Mike plays the Attack from Mars remake for the Smackdown championship.
Our league night for 4/24 was the last night of the regular season. The total points for each player at the end of the night would be used to determine divisions and seeding for the playoffs. Although the pressure was on with it being the last chance to climb up a position or two for finals, most people were less concerned with that and more interested in checking out the new games. The latest addition is a Game of Thrones LE. I was quick to razz Derik about how Pete’s took out a relatively uncommon game (Revenge from Mars, my planned go-to for finals!) and put in “a weed that grows everywhere.” Nevertheless, Game of Thrones was new to many of the league players since they aren’t all crazy people who drive an hour or two in every direction to play in other leagues. This makes it especially funny that it ended up being randomly drawn for the Smackdown Rookie Challenge game. Sorry for throwing you to the wolves, folks.
Oscar playing Game of Thrones in the Rookie Challenge.
The main Smackdown was on our other new addition, the Attack from Mars remake. Being the crank that I am, I can’t stop complaining about how I want my “real” AfM back. I think everyone else loves it. I believe it was Immanuel Kant who said, “there’s no accounting for taste.”
Mike won the Smackdown tournament and Derik won the Rookie Challenge, leading to jokes about how it was the Night of the Gingers. They insisted I take a picture of them with their medals to use in their redhead propaganda campaigns.
Ginger Twin powers, activate!
The founder of the league, Matt, gave us the news that he has already landed a job on the strength of his recently-completed degree from MSU. As a result, he has already moved to the Kalamazoo area so this is officially his farewell season. A few of us stayed until the bar closed playing games with him and taking turns buying him celebratory beers. Sadly, I got news from him yesterday that he will not be making it to finals and “probably” won’t be at the Super-Ball tournament (but we’ll see if we can work on him a bit before then). I know that the league won’t feel the same without him (and the other founding member, his former roommate Aaron, who we already lost this season due to his work schedule).
Speaking of founding league members, I ran into Russell yesterday. He was playing his new favorite game AC/DC, which has evidently replaced Lord of the Rings in his heart. He said that his absence this season was due to having a semester from hell but that he expects to be able to join again next season.
I have to wrap up this report in order to go fetch the trophies for tonight’s finals. I hope I’ll see you all there. Remember, even if you don’t meet the requirements to qualify for playing in finals, you can still play in the side tournament. Good luck everyone!