“This defeat is tied for the worst defeat in the team's history, but it is probably the one that hurts most.

What should have been a thrilling showdown between the two best teams in Faction history became a humiliating dicerape. The handicap given, Bribe the Ref2, caused some fear in our fans, but Flix did not need to use it.

Let's start from the beginning. Our three nigglers suffered from their niggling injuries. That's one chance in 216 or a 0,004 possibility. Therefore, we could field 11 players.

The Ambassadors of Light started the drive and scored in turn 3, after their thrower resisted a 2db blitz from a Wardancer. The wood elves responded by scoring two turns later with only 9 players. In turn 6, we had another shot at the caged thrower with 2 bd for us, but unfortunately the Wardancer fell trying to land his leap (1, 2) and the high elves took the lead 1-2. In turn 8, our AG5 Leap Catcher only needed to catch the ball and jump over a Dragon Warrior to score the tie, but surprisingly he failed to catch the ball (1, 1).

Trailing 1-2 at the beginning of the second half, 9 brave woodies entered the pitch to get even with the high elves. Force of Nature immediatly took root. Turbulence, the AG5 catcher, still shocked by his mistake in the first half, failed his dodges twice, and needed a reroll to remain standing up. Squall then tried to dodge through the gap in the defense but rolled another couple of 1s (so, that's 5 ones in just one turn, not bad). Next turn, we got one Wardancer in the endzone. The thrower runned down the field and handed the ball off to Erosion. Despite his AG5, he got the ball only with the help of a reroll (1, 2). But Nuffle was obviously not going to allow it, and when Erosion tried to dodge the high elf standing next to him and pass the ball to the WD to score the TD, he was knocked over.

The Ambassadors then badly hurt our thrower and had the chance to pick up the ball and run with it, but his catcher failed to do it. There was still hope! Granite, another AG5 lineman, picked up the ball in midfield with a 2+ and threw it to the Wardancer that was waiting in the endzone. Needless to say, Lothiral, a Dragon Warrior, intercepted the ball despite being in contact with two wood elves.

Next, Erosion joined the thrower in the BH box and the high elves moved the ball from one endzone to the other. Instead of scoring, however, they decided to stall against the 7 remaining wood elves. The Champions had to run back to their field and pressure the Ambassadors, who scored the 1-3 in turn 5.

It was turn 6 and the game seemed lost. 8 brave elves wanted to get closer in the score. They attacked one side of the Ambassadors' defense to make a run play. The ball was in the hands of the AG5 Leap Catcher, so we were sure he could leap over any high elf and score. Alas, the Guard elf who was supposed to cover him failed his dodge (1, 1) and left him unprotected. The Catcher was knocked prone and the ball went out of bounds, returning to the middle of the pitch. A Lion Warrior stood next to the ball, so a Wardancer blocked him before attempting to pick up the ball. The Lion Warrior was knocked down, but he sidestepped and the ball went to the tree, who caught it! That was the worst possible outcome, since he had already moved and could not hand the ball off to the AG5 lineman who was nearby. The wood elves could not score this turn, so they spread out to be in position to score next turn.

In the Ambassadors' turn, the strip baller blitzed at the tree and rolled two arrows. The ball bounced back and the high elf caught it! It was the turn for our strip baller to blitz the Lion Warrior. He did it too successfully, because the ball was stripped from the high elf and went straight to the hands of the tree! (we should let him know never to catch the ball again because it does not help us at all). There was still a chance, though. He only had to hand the ball off to the AG5 lineman next to him with a 3+, but that was not to be (2, 1). The ball rebounded away from the melee, so the high elves picked it up easily and score the 1-4.

At the end of the game, our luck was 48%, and the Ambassadors' 62%. Outnumbered and outlucked, the Champions suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Ambassadors and got 0k in winnings. We were left with a bitter aftertaste because we were a threat in the first half and a bad joke in the second. I bet Flix has not had an easier game in ages.
”