Pro-Elf team looking towards the future~

[GA_SPM]

My Cianide Pro-Elf team the Elfstaat Usurpers has had a generally successful life so far at 11-1-8, but I'm wondering now if there's anything I'm missing as far as development or player roles/retention.
Specifically, I'm worried about my lack of tackle and where to develop it. I had two tacklers prior, but in standard elvish fashion they have been long since stepped upon.
The team is as follows:

Saxon- Blitzer- Block, Sidestep, Dodge, Fend, Guard 50spps
Warsaw- Blitzer- Block, Sidestep, Dodge, Fend Niggling Injury 25spps
Glorious- Thrower- Pass, Accurate, Sure Hands, Safe Throw 34spps
Satsuma- Thrower- Pass, Sure Hands -1MV 13spps
August- Catcher- Catch, Nerves of Steel, +1ST, Guard, -1MV, -1AV 20spps
Velvet- Catcher- Catch, Nerves of Steel, Wrestle 7spps
Rose- Catcher- Catch, Nerves of Steel 0spps
October- Catcher- Catch, Nerves of Steel, Wrestle 7spps
Spithead- Lineman- Dodge 9spps
Whiskey- Lineman- Kick, Dodge 24spps
Troubles- Lineman- Dodge, -1AG, -1AV 9spps
Boxer- Lineman- Guard, Block, -1AG, -1AG 16spps
Tianemen- Lineman- Dodge, Block, Sidestep 35spps
4 re-rolls
Apothecary
7 Fan Factor
1880 Team Value
60,000 Treasury

Whew- that's some writing!
I plan on retaining the once terrifying 4 Strength catcher August until death, as the 4 Strength is still a pain to push around and knock over.
Saxon is the star of the team, and he's one comp away from his next skill. Normal will be either tackle or diving tackle, and doubles I plan on skipping. Ditto for Warsaw, but would take guard on a double of course.
The catchers are the team's sackers, so I planned on a Wrestle, Tackle, Dodge/Strip Ball development for them. There has been a great deal of turnover in this area, so that's the reason for lack of tackle or skills in general.

So far though, the team has held up well. The lineman are stars, surviving until the bitter end. Many even have created exciting careers for themselves punctuated by injuries and skill rolls.

Any sort of feedback for development/alteration would be much appreciated, and I thank you all for your time and consideration.
The team is wonderful fun to play, and I look forward to any advice one might impart as to my decisions.

Thanks again!

[juck101]

i would say the blitzers could do with tackle instead of fend, but its not the end of the world. Looking good

I love the catchers and would get wrestle dodge stipball leap on one at least and look to another as a blitzer.

In fact with ma8 i kinda make loads of them blodge tackle/or stripball hitters. Dauntless; leap, stripball guard are exceptionally good on the catchers. maybe only difference i have build each with 2 skills mim before I buy the next. They are spp monsters but i find they perform best with skills rather than the catch statline. Still you done brilliant so thats just my preference. Nos is cheeky on a blitzer-type with catch as you might get a bounced ball once a blue moon.

Only other advice I find i chew through pro elfs very quick. av7 is terrible and as they are cheaper im happy to have a large bench. At 1700 me vs a de league player i actually have one more player than me does with roughly the same amount of skills. Im happy with a spare for 60k rather than trying to powerlevel each lino. Maybe with so many good positionals this was bound to happen. 60k linemen is a key feature

[juck101]

just read something related....

yeah 100k catcher without any skills to stay alive is a bad thing. Im keen on a rotation of adding them when the last one can survive as i dont want to baby sit them. The blitzers are fine enough to win games with so have patience and the main players can grow. That also means my linos are slightly less developed than my other elf teams relatively. The thrower compounds this with 1spp stealing.

overall a few reasons the catchers need some opportunity to grow and not be spammed and crowd each other out for skills

[Smeborg]

Hi GA_SPM, and good luck with your team.

I suggest your team might perform better with some Sidestep and Tackle.

I found Dodge as first skill on the Catchers to be good, followed by Wrestle, then Tackle. The Catchers then became the true Blitzers of the team. They also tended to be the most developed players on the team.

I found Block as first skill on the Linemen to work quite well (it allows you to make the quiet little blocks reliably).

I confirm that Guard is a great doubles choice on both Linemen and Blitzers.

All the best.

[Jimmy Fantastic]

Ok here are the steps I would take to take to sort out your team-
Sack Warsaw, Satsuma, Troubles and Boxer.
No reason to have injured men on the team, it just weakens your team for the TV.
I would sack August too, but seeing as you like the cripple (fair enough st4 is good) you could sack Rose instead.
You could also think about sacking Glorious and replacing with a surehands blodge thrower instead.
Get rid of a RR because 4 will be too many at the TV the team will be left at following the sackings.
Skill one catcher with Blodge then sidestep, the other 2 with dodge,wrestle strip/tackle before you go back up to 4.
Wrestle/dodge or blodge is good for linos.
https://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=team ... _id=640405
Use this team as a bit of guide, Dolls is the best player with Elfs there is.
Even though they have kept injured players, I really do not advocate it in a TV matched environment.

[juck101]

Oh i just read this injury bit - lol

yeah the av- players probably need to be sacked as its just a nightmare. maybe go down to 11 and see if you can rebuild. Tbh if you still can win then keep playing

[Heff]

August and Satsuma gotta go. only played a little elves but have Norse and zons. AV 6 is a sacking offence regardless of what they have. That catcher is 180k with no defensive skills and AV6. At this TV you will be facing a lot of MB. You really want a str 4 snotling without the "advantages" of titchy and dodge. Most of the people I play would not be terrified but salivating. But what do I know? Only played 4 games with em.

[Carnis]

Dolls' team is a fair guideline, it's a really awesome team in general. I'd echo sackage of -AV too. The ST4 guy needs to go, he is good yes, but he is too vulnernable now at AV6, no dodge no block. If he was blodge -AV, then maybe, but that is currently 190k TV on AV6 no blocking skills.. One MB block away from the grave really.

I'd keep your -AG-AG guard though, block guard is still ok at 6327..

Wrestle/Dodge would be my plan for the catchers, you need dodge more than you think. One should get leap eventually but its not a priority.

Strip is nice, maybe a lineman should be the strip ballist though, the blitzer/catchers have so many other roles to fill.

[Sandwich]

Tackle is a must on the blitzers. Shadowing is a thing of beauty as well to really mess up an opponents' play.
You want to get at least 2 catchers with wrestle/tackle/strip ball as soon as possible for ball retrieval.
And you definitely want to be losing most of the injured players, they will just be adding easy-to-remove TV to your team... definitely get rid of Satsuma and Troubles, and consider replacing Warsaw and August as soon as you can afford to. As someone else mentioned, Boxer with block and guard can go on the line until he gets further damage to end his career.

Of course, the Elf team I play online is currently at 0-1-6 so maybe don't take my advice to seriously