To tree or not to tree?

[lxls]

Im kind of in a dilemma. Ive been playing a wood elf team for 9 matches now in a league that doesnt have a fixed ending.

the team (and the leagues website) can be found here
http://www.infowijs.nl/one/bba/team.php?i=10030

my upcomming matches are a spike semi final against this dwarven team
http://www.infowijs.nl/one/bba/team.php?i=10006
but he's a nice guy and offered me a recovery match (2 of my block linos have a mng) against his amazon team


the dilemma is as follows, i have 150k gold to spend and cant quite choose what to do with it

1) buy a tree for 120k
2) buy my 3rd reroll (mind you i also have a lino with leader)
3) buy my 4th catcher (they rock and one of them has to die some day *knock n wood*)
4) buy an extra lino and save the rest for a reroll after the next match


all options look ok
i'm leaning slightly towards either the catcher or the tree

a tree is fun (i suppose as ive never played with one) but with all that guard, dauntless and block i dont forse a problem for the dwarven player to knock him down. although it would be 1 block less on the fragile elves its still 120k gold on the pitch that doesnt help me score.
On the other hand, its a tree....

the catcher option is also a valid one imo. they simply kick ass, score loads and spin circles around the enemy
you got to love that.

as i said, im in a dilemma. so many options and no idea wich is best.
perhaps one of you might grant me some good insight into the art playing with wood (yes there was pun intened there)

while im at it; my wardancer zazen rolled a double on his second skill (no skill upgrade) he already had tackle. Currently i decided to give him mighty blow, a skill combined with tackle that can get rid of some of those opposing guter runners, catchers and star players.
I'm still wondering if its the right choise tho. other options that crossed my mind where Frenzy, Side Step and Juggernaut. Juggernaut didnt make the cut due to a low lvl of stand firm in the league and side step + frenzy didnt make the cut due to the fact their both general skills.
was i right in picking mighty blow over any of those 3 skills?

questions, questions, questions.

thanks for your time,

a restless wood elf coach

[tenwit]

You don't need rerolls. You have loads of reroll skills. 2+leader is all you'll ever need now that your team is this developed. That said.. don't get Leader on a lino on doubles. Guard is the way to go. You can get Leader for 10k less on a Thrower.

If your next game is dwarves, I'd say, get the Catcher. Speed kills.. dwarves. However, I've only ever played against trees that Take Root on the first turn of every drive, so I may have a slightly skewed vision of them.

You need more Guard, but not on a Wardancer. Mighty Blow is a good choice.

[Der_Doodle]

Just play your team like you arent allowed to buy a tree and you nd your opponent will have alot more fun.

The thrill after every TD with 3 elves at the LOS is alot better then with only 2 an a tree.

[Aliboon]

Sorry, gotta disagree with both the previous posters....

Get the tree, ok, he won't help you score, probably won't do anthing much in the game, but (and it's a big but) he will take a hits on the LOS that were destined for a AV7 elf, if yopur opo puts resources towards knocking him down then great, that is dwarves which aren't beating the crap out of your elves (remember stand firm is optional-he will probably be able to engineer a 2d block on you and if you get pushed back, it will just be the one).

If your opo had a lot of claw players, then i might not bother with the tree, as his AV will be that of an elf, but as he's dwarves and will be largely able to negate any dodge you have, then the tree would be worth it. He's also a good road block to get in front of the cage-the dwarves will probably have to go round and with their slow movement that works to your advantage as you'll be able to bring numbers to bear as the rest of his team catches up.

I think a woodie team needs 4 rerolls (if not 4 + leader) you will fail leap rolls (no skill reroll for that) you will fail blocks, especially 2ds against the ball carrier in a cage.

And juggernaught is a good skill on a wardancer, even with no stand firm-it transforms both downs into pushes, with strip ball that means with anything but a skull, you've popped the ball out on a blitz (unless the opo has sure hands, which dwarf runners do) Mighty Blow is a very good choice though (better for this game anyway), for the reasons you've given (you'll also want to target his AV8 players with him-especially the blodge runners).

[WilburS]

I am of the opinion that you shouldn't spend 120k based on the opposition in one match, long term is the treeman worth it? Have you coped so far without one? For me it seems that you have, I think a tree may well alter the way you play and possibly damage a winning formula.

You have done well enough so far with speed and agility, I think you should stick with that, and go for the reroll or the catcher.

[PubBowler]

but with all that guard, dauntless and block i dont forse a problem for the dwarven player to knock him down.

If he is doing this then he's not that good a coach and the tree has done it's job.

A trees job is to take a hit on the LOS when you're kicking.
Anything else is a bonus.

And you should buy the tree for this purpose.

Oh and MB on a Tackle WD is the right choice.

[Old Man Draco]

Get the tree, ok, he won't help you score, probably won't do anthing much in the game, but (and it's a big but) he will take a hits on the LOS that were destined for a AV7 elf

What make you think that? The tree will be ignored by any experienced coach and you will only have 10 elves to worry about. So the hunt on 10 Woodies will work better for the hunter. He doesn't need to follow 11 of them anymore. The tree will not do anything unless on the elves drive where he might get a block in. After that, who will bother putting anything near the tree?
So no tree for me.

[mattgslater]

Once the Tree improves once (Guard, baby!), he's an elf-saver. Before then, he's very useful against some teams (especially speed) and not so useful against others. The Tree gives you some good bash power against schmoes and blockers: if you end up man-up on an opponent early with Wood Elves, you know you're set to cruise.

[Aliboon]

What make you think that? The tree will be ignored by any experienced coach and you will only have 10 elves to worry about.

What makes me know that is that if a tree is on the line, an elf isn't. If an elf is on the line he will get hit (certainly by dwarves anyway). Ok, he might not actually take the hit if the coach ignores him, but then he has still done his job as it means an elf hasn't been hit. Dwarves aren't reknown for their dodging, so unless the tree takes root, he would quite likely be able to tie up a dwarf or 2 (if the 2 other elves on the LOS are next to him anyway, which they should be).

The opo might only have 10 elves to worry about, but the tree should save casualties and given lxls' lack of players, it's likely he will be undermanned pretty quickly anyway, especially if he doesn't take the tree.

Still, it is good that woody players don't take the tree, it means those calling for them to be nerfed by the taking away of the tree have less ammunition. In fact I'm really quite tempted to run a woody team without the tree to see if my win rate decreases, goes up or stays the same.

[Duke Jan]

Trees are only AV8, so hardly any better than a wood elf. Oh wait that's just on my team

Seriously though, a tree is a choice when you start your team. Not when it's more advanced. I keep mine, despite having only AV8 because he has skills. He's only useful in the first turn of the drive, after that the game is down to your 10 elves, if you have that many on the pitch.

[Warpstone]

If he is doing this then he's not that good a coach and the tree has done it's job.

A trees job is to take a hit on the LOS when you're kicking.
Anything else is a bonus.

Completely agree. A tree is best used to distract and intimidate an opponent. If your plan is get the Dwarf coach to fixate on the tree, then it makes sense. But, if you think the tree should be the key in your gameplan... don't get the tree.

[tenwit]

(remember stand firm is optional-he will probably be able to engineer a 2d block on you and if you get pushed back, it will just be the one).

Sounds like you're implying that if you choose to not use Stand Firm then the other guy will automatically follow up, throwing away his 2d block? That's unlikely. If you choose to not Stand Firm, that just means that there's now 5 of them and 2 of you on the line, instead of 5 vs. 3.

Plus, as others have said, who'd block a tree first? Hit the AV7 linos, when they're all down, you might consider a free hit on the tree, or you might not.

[Aliboon]

Sounds like you're implying that if you choose to not use Stand Firm then the other guy will automatically follow up, throwing away his 2d block? That's unlikely. If you choose to not Stand Firm, that just means that there's now 5 of them and 2 of you on the line, instead of 5 vs. 3

Umm, didn't mean to imply that at all, please change "on you" to "on your tree".

I was assuming that the tree would be in the middle of the LOS, with an elf either side. The elfs would get blocked away first and most likely knocked over, the other dwarves could come up and give the assists so that they get the 2d on the tree (they would need 4 assists). If there were then 2 dwarves standing next to the tree who hadn't blocked, then they could then both block him if he used stand firm (and anyway, it is probably worth not using it anyway if he is knocked down, so the tree isn't subjected to a gang foul with all those assists).

I don't think that it would be possible (or very easy anyway without guard dwarves running behind the LOS) to get a 2d on the tree if the elves were still standing next to him, unless the troll slayer was doing the blocking and if he was, then I'd definitely not use stand firm if he could not knock me down 1st block as the next block would more likely be 2d in my favour, possibly 3 if there were an elf behind the line.

And as I said, if your opo is that fixated with bringing down the tree, then great, he is not targeting your elves and they will be free to move around and cause havoc, the tree would have done more than his job.

[Jural]

The tree all the way... Unless he has a deathroller, in which case it may not make much of a difference (Still, that's one less deathroller hit applied to an elf...)

Trees are simply awesome for elves. Worst case (assuming nobody knocks him out of the game) the tree soaks up or avoids 4 hits a game. Best case, he inflicts a casualty and soaks up 6-8 hits.

Seeing as a rookie Wood Elf linemen is KO'd or worse once every 7 hits, and stunned one every 3 hits (and much worse with Mighty Blow, or Piling On and Mighty Blow) I think it's worth it.

The treeman probably pays for itself each match, leaving you with one extra player when the game is over. Once the tree picks up guard and Multiple Block or Grab... he's a nasty piece... let alone if he ever gets block.

Of course a tree does end up just sitting around by himself at midfield a bit too often, so he's not an ideal piece. But for the Wood Elves, I'd always have one on my squad.

[Der_Doodle]

I think you can summ it up easy:

If you want the easy mode and you dont have the balls to take the risk of a crippled Woodelf at each Kickoff.
---> Take the Tree.

If you want to play Woodies atleast with some risk and keep your friends (and show them that you are not whiney kid)
---> Ignore the Tree.

The only thing the tree is good for in a woodie Team is to reduce the number of incomming blocks after each TD you made (+once for a half) from 3 to 2.

I personally am against a Tree in a woodelf team. Cause he basicly reduces your only read disadvantage you have in the team. But that you can minimize with a few special trained Bloders or Sidesteppers for the LoS after a couple of games aswell.

SO all in all its just the choice: Easy Mode or Not.