MMBBL Divisions and Challenges

This will likely be the first of many posts in our brief off season concerning the structure of the league at this point.

We're expanding for the Blood Bowl season, up to eight squads now. Since it's not very likely that we can get everyone to play everyone else like we did this past season, we now have two divisions. There will be playoffs for the Blood Bowl championship, and the seeding order for these will depend on how well teams do in league matches. The league matches are four-to-five games which count towards your playoff standings: Three divisional games (one against each division opponent) and one or more Challenge games. Each coach will be issued a challenge card. This challenge card will be used to start a league match against an opponent from the other division. For example, the Bloodsand Blasters are in the Bloodbath division. They can use their challenge card to challenge anyone in the Deathdealer division.

The division matches will happen at regular intervals throughout the season. In most cases, the two divisions will alternate each week for their matches. Bloodbath one week, Deathdealer the next, and so on. The Challenge matches will take place at times convenient to both players involved in the challenge. Ideally, this can be done on Sunday afternoons, which has worked well enough for us as a league so far, but the commissioner will make himself available whenever possible to officiate at players' convenience.

There are a few restrictions regarding the Challenge cards.

1. You must use your challenge card at some point over the course of the season, unless this is impossible (either in the event of unforeseen real-world issues or in the event of its use breaching one of the underlying rules).
2. You cannot challenge someone whose team rating is more than twenty points lower than your own. Yes, this restricts how high-end teams can challenge, but they can elect to wait until later in the season to make the challenge and this does not restrict them from accepting challenges FROM lower-rated teams.
3. If you turn down someone's challenge, it is expected that you will have a good reason. Real-world responsibilities are an acceptable excuse as always. Fear of another team's tactics, skill or casualty count shouldn't dissuade you; this is a brutal league of an imaginary sport, remember that this is what you signed up for.

Remember, you don't have to resolve a challenge immediately. Granted, the sooner it is played the better, but the challenge will stand once it's been made, and so long as the match takes place sometime before the playoffs are scheduled, it's not a problem. Play challenges when it best suits you, and not necessarily against a foe you feel "obligated" to play against. The game is here for fun!

On that note, it should be mentioned that there is no restriction whatsoever on additional games played, beyond the divisional and challenge matches. If you want to play every week, chances are someone will be up for a match. Additional matches don't count towards your standings for the playoffs, but they ARE a great way to advance your players' skills. This can help you immensely when the playoffs arrive, and can seriously bolster your chances of success against a team with a high rating and lots of cash.

If anyone has any questions about these guidelines, you know where to reach me. I may be the commissioner of this league, but I'm no more important to its success than each of you guys are.