Fantasy Football by
Thomas Pete Gonzales
jan
1
season
2
The Great Sept of Baelor
“A woman stumbled and Arya ran up her back, cutting to both sides, but it was no good, no good , there were too many people, no sooner did she make a hole than it closed again. Someone buffeted her aside. She could still hear Sansa screaming.
Ser Ilyn drew a two-handed greatsword from the scabbard on his back. As he lifted the blade above his head, sunlight seemed to ripple and dance down the dark metal, glinting off an edge sharper than any razor. Ice , she thought, he has Ice! Her tears streamed down her face, blinding her.
And then a hand shot out of the press and closed round her arm like a wolf trap, so hard that Needle went flying from her hand. Arya was wrenched off her feet. She would have fallen if he hadn’t held her up, as easy as if she were a doll. A face pressed close to hers, long black hair and tangled beard and rotten teeth. "Don’t look!" a thick voice snarled at her”
It was an impressive title defense. After winning the Iron Throne last season as an underdog, House Stark looked to repeat this year as a favorite. Starting the season with five 200pt wins, Stark was #1 on the ALOIAF Power Rankings, and from weeks 4-8 that's where he stayed. Now looking at Stark's benched players in the title game (Brees, Marshall, and Cooks) and the disappointing game Roethlisberger and Jackson had, you might think that's why he lost his title. But looking closely you'll see the real reason Stark was unable to repeat, and it had nothing to do with last minute lineup changes.
Despite being at the top of the rankings, it was becoming clear something was wrong with House Stark. You could say that inconsistency was his problem, but when you take a closer look at Stark from week five on, his inconsistency was becoming very consistent. Here is Stark's results from week 5 on: WLWLWLWLWbyeWL. If you were playing against Stark you'd know the outcome before the game even started. On odd weeks like 5,7,9...he would win, and on even weeks 6,8,10...he lost. It wasn't just losing every other game, but the massive scoring differences every other game. Going from a 200pt win one week to a 150pt lose the next, and the bye week he would of lost too if he had to actually play anybody. If you had caught on to this trend you would have known the Iron Throne was already set with the game being nothing more than a formality. So it's pretty unfortunate that the title game fell on the date it did, and If the championship was one game earlier or one game later? Who knows? Perhaps ALOIAF would be ruled back to back years by the mighty House Stark, but alas...
A League of Ice & Fire Championship
House Stark 160
King's Landing Blackfyre 184
Things went a little differently for Kings Landing Blackfyre. After losing two game early, Blackfyre steamrolled through the rest of the season. Those early loses caused Blackfyre to be second on the Power Rankings most of the season and not on everybody's radar, at least until you actually played Blackfyre. Averaging 200pts a game, Blackfyre simply annihilated anyone who didn't bring their A game. Leading to a league high in Manderly's Pies BLOWOUTS!, and sometimes that didn't even matter (ask WWJoffrey). The Power Rankings weren't going to unseat the reigning champion as long as Stark had the better record, but as soon as Stark lost in week 10, tying Stark and Blackfyre in the standings, Blackfyre took over the top spot and never looked back.
For awhile there Blackfyre looked unstoppable. Where Blackfyre really excelled was in the flex spot, and despite constant injuries to his roster, Blackfyre kept finding waiver wire gems to plug and play as if nothing changed. At least that was the case until the final. With Baldwin a game time decision, Blackfyre didn't want to risk the zero and went with K. Williams instead...or he did until one minute before game time. At the last second Blackfyre made his first real mistake of the season and switched Williams with Artis-Payne. This move, while costing Blackfyre his average 200pts, was in the end not deadly. It really highlights how powerful a season Blackfyre had, where 184pts is considered a low score even though it is still better than the league average. So most points scored, biggest scoring and most Manderly's Pies BLOWOUTS!, best regular season record, and now your current Champion and holder of the Iron Throne (as soon as House Stark sends it back). Welcome to the year of the Blackfyre!
Let's check in on your ALOIAF Valyrian Sword winners. It looks like everyone, for better or worse, won at least one sword. Well except The Southland, who better learn how to use a bow cause he ended the season knocked out of the playoffs and sword less. Blackfyre, White Walker Joffrey, and Crows Before Hoes ended as the top three trophy winners! You can check out the full standings, and scoring breakdown, on the ESPN league website
Blackfyre - White Walker Joffrey
Brightroar - Hodor's Hodor
Dark Sister - Kings Landing Blackfyre
Dawn - Kings Landing Blackfyre
Heartsbane - Breastplate Stretchers
Ice - Crows Before Hoes
Lady Forlorn - Hodor's Hodor
Lamentation - The Unsullied
Longclaw - Crows Before Hoes
Nightfall - Breastplate Stretchers
Oathkeeper - Impin Ain't Easy
Orphan Maker - Rabbit Town Conejas
Truth - Hodor's Hodor
Vigilance - Rabbit Town Conejas
Widow's Wail - Kings Landing Blackfyre
Will check back with everyone a little later (after my victory tour) regarding important questions about the future of the league. Issues that will be brought up will range from league scoring to even possibly changing the leagues theme. Everything needed to bring you another exciting A League of Ice & Fire. But those questions are for another day. Today lets just appreciate the fun season we had and being League Champion of the Iron Throne...oh wait that's just me!
Thanks everybody! Hope you all had a fun time and that there's no Bad Blood...
