Team talk - Pelgar Mystics

Team Talk-  Pelgar Mystics

Season Two - Judwan

Peacekeepers

Introduction

The Pelgar Mystics are a team of peaceful pacifists, and you would rightly ask “What are they doing on the Dreadball pitch?”; indeed, some coaches are surprised to find out this is a ball game, despite it being in the name.  The aliens known as Judwan were removed from their holy land by ruthless corporations, and have resolved to beat the humans at their own game, but on Judwanese terms.  Using their prowess and skill, they outwit and outplay their opponents with the intention of earning enough money to buy back their home.

Player Breakdown

A basic Judwan team consists of six players, all of which are Strikers.  They have a nominal Strength of 5+, but this will very rarely come into play.  Being Strikers, they have the standard Armour value of 5+, which means these aliens are liable to snap when slammed.  They have a decent Skill of 4+, but their most controversial stat is their Speed.  Originally printed as 3+ in the Season two rulebook, the Speed was amended to 4+ in Season three, on the flavour premise that the Judwan had been using performance enhancing stimulants as part of their religious practices, to the disappointment of beardy Judwan coaches everywhere and great relief to those who hadn’t even taken rush two yet.  More on this later…

The Judwan have three abilities that contribute to their unique style of play: Long Arms, Pacifist, and Misdirect.  Pacifist might initially seem a bit of a strange idea –Strikers can’t slam anyway – but this rule stops the Judwan from lobbing the ball at the back of the opponent’s head (also the front).   Long Arms extends the range at which the Judwan can throw; the range bands become 1-4 hexes at three dice, 5-8 hexes at two dice, and 9-12 with one die.  This allows the Judwan to pass long distance accurately, but also prevents them from being able to score bonus points.  The final ability, Misdirect, gives the Judwan a unique action called Feint.  A Feint action allows the Judwan to shift their enemy without having to resort to violence, as they use their fancy dancing to confuse and distract the enemy; very useful for breaking up walls, clearing paths, and prodding players into the ball launch hexes.

Team Assets

The Judwan don’t have much to speak of by way of assets (ahem), with only a Dreadball card on their starting roster.  This card isn’t as helpful to the Mystics as it is to more varied teams; being solely strikers, many cards will not be useful as they specify guards or jacks, however it is still worth rummaging through the deck for a ‘Any Player, Any Action’ (or ‘The Ball Shatters’ ;) ) if you’ve got the spare action.

Team Tactics

The Pelgar Mystics are not a flexible team, how to play them will not vary wildly from game to game as it might do with a human team.   Your objective is to win by landslide as soon as possible, and take as few casualties as you can along the way.  To do this, minimize the scoring ability of your opponent by blocking up your rear strike zone with 3 players, disallowing them from scoring 3 or 4 point strikes.  Strikers are pretty nifty at dodging, so it can be hard to shift a Judwan wall, but when they do watch out, as you are liable to lose a player for a couple of rushes at the very least.  As you cannot score 4 point strikes, you should be aiming to score 3 points every turn (unless less is needed to win the game and it’s an easier shot; 3 points give you experience points and fan checks which can be important in leagues and tournaments respectively).  Ideally, one Judwan should be loitering behind the opponent’s far strike zone, misdirecting the opposing players to open up a path for another Judwan to score.  This leaves one spare player, who will be needed when one of your noble pacifists is crippled under a pile of Orx (or Teratons, or humans, or a stiff breeze).  Against a hitty team, they are unlikely to be making big strikes and hopefully you will be able to landslide before you lose too many players and they level the field.  Alternately, against a strikey team, you can worry less about losing players, but expect the game to go longer.

League Play

In league play, I would advocate using your first winnings to buy a defensive coach.  The extra defensive dice that the coach generates are actually very useful in keeping your Judwan alive – prevention is better (and a lot cheaper) than cure!  You can also use the coach to make an offensive play if and when it is necessary. A Judwan team also benefits from buying extra players, as many an opposing coach will try to permanently decimate your team to get experience for their players.  If you can keep a small band of extras on your bench, you will find it easier to finish games sooner rather than later.

Other than Skill and Speed boosts, I would recommend trying to get abilities on your Judwan that increase their survivability, such as Duck & Weave for an extra dodge dice, or Grizzled to soften the blow that comes your way.

It is also worth noting that if a Judwan dies, he can be sent to the ‘back-street doctor’ to be revived on the cheap.  There is a possibility that a Judwan revived in this manner can come back having lost one of his abilities.  If this ability is Misdirect, I would consider dropping him from your roster, or at least relegating him to the wall, but if they lose one of the other abilities, it can be very advantageous.  Losing Long Arms means you have a player able to score bonus points, whereas losing Pacist gives a fiendish, bloodthirsty alien who loves to throw balls at the back of the heads of Nameless Crabs.

Tournament Play

In tournament play, you can relax somewhat about the survivability of your players, as whatever happens, they’ll be back in the next game.  For this reason, I would recommend an Offensive Coach (for 8mc) over a Defensive Coach, for the added certainty of getting an extra action where it is needed to strike hard and win the game.  With the other 12mc, I would suggest investing in two Coaching Dice, again for surety of purpose.  As the Judwan cannot score four point strikes, any failed strike attempt is a chance for your opponent to overtake you on points, and it can be very hard for Judwan to catch up if they lose the momentum – the two coaching dice will aid in making sure you keep up the pace, and you will swiftly earn the dice back with doubled three-pointers!

Conclusion

The Judwan are a glass cannon, able to score quickly and effectively, but the longer the game goes, the more vulnerable they are, both to losing the game and to losing players.  This means that they can be a good choice for using in a tournament, but a tricky choice for league play where survival is given increased importance.  As a one-trick pony, they can get tiresome to play in the long term, and in a league it can become frustrating when other players relentlessly try and kill any players that even sniff Rank two.  However, they are a flavourful team and good at what they do.

Addendum

It is interesting to note that the Judwan were changed in Season three to have Speed 4+ instead of Speed 3+.  During the Season two period, many teams were taking advantage of the way the ball entered play to win the game before the opponent even had spent an action; the Judwan were particularly good at this, being all Strikers and having the Long Arms special ability.  It was therefore determined that the Judwan would be amended, and the ball entry rules would be changed.  However, I believe that the change to the Judwan was unnecessary, that the problem was solved with the changes to ball entry.  Having played with both Speed 4+ and Speed 3+ in the current metagame, I believe that the Judwan are currently a little underpowered compared to the other teams available.  Reverting to Speed 3+ would make them a little more exciting to play - at Speed 4+, Misdirect can be rather hit and miss, and as it is one of the Judwan’s big sells it would be nice to see it be used more frequently.  Alternately, I would recommend the cost per player be reduced from 15mc to 13mc, and the 12mc spare be converted into a permanent two Coaching Dice, although my preference would be for the more flavourful Speed 3+.