Rookie Round Up
Hello all! Welcome to another AGLA WL21 rookie write up. This time Nkot and I want to highlight some of the talent that is overfilling already in this season and give a spotlight to some of those impressive new and returning players. Please note that we simply can't talk about everyone in rookie, as much as we would love too, and are only going to touch on those that have already played some games. So no hard feelings if you aren't mentioned here.
Starting with the old matchmaking warrior himself, x iTz BananazZ! He was an OG player way way back in 2008 and his time playing Grifball MM is only rivaled by that of BCK. This is his first season back in a long time and the rust has shaken pretty much all off. Despite falling all the way to the fourth round BananazZ is proving himself a presence on the court and a starter for his team. A valuable hybrid on a team with no runner, banananzZ has shown he can do it all. He’s currently the only member of his team with a positive KD, leading them in both doubles and triples with 65 and 20 respectively. He has 6 of their goals, 11 sprees including 1 sword spree! He’s the only member of Godra’s Angels to have assists (2) showing just how much of a team player the guy is.
We can’t mention Godra’s Angels without highlighting the Rookie League's current stop master. Captain Sev. With 42 stops in 4 games This guy is simply too good to get scored on. He’s a danger with the ball as well. Having most of their goals at 8. If you thought that Sev being EU would hinder his tanking abilities you need to rethink that. Sev is so far only –2 on the season, impressive considering someone who won't be named on his team is already –74. With 296 kills, 42 doubles and 5 sprees you can bet that no matter if he’s got the bomb or hammer Sev is gonna keep pace with the best of them
Speaking of big EU tanking monsters, we would be remiss not to mention Ellis! He may have only played 1 game with 1 loss but what a game it was for him. With 107 kills going +38 against a team that many considered to be the best. He got 5 sprees in one game against that team and while scheduling may be tough for him with a lot of games wanting to get played later in the night, I for one cannot wait to see how he does the rest of the season. Certainly, a strong start for someone with a lot of promise.
Right there on Ellis side is another very experienced player Godwit1ivy! Going +24 with 132 in the same game. Ivy is also a tank to be feared and showing why he was a first-round draft pick. He currently leads his team in doubles with 24 of them and 3 sprees. Ivy knows what he’s doing and he’s trying his hardest to make it happen on that court. With him tanking next to Ellis BOGO MARGS is going to be tough team to out tank if they can keep playing like this.
Yet there is someone who has an arguably more impressive season tanking so far. Both because he’s only one of two players to get a killionaire, and because he’s only ever played 4 games of league grifball in his life! VinnyHaw, once a complete unknown to most of the community, is making it awfully hard to sleep on him. Going +58 with 43 doubles 15 triples 8 overs and 7 sprees. Vinny is ready to get on that court and make a difference. He took his team getting voted last place personal and he’s not gonna stop until people put some respect on their name.
To wrap up my portion of the article I wants to talk about his guy Scaread. Scar only played 2 games last season but will likely play all of them this one. While his team may be 0-4 atm he has scored all of their goals, not bad for a tank who can’t figure out which button drops the ball. HE even got psuedo-flowers off of tip off resulting in a beautiful goal and maybe the first flowers of the new season for the rookies. While he may have gone –60 he still has a large hammer. With less than an hour of playtime he has 136 kills, 21 of them being doubles, of which he leads his team in alongside overs (3). Win or lose ScarHead is showing improvement with each game and reportedly is having a blast doing it too.