“Tactical Takeaways -

1. Greedy Cage Development - Marked Corner

As has been a common mistake of mine, I moved the cage into base contact when it wasn't necessary. This time it wasn't moving the troll as a corner on a player, but moving a black orc onto a S2 catcher. 1D blocks happen, especially with block, and 2 assists aren't that difficult to come by. Ended up losing a cage corner off a 1D block, sack on the ball ensured, followed by a very sketchy side-line cage, some failed rushes, and a lucky score. Instead, if I moved the cage forward less aggressively we likely have a pretty straightforward grind it out score situation.

Had another instance on my turn 1, where I progressed the ball into a marked cage corner. It was turn 1 and I didn't need to be in a rush at all. I could've actually just kept the ball deep. Again, opponent started his turn where he just needed to make a 1D block to open the cage corner and could than have 1D on the ball. He got the 1D block, but chose not to take the 1D block on the carrier, but it created a lot of havoc because instead he blitzed a corner in the back of the cage making for 2 players marking the ball.

Really sketchy first 3 turns of the 2nd half.

2. Goblins can block

In the same vein as the catcher taking out my black orc, I'm often surprised when I realize that goblins can throw a block if they have to. I think I started by thinking that goblins were almost never to be throwing blocks unless absolutely necessary, but there were several instances in this game where I was able to get the 2 assists and have the goblins throw a block and put a player down.

3. Tree Management

This time around tried to just have the tree hit the troll repeatedly, and for the most part it was fine. The issue is the tree following up into black orcs that then are stuck and can't dodge away. This issue is difficult because you need a player nearby to stand-up the troll. The mistake I didn't make that I have in the past was committing bodies to help put the tree down. We never tried to hit the tree at all. This meant we also rarely had players tied up by the tree, and they were never there because we put them there to assist on a block.

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