Season 19 Division 1 Preview

Season 19 Division 1 Preview

Postby ogre » May 20th, 2017, 12:47 am

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archNemeses

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Last season was a mixed one for archNemeses. Despite winning the FM Cup in emphatic style with a 6-1 win over Klub Emeryta (their second successive appearance in the final), their league form was extremely patchy. 9 defeats in 22 games left them in 7th position, an underwhelming finish for a team which in the 3 seasons prior had been competing at the top end of the table.

Judging by their performances in recent cup competitions however, they should still be a good bet to go far in the FM Cup and every team should be wary of being drawn against them. Whether or not they regain the type of consistency they need to be in title contention remains to be seen, though it wouldn't surprise anyone to see them up there at the end of the season.


What do you think about the teams chances of success this season?
Vidal: I arrived at the beginning of last season, and what I noticed is that aN had a bad start for at least 2 seasons. If we can have a good start then we can do a good season i think. Personnaly I will share GK position with Dr.Atomik who is our main goalkeeper, I think i took experience since last season and I'll play better when I'll be in the line-up to play the game


Who will be the most important player for aN this season?
Vidal: Hm.. Probably Sonido or Alekos, when they dont have ping issues, this duo can do great things ! And we have 2 secret weapons, one active and one inactive but I'll kepp this secret ahah






BLACKOUT

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Newly-promoted BLACKOUT had a good debut season in division 1, finishing in 4th place and scoring 61 goals in the process (the most scored by any team in div 1 that season). A huge factor in this was the performances of Tortogol, who after signing for BLACKOUT contributed an impressive 18 goals and 8 assists.

Despite Torto now playing at SWAGHAX, the BLACKOUT squad has been bolstered with the signings of Gilbert, Edgar and Elysion. This trio of Turkish players have all played for various teams in FM in previous seasons, and it will be interesting to see what effect they will have on the teams dynamic. On paper this squad looks solid, and there is no reason why they shouldn't consolidate their place in division 1.

An ambitious team will always look to improve on their previous campaign, but it would be an extremely impressive achievement to finish in the top 3 considering the strength of the league this season.




Husaria

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If you could use one word to describe a lot of teams in division 1 last season, it would be 'inconsistent'. Perhaps due to so many teams being at a similar level to one another, most struggled to generate a sustained run of results, with Husaria being one example. The last 2 games of the season encapsulated this inconsistency, with a 6-2 defeat to BLACKOUT followed by an 8-2 victory over Aston Birra.

In fairness to Husaria though, their points total for last season was 3 higher than the season before, so if they can continue this progression they will surprise quite a few people who have predicted them to finish in the bottom half of the table.

One thing about Husaria which is also worth mentioning is their squad size. They have a small core of talented players, which in a game so dependent on teamwork and chemistry as 4v4 haxball, can be a huge advantage if everyone is active. You only have to look at past teams like Flame Hawks and current teams like Mighty Ducks to see the benefit of sticking with the same group of players and developing an effective playstyle over time.




Klub Emeryta

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Looking at the season predictions thread almost everyone has KE thereabouts at the top of the table, and it's not hard to see why. The squad is filled with top-level players in every position, and they could probably field 2 seperate lineups with enough quality to challenge for the title.

The signings of aguero10, Pringles and DrG are a huge boost to the team, and after only finishing 1 point off Mighty Ducks in the race for the title last season, they will go into this season supremely confident that they can take the next step and be crowned champions.

Plus they have Dogan the trophy magnet. The man has won more awards on FM than Titanic did at the Oscars. :king:




Meh Squirrel

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Meh Squirrel find themselves back in division 1 and will be hoping to avoid a repeat of their last stint in the top division, when they came just short of the points they needed to ensure survival.

The squad has undergone a huge upheaval since the end of last season. Notable players such as ANDREA, Deliric, Lord, Pizzi, Skinny and Sven Bender are no longer with the team, making it difficult to give a fair assessment of their current level. On a personal level though, I always try to keep an eye on how other UK haxballers are doing, so it's good to see my former teammate B4D4SS has signed for them. Hopefully he can excel playing regularly in division 1 and help Meh Squirrel prove a lot of people wrong who have predicted them to go straight back down to division 2.




Mighty Ducks

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Few teams in the history of FM have the pedigree of reigning league champions Mighty Ducks. This team always seems to have fantastic success playing here, regardless of captains and team members. Not content with just winning Division 2 on their return to FM, the Mighty Ducks surprised many by going on to win Division 1, becoming the first team since YeS-Allstars to become champions of both divisions in consecutive seasons.

The core of Mighty Ducks has changed very little since its return in season 17, with Jenzo, Duke and Rooney1878 still being integral players. This, in my opinion, is one of the major contributors to their success. Having a small squad of very strong, active players who are familiar with one another and being able to play a stable, consistent lineup has reaped dividends and serves as an example to every captain in this league on how to evolve a team.

One notable difference to the teams dynamic in the previous 2 seasons has been the retirement of anglo and the signing of lukyno. Though anglo contributed hugely to Mighty Ducks promotion from division 2 with 22 goals (enough to win him the div2 top goalscorer award) and 7 assists, lukyno went one step further in division 1, brilliantly filling the void anglos departure left by leading the goalscoring charts with 23 from the AM position.




Morelucks

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In terms of personnel, this team is completely unrecognisable from the one that narrowly avoided relegation last season, with veteran captain Muris (not for the first time) completely rebuilding the squad from top to bottom.

With the Czech duo of Skinny and MartYK being joined by italian Striker Eureka and the polish pair of zPooky and KROL, Muris has signed some very experienced players.

On paper this team looks to have more than enough individual quality to improve on last seasons dissapointing campaign, and with the squad being smaller than most, Morelucks will hope to develop the type of team cohesion needed to avoid a repeat of last season.




Night Raiders

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In order to give you an insight into Night Raiders, I managed to secure an exclusive interview with the famously shy and reserved goalkeeper CM Punk aka Gnonaj

Realistically speaking, what are the teams targets for this, their debut season in division 1?

Gjonaj: Realistically this team from the outside world has got no expectations, but these are the people who don't know what time it is and how it works...pathetic right?
This team reaches the knockouts in all the cups its played we are not here to be fighting in the relegation zone with teams like swaghax and whats the other one called beginning with K. Div 1 is scared of me cos they know who i am. You know my nickname in high school was slush puppy cos i was one cold son of a bitch. And ffs sort the time out!!!!


The lineup contains quite a few players who have little to no experience playing division 1 haxball, so with that in mind, how will Night Raiders approach games on a tactical level?


Gjonaj: Your right we dont have the experience compared to others, we haven't got the skills, we don't have the depth and we certainly don't have tons of goals between us but what we do have is.....err you gonna help me with this part


Despite not knowing who will be available, or knowing which player will play in what position, or what the teams tactical philosophy will be, Night Raiders are confident that they will finish the season without disbanding. :thumbup:




Pablo Haxobar

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After joining at the end of season 6, Hawk has established himself as one of the best strikers in FM, scoring 116 goals and creating 55 more over the span of his career at Pablo Haxobar, winning the top goalscorer award on 2 occasions. Unfortunately for PH, last season was to be Hawks final one with the team, as he has decided to embark on a new challenge, joining Chros impressive looking new team Fatamorgana in their quest to achieve promotion from division 2.

Replacing a player who contributed so much to Pablo Haxobar won't be easy, and how Pablos season goes will be largely dependent on whether or not they can score enough goals to compensate for his departure. Putting Tuntija as striker and signing UK veteran Lloyd Banks may help, but if the predictions thread is any indication, a good number of people in the community believe this could be the season that Pablo drop into division 2.

There are still a few positives for Pablo Haxobar to take into the upcoming season however. The first being that they still have a good number of players who have lots of experience playing in division 1, and will know exactly what it takes to survive. The second being that they still have the 2nd sexiest logo in the league (SWAGHAX no.1 obviously).

With Hawks departure, some people are predicting that Pablo will be relegation candidates. Do you think this is a fair assessment, or do you believe that the team can compensate for Hawks absence and have a successful season?


Hannes: well of course it's a very heavy loss. Hawk scored over 120 goals for Pablo. But now unfortunately he decided to leave. But i think we can compensate this. With Tuntija we have a great striker in the team and now its his time to shine.



Most people think that the race for the div1 title will be between Greys, Klub Emeryta and SWAGHAX. Do you think these are the 3 strongest teams in the league or is there another team who could challenge at the top of the division?


Hannes: All of those 3 teams had some mix up in their lineups, so i dont expect some winning streak from start to finish by anyone. I think whole Division will be very close together.





Serbian Haxballerz

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Despite finishing in the bottom 3, the disbanding of Aston Birra means that Serbian Haxballerz get to experience playing in the top flight for a second consecutive season. The signing of Suki as DM is an important one and the fortunes of SH will depend a lot on how well he plays. He is one of the most well-known and polarising characters in Haxball, but on the pitch he can be a very effective player as long as he keeps calm and doesn't let any personal or team mistakes ruin his composure.

One advantage Serbian Haxballerz have going into this season is that the team is comprised of almost the entire Serbian National team currently playing in the 3Def National Championship. This gives them plenty of competitive gametime in the run up to the start of the season, and could potentially serve as a platform for them to make a strong start to season 19.




Swaghax

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Once upon a time Swaghax was just an unofficial, random mix of UK (and Irish) players on a 3v3 TS server who played when they didn't have anything else better to do.

Under the guidance of Splat however, Swaghax has evolved from those humble beginnings into a team who go into their first season in division 1 with genuine hopes of fighting for the title.

The sudden departures of italians Maldo, ALAN10 and gio to Gladiators has left the squad a little smaller than Splat would have liked, but with the quality and versatility of the players still available they will be a match for anyone as long as they have 4 players on the pitch.


Do you think your team has the quality to sustain a title challenge in your very first season in division 1?
Splat: yeah , I reckon we do but I think it will all depend on if we can get a good start. as for how division 1 is shaping up, I see Klub Emeryta and The Greys as our main rivals for the title but I wont write out other good teams such as Mighty Ducks , Husaria and archNemeses who can easily be challenging at the top if they get a good run of form.



Your squad is noticeably small, do you have any plans to add more players or will you be sticking with the current 6 you already have?


Splat:I recently learned that Vak wont be as active as I initially thought so will definetly be in the look out for a new AM/ST and maybe 1 more player also just to add depth.





The Greys

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The team formerly known as Ninjas in Pyjamas has undergone a makeover not only in name and logo, but personnel. After storming to the division 2 title last season, Falk decided to reinvent the team for this campaign. Aguero10, Rene, and Pringles have all left and in their place a number of players including GQKU, Eddie and former Div1 league winner AKR have been recruited.

Theres no doubt that this new look team has the ability to win div1, and their opening game against the highly-rated SWAGHAX will be an interesting test of both sides title credentials.



Your squad has undergone a noticeable change since getting promotion from division 2. Were there any major reasons for such a drastic change to your lineup?


Falk: Well to be honest, the only major reason why i made such a drastic change was because the team chemistry was in an awkward place. Probably because my teammates weren't playing alot with me but with other teams and therefore it kinda ruined the chemistry together and it got really irksome for me, because i always value team chemistry over anything.

But i also wanted to have a certain playstyle and strategies and it just didn't work out with the players i was with because of the reason i explained earlier, they are still top players in their respective teams and will still keep dominating their opponents.


You are considered by some to be favourites for the title this season. Your opening game is against SWAGHAX, another team who many feel can become champions. How confident are you going into such an anticipated opening game?

Falk: Been there, done that. I am fully confident we can beat any team no matter who we play against, although we don't have the best chemistry yet togehter, i still enjoy playing the style ive always wanted to play with my new roster at the moment.
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Re: Season 19 Division 1 Preview

Postby socrates » May 20th, 2017, 7:43 am

Great preview :cheers:
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Re: Season 19 Division 1 Preview

Postby CMPUNK » May 20th, 2017, 11:36 am

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Hamas's strategy is resistance and survival. As long as they survive, this is a victory.



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