Season 6 of the DLE College 7s league has kicked off with a massive two week blast of Blood Bowl. The new format of the league has once again breathed life into the competitive hearts of all the teams involved and they smashed out a total of 50 games in the time provided. Teams rose to the challenge, players rose to dominance and fell to injury or moved on to the DLE draft proper and we’ve only played the first part of the season!
PreSeason Blitz Season 6 (6.0)
Firstly, we must congratulate the ultimate winners of the Season 6 PreSeason Blitz, The Broekwater Merchants! The Merchants are the dominant DLE Sevens team and have held the spot at the top of the College Football hierarchy for just over two of the last two seasons and they swept aside all comers in the Invitation PreSeason Blitz. Their attention to detail and dedication to winning the right way (earning bonus points in 7 of their 10 counted games) meant they stood atop the pile when the Blitz closed. With their place booked in the Post Season already, will we see them slack off and play to develop their players or push home their advantage and hear the lamentations of their opponents? We’ll only find out if we stay tuned to DLE7s! here are the top 5 teams from the tournament, remember best ten results count.
The Merchants have now played 46 games in DLE7s, winning 31, they are by no means a team to be trifled with.
Stand Out Players from the Blitz
Merchants could easily flood this list, like Peter Bokor, the all star catcher who ran away with the ball and hit paydirt 15 times in 12 games or his team mate Matyas Barabas who blocked opponents 141 times in 181 turns on the field. Those two stand outs were one of the biggest part of the Merchants success but who else starred?
Demario Waddell, the Fort Schippel Receiver “Topped the Hill” of all other players, using his top level speed to carry the ball 262 yards in 9 games, a significantly higher per turn rushing average than Bokor in a slightly truncated tournament for the Hilltoppers. With 9 scores, he also spurred his team up the charts.
Leopold Berger (Dorfmark) was the boldest player with the ball in his throwing arm, pushing the ball downfield in his limited time on the field more than once per game and over 5 yards per pass. This was highlighted by his late game heave against the Hilltoppers in turn 16 that secured his team a draw. Leopold is a star set to stay!
Jean-Amour Fazer (Kislev) continues to be the biggest pain in his opponents entire body as the Ogre wasted little time getting back on the damage causing horse. Kislev only played 8 games but the big guy took home another 14 notches on his belt buckle in 85 blocks. Teams will be hoping he has his eyes on a pro career but I tell you as a pro coach, I don’t want to see him there either!
New Teams for Season 6
The league has welcomed a new set of Colleges around the Old World to the DCAA (Draft College Athletics Association) and with Season 6 kicking off in earnest, all four of them have made an impact early in the PreSeason Blitz, perhaps representing the most active quartet of teams looking to make their name early and often. Let’s look at the new guys!
Fort Solace Winged Pride
Coach Arcayn rejoins us for Season 6 after he left his post at the Lyonesse Golden Pride late in Season 4. His new college even changed their mascot to accommodate the veteran college coach and it seems to have worked immediately. 6 games in the Blitz earned him 4 wins and 4 bonus points, cementing an early claim for title of upstart of the year! His early success was built on a trio of players who lit the league up on the scoreboard. Uber talent receiver, Christopher Carter, Anthony Gonzalez and Kenneth Stabler led the way, piling up the points. Unfortunately, as Arcayn secured the third equal spot at the end of the Blitz, two of the trio suffered life ending injuries leaving Anthony as the lone survivor. Will the Pride be able to bounce back in the scheduled portion of the league? We’ll have to see if other stars emerge.
Dorfmark Defenders
Coach YishWaagh is the opposite of Coach Arcayn, a relative unknown to the DLE ranks and for that we are all suitably on alert. The newcomer has set his stall out to be a solid no frills, no mistakes team and when his well disciplined squad get on the ball, it will be hard to turn them over. With two different QBs, his team will have the flexibility and the raw talent, especially behind Leopold Berger’s talented athleticism. With a number of upset results already, YishWaagh will be making an impact in his first year.
Norden Nauticals
JackH is another DLE coach pulling double duty in their professional team’s home city, coaching the Nauticals in his spare time. The Nauticals are the least experienced team in the league so far but that just means there is so much room for them to grow as they fill out their skills. I look for Jack to have an impact in the second Blitz this season as his team matures! They will definitely be a thorn in the side of the teams he is scheduled to play and has already squeezed a draw out of a game vs Monte Castello.
Wurtbad Wyverns
Wurtbad were the team who got the most out of the PreSeason Blitz this year. They played a total of 7 games and started racking up upset results and impressive performances against more experienced coaches. Coached by Crimson Lithium, the Wyverns play fast and faster, often fielding 3 catchers on either defense or offense. They racked up scores with their “on the edge” risky play and look to skitter past their opponents with pure speed and ability. Let’s see how that plays out over Season 6.
New League Format (Season 6)
The new format will follow the idea of mixing the top preferred methods of Blood Bowl scheduling, allowing college teams multiple opportunities to earn their position in the prestigious Bowl Games at the end of the season and maybe winning their way in to the Lucky Spike DLE7s College Championship Play Offs!
We start each season with an Open Round Robin Blitz of 2 weeks, winner of which secures one play off spot. Next we play the first part of the scheduled league for 5 weeks. Then we take a two week break for the Rivalry Fortnight, where all the teams face their biggest rivals and compete for the prestige and bragging rights. Then we move on once more to the second Open Round Robin Blitz which lasts another 2 weeks, again awarding the winner a spot in the play offs. Then we finish out the scheduled league, combining results from the two scheduled parts and the rivalry fortnight to identify the top two scheduled teams, who make up the last 2 of the 4 college play off teams.
Then we make our way into the Bowl season. All 4 teams who have earned their way in, play in the Play Offs for the College Championship. The other teams are sorted by different stats and invited to different Bowl Games. These Bowl games are a one last hurrah, a competitive game so that every team gets to leave each season with one shot at a trophy of sorts and earn their College infamy.
Next time on the Sevens update, we’ll review Week One of the Scheduled Part 1 of the season. As a preview we get to see two in season rivalries as the Hilltoppers meet the Swabbies and the Wolferines face the Minotaurs! Bragging rights are on the line.
