Barcelona, Spain. A new team practices in their brand new football complex in Barcelona; many of the players still have duffel bags with their old team colors. The Blaze, formerly known as the Powerhouse, have moved from P-Ville to settle into their new home in Barcelona.
"Our team has gone through a lot of changes," Hideki Ryuga, the GM notes. "We've decided to go the youth route and to grow together as a team."
The Blaze took a lot of lumps during season 3, going 0-16. They are facing relegation from the AA league down to the A league. "We understand how the system works," Ryuga notes. "But the team is mostly optimistic about the move. It will give us a fresh start."
Most of the new players are 1st year rookies straight from the developmental leagues. For many of them, being on the Blaze is their first experience on a human-controlled team. "The locker room here is pretty loose. Everyone is pretty chill and the veterans take a lot of time to help out the new guys with their player builds," says Derrial Book, a Left Guard. "Ryuga gave me a shot at playing on this team, and I really appreciate the opportunity. If it weren't for the Blaze, I'd probably still be playing for a CPU-controlled team. I understand that I'm a relatively low level guard, but I want to prove to him that I am worth the investment of his time and money."
The average level of a lot of the players on the team is around 8-10. Even though the A league is the lowest league in Western Europe, the competition is still pretty fierce. The average level of the Western European A league is around 11 and will go up even higher for season 4. "We recognize that there will be a pretty big disparity of levels between us and our competition at first," Ryuga admits. But he doesn't seem too concerned about being the underdog. "The difference between a level 8 player and a level 11 player is not as much as you think. Once we get a couple games under our belts, our guys will level up pretty quickly and we believe we can make up the difference in XP in 3-4 games.
"Additionally, I have full faith that our coordinators will be able to overcome any level disparity with great gameplanning. I also have faith in my players that they will cooperate with the coordinators and will continue to build as smartly as they have been doing. My guys are great. We have a great support system in our forum. Additionally, we've kept around some pretty savvy veterans that can help anchor down the team as our younger ones develop. The veterans are great, too. They help to keep the locker room at an even keel."
"Our team has gone through a lot of changes," Hideki Ryuga, the GM notes. "We've decided to go the youth route and to grow together as a team."
The Blaze took a lot of lumps during season 3, going 0-16. They are facing relegation from the AA league down to the A league. "We understand how the system works," Ryuga notes. "But the team is mostly optimistic about the move. It will give us a fresh start."
Most of the new players are 1st year rookies straight from the developmental leagues. For many of them, being on the Blaze is their first experience on a human-controlled team. "The locker room here is pretty loose. Everyone is pretty chill and the veterans take a lot of time to help out the new guys with their player builds," says Derrial Book, a Left Guard. "Ryuga gave me a shot at playing on this team, and I really appreciate the opportunity. If it weren't for the Blaze, I'd probably still be playing for a CPU-controlled team. I understand that I'm a relatively low level guard, but I want to prove to him that I am worth the investment of his time and money."
The average level of a lot of the players on the team is around 8-10. Even though the A league is the lowest league in Western Europe, the competition is still pretty fierce. The average level of the Western European A league is around 11 and will go up even higher for season 4. "We recognize that there will be a pretty big disparity of levels between us and our competition at first," Ryuga admits. But he doesn't seem too concerned about being the underdog. "The difference between a level 8 player and a level 11 player is not as much as you think. Once we get a couple games under our belts, our guys will level up pretty quickly and we believe we can make up the difference in XP in 3-4 games.
"Additionally, I have full faith that our coordinators will be able to overcome any level disparity with great gameplanning. I also have faith in my players that they will cooperate with the coordinators and will continue to build as smartly as they have been doing. My guys are great. We have a great support system in our forum. Additionally, we've kept around some pretty savvy veterans that can help anchor down the team as our younger ones develop. The veterans are great, too. They help to keep the locker room at an even keel."
Last edited Jul 16, 2008 03:01:10
