or statistics in general.  I play a 'fun' game first and if I happen to win, that's good!

That said, you will all know Tapper is my go to captain on the brewers team.  So it should not surprise you I rarely see Esters as better.  She might be, but not in my eyes.  My perception is off, I know!  So if you don't like people thinking with their haerts rather than with the head, skip this entry and await part 2!

So in stead of starting with Tapper and adding players to find a 9 man roster, let's see who we can face (guildwise) to this day. And who I'd like to field against that team. (emphasis on I)

Alchemists:

General feel: As this should be a condition heavy game I'm looking to field Hooper and Stoker as a given. Since they clear conditions outside of taking a breather.  Furthermore I'm looking to field 2" melee models to stay outside any 1" aura they might have.
Options are: Stoker and Hooper + 2": Tapper, Mash, Harry the Hat
That gives me 5 players without mascot.
1) Midas Team: 2" is a must for UM
Final Picks: Tapper - Scum -  Hooper - Stoker - Mash - Harry the Hat
Game plan: Tapper and Hooper   follow the ball (on Midas?) - Harry coveres the middle with Mash in front of him within 4" and ideally on the other flank of Hooper/Tapper - Scum will try to hold the ball away from the alcs.


2) Smoke Team: Esters might be slightly better healing her team...
(crucible, no info as of yet)
Final Picks: Esters - Scum -  Hooper - Stoker - Mash - Harry the Hat
Bunch up in the middle around Harry and Esters toss out flames for Stoker to abuse. Use Mash / Stoker to retrieve the ball buffed by Esters.  Keep Hooper in the Back of the Scrum to deal with any player stupid enough to stay down.

Brewers:

Brewers have low Def so Stave should have a spot against the other drunks because of ranged character plays And the ability to break up a scrum. Pintpot should be good since he doesn't take crowding out.  Friday for even more Def kill.  Play the game better than they do.
Options are: Stave, Pintpot and Friday are inguild choices, as is Stoker.  Harry is out of guild.  This gives me one player to many, no captain yet...
1) Tapper Team: Pintpot! Stave!
Final Picks: Tapper - Scum - Pintpot - Stave - Friday - Harry the Hat
Lure the Scrum near Harry- break it up with Stave - Shoving at least one player towards the killing machine that Tapper is, finish off with Scum where needed.  Use Friday to lower Def where possible if not footballing use Pintpot to keep the Scrum busy if it reforms.

2) Esters Team: 2" melee might help more here. So Harry over Stoker Stave is less effecient against Esters...
Final Picks: Tapper - Scum - Harry the Hat - Hooper - Friday - Pintpot
Use Harry to pop GM on Esters with a 1INF play. Kill her with Tapper/Pintpot/Scum/Hooper - Use PintPot to keep the Scrum uneven, Football with Friday.

Butchers:

Heavy Brawlers I'll be looking to play football as much as possible whilst keeping the heavy hitters under control. So Stave - Mash - Stoker for their pushes
Friday for Dirty Knives and football - og Spigot to help the football game?
1) Ox Team: Keep ox away with Stave?
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Friday - og Spigot - Stave - Stoker
Stay back, use Stave to toss Barrels and spread out the butchers, kill OX asap. Try to score late turn with Friday.  Win initiative to move the scrum up so Friday is protected, use Stave to get to the ball (either push your own player or push the ballcarier closer) Get the ball with og Spigot or Stoker pass to Friday and let her score again, by then Tapper will hopefully have a 2nd kill.

2) Fillet Team: I'll need more survivability here so in comes Hooper again:
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Stoker - Friday - ogSpigot
Put Hooper into Fillet and heal him up every chance you get, get Tapper ready to fill the Hooper shoes if he dies. Keep Fillet low on health untill there's enough INF on her to justify a kill.  Use Friday/Scum to football, use Tapper/Stoker to KD and ogSpigot to murder KD'd butchers.

Engineers:

I feel one of the better teams in S3.  Good at scoring and doing so fast.  Even though they have high defense I feel the reposition Stave can bring is a plus.
1) Ballista:  A dangerous goalscorer by himself with defense in minefield.
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Stave - Mash - ogSpigot
Wait for them to score.  Give Scum the ball - kill it.  KD Hoist/Velocity, kill them. Keep Mash and og Spigot close to eachother for when the Cat is in dire straits...

2) PinVice: a Dangerous captain who'll burn HP to gain VP with scoring goals.
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Stave - Mash - ogSpigot
What about Locus ??
Kill PinVice, try to KD the ball carriers and finish them off when they're on your half of the pitch. Score with Mash.

Fishermen:

Another very football oriented team that is super fast.  So difficult for brewers to keep up with.
1) Shark: Will spread out to score goals and steal the ball back.


 Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Mash - ogSpigot - Friday
Engage peeps and keep the ball away.  Killing as fast as you can!


2) Corsair: Will try to control the middle to get the ball - kill him ASAP.
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Pintpot - ogSpigot - Stave.
Get Corsair to be KD'd as much as possible - Charging with Tapper - picking the result twice if needed, get Hooper into him, finish with Scum if needed. Get the ball on the side he's not coming back on.  Murder the fish on the way to the goal, keep the ball behind the scrum.  Use Stave to keep the fish from moving behind the Scrum.

Hunters

A difficult team to pilot with a one dimensional grip on the game... Single a target out and kill it.  Not much xp against these...
Hooper and SToker for clearing conditions I guess, maybe esters is the best choice here?
1) Theron: Esters - Scum - Hooper - Stoker - Stave - Mash
Heralds of the Winter's Moon Expansion is only released after april 21st
Use Stave to get the hunter back in that dodged away after damage dealing. Pick them off one by one. - or if they use the bear - keep the bear on it's arse with Stave.

Masons

The middle ground of Guild Ball, Brawlers and footballers gathered under one flag.  How to adapt ??
1) Honour : double activation and superiour strategy...  Kill Honour if you can!
Final Picks: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Friday - ogSpigot - Stave
Flint will come. Kill him.  Then move towards Honour - mind Brick/Marbles - Tower is high priority.
2) Hammer : might push you off - but you have pushes!
Final Pick: Tapper - Quaff - Mash - Stave - Stoker - Friday
Play on the 8"-ish line with Tapper, Mash and Stave on one (hammer) side.  Stoker and Friday on the other.  Hope he wants to push and push yourself after he has activated (Mash + Stave alone is 8"!)

Morticians

The control set within guild ball...
1) Obulus: kill obby
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - ogSpigot - Friday - PintPot
Play on the defence - only put Friday up front if she can go in for a goal next turn.

2) Scalpel: no real xp against her:
Final Pick : Tapper - Scum - Hooper - ogSpigot - Friday - PintPot
Treat her like she's fillet I guess?

Union

The group of lone wolves fighting as a pack, whilst keeping the ball in the air.
1) Blackheart: spread out or keep the ball far from the scrum.
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Stave - Friday - ogSpigot
He's going to dodge around you like a MF.  Kill him with Tapper-Hooper-Scum Keep the ball of other models with Friday/ogSpigot

2) Vet Rage: a dirty killer!  Stave will split them up! so will Mash with some aid...
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - Hooper - Stave - Mash - Harry the Hat
3) Seasoned Brisket: a footballer but a glass one...  keep her busy rather than kill her if you are sure they can't get the ball...
Final Pick: Tapper - Scum - ogSpigot - Friday - Stave - Hooper


So obviously I have to many players here to put in a tournament 9
Easy choices to drop are Esters and Quaff.
I never picked vSpigot since I have little to no experience with him.
In that regard I'm also going to drop PintPot.  Since I haven't played with him enough to be able to put that 'muscle memory' to use.

I finaly went to York with these 9:
Tapper - Scum - Stave - Hooper - Friday - ogSpigot - Stoker - Mash - Harry the Hat

Next up is the part where I travel!

Keep your eyes peeled!

Bob Out